Abaz Kupi

Abaz Kupi (born February 6, 1892 in Kruja , † January 9, 1976 in New York ) was an Albanian politician and resistance fighter during World War II .

Since 1912, Kupi supported Essad Pasha Toptani , who against the first government of the newly independent Albania under Ismail Qemali had made, and later against the Prince of Albania used Prince William of Wied operated. In the early 1920s, Kupi was initially in the liberal camp and against Ahmet Zogu . After Zogu came to power at the turn of the year 1924/1925, Kupi changed sides and was appointed police chief of Kruja.

As police - officer he made in 1939 in Durres more symbolic resistance to the Italian invasion forces , but this earned him the respect of many Albanians. Then he had to flee into exile in Turkey. In 1941, Kupi returned to Albania and began to build the Legaliteti resistance group that fought for the liberation of Albania and the reinstatement of King Zogu. In 1942 he was significantly involved in the Peza Conference , which had the aim of uniting all Albanian partisan groups against the Axis powers . At the end of 1943, the Legaliteti under Kupi turned against the growing communists because they wanted to prevent them from taking power after the war. In doing so, Kupi partly worked with the puppet government set up by the German occupiers. After the communist victory in November 1944, Kupi fled across the Adriatic Sea with some of his officers in boats. After an odyssey of several days, they were picked up by a Canadian naval ship and taken to Brindisi .

In exile, Kupi tried to organize resistance against the Albanian communists. He helped found the Free Albania Committee in 1949 . In 1968 he moved from Italy to the USA.

literature

• Robert Elsie: Historical dictionary of Albania . European historical dictionaries 42. Lanham 2004, ISBN 0-8108-4872-4 , pp. 244-245 .