Said Bey Kryeziu (10 April 1911 - 16 May 1993), also known as Seit Bey or Seit Beg, was a Kosovo Albanian anti-communist resistance fighter.

Biography

Said Bey was born in

Gjakova Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographicall ...

, Vilayet of Kosovo,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He was a member of the influential Kryeziu family. His father, Riza Bey Kryeziu, was one of the activists of Albanian national movements during the early 20th century. In 1933 he went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he studied diplomacy for a short time. He returned from France and resided in Belgrade from 1939 to 1941, where he was supervised by the Yugoslav authorities and helped Albanians to go back and fight against the

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

. In 1941, after trying to launch an uprising in Albania, he was arrested together with his two brothers, Hasan and Gani, and imprisoned in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He was released in September 1943, and made it back to Kosovo where he came into contact with other anti-communist resistance fighters such as Llazar Fundo. During all this time he was in contact with British intelligence, in particular with

Julian Amery Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (27 March 1919 – 3 September 1996) was a British Conservative Party politician, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 39 of the 42 years between 1950 and 1992. He was appointed to the Pr ...

. He was captured by the Albanian partisans, but he was released through the intervention of Allied Headquarters in Bari. He then fled to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and reached

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in November 1944. Said was one of the co-founders, on 26 August 1949, of the

"Free Albania" National Committee "Free Albania" National Committee ( sq, Komiteti Kombëtar "Shqipëria e Lirë"), also known as "Free Albania" National-Democratic Committee, also National Committee for a Free Albania or NCFA, was a political organization of post-World War II Alb ...

, led by Mit'hat Frashëri, a parallel anti-communist government in exile. The committee ceased effectively functioning in 1955, after Albania joined the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

. Said moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1959 where he worked as a bank clerk, and he died there in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kryeziu, Said Bey 1911 births 1993 deaths Military personnel from Gjakova People from Kosovo vilayet Kosovo Albanians Albanian anti-communists 20th-century Albanian military personnel Said

Biography

See also

References