Sabiha Kasimati was born on September 15th, 1912, in Turkey. Originally from Libohova, Albania, her family moved back to Albania when Sabiha was a teenager. She excelled in school, and in 1930 was the first woman to graduate from the Albanian National Lyceum.
She immediately started teaching and soon after took a teaching post in Kavajë where she taught biology.
In 1936 she was awarded a scholarship and studied at the University of Turin, in Italy. In 1941 she defended her doctorate thesis, “Freshwater fish fauna of Albania.”
He returned to Albania in 1947 and was appointed as a zoologist specialist at the Institute of Scientific Studies and began her work as an ichthyologist, a zoologist who specializes in the study of fish.
She published ichthyological articles regarding different areas of Albania, natural conditions, breeding problems, sustainable fishing practices, etc in reference to multiple species of fish. She submitted a 200 page volume for publication to the Institute entitled, “Fishes of Albania,” which summarized over 200 different species of fish. Unfortunately, Sabiha was arrested prior to its publication.
A staunch anti-communist, Sabiha took great issue with the disappearances and murders of academics and other anti-communists and was very outspoken about it. After the imprisonment of writer Musine Kokalari, Sabiha met in person with Albania’s communist leader Enver Hoxha. They had both attended the Lyceum together in their youth and she demanded to know how he planned on building Albania if he continued to kill all the intellectuals that disagreed with him.
Shortly afterwards, on February 19th, 1951, Sabiha, the only woman, and 21 men were falsely accused of bombing the Soviet embassy, arrested, tortured and executed without trial a week later on February 26th, 1951.
Her work “Fishes of Albania” was published in 1955 under another name.
In 1994 the bodies of her and the 21 other victims were exhumed from the mass grave they were left in, and reburied in the National Martyr’s Cemetery.
The National Museum of Science in Albania was renamed after her in 2008, and a display showcases her life and work upon entering the museum.
Even though her brilliant life was cut short by a violent and oppressive regime that attempted to erase her from history, her memory lives on as a testament to intellectual freedom and the ongoing fight against oppression.
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