In Albania, World War II began with its invasion by Italy in April 1939. Fascist Italy set up Albania as its protectorate or puppet state. The resistance was largely carried out by Communist groups against the Italian and then German occupation in Albania. At first independent, the Communist groups united in the beginning of 1942, which ultimately led to the successful liberation of the country in 1944.
The People's Movement of Kosovo was a political party in Kosovo active after the Kosovo War, having originally been founded as a political movement of Albanian nationalists in 1982. Despite participating in several elections in autonomous Kosovo, its pre-war existence was its most historically significant period. Historically, its support and membership came from Albanian diaspora, especially within Switzerland and Germany, originating mainly from former Yugoslav republics.
The Albanians of Kosovo, also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo.
Fadil Hoxha was a Yugoslavian ethnic-Albanian communist revolutionary and politician from Kosovo. He was a member of the Communist Party and fought in the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. After the war, he was the first President of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija (1945–1963) and later member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1974–1984).
Xhemail Hasani, known as Xhem Hasa and Xhem Gostivari, was an Albanian nationalist and Axis collaborator, in charge of the Balli Kombëtar's activities in the western regions of Yugoslav Macedonia, a part of Yugoslavia occupied by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany during World War II.
Azem Bejta, commonly known as Azem Galica, was an Albanian nationalist, resistance fighter and rebel who fought for the unification of Kosovo with Albania. He is known for leading the Kachak Movement against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Sport in Kosovo is a tradition and plays a prominent role. Popular sports in Kosovo include football, basketball, volleyball, handball, and rugby, whereas major individual sports include wrestling, judo, swimming, boxing, karate and skiing.
The National Liberation Movement, also translated as National Liberation Front, was an Albanian communist resistance organization that fought in World War II. It was created on 16 September 1942, in a conference held in Pezë, a village near Tirana, and was led by Enver Hoxha. Apart from the figures which had the majority in the General Council it also included known nationalists like Myslim Peza. In May 1944, the Albanian National Liberation Front was transformed into the government of Albania and its leaders became government members, and in August 1945, it was replaced by the Democratic Front.
The Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo was an Albanian organization founded in Shkodër on 1 May 1918. It mainly consisted of the political exiles from Kosovo and was led by Hoxha Kadri from Pristina. It existed in looser form since May 1915.
Gani Bey Kryeziu was a Kosovo Albanian anti-communist resistance fighter.
The Kryeziu family was notably powerful and influential in Gjakova and other parts of Dukagjin during the 19th and 20th century. They were part of the Ottoman cast.
Qazim Begolli was an Albanian nationalist and activist of the Kachak movement of 20th century.
The Neutral Zone of Junik (1921–1923) was a neutral demilitarized border area between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and the Principality of Albania.
The unification of Albania and Kosovo is a political idea, revived before and after Kosovo declared independence in 2008. This idea has been connected to the irredentist concept of Greater Albania. As of the 2021 census, approximately 97% of Kosovars are ethnic Albanians.
Dušan Mugoša, nicknamed Duć (Дућ), was a Yugoslav Partisan. He and Miladin Popović were the Yugoslav delegates that helped unite the Albanian communist groups in 1941. The two had been sent to Albania on the directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, chosen for their revolutionary experience and political knowledge, to be available to the Albanian communists; they were the most active regarding Yugoslav–Albanian alliance.
The Battle of Lumë, also referred by the Albanians as the Uprising of Lumë, was a series of clashes between the Albanian locals of the region of Lumë in Ottoman Albania against the invading Serbian army in 1912 during the First Balkan War period. As the Kingdom of Serbia sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea, the Serbian army met significant resistance from Albanian militia in the Luma region, resulting in the defeat of the Serbian forces. In securing the central Adriatic coast in Albania, Albanian political figureheads were able to disembark in Durrës and proceed with their plans for the eventual Albanian Declaration of Independence.
Xhevdet Doda was a Yugoslavian teacher by profession who was active in the resistance against German occupation in Kosovo during World War II. Doda was member of the Yugoslav Partisans and member of the Liberation Council of Kosovo. He was arrested by Gestapo in 1944 and killed in the Mauthausen concentration camp (Bicerk-1). He was posthumously proclaimed People's Hero of Yugoslavia in 1973.
The Highlands of Gjakova or Gjakova Highlands, known colloquially as Tropoja, refers to the mountainous ethnographic region in the eastern Albanian Alps that sits between north-eastern Albania and western Kosovo, serving as the historical centres of the Albanian Gashi, Krasniqi, Bytyqi, Morina, Nikaj and Mërturi tribes. Traditionally, parts of the Gjakova Highlands that are now located in southern Montenegro were used as pasturelands by the local Albanian tribes.
Voksh is a village and tribal region situated in western Kosovo, which is inhabited by 570 people, all of whom are Albanians. The village of Voksh is also home to the Vokshi tribe which is part of the larger polyphyletic Thaçi tribe.
Kosovo during the Second World War was in a very dramatic period, because different currents clashed, bringing constant tensions within it. During World War II, the region of Kosovo was split into three occupational zones: Italian, German, and Bulgarian. Partisans from Albania and Yugoslavia led the fight for Kosovo's independence from the invader and his allies. During occupation by Axis powers, Bulgarian and Albanian collaborators killed thousands of Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins. Tens of thousands were also expelled or were placed into concentration camps.
