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Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of Korça, between ideologies and resistance

2025-10-12 12:36:00, Kulturë CNA
Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of
Lazar Zai Fundo

Ali Bey Këlcyra occupies an important place in Albanian history as a multifaceted figure, historian, MP, essayist, journalist, and political activist.

He was among the main organizers and leaders of the Vlora War, as well as one of the most important leaders of the National Front.

The historical anthology "Writings on the History of Albania", which has been presented to the public after archival research by researcher Tanush Frashëri, includes materials authored by Ali Këlcyra that address key periods of Albanian history, from 1912 to 1945, offering a complete overview of the developments of the war and the beginnings of Albanian political emigration.

Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of

Among Ali Këlcyra's numerous contributions reflected in the historical anthology, it is worth mentioning his writings dedicated to the figure of Llazar (Zai) Fundo, the latter an influential personality in the political and ideological history of 20th-century Albania.

In March 1936, the Albanian political emigration in exile experienced one of the most important moments of internal organization and reassessment of its political goals. In a meeting with representatives of the three main groups of the time, including new figures from Albania, the political situation in the country and the role of the diaspora in the fight against the regime were analyzed. The group called "Çlirimi Nacional" had undergone changes and among the figures who had requested to return to Albania was Llazar (Zai) Fundo.

“In March 1936, the leaders of the Albanian emigration held a meeting, which was attended by representatives of all three existing groups as well as new comrades who had come from Albania after the Fier Movement. There, the internal situation and the general situation of the Albanian emigration were analyzed in detail.

There were few people left of the liberators (National Liberation), since Fundo (Zai) had also asked to return to Albania. The OBK, just like in 1925, when the regime declared a general amnesty, insisted on continuing the war, despite the powerful propaganda of Mehdi Frashëri, who had recently come to power (1935-1936), to attract emigration within the country. Mustafa Kruja's proposal for a ceasefire and other issues was rejected by all participants. It is worth noting that during the period of emigration from 1924 to 1939, between the OBK, and especially myself, and the exponents of the liberation movement, there was no obstacle to sitting around a table and talking fraternally to find a way to best serve the homeland, which became impossible during the emigration after 1944,” it says, among other things, on page 139 of this book.

Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of

Further in his memoirs, Ali Bey Këlcyra says that in 1941 he made various trips to cities in Albania and the main goal was to lay the foundations for organizing the resistance. Korça became one of the most important centers of discussions and organizational efforts for the resistance against the invaders. Ali Bey Këlcyra, sheltered for several days in the house of Lutfi Zavalani, describes daily meetings with Fazlli Frashëri and Zai Fundo, where they discussed at length about the ways of organizing the national movement secretly. According to Këlcyra's testimony, despite the differences in Korça, a climate was created where the initiative for organization was accepted with enthusiasm and a secret network was built, combat material was provided and preparations were made to launch actions at the right moment.

“In Korça I went down to the house of Lutfiu (Zavalanin), my aunt’s son, where I stayed for a few days. Fazlli Frashëri and Fundua (Zai) came there every day. The four of us, the two of them and me and Lutfiu, talked for a long time about the method of organizing the secret resistance. Fundua was of the opinion that all opponents of the situation created by the occupation should enter en bloc (all together in the fascist camp, so that it would be nucleated with the cells of our secret organization. In this way we got our hands on the right combat material, to be ready to organize the national movement at the appropriate moment. In Korça I felt myself in an intimate, completely nationalist environment. My interlocutors there enthusiastically accepted my proposal for the creation of a secret organization. Fundua took me to a house in Varosh, where he introduced me to some of his new friends. Fazliu and Fundua took it upon themselves to organize the resistance group in Korça. I was thus certain that, before I arrived in Tirana, the organization in the two most important provinces of the South would progress rapidly. As I later ascertained, Fazlliu and Fundo set to work seriously, the preparations they made and the activity they carried out quickly caught the eye of the fascist authorities, which was the reason for their internment in Ventotene, a few weeks after my visit to Korça,” it is stated, among other things, on pages 174-175 of Ali bey Këlcyra’s memoirs.

Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of

Këlycra further provided details from the Paris congress of 1936, which was attended by Albanian political refugees, among them Zai Fundo. In the history of Albanian political emigration in the 1930s, the figure of Zai Fundo stands out and stands out not only for his activity as a dedicated intellectual, but also for his courage to break the ideological alignment of the time and openly denounce the crimes of Stalinism. Zai Fundo had just arrived in Paris from the Soviet Union, where he had been forced to leave in secret after being declared an "enemy element" by the Stalinist authorities. Disillusioned by the brutality and terror of Stalin's regime, Fundo became one of the first Albanian voices to publicly denounce the mass purges. This experience, which left deep traces in Fundo's political consciousness, distanced him from Bolshevism and brought him closer to the democratic and humanist currents of the European left.

"In 1936, a congress of all Albanian political refugees was held in Paris, regardless of ideological differences, to adopt a minimum common program in the event of the overthrow of Zog's regime, since in fact in 1935-1936 two revolutions against Zog's power were carried out in Albania. At the Paris congress, where it was decided to implement almost the same program as the one approved in 1943 at the Mukje meeting, we found that the Çlirimi-Nacional had practically disbanded; Fan Noli had long since gone to the USA, Azis Çami had joined our nationalist group Bashkimi Kombëtar. Tajar Zavalani, Riza Cerova, Kostandin Boshnjaku and Shefqet Korça had returned to Albania, Dr. Omer Nishani had settled in Greece, after his request for amnesty had been rejected, while the most ardent communist among them all, Zai Fundo, who had recently arrived in Paris from Soviet Russia, from where he had secretly left, after was being pursued as an anti-Stalinist, he was already completely disgusted with Bolshevism. Fundo was horrified mainly by the inhuman cruelty with which Stalin's regime persecuted its opponents, the greatest Russian ideologists of Marxism, who had been arrested by the GPU during the purge operations and sentenced to death during the period of sensational trials for their cruelty, during the years 1936-1937," says, among other things, in Këlcyra's memoirs.

Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of

At a time when the Comintern began to suspect and exclude Albanian intellectuals as "unreliable", to replace them with dark and ideologically blind figures, Zai Fundo remained one of the few who maintained integrity and remained connected to the ideal of a free Albania, but not subject to another dictatorship. His role as a witness and early critic of the Stalinists places him in a special position in the history of Albanian political thought, a figure who tried to reform the Albanian left from within, distancing it from dogmatism and ideological terror.

Llazar (Zai) Fundo in the memoirs of Ali Këlcyra/ The polyhedral of

"After the departure of Noli, and especially the scandalized Fundo, the Comintern began to see Albanian intellectuals as suspicious elements, enemies of Stalinism, and preferred to replace them with ignorant and unscrupulous people, as well as a number of cadres and activists of the current Albanian communist party," says Këlcyra, among other things./ CNA





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