Shaban Polluzha

Shaban Mustafë Kastrati[1] (1871 – 21 February 1945), known as Shaban Polluzha , was a Kosovo Albanian military leader active in Drenica during World War II. He was a collaborationist, serving in the Royal Albanian gendarmerie and as a commander of the Vulnetari militia. He was briefly a member of the Balli Kombëtar. He was killed by the Yugoslav Partisans.

Shaban Polluzha
Born1871 (1871)
Polluzha, Skenderaj, Ottoman Empire (now Plluzhina, Skenderaj, Kosovo)
Died21 February 1945 (1945-02-22) (aged 73)
Tërstenik, Glogovac, FPR Yugoslavia
(now Tërstenik, Drenas, Kosovo)
Buried
Tërstenik, Drenas, Kosovo
Allegiance Albania (Italian protectorate)
Albania (German client)
Service/branch Royal Albanian Army
Years of service1941–1945
RankCommander
UnitVulnetari
Commands heldBalli Kombëtar
Battles/warsWorld War II in Yugoslavia
AwardsHero of Kosovo
Hero of Albania

Early life

Shaban was born in Polluzha, in the Drenica region (now central Kosovo).[a] He comes from a middle class family and he was not educated, but as a young man he became involved in political life, which was imposed on him by the circumstances and injustices of the occupying regimes.[2]

World War I and II

He fought against the Bulgarians and Austrians during the First World War and later with the bourgeois Yugoslav regime. Shaban Polluzha was one of the most famous commanders of the Drenica area during the Second World War. During the Second World War he was also the commander of a part of the front in Montenegro, Kolašin and Sandžak, where he was distinguished for organization and strategy.[3] He was a member of the Islihat Council (peace court) and on the proposal of he was appointed chairman of the Islihat in Drenica. Shaban Polluzha also had political tactics. With political strategy he had made some formal and deceptive connections with the communists, but in reality he never accepted this ideology as an ideology that would solve the Albanian issue. For this, the party and the organizing council of the Assembly of Skenderaj nominated him as commander of the Drenica Brigade. It is well known that after the capitulation of fascist Italy in September 1943, the Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Partisans increased its military activity in Kosovo and other Albanian areas and until November 1944. In these areas, units of many of the Yugoslav Partisans, starting from squads, detachments, battalions to brigades. The headquarters of the Drenica Brigade will condition its departure from Kosovo with the cessation of killings and looting of the civilian population by the Yugoslav army, but after the failure to subdue Shaban Polluzha on January 25, military operations begin to destroy his Brigade.[4]

Legacy

In 2012 he was posthumously awarded as "Hero of Kosovo" by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi.[5]

References

  1. Elsie 2010, p. 219.
  2. "76 vjet nga vrasja e Shaban Polluzhës". Klan Kosova. Kosovo. February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  3. "76 vjet nga vrasja e Shaban Polluzhës". Klan Kosova. Kosovo. February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  4. "76 vjet nga vrasja e Shaban Polluzhës". Klan Kosova. Kosovo. February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  5. "Kryeministri Haradinaj: Lidhjet dhe dashuria e ndërsjellë shqiptare do të forcohet edhe më shumë!". Retrieved 9 August 2018.

Sources

  • Antonijević, Nenad (2003). "Stradanje srpskog i crnogorskog civilnog stanovništva na Kosovu i Metohiji 1941. godine". Dijalog Povjesničara-istoričara. Zadar: Friedrich Nauman Stiftung. 8: 355–369.
  • Antonijević, Nenad (2009). Mirković, Jovan (ed.). Албански злочини над Србима на Косову и Метохији у Другом светском рату, документа, друго измењено и допуњено издање. Belgrade: Музеј жртава геноцида.
  • Elsie, Robert (2010). Historical Dictionary of Kosovo. Scarecrow Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-8108-7231-8.
  • Milković, Milutin (1991). PRVA KOSOVSKO-METOHIJSKA PROLETERSKA BRIGADA. Војна штампарија.
  • Dželetović Ivanov, Pavle (31 August 2012). "Pobuna Šabana Poluže". Novosti.

Notes

a. ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognised as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states have recognised Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.
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