He was one of the arrested in November 1944, when the communists launched a campaign of murders and imprisonments of their enemies. Although he escaped punishment at that time, the beloved and well-prepared teacher of literature was fired. The scholar from Kosovo was deliberately left in the shadows, for all the years of his life, but by no means forgotten. The security filled his file and when he was almost 80 years old, they took him from his home on “Fortuzi” street and interned him in Çermë in Lushnje, where, due to the shock, he did not live more than four months. When you look at the photograph with the noble face, the radiant eyes of Prof. Jonuz Blakçori, Bajram Curri’s companion in Europe, the appearance of the wise scholar at the College of Saint Mitre Corona and the laureate of the University of Rome stands out.

Jonuz Blakçori was born in the village of Brojë in Lower Drenica on May 15, 1895. He received his first education in the city of Peja and attended the gymnasium in Skopje and then the “Normale” school in Elbasan. After that, he transferred to the Arbëresh school of Shën Mitër Koronë, together with Avni Rustemi.

At a young age, when Jonuzi lived in Kosovo, he participated in the national movement, distributing tracts and newspapers in support of the Albanian uprisings in Kosovo. Several times he had to interrupt his studies to participate in actions to protect the borders of Albania, unjustly truncated in 1913 by the Conference of Ambassadors in London.
In support of the Congress of Lushnja and its Government, he participated in the Koplik War of 1920, against Yugoslav aggression. In Koplik, Blakçori and other patriots gathered and sent volunteers to the Vlora War. In 1923, Jonuz Blakçori completed his studies in pedagogy, language and literature at the University of Rome.

Equipped with a broad culture, mastering Italian, French, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian, he returns to Albania. In that year, he is appointed education inspector in Berat. Later, he is sent as a teacher to the villages of Kurvelesh and Tepelena, charged with the task of opening new schools, welcomed by the parents, leaving pleasant memories with the students of those areas.

In addition to preparing textbooks and teaching, he also studied the local dialect and collected rich folklore, such as songs, proverbs, fairy tales, riddles, etc. In 1923-1924, he published some of these studies in the temporary "Pedagogical Magazine" in Tirana.

Elected to the presidency of the “Bashkimi” society in 1924, he resides in Tirana. He works as editor of the newspaper “Bashkimi” as well as in the Ministry of Education of the Fan Noli Government, as first secretary. After the fall of that government, he was exiled to Gramsh.

With the amnesty declared by King Zog, he returned to Tirana. Thanks to his skills and culture, honored by prominent figures in education and culture, including Hil Mosi and Mirash Ivanaj, in 1928 he worked as editor of the magazine "Mësuesi" and the newspaper "Telegraf".

Then he was appointed director of the National Library and teacher at the Tirana Gymnasium. During these years he would publish a detailed study of Machiavelli and various Albanological writings. He greeted the fascist invasion of April 7, 1939 with contempt. Taking advantage, like many others, of a certain concession by the invaders with the creation of an Albanian government, discussed by communist historians, he continued his work as a professor of Albanian language and literature at the School of Labor.

On June 23, 1941, according to an official document, the Minister of Education Ernest Koliqi, commissioned a mission to study the situation in Kosovo of primary and secondary education as well as to organize summer courses of the Albanian language for adults and children. At that time, he provided his assistance to Albanian schools in Kosovo and wrote optimistic articles, especially for the youth of Kosovo, against despair. He maintained a cold attitude towards the people, who were involved in an unclear and hopeless policy. He was convinced that the allies, led by the USA, would win the war.

The aftermath – more depressing than the war

From time to time, the professor would recall somewhat wearily the drama of his life towards the end of the war, when partisan brigades had approached the northern part of Tirana and often entered “Fortuzi Street”. One evening, as dusk had just fallen, five armed partisans appeared in the courtyard. They looked for the professor and escorted him to a gathering place, somewhere in Tirana.

He had brought with him, just in case, food and a sweater. When he entered the hall, he saw many people sitting among the benches. Many of them he knew, they were teachers, writers, lawyers, merchants, etc. He took a seat at the end. Among the anxious people, he noticed the well-known publicist Nebil Çika. Every now and then a soldier would appear and call out a name.

The one who was called out would leave and never return. The hall would sometimes fill with confused people, and sometimes it would seem to empty. Several bags of loot and food would remain there as if forgotten. Suddenly, a partisan approached Blakçor, looked at him intently, and asked:

– “You too, professor, here!? Do you recognize me?”

– “No!” he replied.

– “I am your student, 'Çakmaku'!” – the other added and took off his hat.

– “So!? Now you remember me. I'm glad!”

– “You'll have to wait a bit!” – the former student said and left.

The professor had a premonition that fate was helping him. At the time, as the new day was dawning, he was overcome by a slumber with meaningless dreams. He woke up restless and waited all day. Near evening he heard his name being called.

– “You are free, you can return home!” – another partisan announced.

This account also coincides with what is written in the book "Anthology of Communist Crime", published in 2006: "Dictator Enver Hoxha, from Berat, instructed: Eliminate all those who are not with us, who are an obstacle to implementing the decisions of our heroic party! Act without mercy."

Further: "As soon as night fell and until daybreak, the death squads with lists in their hands, would roll on - têhu, in the alleys of the capital, forcibly entering the homes of the marked, tying them with iron bars and ropes and taking them before the partisan headquarters, to the almighty Kristo Themelko ("Shule")

In 1945, Jonuz Blakçori was called to teach Albanian language and literature and Italian at the Tirana gymnasium. Later, in his old age, he would recount how, towards the end of the 1945-1946 school year, a war cadre appeared at the gymnasium, a short man with black eyebrows.

Someone whispered that he was an inspector from the Ministry of Education. Another said that he was the new principal. The teachers were told to gather in their hall. The professor was overcome by a bad feeling. The deputy principal, after escorting the newcomer through the classrooms, took him to the teachers' hall and pointed him out to them.

“This is comrade K. Baboçi, our new director,” he said. He spoke briefly, without sitting down. Finally, he read the names of the professors who would remain at the gymnasium from then on. “The others,” he added seriously, “will no longer work here. Clarifications will be made later.” Professor Blakçori did not hear his name. Thus, the patriot, freedom fighter, democrat, teacher, journalist, researcher, and eloquent professor was dismissed, without any explanation.

In those turbulent times, the Ministry of Education, following Yugoslav teachings, made a great debauchery, abolishing the eight-year gymnasiums, with classical and real programs. After the five-grade primary school, there were three-year universitarias, and then four-year high schools and three-year technical schools.

The unemployed teacher, Professor Blakçori, with the help of friends, tried to find work. Sometimes he was given hours as a substitute in a unique school, sometimes at the “Muhamet Gjollesha” Construction Company, or in the collection centers, as a simple clerk, sometimes as a temporary dormitory caretaker at the Agricultural School in Kamëz, depriving him of any opportunity to teach, not even in elementary schools.

So, in that state they left the capable professor, who could have excelled with lectures on Albanian and Italian language and literature in any university, even outside our country. At the peak of his maturity, he left with a small pension. His only daughter, Elizama, together with her husband, the well-known doctor Thoma Nano, often came and took care of him. Meanwhile, his friends did not forget him.

The studio that made light on "Fortuzi" street

Around the sixties, after a slight withdrawal of the dictatorship in education and culture, Blakçori opened a course in his studio with a few students and young citizens who wanted to learn the Italian and French languages, which had already been deleted from the school programs. And thus he recovered a little from the economic difficulties. In those years he finished two books, one about the life of Isa Buletini and the other about Bajram Curri.

He edits translations of young writers, etc. He adds his own translations of great poets, such as Petrarch, Leopardi and D'Annunzio, and reads them to friends. He visits or hosts old friends in his studio, such as Ahmet Gashi, a teacher and patriot heard from Kosovo, Xhevdet Dëshnica, a teacher and former president of the "Bashkimi" society for the Berat region, schoolmates and friends in efforts for education and democracy.

They talk openly about the problems of the time, about literature and its authors; they remember together their efforts for their homeland, life and society, etc. Meanwhile, he establishes connections with the Institute of Popular Culture.

He submits study files, former creations of his friends from their archives, and proverbs from folk tales, collected while working in education. It was not until 1983, when the professor was no longer alive, that some of those philosophical proverbs were included in one of the publications of the Academy of Sciences, prepared by the Institute of Popular Culture.

Those who passed by in the late hours, on the sidewalk of “Rruga Fortuzi”, noticed that the light of the studio, on the ground floor, remained on until late. The professor was working. One day, while thinking about the evolution of languages ​​in the world, he unintentionally made a mistake, writing a letter to the well-known publishing house “Zanichelli” in Italy, with requests for dictionaries and modern methods of Italian and French.

With the Italian publishing house

It was 1971. Professor Jonuz Blakçori, tall, with a beret on his head and a confident step, was going, according to an official announcement, to the “Dajti” hotel, towards a fateful meeting with one of the editors of the Italian Publishing House, who had come on duty, of course, for some contract with state institutions. Before going there, he sought the opinion of the Internal Affairs Branch.

– “There's nothing to worry about. Go meet him!” – they told him.

The Italian official, after a simple and cordial conversation, handed over the requested books, with which, after the meeting, the professor went back to the Internal Affairs Branch.

– “Okay. Don't worry, you'll be fine!” – the boss said, after casting a cold glance at the books.

Their arrival, on the one hand, raised the quality of teaching higher, and, on the other hand, the State Security increased its vigilance, with surveillance and eavesdropping. Of course, it sent its man to learn Italian and listen to what the old man from Peja had to say about Kosovo, what he said about European culture, what books were hidden lined up on the shelves behind the cherry curtains. So the trap was set inside the studio.

Finally, 1975 arrived, the black year of “revolutionary vigilance”, against “agencies”, “agents”, “poly-agents”, “putschists”, the time when, due to endless injustices, Enver Hoxha would suffer a heart attack. On the cold night of January 8, there was a knock at the professor’s house, who in four months would turn 80 years old. He was told to get dressed and take his personal belongings with him. They tied his hands and sent him away. After a terrifying journey, he learned that he was in the Çerma camp, in Lushnje.

From the conversations of the boys who happened to be nearby, he understood that it was about Albanian boys from Kosovo, interned there years ago. So, the tragedy was not being shared with the Albanian sons of Kosovo, with constant persecution, not only in their homeland, but also in their motherland. In addition to the physical suffering, what was happening was a grave humiliation, which hit like a hammer on the head and in the exhausted soul of the Albanian nation.

Insulted and shocked, in April 1975, Jonuz Blakçori, the freedom fighter, "communist", professor and publicist from Peja, passed away in the hospital of Lushnja, with all the care of his compatriots, who stood over him, like their own sons, disappointed in the barracks of the extermination camp, the shame that would follow the communist regime, with the collapse of idols and clay walls. The news crossed the border and depressed Peja and the cities of Kosovo.

Passersby, walking along the sidewalk of "Fortuzi Street" in Tirana, noticed that behind the fir trees, the studio window no longer let in any light. A sad shadow covered the house and them./ Memorie.al