Themistokli Gërmenji
| Themistokli Gërmenji | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1871 Korçë, Ottoman Empire |
| Died |
(aged 46) Thesaloniki, Greece |
| Nationality |
Ottoman Albanian |
| Occupation | Prefect of police Revolutionary |
| Known for | Albanian National Awakening Black Society for Salvation Secret Association of the Albanians of Manastir Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë |
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Themistokli Gërmenji (1871—1917) was an Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter. One of the activists of the Albanian National Awakening and the leader of the Albanian irregulars from 1909 to 1914, he became the prefect of police of the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë from 1916 until his execution due to a miscarriage of justice by a French military tribunal in 1917.
Themistokli was born in Gërmenji family in Korçë in 1871. His family was originally from Gërmenj, a village of modern-day Kolonje -County of Albania, near border with Greece. Themistokli's grandfather Demetrius moved from Gërmenj to Korçë in 1860 and adopted Gërmenji as his last name. Because of economic reasons Themistokli's father Atanas moved from Korçë, first to Egypt and then to Bucharest and Istanbul. His mother Konstandina, wife Katarina, three sons (Spiro, Telemakun and Themistokli) and two daughters (Aleksandra and Efterpina) remained in Korçë.
After receiving his first education in Korçë, Themistokli emigrated to Romania in 1892 in search of work and settled in Bucharest at the age of 21. In Bucharest he was influenced by the rise of patriotic societies in the Albanian community. He returned to Korça and Monastir, where he and his brother opened the Liria (Freedom) Hotel, a center of the nationalist movement. That hotel was a centre of the Albanian activism of the Albanian National Awakening in planning the Congress of Monastir and Albanian revolts in the period 1909—1912. Gërmenji was a supporter of the cooperation with Bulgarians. In 1911, he traveled to Italy and Greece to find support. In 1911 he was declared persona non grata in Greece because he refused to agree not to carry on nationalistic propaganda south of Vlora as a condition for cooperation with the Greek authorities against the Ottoman Empire. While operating between Saranda and Gjirokastra, attempting to capture the military supplies of Ottoman army, he was seized and imprisoned in Ioannina. When he returned to Korça, he led one of two groups of Albanian irregulars around the region, when Albania was fragmented during the First World War (the other was led by Sali Butka).
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