Branko Kadia, Jordan Misja and Perlat Rexhepi

On 22 June 1942, the Albanian student trio of Branko Kadija, Jordan Misja and Perlat Rexhepi, who stayed in Misja's house at Firaj Street in Shkodër (at the time part of the fascist Italian protectorate of the Albanian Kingdom), were for several hours surrounded by Albanian (fascist) forces and police, numbering some 600 people. The three young friends were members of the Communist Party of Albania, which was established on 8 November 1941 and had begun with smaller detachments of 5-10 people which engaged in various acts of sabotage to the Italian forces, including antifascist propaganda in order to gain support of the masses. After an air bombardment, they rushed out of the house and managed to kill many of the quisling soldiers, but were shot down and instantly killed. The three were proclaimed People's Heroes of Albania for their act, and they are collectively known as the Three Heroes of Shkodër (Albanian: Tre heronjtë e Shkodrës).

Jordan Misja was a painter. Kadija and Misja belonged to the Orthodox community of Shkodër, which at that time there were a few families, which all belonged to the same social level. According to Serbian sources, both Misja and Kadija were ethnic Serbs (see Serbs in Albania), and their surnames were originally Mišović (Мишовић) and Kadić (Кадић). Jordan Misja, a nephew of the hero bearing the same name, has rejected the latter claim and said that an ancestor had come from the suburbs of Elbasan, and the surname Misja has not changed its form while being spread throughout the Elbasan region. Perlat Rexhepi was an ethnic Albanian, originally from Vlorë.