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From dishwasher to high-level diplomat

2026-01-08 10:10:47Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

From dishwasher to high-level diplomat
Fate Velaj

Austrian media continue to pay attention to Fate Velaj, the Albanian ambassador in Vienna. The prestigious Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten has dedicated an entire page to him, building a "story" of his life, which starts from his job as a dishwasher in September 1991 and continues with a journey filled with sweat and tears, with birth and loss, between desires and dreams. www.velaj.com

Through perseverance and passion, Fate Velaj managed to become an internationally renowned artist as a painter and photographer, but also a talented writer, with a very unique and original style. He has represented Austria in many countries around the world and has been supported by the Austrian government in the framework of numerous European initiatives.

For his activity as a bridge builder between peoples and cultures, Fate Velaj has been honored with high decorations and titles, such as: “Honor of the Republic of Austria”, “Golden Cross of Austria”, the title of “Professor” awarded by the President of Austria, as well as the “European Citizen” award given by the President of the European Parliament. He has also received important recognition in the USA and Italy.

He is now our country's ambassador in Vienna and has won the hearts not only of Austrian institutions, but also of cultural and diplomatic circles. Fate Velaj has become an important promoter of a cultural-diplomatic movement among foreign representations in Vienna, building bridges of cooperation through art, dialogue and cultural diplomacy.

Below is the article written by Stefan Weigl

From dishwasher to high-level diplomat

Fate Velaj came to Austria in 1991 as an immigrant . Today he is the ambassador of his country of origin, Albania, in Vienna – and at the same time a painter, photographer and writer.

Many diplomats have a reputation for being somewhat rigid and for placing too much importance on conventions. Fate Velaj is quite different – ​​and this is not surprising: he did not attend a diplomatic academy or study law. On the contrary, he knows the country where he has been accredited as ambassador since mid-2024 “inside out” . Velaj first came to Austria in 1991, at the age of 28 with only around 50 euros (at that time 100 German marks) in his pocket. After three weeks in the first reception center for immigrants in Traiskirchen, he ended up in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria, specifically in the Kreuztanne hostel:

"Until then I had always dreamed of living in a metropolis – preferably in Rome – but I was sent to the small village of St. Anton an der Jeßnitz. Not even there, but to a guesthouse on top of a mountain, " says Velaj.

His desire for a life of freedom in the West was not at all strange . Albania, where due to the paranoia of the Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha who ruled with an iron fist from 1946 to 1985, was completely isolated from the outside world.

“We were a closed country,” recalls Velaj, who grew up in the city of Vlora. The only window to the world had been Italian television.

Fate Velaj came to Austria for work but with minimal knowledge of German:

“I only knew the words 'Halt!', 'Achtung!' and 'Stehenbleiben!' which were heard in almost every film in Albania where German Wehrmacht soldiers were searching for partisans . ”

Culturally, the young asylum seeker, who came from a not-so-poor family , was familiar with the music of Beethoven and Mozart, as well as the literature of Stefan Zweig.

"And I knew the New Year's Concert from television."

However, despite having completed industrial school , he was unable to study at university and had to work in the electro-technical sector:

"The state allowed only one study place for each family. My older sister took advantage of that."

From dishwasher to high-level diplomat
Article written by Stefan Weigl

Culture shock: an intersection where no cars pass for 30 minutes

His arrival in the small village in the Mariazellerland region was a cultural shock, which Velaj describes accurately, yet kindly, in his autobiographical novel “Kreuztanne.” A key scene there is even reminiscent of Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.”

The day after his arrival, he saw that near the mountaintop inn, there was a crossroads, where directions were marked for three settlements – Frankenfels, St. Anton and Puchenstuben, each five kilometers away. He wanted to wait a bit, to get a feel for the surrounding area:

“I waited there hoping to see if more cars were coming from one direction, which would mean there was a denser settlement there, where I could ask for work. But after 30 minutes I noticed that not a single car had passed through the intersection.”

However, Velaj, who calls himself a “refugee out of curiosity,” quickly finds work. His first job was as a dishwasher in the kitchen of the Carthaus in Gaming. After several other odd jobs, such as florist, his first legal job soon follows, as a production worker in a company in Kienberg bei Gaming:

"I was producing steel gas cylinders there."

"Refugee from Curiosity" starts painting in his free time

 To fill the void of boredom, Velaj begins to paint in his free time at the hostel, and here too he has quick success:

“A guest who happened to be there bought me one of my first watercolors for 1,000 shillings. That was almost what I earned in a week’s work as a florist.”

However, the eager Albanian (“I always wanted to know what Austrians are like”) remains a shift worker in the metal factory for six and a half years, brings his future wife from Albania and organizes the first exhibitions of his paintings. But the Velaj family also faces a grave tragedy:

"On April 17, 1993, our daughter was stillborn at Scheibbs Hospital."

With the help of many new friends, the couple copes with this blow of fate and in 1998 dares to make a new start: Fate Velaj resigns from the metal factory ("with this I waived a compensation of 60,000 shillings"), returns the apartment to his boss, where he only paid operating expenses (lighting and sewage), and goes with his wife and two small children at the time to Vienna, to devote himself fully to art.

During his studies he met his mentor Hermann Nitsch.

Velaj also approaches this stage of his career professionally and, in parallel with painting, studies art and culture management at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Through art and numerous exhibitions, he comes into contact with Hermann Nitsch:

“He was my mentor.”

This was followed by a rapid and successful career in the field of abstract oil painting, with exhibitions in Vienna, many Italian cities, but also in the USA, Athens, Bucharest, and Birmingham. Velaj made a name for himself not only as a painter, but also as a photographer and author.

This charismatic networker also maintains frequent contact with politics: he constantly creates new exhibition formats and political discussions – such as “Between the Danube and the Nile”, “Good Morning Balkans” or “Art Improves Time”. These initiatives have led him to exhibit his paintings in Cairo, as well as in the parliaments of Vienna, Brussels and Strasbourg.

At some point, Albania also becomes aware of the “lost son” . Velaj befriends the then mayor of Tirana and current prime minister, Edi Rama, and becomes his advisor. From 2017 to 2021, Velaj is a member of the Parliament of Tirana without being a party member . In June 2024, he is accredited by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen as Albania’s ambassador to Austria.

"You have to have a dream and follow it"

But the question arises: would such a career still be possible in 2026, 35 years after his arrival in the Scheibbs district, and in today's conditions with significantly stricter immigration laws? Or was he simply very lucky? The 62-year-old answers diplomatically: it was probably not just happy coincidences that made this journey possible.

“You also have to work hard, have a goal, an idea, a dream and follow it ,” he says, referring to advice his father gave him before leaving for Austria :
“Try to learn from the culture of the people of the country you are in.”

Velaj also reveals part of his life philosophy when he states:
“I wanted to become someone who leaves something behind for others .”

In the end, however, a gentle criticism of the current rigorous migration policy also emerges, when he points out that it had come “at a time when Austria was still led by great Europeans like Franz Vranitzky and Alois Mock.”


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