Liri Belishova
Personal details
Born14 October 1926
Mallakastër, Albania
Died23 April 2018 (aged 91),
Tirane, Albania
Political partyParty of Labour of Albania
Spouse(s)Nako Spiru (1946–1947)
Maqo Çomo (m. 1958–1998)
Children1
EducationQueen Mother Pedagogical Institute
Signature

Liri Belishova (14 October 1926[1] – 23 April 2018) was an Albanian politician. She was a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania and an important political figure in Albania between 1944 and 1960.[2]

Life

Born in the village of Belishovë, Mallakastër, Belishova was the daughter of Albanian patriot Kamber Belishova, a participant in the Congress of Durrës[3] and the Vlora War.

Belishova attended the Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute in Tirana, along with Nexhmije Hoxha, Ramize Gjebrea, Fiqrete Shehu and Vito Kapo. She joined the National Liberation Movement of Albania and lost one eye.[4] During 1946-47, she was Albania's Popular Youth (Rinia Popullore) president. The death of her husband, Nako Spiru, in 1946, an alleged suicide, led to her dismissal from her role and she was sent from Tirana to Berat to teach.[4]

After Nako Spiru was rehabilitated, as a result of the Yugoslav–Albanian split, in 1948, Belishova was rehabilitated as well, and became a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1948-60.[5]

She attended, along with Ramiz Alia, the Marxist–Leninist institute of the Moscow State University from 1952 to 1954, and married during this period her second husband, Maqo Çomo, who was Minister of Agriculture during 1954–60.[6]

In 1960, during the Soviet–Albanian split, Belishova was arrested on charges of being pro-Soviet and a friend of Nikita Khrushchev. She, her husband Çomo and old communist Koço Tashko had protested against Enver Hoxha's unilateral decision to take a pro-Chinese stance, warning about the consequences of a split with the Soviets.[7] She was purged as a traitor and enemy of the Party and people.[8]

On 9 November 1960, her family was moved to a state-owned farm in Gjirokastër District, where she worked as a teacher and her husband as the farm director. After that, they were expelled from the Party and interned in Kuç near Vlorë, later in Progonat, Zvërnec, and Cërrik. In 1991, Belishova returned to Tirana.[2]

Family

Belishova had a daughter, Drita Çomo (1958 – 1981), from her husband, Maqo Çomo. Drita Çomo, a poet, died from cancer at age 23. Drita's works, most notably Dritë që vjen nga humnera (English: "Light that comes from the abyss") were published posthumously in Albania.[9]

Death

Belishova died in 2018, aged 91.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kush ishte Liri Belishova, e vetmja që kërkoi falje për komunizmin
  2. 1 2 Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6.
  3. ↑ Shqipenia me 1937 (PDF) (in Albanian), vol. I, Komisioni i Kremtimeve te 25-vjetorit te Vete-qeverrimit, 1937, pp. 40–41, archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2015
  4. 1 2 "Albanian Daily News".
  5. ↑ Martin McCauley, Stephen Carter (1986), Leadership and Succession in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China, Armonk, NY, p. 159, ISBN 9780873323468
  6. ↑ Hilë Lushaku (6 February 2013), Historia e internimit të Maqo Çomos pas ndëshkimit të bashkëshortes Liri Belishova [The story of the Maqo Como internment after the punishment of his wife Liri Belishova] (in Albanian), Tirana Observer Online
  7. ↑ Owen Pearson (2007), Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History, vol. III: Albania as Dictatorship and Democracy, 1945–99, I. B. Tauris, p. 573, ISBN 978-1845111052
  8. ↑ Peter Prifti (1978), Socialist Albania since 1944: domestic and foreign developments, Studies in communism, revisionism, and revolution, vol. 23, MIT Press, p. 102, ISBN 9780262160704
  9. ↑ Si e vrane drita Comon, from Aleko Likaj, prishtinapress.info; accessed 25 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Ndërron jetën në moshën 91-vjeçare Liri Belishova, top-channel.tv; accessed 25 April 2018.
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