# Vojo Kushi

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{{Short description|Albanian and Yugoslav partisan (1918–1942)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_suffix = {{post nominals|size=100|country=ALB|list=[NK](/source/Honor_of_Nation_Order)}}
| name             = Vojo Kushi
| other_names      = Kušić
| image            = Vojo Kushi (portret).jpg
| caption          = Kushi in 1942
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1918|08|03|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [Vrakë](/source/Vrak%C3%AB), [Shkodër](/source/Shkod%C3%ABr), [Austrian-occupied Albania](/source/Albania_during_World_War_I)
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1942|10|10|1918|08|03|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [Tirana](/source/Tirana), [Italian-occupied Albania](/source/Italian_protectorate_of_Albania_(1939%E2%80%931943))
| occupation       = [Albanian resistance in World War II](/source/Albanian_resistance_in_World_War_II)
| political_party  = [Communist Party of Albania](/source/Party_of_Labour_of_Albania)<br />[Communist Party of Yugoslavia](/source/Communist_Party_of_Yugoslavia)
| awards           = 17px [Hero of the People](/source/Hero_of_the_People_(Albania))<br />[People's Hero (Yugoslav)](/source/Order_of_the_People's_Hero) (posthumous)
}}
'''Vojo Kushi'''{{Cref2|a}} ({{IPA|sq|'vɔjɔ 'kuʃi}}; {{Lang-sr-Cyrl|Војо Кушић}}, August 3, 1918 – October 10, 1942) was an Albanian and Yugoslav communist guerrilla fighter (partisan) and one of the founders of the Communist group based in [Shkodër](/source/Shkod%C3%ABr), following the Italian occupation of Albania in April 1939. He was proclaimed a [National Hero of Yugoslavia](/source/National_Hero_of_Yugoslavia) by the Yugoslav communist government on February 12, 1945, and then a [Hero of Albania](/source/Hero_of_Albania) by the Albanian communist government in 1946.

==Early life and origin==
Kushi was born in 1918, in [Vrakë](/source/Vrak%C3%AB), near [Shkodër](/source/Shkod%C3%ABr). He belonged to the [Serb-Montenegrin](/source/Serbo-Montenegrins_in_Albania)<ref name=Zlaticanin>{{cite periodical |last=Zlatičanin|first=Blagoje|title=Crnogorci iz Vrake na stalnoj Golgoti |periodical=Matica |date=Summer–Autumn 2011 |url=http://www.maticacrnogorska.me/files/46-47/08%20blagoje%20zlaticanin.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524023849/http://www.maticacrnogorska.me/files/46-47/08%20blagoje%20zlaticanin.pdf |archive-date=2012-05-24 |pages=157–160}}</ref> minority of Albania. His original surname may have been Kušić ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Куши��}}); due to [King Zog](/source/Zog_I_of_Albania)'s state persecution of [Serbs](/source/Serbs) following 1920, surnames with obvious Slavic suffixes such as '-ić' and '-vić' were removed, as were Slavic-speaking schools.<ref name=Zlaticanin/>

== Biography ==
Following the [Italian occupation of Albania](/source/Italian_occupation_of_Albania) in April 1939, the first communist revolutionary organization was established in [Shkodër](/source/Shkod%C3%ABr) (Shkodër group), which included minority members brothers Vaso and [Branko Kadija](/source/Branko_Kadija)<!-- (Kadić)-->, Vojo Kushi<!-- (Kušić)-->, [Jordan Misja](/source/Jordan_Misja)<!-- (Mistović)-->, Ivo Jovanov, Vojin Dragović, Petar Bulatović and [Vasil Shanto](/source/Vasil_Shanto).<ref name=Zlaticanin/> The Shkodër group was led by Shanto and [Qemal Stafa](/source/Qemal_Stafa).{{sfn|Pearson|2006|p=158}} The other organization, established in [Korçë](/source/Kor%C3%A7%C3%AB) (Korçë group), was united into one on November 8, 1941, in [Tirana](/source/Tirana), at the house of Bojko Lazarov, hence forming the [Communist Party of Albania](/source/Party_of_Labour_of_Albania).<ref name=Zlaticanin/> In 1942, he was chosen as a member of the regional committee for Tirana and appointed commander of guerrilla units. [Enver Hoxha](/source/Enver_Hoxha) was appointed the Party leader in order to include the majority [Muslim](/source/Muslims) population.<ref name=Zlaticanin/>

Kushi was sent by the Albanian government for education at the [Military Academy](/source/Military_Academy_(Serbia)) in Belgrade, in the [Kingdom of Yugoslavia](/source/Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia). Before his return to Albania, he joined the [Yugoslav Partisans](/source/Yugoslav_Partisans) and became a member of the [Communist Party of Yugoslavia](/source/Communist_Party_of_Yugoslavia).<ref name=Moraca-1961>{{cite book|first=Pero |last=Morača|title=Ratna sećanja: aktivista jugoslovenskog revolucionarnog radničkog pokreta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bv0xAQAAIAAJ|year=1961|publisher=Kultura|quote=U našoj grupi bio je Vojo Kuši iz Skadra, koga je tadašnja albanska vlada poslala na školovanje u Vojnu akademiju u Beogradu. Pri povratku za Albaniju, otišao je u partizane i postao član KPJ. Izvodila se jedna akcija u zimu 1942. godine.}}</ref> One of the discussions of Partisans in [Prokletije](/source/Prokletije), including Kushi, was included in Đurica Labović's ''Lučonoša sa Prokletija'' (1985).<ref>{{cite book|first=Đurica |last=Labović|title=Lučonoša sa Prokletija|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GvYzAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Nova knjiga|quote=насмеши се Воја Куши. — Али зашто му отвара^ у апетит! — заврте Радуле главом. — Медитираш? — упита Зеко Во^водић. Милић истог трена одговори: — На^бол>е разми1шьам и све мисли ми до- бщу крила, нарочито када ...}}</ref>

== Death ==
The [Albanian fascist regime](/source/Balli_Komb%C3%ABtar) sentenced communist fighters to death for treachery and unrest.<ref name=Marovic>{{cite book|last=Marović|first=Miodrag|title=Balkanski Džoker: Albanija i Albanci: istorijska hronika nastajanja i razvoja albanskog pitanja|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXMvAQAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Kulturni centar|isbn=978-86-7004-005-2|quote=Oni su optuženi da su krivi za "izdajstva i provale" zbog kojih su u Tirani poginuli Kemal Stafa i Vojo Kuši, u Skadru Perljat Redžepi, Jordan Misto i Branko Kadija. "Čaša strpljenja bila je prepuna", rečeno je na vanrednoj konferenciji u Tirani, ...}}</ref> In Tirana, [Qemal Stafa](/source/Qemal_Stafa),<ref name=Marovic/> and later Kushi, Sadik Stavileci and Xoxi Martini were surrounded and killed by ''[carabinieri](/source/carabinieri)'' on 10 October 1942.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|p=208}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Vladimir |last= Dedijer|title=Jugoslovansko-albanski odnosi, 1939-1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4Q6AQAAIAAJ|year=1949|publisher=Borba|quote=Partija je doživela tudi hude udarce. V Tirani je v borbi s kara- binjerji junaško padel sekretar CK komunistične mladine Djemal Stafa. V Skadru so junaško padli tovariši Perljat Redžepi, Jordan Misto in Branko Kadija. V Tirani je bil Vojo Kuši z ...}}</ref> Their house on the Kodra Kuqe quarter (Red Hill quarter) was surrounded and a fight ensued for 6 hours, with tanks forcing them out; Kushi stormed out and killed several carabinieri, then ran out of bullets and jumped onto the tank and was killed.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|p=208}}

== Legacy ==
After the war, he was proclaimed a National Hero. In [Albania](/source/Albania), many streets, quarters, schools, sport institutions and others were named after him. In Tirana, a monument was erected in his honour, a statue of his face and his name below it. It is located in Sheshi Selvia, Tirana. An Albanian documentary about him, [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351964/ Vojo Kushi (1969)], was made.

Later Hoxha imprisoned Vojo's brother Marko and his family in [southern Albania](/source/southern_Albania) as part of his party purges.<ref name=Zlaticanin/>

==Annotations==
{{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha}}
{{Cnote2|a|His given name, Vojo, is a shortened form of the Slavic name ''[Vojislav](/source/Vojislav)''. His surname, Kushi, is the Albanian form of Serbian ''[Kušić](/source/Ku%C5%A1i%C4%87)'' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Кушић}}. In Serbo-Croatian sources his name is written '''Vojo Kuši''' ({{lang|sr|Војо Куши}}),<ref>{{harvnb|Dedijer|1949|p=28}}, {{harvnb|Marović|1995}}, {{harvnb|Morača|1961}}</ref> and '''Voja Kuši''' ({{lang|sr|Воја Куши}}).{{sfn|Labović|1985|p=137}} }}
{{Cnote2 End}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Pearson|first=Owen|title=Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War, 1939-45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3knunC7z_oC|year=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-104-5}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushi, Vojo}}
Category:1918 births
Category:1942 deaths
Category:Albanian communists
Category:Albanian people of Montenegrin descent
Category:Albanian people of Serbian descent
Category:Heroes of Albania
Category:20th-century Albanian people
Category:People from Shkodër
Category:Deaths by firearm in Albania
Category:Yugoslav Partisans members
Category:Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero
Category:Albanian resistance members

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vojo Kushi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vojo_Kushi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vojo_Kushi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.