Sevasti Qiriazi Explained

Sevasti Qiriazi-Dako
(Sevastia D. Kyrias)
Birth Date:ca. 1870
Birth Place:Manastir, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Death Place:Tirana, Albania
Resting Place:Tirana, Varrezat e Sharrës
Nationality:Albanian
Other Names:Sevasti D. Kyrias, Sevasti Kyrias-Dako, Sevasti Qirias
Education:Bachelor of Arts
Alma Mater:American College for Girls at Constantinople (B.A.)
Occupation:Educator, Missionary
Spouse:Kristo Dako
Children:Aleksandër Dako, Gjergj Dako
Parents:Dhimitër Qiriazi, Maria Qiriazi (Vodica)
Relations:Gjerasim Qiriazi, Gjergj Qiriazi, Kristo Qiriazi, Parashqevi Qiriazi
Awards: Order of Skanderbeg
Order of Freedom
Order for Patriotic Activity
People's Teacher Honor of the Nation
Symbol of the City (Tirana)[1]

Signature:Sevasti Qiriazi (nënshkrim).svg

Sevasti Qiriazi-Dako (Sevasti D. Kyrias) (ca. 1871–1949) was an Albanian patriot, educator, Protestant missionary, author, pioneer of Albanian female education, and activist of the Albanian National Awakening.

Life and early career

Early life

Sevasti was born ca. 1870[2] to the patriotic Qiriazi family of Tërnovë, Monastir, in today's North Macedonia, then Ottoman Empire.[3] She was the sixth of ten children.[4] Her family's religious background was Orthodox, and she began attending a Greek-language primary school at age four.[4] In her youth she learned several languages (Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Wallachian, Turkish, English).[4] She and her family came into close contact with Albanian patriots and American Protestant missionaries who operated a school and conducted religious services near their home in Monastir.[4] Sevasti was enrolled in the Americans' school and graduated with the equivalent of a high school diploma in July 1888.[5]

Education

Sevasti attended the American College for Girls at Constantinople from 1888–1891. Her brother Rev. Gjerasim Qiriazi arranged her enrollment.[4] She was admitted as a sophomore and graduated in 1891 with a class of eight women and received a Bachelor of Arts degree,[6] becoming the first Albanian female to complete a college education.[4] Her purpose for attending college was to prepare herself to help her brother Gjerasim open a girls' school in Albania.[4] Sevasti identified her key influencers in college as: Clara Hamlin (the college's principal and the daughter of Cyrus Hamlin), Florence A. Fensham, Mary Mills Patrick, Ida Prime, Caroline Borden, and the Bulgarian Grandinaroff family.[4] Gjerasim Qiriazi invited the influential Albanian Frashëri brothers (Abdyl Frashëri, Sami Frashëri and Naim Frashëri) to attend Sevasti's graduation. Naim Frashëri used his role in the Ottoman government to register her diploma officially and obtain an irade (official decree) for the opening of the first Albanian school for girls in Korçë[4] (in Albanian pronounced as /ˈkɔɾtʃə/; Albanian: Korça).

Protestant missionary activity

Though Orthodox Christian by birth, Sevasti joined the Protestant community founded by her brother Gjerasim.[7] In Korçë she led Bible studies and prayer meetings for women.[8] [9] [10] She was a "Bible Woman" and was financed by the ABCFM's Woman's Board of Missions[11] [12] and the Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society.[13] She referred to herself as a missionary when traveling to the USA to visit Ellen Stone and John Henry House in 1904.[14]

The Korça Girls School (1891–1914)

Founding and operations

After her graduation from college, Sevasti returned to Monastir and then to Korçë, where she joined her brother Gjerasim in opening an Albanian-language school for girls. Sevasti was its director. The school operated under difficult conditions including poverty, prejudice against female education, difficulty in obtaining books, political opposition from local Ottoman authorities, and political and ecclesiastical opposition from the Greek Orthodox Church.[15] Despite these unfavorable circumstances, the school maintained an average yearly enrollment of 47 students during 1891–1913.[16] The school received significant visitors such as Edith Durham in 1901 and Henry Brailsford in 1904.[4]

Religious instruction

At the time of its existence, the school was known as a Protestant Christian school.[17] Its founders were Evangelicals,[18] it was supported by Protestant organizations,[19] its educational curriculum included religious subjects with biblical texts,[20] [21] and its premises were used for Evangelical Sunday School and worship services.[22] However, the school welcomed students of all religions and its teachers did not require conversion to Protestantism.[23] It was praised by Albanians of all religions and classes as being a "national nest" (fole kombëtare).[24]

Leadership

When Gjerasim Qiriazi died in 1894, Sevasti Qiriazi (at approximately 23 years old) assumed full responsibility for the Girls School.[4] She shared leadership over the following years with Luka Tira, Fanka Efthim, Thanas Sina, Grigor Cilka, Gjergj Qiriazi, and Gjon Ciko,[4] and she eventually solicited the help of the American Protestant missionaries Phineas and Violet Bond Kennedy, who arrived in Korça in 1908 (Violet was the daughter of an American Protestant missionary in Monastir, Lewis Bond, and was Sevasti's close friend throughout childhood and college).[15] [4]

Closure

The school continued to function through 1914, when war conditions and Greek hostilities in Korça forced its closure.[4]

First visit to the United States

In summer 1904, after serving 13 years as director of the Albanian school for girls in Korça, Sevasti Qiriazi traveled to the United States.[4] Parashqevi Qiriazi became director of the school in her absence. Sevasti arrived in New York in August 1904,[14] and visited friends in New York, Boston, and Chicago, speaking about Albania at various women's societies. She resided for one month with Ellen Stone and visited Jane Addams and Hull House. She called her visit to the USA "a glimpse of liberty."[4] During her return to Albania in May 1905, she visited London, Paris, and Vienna before stopping in Bucharest, where she met Pandeli Evangjeli and her future husband Christo Dako (1880-1941), a recent graduate of the University of Bucharest and general secretary of the Albanian "Dituria" society. Sevasti recruited Dako to prepare the first Albanian textbooks in mathematics.[4]

Early national influence

In 1908, Sevasti was invited to represent her Girls School at the Congress of Monastir, which aimed to settle the Albanian alphabet question. Sevasti could not attend, but her sister Parashqevi attended in her place.[25] A delegation from the Congress visited the Girls School in Korçë after the conclusion of the Congress, including Luigj Gurakuqi, Fehim Zavalani and Nyzhet Vrioni. In 1909 Sevasti was invited in her role as director of the school to take part in the Congress of Elbasan which aimed to address national education in Albania. She attended with her brother Gjergj Qiriazi.[4]

Marriage and children

Sevasti was married to Kristo Dako on August 4, 1910.[26] The ceremony was performed by Protestant missionary Rev. Charles Telford Erickson.[27] They had two children, Aleksandër "Skënder" Dako (1910–1995) and Gjergj Dako (1913–1949). The full English rendering of their names was Alexander Gerasim Dako and George Charles Dako (namesakes for her two deceased brothers Gjerasim and Gjergj).[28] Both boys studied for eight years at Robert College.[29]

Friendship with Charles Crane

In 1911, Sevasti and her husband Kristo Dako were visited in Monastir by American businessman Charles Richard Crane, who was on the board of the American College for Girls at Constantinople and sought to learn more about Albania and the Near East. Crane had learned about Sevasti and Kristo through Edward I. Bosworth, dean of Oberlin Seminary and formerly K. Dako's professor at Oberlin.[4] They maintained friendly and working relations for many years,[30] later spending several summer holidays at Mr. and Mrs. Crane's summer home at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.[4]

Exile from Albania and second journey to the USA

In 1914, due to hostilities with Greek forces in Korça, Sevasti, her husband, and their two children were forced to flee Albania, and the Girls School was closed. They spent nearly 12 months living in Bucharest and Sofia before emigrating to the United States in 1915 and settling in Natick and Southbridge, Massachusetts, where she would assist her husband in opening the first Albanian school in America at the local YMCA[4] They resettled in Boston (Jamaica Plain) where Sevasti assisted her sister in publishing the semi-monthly periodical Yll'i Mëngjezit / Morning Star (1917–1920), and where she and her husband became more involved in Vatra and the Albanian national cause.[4]

Return to Albania and later years

At the end of 1921 Sevasti Qiriazi-Dako and her children returned to Albania, where her husband had previously returned to work with the Albanian government. In her memoirs, Sevasti described the conditions in Albania as being "primitive" and claimed she was inspired to devote the rest of her life to helping to rebuild her nation.[4]

The Kyrias Institute (1922–1933)

Together with her husband Kristo Dako and her sister Parashqevi Qiriazi, Sevasti founded a new institution of female education in Tirana. Though privately funded, it was considered a national school, representing all districts, classes and religious beliefs. In 1926 they began construction of a new facility in Kamëz. The facility was operational by 1927 and completed in 1929. King Zog I, whose sisters Princess Myzejen Zogu and Princess Maxhide Zogu had attended the school in Tirana, visited the new campus. The school was notable for its library, athletics program, fine arts events, system of student government, and the success of its graduates. In 1931 the school celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding, viewing itself as a continuation of the Girls School founded in Korçë in 1891. Many dignitaries, Albanian and foreign, attended the ceremony.[31]

In 1933, with the nationalization of private education, the Kyrias Institute was forced to close and did not reopen despite repeated requests by the Qiriazi sisters to the government.[32] Sevasti refused to allow the premises of the school to be rented by the Red Cross for humanitarian work or to be used for anything other than its original purpose for the education of women.

After the closure of the school Sevasti began writing her memoirs in English.

Under Italian invasion and occupation

The Italian invasion of Albania of 1939 led to the creation of the Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943). During this time period Sevasti's husband Kristo Dako passed away[33] and the school property was repurposed by the Italian military as a weapons depot.

Internment after the German invasion

The German invasion and occupation of Albania placed Sevasti-Qiriazi Dako and her sister Parashqevi in further danger, their home and former school facilities being used, as they were, as a weapons depot at a time of intense conflict between Italian forces, Albanian anti-fascist and liberation forces, and German invaders. In 1943 the Germans fired on the school, killing Sevasti's friend and her son. Sevasti and her family were imprisoned and deported to the Banjica concentration camp near Belgrade[4] by pro-Nazi units led by Xhaferr Deva.

Postwar years under communism

In late 1944, after a bombardment of the concentration camp by the Allied forces, Sevasti and her family were released and returned to Albania. They found their home had been ransacked, so began rebuilding. A variety of factors—such as Kristo Dako's affiliation with King Zog[34] and his serving as minister in one of his cabinets,[35] and the Qiriazis' and Dakos' affiliation with American schools, political figures and Protestant missionaries viewed by the government as spies[36] —left them out of favor with the emerging communist regime in Albania. In 1946 they were evicted them from their home, and the school facilities were transformed into a communist party school. Kristo Dako's bones were exhumed, desecrated, and lost.

In 1946 Sevasti's sons Aleksandër and Gjergj were arrested and imprisoned, being accused of sedition, spying, and anti-state activities.[4] In February 1949 Gjergj died in prison, during several days of intense interrogation and torture. In August 1949, after unsuccessful attempts to locate Gjergj's body and with Aleksandër still in prison, Sevasti died in poverty and with a broken heart.[4]

From 1959 and beyond, largely due to the efforts of Skënder Luarasi,[37] [38] Sevasti Qiriazi and her family began to regain recognition in Albania for their contributions to Albanian education and the emancipation of women, being decorated posthumously with the Order of Freedom (1960), the Medal for Patriotic Activity (1962) and the "Teacher of the People" (1987)[32]

Published works

The following works or articles are known to have been written by Sevasti Qiriazi-Dako:

Legacy

Cinema and literature

Commemorative items

In academia

In the Evangelical Protestant community

Namesake schools, institutions, etc.

Miscellaneous

Myths, inaccuracies and inconsistencies

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jeta e Sevasti Qiriazit, vjen në shqip jetëshkrimi i "Mësueses së Popullit" . 12 March 2023.
  2. See dilemma over birthdate at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevasti_Qiriazi#Myths,_inaccuracies_and_inconsistencies
  3. Book: de Haan, Francisca . A Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries. Daskalova Krasimira . Loutfi Anna . 2006. Central European University Press . 9789637326394 . 454–457 . 2014-10-22.
  4. Book: Kyrias-Dako . Sevasti . My Life: the Autobiography of the Pioneer of Female Education in Albania . 2022 . IAPS . Tirana . 978-1946244420. 2nd.
  5. Diploma at: Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit, Tirana, AQSH F52 D18
  6. See diploma at: Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit, Tirana, AQSH F52 D18
  7. Albania . Missionary News from Bulgaria . March 12, 1893 . 43 . 8.
  8. ABCFM-B, 12 March 1893, nr. 43, 8
  9. Sevasti D. Kyrias to Mrs. H. D. Hume, 29 August 1896, ABCFM 9.5.1, Woman’s Board of Missions 1873–1947, Supplementary Papers and Correspondence
  10. Twenty-Third Annual Report of the New Haven Branch of the Woman’s Board of Missions (1894), 64–65
  11. Woman’s Board of Missions Annual Report 1895, 7
  12. ABCFM Missionary Herald 1891, 351
  13. Grants and Payments to Special Objects . Star in the East . Jul 1899 . 67 . 32.
  14. “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival (Holland-American Line)”, 30 August 1904, ISSHP
  15. Book: Kyrias . Paraskevi D. . The School for Girls, Kortcha Albania . 1913 . Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior . Chicago.
  16. Përmbledhje Historike 1891-1931 . Foleja Kombëtare: Broshurë komemorative botuar me rastin e dyzetvjetorit të Institutit Kyrias 1891–1931 . 1931 . 83–85 . Gutenberg . Tirana.
  17. Konica, Faik. "Kleri grek edhe Shkolla Protestante e Çupave në Korçë”. Albania, viti 9, nr. 9, 1905, 179: "Siç e di e gjithë bota, Korça ka një shkollë protestante shqip për çupat."
  18. Kalendari Kombiar, 8 nëntor 1904 – “Tani shpejt dëgjojmë se u mbyll edhe ndë Korçë shkolla e çunavet po punon vetëm, shkollë e vashavet e cila u hap më 1891 prej ungjillorëvet."
  19. Kyrias . Sevasti . Albanian Girls' School Report . The Star in the East . October 1896 . 56 . 3 . Bible Lands or Turkish Missions' Aid Society.
  20. Qiriazi, Sevasti, “Fjalë”, in Hristomathi vëll. I (përg. Qiriazi, Gjergj). Sofia: Mbrothësia, 1902, 291–295.
  21. Myzyri, Hysni. Shkollat e para kombëtare shqipe. Tiranë: Instituti i Studimeve Pedagogjike, 1973, 217 (facsimile of the subject list).
  22. https://www.academia.edu/75751804/Were_the_Kyrias_siblings_Kristo_Dako_and_the_Kortcha_Girls_School_Protestant_A_response_to_the_re_emergence_of_a_communist_era_narrative, p. 44–49
  23. Konica, Faik. "Kleri grek edhe Shkolla Protestante e Çupave në Korçë”. Albania, viti 9, nr. 9, 1905, 179: "Qëllimi i kësaj shkolle nuk është të përhapë protestantizmin por dritën e dijes dhe të lirisë."
  24. “Instuti Kyrias: Përmbledhje historike, 1891–1931”, Foleja kombëtare: Broshurë komemorative (Tiranë: Gutenberg, 1931), 83–85.
  25. Grameno . Mihal . I pari Kongres Kombëtar . Yll'i Mëngjezit . May–June 1918 . 3 . 2–3 . 42.
  26. Oberlin College Archives, Box 234, Folder 2812 "Dako, Kristo Anastas 1913 DB."
  27. Edwin Jacques, “To Albania With Love – the Evangel”, IAPS-EJ, 136, 142–143.
  28. Quinquennial Catalogue Questionnaire, Oct 15, 1925, Oberlin College Archives, Subgroup II, Theological Instruction, Special Programs, Kyrias Girls School, "Dako, Kristo Anastas".
  29. Uran Asllani, Studentët shqiptarë të Robert Kolegjit Amerikan të Stambollit dhe veprimtaria atdhetare e tyre. Tiranë: Ilar, 2005, 59, 104–107.
  30. Book: Dako . Christo . Albania, the Master Key to the Near East . 1919x . E.L. Grimes . Boston . Dedication, 92–93, 215–223.
  31. Book: Foleja Kombëtare: broshurë komemorative botuar me rastin e dyzetvjetorit të Institutit Kyrias 1891-1931 . 1931 . Shtypshkronja "Gutenberg" . Tiranë.
  32. Book: Dishnica . Dhimitër . Motrat Qiriazi . 1997 . Shtëpia Botuese "Enciklopedike" . Tirana.
  33. Kristo Dako-ja, pioneri i shqipes dhe i Shqiptarismit, ndroj jetë . Vatra Shqiptare . Dec 1941 . 25–26 . 7–8.
  34. Book: Dako . Christo A. . Zogu the First, King of the Albanians: a Sketch of His Life and Times . 1937 . Kristo Luarasi . Tirana.
  35. Book: Robert Elsie. Historical Dictionary of Albania. 97–98. Historical Dictionaries of Europe . 978-0810861886 . 75. Scarecrow Press. 2010-03-19. II.
  36. Book: Hoxha . Enver . The Anglo-American Threat to Albania . 1982 . 8 Nëntori . Tirana . 12–13.
  37. Book: Luarasi . Skënder . The Kyrias Sisters . 1962 . Tirana.
  38. Book: Luarasi . Skënder . Gjerasim Qiriazi: jeta dhe vepra . 1962 . N.SH. Botimeve "Naim Frashëri" . Tirana.
  39. Dako, Sevasti Kyrias. Memoirs. Cambridge: S.n., 1995. Print.
  40. Book: Asllani . Persida . Hosaflook . David . The Albanian Book and Protestant Enterprise: a 200-year Cultural Journey . 2017 . National Library of Albania and IAPS . Tirana . 978-9928-4202-7-5 . 160–161.
  41. Book: Skëndo . Lumo . Delvina . Sherif . Malltezi . Luan . Foleja kombëtare: dramë historike me katër akte . 2008 . Onufri . Tirana . 978-99943-42-67-9.
  42. Web site: Promovohet pulla postare "500 vjet reformacion" . 22 October 2017 . 12 March 2023.
  43. Web site: Vendimmarrja e Këshillit Mbikëqyrës në mbledhjen e datës 7 shtator 2022 . 2024-01-11 . www.bankofalbania.org.
  44. Web site: ITSHKSH bashkëorganizuese e simpoziumit në Korçë . ITSHKSH . 17 March 2023.
  45. Web site: Exhibit: Sevasti Qiriazi, përvjetori i 125-të i arsimit të gruas shqiptare . 19 March 2023 . Hosaflook . David .
  46. Web site: Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë organizoi veprimtarinë jubilare në 150-vjetorin e veprimtares Sevasti Qiriazi . 19 March 2023.
  47. Web site: Kolegji Universitar "Qiriazi" festoi përvjetorin e Tij të artë, duke glorifikuar vazhdimësinë 100 vjeçare . Koha jonë . 26 November 2022 . 19 March 2023.
  48. “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival (Holland-American Line)”, 30 August 1904, ISSHP. Sevasti Kyrias identifies herself as “missionary, friend of Dr. Henry House”.
  49. Woman’s Board of Missions Annual Report 1895, 7; ABCFM-MH 1891, 351.
  50. Web site: Albanians celebrate 125th anniversary of the first girls' school, started by evangelicals . 2024-01-11 . Evangelical Focus . en.
  51. Web site: Shkolla Fillore e Mesme e Ulët "Motrat Qiriazi", në Klinë, shënoi ditën e shkollës.
  52. Web site: Përurohen dy shkolla të reja, 'Kiço Blushi' dhe 'Sevasti Qiriazi'. Tema . 10 March 2023.
  53. https://qiriazi.edu.al/
  54. http://www.aawomq.org/ AAOMQ Official Site
  55. Web site: 30 Years Since the Founding of the Association 'Motrat Qiriazi' . Women's Network. 20 July 2020 .
  56. Web site: Rruga Sevasti Qirjazi · Rruga Sevasti Qirjazi, Tirana, Albania .
  57. Web site: ITSHKSH-së i shtohen edhe gjashtë Departamente rajonale të trashëgimisë kulturore . 23 March 2023 . Albanian . 21 March 2023.
  58. Web site: Nënat e kombit, historia e motrave Sevasti dhe Parashqevi Qiriazi. "Bota Sot" Online. sq. Mothers of the nation: History of sisters Parashqevi and Sevasti Qiriazi. 2012-03-30.
  59. Book: Dishnica . Dhimitër . Motrat Qiriazi . 1997 . Shtëpia Botuese "Enciklopedike" . Tirana . 25.
  60. Book: Elsie . Robert . A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History . 2013 . I.B. Tauris . New York . 978-1-78076-431-3 . 379.
  61. Web site: Hosaflook . David . Fotografia e fundit e Sevasti Qiriazi-Dakos: Analiza e disa të dhënave në një letërnjoftim të sapozbuluar . Peizazhe . 20 June 2024 . 30 June 2024.
  62. Book: Elsie . Robert . A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History . 2013 . I.B. Tauris . New York . 9781780764313 . 379.
  63. Web site: Woman's Board of Missions records, 1862 -- 1927 | Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary | Columbia University Libraries Finding Aids .
  64. Web site: History of RC . Robert College Official Website . 20 March 2023 . In 1971, Robert Academy (the high school division on the Bebek campus) and ACG merged as a co-ed high school on the Arnavutköy campus as Robert College..
  65. Web site: Quanrud . John . Hosaflook . David . "Dëshmi që Shkolla e Vashave e Korçës ishte protestante" in "Vëllezërit dhe Motrat Qiriazi, Kristo Dako dhe Shkolla e Vashave e Korçës, a ishin protestantë?" . Dëshmi që Shkolla e Vashave e Korçës ishte protestante . 2 March 2023 . 48–53 . 2 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230302132237/https://instituti.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230226_Qiriazet_a_ishin_protestante.pdf . dead .
  66. Monument tower at gravesite of Sevasti and Parashqevi Qiriazi. Sharrë, Tiranë (Parcela 6, Rreshti 1, Varri 15). "[MOTRAT QIRIAZI] KANE ORGANIZUAR KONGRESIN E MANASTRIT…"
  67. Book: Lloshi . Xhevat . Gjergj Qiriazi: Veprimtaria dhe veprat . 2022 . ISSHP . Tirana . 978-9928-4519-9-6.
  68. "Kongresi i Parë i Manastirit prej Parashqevi Qiriazit". Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit, Tirana, AQSH F57 D1 f.1
  69. Grameno, Mihal. “I pari Kongres Kombëtar”, Yll’i Mëngjezit 3, no. 2–3 (May and June 1918), p. 42.

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