52 Facts About Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha was an Albanian communist politician who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death.

Enver Hoxha was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army.

Enver Hoxha was the 22nd Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times was both foreign minister and defence minister of the country.

Enver Hoxha was elected First Secretary in March 1943 at the age of 34.

Less than two years after the liberation of the country, the monarchy of King Zog was formally abolished, and Enver Hoxha rose to power as Albania's symbolic head of state.

Enver Hoxha's government imprisoned, executed, or exiled thousands of landowners, rural clan leaders, Muslim and Christian clerics, peasants who resisted collectivization, and disloyal party officials.

Enver Hoxha was named after Enver Pasha, a leading figure of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.

Enver Hoxha started his studies at the Gjirokaster Lyceum in 1923.

In 1930, Enver Hoxha went to study at the University of Montpellier in France on a state scholarship for the faculty of natural science, but lost an Albanian state scholarship for neglecting his studies.

Enver Hoxha later went to Paris, where he presented himself to anti-Zogist immigrants as the brother-in-law of Bahri Omari.

Enver Hoxha taught French and morals in the Korca Liceum from 1937 to 1939 and served as the caretaker of the school library.

Enver Hoxha was helped by his best friend, Esat Dishnica, who introduced Hoxha to Dishnica's cousin Ibrahim Bicakciu.

Enver Hoxha started to sleep in Bicakciu's tobacco factory "Flora", and after a while Dishnica opened a shop with the same name, where Enver Hoxha began working.

Enver Hoxha was chosen from the "Korca group" as a Muslim representative by the two Yugoslav envoys as one of the seven members of the provisional Central Committee.

The First Consultative Meeting of Activists of the Communist Party of Albania was held in Tirana from 8 to 11 April 1942, with Enver Hoxha himself delivering the main report on 8 April 1942.

In July 1942, Enver Hoxha wrote "Call to the Albanian Peasantry", issued in the name of the Communist Party of Albania.

On 22 October 1944, the Committee became the Democratic Government of Albania after a meeting in Berat and Enver Hoxha was chosen as interim Prime Minister.

Enver Hoxha stressed the view that the Yugoslav Communist partisans spearheaded the Albanian partisan movement.

Enver Hoxha alleged that Tito had made it his goal to get Albania into Yugoslavia, firstly by creating the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Aid in 1946.

Koci Xoxe tried to stop Enver Hoxha from improving relations with Bulgaria, reasoning that Albania would be more stable with one trading partner rather than with many.

At the Eighth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party which lasted from 26 February to 8 March 1948, Xoxe was implicated in a plot to isolate Enver Hoxha and consolidate his own power.

Enver Hoxha accused Hoxha of being responsible for the decline in relations with Yugoslavia and stated that a Soviet military mission should be expelled in favor of a Yugoslav counterpart.

Enver Hoxha managed to remain firm and his support had not declined.

However, this meant that Albanian industrial development, which was stressed heavily by Enver Hoxha, would be hindered.

Enver Hoxha had not been consulted on this and was offended.

In 1956, Enver Hoxha called for a resolution which would confirm the existing leadership of the Party.

Enver Hoxha claimed that Yugoslavia had attempted to overthrow the leadership of Albania.

Enver Hoxha reacted by only sending Hysni Kapo, a member of the Albanian Political Bureau, to the Third Congress of the Romanian Workers' Party in Bucharest, an event Communist heads of state were normally expected to attend.

Enver Hoxha bared his fangs at us even more menacingly than the Chinese themselves.

On 7 November 1961, Enver Hoxha made a speech in which he called Khrushchev a "revisionist, an anti-Marxist and a defeatist".

Enver Hoxha portrayed Stalin as the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union and alluded to Albania's independence.

Enver Hoxha wrote criticisms which were based on theory and current events which occurred at the time; his most notable criticisms were his condemnations of Maoism after 1978.

Enver Hoxha's legacy included a complex of 173,371 one-man concrete bunkers across a country of 3 million inhabitants, to act as look-outs and gun emplacements along with chemical weapons.

At times it even reached an intensity which was as extreme as the personality cult of Kim Il Sung with Enver Hoxha being portrayed as a genius commenting on virtually all facets of life from culture to economics to military matters.

Enver Hoxha adopted a different type military salute for the People's Army to render honors which was known as the Hoxhaist Salute, which involves soldiers curling their right fist and raising it to shoulder level.

Enver Hoxha's governance was distinguished by his encouragement of a high birthrate policy.

Ideologically, Enver Hoxha found that Mao's initial views were in line with Marxism-Leninism, due to his condemnation of Nikita Khrushchev's alleged revisionism and his condemnation of Yugoslavia.

Enver Hoxha viewed this as a way for China to justify having the US as the "secondary enemy" while viewing the Soviet Union as the main one, thus allowing China to trade with the US He stated that:.

Enver Hoxha was chained to a chair, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks.

Enver Hoxha was shown a bullet that was supposedly meant for him and told that car engines starting within his earshot were driving victims to their executions, the next of which would be his.

Enver Hoxha believed that this division of Albanian society along religious and ethnic lines was a serious issue, because it fueled Greek separatists in southern Albania in particular and it divided the nation in general.

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun whose relatives resided in Albania during Enver Hoxha's rule, was denied a chance to see them because she was considered a dangerous agent of the Vatican.

Enver Hoxha, who had launched a "Cultural and Ideological Revolution" after being partially inspired by China's Cultural Revolution, encouraged communist students and workers to use more forceful tactics in order to discourage people from continuing their religious practices, but the use of violence was initially condemned.

In 1974, Enver Hoxha accused Beqir Balluku, Minister of Defence and longtime ally, of being an agent of China and attempting a coup d'etat, since Balluku had criticized Enver Hoxha's bunker program and stated that a US and Soviet invasion of Albania was unlikely.

Enver Hoxha sentenced Balluku and a group of his accused associates to death and appointed Mehmet Shehu as Minister of Defence.

In 1981, Enver Hoxha ordered the execution of several party and government officials in a new purge.

Enver Hoxha was condemned as a "traitor" to Albania and he was accused of operating in the service of multiple intelligence agencies.

Enver Hoxha wrote a large assortment of books during this period, resulting in over 65 volumes of collected works, condensed into six volumes of selected works.

In 1973, Enver Hoxha suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered.

Enver Hoxha left Albania with a legacy of isolation and fear of the outside world.

The surname Enver Hoxha is the Albanian variant of Hodja, a title given to his ancestors due to their efforts to teach Albanians about Islam.

Hysen Hoxha was Enver Hoxha's uncle and was a militant who campaigned vigorously for the independence of Albania, which occurred when Enver was four years old.