Forsaken Albania

By Artan lame
Tirana, 1941. Llesh Topallaj, had returned towards the end of the twenties’. He was one of the closest associates of King Zog, who, on the complicated Albanian political scene, tried his best to secure his own wellbeing, always surrounding himself with his own, loyal companions. Llesh Topallaj, the offspring of a well known Catholic family of the North, had embarked on a military career, the levels of which he ascended swiftly(In 1925 he was made a Captain and by 1927 he had become a Major), solely due to his blind faithfulness to Zog.
In 1931, whilst accompanying the King to Vienna, where he had gone for medical treatment, he was killed in the famous assassination attempt on Zog’s life there. The assassins, who did not know Zog well physically, approached the vehicle and opened fire against Topallaj, as ne appeared to be the most important person there, who had the more moles on his face and straps of rank on his shoulder pads.However, on that particular day it wazs Major Topallaj who was dressed in ceremonial military uniform whil escorting the King who was dressed in civillian attire. Zog escaped, Llesh, however, did not.
All the honors possible were bestowed on him and in Tirana a monument was erected with his bust, which used to be at the entrance to Durres Road, where that huge yawning hole is today, adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce. Following the Italian occupation, seeing they had no real reason to honour the Major who had been a faithful of the Albanian King, whom they overthrew, they did not move the monument, but they did lessen whatever value it had by tucking it away in a corner among shops. After liberation, the ones who came to office then had absolutely no scruples whe n it came to those who had been faithful to King Zog, and the monument dissapeared without trace, the bronze was probably melted to mould busts of the faithfuls to the new Commander.
The photo shows the work going on to build the shops around the bust of Llesh Topallaj. The building in the central background of the photo is the vila where the Embassy of the Vatican is located today.