Liri Gega (1917 – December 1956) was an

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 ...

n communist activist and politician. The only female founder member of the Communist Party of Albania, she was one of the first group of women elected to parliament in 1945. However, she was later executed after being accused of being a Yugoslavian agent.

Biography

Gega was born in

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

in 1917,Wojciech Roszkowski & Jan Kofman (2016)
Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century
', p280 to Asija and Beso Gega, a pharmacist and mayor of the town. Her father’s roots may be from

northern Albania Northern Albania () is one of the three NUTS-2 regions of Albania, along with Central Albania and Southern Albania (). It consists of the counties of Dibër, Durrës, Kukës, Lezhë and Shkodër. Historically and in ethnography, Northern ...

as the surname Gega represents

Ghegs The Ghegs (also spelled Gegs; ) are one of the two main dialectal subgroups of Albanians, alongside the Tosks. These groups are distinguished by their linguistic characteristics. The Ghegs live in Albania (north of the Shkumbin r ...

usually. After graduating from the

Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute The Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute (), was a women's pedagogy, pedagogical high school, created in 1933 in Tirana, Albania. The Institute, authorized by Government Decree No. 666 on October 2, 1933, commenced operations on November 30, 1933. ...

in Tirana, she won a state scholarship to study in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. However, she was arrested in 1940 and imprisoned for nearly two years. She was the only female founder member of the Communist Party in 1941 and became a member of its politburo in March 1943. During the Congress of Përmet in May 1944 she was elected to the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council.Ligjvënësit Shqiptarë në Vite
Parliament of Albania In the same year she became secretary general of the Anti-Fascist Women's Union and the Anti-Fascist Youth Union. In August 1944 she murdered fellow politburo member

Mustafa Gjinishi Mustafa Gjinishi (15 January 1912 – 23 August 1944) was an Albanian communist from Peqin, central Albania. He was known for having opposed Enver Hoxha and the Italian invasion of Albania. Mustafa Gjinishi was a known figure fighting for Albani ...

under orders from Yugoslavian communists after he had made an agreement with the anti-communist

Balli Kombëtar The Balli Kombëtar (literally ''National Front'') was an Albanian nationalist, Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist, and anti-communist resistance movement during the Second World War. It was led by Ali Këlcyra a ...

. She was subsequently removed from the politburo in November, although she remained head of the Women's Union until 1946. Gega contested the December 1945 parliamentary elections in the Vlorë constituency, and was one of three women elected to the Constituent Assembly alongside Naxhije Dume and Ollga Plumbi. She married Dali Ndreu the following year. At a meeting of the Communist Party's central committee in 1948, Gega was accused of sympathising with separatists in northern Albania, political terror and sectarianism. This was a result of her opposition to eliminating the units that had operated in the area following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She was removed from the Assembly and subsequently worked as a teacher. In 1956 she and her husband were arrested while trying to leave Albania. She was charged with collaboration and the couple were executed for being '

Titoist Titoism is a Types of socialism, socialist political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito and refers to the ideology and policies of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) during the Cold War. It is characterized by a br ...

agents'. Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

claimed that Gega was pregnant at the time.Memorandum of Meeting with Khrushchev, Moscow
Wilson Center

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gega, Liri 1917 births People from Gjirokastër Albanian communists Party of Labour of Albania politicians Members of the Parliament of Albania Women members of the Parliament of Albania 20th-century Albanian educators 1956 deaths 20th-century women educators Executed Albanian people People executed by Albania Executed politicians Executed women 20th-century Albanian women politicians Women's International Democratic Federation people Executed communists