Albania marks this Friday the Day of Martyrs of the Nation and like every other year, the official ceremony of tributes is expected to take place at the Cemetery of the Martyrs of the Nation. 

State and political officials will place wreaths of flowers in front of the "Mother Albania" memorial, in honor of those who fell in the anti-fascist war. 

Martyrs' Day was decided to be May 5, 1942, the day when Qemal Stafa, a young communist activist of the National Liberation War, was killed by the fascists. 

Before the creation of the Albanian state, the Albanian people remembered their martyrs and kept their legends alive, through the epic song, and the legacy of their history from generation to generation. 

After the declaration of Independence in 1912 until 1945, the Albanian state did not create a legal status for the martyrs of the Motherland. In 1923, only the pension for his family was legislated, as part of the law on military pensions. 

During the national liberation war, the first attempts to honor the fallen martyrs on the battlefields begin. The fallen made them a symbol of inspiration for the freedom fighters. 

The songs for the martyrs, giving the names of the martyrs to the partisan units, writing about their act in the war press and in speeches, swearing in front of their graves, ceremonial partisan burial, helping the families or replacing them in the partisan ranks from close ones, are expression of appreciation for the act and figure of the martyr. 

After the liberation, on August 28, 1945, the presidency of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist Council approved the law No. 109 "On the compensation of the families of the martyrs and invalids of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War". 

This law also sanctioned the treatment of the families of patriots who had fought and fallen for the homeland even before the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, during the National Renaissance, in the wars for independence, thus marking the first attempt for an integral law for the martyrs of the Motherland. 

In the 60s, the status of the martyr was further elaborated and expanded, specifying the term "Martyr of the Fatherland". 

This law also includes the Cemeteries of the Martyrs of the Fatherland, which were built in all the centers of the districts of the country, where the graves of all the martyrs were concentrated, with the exception of those of Peza and Ku?i of Vlora. The Cemetery of Martyrs of the Motherland was also built in Tirana with the "Mother Albania" monument. 

In 1992-1993, with the change of the political system, the status of the Martyr of the Motherland also underwent changes. With a decision of the Meksi government, not yet published, the benefits were removed from the families of the martyrs. 

In 2000, after many efforts, Law No. 8607 dated 27.04, "Status of the Martyr of the Motherland", which includes the martyrs of all historical periods, even those who fell in the years 1997-1999, in Albania and in the Liberation War of Kosovo.