Lefter Talo


Lefter Talo was an Albanian resistance leader, revolutionary, hero of World War II and a teacher. He was killed in battle fighting German forces in Margëlliç, Fier, Albania in 1944.

Early life

Lefter Talo was born Lefteris Talios in 1913, in the village of Hajdëragas, Albania, in a local family of Greek background. He attended elementary school in Dhrovjan in the district of Delvinë, Albania, and high school in Filiates, Greece. He finished the university and graduated as a teacher in Elbasan, Albania.
Talo graduated from the Zosimaia Greek language school in Ioannina, Greece. He also studied at the Velas seminary in Greece. After graduating he became a teacher in various Greek schools in southern Albania among them in the villages of Pepel and Cuka.

Resistance

Talo disagreed over the future of the Greek population in southern Albania with Vasileios Sachinis, the latter being the leader of the Northern Epirus Liberation Front that contested the incorporation of northern Epirus to Albania.

Legacy

The name of the village where he was born was changed from "Hajdëragas" to "Lefter Talo".
On 6 June 1944, a battalion named Lefter Talo was created by members of the Greek minority of Albania in Dhivër, Finiq. It was one of three battalions consisting of Greek minority fighters in the Albanian National Liberation Front.
The "Lefter Talo" battalion was attached to battalion "Çamëria" which operated in 1944 in the region between Mallakastër and Chameria was named after him.
Greek poet Yiannis Panos wrote an elegy dedicated to Talo.