Nexhmije Hoxha

Nexhmije Hoxha was born Nexhmije Xhuglini in Bitola, in present-day North Macedonia.[2] Later moving with her parents to the Albanian capital, Tirana, she studied at the Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute.[2] In November 1941, while still training to be a schoolteacher, she joined the newly founded Albanian Communist Party and a year later was elected to the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Movement.

During the Second World War she fought against the forces of Fascist Italy and German Wehrmacht troops, as part of the First Division of the National Liberation Army, a resistance group which was dominated by Communists and supported by Special Operations Executive forces which were sent to Albania by the British.[2] In 1943 she was elected to the Secretariat of the Albanian Women's League, and served as its chairwoman from 1946 to 1952, replacing Ollga Plumbi.[3]

In 1966, as Albania increasingly isolated itself, she became director of the Institute of Marxist–Leninist Studies, a body which was responsible for ensuring ideological purity and spreading propaganda.[2] Her relationship with the Sigurimi secret police is widely discussed.[5] Nexhmije later claimed in her 1998 memoir, My Life with Enver, that her husband expressed some regrets over the number of executions which the Sigurimi carried out.[5]

After her husband died in 1985, Nexhmije was elected chairwoman of the Democratic Front, an umbrella association, and she defended her husband's heritage during the period of reforms (1990–1991). She was forced to resign as chairwoman of the Democratic Front in December 1990, and she was replaced by Prime Minister Adil Çarçani.

She was expelled from ALP in June 1991 and the party organ Zeri i Popullit criticised her for her allegedly pompous way of life.[6] She was arrested on 4 December 1991 and at the end of January 1993 she was sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement of 750,000 leks.[6] The sentence was increased to eleven years by the appeal court.[6] Hoxha was released from prison in January 1997.[6][7][8]

Hoxha died on 26 February 2020 aged 99 at her home in Tirana from natural causes. At the time of her death she was the oldest living member of the communist leadership of Albania.[9]

According to her former daughter in law, Lilliana, one of Nexhmije Hoxha's hobbies was viewing the video of Mehmet Shehu, once Prime Minister, being tortured before he either committed suicide or was murdered on the orders of Enver Hoxha.[4] For many years she lived with her husband in the section of Tirana which was known as the Bllok, the Bllok was reserved for the country's ruling elite.[4] Being at the apex of the party elite, they had access to foreign goods which were not available to ordinary Albanians and they reportedly owned 25 fridges and televisions.[2] However, Nexhmije maintained that she personally did not live extravagantly, emphasizing the prosaic nature of her marriage ceremony in 1945, which did not include a dress, a reception or a honeymoon.[10]

• Speech and letters from prison