Albania at its territorial peak/ Mustafa Merlika-Kruja's message on November 28, 1942!

2026-04-27 19:47:00, Opinione Aleksandër Cangonja

Albania at its territorial peak/ Mustafa Merlika-Kruja's message on

At the height of World War II, Prime Minister Mustafa Merlika-Kruja addressed Albanians with a special message on Albania's Independence Day.

At that historical moment, Albania appeared more expanded than ever before, including Albanian lands in Kosovo, Western Macedonia, and areas in Montenegro. In his speech, Kruja described this as a long-awaited realization of national unity, closely linking it to the developments of the time and the political alliances of the period.

Transcripted speech:

Albanian brothers,
Tomorrow our people celebrate the greatest national holiday: the holiday of their freedom.
The Royal Government, congratulating you on this holy day and wishing that the sun of freedom warm and illuminate our nation for life, sees it as its duty to remind you:
This is the second year that we are celebrating this freedom together with our brothers of Kosovo, Dibra, Ulcinj, Hoti, Gruda and Triep.
That the Albanian State, which is now only 30 years old, without its illustrious union with Great Italy and without the victory of the Axis armies against its centuries-old enemies, would not only not have been freer and more prosperous, but would have turned into a wasteland of ruins with a people enslaved, divided, crushed and impoverished, destitute, naked and naked and without shelter over their heads.
Let us not forget, therefore, my Albanian brothers, that we owe the happy union of the entire Nation under the banner of freedom, and the peaceful life that we now enjoy together, to the brave soldiers of the Axis. Therefore, as we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our national freedom, we have a duty to remember, together with our martyrs who have given their lives for this freedom, the heroes of the Tripartite War, who from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean are shedding their blood without sparing to ensure a brighter future for the world, the benefits of which we will enjoy together with them.
This solemn memory of the strong men who died for their freedom and ours, obliges us to celebrate this day not with the noise and joy of external cheers, but more strongly with heart and soul and especially with deep and devoted memories of our martyrs, our friends.
Every gesture, every word, every performance that could offend the spirit of those martyrs, does not agree in any way with the spirit of this holy day, and would only bring our immaturity to it. Therefore, it would have serious consequences for their authors.
This should be for all true Albanians, for all good Albanians, a day of spiritual joy, a day of peace of hearts.
Long live the King!
Long live the great and free Albania!
Prime Minister
Mustafa Merlika-Kruja