Anton Harapi (5 January 1888 – 20 February 1946) was an Albanian Franciscan friar, educator, lecturer, publicist, and political figure during World War II. In the first years of the communist regime in Albania, he was executed due to collaboration with the Axis.[1]

Anton Harapi
Portrait of Anton Harapi
Born(1888-01-05)5 January 1888
Died20 February 1946(1946-02-20) (aged 58)
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
NationalityAlbanian
EducationCatholic theology
Occupations
Signature

Biography

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Early life

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Anton Harapi was born on January 5, 1888, in Shiroka and educated in Shkodër.[2]

From 1923 to 1931, he taught at the Franciscan college in Shkodër and was its director. Harapi wrote the book titled “Andrra e pretashit” translated to Pretash’s dream. It is based on a dream by Pretash Cuka Berishaj a highlander from then village of Priften inside the mountain of Gruda, (Harapi worked in the nearby Church Kisha Grudes, one of the oldest Catholic Churches in all of the Balkans).[3]

 
Members of the Albanian cabinet - from left to right: Fuat Dibra, Mihal Zallari, Mehdi Frashëri, Father Anton Harapi, Rexhep Mitrovica and Vehbi Frashëri

Death

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The court was led by General Judge Irakli Bozo and the prosecution was led by Misto Treska.[4][5] The Military Court sought their execution and confiscation of their property as Axis Collaborators.[4][5]

References

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  1. ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. (1990). Catholicism and Politics in Communist Societies. Christianity under stress. Vol. 2. Duke University Press. p. 241. ISBN 9780822310105.
  2. ^ "Hermann Neubacher, 1956: A Nazi Diplomat on Mission in Albania". Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  3. ^ Murzaku, Ines Angjeli (2009). Returning Home to Rome: The Basilian Monks of Grottaferrata in Albania. Analekta Kryptoferris. ISBN 978-88-89345-04-7.
  4. ^ a b "Persekutimi dhe ekzekutimi i Lef Nosit nga diktatura komuniste" [The persecution and execution of Lef Noso by communist dictatorship]. Observatori (in Albanian). 24 January 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  5. ^ a b Pearson, Owen (2006). Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume III: Albania as Dictatorship and Democracy. I.B.Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1-84511-105-2.