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Jani (Xhuf) Koljaka
[edit]Jani (Xhuf) Koljaka (John Colliaca) (18 January 1883 – 15 June 1947) was a notable Albanian engineer, educator, and entrepreneur. He was one of the first and principal faculty members of the Albanian Vocational School (today Harry T. Fultz Institute of Tirana).
Early life and education
Jani Koljaka was born on January 18, 1883 in the city of Kavaja in west-central Albania to Nikolla Koljaka, a local accountant, and Maria Moisiu, a housewife and aunt of Aleksander Moisiu, an Austrian-Albanian actor. Jani was the second eldest of the couple's six children.
During his childhood and adolescence, Koljaka attended Greek, Romanian, and German language schools in Albania, completing his secondary education at a German school in Durres.[1]
Eager to pursue higher education despite no opportunities for further schooling in his Albania, without notifying his family and with no financial means, Koljaka left his home country in 1903 on a ship directed to Malta to enroll at the University of Malta, under British control at that time. He started working night shifts at the Port of Valletta shipyards to support his studies. In 1905, the Governor of Malta awarded him the license of steamboat engineer, and in 1908, he graduated at the top of his class with a major in Naval Engineering.[1]
Business activities
After rejecting multiple employment and business offers in Malta[1], Koljaka returned to his home country in December of 1908. Along with his brothers, he started renting, purchasing, installing, and servicing industrial grain mills, a business that eventually grew lucrative. He was the first to introduce the use of diesel engines for grain mills in Albania, which at that time were powered by water streams[1]. Koljaka and his brothers expanded the business further with the sale and servicing of additional equipment including stone and rock crushers, irrigation systems, presses, railway components, industrial refrigerators, and generators. Due to his professionalism, reputation, and fluency in nine foreign languages, he ensured exclusive representation and dealership agreements with multiple foreign companies such as UK-based engine manufacturers R.A. Lister and Co, Ltd and Petters, Ltd.[1]
In June 1926, along with three other business partners, he opened “Kinema Nasional”, the first movie theater in Albania. After opening additional theaters in several other Albanian cities, Koljaka sold his portion of the company to his partners and focused exclusively on his other businesses.[1],[6]
Vlora war
In 1920, Koljaka aided Albanian volunteer forces in the Vlora War by repairing artillery damaged by Italian soldiers. He also repaired local grain mills needed to supply the Albanian soldiers with flour. Fier City Hall awarded him with an acknowledgement certificate for his patriotic activity during the war.[1],[4]
Albanian Vocational School
In December 1922 Jani Koljaka joined the Albanian Vocational School in Tirana, founded by the American Junior Red Cross in cooperation with the Albanian government and directed by Harry T. Fultz. He told Bradley Kelly, the American Junior Red Cross Field Office Representative, that he “understood what the school meant for his country and was willing to sacrifice his more lucrative personal business to help the school and render a service to his country”[2] . He was known by his colleagues and students as the “wizard engineer” ”[2],[3] who later became an “outstanding teacher”[2],[3], and with whose arrival, according to Kelly, “fortune shone on the school”[2],[3]. Koljaka contributed to the school’s growth as a teacher of applied mechanics until 1933, when the school was nationalized, and he left his role due to disagreements with the newly imposed educational curriculum of the government.[1],[2],[3]
Personal life
In 1910, Koljaka married Angjeliqi (Angje) Bidoshi, daughter of attorney Petro Bidoshi. The couple had five daughters and two sons. Koljaka and his wife financially supported their daughters’ international education, which was rare in Albania at the time. His second daughter, Kristina Koljaka, became the first female Albanian sculptor and continues to be considered one of the best-renowned artists in Albania, with several of her works displayed at the Albanian National Museum of Fine Arts.[1]
Death
After the communist totalitarian regime of Enver Hoxha came to power in 1945, Harry T. Fultz returned to Albania as member of a U.S. State Department mission, and met with Koljaka multiple times during his time in Tirana. However, the U.S.-Albanian relationship deteriorated in 1946 when the Albanian government fell under the influence of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. State Department recalled their mission in November 1946. In October 1946, Koljaka fell victim to Hoxha’s purge of the Albanian intellectual elite[7] and was arrested under the pretext of being a US spy and anti-communist activist. After enduring months of torture at the hands of Sigurimi secret police, he died in prison from his multiple wounds and malnutrition in June of 1947, and his properties, including homes, businesses, and bank accounts were nationalized.[1][3][4][5]
In January 1993, the President of the democratic Republic of Albania recognized Koljaka’s contributions to the country awarding him the Medal “Martyr of Democracy” as a “patriotic intellectual devoted to his country, unjustly convicted by the communist dictatorship”.[1] ===
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References
1. Shehi, Zyhdi (2009). Inxhinieri Jani (Xhuf) Koljaka – Diplomati Stavro Stavri. Page 4-143. Shtepia Botuese DDS, Durres, Albania.
2. Kontos Fultz, Joan (1981). Red Cross, Black Eagle: A Biography of Albania’s American School. Page 43, 55, 57, 92, 94, 98, 144, 152. East European Monographs, number 75, Boulder, CO, Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 978-0914710691.
3. Gogaj, Iljaz (1993). “Inxhinieri magjistar”. Gazeta Rilindja, 7/7/1993, Tirana, Albania.
4. Aliko, Tomor (2007). Genocidi mbi eliten intelektuale te kombit shqiptar nen terrorin komunist. Page 103. Shtypshkronja Maluka, Tirana, Albania.
5. Instituti i Studimeve te Krimeve dhe Pasojave te Komunizmit (2015). Fjalori enciklopedik i viktimave te terrorit komunist. Volumi 4, I-K. Page 295. ISKK, Tirana, Albania. ISBN 978-9928168283.
6. Farka, Kurt (2019). Na ishte njehere kinema “17 Nentori”. Gazeta Telegraf 7/28/2019, Tirana, Albania.
7. Fevziu, Blendi (2011). Enver Hoxha. Page 159-172. UET Press, Tirana, Albania. ISBN 978-9995639358.