Spiro Koleka

Spiro Koleka (7 July 1908 – 22 August 2001) was an important Albanian statesman, communist politician and a high-ranking military officer during WWII. He was a civil engineer by profession. Spiro Koleka served as a parliament member in all legislatures from 1944 until 1990. Koleka was a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labor of Albania during the years 1948 to 1981. As part of his political career he also served as Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Minister of Industry and Construction of Albania, as well as Vice Prime Minister.

Ethnicity

According to British academics James Pettifer and Miranda Vickers, Koleka was born into an ethnic Greek family and was one of the few members of the Greek minority serving in the Socialist People's Republic of Albania political system. As such he was unpopular among the minority and was accused by various ethnic Greeks of implementing an anti-Greek agenda of the regime, including forced relocations of people of the same ethnicity as himself. Spiro Koleka was a distant relative of Spiro Jorgo Koleka (1879 or 1880–1940), a leader of the Albanian national movement and later interwar government minister.Edi Rama, a maternal descendant of the Koleka family, said that the family is of Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka.

Enver Hoxha

Enver Halil Hoxha (Albanian pronunciation: [ɛnˈvɛɾ ˈhɔdʒa]; 16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was the communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He was chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania and commander-in-chief of the armed forces from 1944 until his death. He served as Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as foreign minister and defence minister as well.

The 40-year period of Hoxha's rule was characterized by the elimination of the opposition, prolific use of the death penalty or long prison terms for his political opponents and evictions of their families from their homes to remote villages that were strictly controlled by police and the secret police (Sigurimi). His rule was also characterized by the use of Stalinist methods to destroy associates who threatened his power. Economically, during his period, Albania became industrialised and saw rapid economic growth, as well as unprecedented progress in the areas of education and health. He focused on rebuilding the country, which was left in ruins after World War II, building Albania's first railway line, eliminating adult illiteracy and leading Albania towards becoming agriculturally self-sufficient.

Vizion Plus

Vizion Plus is a satellite frequency, private television station founded in 1999 in Tirana, Albania, part of Edil-Al construction group and WAZ-Mediengruppe. Besides being found terrestrially throughout Albania, the station can be found in Europe through Tring Digital, North America on IPTV and around the world through its website's stream. At the end of 2007, the station unsuccessfully tried to obtain the third national coverage TV license in Albania. In 2002, it ranked sixth with 3.4% audience share. Latest opinion polls, have listed it as one of the favorite television channels of Albanians, on main top 3 TV channels in the Albanian Market.

Programs

Vizion Plus bought the rights to Zonë e Lirë, 2007-2011 considered as the highest rated talk show hosted by a former news editor, Arjan Çani. The channel collaborates with the most famous film studios, Sony Pictures Universal & Paramount Picture and has successfully fulfilled in the quality of media partner such activities as the editions of Miss Albania 2006, 2007 and 2008, Albanian Clip Nights, Miss Globe 2008, Editions of Shkodra Jazz Festival, Jazz Fest Tirana, the 5th edition of the Microphone Festival of Arts and editions of Cult Awards Academy. Recently, in collaboration with Tring Digital, Vizion Plus successfully bought the rights of the first Albanian edition of Dancing with the Stars and improvised comedy show Apartmenti 2XL. These two shows marked record audience.

Mehmet Shehu

Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 17, 1981) was an Albanian communist politician who served as premier of Albania from 1954 to 1981. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist partisans may well have failed in their battle to win Albania for the Marxist cause, Shehu exhibited an ideological understanding and work ethic that singled him out for rapid promotion in the communist party. Mehmet Shehu shared power with Enver Hoxha from the end of the Second World War. According to official Albanian government sources, he killed himself on December 17, 1981, after which the entire Shehu clan (his wife, Fiqirete Shehu Sanxhaktari, sons and other of his relatives) were arrested and imprisoned while Mehmet Shehu himself was denounced as "one of the most dangerous traitors and enemies of his country". Persistent rumors remain, however, that Shehu was actually murdered on orders from Hoxha.

Early years

Ramiz Alia

 Ramiz Tafë Alia  (18 October 1925 – 7 October 2011) was the second and last Communist leader of Albania from 1985 to 1991, and the country's head of state from 1982 to 1992. He had been designated as successor by Enver Hoxha and took power after Hoxha died. Alia died on 7 October 2011 in Tirana due to lung disease, aged 85. He was the first President of Albania from 1991 to 1992.

Early life and politics

Alia was born on 18 October 1925. His parents were from the Gheg clan and they fled Kosovo during the Balkan Wars. He grew up and spent his childhood in Tirana. In the early part of World War II Alia was a member of a Fascist youth organization but joined the underground Albanian Communist Youth Organization in 1941. In 1943, he became a member of the Albanian Communist Party. He had risen rapidly under Hoxha's patronage and by 1961 was a full member of the ruling Political Bureau (Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania).

Hoxha chose Alia for several reasons. First, Alia had long been a militant follower of Marxism-Leninism and supported Hoxha's policy of national self-reliance. Alia also was favored by Hoxha's wife Nexhmije, who had once been his instructor at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. His political experience was similar to that of Hoxha; and inasmuch as he appeared to share Hoxha's views on most foreign and domestic issues, he accommodated himself to the totalitarian mode of ruling.