By Hasan Bello
The first Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly (the president), elected on January 12, 1946, was Omer Nishani. A former anti-Zogist of the early days, who had studied medicine in Austria. In the 1920s and 1930s he would become one of the main leaders of the communist movement and an associate of Fan Noli. During his studies, he met and later married the Austrian citizen Rozvita von Voler, who during the communist years would be called Trëndafile. She was a writer and poet.
With the invasion of Albania by Italy, Omer Nishani became a member of the Council of State. This caused the Albanian delegation to feel in difficulty at the Paris Peace Conference in 1946, as the Greek Prime Minister brought this up as an argument for Albanian collaboration with fascism. However, Enver Hoxha in his memoirs says that he had remained in this position to help the communist movement. In the summer of 1943, Omer Nishani left this position and joined the Anti-Fascist Movement. This left Trëndafilja alone in Tirana, without any help or means of livelihood.
At the end of the war, Omer Nishani became Foreign Minister and then Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly. Trëndafilja thus became the first lady. But this did not last many years, because they officially separated, with or without agreement for reasons that are still unknown.
Disagreements with the dictator forced him to resign on August 1, 1953. In the meantime, he had been under surveillance by the Sigurimi for some time and had also been shunned from the list of candidates for parliament.
According to the report of investigator Nevzat Haznedari, “Dr. Omer Nishani at 23:00 on May 25, 1954 committed suicide with two gunshots.” At first, the official authorities tried to keep this version secret, stating that he had died after a serious illness. But later it was said that he had committed suicide because he could not bear the suffering caused by the disease. No official ceremony was held for him.
According to his gardener, Omer Nishani did not kill himself, but was killed by the eldest son of one of the former vice presidents of the Presidium of the People's Assembly.
