Talk:Mehmet Shehu

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Maybe both forms (Fiqret and Fiqeret) should be mentioned.

I don't know how the name of the village were Shehu was buried is to be spelled since I have not seen it in Latin letters. Andres 13:11, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I don't know either, I just made a guess based on how it sounds (I am Albanian). What spellings have you seen (page links?). The albanian alphabet is just a slightly modified latin alphabet. Dori 18:58, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

As to Shehu's wife, I met both forms but Fiqret is more often used.

As to the place where Mehmet Shehu was buried, I found the Albanian form: it is Ndroq. See

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alb-information/message/24347?source=1

Andres 07:18, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Ndroq is a name I have heard. I had not heard the previous two mis-spellings which is why I left both in the article. Dori 13:29, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

More information about Shehu's burial:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/56185?source=1

Andres 07:26, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I have found Shehu's wife's name spelled as Fiqret, Fiqeret, Fiqerete, Fiqirete and Fiqërete. Andres 07:37, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

The e at the end of the name suggests that it is a female name (whithout which it could also be a male name). I would guess then that one of Fiqerete, Fiqrete, Fiqirete, or Fiqërete would be the correct spelling. I am guessing that the different spellings result from how people pronounce it (they're all similar). I doubt it matters much though. If someone comes along that knows the correct spelling, they can fix it. Dori 13:29, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Bashkim Shehu is known as a writer, therefore he deserves an article apart. Information about other relatives can be incorporated into this article. Andres 07:45, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

OK, it's a judgement call. I figurered since I hadn't heard of him, he wouldn't be all that important ;) Dori 13:29, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I agree this is a judgement. In any case, Bashkim Shehu passes the standard test that there should be at least two or three websites about him (though I don't think this is decisive). His works have been translated at least into English, German, French and Italian. It might be that he is more known abroad than in Albania and there might be some extra-literary reasons why namely he is known abroad. In any case he is famous because of himself not only because of his father. And as for me, I think any Albanian writer known or not that known in Albania could be covered here because Wikipedia is meant to be the largest and deepest encyclopedia ever written! Andres 17:23, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

There is a problem with linking to National Liberation Army: we have to disambiguate the article's heading.

How is National Liberation Army related to National Liberation Front? Andres 11:35, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I could be wrong about this, but I think the NL Army was a military organization (against occupation), whereas NF Front (aka Democratic Front) was more of a civil organization that was to coordinate efforts and that was maintained even after the occupation. The NL Army might have been part of the NL Front initially. To further confuse the issue, you also have the National Front (aka Balli Kombëtar which was another liberation movement separate (and even fought for control against) the communist one. Dori 14:02, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I think Balli Kombëtar is National Union but we do not translate it.

Yes, probably the NL Army was part of the NL Front. And the NK Front initially was called NL Movement. And after the war it was renamed into Democratic Front. So it had three different names at different times. Probably we should place them under one article.

But there remains the linking (and naming) problem at least for the NLA because there are at least three other armys of the same name. Andres 14:28, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I'll just add it to the dissamb page for now. Later when/if an article is written, we can fix the link. As for Balli Kombëtar, the word balli translates to forehead or front which is where the translation National Front probably came from. Dori 14:35, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)
I see. Maybe this is the reason why Balli Kombëtar is not translated. Andres 16:37, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Here is a quote from

http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/specials/amnesia/

If this is reliable this material should be used.

It was Mehmet Shehu, the general of the National Liberation Army, who first realised in 1945 that in order for Communist powers to expand into the territory of North Albania, that is to enforce their own model of modernisation there, they did not need to destroy the local laws or wait until the populations were ready to "aspire to" another social system. Instead they simply had to do away with those who were acquainted with the customary laws and who oversaw their execution. The northern mountain dwellers were, nevertheless, a thorn in the side of the Communist Partisans. Not only because the local bajraktars (standard-bearers) supported the non-communist ("nationalist") rebels, but also because they didn’t make any attempt to drive out the 45,000 German soldiers ordered into North Albania to liquidate the Partisans in November 1943 (Vickers, 1995:154). In reality one can only surmise what is hidden behind the official Albanian historical account, which remembers only that "the National Liberation Army provided a variety of administrative services for the newly liberated territories" (Pollo-Puto, 1981:240). Reginald Hibbert, one of fifty British officers ordered into Albania who fought the war to the end on the side of the Communist Partisans, remembers that after the battle of Dibra, the First Brigade, under the leadership of Mehmet Shehu, set off to the North along the Drin river to annihilate the tribal leaders up that way. "The followings of the chieftains tended to melt away and were in any case no match for the Partisan Brigades which had acquired battle experience" (Hibbert, 1991:192). All he records after this is that a certain Yugoslav political commissar, Velimir Stojnich, and later Enver Hoxha himself, sharply criticised Shehu for "ruthlessness practised ... in his dealings with ‘nationalists’ and non-Partisans in general" (Hibbert, 1991:218; 229). If the man later to show an uninhibited flair for dictatorship judged the events in the northern highlands excessive, then perhaps the allegations of my own informants are believable, according to which the Partisans murdered close to a third of the territory’s adult male population in the autumn of 1944. These were the elite of the clans and tribes: one standard-bearer, four leaders and twelve elders per tribe, and one head of household in each large family, who, according to Durham, "specially chosen for their intelligence and knowledge of law" (Durham, 1985:28). In a word everyone was lost who could have passed on knowledge of the law, their own history, the workings of self government, and the people’s religion, if there was in fact such a thing.

It could be true, I am unable to verify the veracity or the falsehood either. Dori 14:14, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)