For some, it may seem surprising: a martyr who is also the first record holder of a nation's sport! In fact, in this title of this article or in these eight words of it, everything is as natural as it is true. Although it is just being confirmed through this story of the first time in this year 2018. It is strange how it has been possible that until today, in 2018, this truth has remained unknown, unlearned, unfixed. And yet we should not be surprised. History in Albania, that of sports in particular, still moves very slowly, like something second-hand, with endless untruths, with naive stories, with the distribution of affirmations, even undeserved. Until then, as an honest professional historian, he only needs to constantly correct the brutal behavior of unscrupulous writers, who surprisingly continue to fill the pages of newspapers.
Continued from the previous issue
It would never happen in the history of Shkodra's sports that one of his "Vllazni" would win a Champion title, having 60 percent of its lineup with athletes coming from another club! How, then, had Shkodra - previously subjected to the capital's and ministerial pressure in all areas of life - managed to take these three stars for itself?! The Tirana trio, this Radoja - Guraziu - Lahi? It was a surprising force, which Shkodra's sports and football would benefit from only in the early 70s, with the returns of its talents used by the capital. Rragami, Zhega, Bizi...!
A name was mentioned: Prof. Hamit Beqja – pioneer of Shkodra basketball, but now with an important function in the Central Committee of the Albanian Football Association. Liberal pedagogue, prominent sportsman, at that time also one of the leaders of the Basketball Federation – who would cunningly exploit both his popularity and his function. Thus, through the extremely attractive “behind-the-scenes” that the mind of a man named Rifat Uruçi, a sports journalist, one of the most prominent in Albania, but also an employee of the “Vllaznia” club, the clever central committee member, it seemed, had been dreaming for two years of preparing a comeback for “Vllaznia”.
Meanwhile, suddenly, on November 13, 1966, “Partizani” wins 53-47 in Shkodra, while an extremely beautiful team from Durrës, “Lokomotiva” of the trio Hercek – Dollani – Profkola, leads the championship together with “Partizani” and “Vllaznia” in third place, with 1 point less. And at this moment another drama begins. Now more than sports! It is the drama of a ruthless politics. As the fatal year 1967 itself would be for Albania…! Quite suddenly, when the second period of the Championship begins, the name of one of the first protagonists is missing from the Shkodra team: Filip Guraziu! This is the fatal moment when a ruthless regime resumes its criminal revenge. The first protagonist, it was known, had been a martyr: Pjetër Guraziu.
The other protagonist is a university student of mathematics, one of the best athletes in his homeland, the son of the martyr: Filip Guraziu. The struggle, always renewed, that of the classes! Years later, in 1990, the well-known journalist, Namik Mehmeti, would publish in “Sporti” that I edited, an excellent article with the title dedicated to Filip Guraziu. I am quoting these lines, which are statements by Filip himself, published in that article; “… It was a training day, after lunch. I found my friends gathered together with Esat, our coach. All of them without humor. Something must have happened, but I couldn’t think of any excuse. When I heard the words of my teacher, Esat Haxhi, who didn’t speak, but stammered, I realized that I was expelled…”. Straight to Dukagjin.
“The refuge of exiled intellectuals. Teachers, doctors, economists. So the basketball player Filip Guraziu had to trek the Alps to experience the spiritual isolation, the suppression of the soul and talent”. In fact, he was the champion Filip Guraziu. He had played the entire first period of the Championship. Through Namik Mehmeti's writing, Filip Guraziu speaks to me: “..I came down from Dukagjini that day when 'Vllaznia' was declared champion. An electrifying atmosphere in the 'Spartak' Corner. The Cup and medals were being handed out. I sat near the bars, experiencing pleasure and pain together. I had contributed a phase to this victory. My name was not mentioned.
I moved my legs as if without command and only a few voices mentioned me when they shouted: 'Yes, you forgot Filip Guraziu!'" The pain of the noble coach of this "Vllaznia" - champion, irreplaceable founder of basketball in Shkodra and Albania, the unforgettable Esat Haxhi, was the most touching. These things happened in Albania. Beautiful and well-deserved dreams were cut short...! Actually, not dreams, but the life of a great athlete was ruined. Without a shred of mercy, the state excluded Filip Guraziu from sports, the man who had exploded as one of the greatest talents of Albanian basketball since childhood.
With Tirana, champion of all high schools in Albania, the undisputed national player of Albania under 22, three times in a row Champion of Albania (1961, 1962, 1963) with "17 November" of Tirana - the team that revolutionized Albanian basketball, 19 years old (1962) Master of Sports - a very rare case in collective sports in Albania, also 19 years old player of the National Team - part of the five of the 1965 Balkan Games, when together with his friends he won the well-known Poll of the Best of the Year of the newspaper "Sporti popullar".
And all these unstoppable successes achieved only until this year 1966, when he was only 23 years old! What absolutely must be called quite rare in Albanian sport for a basketball player. Filip Guraziu was followed by the tragedy of his father, whom today, after almost a century, we discover and affirm, among other things, as a pioneer of Albanian sport in the first decades of the 20th century. In fact, as we will show later, in the course of this story, Pjetër Guraziu is one of the leading founders of Albanian sport as a whole…!
The roll of the following years is truly whimsical, hopeful, but ultimately completely ruthless. Suddenly, after 18 months in Dukagjini, Filip Guraziu is returned to Shkodra, to his profession as a math teacher and to his role as an irreplaceable basketball player.
Physique almost like that of an athlete, tall, explosive with a dynamic and jumpy style, equally full of variety in shooting from close up and from afar, under the backboard and in the clear view of the actions around it, basketball player Filip Guraziu was the prototype of a modern basketball player's arsenal. While in what is called the spirit of competition or, the immense sporting courage of an unbending will, he had no rival. Do you think these qualities forced the regime to bring him back? It is a return of an incomparable will. 18 months in the Dukagjini mountains without playing basketball and a sensational resumption, to practice the sport again almost like a triumphant. It seems that the curse of the dictatorship is already behind us…. …
But it is not so. History soon repeats itself. Not only is he banned from basketball again, but he is also soon stripped of his right to the profession of mathematics teacher. Straight to work at the Wood Factory in Shkodra! Completely contrary to the laws of that time. And if he later intends to work at least as a simple accountant, although he is a university graduate in mathematics, he must undergo the evening economic school exam to get a place as an accountant. Late, too late, Filip Guraziu would have his second great rebirth only in democracy, when his citizens even elected him mayor of Shkodra (1992-1996).
Here and to this day, as it were, is the second life of Filip Guraziu, who has an immense spatial activity. Mayor, director of the "Jordan Misja" High School, director of the Italy-Albania Friendship Association based in Florence and Shkodra, President of the "Vllaznia" Sports Club, "Honor of Albanian Sport", vice president of the Association of Former Persecuted and Political Prisoners based in Shkodra.
And without forgetting the activities in the field of culture, ecological protection, tourism, art, as well as as an author of publications. A complex extremely extensive in its geographical diversity: Florence, Venice, Gjakova, Shkodër, Laç, Adriatic, Alps, Albania, France, Austria, USA. And up to the "Honorary Citizen" of the city of Lincoln Nebraska in the USA. Which, however, does not erase a dramatic story. As always, the cause of all that drama of the first part of his life, with its ups and downs, with its ruthlessness, with its temporary sinking and rising, for the great Albanian basketball player, Filip Guraziu, had only one cause: his father.
The good man, the noble citizen, the distinguished professional of a Western culture, who, having fallen from the bullets of a bloody regime without any fault, had left his son Filip and his daughter, Elizabeta, children almost still in the lap of their mother, Ermelinda...! So, who was Pjetër Filip Guraziu - the father of Filip Pjetër Guraziu? In answer to this question, the second part of this surprisingly revealing story begins, also about the history of Albanian sport itself, which, as much as it pertains to Albanian life as a whole, equally pertains to our national sport itself.
Pjetër Filip Guraziu was born in 1906, in Shkodra, on the “Rrugën e Gurazezve”, the historical “Gjuhadolit”, from a well-known merchant family and distinguished for patriotic activities. Prominent names appear one after another in the archives of history. Uncle Shan Guraziu was elected a member of the “Mexhlis” as one of the representatives of the Catholic neighborhoods of the city. Grandfather Pjetër Guraziu was part of the Steering Committee of the Prizren League Branch for Shkodra. Father Filip, imprisoned by the Turkish invader for patriotic activities as a signatory of petitions that Albanians of the diaspora sent to the great powers in favor of “untouchable” Albania.
Finally, we come to his brother Tonin – the founding pianist – to whom his nephew, today's Filip Guraziu, has dedicated the book “Tonin Guraziu – A Life at the Piano”. Descended from and living among these distinguished names, in 1912, six-year-old Pjetër Guraziu and his family found themselves in Bari, Italy, which offered him an education, even completing the Commercial High School. And culminating in 1929, with a Doctorate in Economics at the University of Bari.
And more than that, he will also love sports…! In 1930, Pjetër Guraziu returns to Albania and begins working as a teacher at the Commercial High School in Vlora. Then he works at the Tirana Customs, while during the years of occupation, he withdraws into the private family business run by his father. In 1938, he marries Ermelinda Saraçi, daughter of the well-known Patuk Saraçi – deputy of the first Albanian Parliament. Two children are born to him, Elizabeta and Filipi.
Meanwhile, the Gurazez family, living in Tirana, financially supports the National Liberation War, hoping and believing in the realization of a democratic Albania. Which of course would not happen. They invite him to participate in the formation of the new government in Berat, as an uncompromising intellectual, which is prevented for health reasons. But he does not in any way prevent himself from accepting to serve in important duties in the central departments of the new state (the ministries of Agriculture and Finance) as head of the economic and financial sectors.
I have known people who worked with him in the ministry and they have told me that he was a model for everyone and everything: in skills, in behavior, in profession, in knowledge, in society. As his ministerial colleagues have told me, he was among the rare ones who, on more than one occasion, understanding the difficulties of the first years of that state, had refused even his salary.
It seems unbelievable, but it is completely true. And with all this, Pjetër Guraziu would arrive at the fateful date of February 26, 1951, when he was arrested and a day later, February 27, 1951, together with 21 other intellectuals, without any guilt, would be shot without trial. Forty years later, on August 11, 1991, the Plenum of the Supreme Court in Tirana, publicly announced the decision of innocence for the 22 people shot on February 27, 1951, of the so-called bomb incident at the USSR Embassy in Tirana.
In 1993, the reburial of 22 martyrs was solemnly organized at the Martyrs' Cemetery in Tirana. While in 2011, they were decorated with the Order of "Honor of the Nation". This is the tragedy of the "Honor of the Nation", Pjetër Guraziu, who today, after 93 years, we will also recognize as the first record holder in the history of Albanian sports. Interesting, indeed! Communist Albania is the only country in Europe that has shot three of its record holders in the sport of track and field.
These are Sejfedin Biçaku, Pjetër Guraziu and Abdyl Këllezi. Not ordinary athletes, then. But outstanding record holders of their country, led by the European-level athlete, Sejfedin Biçaku. A regime that is truly original in its crimes. Thus, one of this trio, which in all its complexity or unique feature should be called legendary for Albanian sport, is Pjetër Guraziu. In a way, even the most special.
Because Pjetër Guraziu is the first record holder, not only in athletics, but in all Albanian sports. Another chapter of his life, the other side of the coin: he is also one of the first organizers of sports in Albania. The culmination of his history, for our great destiny, is documented in a more intangible way. It dates back to April 11, 1925, in Bari, Italy.
What is confirmed by the authentic document, which his son Filip Guraziu and his family preserve to this day as a separate medal of the authenticity of a time, that is, of 1925. Words are superfluous here. This diploma attached to this “dossier” of ours speaks for itself, so brilliant and worthy of the Olympic Games in its imprint of a classic of the goddess of victory, which is summarized in the sublime affirmation of these words: “Diploma conferito allo studente Guraziu per '1 classificato nel salto in lungo con risultato m. 6.15. Campionato Regionale Studentesco. Bari. 10-11 aprile. 1925”.
A confirmation with the seal and signature of the organizers. A documentation that, in a positive direction, even reverses the chronological progress of Albania's record in the long jump. On the other hand, it gives Albanian sport the first official document of a winning competition, in this case an international one, which belongs to an Albanian athlete.
If we look at the result from the specialist's perspective, it is hardly something we can call extraordinary in its qualitative achievement. All the more so since it was achieved by a young student, who on that April 11, 1925, of the competition held, was exactly 18 years and 6 months old – which in turn constitutes the first national record in athletics for young people. And in itself, from the technician's perspective, Pjetër Guraziu's 6.15 in 1925 constitutes a result of a very high level for Albania at that time.
Even daring to compare it with a peak result, such as the national record of the Italian long jump in the long jump. And it is, therefore, really interesting that just two days later, after the first place and our record of Pjetër Guraziu, on April 13, 1925, Italian athletics after 13 years broke its long jump record, which was set in 1912 by the athlete Virgilio Tomasi with 7 meters. The author of the new Italian record, of April 13, 1925, is Tonini of US Milanese with 7.17 meters./ Memorie.al
