Isuf Vrioni

Isuf Vrioni (1916 - 2001), also known as Jusuf Vrioni, was an Albanian translator, diplomat, and Albanian ambassador to UNESCO.

Vrioni was born in Corfu, Greece, on March 16, 1916. He spent his youth in Corfu and later in Berat. He was the son of Albanian politician Ilias Bey Vrioni, With the assignment of his father as Ambassador to France, he moved to Paris in 1925. Vrioni studied in the Janson de Sailly Lyceum, Paris, and later in Grande École des Hautes Études Commerciales, and Institut d'Études Politiques of Paris.

He returned to Albania in 1939, leaving again for Rome after the Italian invasion of Albania. He returned to Tirana in 1943. On 13 September 1947 he was arrested by the communists and finally in 1950 got a 15-year sentence with forced hard-labor. He was released in late 1958 and interned in Fier. In 1960, due to his knowledge of foreign languages he started working as translator in Tirana. He distinguished himself as a francophone and got respect through he intellectual and artistic circles of that time.

After the Fall of Communism in Albania, he started working as Director of the Albanian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. Fallowing the turmoils of 1997 in Albania, he left for Paris. In 1998 he was assigned as Representative of Albania at UNESCO. On 22 May 1998, he got received the title Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the French authorities.

Isuf Vrioni died in Paris in May 2001.

On 18 June 2001, he was given the title "Honorary Citizen" of Berat.

As a sign of appreciation for Vrioni's work, Albanian Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports created a special prize named after him. A street in Tirana, Albania is named after him.

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