TIRANA, August 28 – Albania is commemorating Father Zef Pllumi (1924-2007) on the 102nd anniversary of his birth. The Franciscan priest and writer remains a symbol of spiritual resistance and human dignity in Albania.

Pllumi was born on August 28, 1924, in Mount Renc in Shëngjin. Influenced by Father Anton Harapi and the cultural environment of the “Hylli i Dritës” (“The Light Star”) magazine, he developed an early interest in knowledge, culture and literature.

The communist regime violently interrupted his religious and intellectual life. Authorities arrested him for the first time on December 14, 1946, when he was 22. He received a 3-year prison sentence and served time in Shkodër’s “Great Prison” and labour camps in Beden, Myzeqe and Orman-Pojan in Maliq, Korça.
Following his release, Pllumi returned to the Franciscan community. He became a priest in Dukagjin, north of Shkodër, in 1956. Authorities arrested him again in 1967. He spent a total of 26 years in prisons and internment camps, including Spaç, Reps, Skrofotina, Ballsh, Zejmen-Shënkoll and Tirana. Authorities released him in 1989.

With the fall of communism, Pllumi resumed his literary and journalistic work. He republished the “Hylli i Dritës” (“The Light Star”) magazine from 1993 to 1997. His best-known work, the trilogy “Rrno vetëm për me tregue” (“Live Only to Tell”), documented persecution, suffering and resistance during the communist dictatorship.

In 2006, the President of Albania awarded him the “Honor of the Nation” Order. The Ministry of Culture also awarded him the “Golden Pen” literary prize for the trilogy. Pllumi passed away on September 25, 2007, and was buried in Shkodër.

/a.p./