1921 – 2015

Dede Gjon Marku was born in 1921 in the Orosh, Mirdite. The fourth son of Kapidan Gjon Marka Gjoni. He completed his education in Shkoder.

Upon the takeover of communism in 1944, he went into hiding hoping to avoid arrest and trying to reach his brothers who were fighting in the North. He was captured and arrested in April 1945 and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. He was sent first to the prison in Shkoder then to Tirana where he remained for the duration of the sentence.

After being released from prison in 1950, within 2 weeks he was arrested again for hostile activities against the regime; he tried to escape, was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in the Burrel prison. During this period it is believed he was transferred to the prison in Gjrokastra for a time.

In 1957 he was released and interned in the village of Kyc in Vlora, while the rest of the family: mother, sisters, nephew and nieces were interned in Lushnja.

In 1958 he was transferred to Lushnja, first to Gradisht, then to the Saver sector where the other members of his family were and was finally reunited with them after 13 years.

In 1968 they were all transferred to the Gjaze sector in Lushnje.

In 1979 he was accused of political agitation and sentenced to 3 years house arrest.

In 1991, with the onset of democracy, Dede and the remaining members of the family were all reunited at their home in Shkoder, where he would live until his death in 2015.

Dede was never married and left no children.

In Memoriam, Kap. Deda Gjomarkaj