Koçi Xoxe

Who was Koçi Xoxe?

Koçi Xoxe was the Defence and Interior Minister of Albania for some time under Enver Hoxha. According to different sources, he was an ethnic Macedonian or ethnic Bulgarian from Aegean Macedonia and was initially a tinsmith.

Around 1937 he emerged among others, such as Enver Hoxha and Koco Tashko as prominent leaders of Albanian communism. He was a rival of Hoxha, and the Yugoslavs supported him.

He was purged for "pro-Yugoslav activities" after Josip Broz Tito broke relations with Hoxha's ally, Joseph Stalin. After a secret trial in May 1949, Xoxe was executed. He admitted that he was working for the British intelligence and that he was a conspirator with Tito. Xoxe was executed by a firing squad in June 1949.