Hysni Kapo

Hysni Kapo (1915–1979) was an Albanian military commander and leading member of the Party of Labour of Albania. A member of the Communist Youth group Kapo was first distinguished as an artillery commander in the battle of Drashovica. In 1941 he was elected as a representative of the Youth group in the provisional central committee of the party and from 1956 to his death in 1979 Kapo was one of the secretary of the central committee of the Party of Labour of Albania. Hysni Kapo served in many ministerial positions and was a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1948 to his death. In the 1960s he played an important role in the emancipation of women in Albania during the cultural revolution of the era, and is remembered as a trusted man of the Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha.

Life

Hysni Kapo was born in Tërbaç, Vlorë District, southwestern Albania on March 4 or 3,^[1] 1915. He studied at the Commercial School of Vlore.^[1] In the 1930s he joined the Communist Youth group, an organization closely associated with the founders of the Communist Party of Albania (later renamed to Party of Labour of Albania). During WWII he commanded LNÇ units in the Vlorë area. In the battle of Gjorm in January 1943 he was the second-in-command of the LNÇ units after Mehmet Shehu. In the battle of Drashovica in September 1943 was the general commander of LNÇ battalions and was stationed in the hills opposite to the German encampment. During the battle his leg was wounded and he was moved to Lapardha.^[2]
After WWII, Kapo served as ambassador to Yugoslavia (1945-47), deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1947-49), deputy Prime Minister (1950-56), and Minister of Agriculture (1951-1954). He also was member of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1943 till 1979, and full member of the Politburo from 1946 to 1979.^[2] From 1955 until the Soviet-Albanian split, he also served as President of the Albanian-Soviet Friendship Society.^[3]
Kapo was married to Vito Kapo, née Kondi, early communist and long time president of the Women's Branch of the Party of Labour.^[4]

Sources

1. Borys Lewytzkyj, Juliusz Stroynowski (1978), Who's who in the Socialist Countries, K. G. Saur Pub, p. 266
2. Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6.
3. "Albanian-Soviet Friendship Society", Daily Report: Foreign Radio Broadcasts (Washington: Foreign Broadcast Information Service) (176-180), 1960: 152, OCLC 10663518
4. William Griffith (1963), Albania and the Sino-Soviet Rift, Studies in international communism (1), Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, p. 320, OCLC 246100