Albanians in France

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The Albanians in France ( Albanian  Shqiptarët në Francë , French Albanais en France ) represent an ethnic minority of the country as immigrants . People of Albanian descent come from Albania , Kosovo , North Macedonia and Montenegro as well as from Turkey ( Arnauten ), from Italy ( Arbëresh ) and from Greece ( Çamen and Arvanites ), but not all of them profess to the Albanian nation.

Resistance to the Italian occupation 1940–1942

The gradual formation of military resistance by the Albanians in 1940–1942 was strongly supported by the Albanian diaspora in France. On April 16, the command of the Albanian fascist militia confirmed the distribution of "propagandist manifestos" which called for an uprising. Among other things, these were scattered on April 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Vlora district . On May 18, 1942, at 4 p.m., Demir Arapi, only fourteen years old, was caught with a hand grenade by the military in the courtyard of the mosque in Elbasan . The reason for this should be the subject of the upcoming investigations, noted the police report. In addition to such forms of resistance, Albanian associations also developed anti-Italian activities at home and abroad. The “Klika” community, founded at the time of Zogu's reign, should be mentioned here because its members almost always had one thing in common: resistance against the Italians and later collaboration with the Germans. Although this organization was disbanded by Zogu in the mid-1930s. Their members continued to have contact with each other during the entire period of occupation. President of the "Klika" was the political spokesman for Mehdi bej Frashëri , Xharid Leskoviku . The most famous members were Fiqri Dine , Hysni Dema , Prenk Previzi , Rexhep Mitrovica and Maliq Bushati , who became an Italian Quisling in the spring of 1943 . Before that, however, the Italians had fought violently. On the other hand, Muharrem Bajraktari , another outstanding member, should never collaborate. Agreements between former members of the “Klika” during the Second World War are very likely, but due to a lack of sources, they can only be assumed or gently hinted at here.

League of Albanians in France

The Union of “Albanians in France” an organization of refugee zogists in France. It was soon registered by the Italian authorities. Your clearly anti-Italian and anti-fascist leaflet One Year of Servitude - One Year of Struggle caused quite a stir in April 1940. It is on record that some of the Albanians in Albania, who were personally contacted by the organization, voluntarily handed over the dangerous letters to the police, either out of fear or rejection of the content. In Great Britain a “Committee of Friends of the Albanian People”, which apparently intended to work for the independence of Albania after the war, became known at the end of 1940. A so-called Balkan Committee, most of the members of which had personal acquaintances with Albania as well as with Greece, expressed its “deep sympathy with the Albanian people” in January 1941, condemned the Italian aggression in the strongest terms and demanded the restoration of full Albanian independence.

Well-known Albanians in France

literature

  • Luan Rama, Remzi Përnaska: Nëgjurmë të emigracionitshqiptar në Francë . In: Albert Ramaj (ed.): Poeta nascitur, historicus fit - Ad honorem Zef Mirdita . Albanian Institute, Hrvatski institut za povijest, St. Gallen / Zagreb 2013, ISBN 978-3-9524201-0-2 , p. 1055-1098 .