"THE LOST NAME"/Why Noli gave SHENGINI the name "WILLSON", in honor of the American President

In the session of February 2, 1924, the Albanian parliament observed 5 minutes of mourning. Two days earlier, in the United States of America, American President Woodrow Wilson had passed away.

Conversations of the Constitutional Assembly, February 4, 1924, Reuf Fico: Chairman. Without going into the discussion of the agenda, I want to make a proposal. It is with sadness that we learn that the former president of the United States of America, Wilson, has passed away. Considering the great services he has done to Albania, I propose to take a 5-minute break as a sign of grief and send a telegram of condolence to the family of the deceased.

The deputy's request is accepted and the session is interrupted for 5 minutes. But the return to the session divides the deputies into two camps; ideologically opposed…

Jashar Erëbara: Before we enter the conversation, I propose to take a 5-minute break for Lenin as well. If Wilson would speak for the good of Albania, even more so would Lenin speak for a great Albania.

This request of the deputy, to commemorate the death of the founder of the Soviet Union, who passed away on January 21 of that year, i.e. only 10 days before the American president, caused hilarity in the hall of the Parliament of Albania.

Avni Rustemi: I am very sorry, Mr. President, that when Lenin's name is mentioned, laughter is heard from some representatives of the nation. Albania should not be Bolshevik because its situation and position do not want it, but for high human principles, its name should be mentioned with respect.    

Absent from this plenary session was Fan Noli, who would become the country's prime minister a few months later. In the next session, on February 11, Noli delivers one of his most significant speeches to evaluate the figure of the American president who was separated from life.

Conversations of the Constitutional Assembly, February 11, 1924, Fan Noli: America and the whole world mourned these days the death of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States of America. Next to America, Albania also participates in this mourning, which cries in his face, the American, the generous idealist and its strongest defender.

The title 'American' is enough to make our people join in every lamentation of America, for we all know how much good we have seen of it.

Since 1900, America has been the biggest destination for Albanians.

Since 1914, when Albania was invaded by foreigners, America became the place where Albanians went to save their lives and earn a living.

For the last 25 years, America has been for Albanians, a field of work and a school; a field of work where they earned as much money as they were good at, and a school where they learned respect for the canon, discipline, the value of organization, and duty to the motherland.

So they returned to Albania completely transformed and people with new ideas. To understand how much influence the American influence has had in Albania, this small example is enough:

In a village in the Korça plain of 90 houses, I found 40 people who had been in America and another 40 people who are in America today. In other words, every house had a son there. It can be said with certainty that 80% of the new houses in southern Albania were built with money earned in America.

It can also be easily ascertained that a quarter of the population of the Southern Prefectures is fed directly by income from America and three quarters benefit from this money indirectly.

There is a reason for the calm that reigns in Albania under Shkumbi and especially in Labëri, which has always been troubled, and this reason is America's curse.

That there our Tosks and Labris became wise workers, modern citizens and patriots.

Noli's speech continues with the analysis of the role that the American diaspora played in Albania. He even evidences that the Lushnja Congress of 1920, which marked a major turning point for the Albanian state, setting up a provisional government that aimed to save Albania from dismemberment and lay the foundations of true independence, had in fact stemmed indirectly from Association of Albanians of America, VATRA.

But while he noted in his speech the good things that had come to Albanians from Albanians in America, Noli stopped to mention in his speech the good things that had come to Albania directly from the United States of America.

Fan Noli : In 1914, when Toskëria was invaded and thousands of refugees lined up in Vlora, when they were dying of fever, hunger, and cold, only one country cared to send help to these poor people, and that country is America.

After the war, when Albania was devastated and wounded by foreign invasions, America again sent the Red Cross to alleviate the suffering.

And one of the only, not to say the only modern school we have is that of America: the Technical School.

And when we say America, we remember a name that everyone probably knew when the United States was administered from the White House in Washington, the great and much-mourned President Wilson. 

After making a long analysis full of literary figures for the biography of the former American president, Noli dwells on his role directly in the reaffirmation of Albania's independence. Noli says that he met the American President in 1917, on his yacht, on the occasion of the 4th of July, America's holiday.

Fan Noli: I knew this knight of forgotten times at a tragic time, on the 4th of July, 1917, on his presidential yacht Mayflower, when surrounded by the cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and representatives of the various races in the United States. The United States went to Washington's grave to deliver the first warrior speech.

Then I approached him and made an appeal on behalf of our fatzi nation, and I remember his generous answer as if I were burning it today:

I will have a voice in the Peace Congress and I will use that voice for the good of Albania!"

And he kept his word. In January 1920, a wind of gloom and despair had fallen over all sides of our country, which was like a dead man in agony. 

The project of dismemberment of Albania, edited by the Allies, was known and only one firm was expected to become a definitive fact.

The signature that was missing was that of President Wilson, the signature that was not placed on that unjust project.

President Willson not only did not sign, but also responded with two notes in which he defended the right of small Albania to self-governance, two notes that are the two brightest jewels of his brilliant career.

Those notes stopped the fragmentation of Albania and gave us a chance to breathe and prepare the freedom of Albania that we enjoy today.

How can we cry and mourn this knight without fear and without stain? The sun of the small and the poor was eclipsed. The great oak fell to the ground, whose branches the idealistic dreamers had built their nest.

And from this fall the dark forest of the earth groaned and the vision of a better and more humane world disappeared.

But…hearts up! Sursum Corda (Corda is read). America, that generous mother who gave the world Wilson, will give birth to other knights like him..."

American President Wilson promoted the idea that every nation should have the right to govern itself. He was one of the first to support the concept of self-determination as an essential principle in international relations. This principle influenced the formation of new states in Europe after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

In January 1918, Wilson presented a platform known as the "14 Points," which served as a roadmap for peace after the end of World War I. Among the most important points was the support for the independence of some small countries and the promotion of lasting peace without colonial exploitation or imposed borders. These points included:

Poland's independence,

Self-determination for the peoples of the Balkans,

Freedom for nations oppressed by empires.

Opposition to the dismemberment of Albania:

Wilson is highly appreciated by Albanians for his role in defending Albania's independence at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). In this conference, the great powers had proposed the division of Albania among its neighbors. Wilson strongly opposed this plan, seeing it as an injustice to the Albanians. He declared that no country should be divided without the consent of its people. Thanks to Wilson's intervention, Albania survived as an independent state and later, in 1920, gained international recognition by joining the League of Nations.

On the other hand, Wilson was one of the main architects of the League of Nations, an organization which aimed to promote peace and international cooperation. Albania's independence was strengthened thanks to its membership in this organization in 1920.

Woodrow Wilson remains a historical figure known for his support of small nations and efforts to establish a new world order based on the principles of justice and self-determination. The independence of Albania is one of the most prominent examples of the impact of his policies, and for this reason, he is revered as a great friend of Albanians.

Tribute to Albanians: Shengjini to be named 'Willson'

But Noli's gratitude to the late American president would not stop only at the speech held in the Assembly in February 1924. In that same session when Noli gave the speech, Faik Konica, in the capacity of the representative of the Vatra Federation, had sent the Albanian parliament a telegram proposing that the Pier of Saranda or Shengjin be named after the late American president. The proposal came at a time when the parliament was intensively involved in strong debates about the problems that had occurred in the elections of December 1923, so the parties also debated about this proposal.

Likewise, there were no shortage of objections to this proposal and the parliament was divided into two parties; where one side demanded its complete overthrow, while the other side demanded that the issue be passed to the parliamentary commissions that would then decide which port city would be named Willson, Saranda or Shengjini.

Amid these strong debates, the only agreement that was found was that this proposal be recorded in the Assembly at a second time.

After this session, the situation would become extremely tense and the reason would be the parliamentary elections that were held 3 months ago, where there were allegations of violence and serious violations in the process. The murder of Avni Rustemi would be added to these debates two months later and later, in June, the overthrow of the government would happen and Fan Noli would come to the head of the government.

The latter would not forget the proposal made in the February session and on August 2, the same day when former American President Wilson had passed away 6 months ago, Noli would approve the decision that the Albanian port city that to take the name of the former American president, to be Shengjini.

I have the honor to present to the excellent High Council that the Ministerial Council in its conversation on August 2, 1924, on the proposal of the chairman of Vatra to the Constitutional Assembly, decided to change the name of Shengjin to Wilson. So this Council begs the consent and approval of that excellent High Council.

Receive my highest honors.

The New York Times would report the cable that Prime Minister Noli had sent to the Vatra Pan Albanian Federation in the United States of America informing them of the decision.

"Albanians have felt this to a large extent because it was thanks to Woodrow Wilson's interest that their country was saved from partition during the post-war changes in Europe," wrote the New York Times article of August 12, 1924.

In this way, after August 21, when the decision came into force, every official document related to Shengjin, the name Wilson would be used.

But this proposal would take a little time, as much as Fan Noli's government itself, which would close the chapter after 6 months, in December 1924.

The government that came to power after the departure of Noli did not further advance the use of the name of Shengjin, just as the population that was having difficulties adapting to his name; which remained more like an act where Albania tried to express in a different way the gratitude it had towards the former president, who was considered and is still considered today, "Friend of the Albanians"

Although Wilson's name did not remain permanent in Albanian toponymy, the appreciation for him as "Friend of the Albanians" remains indelible in historical memory.