On August 13, 1983, Musine Kokalari passed away.

She was born on February 10, 1917, in Adana, Turkey. In 1921, her family returned to Albania and settled in Gjirokastër, where Musine completed her primary education. She attended high school at the “Queen Mother” Institute and later pursued studies at the University of Rome in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy, Italy, where she graduated with high honors.

She published her first book, *Siç më thotë nënua plakë* (As My Old Grandmother Tells Me), in 1939 while still a student. In 1943, together with a group of intellectuals, she co-founded the Social Democratic Party. A year later, through her efforts, the first issue of the newspaper *Zëri i Lirisë* (The Voice of Freedom) was published.

In 1944, she published her second book, *Rreth vatrës* (Around the Hearth), but on November 12 of that year, her brothers, Muntaz and Vesim Kokalari, were executed. Four days later, Musine was also arrested and detained for 17 days. In January 1945, her third book, *Sa u tund jeta* (How Life Shook), was published. On January 23, 1946, she was arrested for the second time by the People’s Defense forces and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment.

In 1961, she was released from prison and exiled to Rrëshen. In 1981, she became seriously ill, and two years later, she passed away. Ten years later, in 1993, the President of the Republic posthumously awarded her the “Martyr of Democracy” medal.

In 1962, after serving 15 years in prison, a new decision sentenced her to a five-year internment in the Mirdita district. Kokalari personally wrote to Enver Hoxha, pleading for a reconsideration of her internment, as she believed she had already paid the price for her past actions with the 15 years of imprisonment, making the current internment seem unjustifiable. Additionally, Kokalari requested that Hoxha return her collected folkloric manuscripts. The letter is preserved in the former Party Archive collection at the Central State Archive (AQSH).

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