Liri Belishova

Liri Belishova (born 5 March 1923)[1] was a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania and an important political figure in Albania between 1944 and 1960.[2]

Life

Born in the village of Belishovë, Mallakastër, she was the daughter of Albanian patriot Kamber Belishova who was a participant in the Congress of Durres[3] and the Vlora War. She attended the Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute in Tirana, along with Nexhmije Hoxha, Ramize Gjebrea, Fiqiret Shehu and Vito Kapo.

Belishova joined the National Liberation Movement of Albania and lost one eye. During 1946 and 1947 she was Albania's president of the Popular Youth (Rinia Popullore).

The death of her husband, Nako Spiru, in 1946, an alleged suicide, led to her dismissal from her role and she was sent from Tirana to Berat to teach.

After Nako Spiru was rehabilitated, as a result of the Yugoslav-Albanian split, in 1948, Belishova was rehabilitated as well, and became a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1948 to 1960.[4]

She attended, along with Ramiz Alia, the Marxist–Leninist institute of the Moscow State University from 1952 to 1954, and married during this period her second husband, Maqo Çomo, who was Minister of Agriculture during 1954–60.[5]

In 1960, during the Soviet–Albanian split, Belishova was arrested on charges of being pro-Soviet and a friend of Nikita Khrushchev, after having protested against Enver Hoxha's unilateral decision to take a pro-Chinese stance, warning about the consequences of a split with the Soviets, together with her husband Çomo and old communist Koço Tashko.[6] She was purged as a traitor and enemy of the Party and people.[7] On 9 November 1960 her family was moved to a state-owned farm in Gjirokastër District, where she worked as a teacher and her husband as the farm director. After that, they were expelled from the Party and interned in Kuç near Vlorë, later in Progonat, Zvërnec, and Cërrik.

In 1991, she returned to Tirana.[2]

Belishova had a daughter, Drita Çomo (Tirana 1958 – Tirana 19 February 1981), from her husband, Maqo Çomo.

Drita Çomo, a poet, died from cancer at age 23. Drita's works, most notably Dritë që vjen nga humnera (English: "Light that comes from the abyss") were published posthumously in Albania.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Elsie, Robert (2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. p. 345. ISBN 1780764316.
  2. 1 2 Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6.
  3. ↑ Shqipenia me 1937 (PDF) (in Albanian) I, Komisioni i Kremtimeve te 25-vjetorit te Vete-qeverrimit, 1937, pp. 40–41
  4. ↑ Martin McCauley, Stephen Carter (1986), Leadership and Succession in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China, Armonk, p. 159, ISBN 9780873323468
  5. ↑ Hilë Lushaku (2013-02-06), Historia e internimit të Maqo Çomos pas ndëshkimit të bashkëshortes Liri Belishova [The story of the Maqo Como internment after the punishment of his wife Liri Belishova] (in Albanian), Tirana Observer Online
  6. ↑ Owen Pearson (2007), Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History, III: Albania as Dictatorship and Democracy, 1945-99, I. B. Tauris, p. 573, ISBN 978-1845111052
  7. ↑ Peter Prifti (1978), Socialist Albania since 1944 : domestic and foreign developments, Studies in communism, revisionism, and revolution 23, MIT Press, p. 102, ISBN 9780262160704
  8. ↑ Si e vrane drita Comon, from Aleko Likaj.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 23, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.