in 1928 he left the kingdom of yugoslavia for vienna, where he started to publish the periodical "ora e shqipnisë" (), which was financed by hasan prishtina, an anti-zog politician. later, shantoja went to switzerland and started to work as a parish priest in bienne, and then at la motte in the canton of vaud, where he stayed until 1939 and took the opportunity to improve his french.