Prishtina, 11 January, 2024
After the visits he made to the families of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, participated in the commemorative academy on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha, organized under the patronage of the Government.
Bringing to mind the history and memories from “Qëndresa”, the book with Rexhep Malaj’s notes about the prison period between 1975 and 1983, Prime Minister Kurti described that “this whole system of violence used by Serbia on Albanian political activists and patriotic intellectuals engaged for political rights, for self-determination, for liberation and for the Republic of Kosovo, it can be freely called a ‘political inquisition'”.
40 years ago, on the night of January 11, 1984, Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha were killed in an illegal base in Pristina, where they both resisted armed confrontation with Serbian police.
“Rexhep Malaj was imprisoned four times: first in 1968, then in 1973, then in 1974 and finally in 1975. Based on this and seeing the names of the friends with whom he was arrested and imprisoned, as if are Adem Demaçi, Irfan Shaqiri, Ilmi Ramadani, Isa Kastrati, Osman Dumoshi and dozens of others, it is understood that Rexhep Malaj belonged to two generations of political prisoners: Those of 1968 and those of 1981. However, after his release from prison, Rexhep Malaj was lucky enough to have his name immortalized with another political activist, who was a decade younger than him, with Nuhi Berisha from Svirca e Kamenica/Dardana”, said the Prime Minister in front of the audience.
He further added that within the framework of the activities marking the 40th anniversary of the death of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha, we started the day of January 11 by visiting the two families in Gjilan, and in addition to them we also visited the house of Rexhep Malaj, where he was formed as an activist and where he hosted and organized many other comrades.
“We visited this house together with the Minister of Culture, Mr. Hajrulla Çekun also to give the announcement that Minister Çeku has made a decision yesterday to approve the recommendation, that the house of Rexhep Malaj be taken for protection, being included as an asset in the Category of Architectural Cultural Heritage”.
The Government of Kosovo, together with the Municipality of Gjilan and the Malaj family, will start the process of turning Rexhep Malaj’s house into a museum, to museum the relics and material and written evidence of the history of Rexhep Malaj, Nuhi Berisha and fellows of the era, which they named after themselves.
The prime minister concluded his speech by appreciating the political and patriotic activism of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha, as well as the deeds of all those who fell on the long road to the freedom of Kosovo.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Dear ministers, deputy ministers, officials of state institutions, deputies of the Assembly of the Republic, soldiers and officers,
Honorable Mrs. Fitore Malaj, daughter of Rexhep Malaj, Mr. Hasan, Mrs. Hanife,
Dear Ms. Ferdeze Mujaj Sadiku, compatriot of Rexhep Malaj,
The honorable Mr. Mehmet Hajrizi, activist, former political prisoner and close associate of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha,
The honorable Mr. Gafurr Elshani, activist, friend and collaborator of Nuhi Berisha,
Dear Mr. Skender Kastrati, friend and fellow prisoner with Rexhep Malaj,
Dear and dear family members of Nuhi Berisha and Rexhep Malaj,
Activists of the national issue,
Dear participants,
Ladies and gentleman,
Sisters and brothers,
Approaching the fortieth anniversary of the heroic fall of Rexhep Mala and Nuhi Berisha, I wanted to return to the beginning of this story, going back to the very words of those we are remembering today. That’s why I got “Qëndresa”, the book with Rexhep Malaj’s notes about the prison period between 1975 and 1983.
Rereading Rexhep Malaj’s memoirs, one of the things I noticed was that the paragraphs that I had highlighted in red during the first reading somehow coincided with situations and phenomena that I knew well even from my period of imprisonment by the occupying regime and Serbian fascist from April 1999 to December 2001. Political prisoners of all periods of oppression, persecution, exploitation, under Yugoslavia and from Serbia, many of whom are here together tonight, know very well what I am talking about.
Conditionally speaking, there is a so-called “science”, a whole quasi-science of monstrous practices and inhumane techniques of physical torture and psychological pressure, which have been developed and applied by the criminal regime of Serbia on thousands and thousands of Albanian prisoners, during those five and a half decades that Kosovo was occupied by Serbia and kept under Yugoslavia, who were transformed into 666 centuries of prison. During that period of more than half a century for our people, Serbia built an entire system of political oppression, using the police, secret services, political trials, dark prisons, and even physical eliminations in a coordinated manner. This whole system of violence used on Albanian political activists and patriotic intellectuals committed to political rights, self-determination, liberation and the Republic of Kosovo can be freely called a “political inquisition”, because the methods were medieval and the ideology typical of totalitarian regimes and the most brutal dictatorships of the 20th century.
That’s why Rexhep Malaj himself, in his memories of the prison, writes like this, I’m quoting: “A policeman, who the next day I would learn was my main investigator, when he entered he asked me: “You are Shpëtim Guri, aren’t you?” Yes, I told him. Sighing, he said to me: “Mother makes flour into bread at home, and we make bread into flour here!” Remember this!” He laughed at his own words like a fool and ran away. I remembered the faces of the Hitlerian Gestapo that I had seen in the movies”, the quote ends.
And indeed they were, and Rexhep Malaj was aware of this, because he knew well the prison stories of his comrades as well as those of the earlier generations, as can be understood from his notes on the monstrosity of the UDB secret service. “In the alcoves of this UDB they died, as many Albanian patriots die even today from torture and during them”, is another quote from “Qëndresa”, memoirs from the prison of Rexhep Malaj, which continues with the sentences “But the dirty specialists for monstrous crimes, they will always take care and find doctors who will sign that the prisoner died from this or that disease. The patriotic Albanian doctor Ali Sokoli, a specialist in lung diseases, was among those rare doctors who since then was able to withstand the pressures and courageously oppose the threats of the UDB, to sign that the immortal patriot Fazli Grajçevci, died of sick lungs! Although the UDB would find another doctor to give such a diagnosis, the people will learn very quickly about the animal torture and the heroic attitude of Fazli Graiçevci, but also about the manly attitude of the doctor Ali Sokoli”, the quote by Rexhep Mala ends.
Rexhep Malaj was not only brave, he was not simply brave, but he was also very knowledgeable and aware as a brave activist that he was. Rexhep Malaj was imprisoned four times: first in 1968, then in 1973, then in 1974 and finally in 1975. Based on this and seeing the names of the friends with whom he was arrested and imprisoned, as if they were Adem Demaçi, Irfan Shaqiri, Ilmi Ramadani, Isa Kastrati, Osman Dumoshi and dozens of others, it is understood that Rexhep Malaj belonged to two generations of political prisoners: those of 1968 and those of 1981. Meanwhile, after leaving prison, Rexhep Malaj was lucky enough to have his name immortalized with another political activist who was a decade younger than him, with Nuhi Berisha from Svirca e Kamenica/Dardana. The night of January 11, 1984, found Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha together in an illegal base in Pristina, and both of them resisted armed confrontation with Serbian police, until they were killed that night, here 40 years ago.
Like last year and this year, on the 11th of January we left and went to visit the family of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha in Gjilan. From there, we also went to the neighborhood of the old Mosque in Gjilan, where on “Abdullah Presheva” street, we visited the house of Rexhep Malaj, where he was formed as an activist and where he hosted and organized many other friends.
We visited this house together with the Minister of Culture, Hajrulla Çeku to give the announcement that Minister Çeku has made a decision yesterday to approve the recommendation that the house of Rexhep Malaj be taken for protection by being included as an asset in the Category of Architectural Cultural Heritage. As further steps in this direction, as the Government of Kosovo, together with the Municipality of Gjilan and the Malaj family, we will start the process of turning Rexhep Malaj’s house into a museum. A museum to museum the relics and the material and written evidence of the history of Rexhep Malaj, Nuhi Berisha and the friends of the era they gave their names to.
Glory to the life so busy with political and patriotic activism of Rexhep Malaj and Nuhi Berisha, among the praises for the deeds of all those who fell on the long road for the freedom of Kosovo!
Thank you!
Last modified: January 12, 2024