Albanian physician and politician, the people's republic's formal first head of state
The Constituent Assembly opened on 11 January 1946 and proclaimed the people's republic the same day, becoming the People's Assembly on 16 March. Other records give election on 10 or 12 January and departure on 31 July.
Albanian physician and politician. Born on 5 February 1887 in Gjirokastër, Ottoman Empire, he studied medicine in Istanbul, served two weeks in prison over a 1924 attempt on Zogu, backed Fan S. Noli's June Revolution and co-founded the anti-Zogu KONARE in exile in 1925. After the Italian invasion of 1939 he joined the occupation government's Council of State, later regarded it as a mistake, joined the National Liberation Movement and chaired the Anti-Fascist Council at the Congress of Përmet in 1944. In 1946 he became chairman of the Constituent Assembly and served as formal head of state until 1953, though real power lay with Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Party of Labour.
Activities and affiliations
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1925–1932
National Revolutionary Committee (KONARE)Editor of Liria KombëtareMain
Social movements and organizing -
1946–1953
Albania state institutionsChairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1914–1920According to Albanian Wikipedia, he served in the Gjirokastër battalion and in Vlorë in 1914 and was sent to Vienna; municipal physician in Ballsh 1915–1918 and physician at Tirana hospital in 1920
- 1923–1924Municipal physician in Durrës
- 1924Imprisoned two weeks over an assassination attempt on Zogu; backed Fan S. Noli's June Revolution, fled abroad and was sentenced to death in absentia
- 1925–1932Helped found the anti-Zogu KONARE and edited its newspaper Liria Kombëtare in Geneva (editor from 1926)
- 1933–1939Political emigrant in Zante, Greece; returned after the Italian invasion of 1939
- 1940–1943Member of the occupation government's Council of State, listed until 13 January 1944, joining the Front in August 1943; later joined the National Liberation Movement
- 1943.09Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Liberation General Council
- 1944.05Chairman of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council at the Congress of Përmet, in charge of foreign affairs
- 1944.10–1946Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Committee chaired by Enver Hoxha (until 9 February or 22 March 1946 according to different sources)
- 1946–1954Deputy for Gjirokastër (elected in the 2 December 1945 and 28 May 1950 elections)
- 1946.01–1953Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and then of the Presidium of the People's Assembly as formal head of state (English Wikipedia records the Constituent Assembly chairmanship; ShtetiWeb dates election to 12 January and service to 31 July)
- 1952–1953His brother Besim Nishani was arrested for propaganda against the people's government (arrested 1 October 1952, eight months in pre-trial detention) and his wife separated from him; a 1953 right-wing press report described her forced eviction and house arrest and his own virtual captivity
- 1953.07Officially requested to resign citing health on 24 July, with Haxhi Lleshi succeeding on 1 August; other records say Hoxha forced the resignation
Related historical events
Removal from office in 1953 and death in 1954
In 1952 his brother Besim Nishani was arrested for "propaganda against the people's government", and in the same period his marriage to Rozvita von Woler broke down. A 1953 article in the right-wing Paris-Presse newspaper reported that his wife had been forced to leave the presidential palace and placed under house arrest on suspicion of links with reactionary elements, and that Nishani himself was virtually a prisoner.
Records state that Enver Hoxha forced his resignation during the 1953 restructuring of the state apparatus. At a joint meeting of the Politburo, the Presidium of the People's Assembly and the Council of Ministers on 23 July 1953, the new Council of Ministers structure was adopted and Nishani's resignation and replacement by Haxhi Lleshi were recommended; on 1 August he submitted a written resignation to the People's Assembly, which was justified by his pulmonary tuberculosis. English Wikipedia and other accounts instead record that "officially, Nishani requested to resign on July 24, 1953 for health reasons", so a voluntary resignation and a forced removal coexist as two lines of record.
The date and cause of death are recorded in more than one way. Sources conflict between death at 23:00 on 25 May 1954 from two gunshots (ShtetiWeb, a State Security report, Dielli), death on 26 May (English and Albanian Wikipedia), and death on 27 May "under unclear circumstances" (RTSH). The official papers Zeri i Popullit and Bashkimi briefly reported on 27 May that the 67-year-old had died "after a serious illness". An autopsy in a Ministry of Interior dossier concluded suicide, but later reports questioned that conclusion, stating he had been shot twice in the chest. A gardener's testimony that the eldest son of a vice-president of the Presidium killed him is also reported, but it lacks direct evidence and does not by itself justify classifying the death as an execution or state killing. On 13 October 1989 the Gjirokaster hospital was named after him.