Nexhmije Hoxha (; 8 February 1921 – 26 February 2020) was an Albanian communist politician. She was the wife of Enver Hoxha, the first leader of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. Very close to her husband, she attempted to remain politically influential after his death in 1985. She was one of the few spouses of a ruling communist party leader with a high political profile of her own.

Biography

Nexhmije Hoxha was born Nexhmije Xhuglini in Bitola, in present-day North Macedonia, then Yugoslavia.

Relationship with Enver Hoxha

The then Nexhmije Xhuglini met Enver Hoxha at a meeting of the Albanian Party of Labour. Hoxha proposed to her in 1942 at a house which was being rented to him by the generous party supporter Syrja Selfo, who would be sentenced to death and executed in 1946. Then for the next several months, the Hoxhas stayed on and off in the house of Enver's brother-in-law Bahri Omari, who was destined to be executed by a firing squad in 1945 for collaboration with Nazi occupation forces. Enver Hoxha steadily rose to a prominent position after the end of the war and the establishment of a Communist government. Nexhmije later claimed in her 1998 memoir, My Life with Enver, that her husband expressed some regrets over the number of executions which the Sigurimi carried out.

Later life and death

She was expelled from PLA/SPA on 13 June 1991, and the party organ Zeri i Popullit criticised her for her allegedly pompous way of life.

Hoxha died on 26 February 2020, aged 99, at her home in Tirana from natural causes. At the time of her death she was the oldest living member of the communist leadership of Albania.

Personal life

For many years, she lived with her husband in the section of Tirana which was known as the Bllok, reserved for the country's ruling elite. However, Nexhmije maintained that she personally did not live extravagantly, emphasizing the prosaic nature of her marriage ceremony in 1945, which did not include a dress, a reception or a honeymoon.

References

  • Speech and letters from prison