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Gjergj Bubani, the first director of Radio Tirana, a publicist, writer, and translator

Gjergj Bubani was an Albanian publicist, writer, and translator. 

Bubani was born in Boboshtica, a village near Korça, in 1899. He attended the French Lycee in Korça, and then went to Athens where he attended the Industrial College. Bubani studied there chemistry. After the studies he moved to Romania, where at that time there was a large and active Albanian community.

His publicistics started in 1919, with some articles for the newspaper Kuvendi (Convent) in Italy. In Romania, Bubani worked for the Albanian newspaper Shqiperi’ e Re (New Albania) from 1920 to 1922. After that, Bubani published his own journals: Dodona (named after the ancient oracle) in January 1922, the short-lived Zëri Shqipëtar (The Albanian Voice) in March 1926, and Kosova (Kosovo), with a nationalistic orientation, with 33 issues from 1932 to 1933 in Albanian, Romanian, and French. His first satirical work appeared in the Dodona newspaper.
He also worked as a secretary in the Albanian consulate in Costanza, and later in Sofia.

Bubani was also a translator from Russian and Romanian. A great contribute consists of the translation of works from Victor Eftimiu, Romanian dramaturg originating from the same village (Boboshtica) as Bubani.

Zoi Xoxe, an Albanian publicist and pro-monarchist, invited Bubani to move back to Albania in 1936. Bubani moved his family to Tirana and started as chief-editor of Drita (The light). After returning to Tirana, he was appointed the first director of Radio Tirana, which officially started broadcasting in November 1938, under the slogan “Tirana is speaking to you”. It has made a valuable contribution to the enrichment of radio programming. During the German occupation, the radio employees together with the director Gjergj Bubani were arrested by the Gestapo. They would be released from arrest only thanks to the intervention of Mihal Zallari, an influential politician of that time. During the German occupation, he worked for the Ministry of Culture.

Bubani was abducted by the Communists from his home in Fortuzi Street in Tirana on November 13, 1944, thus few days after Tirana’s liberation by the partisans of National Liberation Front. He was accused of being a collaborator with the Italian and German occupators. He would remain in prison until 27 January 1945, when he was brought into the Special Court together with many other well-known former politicians, military figures, Balli Kombetar leaders, publicists, clerics, etc..
Koçi Xoxe was leading the court sessions, while Bedri Spahiu was the prosecutor. Though the three witnesses testified that Bubani was an early sympathizer of the Liberation Movement, he was sentenced to 15 years. He was sent to forced work in the draining projects near Maliq. Physically exhausted and frustrated, he was released 5 years later. He did not engage in anything after, until his death in 1954.

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