26 Facts About Mehmet Shehu

Mehmet Ismail Shehu was an Albanian communist politician who served as the Prime Minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1954 to 1981.

Mehmet Shehu was known as a close confidant of Enver Hoxha and served in various high-ranking positions in the government.

Mehmet Shehu then assumed the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1954 to 1981 and additionally served as Minister of People's Defense from 1974 to 1980.

Mehmet Shehu was often regarded as the right hand of Enver Hoxha and played a central role in Albania's political leadership during that era.

Mehmet Shehu was handed over by the Vichy government to the fascists who sent him to Tirana.

Mehmet Shehu left the company of his escort and joined the maquis and the Albanian Communist Party.

Commander of the 1st Brigade of the National Liberation Army since 1943, Mehmet Shehu took part in the Battle of Gjorm on January 1, Liberation of Tepelena on September 10 and liberation of Tirana on November 8,1944.

Mehmet Shehu shared power with Enver Hoxha from the end of the Second World War.

Persistent rumors remain that Mehmet Shehu was actually murdered on orders from Hoxha.

Mehmet Shehu was born into a Tosk Albanian family, with his father being an Albanian Muslim Imam.

Mehmet Shehu was born in Corrush, Mallakaster District, southern Albania.

Mehmet Shehu graduated in 1932 at the Tirana Albanian Vocational High School funded by the American Red Cross.

Mehmet Shehu joined the Communist Party of Spain and was a machine-gunner who rose to the command of the Fourth Battalion of the XIIth Garibaldi Brigade.

Mehmet Shehu was imprisoned in an internment camp in France and later was transferred to an Italian internment camp, where he joined the Italian Communist Party.

Mehmet Shehu volunteered for the war in Spain, illegally crossing the border between France and Spain in November 1937.

Mehmet Shehu became a member of the Spanish Communist Party in December 1937.

Mehmet Shehu remained there for 40 months and became a member of the Party Committee of the camp.

Mehmet Shehu was regarded as highly successful and victorious in battles such as Gjorm, Tepelena, and Tirana.

Mehmet Shehu served as a member of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation, the provisional government, from 1944 to 1945.

In 1948, Mehmet Shehu "expurgated" from the party the element who "tried to separate Albania from the Soviet Union and lead her under Belgrade's influence".

Mike Burke, the American spymaster who set up a 1950 paramilitary project to destabilize and oust the Albanian government, said in 1986 that Mehmet Shehu was "one tough son of a bitch", whose security forces gave US agents "a tough time".

Mehmet Shehu was considered Enver Hoxha's right-hand man and he was considered the second most powerful man in Albania.

Mehmet Shehu was one of those who formed the Chinese-Albanian alliance and initiated the break with the Soviet Union.

Mehmet Shehu had reached out to the governments of some western nations like Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany in an attempt to form diplomatic ties with them.

One of Mehmet Shehu's surviving sons later launched a campaign to prove that his father had, in fact, been murdered.

On November 19,2001, it was announced that Mehmet Shehu's remains had been found.