by Rita Shkurtaj, 2025. Translation: Petrit Latifi

The Albanian who lived to prove. History has shown that for the highlanders, experience was the learned knowledge that gave them security in the paths of life and awareness of the way of life.

Children grew up in the spirit of the old, gaining knowledge and practicing the virtues of being a highlander with values, as the custom of the mountains required. The chimney and the tower for them were above everything because they were held as a source that signified family and tribal affiliation, so whenever noble and prominent men are mentioned in the Highlands, their story starts from their origin.

Likewise, for the life and work of the patriot Pjeter Uci of Gjon Ujkë Vuksan of the Vuksanlekajve, the chimney, tower and tribe take on the same meaning and dignity.

Born in the tower of Gjon Ujka of the Vuksanleka family, Pjetri was the eldest son in his generation. Which made him experience many events and life experiences up close, from which he molded the same dignity that the brave fathers of that tower had. During Pjetri’s growth, a great influence in acquiring the virtues of bravery, faith and manhood was his uncle Dedi of Gjon, as the Kryetrimi Dedë Gjon Ujka was called at that time.

As the eldest of the children who were renovating the tower, Dedi kept Pjetri close, taught him and engaged him in important tower and war work from his early youth. He also taught him the crafts of work, trade, sitting in the assembly, and weapons of war. The Highland Uprising was quickly conceived in the youthful spirit of Pjeter Uci, who followed his uncle Dedi at every step.

Thus, from a young age, Pjeter began to engage in the bloodiest battles of the Highland Uprising. There are several battles that Pjeter mentioned as the most enduring that left their mark on the history of the Highlands and the Nation.

Participation in the Great Deciqi Uprising, where the national flag was raised for the first time in Bratila i Hoti on April 6, 1911. In this battle, Pjeter Uci, at a young age, engaged himself, the seventh of the brothers of Oxhak i Vuksanlekaj.

The next glorious and bloodiest battle of the Greater Highland Uprising in which Pjeter Uci participated was that of Qafë e Uglë on June 25, 1911, in which his uncle, the Commander Dedë Gjon Ujka, along with many sons of the Vuksan Leka Oxhak, Hoti and Malësia, heroically fell. Whenever this war was discussed, the old man Pjeter Uci would say… “we are winning the war but with a big army”.

Pjeter kept the memory of that battle organized by his uncle, Dedi i Gjonit, fresh. Initially, he gathered us, the sons of the Vuksan Leka Oxhak, and in the ceremony gave us the order to ambush at Qafë e Uglë. Dedi himself led the battle and took the first trench in front of the enemy at Shkami i Zi, to fight and protect the wings of the brotherhood. Peter described Dedi as a lion, a tall, broad-shouldered man who was not afraid of even the beast of the mountain.

Thus, found on the front line, even though the fighting continued for a long time, Dedi i Gjoni did not retreat but remained at the forefront of the war until his last breath, encouraging the brotherhood and brave men of the Highlands. The course of the war had serious consequences, with many killed and wounded.

When the focus of the fighting moved, the women of Prëka, in honor of the memory of Dedi i Gjoni, who had the reputation of a statesman, took Dedi’s body and buried him near their family cemetery. The course of life meant that in the first decades of the twentieth century, the Ojhaku of Gjon Ujka remained in the hands of Pjeter Uci as the head of the family.

The weight of family responsibility and the difficult political situation that was being installed in the Highlands, in order to preserve the properties of the Vuksanlekajs, with the approval of the brotherhood, he decided to build a new tower on the western border of the land owned by the Ojhaku of Vuksan Lekas.

Pjeter Uci is still remembered today as a highlander with rare virtues, intelligence and judgment like few others in his time. In addition, he was also mentioned as a man of iqballxhi (good fortune, whom fate loved) so much that in a short time he managed to build a tower and make a spacious guest house for his livestock and livestock. Although a little far from the old Sarajev of the Vuksanlekajs, he shared his work and life with his cousins.

With the establishment of the communist regime, another difficult era began for Hoti and Malësia, especially for the Vuksanldkaj who refused to submit to that regime. The collectivization of agriculture in the 1950s led Pjeter Uci and his brotherhood to take a special (different) stance for all of Hoti, which also marked the third glorious battle of his resistance.

The introduction of machinery and heavy equipment to tear down fences and turn private properties into state-owned agricultural land, as well as the project to establish settlements of other ethnic races in these territories, encouraged Pjeter Uci and his brotherhood to take a stand against them, threatening them with revolt and uprising just like in war. The entire brotherhood was by his side, so much so that his brother Kol Uci, to take Pjeter’s place, put his minor son Gjeto Kolë Uci in the trench.

This stance allowed the Vuksanlekaj and Hoti to preserve their centuries-old properties intact. Pjeter Uci’s stance once again ignited the flame of highland patriotism to defend the lands of their ancestors with his life.

Fate willed that Pjeter Uci would live long and wisely share his experiences in the webs of history as well as testify to the truths that the highlanders have gone through in the war for the protection of their ethnic lands. Based on the data and memories of his nephew, the patriot Dedë Gjeto Camaj