Xhafer Deva
Xhafer Ibrahim Deva (born February 21, 1904 in Mitrovica , Vilâyet Kosovo , Ottoman Empire ; † May 25, 1978 , San Francisco , United States ) was a leading Albanian politician of fascism , a member of the Balli Kombëtar and interior minister of the German-occupied since late 1943 Greater Albania .
Life
Deva was the seventh son of the timber merchant Ibrahim Deva from Gjakova . He attended a German-speaking school in Thessaloniki . After the Balkan Wars , he began studying trade in Istanbul , which he completed in 1922 .
On September 19, 1943, he proclaimed the Second League of Prizren , which cooperated closely with the German Reich . The name is derived from the League of Prizren , with which nationalist Albanians wanted to free themselves from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 . Their policies were anti-Yugoslav and aimed at the creation of an ethnically pure Greater Albania.
In March 1944, the chairman of the league submitted a proposal to the Germans to set up 120,000 to 150,000 volunteers to fight against Yugoslav partisans . After long preparations, the 21st SS Volunteer Mountain Division Skanderbeg was formed in April 1944 , a unit made up of Kosovar Albanian volunteers. However, their strength was only 7,000 men; it was dissolved again in October 1944.
At the end of the war, Deva tried to establish an anti-communist state in Kosovo with the support of SS officer Josef Fitzthum , but it failed. He then fled via the Independent State of Croatia to his first exile in Vienna in December 1944 , and later to western Austria , where he stayed with other Albanian exiles until early 1947. As a result, he moved via Italy to Damascus , which he left for the USA in 1956 , where he initially stayed in Boston and New York until 1960 . After taking a position in the administration of Stanford University , he organized the anti-communist Albanian diaspora from Calaveras County . In 1972 he was retired.
literature
- Robert Elsie, Center for Albanian Studies (Ed.): A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History . IBTauris, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3 , pp. 108 f .
- Michael Portmann , Arnold Suppan : Serbia and Montenegro in World War II. In: Walter Lukan, Valeria Heuberger (ed.): Serbia and Montenegro. Space and population, history, language and literature, culture, politics, society, economy, law. Lit, Wien / Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9539-4 , pp. 286f.
- Rexhep Krasniqi et al. a .: Xhafer Deva: A biographical portrait . New York 1980 (Original title: Xhafer Deva: jefa dhe veprimtarija .).
Web links
- Biography (Albanian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Deva, Xhafer |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Deva, Xhafer Ibrahim (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Kosovar Albanian fascist and interior minister of Greater Albania |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mitrovica , Vilâyet Kosovo , Ottoman Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 25, 1978 |