Jusuf Vrioni (16 March 1916 – 1 June 2001) was an Albanian athlete, translator, diplomat, and Albanian ambassador to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

History

Vrioni was born in

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, on 16 March 1916, son of

Ilias Bey Vrioni Ilias Bey, bej Vrioni (1 January 1882 – 12 March 1932) was an Albanians, Albanian politician and landowner. He was one of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence and served as Prime Minister of Albania three times. Biograp ...

and Xhemile Dino. He spent his youth in Corfu and later in

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and ea ...

. With the assignment of his father as Ambassador to France, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1925. Vrioni studied in the Janson de Sailly Lyceum, Paris, and later in the

Grande école A (; ) is a specialized top-level educational institution in France and some other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. are part of an alternative educational system that operates alongside the mainstream List of public universities in Franc ...

des hautes études commerciales de Paris, and

Institut d'études politiques An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

of Paris. Vrioni returned to

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in 1939, leaving again for

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

after the

Italian invasion of Albania The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by Fascist Italy, Italy against Albanian Kingdom (1928–1939), Albania in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...

. He returned to

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

in 1943. On 13 September 1947 he was arrested by the communists and finally in 1950 got a 15-year sentence with forced hard-labor. He was released in late 1958 and interned in

Fier Fier (; sq-definite, Fieri, Latin: ''Fierum'') is the seventh most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Fier County and Fier Municipality. It is situated on the bank of Gjanica River in the Myzeqe Plain between the Seman in ...

. In 1960, due to his knowledge of foreign languages he started working as translator in Tirana. He distinguished himself as a ''

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

'' and got respect through the intellectual and artistic circles of that time. He is noted for turning out French translations of a number of novels by

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; 28 January 1936 – 1 July 2024) was an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. He was a leading international literary figure and intellectual, focusing on poetry until the publication of his first novel ...

, which were then rendered into English from Vrioni's translations. After the

fall of communism in Albania The fall of communism in Albania, the last such event in Europe outside the Soviet Union, started in December 1990 with student demonstrations in the capital, Tirana, although protests started in January that year in other cities like Shkod ...

, Vrioni started working as Director of the Albanian

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries (and in the wider OSCE region) as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to the protection of human rights. It was presumably named after the Helsinki Accords. It was for ...

. Following the turmoils of 1997 in Albania, he left for Paris. In 1998 he was assigned as Representative of Albania at

. On 22 May 1998, he received the title

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

from the French authorities. On 10 January 2000, Vrioni was interviewed by Blendi Fevziu on his talk-show "Opinion" on Klan Television, marking his first ever interview.

Death and legacy

Vrioni died in

on 1 June 2001 at the age of 85. On 18 June 2001, Vrioni was given the title "Honorary Citizen" of Berat. As a sign of appreciation for Vrioni's work, Albanian Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports created a special prize named after him. A street in Tirana, Albania is named after him.

References

External links

Jusuf Vrioni: Back to Tirana, 1943–1947
* ttp://www.hri.org/news/balkans/ata/1998/98-05-22.ata.html#27 Distinguished translator awarded Knight of Legion of Honour 20th-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian politicians Albanian–French translators 1916 births 2001 deaths Knights of the Legion of Honour 20th-century Albanian translators HEC Paris alumni Isuf People from Berat Permanent delegates of Albania to UNESCO {{Albania-diplomat-stub