Rexhep Mitrovica - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rexhep_Mitrovica

Rexhep Mitrovica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rexhep Mitrovica (1887 21 May 1967) was the Prime

Minister of Albania's government under Nazi Germany. A
staunch nationalist, he was elected head of the Second
League of Prizren.[2]

Rexhep Mitrovica

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Prime minister
1.3 Exile and death
2 Quotes
3 Sources
4 References
5 See also

18th Prime Minister of Albania

In office
November 4, 1943 July 18, 1944

Biography
Early life
Rexhep was born to a wealthy land-owning family from
Mitrovia, (currently Mitrovic, Kosovo), in the Ottoman
Empire. He studied in Uskb and Istanbul.[3] He was one
of the leaders of the Kosovo uprising of 1912, together
with Isa Boletini and Hasan Prishtina. Also in 1912, he
took part in the declaration of Albanian independence as
the representative of Peja.[4] From 1921 to 1923, he
served as Albanian minister of education.
By 1921, Kosovo was within the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes against the will of the Albanian
population.[5] Albanian resistance had been largely
crushed in Drenica in November 1920. The Serbian
government's Decree on the Colonization of the New
Southern Lands was now facilitating the takeover by Serb
colonists of large Ottoman estates and of land seized from
Albanian rebels.[5] It is within this context that Rexhep
Mitrovica, along with Bedri Pejani, tried to seek help
from the western powers.[5]

Preceded by

Mehdi Frashri

Succeeded by Fiqri Dine

Minister of Education
In office
19211923
Personal details
Born

1887
Mitrovia, Kosovo Vilayet,
Ottoman Empire

Died

21 May 1967 (aged 80)

Istanbul, Turkey

Political
party

Balli Kombtar

Children

Occupation

Teacher

Religion

Islam

Awards

Order of Freedom (Kosovo) [1]

After the fall of the government of Fan Noli in December 1924, he took part in a failed plot to overthrow
Ahmet Zogu, spent a couple of years in exile in Austria and France, but was amnestied with seventy other
figures on 21 September 1927.[3][4]

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He returned to Albania after the Italian invasion and joined the Balli Kombtar resistance movement in
1942. He spent much of the Italian period in prison in Porto Romano near Durrs.[3]

Prime minister
After the capitulation of Italy, Rexhep Mitrovica was head of the Second League of Prizren, which
supported Greater Albania, i.e., unification of all territories with substantial Albanian population.[4] After
German occupation of Albania, on November 6, 1943, Berlin announced that the regents and the assembly
had formed a government headed by Rexhep Mitrovica, an active member of the Balli Kombtar from
Kosovo. Mitrovica's cabinet, most of whom had credentials as nationalists as well as some German or
Austrian connection, included Xhafer Deva, who had studied at the Robert College of Istanbul and in
Vienna, as minister of the interior and Rrok Kolaj, a Catholic from Shkodr who had studied at the
University of Graz, as minister of Justice.[2] Austrian educated Vehbi Frasheri was appointed as foreign
minister. The Orthodox Elbasaner, Sokrat Dodbiba, the nephew of Lef Nosi, became minister of finance.[2]
In his first address to the National Assembly, Mitrovica noted that four and a half years of Italian domination
had left anarchy and chaos in Albania. The pre-1939 state apparatus had been completely dismantled. The
Italians had destroyed the army, the gendarmerie, the police, and the Foreign Ministry; they had changed the
flag, altered personal greetings, renamed cities, and even reassigned family names.[2] To reestablish the
state, Mitrovica set down an ambitious plan that included reestablishing local government on the pre-1939
basis, gaining foreign recognition, reorganizing the economy, introducing effective agrarian reform, and
creating a military force.[2] The general goal of the government, and this was repeated at every available
opportunity, was to protect Albania's territorial integrity within its ethnic borders. [2] With the land reforms
for the peasants and a very effective German propaganda emphasizing the return of Kosovo, the Germans
managed to extract considerable support from the regime.[2]
With control over Kosovo and the creation of an Independent State of Albania, Mitrovica exacted revenge
on the Serb colonists,[6] killing and expelling thousands of Serbs.
On July 18, 1944, Rexhep Mitrovica resigned due to illness.[7] Hermann Neubacher, Hitler's political expert
for Balkan problems, came to Tirana and persuaded Fiqri Dine to form the next government [7]

Exile and death

During the communist takeover in November 1944, though he was ill with tuberculosis, he managed to
escape to Croatia with Xhafer Deva and Rexhep Krasniqi, and in December of that year carried on over the
mountains to Austria to reach Vienna. With Devas assistance, the ailing Mitrovica spent time in a
sanatorium in Feldkirch in western Austria.[3] In 1947, he accompanied Deva and Krasniqi to Genoa where,
with the help of a Turkish diplomat of Albanian origin, he was able to immigrate to Turkey. He died at the
German hospital in Istanbul as head of the Albanian community in exile.[3][4]
His grandson, Redjep Mitrovitsa is an actor of Comdie-Franaise.

Quotes
Mitrovica identified the Albanian communists as un-Albanian since he argues that:
"Albanians, as Aryans of Illyrian heritage, could not ignore tradition and would be saved from the hydra of
communism."[2]

Sources
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Owen Pearson, Albania and King Zog: Independence, republic and monarchy 1908-1939, London,
Tauris, 2004, ISBN 1-84511-013-7.
Owen Pearson, Albania in occupation and war: From fascism to communism, 1940-1945, London,
Tauris, 2005, ISBN 1-84511-014-5.

References
1. http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,2649#.Ve-aG5_arqA
2. Bernd Jrgen Fischer. Albania at war, 1939-1945. p. 262. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
3. Elsie, Robert (2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. 6 salem road london w2 4bu: ib tauris & co
ltd. p. 314. ISBN 978 1 78076 431 3. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
4. Robert Elsie. Historical dictionary of Kosovo (1 ed.). p. 122. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
5. Robert Elsie. "Rexhep Mitrovica and Bedri Pejani: A Kosovar Protest". Retrieved 10 February 2014.
6. Cyprian Blamires. World fascism: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
7. the east european revolution. Retrieved 24 August 2011.

Political offices
Preceded by
Mehdi Frashri

Prime Minister of Albania

4 November 1943 18 July 1944

Succeeded by
Fiqri Dine

See also
History of Albania
List of Prime Ministers of Albania
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rexhep_Mitrovica&oldid=742596010"
Categories: 1888 births 1967 deaths People from Mitrovica, Kosovo Albanian Muslims
Albanian politicians Prime Ministers of Albania Balli Kombtar
Albanian collaborators with Fascist Italy Albanian collaborators with Nazi Germany
Albanian anti-communists Albanian people of World War II
This page was last modified on 4 October 2016, at 16:45.
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