Thanas Jorgji

Portrait of Thanas Jorgji

Thanas Jorgji (actually Thanas Pilafas ) (born January 31, 1955 in Bilisht ) is an Albanian author.

Life

Thanas Pilafas was born in Bilisht as the fifth of six children, his father is Greek from Northern Epirus , his mother of Albanian- Macedonian descent. He describes his childhood as hard and poor, but this was offset by his love for grandmother Dede. For several years he lived alone as a beekeeper in the mountains of Albania. Since he considered an application for a university place to be hopeless due to his Greek-Macedonian origins, he sent the poet Dritëro Agolli one of his manuscripts, whereupon he advocated a university place for him.

He graduated from the University of Tirana with a degree in Albanian language and literature. After graduating, he was accepted into the editorial team of the literary magazine "Nëntori", the organ of the Albanian Writers and Artists Association, where he worked as an editor for prose until 1991 and published numerous texts in which he advocated the rights of oppressed minorities in Albania. When the newspaper ceased operations in 1991 due to the political instability of Albania, he took part in a mass escape on a freighter to Bari , where the refugees were locked up in a stadium before being brought back to Albania four days later.

As a supporter of the rights of the Albanian minorities, the nationalist turned against himself. After people beat him up with iron bars in 1991, an attack on his apartment was committed, an attack on his sister's house could only be barely prevented and he had received numerous threatening phone calls, he fled to Germany, where he was initially granted asylum. However, this decision was later overturned as the political situation in Albania had improved. In February 1997, his asylum application was finally rejected.

On October 22nd, he was taken into custody and was supposed to be deported on October 23rd, but the extradition was prevented by an order from the Mayor of Munich, Christian Ude . The PEN Club and the Writers in Prison Committee had also campaigned for pilafas.

Ude's instructions stipulated that Pilafas should not be deported, but rather enable him to "voluntarily" avoid deportation in order to immediately apply for a re-entry visa in Tirana without being affected by the three-year entry ban after deportation. However, district administration officer Hans-Peter Uhl did not follow Ude's instructions, but handed the decision over to the Upper Bavarian government , which approved the voluntary departure. As he already had a three-month scholarship from the cultural department for Villa Waldberta at the time of the planned deportation , cultural officer Siegfried Hummel urged the Federal Foreign Office to issue Pilafas an express visa immediately after his arrival in Tirana so that he could fly back directly. However, this was delayed because he had to go back to his hometown to apply for a passport, which took several days due to power outages, so that he could not return until November 18.

Pilafas has lived in Munich since then . In 2010 he ran for the Munich Foreigners Advisory Board.

Literary work

Thanas Jorgji writes in his mother tongue, Albanian . Some novels have also been translated into Greek and German .

His works often have autobiographical features. Another focus of many works is his home country Albania. In addition, he also wrote numerous novels for young people.

Dede's unfulfilled longing

This novella is about the grandmother Dede, who wants to go back to her birth village before she dies. However, this is not possible because it is beyond a limit that cannot be passed. The wish is so great that she cannot die in peace before she believes she has permission to cross the border.

Honey scent

In this novella, Jorgji tells of a stubborn older beekeeper to whom he was assigned as a young assistant right after his training. The two different characters slowly get to know and appreciate each other. A novella with an autobiographical background about life with bees and the respect for dealing with these interesting insects .

Endrrat tread në mëngjes ( Eng . The dreams fade in the morning )

In the novel “Dreams fade in the morning” he processes the experiences of the mass exodus to Bari in 1991 and the anarchist conditions in the stadium in Bari, in which the refugees were locked up for four days and were only provided with food and blankets thrown from helicopters over the stadium.

Thanas Jorgji has been awarded the Albanian literary prize " Penda e Argjendtë " ( Eng . " Silver Feather ") for literature twice:

• 2005 for the novel " Peshkatarë si ne " ( Eng . " Fisher like us! ")
• 2012 the silver pen for children's and youth literature for the twelve-part novel series " Unë jam Kronosi - mbreti i kohës " ( Eng . " I am Kronos, the king of time ")

Works (selection)

• Final Council enter në mëngjes. Botimet Dritëro, Tirana 1997, ISBN 9928-03-070-7 .
• E përmalluara Dede. Botimet Dritëro, Tirana 2001, ISBN 99927-34-51-5 .
• Durimi dhe zemërimi i një qytetari të urte. Botimet Dritëro, Tirana 2002.
• Dede or the letter: a novella German-Greek-Albanian. Romiosini, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-929889-52-8 .
• Nëse jeta është kaq e shkurtër. ̈Botimet Toena, Tirana 2005, ISBN 99943-1-007-0 .

Web links

Commons : Thanas Jorgji  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Literature by and about Thanas Jorgji in the bibliographic database WorldCat

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 267, November 19, 2002: "Memory of Childhood"
2. ↑ Reichenhaller Tagesblatt, 28./29. May 2003: "The unfulfilled longing of Dede"
3. ↑ ^{a b} Die Brücke 134, April 2004, Dede or the letter.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} AZ, December 16, 1997, dreams make the soul richer
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Homepage of Thanas Jorgji ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 244, October 23, 1997, To Tirana - and back?
7. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 261, November 12, 2002, representing the voice of Albania
8. ↑ ^{a b} Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 244, October 23, 1997, "Albanian writer is deported"
9. ↑ ^{a b} Abendzeitung, October 24, 1997, writer has to go voluntarily
10. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 246, 25/26. October 1997, cynicism from office
11. ^ Münchner Rathaus Umschau, October 24, 1997, Kulturreferat urges the German Embassy to obtain an express visa for the Albanian writer Thanas Pilafas
12. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 289, November 16, 1997, Once anarchy and back
13. ↑ Starnberger Merkur, November 3, 1997, Pilafas not yet back
14. ↑ Munich City Hall Umschau, November 20, 1997, Albanian writer Thanas Pilafas can start his scholarship at Villa Waldberta
15. ↑ Ballot papers
16. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 28, 1998, Exposing yourself to life
17. ↑ Panorama ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Ndahen çmimet kombëtare të letërsisë 2012 “Penda e Argjendte” dhe çmimet e gazetarisë culture “Teodor Keko”