Sahit Ukaj, 93, passed away peacefully in his home on Sept. 25, from heart failure.
Mr. Ukaj was a fascinating witness to history. He engaged politically from an early age with the hope of transforming his beloved Albania into a more prosperous and equal society for its people.
At the age of 16, he and his brother joined the anti-fascist armed forces and watched in horror as the Chetniks slaughtered Kosovars in Visegrad.
At just 18, he first saw the injustices being perpetuated as the communist party’s youth secretary in Has district. “A hazelnut, split among 12 people? Propaganda for equality was irrational,” he said.
He recalled an experience when he was assigned to communicate redistribution orders to the villagers of Has. Mr. Ujkaj was asked to persuade the villagers to give up grain and livestock; however, knowing the severity of winter in the coming weeks, he instead advised the villagers to hide from the officers some grain to feed their own families.
It was in such cases when that Mr. Ukaj’s protective and humanitarian instincts came in.
During the completion of compulsory military service on the shores of Vlora on the island of Sazan, his family hosted well-known Kosovar patriots, Shaban Polluzha and Mehment Aga, who were considered irredentists and collaborators by the communist regime at the height of the friendship between Albania and Yugoslavia. This would be the cause of his family’s escape and the arrest of Mr. Ujkaj, who was sent to the Tepelena Internment Camp in November 1950. He was sent to forced labor for five years, working tirelessly at the camp, where he observed the scale of atrocities and injustices committed against women and children there. For the next 35 years, he would be a forced laborer in the brick factory of Tirana and then in internment in the fields of Myzeqe, in Pluk, near Lushnje, until 1990.
Like many Albanians, Mr. Ukaj and his family lived a life of intense surveillance and discrimination. His memory was astute and shrewd, recalling in detail his experiences and sharing them with anyone who would listen out of the desire to educate and to encourage youth to exercise their rights, take full advantage of their freedom, and to question authority.
“Post-communist Albania these last 30 years might have had a sloppy development,” he said, “but the most precious thing is your freedom, and I feel lucky to have experienced it.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with his beloved wife and family during this time. Mr. Ukaj’s life will be remembered.
