Farewell to Ardian Klosi

Family, friends and collaborators paid their last respects to an intellectual that gave a big contribution to the Albanian culture.

Representatives of the Albanian politics and civil society were present in this ceremony, while state institutions brought wreaths. On behalf of President Bamir Topi, who is not in Albania for the moment, a condolence telegram and a wreath arrived for the family, handed over by his advisers. The Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, Aldo Bumci, declared that Albania has lost a man of values.

The opposition leader, who was a close friend to Ardian Klosi, stayed together with his family during the homage and was one of the persons who held Klosi’s casket to the funeral car.

Ardian Klosi was a publicist, writer, translator, civil society activists and a well known opinionist. Klosi was born in 1957 and graduated in 1981 for Literature, Tirana University.

He received his doctorate titles in 1990. He lived in Germany for the first five years of post-communism, where he met and married the photographer Jutta Benzenberg, with whom he had two daughters.

Klosi returned to Albania in 1998 and strongly engaged in civil society activities and journalism. In the recent years he was very active in defending the environment. He supported the civil society causes and the cultural heritage. Klosi was especially active against the government movement for demolishing the Pyramid. Klosi’s activity is closely related to books. He published many books, such as “Reflections”, “Albania, a violent awakening”, “Quo Vadis, Albania”, and “Albania, what could it become”. He also published in German “Albanian Survival” and the German-Albanian vocabulary, in cooperation with other authors in 1997.

Klosi has given a great contribution in translation. He was awarded several times as the best translator, as in 2008 for the translation of “Scanderbeg”, from Oliver Jens Schmitt. Through his translation, Klosi brought a new image of the National Hero and spurred many debates among the public opinion. In the last years, Klosi had formed a good profile as journalist of political and social topics in the country, turning into a well-known media figure for the Albanian public.

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