Hysen Tërpeza, anti-communist, nationalist activist, passed away. He was born in Tërpeza in Vitia, on June 10th, 1910. In 1916, the family was exiled by the Bulgarian invaders. After the First World War ends, he returns to his homeland. Since 1933, he joined the patriotic activists of Anamorava, opposing the injustices of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia against the Albanians. During the period of the Italian occupation (1941-1943) he was the mayor of the municipality in Pozhoran. The Italian and German police imprisoned him. In July-November 1944, together with Idriz Gjilan and other collaborators of Anamorava, he stood up against the penetration of Serbian and Bulgarian partisan units in the territory of Kosovo. With Adem Gllavica, he organized the Assembly of Tërpeza, on December 1st, 1944, in which the Main Headquarters of the Resistance in Kosovo was formed. On August 15-16, 1945, he participated in the First Congress of the Resistance Movement that was held in Tanushë of Kopilaka, where the Albanian People’s Democratic Army and the Supreme War Headquarters were created, and Hysen Tërpeza was elected as its head. In December 1945, he left for Greece. Then he emigrated (1949) and joined the “Free Albania” Committee of Mithat Frashëri. In 1956 he left Italy and immigrated to the United States of America. He contacted and collaborated with the Albanian diaspora and world-renowned personalities related to the Albanian issue. He is the author of the works “Ka me na gjykue Nana Kosovë” (New York, 1972), “I am Hysen Tërpeza, warrior of Ethnic Albania” (1976) etc. In 1995, he was decorated by the President of the Republic of Albania with the Gold Medal of the “Skënderbeu” Order. After the liberation of Kosovo, after 54 years of exile, Hysen Tërpeza returned to Kosovo. He passed away in 2002 and was buried in the Martyrs Cemetery in Viti. (In the photo: Hysen Tërpeza)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1661.
Photo: © http://orashqiptare.blogspot.com/2013/06/hysen-terpeza.html
Graphic processing: AHCF
