Albanian Lictor Youth ( al, Djelmnia e Liktorit Shqiptar, it, Gioventù del Littorio Albanese, abbreviated G.L.A.) was a youth organization which served as the youth wing of the

Albanian Fascist Party The Albanian Fascist Party ( sq, Partia Fashiste Shqiptare, or PFSh) was a fascist organisation active during World War II which held nominal power in Albania from 1939, when the country was invaded by Italy, until 1943, when Italy capitulated to ...

. The Albanian Lictor Youth was one of the associated organizations of the Albanian Fascist Party, as stipulated in its statute, which was formulated in a decree of the Italian vicegerent issued on 2 June 1939. Giovanni Giro, an Italian fascist official, had been sent to Albania to organize a fascist youth movement there prior to the Italian annexation of the country. However, these efforts had been largely unsuccessful. On the contrary, his activities created various diplomatic incidents.Fischer, Bernd Jürgen.
Albania at War: 1939-1945
'. London: Hurst, 1999. pp. 45 Following the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939,

Achille Starace Achille Starace (; 18 August 1889 – 29 April 1945) was a prominent leader of Fascist Italy before and during World War II. Early life and career Starace was born in Sannicola, province of Lecce, in southern Apulia. His father was a wine and oi ...

, a leading fascist organizer, was sent to Albania to set up the Albanian Fascist Party and the Albanian Fascist Youth. ENGA, an Albanian youth organization modelled after the Italian ''

Opera Nazionale Balilla Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party. It takes its name fr ...

'' organization merged into GLA. After the founding of the GLA, Giro remained the main organizer of the movement. The GLA was modelled after the Italian Youth of the Lictor, and was politically under the command of its Italian counterpart.Trani, Silvia.
L'Unione fra l'Albania e l'Italia
The uniforms of GLA were similar to those used in Italy.

'' Girls were organized in Female Youth of the Lictor (''Gioventù Femminile del Littorio'') and boys under fourteen years of age were organized in ''Balilla'' groups. Parallel to the Youth of the Lictor there were also groups of university fascists, but these groups were rather marginal as Albania had few universities. The Italian authorities built a marble palace for the GLA 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 ...

, in the same complex as the ''Casa del Fascio'', one of a series of lavish façades that popped up in the city during Italian rule.Consociazione Turistica Italiana.
Albania
'. Milan, 1940. p. 153 The organization's press organ was ''Liktori'' (Lictor) newspaper, with

Ligor Buzi Ligor Buzi (1915–1994) was an Albanian-Americans, Albanian-American journalist. Buzi is remembered as one of the early pro-Fascists in Albania. After World War II, he settled in US and played an active role as member of the Albanian-American ...

as editor. Ramiz Alia, who served as head of state of Albania in 1985-1992, had been a member of the fascist youth movement, but later left it and in 1943 he joined the Communist resistance movement.

References

{{Authority control Fascist organizations Youth wings of political parties in Albania Youth organizations established in 1939 Albania in World War II 1939 establishments in Albania Youth wings of fascist parties