Enver Hoxha facts for kids

Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania
	In office; 8 November 1941 – 11 April 1985
Succeeded by	Ramiz Alia
2nd Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Albania
	In office; 24 October 1944 – 18 July 1954
Preceded by	Ibrahim Biçakçiu (as Prime Minister of Albania)
Succeeded by	Mehmet Shehu
Personal details
Born	16 October 1908; Ergiri (Gjirokastër), Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	11 April 1985 (aged 76); Tirana, People's Socialist Republic of Albania
Nationality	Albanian
Political party	Party of Labour of Albania
Spouse(s)	Nexhmije Hoxha
Children	Ilir; Sokol; Pranvera
Religion	None; (prev. Bektashi Islam)

Enver Halil Hoxha (Albanian pronunciation: [ɛnˈvɛɾ ˈhɔdʒa] ( listen); 16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was the communist dictator of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. His title was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania.

Early life

Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër, a city in southern Albania (then under the Ottoman Empire) that has been home to many prominent families. He was the son of Halil Hoxha, a Bektashi Tosk cloth merchant who traveled widely across Europe and the United States and Gjylihan (Gjylo) Hoxha. He was raised a member of a wealthy Muslim family of landowners and merchants. He went to the best schools in Albania in the 1920s. He was given one of the few scholarships to a foreign college. In 1931 he attended the University of Montpellier in France. He lost his scholarship in 1934 for poor performance and moved to Paris.

Near the end of World War II he became the Prime Minister of Albania.

Images for kids

The house where Hoxha grew up in Gjirokastër
Enver Hoxha at age 18
Hoxha as a partisan
Enver Hoxha following the liberation of Tirana in 1944.
Miladin Popović and Enver Hoxha
Symbol of the Party of Labour of Albania.
Mao Zedong and Hoxha in 1956
Bunkers in Albania built during Hoxha's rule to avert possible external invasion. Over 700,000 were built.
Hoxha's first name engraved on the side of Shpiragu Mountain.
A Cultural Revolution poster promoting Albanian-Chinese cooperation featuring Hoxha and Mao. The caption at the bottom reads, "Long live the great union between the Parties of Albania and China!" Despite what the painting may suggest, the two leaders met only twice—in 1956 during Hoxha's visit to China, and in 1957 at the Moscow meeting of communist and workers' parties—before the Sino-Albanian alliance.
Checkpoint memorial in Tirana featuring a bunker, walls from Spaç Prison, and a fragment of the Berlin Wall.
Propaganda billboard (photographed in 1978) stating that The fatherland is defended by all of the people.
Fall of Hoxha's statue in Tirana's Skanderbeg Square amid student demonstrations
Enver Hoxha's successor, Ramiz Alia was the last communist leader of Albania
Former residence of Enver Hoxha in the secluded area of Blloku (the Block) in Tirana