Nuçi Kotta

Nuçi Kotta was born on 21 December 1919 in Korçë, then part of the newly established Albanian state. He was the son of Kostaq Kotta, a prominent politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania during the reign of King Zog I, and Angjeliqi Poci. His family was well known in Korçë for involvement in Albanian cultural and political life. His aunt (his mother's sister) helped sew the flag raised in Vlora in 1912 during Albania's Declaration of Independence.Kotta grew up in a household deeply engaged with national issues, interactions with family members like his cousin Milto Noçi, who served as Chargé d’Affaires of the Albanian Legation in Paris, influenced his early monarchist views.^[1]

Kotta began schooling at the French Lyceum in Korçë, where he was noted for academic excellence and a strong interest in literature and history. In 1932, at the age of 12, he moved to Paris on a scholarship supported by the Albanian government to continue his education. He attended prestigious schools, including Lycée Michelet and later Lycée Louis‑le‑Grand, winning academic prizes in French and completing his secondary education there by 1939. He went on to study law at the Université de Paris, earning a Licence en Droit in 1942 amid the upheavals of World War II. During his studies he observed major turning points in European politics, including demonstrations of Nazi Brownshirts in Munich and the fall of France in 1940, events that shaped his worldview.^[2]

The Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939 and the subsequent German occupation of France stranded Kotta in Paris, separating him from his family (his father was away in Greece at the time and they never reunited). In 1942, he completed his law degree.^{[citation needed]}

Kotta became active in political circles opposing Axis powers and later opposing communist control in the Balkans. After the war, as Communist authorities consolidated power in Albania under Enver Hoxha, he began writing and speaking publicly about the regime's abuses, in 1945 he denounced Enver Hoxha's regime in Paris newspapers and called on Western governments to recognize the repression in Albania.^[3]

In 1946, Kotta completed and published his major scholarly work L’Albanie et la question des frontières albano‑grecques (Albania and the Question of the Albanian‑Greek Borders), based on historical and legal analysis of the contested boundaries between Albania and Greece. The book was published in French and later recognized by historians and scholars for its rigorous use of documentary sources and diplomatic argumentation. He also taught in French language and history in Paris, and introduced instruction in the Albanian language at the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes.^[4]