The “Albania” Society in Austria

The beginning of studies by a group of Albanian students in Austria in 1917–1918 came about as a result of an agreement made by Luigj Gurakuqi during the years when he was Minister of Education. The students were based in the cities of Vienna, Graz, Linz, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. On 10 March 1918, the Albanian students gathered in Vienna founded their first student society, which they named “ALBANIA”, with the motto S.K.SK.S. (Sa kam shpirt kam shpresë – “While I have breath, I have hope”). These students had studied at schools such as the American Robert College in Istanbul, the Zosimaia School in Ioannina, or the Italo-Arbëresh seminary of San Demetrio Corone. While studying in Austria, these students wanted to organise their own patriotic, cultural, social and educational activities abroad. The place where the Albanian students gathered became known as the Albanians’ café, namely the Viennese café “Grailinger”. The names of those who founded the society were: Jani Basho, Fuat Asllani, Xhevat Korça and Vasil Laboviti, and others who came from the south of Albania; Irakli Buda, Sokrat Dodbiba and Jakov Deliana from Elbasan; and, from Shkodra, Nush Bushati, Ndoc Naraçi, Ndoc Krajni, Gjovalin Gjadri, Kolë Mirdita, Rrok Gera, Rrok Stani, Rrok Kolaj, Rrok Maloku, Tefik Bekteshi, Gjon Temali, Krist Maloki and others.

During the war years and until the war ended, the Albanian students in Austria, despite financial and material hardship and various problems with their studies, managed to pass their examinations successfully, and kept up their political, patriotic, cultural, educational and journalistic activities without interruption. For political reasons, many Albanian public figures and chieftains (bajraktarë) were in Vienna at the time, such as Bajram Hysni Curri, Nexhip and Ferhat Draga, Ahmet Zogu, Xhelal Preveza, Rexhep Mitrovica, Ismail Deva, Muharrem Bajraktari and others. One of the students’ priorities was to establish contacts with intellectual figures known as philo-Albanians and as experts with a deep knowledge of the Albanian question. They talked with them, interviewed them and sought their opinions and suggestions. Among them were Th. Ippen, F. Nopcsa, E. Oberhummer and K. Patsch. The Albanian students wanted to learn everything about their homeland, since some of them had been born or educated in schools outside Albania. With their intellectual maturity, they addressed a note to the Paris Peace Conference. The “Albania” Society was led by a council of elders, or presidency, elected once a year. The first president of the society was Fuad Asllani, a student of jurisprudence at the University of Vienna, while in the second year Nush Bushati, also a law student, was elected, and so on in turn among all the members. The main objective of the Albanian students in Austria was to bring out a magazine that they wished to publish in Vienna.

After a great deal of effort, this group of students, with their own savings and the material support of Albanian patriots in Vienna, in Albania and in Kosovo, managed in April 1920 to publish the first issue of their magazine, which they called “Djalëria” (The Youth). In terms of intellectual content, this magazine was considered second only to Konica’s magazine Albania. It continued to appear until 1929. It carried various articles on artistic creation in poetry and prose, as well as various translations and philosophical essays, by Jani Basho, Nush Bushati, Fuad Asllani, Gjovalin Gjadri, Kol Mirdita (Helenau), Xhevat Korça, Ndoc Krajni, Krist Maloki (Lepteni), Lasgush Poradeci and many others, and even by intellectuals from Albania and Kosovo such as Dr Filip Papajani, K. Hobdari, Dr Omer Hamiti, Sokol Sopoti and others. The magazine continued under Nush Bushati, who edited it for up to 9 issues. In 1921 only 5 issues came out, from January to June, with Jani Basho as editor-in-chief and Ndoc Krajni as administrator. In 1922, with Fuad Asllani as editor-in-chief, 4 issues were published, but these issues covered 7 months. In 1923 the magazine was not published, owing to a lack of funds, but also because many of the students were completing their studies. That year Nush Bushati, Xhevat Korça, Jani Basho, Fuad Asllani and Ndoc Naraçi finished their studies and returned home. In 1924 only issue no. 23 came out, with Mihal Zallari as editor-in-chief, while in 1925–1926 the magazine could not be published, resuming once more in 1927 with two issues under the direction of Dr Gjergj Pekmezi and Hasan Ceka. Likewise, in 1928, with Skënder Luarasi as editor-in-chief, 4 issues came out. In the final year of its life, 1929, with Dr Wallash as editor-in-chief and Ruzhdi Luniku from Elbasan as administrator, only two issues were published (16) (5). Graz, in Austria, was the second city where Albanian students who studied and lived there were concentrated. Following the experience of their fellow students in Vienna, they had tried to organise themselves into cultural associations, and managed to publish a magazine, “Minerva”, in 1922, which had a short life of 5 issues.

Among those who wrote for this magazine was Rrok Kolaj, who was also its principal contributor. Other names that worked with the magazine included Krist Maloku, Safet Butka, Xhevat Korça and other authors writing under pseudonyms such as Mali i Tomorrit, GE and others. Most of the Albanian émigrés living in Austria were people who had fled the regime of Ahmet Zogu in December 1924. Some of them formed the National Committee (KONARE) and published its organ, “Liria Kombëtare” (National Freedom), in Geneva. Another group formed a different organisation, known by the same name. Between these two groups there were also figures who were in opposition to Zogu, but also to both of the other groups; they published their own organ, “Ora e Shqipnisë” (The Hour of Albania), edited by one of the former students in Austria, Dom Lazër Shantoja, and by Frederik Shantoja, in 1928. What concerned Lazër Shantoja most was the foreign policy of the Albanian state, which he called the “open-door policy”, against the interests of the nation and of the Albanian state. In Austria, between 1912 and 1930, 8 newspapers and magazines were published: “Albanische Corespondenze” 191-1928, “Albania” 1914, “Vëllaznija” 1916–1918, “Djalëria” 1920–1929, “Minerva” 1922, “La Fédération Balkanique” 1925, “Ora shqiptare” 1928 and “Bashkimi Kombëtar” 1928–1929. “Albanische Corespondenze” appeared as an international bulletin on Albanian affairs.

This shows that Austrian public opinion, and cultural opinion in particular, took a great interest in the development and affirmation of Albanian society. Although it appeared only in German and French, and not in Albanian, its aim was to acquaint Austrian opinion with the vital problems of the Albanians, from political, social, cultural and literary matters to questions of national consolidation. The appearance of this newspaper caused a great stir at the time. The bulletin was published by Leo Alexander Freundlich in association with Alfred Rappaport. It was issued from time to time, irregularly, and drew its information from the Austrian newspapers “Neue Freie Presse”, “Neues Wiener Tagblatt” and “Neues Wiener Journal”.

Kastriot KOTONI