Widow of former Albania’s dictator dies at 99

Gazeta Express

26/02/2020 18:34

Nexhmije Hoxha, who was married to Albania’s dictator Enver Hoxha, died on Wednesday. She was 99.

Hoxha was born Nexhmije Xhuglini in Manastir, in present-day North Macedonia to Albanian parents. She studied at the Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute in Tirana. After World War II, she continued her studies at the State University of Tirana. In November 1941 she joined the newly founded Albanian Communist Party and a year later was elected to the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Movement. During the rest of World War II she fought in the 1st Division of the National Liberation Army.

After World War II, she married prime minister and Communist Party leader Enver Hoxha. In 1952 she joined the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labour, as the Albanian Communist Party had been called since 1948, becoming one of the few spouses of a Communist Party leader to become a power in her own right. In 1966 she became director of the Institute of Marxist–Leninist Studies. She was the last Director (Rector, Chancellor) of the V.I. Lenin Higher Party School despite a lack of formal higher education.

After her husband died in 1985, Nexhmije was elected Chairwoman of the Democratic Front (an umbrella association) and defended her husband’s heritage during the period of reforms (1990-1991). She was forced to resign as chairwoman of the Democratic Front in December 1990, and was replaced by Prime Minister Adil Çarçani. She was arrested and sentenced to prison for misuse of Albanian government funds during her husband’s regime, but later released. Hoxha died on February 26, 2020, at the age of 99 in her home in Tirana. At the time of her death she was the oldest living member of the communist leadership of Albania. /GazetaExpress/