Ibrahim Biçakçiu

Ibrahim Aqif Biçakçiu
19th Prime Minister of Albania
In office September 25, 1943 – October 24, 1943
Preceded by	Eqrem Bej Libohova
Succeeded by	Mehdi Bej Frashëri
In office August 29, 1944 – November 28, 1944
Preceded by	Fiqri Dine
Succeeded by	Enver Hoxha
Personal details
Born	10 September 1905 Elbasan, Albania (then Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire)
Died	4 January 1977 (aged 71) Elbasan, Albania
Political party	Balli Kombëtar
Profession	Prime Minister, Agronomist

Ibrahim Aqif Biçakçiu (also known as Ibrahim Biçaku) was an Albanian landowner and Axis collaborator, Prime Minister of Albania during the Nazi occupation, from September 25 to October 24, 1943 and from August 29 to November 28, 1944.^[1]

Biography

Early life

From left to right, General De Veer, Ibrahim Biçakçiu as a ten-year-old boy, Aqif Pasha Biçakçiu of Elbasan and Ali Agjah Bey of Elbasan

Ibrahim Aqif Bej Biçakçiu was the son of Aqif Pasha Biçakçiu of Elbasan. Ibrahim was born in Elbasan in 1905. His family helped in the Independence of Albania and it was through his family influence that he grew up with the same ideology and beliefs.

Balli Kombëtar

In 1943, together with Bedri bey Pejani and Xhafer Deva, he helped found a national committee of twenty-two Albanian and Kosovo Albanian leaders, which declared Albania independent and which elected an executive committee to form a provisional government.^[2]

Prime minister

Following a week of negotiations, Ibrahim Bicaku agreed to lead a new and small government after Fiqri Dine.^[3] Although Bicaku was the perfect friend of Germany, his reign was nevertheless quite incompetent. This was mainly because Germany was on the brink of defeat and the Albanian partisans were moving out, ready to strike.^[4] Tirana paper noted that he had headed the provisional executive committee exactly one year earlier, prior to the construction of the Mitrovica government.^[5] Bicaku had become, once again, the front man for the Germans. It was noted that Bicaku would occasionally play Ping-Pong with Ambassador Schliep.^[6]

After the war

Despite many of the Ballists fleeing Albania after the Communists announced their victory, Biçakçiu, like Father Anton Harapi and Cafo Beg Ulqini, chose not to leave and decided that he would rather die in his country of birth than on foreign soil.^[7] He was arrested by communist forces in Shkodra on 6 December 1944 and was sentenced to life in prison at the Special Court in Tirana on 13 April 1945. He spent most of his years in prison in Burrel and was released on 5 May 1962 in Elbasan.^[8] In his last years he was given a job as a public restrooms cleaner in his city of Elbasan.^[9] Biçakçiu died on 4 January 1977.^[10]

In Office

References