Kasëm Trebeshina
Kasëm Trebeshina | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 August 1926 Berat, Albania |
| Died | 6 November 2017 (aged 91) Ankara, Turkey |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | Albanian |
| Nationality | Albanian |
| Genre | fiction, short story, poetry |
| Notable works | Mekami, melodi turke; Odin Mondvalsen, Stina e Stinëve etc. |
Kasëm Trebeshina (Berat, 8 August 1926 – Ankara, 6 November 2017) was an Albanian member of national resistance during World War II part of the National Liberation Movement, an actor, translator and dissident writer.[1] He was one of the founders of the notorious communist secret police Sigurimi.[2][3]
Biography
Kasëm Trebeshina was born in Berat, originating from Vinokash in the region of Përmet, born to Hysen Vinokashi and Hatixhe Sanxhaktari. He was born in his mother's house in the "Murad Çelebi" neighbourhood in Berat, because Vinokash was burned by the greek andarts during the First Balkan War and the family settled in the plain of Myzeqe. He finished elementary education in his birthplace and continued high-school in Elbasan, he left school in order to join the resistance movement, due to his brother being arrested by the fascist authorities.
In 1942 he joined the National Liberation Movement during the World War II, during which he was injured badly in February 1944.[4] He fought in the region of Myzeqe and Mallakastër, after the injury he served in Vlora.[5] At this time Trebeshina committed two controversial murders: one without trial and one behind the back.[6] In the last days of the resistance Trebeshina was proposed to join the Department for People's Protection (Albanian name-sake of OZNA), but he did not accept. He continued in the serving as a military officer,[7] being banished at 8 January 1948.[8] During the years 1945-46 he served as assistant judge of Bilbil Klosi in some cases.[9]
In 1945, the communist dictator Enver Hoxha gave him the rank of First Captain, next to Kadri Hazbiu, Teme Sejko and Nesti Kerenxhi.[10] After the war, he studied at the "A. N. Ostrovsky" Institute in Leningrad, but did not remain long.[11] According to Edmond Cali and Nuri Dragoj he left the Ostrovsky Institute due to political quarrels[12][13]. However archival sources show he left it due to his desire to return to the army.[14] Trebeshina was one of the voices of dissent during the post-World War II era in Communist Albania, voice which got him arrested three times and even falsely proclaimed by the oppressive regime as a madman.[15] After he wrote a letter to Enver Hoxha, he left the party and later the League of Writers and Artists.[16] He was firstly arrested in 1953 and condemned with three years, yet served only 11 months of his sentence.[17] From 1955 to 1962 he did not work.[18] He was offered 5-6 jobs but refused them.[19] Although aware that Trebeshina was not working, the communist authorities who otherwise persecuted the so called "parasites", took no measures against him, nor did they pressure him to work. Due to this behavior, in 1962 the authorities finally decided to send him to internment for 5 years, a sentence which he didn't serve in full.[20] Afterwards was interned in Vlorë, Gramsh and Shijak. Then in 1965 he returned to Tirana, where he started a job at the National Library and afterwards at the "Naim Frashëri" publishing house as a reviser. He was relocated to irrigation works and since 1975 he stayed jobless according to his investigative file compiled by the Sigurimi.[7] Although sources claim he was imprisoned for 17 years,[16] Trebeshina acknowledged during an interview that he spent 13 years in prison.[21] Contrary to what his biographers claim, documents prove that by 1981 he had been in prison for only 11 months. He had also been 2 and a half years in internment.[22]
Trebeshina was always supported by the communist secret police Sigurimi. In 1981 they attempted unsuccessfully to save him from being sentenced to prison.[23] 1981 and 1982 were catastrophic for Trebeshina's friends in the secret police Sigurimi, some of them had died, others had been arrested so Trebeshina had lost his old supporters.[24]
All the oppressions Trebeshina faced during his lifetime would fuel, influence, and affect his literary work. After the infamous 1997 riot in Albania Trebeshina fled from Albania and migrated to Istanbul, Turkey.
Critical response
He was one of the very first writers in the world to write an elegy about Stalin's death.[25][26] In his poem about Stalin, Trebeshina reinforces the myth of Stalin as Prometheus and father of the world, the main myths of communist propaganda, and points out with admiration that both Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu are crying for Stalin.[27] Although the majority of literary works were written in accordance with socialist realism norms, one of the works that escaped these normes was Kënga Shqiptare (Albanian Song), in five volums, as well as other realist novels of Trebeshina.[28] He wrote the novel "Mekami", in the narrative "Kukudhi", the short novel "Kisha e Shën Kristoforit: Legjenda e Kostandinit dhe e Doruntinës", the novel "Rruga e Golgotës", short novel "Odin Mondvalsen" and the short novel "Hani i Begomires". It is clearly expressed in the memuaristic essays in the volume "Dafinat e thara", in the historical novel "Këngë shqiptare" and the novel "Tregtari i skeleteve", perfect example of intertextuality.[12]
Translations
His novel "Odin Mondvalsen" was translated into German by Hans-Joachim Lanksch, published in Klagenfurt in 1994. His memoirs-essays "Dafinat e thara" were translated in Italian by Edmond Çali, published in Rome in 2007.[29] Furthermore his novel Pylli - Evandri dhe Nausika (The Forest) was translated in French by Anne-Marie Autissier and published by L’Espace d’un Instant editions in 2011.[30]
Oeuvre
Most of his work was published after the fall of Communism, during the 1990s, which made him free to express his ideas in his works.[31] His literary works include:
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See also
References
- ^ Bavjola Shatro (2016). Between(s) and Beyond(s) in Contemporary Albanian Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 9781443899970.
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=46}
- ^ Kadare, Ismail (2012). Mosmarrëveshja: Shqipëria përballë vetvetes (in Albanian) (3 ed.). Tiranë: Onufri. pp. 270–271. ISBN 978-9928-186-54-6.
- ^ Dragoj 2007, p. 26-28
- ^ Kasëm Trebeshina (February 2007). "Ju tregoj për Luftën Civile dhe Ballin Kombëtar". Interviewed by Kastriot Kotoni.
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|pp=30-31}
- ^ a b "Biografia e Kasëm Trebeshinës në dosjen 1338 e Sigurimit të Shtetit". 31 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- ^ Dragoj 2007, p. 108
- ^ Kastriot Dervishi (24 March 2009). "Bilbil Klosi, gjykatësi komunist që dha shekuj burg dhe u mori jetën qindra antikomunistëve: krimet e komunizmit" (73). Newspaper 55: 2–3.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=47}
- ^ Segel 2012, p. 30
- ^ a b Edmond Çali (2010), Disidenca e Kasëm Trebeshinës dhe Ismail Kadaresë, Tiranë: Studime Albanologjike, 2010/2, XV, p. 210-216.
- ^ Dragoj 2007, p. 114-116
- ^ Kastriot Dervishi (28 October 2018). "Dokument i 1950/ Shkrimtari Kasem Trebeshina kërkonte ndërprerjen e studimeve të larta për…". Panorama. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- ^ Hamiti, Asllan. Sopaj, Nehas. "Gjuhe Shqipe dhe Letersi" p.250
- ^ a b Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Scarecrow Press. pp. 450–451. ISBN 9780810873803.
- ^ Bejko 2007, pp. 83
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=83}
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=146}
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=83}
- ^ "Intervistë-bisedë me shkrim me Kasëm Trebeshinën". Interviewed by Hans-Joachim Lanksch. 20 May 1994.
- ^ Bejko 2007, pp. 83
- ^ Bejko 2007, pp. 98
- ^ Bejko 2007, pp. 102–103
- ^ Shatro 2013, p. 55
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|pp=74-75}
- ^ {{Harvnb|Bejko|2007|p=74-75}
- ^ Çakirtas, Önder (2017). Ideological Messaging and the Role of Political Literature. IGI Global. p. 210. ISBN 9781522523925.
- ^ "Në italisht edhe Promemoria e shkrimtarit dërguar diktatorit". Gazeta shqiptare. 5 April 2012.
- ^ "Théâtre: "La forêt" de Kasëm Trebeshina". 10 September 2011.
- ^ Elsie, Robert, Trebeshina biography
Sources
- Bejko, Sadik (2007). Disidentët e rremë. Tiranë: 55.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Shatro, Bavjola (2016). Between(s) and Beyond(s) in Contemporary Albanian Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443899970.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Dragoj, Nuri (2007). Trebeshina: Një jetë para gjyqit. Tirana: Globus-R. ISBN 9789994353453.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Segel, Harold B. (2012). The Walls Behind the Curtain: East European Prison Literature, 1945-1990. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822978022.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1926 births
- 2017 deaths
- People from Berat
- 21st-century Albanian poets
- 21st-century Albanian writers
- 21st-century novelists
- Albanian-language writers
- Albanian novelists
- Albanian translators
- 20th-century Albanian poets
- Albanian dramatists and playwrights
- Albanian male short story writers
- 20th-century short story writers
- 21st-century short story writers
- 20th-century male writers
- 21st-century male writers