Xhafer Deva Xhafer Ibrahim Deva ( 21 February 1904 – 25 May 1978 ) was a Kosovo Albanian fascist politician during World War II . A notable local politician in Kosovo and in Axis - occupied Albania , he took charge German - occupied Mitrovica and worked with the Germans to establish a pro - German Albanian government in Kosovo . Following the capitulation of Italy from the war , he helped form a provisional goverment under German occupation and set up the Second League of Prizren alongside other Albanian nationalists . On 5 November 1943 , he was appointed Minister of the Interior of Albania and was effectively given direct command of the forces of the newly formed Albanian government . On 4 February 1944 , police units subordinate to him massacred 86 residents of Tirana suspected of being anti - fascists . Deva was later involved in recruiting Kosovo Albanians to join the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg ( 1st Albanian ) . He lost his position as Minister of the Interior with the dissolution of the Albanian government on 16 June , and subsequently became leader of the Second League of Prizren and led anti - Partisan operations around Prizren in September . Soon after , he fled to Croatia and then to Austria with the help of the Germans , where he joined other anti - Communist Albanians . After the war , he moved via Italy to Damascus , where he helped publish an exile newspaper entitled " Bashkimi i Kombit " ( ) . In 1956 , he immigrated to the United States and briefly lived in New York and Boston before moving to Calaveras Country , California in 1960 . Here , he worked as an assistant supervisor at the mailing department of Stanford University in Palo Alto until his retirement in 1972 . During this time , he led the Third League of Prizren and played an active role in organizing anti - Communist resistance until his death on 25 May 1978 . Files released after his death showed that he had been recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) while living in the United States . Biography . Early life . Xhafer Ibrahim Deva was born in Mitrovica , Kosovo Vilayet , Ottoman Empire on 21 February 1904 . He was the seventh son of Ibrahim Deva , a wood merchant from Đakovica . Prior to the Balkan Wars , he attended a German - language school in Salonika . Afterwards , he studied commerce at Robert College , an American private boarding school in Istanbul ' s Arnavutköy neighbourhood . He graduated in 1922 and travelled to Egypt , where he briefly worked for a bank in Alexandria . Suffering from rheumatism , he left Egypt and sought treatment in Austria . He studied forestry in Vienna before returning to Mitrovica in 1933 and setting up a lumber business that lasted until 1941 . World War II . The Kingdom of Italy invaded the Albanian Kingdom on 7 April 1939 , and deposed its monarch , King Zog I . Afterwards , they re - established the Albanian state as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy , By 1941 , Deva was the first Kosovo Albanian political leader to declare himself ready to collaborate with the Germans in the event of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia . Having been in contact with the Abwehr ( the German military intelligence ) for some time , he met Hermann Neubacher , the German special representative for southeastern Europe , in Belgrade prior to the invasion and had given the latter his support . The Axis powers invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 . Afterwards , the country was dismantled and the Wehrmacht established the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia under a military government of occupation . The territory included most of Serbia proper , with the addition of the northern portion of Kosovo and the Banat . Italian Albania was expanded to include adjacent parts of Yugoslavia incorporated mainly from the Yugoslav " banovinas " ( regional subdivisions ) of Vardar and Morava . Most of Kosovo was annexed to Albania and in the beginning Albanians living there enthusiastically welcomed the Italian occupation . Although officially under Italian rule , the Albanians controlled the region and were encouraged to open Albanian language schools , which had been banned by the Yugoslav government . The Italians also gave the inhabitants Albanian citizenship and allowed them to fly the Albanian flag . Later that year , Deva worked with the Balli Kombëtar and the Germans to establish a pro - German Albanian government in Kosovo linked to the Albanian nation . He quickly became the Balli Kombëtar ' s most powerful figure , instructing members to follow a militant interpretation of Islam . The most capable Kosovo Albanian politician of the war , he was then appointed head of the local administration in German - occupied Mitrovica . After the capitulation of Italy , Deva and Bedri Pejani , assisted by the German emissary Franz von Schweiger , set up the Second League of Prizren on 16 September 1943 . The league , whose aim was to defend the borders of Greater Albania , declared " jihad " ( holy war ) against Slavs , Gypsies and Jews and sought to create an ethnically cleansed Greater Albania . Deva subsequently placed the newly established units of Balli Kombëtar under the command of the Germans . Together with Pejani and Ibrahim Biçakçiu , a landowner from Elbasan , he later helped create a national committee of twenty - two Albanian and Kosovo Albanian leaders which declared Albania independent and which elected an executive committee under Biçakçiu to form a provisional government . On 5 November , Deva was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Tirana Government of Rexhep Mitrovica and collaborated with the Germans to oppose the spread of Communist forces in the north , effectively giving him direct command over the forces of the new government . On 4 February 1944 , police units under his authority massacred 86 residents of Tirana suspected of being anti - fascists . Later , Deva began recruiting Kosovo Albanians to join the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg ( 1st Albanian ) . In May , he visited Germany with Ago Agaj , the Albanian Minister of National Economy . On 16 June , Mitrovica ' s government was dissolved and Deva lost his position as Minister of the Interior . He was then appointed leader of the Second League of Prizren , and took charge of anti - Partisan operations around Prizren in September . With the Allied victory in the Balkans imminent , Deva was also involved in a last - ditch attempt to set up an anti - Communist government in Kosovo , and received large caches of weapons and ammunitions from SS General Josef Fitzthum and Neubacher ’ s special representative , Karl Gstottenbauer . He and other Albanian nationalists also attempted to purchase weapons from withdrawing German troops in order to organize a " final solution " of the Slavic population of Kosovo . Nothing came of this as the powerful Yugoslav Partisans prevented any large - scale ethnic cleansing of Slavs from occurring . Exile . As the war in Albania drew to a close , Deva fled to Croatia and then to Austria in December , where he was resettled with the help of the Reich Foreign Ministry as the Germans evacuated Albania and Kosovo . There , he joined other anti - Communist Albanians in exile and took care of the ailing Rexhep Mitrovica . From late 1945 until early 1947 , he lived in western Austria , at a safe distance from Soviet forces . In 1947 , Deva moved via Italy to Damascus in Syria , where he helped publish an exile newspaper entitled " Bashkimi i Kombit " ( ) . In 1956 , he immigrated to the United States and briefly lived in New York and Boston . In 1960 , he moved to Calaveras Country , California , and worked as an assistant supervisor at the mailing department of Stanford University in Palo Alto until his retirement in 1972 . In his years in exile , Deva led the Third League of Prizren and played an active role in organizing anti - Communist resistance . He died on 25 May 1978 , aged 74 . Files released after his death showed that Deva was one of 743 suspected fascist war criminals recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) during the Cold War .