Fadil Hoxha
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Fadil Hoxha | |
---|---|
Ali Shukrija | |
Vice-President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia | |
In office 1978–1979 | |
Preceded by | Stevan Doronjski |
Succeeded by | Lazar Koliševski |
Personal details | |
Born | Albanian Partisans | 15 March 1916
Battles/wars | World War II |
Fadil Hoxha (
Early life
As a young man, Hoxha migrated from his home town of
Hoxha returned to Kosovo in 1941, where he worked as a teacher. In the same year he abandoned his post to become one of the founders of the communist partisan movement in Kosovo. Within a short time Hoxha rose through the partisan ranks to become commander, leading battalions which had in their ranks Kosovo Albanians and Serbs who fought against Fascism and Nazism and the Italian and later German occupation of Kosovo.
Hoxha was instrumental in the Kosovo communist movement's efforts at adopting a resolution at the
Politics
Hoxha's political influence in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia grew during the 1960s, especially after the removal from the upper echelons of the party of Serb hardliner Aleksandar Ranković by Josip Broz Tito. As interior minister, Ranković had pursued a notorious policy of repression against Albanians, which was later criticized by the party. Hoxha led efforts to advance Kosovo's constitutional status in a series of constitutional reforms that took place in Yugoslavia. The efforts were consecrated by the Yugoslav constitution of 1974, which granted Kosovo an equal republican status in all but name.
Hoxha also fought for the expansion of federal aid and development programs in Kosovo, which led to Kosovo's rapid
During his political career in socialist Yugoslavia, Hoxha subscribed to the principles of Yugoslav policy of "brotherhood and unity", believing in the need to achieve national equality between Albanians, Serbs, and other national groups within Kosovo and Yugoslavia. In practice, given the grave cultural and economic backwardness which previous regimes had left Albanians in Kosovo, Hoxha believed that overcoming the disadvantages faced by Albanians required special affirmative measures both within Kosovo and at the federal level. Kosovo had inherited the highest illiteracy rates in all of Yugoslavia and was also its poorest region. Hoxha consistently initiated or supported policies which would address these problems, including expanding the educational opportunities of Albanians, expanding Yugoslav programs supporting industrial development in Kosovo, and policies addressing the relative inequality of Albanians in employment, who had disproportionately high unemployment rates.
Hoxha held a number of high posts in Kosovo and Yugoslavia. He served as
In 1981, Hoxha faced harsh criticism from radical Kosovo Albanian nationalist movements because of his opposition to the
After the rise of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia, Hoxha, though retired, became subject to a number of political attacks labelling him a nationalist and supporter of secessionism. Hoxha was expelled from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and in 1991 the Milošević government tried him for treason.
After his retirement in 1986, Hoxha had withdrawn from public life and was notorious for refusing to grant interviews to the press. However, he continued to throw his support behind popular movements in Kosovo. In 1989, Hoxha supported the 1989 Kosovo miners' strike at the Trepça/Trepča Mines protesting against political attacks from Serbia aiming at the erosion of Kosovo's self-government. In 1990, Hoxha became a supporter of the Democratic League of Kosovo and its leader Ibrahim Rugova, in its struggle for an independent Kosovo. In 1998, Hoxha, together with other members of the Association of Veterans of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, threw their support behind the armed struggle of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In a 1998 meeting with the political representative of the KLA in Pristina, Adem Demaçi, Hoxha declared that if he were a young man, he would not wait a minute to join the KLA. He supported the NATO intervention during the Kosovo War.
Though in old age, Hoxha survived the 1999 Kosovo War and remained in hiding in Kosovo. He died of natural causes in 2001, and was buried with high honours in his home town of Gjakova.
Hoxha has published his wartime diary Kur pranvera vonohet [When Spring is Late] (Prishtina: Rilindja, 1980) and a three-volume collection of speeches and articles in Jemi në shtëpinë tonë [This is our Home] (Prishtina: Rilindja, 1986), both published in Serbian (Kad proleće kasni : iz partizanske beležnice)[1] and Turkish editions in addition to the original Albanian. In 2010, an autobiography based on interviews with Fadil Hoxha by Veton Surroi and his father Rexhai Surroi was published under the title "Fadil Hoxha në vetën e parë" [Fadil Hoxha, in the first person] (Prishtina: Koha, 2010). In November 2011, his former associate Ekrem Murtezai published a book called "Fadil Hoxha, siç e njoha une" [Fadil Hoxha, as I knew him]. In 2007, the Association of Veterans of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War published a collected volume, "Fadil Hoxha - një jetë në shërbim të atdheut" containing documents and memoirs on Hoxha's role during and after World War II.
Succession
References
- Surroi, Veton (2010). Fadil Hoxha në vetën e parë. Koha.
- Hoxha, Fadil (1986). Jemi në shtëpinë tonë. Rilindja.
- Hoxha, Fadil (1980). Kur pranvera vonohet. Rilindja.
- ^ Kad proleće kasni : iz partizanske beležnice / Fadilj Hodža; [preveo sa albanskog Esad Mekuli. Author: Hoxha, Fadil Publisher: Beograd : Četvrti jul, 1979 234 pages, 21 cm, Note: Translation of work Kur pranvera vonohet. Language: Serbian