Summary
From 1896 to 1908, Albanian emigrant colonies in Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, the United States, and Italy became vital centers of the national movement. Societies such as “Dituria” (Bucharest), “Dëshirë” and “Drita” (Sofia), “Bashkimi,” and “Besa-Besën” (Boston) published books, textbooks, calendars, and newspapers in Albanian, spreading national ideas and supporting schools in Albania. They organized fundraising, sent volunteers, and coordinated with committees inside Albania. Key figures included Kristo Luarasi, Fan Noli, Bajo Topulli, and Ibrahim Temo. Attempts by adventurers like Albert Gjika and Aladro Kastrioti to seize leadership failed. The colonies also submitted memoranda to the 1907 Hague Peace Conference and established the first Albanian Orthodox Church in America in 1908 under Fan Noli, strengthening national consciousness abroad.
The Expansion of the Patriotic Movement in the Emigrant Colonies (1896–1908)
The rise of the national movement in Albania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to the growth of patriotic societies in Albanian emigrant colonies and the expansion of their activities. Operating under favorable legal conditions, Albanian patriots turned these colonies into important centers for spreading the ideas of national liberation.
The colonies in Romania and Bulgaria continued to play a major role. Their Albanian population had increased with new emigrants who had fled Albania either in search of work or to escape Ottoman persecution. Among the societies in the Romanian colony, the most important remained “Dituria” of Bucharest.
In January 1896, a new revised statute of this society was adopted and its leadership committee was elected, with Pandeli Evangjeli as president. According to the statute, the main goal of “Dituria” was to spread the reading and writing of the Albanian language throughout Albania, to open Albanian schools in the homeland and abroad with the approval of the Turkish government and the Sultan, and to distribute educational and scientific literature in Albania.
In November 1898, under the direction of the patriotic societies, a large meeting of the Bucharest colony was held in the “Amiçicia” (“Friendship”) hall. The contemporary press described it as a congress of Albanians dedicated to the spread of Albanian schools. In speeches delivered by young patriots Visarion Dodani, Faik Konica, Jorgji Meksi, Murat Toptani, and Dervish Hima, they described the great backwardness of education in Albania and emphasized that the Albanian nation, like all other peoples, needed its own national schools to enter the path of civilization. In a telegram sent to the Sultan, they demanded the introduction of the Albanian language in all schools of Albania and the provision of the necessary financial means for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the organizational activity of the Romanian colony expanded. In early 1899, the “Circle of Albanian Students” was established in Bucharest, with Ibrahim Naxhiu (Dervish Hima) as president and its own special statute. The Circle aimed to help poor students coming from Albania to Bucharest, to work for the spread and cultivation of culture among Albanians, and to make the national rights of Albanians known to the world.
In 1902, the national society “Shpresa – Society of Young Albanians” was formed in Bucharest as its successor, with Pandeli Durmishi as president. Also in 1902, a branch of “Dituria” was founded in Constanța with the same goals. In December 1904, on the initiative of Dr. Ibrahim Temo, the society “Djalëria Shqiptare” was organized in Brăila, Romania, presided over by Kristo A. Dako.
The societies “Dituria” of Bucharest and “Dëshirë” of Sofia (which was linked to and guided by it) engaged in the publication and distribution in Albania of school textbooks, literary works of the National Renaissance figures, and Albanian political literature. The most important programmatic documents of the national movement — memoranda, appeals, and various manifestos — as well as political press organs such as “Shqiptari” (Bucharest, 1887–1903) and “Shqipëria” (Bucharest, 1897–1899), were published in the Albanian emigrant colonies.
A special role in the publishing activity of the emigrant colonies was played by the “Mbrothësia” printing house, founded in Sofia in 1897 with the help of “Dituria” of Bucharest and “Dëshirë” of Sofia by the patriots Kostë Jani Trebicka and Kristo P. Luarasi (1875–1934). Kristo Luarasi, who settled in Sofia in 1894 and had learned the printing trade in Bucharest, bore the main burden of the “Mbrothësia” printing house as typesetter, editor, and administrator.
Here, starting from 1897, the “Ditërrëfenjësi” (“National Calendar”, Sofia, 1897–1912) was printed as the organ of “Dëshirë”, Shahin Kolonja’s newspaper “Drita” (1901–1908), “Shkopi” (Cairo, 1907–1908) directed by Jani Vruho, and others. With financial assistance from the patriotic societies, especially “Dituria” of Bucharest, “Mbrothësia” also printed thousands of copies of didactic and literary works of the Renaissance, such as “Abetare toskërisht”, “Abetare gegërisht”, Naim Frashëri’s “Bagëti e bujqësija”, “Istoria e Skënderbeut”, Sami Frashëri’s “Shqipëria ç’ka qënë, ç’është e ç’do të bëhetë?”, Gjergj Qiriazi’s “Hrestomaci”, Spiro Dine’s “Valët e detit”, and others. These were distributed by “Dituria” to all cities in Albania.
Although they carried out extensive activity, the patriotic societies of the emigrant colonies lacked a single leadership at the beginning of the 20th century that would coordinate their work. Politicians and adventurers such as Albert Gjika, Aladro Kastrioti, and Di Auleta tried to exploit this situation.
Albert Gjika, a Romanian prince of distant Albanian origin, wanted to place himself at the head of the Albanian movement and, if successful, to take the throne of Albania. He raised the slogan of Albanian “independence,” which he claimed would be achieved through a general Albanian uprising.
The Romanian government circles, although convinced that Gjika’s enterprise was an adventure, supported him in the hope of using the Albanian and Vlach movements to pressure the Sublime Porte and force Istanbul to make concessions to the Vlachs of European Turkey. After visits to Montenegro, Rome, London, Paris, Sofia, and Belgrade to create the impression of international support, Albert Gjika returned to Romania. On the initiative of some Albanians of the Bucharest colony, a congress was held in the Romanian capital on 23 April 1905 with about 2,000 participants, including representatives from the colonies and from Albania, as well as Macedonians and Romanians.
The congress adopted Albert Gjika’s demand for an independent Albania that would include, besides the Albanian lands of the four vilayets, also the Vilayet of Salonika. A central committee named “Kombi” was created. The congress also decided to prepare an armed uprising and appointed a special leading body for it. After the congress, an organ of the committee titled “Lajmëtari i Shqipërisë” (“L’Araldo d’Albania”) began to appear in Rome.
However, the decisions of the congress had no influence on the Albanian National Movement. The majority of Albanian patriots did not support Albert Gjika and stayed away from him, while the patriotic press organs described him as an adventurer who could harm the Albanian movement. Very soon even those Albanians who had joined him began to distance themselves in 1905. Gjika was also opposed by the organ “Kombi”, the newspaper “Lajmëtari i Shqipërisë”, and its publisher and collaborator Gaspër Jakova-Mërtiri, who declared that they did not recognize any of the rights he claimed over Albania. In these circumstances, the Romanian prince remained isolated and his attempt completely failed.
The same fate befell other political adventurers, the Spanish diplomat Aladro Kastrioti and the Italian Marquis Di Auleta, who were especially active in 1907. Presenting themselves as descendants of the Kastrioti family, they proclaimed themselves pretenders to the throne of Albania. In May 1907, Aladro Kastrioti, in the name of a so-called Albanian Committee, addressed an appeal to Albanians to unite under his leadership in the struggle for the autonomy of Albania.
His propaganda had no influence on Albanian patriotic circles either inside or outside Albania. Aladro Kastrioti’s attempts during meetings in Paris in 1907 with activists such as Bajo Topulli and Shahin Kolonja to establish links with the committees “For the Freedom of Albania” and to urge them toward a premature general uprising were unsuccessful. Although the Albanian patriots were interested in the financial aid he promised for buying weapons, they refused to cooperate with this adventurer.
The societies of the emigrant colonies continued their independent patriotic activity and remained outside any foreign influence. This activity was further revitalized with the formation of the committees “For the Freedom of Albania,” under whose leadership the national movement inside Albania was acquiring an organized character. Existing cultural societies were reorganized and new ones were founded following their example.
During November–December 1906, the unification of all societies in Bucharest into one was achieved. In meetings held at the end of November, it was decided that the united society would be named “Tomori.” On 7 December, about 200 representatives of the Romanian colony societies (“Dituria”, “Drita”, and “Shpresa”) proclaimed their merger into a single cultural society named “Bashkimi.”
Thoma Çami was elected president of the society’s committee, with Kristo Meksi and Pandeli Evangjeli as vice-presidents. Among its activists were Mihal Grameno and Aleksandër Drenova (Asdreni). According to the new statute, the society aimed to spread culture in the Albanian language, publish didactic books for Albanian schools, help maintain Albanian schools in Albania, and open such schools in Bucharest. In January 1907, a branch of “Bashkimi” of Bucharest was formed in Constanța.
The “Bashkimi” society of Constanța undertook to help spread national ideas and establish Albanian schools in Albania, as well as one in Constanța for Albanians in Dobruja. Dr. Ibrahim Temo provided significant assistance to this colony’s activity. On his initiative, a night school for teaching the Albanian language had been established in Constanța in the autumn of 1905, and in 1907 an Albanian school was opened with Jani M. Lehova as director. Asdreni, Neofit Simoni from Skopje, Thoma Avrami, and others also taught there.
In May 1907, on the initiative of Kristo Meksi, Pandeli Evangjeli, Bajram Topulli, Veli Këlcyrë, and Vasil Zografi, the Committee of Albanians “For the Freedom of Albania” was formed in Bucharest and its statute was published.
In March 1907, wishing to help solve the question of the Albanian alphabet, the “Bashkimi” society of Bucharest published an appeal addressed to all societies inside and outside Albania, as well as Albanian newspapers, calling on them to coordinate their efforts to establish a unified alphabet for the Albanian language and to form a special commission for this purpose.
During these years, the colony of the Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanians) in Italy also increased its activity. In January 1897, the political-literary newspaper “La Nazione Albanese” (“The Albanian Nation”) of the “National Albanian Society” began to be published in Pallagorio (Province of Catanzaro), directed by Anselmo Lorekio. Although the “National Albanian Society” had declared that it had only literary and linguistic goals, neither it nor its press organ remained distant from political issues.
In “La Nazione Albanese,” thanks to Anselmo Lorekio’s care, almost all the Albanian memoranda of the late 19th and early 20th centuries concerning Albanian autonomy were published, and its editorial staff published many articles demanding the independence of Albania. However, due to the place and circumstances in which the newspaper was published, its writings also propagated the idea of reliance on Italy and supported its foreign policy toward Albania.
Between 1897 and 1901, the activity of the Italo-Albanian colony expanded further. In 1897, another linguistic congress was convened in Lungro, Calabria, under the direction of Anselmo Lorekio. Meanwhile, instead of the “National Albanian Society,” which had little influence in Albania, the “Lega Nazionale Albanese” (“National Albanian League”) was founded in Rome in 1898. It created branches in all localities of southern Italy inhabited by Arbëreshë. In addition to “La Nazione Albanese,” the newspapers “Albania,” “Nuova Albania” (“New Albania”), and from 1900 “Pro Patria” (“For the Homeland”) were published successively in Italian.
In 1901, a linguistic Albanian congress was held in Naples under the direction of the Arbëresh poet Zef Skiroi. The congress discussed extensively the need to cultivate and spread the Albanian language and to establish a single alphabet. It also spoke about the “merging” of the Albanian dialects into a unified literary language. However, the proposal to base it on the speech of the Italo-Albanians met with opposition from the Renaissance patriots. At the same time, a chair of the Albanian language was opened at the Royal Institute of Oriental Studies in Naples, directed by Zef Skiroi. Another chair for teaching Albanian was established in Palermo.
In the early years of the 20th century, Ricciotti Garibaldi began to participate in the activity of the Albanians of Italy. With the support of well-known Arbëresh personalities, he founded the “Albanian Council of Italy” (“Consiglio Albanese d’Italia”) in 1904, which aimed to unite the Albanians of Italy with those of Albania and to support Italian policy in Albania and the Balkans in general. The society also published its own press organ “Gazeta Albanese” (“Albanian Gazette”) in Italian.
In the early 20th century, with government financial support, Italian publications on Albania and the Balkans were undertaken. The “Dante Alighieri” society began publishing the “Italo-Albanian Library” from 1901. Works on the language, history, and other aspects of the Albanian question also appeared.
In the Albanian colony of Egypt, with the help of Ismail Qemali, the activity of the “Vëllazëria Shqiptare” society was revived and expanded starting from 1901. Figures of the National Renaissance such as Filip Shiroka (its secretary), Athanas Tashko, and Loni Logori became active in this society.
On 27 December 1904, the society “Dija” was founded in Vienna along with its committee, presided over by Gjergj Pekmezi. The activity of this society was mainly guided by Hilë Mosi, who was also its secretary. It pursued cultural goals, engaged in the publication and distribution of Albanian books, and accepted in its ranks all Albanians — Ghegs and Tosks, Muslims and Christians. The central branch of “Dija” was in Vienna and consisted of students, pupils, teachers, and other Albanian patriots living in the Austrian capital. The society was maintained by contributions from Albanian compatriots but also enjoyed financial support from the Austrian government.
Starting from 1907–1908, “Dija” published the “Calendar” of the “Dija” Society, one of the most important Albanian journalistic and literary publications of that period. “Dija” cooperated closely with “Dituria” of Bucharest.
Although “Dija” had declared that it would not deal with political issues, the Sublime Porte, which was quickly informed of its establishment, classified it among the organizations aiming to fight for Albanian autonomy and took measures to prevent the spread of its committees in the Vilayet of Kosovo and Shkodra. Nevertheless, during 1906–1907, this society, in addition to Vienna and Shkodra (its first centers), established branches in Klagenfurt (Austria), Prizren, Tirana, Durrës, and Skopje. A branch was founded in Ragusa (Dalmatia) under the direction of Nikollë Ivanaj, who published the newspaper “Shpnesa e Shqypënisë” there, and another in Bucharest in 1907 under the direction of Asdreni.
The colonies in the United States became an important center of the national movement in the early 20th century. At that time, there were about 20,000 Albanian emigrants there — merchants, artisans, and workers, both Christian and Muslim. Albanian emigrants formed a series of new societies. In 1906, the society “Malli i Mëmëdheut” was founded in Buffalo and “Koha e Lirisë” in New York. In early 1907, the society “Besa-Besën” was created in Boston with Fan Noli as president and branches in all American cities where Albanians lived, while the society “Lidhja” was established in St. Louis, among others.
The societies of the American colony also aimed to help the cultural and political uplift of the Albanian people and Albanian-Americans, to publish books and all kinds of literature in Albanian, to publish Albanian newspapers, and to open schools in the major cities of Albania. Petro Nini Luarasi and the young activists of the Albanian movement, Sotir Peci and Fan Noli, played an important role in organizing the American societies.
Also in 1907, the society “Lidhja Shqiptare” was formed in Buenos Aires (Argentina), and in 1908 the society “Përlindja” was founded in Odessa.
The new emigrant societies, like those created earlier, did a great deal to raise the national consciousness of the Albanian people through the publication of books, newspapers, magazines, and Albanian schools, for the spread of which they periodically organized fundraising campaigns. Although their statutes, in order to avoid possible complications, did not openly speak of political goals, the societies maintained contacts with committees and Albanian patriots inside and outside the homeland. During 1907–1908, when Bajram Topulli visited the Albanian colonies of Bucharest and Sofia, the patriotic societies of these centers, as well as those of Egypt and the United States, collected financial means to support the activity of the Albanian committees and armed çetas and sent volunteers, thus providing special assistance in the organization and preparation of the armed struggle in Albania.
At the same time, the patriotic societies of the emigrant colonies worked to make the Albanian question and the demands of the Albanian nation known to international public opinion.
When the Hague Peace Conference — an international forum attended by dozens of states — was held in 1907 (July–September), Albanian patriots, although they did not have high hopes after the experience of the 1899 conference, submitted four memoranda to it: one drafted in Boston on 8 July in the name of the patriotic societies of the American colonies and signed by their presidents, including Fan Noli; another sent in the name of the Albanian colony of Constanța (August 1907); a third from the “Committee of the Albanian Colony of Egypt” in the same month; and a fourth drafted by Dervish Hima and sent “In the name of Muslim, Orthodox, and Catholic Albanians” (July 1907). The memoranda were delivered to the conference and to some representatives of the Great Powers outside it by an Albanian delegation.
Although they came from colonies in different countries, the memoranda had essentially the same content: they asked the Hague Conference to pay attention to the Albanian question and the miserable political, economic, and cultural situation of Albania under Ottoman rule, to force Turkey to officially recognize the Albanian nation as a distinct nation according to the principle of language rather than religious faith, and to allow the opening of Albanian schools that would enable Albanians to enter the path of civilization and progress. In the memorandum presented by Dervish Hima, the demand for Albanian autonomy was put forward as the best solution at that time for the Albanian question. The representatives of the emigrant societies informed the participants of the Hague Conference that there would be no peace in the Balkans or stability in the East until the Albanian question was solved in accordance with the aspirations of the Albanian nation.
The patriotic societies of the emigrant colonies fought not only against Ottoman rule but also against the assimilating and divisive policy that the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople pursued toward Albanians, extending its activity not only in Albania but also in the Albanian colonies. An important measure to counter the influence of the Patriarchate was the creation of an Albanian national church. This demand, raised as early as the end of the 19th century, became very urgent in the early 20th century.
The establishment of the Albanian Orthodox Church is linked to the name of Fan S. Noli. The demand for the creation of such a church with an Albanian priest and services in the Albanian language was made in May 1907. In the autumn of that year, the Albanians of Hudson formed the religious society “Nderi Shqiptar” and established a commission which, after receiving the approval of all the Albanian colonies of Boston, Natick, and Marlboro, began practical steps for the creation of the Albanian church. Despite the opposition of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Russian Synod also accepted the Albanians’ request that its bishop in the USA ordain an Albanian priest. These efforts of the Albanians were crowned with success in February 1908, when, with the ordination of Fan Noli as priest in one of the churches of New York, the Albanian church was founded. To help its functioning, Fan Noli translated six books of religious service into Albanian between 1908 and 1914.
This event was welcomed by Albanians both inside the country and in the emigrant colonies. The patriotic press organs, publishing Fan Noli’s announcement about the establishment of the Albanian church, described this act as a blow against Greek chauvinism and a victory for the Albanian National Movement. Albanian patriots, Christian and Muslim, evaluated the creation of the Albanian Orthodox Church not merely as an ecclesiastical event but also as an action that would help the national emancipation of Albanians. The establishment of the Albanian church in the USA was the first important step toward the founding in 1922 of the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church.
The activity of the patriotic societies of the Albanian emigrant colonies remained an important factor in the following years in the struggle of the Albanian people for national independence and the territorial integrity of the homeland.
Source
https://www.shqiperia.com/Zgjerimi-i-levizjes-atdhetare-ne-kolonite-e-mergimit-(1896-1908).349/
