by Mehmet Breznica

Photo: A grand funeral in Peja, 1944.

Peja had been overcome by mourning. At the bridge by the Lim River, in battle against Serbo-Montenegrin Chetnik forces, the young man from Tirana, Hamit Truplini, had fallen as a martyr. He had just turned nineteen. In Peja, all the shops were closed. Everyone had come out into the streets to receive the lifeless body of the martyr. From Rugova, the highlanders had descended, and the city looked as if it were dressed in white.

They wanted to give a grand funeral to the martyr from Tirana, Hamit Truplini. “He came for us to die,” they said, “and we will bury him. Here, in Peja.Peja too is Albania. Now he is our son.”

Peja and Rugova gave a magnificent funeral to the martyr of Ethnic Albania, Hamit Truplini. May his memory be eternal. May his soul rest in peace in the Pantheon of the fighters of Ethnic Albania. Dardania will never forget the martyr from Tirana.