Constantin Anastas Chekrezi
| Costa Chekrezi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 31, 1892 Ziçisht, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | January 10, 1959 (aged 66) Boston, MA, United States |
| Other names | Constantin Anastas Chekrezi Kostandin Çekrezi |
| Known for |
The Adriatic Review Vatra Federation Illyria Magazine |
Costa Chekrezi (1892-1959), also known as Constantin Anastas Chekrezi, or Kostandin Çekrezi was an Albanian patriot, historian, and publicist.
Chekrezi was born on 31 March 1892 in Ziçisht village, in the Upper Devoll region located near Korça (back then Ottoman Empire, now Albania). After finishing a 5-year school in his native village, he finished the Greek high school in the town of Korça in June 12, 1910. The school documents show he was awarded as "excellent student in all subjects", and earned a scholarship from the Ottoman government to attend (where he stayed for a year only till 1912) the law school in Thessaloniki, now Greece. The studies were interrupted by the start of the First World War. After the Albanian Declaration of Independence until 1914 Chekrezi lived in Vlorë where he worked as a secretary in the Civil Court of the town, later as an interpreter for the International Control Commission assigned near Ismail Qemali's government and later Prince Wied.
When World War I started, Chekrezi emigrated to the US via Italy. Despite his young in age, only 23 years old, Costa Chekrezi became editor of the newspaper "The Sun" (Albanian: Dielli), in Boston and was chief editor of the newspaper from 1915 to 1919. He also published monthly magazine Illyria, and gave a huge contribution to the Vatra's monthly publication The Adriatic Review, where he emphasized the atrocities over Albanians during World War I. Meanwhile, besides being a polyglot, he studied economics, public administration and English language at Harvard University. He graduated at 17 June 1918, with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Constantine has also translated into Albanian, a short history of Albania, written by Frederick Gibert, which was published in Boston, and wrote a historical study named "Albania, past and present", published in 1919 in New York City which was translated and published in Albania only in 2012 during the 100th anniversary of Declaration of Independence.
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