Ibrahim Aqif Biçakçiu (also known as Ibrahim Biçaku) (10 September 1905 – 4 January 1977) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

landowner and

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

collaborator, Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee from 14 September to 24 October 1943, and Prime Minister of Albania from 6 September to 26 October 1944 during the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

Biography

Early life

Born in 1905,

Elbasan Elbasan ( , ; sq-definite, Elbasani, ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in centr ...

which was located in the

Manastir vilayet The Vilayet of Manastir () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, created in 1874, dissolved in 1877 and re-established in 1879. The vilayet was occupied during the First Balkan War in 1912 and divided between t ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, today modern day central

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. Ibrahim Biçakçiu was the son of

Aqif Pasha Biçakçiu Aqif Pasha Biçaku mostly known as Aqif Pashë Elbasani (1860 – 10 February 1926) was an Ottoman Albanian political figure in the Sanjak of Elbasan and after the Young Turk Revolution became an activist for the Albanian national cause. Life Aqi ...

of Elbasan and the grandson of Mustafa Pasha Biçakçiu, patriarch of one of the three landowning influential and respected

families of the town. His grandmother Shefikat Hanëm Alizoti was from the Alizoti family, which made him the he cousin of Esad Pasha Toptani and his family. His mother was Ifete Hanëm Vrioni of the Vrioni family. His surname, derived from Turkish ''bıçakçı'', means "knifesmith" suggesting that was his ancestors craft/ profession (cognate with the

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

surname Bičakčić). His family helped in the Independence of Albania and it was through his family's influence that he grew up with the same ideology and beliefs.

World War II

In 1943, together with Bedri bey Pejani and Xhafer Deva, he helped found a national committee of twenty-two Albanian and Kosovo Albanian leaders, which declared Albania independent from fascist occupation and which elected an executive committee to form a provisional government.

Prime minister

Following a week of negotiations, Ibrahim Biçaku agreed to lead a new and small government after

Fiqiri Dine Colonel Fiqri Dine (5 May 1897 or 3 August 1897 – 26 November 1960) was Prime Minister of Albania under Nazi Germany's military occupation. He was the chieftain of the Dine clan from Debar.Albania's national liberation struggle: the bitter vict ...

. Although Biçaku was the perfect friend of Germany, his reign was nevertheless quite incompetent. This was mainly because Germany was on the brink of defeat and the Albanian partisans were moving out, ready to strike.

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 ov ...

paper noted that he had headed the provisional executive committee exactly one year earlier, prior to the construction of the Mitrovica government. Biçaku had become, once again, the front man for the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

. It was noted that Biçaku would occasionally play Ping-Pong with Ambassador .

After the war

Despite many of the Ballists fleeing

after the Communists announced their victory, Biçakçiu, like Anton Harapi and Cafo Beg Ulqini, chose not to leave and decided that he would rather die in his country of birth than on foreign soil. He was arrested by communist forces in Shkodra on 6 December 1944 and was sentenced to life in prison at the Special Court in Tirana on 13 April 1945. He spent most of his years in prison in Burrel and was released on 5 May 1962 in Elbasan. In his last years he was given a job as a public lavatory cleaner in Elbasan. Biçakçiu died on 4 January 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biçaku, Ibrahim Bej 1905 births 1977 deaths People from Elbasan People from Manastir vilayet Government ministers of Albania Prime ministers of Albania Balli Kombëtar Albanian anti-communists Albanian people of World War II Albanian collaborators with Nazi Germany Albanian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Ibrahim Heads of government who were later imprisoned Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Albania