19 Facts About Fadil Hoxha

Fadil Hoxha was a Yugoslavian ethnic-Albanian communist revolutionary and politician from Kosovo.

Fadil Hoxha was a member of the Communist Party and fought in the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II.

Fadil Hoxha continued his education in the town of Shkoder and later in Elbasan.

In 1939, during fascist Italy's invasion of Albania, Fadil Hoxha became active in the emerging resistance movement against the Italian occupation.

Fadil Hoxha worked as a teacher before returning to Kosovo in 1941, where he joined the partisan movement.

Fadil Hoxha was instrumental in the Kosovo communist movement's efforts at adopting a resolution at the Bujan Conference of 1943, which expressed the wish of Kosovo for national self-determination and unification with Albania.

Fadil Hoxha led efforts to advance Kosovo's constitutional status in a series of constitutional reforms that took place in Yugoslavia.

Fadil Hoxha fought for the expansion of federal aid and development programs in Kosovo, which led to Kosovo's rapid industrialization throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Fadil Hoxha led or otherwise supported political battles for the expansion of cultural and educational institutions in the Albanian language, leading to the virtual eradication of illiteracy among the Albanian population and the establishment of the Albanian-language University of Pristina in 1970, as well as a Kosovo Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In practice, given the grave cultural and economic backwardness which previous regimes had left Albanians in Kosovo, Fadil Hoxha believed that overcoming the disadvantages faced by Albanians required special affirmative measures both within Kosovo and at the federal level.

Fadil Hoxha consistently initiated or supported policies which would address these problems, including expanding the educational opportunities of Albanians, expanding Yugoslav programs supporting industrial development in Kosovo, and policies addressing the relative inequality of Albanians in employment, who had disproportionately high unemployment rates.

Fadil Hoxha held a number of high posts in Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Fadil Hoxha served as president of the Assembly of the Kosovo Autonomous Province from 1945 to February 1953, and again from June 1967 to May 1969, and chairman of the executive council from 1953 to 1963.

Fadil Hoxha received the title of People's Hero of Yugoslavia.

Fadil Hoxha was expelled from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and in 1991 the Milosevic government tried him for treason.

In 1990, Fadil Hoxha became a supporter of the Democratic League of Kosovo and its leader Ibrahim Rugova, in its struggle for an independent Kosovo.

Fadil Hoxha supported the NATO intervention during the Kosovo War.

Fadil Hoxha died of natural causes in 2001, and was buried with high honours in his home town of Gjakova.

Fadil Hoxha has published his wartime diary Kur pranvera vonohet [When Spring is Late] and a three-volume collection of speeches and articles in Jemi ne shtepine tone [This is our Home], both published in Serbian and Turkish editions in addition to the original Albanian.