Abdyl Këllezi (20 August 1919 – 17 May 1977) was an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

n politician of the

Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

. He served as

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of the

Assembly of the Republic of Albania The Parliament of Albania ( sq, Kuvendi i Shqipërisë) or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to ...

from 10 September 1966 to 13 January 1969.

Life and activity

Këllezi was born in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

on 20 August 1919. He studied business administration in the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

, and later pursued military studies in

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 ...

. Due to his

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...

activities he was arrested in 1939 and interned in the famous

Ventotene Ventotene (; locally ; la, Pandataria or , from grc, Πανδατερία, Pandatería, or ) is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy. The municipality ...

. He stayed there until 1941, but was arrested again soon-after in 1942 and spent some more time in prison. After his release, he joined the

LANC Lanc may refer to: __NOTOC__ Organizations * National-Christian Defense League (Romanian: ), a Romanian political party * National Liberation Movement (Albania) (Albanian: or LANÇ), an Albanian World War II resistance organization People * Arthu ...

for what remained from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, while being elected member of the General Council of LANC since 1943. In 1944 Këllezi was member of the military

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

of the new government.
From 1945 to 1946 he served as Director of the

State Bank A state bank is generally a financial institution that is chartered by a federated state, as opposed to one regulated at the federal or national level. State banks differ from a reserve bank in that it does not necessarily control monetary polic ...

. Afterwards he held several positions:

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

during 1948-1953 and 1954–1958, Chairman of the State Planning Commission 1968–1975, Deputy

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

June 1958–March 1966, Chairman of the Sino-Albanian Friendship Association 1959–1975, member of the Central Committee of the Labor Party of Albania from June 1956 to 1975, and member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania 1971–1975, and Chairman of the Parliament of Albania from September 1966 to January 1969.

Demise

In 1975, together with

Kiço Ngjela Kiço Ngjela (25 December 1917 – 16 June 2002) was an Albanian politician of the Albanian Party of Labour (PPSh). Ngjela was born in Sheper (Zagori region) of the Gjirokastër District in Albania. In 1945 he became a member of the Constituent ...

(Minister of Trade) and Koço Theodhosi (Minister of Industry and Mines), Këllezi was accused of "grave revisionist mistakes". His sentence included having infiltrated agents of UDBA disguised as trade officials, having favored

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

in the Albanian-Yugoslavian commerce, having tried to sabotage

Self-Reliance "Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false con ...

by pushing unnecessary trade with Western countries, as well as Asian and African "Revisionist" countries, etc. The seventh congress of the Labour Party (26–29 May 1975) marked his fate. He was released from all duties, arrested and later executed.

References

1919 births 1976 deaths Politicians from Tirana Labour Party of Albania politicians Members of the Politburo of the Labour Party of Albania Candidate members of the Politburo of the Labour Party of Albania Government ministers of Albania Deputy Prime Ministers of Albania Finance ministers of Albania Governors of the Bank of Albania Speakers of the Parliament of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Communism in Albania Albanian anti-fascists Albanian resistance members Executed politicians Executed Albanian people People executed by Albania by firing squad {{Albania-politician-stub