Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 18, 1981) was an Albanian

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician who served as the Prime Minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1954 to 1981. He was known as a close confidant of

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

and served in various high-ranking positions in the government. Shehu was Chief of the General Staff of the Albanian People's Army from 1946 to 1948 and later served as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 1948 to 1954. He then assumed the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from 1954 to 1981 and additionally served as Minister of People's Defense from 1974 to 1980. Shehu was often regarded as the right hand of Enver Hoxha and played a central role in Albania's political leadership during that era. In 1938, he joined the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and fought as an officer in the 4th Battalion of the Italian Garibaldi Brigade. A member of the Spanish Communist Party, he moved to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

after Franco's victory and was interned there from 1939 to 1942. He was handed over by the

Vichy government Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

to the fascists who sent him to

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 ...

. He left the company of his escort and joined the maquis and the Albanian Communist Party. Commander of the 1st Brigade of the National Liberation Army since 1943, Mehmet Shehu took part in the Battle of Gjorm on January 1, Liberation of Tepelena on September 10 and liberation of Tirana on November 8, 1944. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist partisans may well have failed in their battle to win Albania for the Marxist-Leninist cause, Shehu exhibited an ideological understanding and work ethic that singled him out for rapid promotion in the communist party.Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia, Volume 1 Author Bernard A. Cook Publisher Taylor & Francis, 2001 , Mehmet Shehu shared power with

from the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

. According to official Albanian government sources, he killed himself on December 18, 1981, after which his family was arrested. Persistent rumors remain, however, that Shehu was actually murdered on orders from Hoxha.

Early life

Mehmet Shehu was born into a

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 ...

family, with his father being an Albanian Muslim

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

. He was born in Çorrush, Mallakastër District,

southern Albania Southern Albania () is one of the three NUTS-2 Regions of Albania. It consists of five counties: Berat, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korçë and Vlorë. Combined, they have a population of 700,000 as of the 2023 census. The southwestern part of the c ...

. Shehu graduated in 1932 at the Tirana Albanian Vocational High School funded by the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

. His focus was on agriculture. Unsuccessful in finding employment within the Ministry of Agriculture he managed to get a scholarship to attend the Nunziatella military academy of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

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. After being expelled from this school for his pro-Communist sympathies in 1936 he gained entry to the Tirana Officers School, but he left the following year after volunteering to fight for the republican side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He joined the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

and was a machine-gunner who rose to the command of the Fourth Battalion of the XIIth ''Garibaldi'' Brigade. After the defeat of the Republican forces he was arrested in France in early 1939 as he was retreating from Spain along with his friends. He was imprisoned in an

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

camp in

and later was transferred to an Italian internment camp, where he joined the Italian Communist Party.

Partisan life

Shehu volunteered for the war in Spain, illegally crossing the border between France and Spain in November 1937. Once in Spain, he joined the 13th Interbrigade (the Garibaldi Brigade) and quickly rose to become the Deputy Commander of the 4th Battalion of the Garibaldi Brigade. He became a member of the Spanish Communist Party in December 1937. After the war in Spain, when the

and the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

withdrew to France, Shehu was interned on February 9, 1939, in a French concentration camp by the regimes of Daladier, Paul Reynaud, and Pétain. He remained there for 40 months and became a member of the Party Committee of the camp. Mehmet Shehu's military career began in 1942 when he returned to Albania under Italian occupation and promptly joined the Albanian Communist Party and the Albanian resistance in Mallakastra. He was regarded as highly successful and victorious in battles such as Gjorm, Tepelena, and

. By 1943, he had been elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Due to his military expertise, he quickly rose to become the commander of the 1st Partisan Assault Brigade in August 1943. Subsequently, he led the 1st Partisan Assault Division of the National Liberation Army. He served as a member of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation, the provisional government, from 1944 to 1945. In 1944, he was promoted to Major General and became the Second Assistant to the Chief of Staff.

Military career

After Albania was liberated from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupation in November 1944, Shehu became the deputy chief of the general staff and, after he studied in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, became the chief of the general staff. Later, he was also a lieutenant general and a full general. In 1948, Shehu "expurgated" from the party the element who "tried to separate Albania from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and lead her under

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

's influence". This made him the nearest person to

and brought him high offices. After the purge of Koçi Xoxe, he took over the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, he remained in Hoxha's shadow. From 1948, he was a member of the Central Committee and the

Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania The Politburo () was the leading organ of the Party of Labour of Albania. It comprised key government ministers and Central Committee secretaries and served as the main administrative and policy-making body, convening on a weekly basis. The follow ...

, and, from 1948 to 1953, he was a secretary of the Central Committee. He lost the latter position on June 24 when Enver Hoxha gave up the posts of Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs while retaining the premiership. Hoxha was probably not willing to yield too much power to him. From 1948 to 1954 he was deputy prime minister (deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers) and Minister of Internal Affairs. The latter post made him commander of the secret police, the

Sigurimi The Directorate of State Security (, DSSh), commonly called the ''Sigurimi'', was the National security, state security, Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence and secret police service of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. I ...

. In 1954, he succeeded Hoxha as

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. From 1974 he was also the Minister of People's Defence while from 1947 to his death he was a deputy of the People's Assembly.

Hard line man

During the war, Shehu won a reputation for brutality. Mike Burke, the American spymaster who set up a 1950 paramilitary project to destabilize and oust the Albanian government, said in 1986 that Shehu was "one tough son of a bitch", whose security forces gave U.S. agents "a tough time". During the discussion at the Meeting of 81 Communist and Workers' Parties in November 1960,

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 ...

asked Shehu if he had any criticisms of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, to which Shehu replied: "Yes, not getting rid of you!"

Last years

Shehu was considered Enver Hoxha's right-hand man and he was also considered the second most powerful man in Albania. For 40 years, Hoxha was Shehu's friend and closest comrade. On his 50th birthday in 1963, Hoxha honored Shehu by attaching his name to the name of the local military-political academy, it was named the " Mehmet Shehu Military Academy". Shehu was one of those who formed the Chinese-Albanian alliance and initiated the break with the Soviet Union (December 1961). His relationship with Hoxha was damaged, however, when his son married a woman who had anti-Communist relatives who lived in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. This situation led to a meeting of the Politburo with regard to his future. On December 17, 1981, he was found dead in his bedroom, (lying in his bed, wearing sunglasses, a shirt and pyjamas) with a bullet wound to his chest. According to the official announcement on Radio Tirana, he killed himself in a nervous breakdown. Many of his contemporaries, including his personal bodyguard, have repeatedly claimed that he was murdered. No official investigation into the matter has been conducted since the fall of the regime. After his death, Shehu was accused of spying, not only for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, but also for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

as well. In Hoxha's book ''The Titoites'' (1982) several chapters are dedicated to Shehu's denunciation. In 1982, the Party of Labour issued a second edition of its official history, removing all references to Shehu. Reportedly, Shehu had begun to denounce Hoxha's isolationism. He had reached out to the governments of some western nations like Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany in an attempt to form diplomatic ties with them. Albanians speculated that Hoxha, who was in the last years of his life, wanted to secure his legacy and he did not want a successor who might outshine him. He was denounced as a “ people’s enemy” and he was buried in a wasteland near the village of Ndroq near Tirana. Shehu’s family was also punished. His widow, Fiqerete, (born Sanxhaktari) and two of his sons were arrested without any explanation and later they were imprisoned on different pretexts. One son died by suicide and his widow died in prison in 1988. One of Shehu's surviving sons later launched a campaign to prove that his father had, in fact, been murdered. After the

fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

and after his release from prison in 1991, Mehmet Shehu's younger son Bashkim started a search for his father's remains. On November 19, 2001, it was announced that Mehmet Shehu's remains had been found. A fictionalised account of Mehmet Shehu's fall and death is the subject of

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual, focusing on poetry until the publication of his first novel ...

's novel ''The Successor'' (2003).

Ideology

During his leadership, Shehu was often characterized as a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

figure with a staunch anti- Yugoslavist and anti-Revisionist stance Additionally, his ideology was sometimes perceived as reflecting elements of bourgeois nationalism, emphasizing the interests of certain elite groups within Albanian society. Moreover, he was seen as holding discriminatory views towards minorities such as the Roma whom he wanted to exterminate, and in 1960, he attempted to ban Roma from entering Albanian cities.

References

Bibliography

*Shehu, Duro. ''Mehmet Shehu: Im vëlla'', Tirana, Bota Shqiptare: 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shehu, Mehmet 1913 births 1981 deaths People from Mallakastër Albanian former Sunni Muslims Albanian atheists Albanian communists Party of Labour of Albania politicians Members of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Government ministers of Albania Prime ministers of Albania Deputy prime ministers of Albania Defence ministers of Albania Albanian generals Anti-revisionists Albanian people of the Spanish Civil War International Brigades personnel Albanian resistance members People's Socialist Republic of Albania Albanian politicians who died by suicide Suicides by firearm in Albania Nunziatella Military School alumni