Mitrush Kuteli was born Dhimitër Pasko in the town of Pogradec at the shores of
Lake of Ohrid, son of Pandeli and Polikseni. His mother was an ethnic
Albanian while his father was an ethnic
Aromanian. Kuteli studied at a Romanian commercial college in
Thessaloniki, later moving to
Bucharest where, in 1931, he graduated in economics with a dissertation on the banking system in the Balkans. While in Bucharest he became a journalist and directed the Albanian-language weekly newspaper ''Shqipëri' e re'' (New Albania), published in
Constanța, from 1928 until 1933. He returned to Albania in 1942, and during World War II wrote and self-published most of his major works. At the end of the war he founded the short-lived literary periodical,
Revista letrare (Literary Review), with Nexhat Hakiu, Vedat Kokona and Sterjo Spasse, joined the editorial board of
Bota e re (New World), the first Albanian post-war literary journal, and became a founding member of the
Albanian League of Writers and Artists.
Imprisonment and release The
Albanian Communist Party took power after World War II, but by 1947 was in the control of
Yugoslavia. Pasko, an official Albanian delegate to Yugoslavia, disapproved of a proposed
currency and
customs union agreed between the two countries, and of a Serbian re-occupation of
Kosovo; an earlier 1944 Pasko poem, "Poem kosovar" (Kosovar poem), asserted his criticism of Serbian actions. Upon the Albanian delegation's return from Yugoslavia, Pasko was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for his criticism, during which he attempted suicide. Following the freeing of Yugoslavia's hold over Albanian party politics, Pasko was released. After his release from prison, he was informed by the authorities that his family would be banished to
Kavajë. His personal documents were branded with the stamp "Enemy of the people", but his family were saved after the intervention of
Fadil Paçrami. Kuteli was given new documents and a job. Pasko died of a
heart attack in 1967. == Literary works ==