Musine Kokalari was born on February 10, 1917, in Adana, Turkey. In 1921, her family returned to Albania and settled in Gjirokastra, where Musine attended primary school. Nine years later, the Kokalari family settled in Tirana. In 1937, Musine graduated from the “Queen Mother” high school and then went to study at the University of Rome, Italy, which she graduated with honors in 1941.

She published her first book “What my old mother tells me” in 1939. It was 1943, when Musine Kokalari together with some other friends formed the Social Democratic Party. A year later, with her efforts, the first issue of the newspaper “Voice of Freedom” was published. In 1944, she published her second book “Around the hearth”, while on November 12 of the same year, her brothers, Muntaz and Vesim Kokalari, were decimated. Four days later they arrested Musine and kept her in prison for 17 days. In January 1945, Musine Kokalari’s third book ” A life shaken” was published. On January 23, 1946, she was arrested for the second time by the People’s Defense Forces and the court sentenced her to 20 years of imprisonment. In 1961, she was released from prison and exiled to Rrëshen, where she retired. In 1981, she fell ill with cancer,and passed away. Ten years later, in 1993, the President of the Republic awarded her the “Martyr of Democracy” medal posthumously.

/Klara Ruci/