Albanian military leader (1871–1945)

Shaban Mustafë Kastrati (1871 – 21 February 1945), known as Shaban Polluzha , was a Kosovo Albanian military leader active in Drenica during World War II. He was a collaborationist, serving in the Royal Albanian gendarmerie and as a commander of the Vulnetari militia. He was briefly a member of the Balli Kombëtar. He was killed by the Yugoslav Partisans.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 World War I and II
• 3 Legacy
• 4 References
• 5 Sources
• 6 Notes

Early life

Shaban was born in GODANC, in the Drenica region (now central Kosovo). He comes from a middle-cl* family and he was not educated, but as a young man he became involved in political life, which was imposed on him by the cir*stances and injustices of the occupying regimes.

World War I and II

He fought against the Bulgarians and Austrians during the First World War and later with the bourgeois Yugoslav regime. Shaban Polluzha was one of the most famous commanders of the Drenica area during the Second World War. During the Second World War, he was also the commander of a part of the front in Montenegro, Kolašin and Sandžak, where he was distinguished for organization and strategy. He was a member of the Islihat Council (peace court) and on the proposal of Miftar Bajraktari he was appointed chairman of the Islihat in Drenica. Shaban Polluzha also had political tactics. With political strategy he had made some formal and deceptive connections with the communists, but in reality he never accepted this ideology as an ideology that would solve the Albanian issue. For this, the party and the organizing council of the *embly of Skenderaj nominated him as commander of the Drenica Brigade. It is well known that after the capitulation of fascist Italy in September 1943, the Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Partisans increased its military activity in Kosovo and other Albanian areas and until November 1944. In these areas, units of many of the Yugoslav Partisans, starting from squads, detachments, battalions to brigades. The headquarters of the Drenica Brigade will condition its departure from Kosovo with the cessation of killings and looting of the civilian population by the Yugoslav army, but after the failure to subdue Shaban Polluzha on January 25, military operations begin to destroy his Brigade.

Legacy

He was posthumously awarded as "Hero of Kosovo" by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi in 2012.

References

Sources

• Antonijević, Nenad (2003). "Stradanje srpskog i crnogorskog civilnog stanovništva na Kosovu i Metohiji 1941. godine". Dijalog Povjesničara-istoričara. Zadar: Friedrich Nauman Stiftung. 8: 355–369.
• Antonijević, Nenad (2009). Mirković, Jovan (ed.). Албански злочини над Србима на Косову и Метохији у Другом светском рату, документа, друго измењено и допуњено издање. Belgrade: Музеј жртава геноцида.
• Elsie, Robert (2010). Historical Dictionary of Kosovo. Scarecrow Press. p.:219. ISBN:978-0-8108-7231-8.
• Milković, Milutin (1991). PRVA KOSOVSKO-METOHIJSKA PROLETERSKA BRIGADA. Војна штампарија.
• Dželetović Ivanov, Pavle (31 August 2012). "Pobuna Šabana Poluže". Novosti.

Notes