Elyesa Bazna

Elyesa Bazna (Turkish: [ˈeljesɑ ˈbɑznɑ]), born Iliaz Bazda (Albanian: [iliaz bazda]; July 28, 1904 - December 21, 1970), was a famous World War II secret agent. He was an Albanian from Kosovo who spied for the Germans during the Second World War, and was widely known by his code name Cicero. Principally motivated by a feeling of power, he sold information to the Germans through their attaché Ludwig Carl Moyzisch (and then through the ambassador Franz von Papen), in Ankara, Turkey in what became known as the Cicero affair. The information that he leaked is believed to have been potentially among the more damaging disclosures made by a Second World War spy but conflicts inside the highest echelons of the German government meant that little if any of it was acted upon.

Life

Of Albanian origin, Elyesa Bazna was born to Albanian parents in Kosovo (at the time part of the Ottoman Empire) and moved to Turkey at a very early age. He served as a valet first to the Yugoslav ambassador to Turkey and then to a German counsellor who fired him for reading his mail.

Bazna

Bazna (German: Baaßen; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Baußen; Hungarian: Bázna) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bazna, Boian (Bonnesdorf; Bonnesdref; Alsóbajom) and Velţ (Wölz; Welz; Velc or Völc). It lies 13 km northeast of Mediaş, within the catchment area of the Târnava Mică River.

Settled by Transylvanian Saxons in the 13th century, in the late 1870s the Bazna area became part of Austria-Hungary's Kis-Küküllő County, in the Dicsőszentmárton subdivision. Following the Union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918, its villages became part of the Kingdom of Romania.

At the 2011 census, 66.7% of inhabitants were ethnic Romanians, 29.7% Roma, 2.6% Hungarians and 0.8% Germans. At the 2002 census, 86.6% were Romanian Orthodox, 4% Greek-Catholic, 3.6% Pentecostal, 2.2% Reformed, 1.4% Baptist and 0.9% Lutheran.

Villages

Bazna

Bazna village is first attested in a document of 1302. Initially, Saxons had settled to the west, near Boian, but due to the scenic aspect of Bazna valley, moved there and built an imposing fortified church. The church is built in Gothic style and incorporates 13th-century Romanesque elements, with the enclosure walls dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Bazna pig

The Bazna, also known as the Basner,Porcul de Banat, or Romanian Saddleback, is a breed of domestic pig native to Romania. The breed was first created in 1872 from crosses between the Mangalitsa and Berkshire pig breeds. The Bazna is primarily black with a white ring circling its trunk, starting at the shoulders and including the forelimbs. The breed was officially recognized in 1958.

History

The development of the Bazna breed started in 1872 from crosses between the Mangalitsa and Berkshire breeds. As the breed formed and developed, Yorkshire, Angler Sattelschwein, Wessex, and Hampshire breeds were all used to help homogenize and better it.

The Bazna breed was officially recognized in 1958.

The breed is native to Romania. Upon developing, the breed was distributed to several towns in the Transylvania region of Romania, and again after World War II when the breed was distributed further around the Transylvania region and Banat.

See also

References