On February 12th, 1878, a large Greek band with around 600 so-called “volunteers” from Epirus, commanded by Greek officers, landed from the island of Corfu in the village of Lëkurs, near Saranda. After raising the Greek flag, they declared the beginning of the “Greek uprising” in the regions of Epirus. The Albanian population rose up against it.

On February 12th, 1905, the 30-year-old writer and patriot cleric Papa Kristo Negovani was massacred. Also known as Kristo Harallambi, he was born in Negovan near Follorina, Greece, in 1875. He was educated in Athens. In 1897, he returned to his native village, where he was ordained a priest and continued his work as a teacher. Negovani turned his home into a school and taught reading and writing to children and adults.

The distinguished historian and scholar Injac Zamputi was born in Shkodër on February 12th, 1910. He studied at Saverian College. At the age of 21, he was appointed as a teacher at that college. In 1993, he went to live in Italy. He died on February 28th, 1998, leaving behind marvelous manuscripts as well as historical studies. In 1995, he was awarded the presidential decoration “Distinguished Worker of Science and Technology”.

On February 12th, 1914, the “Elders of Durrës” dispersed with the demand that the International Control Commission requested from Esat Pasha Toptani. Similarly, other local governments in Albania dissolved one after the other and were forced to recognize Prince Vidi as the sole ruler of Albania.

On February 12th, 1920, the Yugoslavs invaded Mount Taraboshi, extending their rule to the entire right bank of the Buna and Lake Shkodra, up to the Buna Bridge. The “National Defense Committee” took a series of organizational measures to confront the inevitable clashes with the Yugoslav occupying forces.

On February 12th, 2007, the distinguished filmmaker Gëzim Erebara passed away in Tirana at the age of 78. He was born on May 19th, 1929, in Dibra. After completing his secondary education, he went to study in Czechoslovakia in 1948, where he began studying film directing. Erebara, in 1967, worked as a co-director with Pirro Milkani on the film “Reconciliation over Death”, a film that was condemned and banned from being shown for ideological reasons during the communist regime. Erebara’s filmography includes “Field of Blue, Field of Red”, “Girls with Red Ribbons”, “Forest of Freedom”, “At the Beginning of Summer”, and “The Brave Ones”. He is also known for his masterful translation from Czech of Jaroslav Hašek’s work “The Good Soldier Švejk”.

/k.s/