Nexhmije Hoxha

Nexhmije Hoxha ([nɛdʒmijɛ ˈhɔdʒa]; born February 7, 1921) is the widow of Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha.

Hoxha was born Nexhmije Xhuglini in Bitolj, in present-day Republic of Macedonia to Albanian parents. She studied at the Queen Mother Pedagogical Institute in Tirana. After World War II, she continued her studies at the State University of Tirana. In November 1941 she joined the newly founded Albanian Communist Party (ACP) and a year later was elected to the General Council of the Albanian National Liberation Movement. During the rest of World War II she fought in the 1st Division of the National Liberation Army. In 1943 she was elected to the Secretariat of the (Communist) Albanian Women's League, and served as chairwoman from 1946 to 1952.

After World War II she married prime minister and Communist Party leader Enver Hoxha.

Hoxha was elected to the National Assembly in 1948. In 1952 she joined the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labour, as the Albanian Communist Party had been called since 1948, becoming one of the few spouses of a Communist Party boss to become a power in her own right. In 1966 she became director of the Institute of Marxist–Leninist Studies. She was the last Director (Rector, Chancellor) of the V.I. Lenin Higher Party School despite a lack of formal higher education.

After her husband died in 1985, Nexhmije Hoxha was elected Chairwoman of the Democratic Front (an umbrella association) and defended her husband's heritage during the period of reforms (1990-1991). She was forced to resign as chairwoman of the Democratic Front in December 1990, and was replaced by Prime Minister Adil Çarçani. She was arrested and sentenced to prison for misuse of Albanian government funds during her husband's regime, but later released.