Enver Hoxha
Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër, a city in southern Albania (then under the Ottoman Empire) that has been home to many prominent families. He was the son of Halil Hoxha, a Bektashi Tosk cloth merchant who traveled widely across Europe and the United States and Gjylihan (Gjylo) Hoxha. He was raised a member of a wealthy Muslim family of landowners and merchants. He went to the best schools in Albania in the 1920s. He was given one of the few scholarships to a foreign college. In 1931 he attended the University of Montpellier in France. He lost his scholarship in 1934 for poor performance and moved to Paris. During World War II, Hoxha participated in Guerrilla Activities against Germany from 1943 until Albania was Liberated in 1944 by the Soviet Red Army.