Fuad Myftija

Fuad Myftija was born on 28 July 1924 in Shkodër, Albania, into a religious and nationalistic family. His father, Salih Myftia, was a respected Islamic scholar and educator. He completed his secondary education against the backdrop of Italian occupation. He experienced direct involvement in anti‑fascist activity, including arrest in September 1943 for his opposition to occupying forces and efforts to join nationalist resistance units in northern Albania.^[1]

After the end of World War II and the establishment of a communist government in Albania, Myftija became deeply involved in the Albanian monarchist and anti‑communist movement in exile. Alongside other nationalist figures who had fled Albania in 1944, he helped maintain the continuity of the Legality Movement (Lëvizja e Legalitetit), the royalist organization originally formed in 1943 to support the return of King Zog and uphold constitutional monarchy in Albania.

In the period following the war, Myftija was among the organizers of a major monarchist commemoration in Manhattan in June of 1961, which brought together prominent members of the Albanian diaspora and international dignitaries. By 1968, Myftija was elected Secretary‑General ofthe Legality Movement, a position he would hold through several congresses. He maintained extensive correspondence with members of the royal family, U.S. government officials.^[2]

In 1991, after the fall of communism in Albania, he led a delegation of Legalist leaders from the diaspora into the country to help revive the monarchist movement and activate long‑suppressed supporters of the monarchy, especially elderly activists who had suffered imprisonment or internment under the communist regime. Myftija died in February 2007 in New York at the age of 83, his funeral ceremony took place in Queens, he was buried with honours. ^[3]