Sabiha Kasimati

Portrait of Kasimatis from 1942

Sabiha Kasimati (born September 15, 1912 in Edirne , Ottoman Empire ; died February 26, 1951 in Mënik, Komuna Ndroq (now Bashkia Tirana )) was an Albanian ichthyologist and a victim of the communist regime. Her work on the fish of Albania was published under the name of the Russian Georgij D. Poljakov and Albanian researcher.

Life

Sabiha Kasimati was born in Edirne , where her Libohova- born father, Abdurrahman Kasimati, was a doctor. Her mother's name was Zehra Mbreshtani. After the population exchange between Greece and Turkey after the First World War, the family returned to Albania. In 1927 they moved to Korça , where Sabiha and her sisters attended high schools. Kasimati was the first to graduate from the French lyceum in 1931 - there at the “National Lyceum” all subjects except Albanian were taught in French .

After graduating, Kasimati taught French and at times biology at girls' schools, the American school in Kavaja , in the lower classes at the French Lyceum and most recently at the “Nana Mbretëreshë” (Queen Mother) institute in Tirana .

Kasimati received a country scholarship in 1936 to study abroad. She attended the University of Turin , where she graduated with top grades in biology in 1940. Kasimati received his doctorate with a thesis on the freshwater fish of Albania (Fauna ittica di acqua dolce d'Albania) . She turned down a job offer from the university and returned to Albania.

There Kasimati began to work in November 1940 at the institute for women's education " Donika Kastrioti " and later at the institute "Nana e Skënderbeut" . She taught science and chemistry. Contrary to the conventions of the time, she lived alone in an apartment in Tirana.

In addition, she makes the proposal to set up an Albanian natural history museum with collections of flora and fauna as well as mineralogy . She made specific suggestions for the scientific library. On February 18, 1943, the Instituti i Studimeve Shqiptare (Institute for Albanian Studies ), a forerunner of the Albanian Academy of Sciences , decided to set up a museum. Kasimati received a contract of employment four days later. The museum opened in 1948.

With the takeover of power by the communists under the leadership of Enver Hoxha , the Albanian scientific enterprise was also reorganized in 1944. Kasimati participated in some of the conversations. The Institute for Albanian Studies was renamed Instituti i Shkencave (Institute of Sciences) in June 1948 . Kasimati's name was deleted from the employee lists in the 1950s.

Sabiha Kasimati repeatedly expressed her dissatisfaction with the conditions in Albania and once confronted Enver Hoxha. Like many other intellectuals, she had been under surveillance by the State Security for a long time .

plant

Kasimati was Albania's first ichthyologist. She has researched and documented the country's fish since her studies in Italy. In her publications in magazines, she also dealt with suggestions for improving fish farming and fishing . According to the documentation, Kasimati published a study on the fish of Albania in April 1950 . This has not been proven since her execution.

Her scientific work in the field of fish in Albania was published in 1958 under the name of the Soviet scientist Georgij D. Poljakov and the Albanian researchers Ndoc Filipi, Kozma Basho and A. Hysenaj.

execution

After a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the embassy of the Soviet Union in Tirana on February 19, 1951, a group of 22 intellectuals who had studied abroad were arrested as "enemies of the people" the following day. Kasimati was the only woman among them. On February 25, 1951, all were sentenced to death by shooting by decree . This was confirmed by the military tribunal on March 5 . However, the judgment had already been carried out on the night of February 26-27, 1951 near the village of Mënik. Kasimati may have been killed with rifle butts because the bullets missed her. The bodies were buried in the field. Eight days later, the two real assassins were caught. The remains of the executed were exhumed in 1994 and buried in a communal grave.

Many files from this period were destroyed, but Kasimati was under surveillance. Enver Hoxha, her classmate in Korça, mentions the only woman at the Lyceum several times in his memoirs. He executed many of his classmates whom he felt inferior to.

Honors

Exhibition about Sabiha Kasimati in the Natural History Museum Tirana (2018)

On the 60th anniversary of her death, the then President of the Republic of Albania, Bamir Topi , honored Sabiha Kasimati with the honor of the Nation Nderi i Kombit . The executed were rehabilitated in 1991.

The Natural History Museum (Muzeu i Shkencave të Natyrës "Sabiha Kasimati") has been named after her since March 8, 2018.

Fonts (selection)

• Peshqit e Shqipërisë . Tirana 1950. - No longer detectable.
• Peshqit e Shqipërisë . Universiteti shte͏̈te͏̈ror i Tiranë 1958. 286 pages. - Published by Georgij D. Poljakov, Nd. Filipi, Kozma Basho, A. Hysenaj.
• Fauna ittica di acqua dolce d'Albania. Dissertation, Turin 1940.
• Problems të peshkut dhe të peshkimit në vendin tonë. In: Buletini i Institutit të Studimeve, Viti II, Prill 1948, no. 2-3. Pp. 18-32.

literature

• Urn Butka: The 'Bomb' and the Soviet Embassy in Tirana . West Print, Tirana 2014, ISBN 978-9928-19906-5 , p. 138-145 .

Web links

Commons : Sabiha Kasimati  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Muzeu i Shkencave të të Natyrës njihet me Emrin Sabiha Kasimati. , Gazeta Tema, March 8, 2018 (Albanian)