Ardian Klosi
(9 July 1957 – 26 April 2012)
On the dawn of April 27, Albania woke up to the loss of one of its best and brightest. Sharp tongued, fearless activist and possessor of a beautiful erudite mind, Ardian Klosi was among the few indispensable articulate public voices. After being in a very dark place for long, he departed the life of the living, to remain always in the conscience of his audience, be that of the readers who will always feel gratitude for his excellent translations or the followers of the press who avidly liked his editorials, or of his activist comrades who protested alongside him against the systematic destruction of architectural or natural beauty of this country.
Klosi’s departure was followed by a long list of opinion pieces and television shows bidding him farewell. Had he known the sheer number of people who would be so deeply affected by his passing, maybe he would have seen a small light at the very dim place where his suffering belonged. As TV host Rudina Xhunga remarked on his funeral “Ardian would have rather liked so many people to be present at book readings or rallies against waste imports.”
Many of his friends from different walks of life remarked on how Klosi’s absence shall be felt. Indeed he will be missed in the virtual space of public communication where as the president of the republic remarkably defined “his courageous voice is today more than even needed.”
So many Albanian citizens who had know him solely through his work could very well share the anxiety described by fellow opinion-maker, Skender Minxhozi when saying that ” these are moments when the human soul feels entrapped in a narrow space of flesh and bones and when sadness rules over everything: the respect for whom lives no longer; the hope that whatever works he lefty behind shall ease our longing, the strength to comfort his relatives and ourselvesŢ
His friends and colleagues from the Germanic world, which Klosi worked so hard to bring close to Albanian audiences with translations and promotions of works of literature an history, wrote a heartfelt letter where reproach to Albanian society for not being able to accept his critical voice was duly present.
“Ardian Klosi has been the target of some of the worst attacks from powerful political and academic circles in Albania. Attacks which often enough were aimed at that which is strictly private in someone’s life. Many incited hatred toward him, marking him as a traitor. However, Ardian Klosi has been a great patriot, as much as he was a cosmopolitan. He devoted his life and work to the return to Europe of an Albania, troubled from a communist dictatorship. He was a patriot in love with his country, its culture, language and its history, whereas not in its national Stalinist version, the one that current elites still hold as sacred as part of a dreadful inheritance. The animosity they expressed towards Klosi was a clear evidence that showed how Albania was not able to transform into a society which respects people who have a different opinion..”
The message, which sounds curiously more genuine than any piece written by Albanian commentators, is signed by a long list of university professors, researchers and scholars from Germany, Austria and other countries who know Klosi because of his deep investment and attachment to bringing the cultures together.
Ardian Klosi is best presented in the words of a fellow writer, Prec Zogaj:
“Ardian Klosi, except from being a first class translator ad publicist was a volunteer and a fighter for the Environment with a capital ‘E’ – a fighter of the earth, of the soul, of the mind, of the air, of the culture, of politicsƨe stayed long on this front, he battled with Pollution and against Pollution in the life battle of every intellectual. But he was more fragile than we all thought, more vulnerable, more tempted and more favored by the sirens of the afterlife”.
Although he departed at dark the eternal sunshine of his spotless mind is unlikely to fade fast.
Bio
Ardian Klosi, the renowned Albanian publicist, writer, translator and social activist, Klosi ended his life in Tirana on 26 April 2012. Klosi was suffering depression and had attempted suicide even earlier. He was also hospitalized and received treatments against depression. This attempt made the well-known publicist attend a cure at the psychiatric hospital, where he received a treatment against depression.
Ardian Klosi was born in 1957 in Tirana. He earned a degree in Literature in the University of Tirana, in 1981.He received his doctorate title in 1990. During the first five years after the fall of the communist regime, Klosi lived abroad in Germany, where he met and married with photographer Jutta Benzenberg, with whom he had two daughters. After returning from Germany, Klosi was from 1998 to 1999 General Director of Albanian Radio Television, the Albanian public broadcaster.
Klosi returned to Albania in 1998 and strongly engaged in civil society activities and journalism. He had been very active in recent years advocating environmental issues in the country. At the same time he was a civil society supporter on issues related to national cultural heritage. Klosi was especially involved in protesting against the government initiative for demolishing the Pyramid.
Klosi’s activity is also closely related to books and other publications such as: “Reflections” with Edi Rama, “Albania, a Painful Awakening”, “Quo Vadis, Albania” (Whither Goes Thou, Albania), and “Albania, What can it Be in the Future”. He also published “Albanian Survival” in German, a German-Albanian vocabulary, in cooperation with other authors in 1997.
Klosi has given a great contribution to the translation field as well. He was awarded several times for his translations: in 2008 for the translation of Oliver Schmitt’s “Skanderbeg. Der neue Alexander auf dem Balkan”, at the same time spurring many debates among the public opinion. In the last years, Klosi was active in journalism, and wrote extensively on political and social issues, thus becoming a well-known public figure in Albania.
