"THE RED ELEPHANT"

IN ALBANIA'S LIVING ROOM

Gene KORTSHAl

The Twentieth Century dawned aglow with optimism. Politica] thinkers throughout Europe could see the ranks of industrial workers flocking to the banners of Socialism throughout the Continent. From there it was but a brief step to concluding that no Socialist worker, whether in France or Germany or anywhere else among the industrialized nations, would ever raise a gun against other Socialists no matter what side of the border they happened to be. Then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was shot to death in Sarajevo and World War I laid the pacifist utopia to rest. Before the end of the war, the Soviets would start building the Workers Paradise drowning in blood the Czarist regime as well as any opposition to Marxism-Leninism. Next, Germany would abject to the misery and turmoil of the aftermath of WWI and elect Adolf Hitler as its Chancellor. It would clase ranks under the banners of the National-Socialist Party, and rise to the ranks of a world power in six short years. The world would pay a heavy price because of the aggressiveness of both dictatorial regimes. The politica] victims of these dictatorships and the casualties of war that followed equaled the population of severa] small countries put together. The Twentieth Century, instead of opting for peace, turned into the bloodiest century since the world' s creati an.

The darkness of war, however, was lit from time to time by shining examples of courage and compassion. At the start of WWII, approximately

1 Gene X. Kortsha - curriculum vitae: born in Shkodra in 1924. He grew up in Austria and Italy and returned to Albania during the summer of 1943. He was arrested after the Communist takeover. Following his release, he worked in hospitals and in the Public Health Service for a number of years. In 1951, he was assigned to do manual labor. In 1952 he Ieft Shkodra and escaped first to Yugoslavia and a few months )ater to Austria. He spent two years in Greece and has been in the United States since the end of 1955. He eamed a BA in chemistry (member of <DBK) and an MS in industrial hygiene at Wayne State University. He joined General Motors Corp. in 1960 and ended his career in 1989, the last 13 years as corporate director of industrial hygiene. He has served as president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and of the American Academy of Industrial Hygiene. He is an honorary member of severa) professional societies and an adjunct professor at his Alma Mater. Mr. Kortsha and his wife Margaret have been married for 49 years. They have three children and eight grandchildren.

185

www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

200 Jews lived in Albania. Besides the handful of Jews horn or already residing in Albania, their numbers increased as King Zag ordered Albanian authorities to issue entrance visas for German Jews when few other countries opened their doors to Jewish refugees from Germany. During the war, another 1800 Jews crossed its borders from Western Europe and the former Yugoslavia. AII survived thanks to the efforts of the Albanian authorities and the generosity of the Albanian people who offered them shelter and support. During the premiership of Mustafa Merlika-Kruja, German representatives provided the Albanian government with the names and addresses of Jews living in Kosova. Prime Minister Kruja ordered government offices to provide Albanian identity papers to the Jews and to move them to new locations. The operation was completed in a matter of weeks and the German authorities were informed that a search of Jews at the above addresses had failed and was, therefore, terminated. Subsequent governments followed the same course till the end of the war.

In recognition of which on June 27, 2006, Senators Schumer of New York and McCain of Arizona presented Resolution 521 IS for Senate approval commending the people of Albania on the 6151 anniversary of the liberation of the Jews from the Nazi death camps.

Eleven years aga, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem installed Albania as one of the 'Righteous among the Nations'. Recently, its director, Dr. Mordechai Paldiel, commemorated the heroism of Albanians as having protected Jews thanks to 'besa', the cade of honor that requires Albanians to defend the life of anyone seeking refuge, even at the cost of their own lives.

Dr. Paldiel gat it almost right. Albanian 'besa' is the Albanian's word of honor. In Greece, not known for its pro-Albanian sympathies, a person with a strong sense of honor is said to 'have besa', without need for further explanation. In fact, there is an Albanian Cade of Honor, a systematic and comprehensive body of laws. Northem Albania developed the Cade of Leke Dukagjini under Ottoman occupation as the state administration failed to ensure law and order in the northem territories. It was this system that provided safety for a traveler in need of food and shelter, including one seeking refuge from the Turkish govemment. This provided a safe haven for any individual even if the asylum seeker was involved in a blood feud with his very host. Besa was the word of honor that sealed the oral agreement between the parties.

Needless to say, the Albanian Communist regime fought the Cade and its practitioners with a vengeance as it could not tolerate loyalty to a source or system outside the Party. If there is no Gad, why did the Party struggle with ali its might against ali three faiths in Albania? Why did it execute most catholic priests during the first few years of its ascent to power? Why did it persecute and eliminate many clergymen of the Moslem and

186 www.cimec.ro

"The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

Orthodox faiths? Why did the party outlaw ali religious beliefs in 1967 and why did it turn places of Christian and Moslem worship into gyms and dance halls? For the same reasons it fought the Code of Leke Dukagjini. The Communist party fought ali religions because they subscribed to a system of morality and religious principles above and beyond the treacherous pathways of red politics.

Here is one example of how the Communist Party proceeded to physicaiiy destroy the clergy. One survivor of religious purges, Fr. Shtjefen Kurti had been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Shortly after completing his sentence, a farmer asked Fr. Kurti to baptize his newborn son. The priest baptized the child, was rearrested and shot. To this day it is not clear whether the farmer was innocent or had been recruited by the authorities to entrap the priest.

The Soviet Communist Party and its counterparts in other satellites found other ways to subjugate faith communities without destroying them. When convenient, these religious forces could always be dusted off and exploited in times of crisis, such as in the USSR during WWII. Not so in Albania where ideologica! extremism and intolerance would rule for almost half a century.

V. Molotov, the dour Foreign Secretary of the Soviet Union, once said that in the XXth Century aii roads led to Communism. Many followed this road on aii continents because of its ideologica! aiiure that, like the Sirens of Greek mythology, mesmerized travelers only to smash them sooner or !ater against the rocks of reality. Some communists were idealists who cherished the promise of universal equality in a classless society where persons would be provided for according to their needs, not their contribution. What could be more humane than that? One such individual was Lazer Fundo, an Albanian Communist of the earliest hour. During King Zog's regime, he had taken refuge abroad. I met him in 1939 in the village of Dardhe and was impressed by the warmth and friendliness of this tall, blond, blue-eyed Albanian. What surprised me even more was that Dad, a staunch opponent of Communism, considered 'Zaj Fundo' his friend. When Communist forces took to the mountains, he joined them against the Axis invaders. Enver Hoxha recognized early on that Fundo was an idealist who would oppose the type of plans that Enver had for Albania. The word spread that one night, while Fundo was sleeping with his comrades-in-arms near the camp fire, he was bludgeoned to death on orders from headquarters.

Another Communist of long standing was the sergeant in charge of our prison guard detail at the politica! jail in Tirana in 1945. He was of medium height, dark and sinewy. He was also soft-spoken and was not among those who gave prisoners particular trouble. One day, we had reentered the jail after the morning walk. When they locked us in, he stayed inside the jail. We looked at him with surprise and thought he might be there

187 www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

to search the premises as part of the prison routine. Instead, he told us that he was now a prisoner. "Many of you hope and pray that your day will come when you will be set free. That day may still come. Well, my day carne and . . . 1 find myself in jail." Within the hour, he was removed and disappeared never to be seen again.

The intemal struggle for power within the Albanian Communist Party started early on. In 1942, a number of Communists were betrayed to the Italian occupying forces from within the highest ranks of the Communist Party. One early victim was Qemal Stafa killed during a shootout with Italian forces. At the time of his death he was the leader of the Albanian Communist youth. The information leading to his death pointed at Enver Hoxha who considered him capable as well as charismatic, i.e. a future rival. Other potential challengers to Hoxha would disappear in years to come.

Not ali who joined the Party in its early days were idealists. Some enrolled because under the mask of ideology they could unleash their murderous instincts and turn crime into a career. Such individuals formed killer squads that targeted Albanian patriots. Hysen Mushqeta was a successful businessman who invested his profits for the benefit of the country. He offered me free land and a house in a village of my choice if 1 studied agriculture and was willing to teach farmers modern farming methods. Each year he provided dowries to two girls from poor families so they could get married. A killer squad attacked him in Durres. He survived the assassination attempt, was moved to a hospital in Tirana, and started to recover. He died in the hospital after drinking poisoned milk given him by Communist nurses.

According to Napoleon, ideologues conceived a revolution, idealists did the fighting, and scoundrels hijacked the victory. When the German forces withdrew from Albania, it was the scoundrels' turn to sink their claws and teeth into the reins of power. The blood letting began within months of the communist takeover. The first categories earmarked for destruction were the past political leadership and the clergy, mostly Catholic at this point. Leaders of other faiths would follow soon. Ko<;i Xoxe, became the Number Two man right behind Enver Hoxha. A tin smith from southern Albania, he was viewed by many as Yugoslavia's favorite, the proletarian behind the throne of the bourgeois Enver. In the spring of 1945, as head of the Special Tribunal, he meted out harsh sentences to Albania's former politica! elite.

The first major purge of Red Party pillars carne in 1948, barely four years after the Party's ascendance to power, when Tito of Yugoslavia broke with Moscow. Until then, Tito had been 'Albania's Big Brother' and the ties between Albania and communist Yugoslavia were described as 'eternal links of friendship and brotherhood' forged during the war against Fascism' . Now Tito' s name became anathema and Ko<;i Xoxe, Belgrade' s alleged man in Tirana, was executed, the most prominent victim of this first 'cleansing' of party ranks.

188 www.cimec.ro

"The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

Over the years, other purges and other victims would follow. Enver's victims became legion. They ranged from Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu to Minister of the Interior Kadri Hazbiu, from Admira! Teme Sejko to General Beqir Balluku. Some red VIP's 'committed suicide', like Shehu. Others were executed as foreign spies after sham trials, such as Admira! Sejko.

At one point, Enver Hoxha decided to fabricate a <;am plot so as to unleash another wave of terror. The <;ams were refugees from the Albanian population of Northern Greece. Rumor had it that General Hilmi Seiti, a <;am and head of Sigurimi in Shkodra, was asked to pretend he had been a member of such a plot. He would go through a sham trial and would eventually be set free. He refused and died after drinking a cup of poisoned coffee. Admira! Teme Sejko, also a <;am, accepted the proposal and was promptly arrested. During the proceedings, he was accused of having been in contact with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean through Haki Rushiti. Rushiti was a <;am refugee whom 1 had befriended in Greece and who, at the time of the trial, was living in New York City. 1 happened to be in New York on business and decided to visit him. When 1 gave the cab driver the address, he looked at me and asked: "Are you sure this is the right address? This location is in a very bad neighborhood." He was right. When we got there, 1 asked him to pick me up after two hours so 1 would not have to stand on a street corner waiting to hail a cab.

The building where my friend lived was shabby and had no elevator. 1 climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. My friend's apartrnent was just as run down as the rest of the building. 1 found Haki in very poor health. He had trouble breathing and suffered from a heart condition that made it impossible for him to leave the apartrnent because of the many flights of stairs. Unable to work, he had to live off his wife's income who worked as a seamstress in the garment district. According to the prosecutor in Tirana, this man, in poor health and unable to move, had been the liaison between Admira! Sejko and the U.S. Sixth Fleet. Hard to believe, isn't it? After a brief trial, Teme Sejko was sentenced to death and executed. His wife killed herself by jumping out of an upper floor window. His son was arrested.

Periodic purges were meant to keep Party members and the rest of the population on their toes. These purges struck a great number of victims, from Party VIPs to lowly Communists, from teachers to waiters and simple laborers. Most had no Party affiliation. Beyond the suffering and cost in human lives, these waves of terror also choked off original thinking and individual initiatives. Typical project proposals during the Communist regime asked for lengthy completion terms, inflated funding and excessive manpower so that, after the unavoidable cuts, the success of the project, and more importantly the survival of those involved, were still reasonably safe. There is little doubt that the systematic psychological terror over 47 years paralyzed the nation. Now, 15 years after the nominal fall of communism, it

189

www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

has become obvious that the prolonged attacks against the nation' s moral integrity ha ve turned out to be more damning than the death and destruction inflicted on the nation.

During the long years of Communist rule, safety and survival were uppermost in the mind of the people. Party membership offered shelter but never immunity. It benefited individual careers and gave their offspring a chance to pursue university studies, always a privilege, never a right. It enabled these young people to study law, politica! science and other fields reserved for the anointed. Those belonging to the upper-class in this 'class­less society' were even permitted to study abroad. These students, no matter how high their rank, also had to grovel on their knees upon returning home. Each had to proclaim Albania's superiority over the West in every respect despite the freedom and comforts the students had enjoyed during their years in college.

Toward the end of the eighties, the exhilarating winds of politica! change began to blow across the Soviet Union and its European satellites. The free world witnessed what it had long anticipated and the Satellites had been praying for. The Soviet politica! system started to crumble not because of military defeat but because its enslaved people and centralized economy could not compete with the economic strength, the resilience, and the creativity of people living and working in freedom. Thus, one morning, the dream of millions of oppressed people behind the Iron Curtain became reality. The Berlin Wall, symbol of division and tyranny, carne tumbling down. East and West Germany became one. The Soviet satellites, one by one, shook off their Communist shackles. Freedom seemed to have triumphed. Long rows of prisoners began to emerge from dark and dank prisons, covered with scars of past tortures, homebound and breathing again. Unfortunately, many did not make it.

Yet, with the passing of years, the bells of victory began to ring hollow. The Ceauşescu's, husband and wife, were executed early on and the atrocities of almost half a century of Romanian Communism were declared paid in full. When East and West Germany reunited, no significant punitive steps were taken against members of the Red elite, in many cases 'because of their advanced age' . Compassion toward the red leaders was invoked as if they had dealt with their opponents in just such a manner. At times, the need for national unity and forgiveness was claimed to avoid aggravating the wounds inflicted by the red regimes. Case in point: after a visit abroad, President Berisha stated that Germany had offered material and financial assistance on condition that Albania avoid holding politica} trials that could aggravate interna! tensions. Today, voices within the European Union are questioning the wisdom of such an approach.

The above occurrences indicated a certain parallelism if not an identity of events that took place after the fali of Communism in some former

190 www.cimec.ro

" The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

satellites. Here is what happened in Albania. In October of 1989, at the fali of the Berlin Wali and a full two years before relinquishing the reins of power, Ramiz Alia, First Secretary of Albania's Labor (Communist) Party, had addressed the Politburo, the Party's governing body. Here are salient points of his presentation:

He told his colleagues that two years earlier a number of Communist heads of state had met with Comrade Gorbachev in Poland. Albania did not attend but had received a written communication from Comrade Mikhail Gorbachev. According to this message, the Communist system had failed in its struggle against Capitalism; also, that Communists had to evolve into the new capitalist class if they wanted to survive and retain their politica! supremacy.

First, they had to show some respect for human rights. Second, they needed to create a multi-party system, always making sure that ali parties fell nnder full Communist leadership and control.

Formerly persecuted individuals would get some compensation but were not to be feared. They were too old to do real harm. Their children would be offered passports and encouraged to start new lives abroad. Besides support from their ideologica! allies around the world, the Communists would also enjoy the support of Westem democracies with whom Enver Hoxha and Ramiz Alia had kept up a secret but effective liaison because of important [common] interests. Comrade Enver and he, Ramiz Alia, had cultivated these necessary and indeed vital links that, after ali, had guaranteed the survival of the Albanian People's Republic. (sic!]

Please note that in 1991 Comrade Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his endeavors on behalf of peace, perestroika (economic and politica! restructuring), and glasnost (openness).

In 1989, many may have thought that Alia's speech sounded more like wishful thinking than a realistic action plan. In retrospect, it turned out to be an accurate forecast of events about to take place in Albania and other ex­Satellites.

After the fali of Communism in Albania, some party members carne to recognize the sins of the Party but few admitted them. Many Communists did not deny that some errors had been committed but hastened to add that these errors were of minor import. Practicaliy, ali major exponents of yesteryear's bloodthirsty regime, such as Adil <;an;ani, have gone unpunished and lead a normal, comfortable life in Tirana. As a Communist bigwig, <;an;ani had helped formulate and carry out some of the worst initiatives of the regime. He had hovered near the apex of power for years, fluttering like a moth around the flame of the candle without ever getting burned. His present attitude is reportedly that he had nothing to regret as he had only implemented the laws of the time. According to Mr. <;an;ani, indiscriminate arrests, torture and terror across the nation had been legal

191 www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

and, therefore, justified. By his reasoning, Stalin' s monstrous crimes and those of Nazi Germany were equally justified because of their legality even though they violated every facet of justice and human rights. Yet, according to Mr. Qrr<;ani and those sharing his viewpoint, whatever is legal is also justified, no matter how unfair, how barbarous, how despicable the actions taken under that law.

Here are some torture victims I met in prison or at the Military Hospital in Tirana between 1945 and 1948. During the winter of 1944-45, one day the guards dragged a prisoner into our ward as he was unable to walk. I recognized him immediately. He was Fr. Lazer Shantoja, a Jesuit priest in his early fifties, a friend of our family. Fr. Shantoja had been rather portly, a man of vast knowledge and a distinguished writer. He was also strong in his beliefs and had been an outspoken enemy of Communist atheism. Now he lay in a heap on the floor, wearing no shoes. I got up to see whether I could be of help. The right foot had been hurt but seemed OK. His left foot was in bad shape, bare, with the little toe broken off and hanging by a strip of skin. I cut off the toe and dressed his wounds.

While 1 worked on his foot, Fr. Lazer started telling me what had happened. He had been arrested in Shkoder. While he sat in a small room, a man, without rank insignia on his uniform but of obvious authority, had entered and Dom Lazer had stood up. "Do you know who I am?" the man had asked. "No, 1 don't" the priest had replied. "I am Mehrnet Shehu." "I am pleased to meet you." "We will see whether you are pleased." Having said those ominous words, the man had left the room. Shortly thereafter, his jailers had started torturing the prisoner.

Fr. Shantoja stayed with us less than an hour. It turned out they had brought him to the wrong prison. The guards dragged him out. Then we heard a truck driving off. They shot Fr. Lazer shortly thereafter, on March 5, 1945. He was the first Catholic priest who struggled up the path to Calvary in the footsteps of his Master. In the months and years that followed, many more priests would climb the Via Dolorosa.

In the summer of 1945, I spent 42 days in isolation with Dad and another ten men in the Burgu i Ri (New Prison) in Tirana. As we entered the isolation cell, we saw Father Anton Harapi sitting on his field bed and looking up at us. I knew him from pictures and from Dad's accounts of him. He was in his mid-fifties, physically strong, of sharp mind and unbent character. He was comparatively short, thin, with large ears. Two deep folds ran from the sides his nose to his strong chin. As I looked at him, what struck me most were his penetrating eyes. Most of the time, they were serene, the eyes of man at peace with himself and with the world. As part of his daily routine, Fr. Harapi used to celebrate daily Mass with bread and wine that the Sisters brought him (The wine carne from the fruit salad). One day Fr. Harapi asked Shuk Gurakuqi, a Catholic from Shkodra, why he did not attend Mass,

192 www.cimec.ro

" The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

Shuk replied that he would not attend shoulder to shoulder with two former noncom officers of the Gendarmerie, who were spies of the prison director. That day 1 saw lightning flashing from Fr. Anton's eyes as he chastised the two hapless noncoms before him. Father made no attempt to lower his voice. As long as they served as spies, he forbade them, absolutely forbade them to attend Mass.

As time went by, 1 noticed that twice a day he tried to put ear drops into both ears. I offered to take over this chore and one day, as I was pulling one of his ears to straighten the auditory canal, tongue-in-cheek 1 asked him: "Father, did it ever occur to you that the day would come when I would pull you by your ears twice a day?" He did not smile as he replied: "Why don't you ask me why 1 need these drops?" He proceeded to explain that his torturers had put one wire against the ear drum in one ear and had wrapped another wire around his genitalia. Both wires were connected to an electrical source. When they turned on the current, the electricity raced through the priest's body from one wire to the other. When the ear drum ruptured, they switched the upper wire to the other ear - until that ear drum also burst. Fr. Harapi was known as one of the most learned and humble individuals among his contemporaries. A few months later, he was executed by a firing squad.

While working as a physician' s assistant in surgery at the Military Hospital in Tirana, our group was called from time to time to take care of prisoners. One day they brought a prisoner with slashed wrists into the operating room. 1 recognized him immediately. He was Dr. Ahmed Saddedin, a friend of Dad' s who had taken care of me at various times. At one point he had also headed the Albanian Red Cross. Dr. Saddedin had been tall, florid, and ample around the middle; a man who enjoyed life, food and drink; a bon vivant. At this point he was only skin and bones. Arrested and tortured, he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists with a small spoon he used to clean his pipe with. Near the end of suturing his wounds, Major Augi, our head surgeon, asked me to apply sulfa powder to the wounds. Dr. Saddedin spoke up for the first time. "Why are you trying to save my life? So they can torture me some more?"

Another time, our team was called to the hospital prison to treat Major Neshat Hasho. I had known the major when he headed the military garrison in Peja. He was tall, sinewy, with a sharp profile, controlled in speech and movements. A true military man.

The second time our paths had crossed in prison, in Tirana. He was released after a few months because of his training as an artillery officer whom the Communists needed to prepare future cadres. When they brought him to the hospital three years later, both his legs were broken half-way between the knees and ankles. The wounds had been neglected and had become infested with worms. When I entered the cell, he lay on his back with

193

www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

his hands tied to the sides of the bed. While we cleansed and medicated his wounds and put his legs in braces, he exchanged angry words with the sergeant of the guard. When we left, the guards began beating him and stopped only when officers from the nearby ward complained about the prisoner's laud screams. The way he was tied down flat on his back and with both legs in braces, where were they hitting him? An hour later, a security officer carne into our office and asked Dr. Augi how long it might take for the patient to recover. "Six months, barring complications" was the surgeon's reply. The next day, 1 went back to treat the prisoner. The bed was empty. The sergeant of the guard told me that the previous afternoon they had taken the prisoner into the yard to be shot. They had tried to prop him up on his broken legs but, according to the sergeant, "the prisoner had not been man enough to stand on his own two feet and die like a man" . So, they had put him back to bed, had raised the bed half-way, and had shot him from behind.

The prisoner involved in this fifth case was unknown to me. He seemed to be in his fifties and had collapsed on his bed. He had a perfectly round wound between his shoulder blades. It was about 4-5 inches in diameter and about an inch deep. The wound was clean but smelled terribly. Dr. Augi first lit a cigarette and then left the room, asking me to dress the wound. Before 1 was dane, they brought the prisoner his lunch, a bowl of bean soup. That evening, before going home, 1 entered the cell to dress the wound once more. 1 found him dead with his face in the full bowl of beans.

The episodes that follow relate to my Father. He was arrested on November 17, 1944 and sentenced to death by the Special Court a few months later. The same court commuted his sentence to lifelong imprisonment. During the summer months, prisoners were sent to labor camps where they did hard physical labor. We knew when that time was approaching because Dad always asked for medication to make him constipated as the guards would not let prisoners off the trucks for days, not even to go to the bath room. One day, Dad had a fever and was exempted from work. When the other prisoners were taken to work, we heard that Dad was tied to the rolls of barbed wire surrounding the camp and left there until the workers returned in the evening. 1 did not believe the rumor when I first heard it. However, when he sent his clothes to be washed, they had blood stains duplicating the pattern of barbed wire. Now we knew . . .

A few years later, Dad contracted pulmonary TB. The prison authorities in Burrel refused to hospitalize him. We sent him bottles of Streptomycin we had received from Italy. The prison authorities refused the antibiotic because it had to be given by injection. They retumed the same number of Streptomycin bottles to us. What we received, however, were not the bottles we had sent Dad. The bottles we received had expired long before. What kind of govemment would deny hospital care to a sick prisoner and, in the process, steal a few bottles of Streptomycin?

194

www.cimec.ro

" The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

Eventually, in protest, Dad went on a hunger strike. After a couple of weeks, Kadri Hazbiu, Minister of the Interior, carne to see Dad to persuade him to start eating again. When Dad refused, Hazbiu started yelling. Dad told him that he, Dad, was dying and that Enver Hoxha, the head of the Communist Party, meant nothing to him. But that he, Kadri Hazbiu, better watch out because, sooner or later, Enver would have him executed. Dad died as the result of his hunger strike. One cannot help but wonder whether Hazbiu · remembered Dad' s words a few years later when Enver had him arrested and shot.

The following data, drawn from official Communist sources, reflect the extent of the war waged by the Communist regime against its own citizens between 1944 and 1990, the beginning and the end of the Communist ascent and reign of terror in Albania. These figures do include men and women though most victims were men.

- Executed with or without court order: 6,027 - Politica! prisoners: 17,500 - Died in prison: 1,065 - Lost their minds: 408 - Inmates of political concentration camps: 50,000 families - Died in concentration camps: 7,022 These are the results of the laws Adil <;arc;ani and Co. hide behind to

this day. A few years ago, under then President Berisha, the body of Josif

Pashko, a deceased Communist VIP, was transferred from the Heroes' Graveyard in Tirana to the public cemetery. His son, Gramos Pashko, a professor of economics and member of the new Parliament, called this 'a macabre act'. If this was macabre, what about the many unmarked mass graves scattered throughout Albania? What about the mass grave at Burrel where the Communists paved over the entire area and erected new buildings on top? During the Communist regime, the authorities exhumed the remains of the great poet and patriot Fr. Gjergj Fishta and threw them into the river. If the transfer of Josif Pashko's body from one cemetery to another was macabre, what should we call the desecration of Fishta's body?

To this day, Albania has neither a monument honoring the thousands of victims executed by Communism nor an obelisk bearing their names. Since the location of many mass graves is unknown and others are inaccessible, should not families of these victims have public monuments where they could bring flowers and mourn their dead? How can the wounds heal unless the nation brings the victims of Communism out of their unmarked graves into the light of day and the consciousness of the nation? Is this not the least a nation can do for the survivors of these victims? General Francisco Franca, accused by the Communists as a Fascist dictator, dedicated a basilica built inside a mountain side and an imposing cemetery near Madrid honoring

195 www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

those who gave their lives during the Spanish Civil War, both Nationalists and Comrnunists. How do Albania' s rulers of yesteryear and their heirs of today compare to Francisco Franca?

In Albania, Communists and their spiritual heirs have been clinging to power according to their creed of 'dictatorship without blame' . In addition, many have acquired ill-gained wealth and no state organ has dared chalienge them thus far. They have drowned the nation in state-fostered corruption. They have suliied Albania's name and reputation worldwide. The European Union has repeatedly drawn attention to this festering wound and has declared Albania ineligible for membership until the government steps up to its responsibilities and eradicates corruption.

Our forefathers and fathers struggled to create an independent Albania. They fought the Ottoman Empire with their weapons and minds establishing a written Albanian language forbidden by the Turkish rulers for 500 years. They raised the Albanian cause to the international diplomatic stage. These patriots risked their ali for their sacred cause. After years of struggle and suffering, their leaders signed Albania' s Declaration of Independence in Vlora on November 28, 1912.

At that time and through WWII, Albania had no institutions of higher learning. Among those studying at universities abroad, there was no question that upon graduation they would return home to put themselves and their knowledge at the service of the nation. The fact that they brought home knowledge and life experience gained in advanced countries, however, made them prime targets of Communist persecution bent on destroying ali links with the past so the Communist Party could 'bring about the new socialist being'. This new creature would need little food or drink with its roots steeped in Communist propaganda. It would have neither will nor memory, neither character nor moral values. It would act as ordered and endure any suffering and injustice to secure the Party' s survival and, sometimes, its own.

In his State of the Union message in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proclaimed the four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and freedom from want. The Communist regimes, from Cuba to the Soviet Union, from Vietnam to China, violated ali four. In Albania, for half a century, moral values, human dignity, and individual freedom were turned into their opposites by order and examples 'from above' . Treason replaced loyalty to family, friends, and religious faith. Corruption took the place of integrity, dignity, and honor. Human respect and decorum were trampled into the ground displaced by fear horn of terror. Ration cards became the regime' s weapon of choice for achieving submission across the land. Presently, corruption on a national scale is being practiced by Albania's elite. Unfortunately, the reason it blossoms is because of the apathy of a despondent majority.

Recently, 1 asked a former victim of Communism whether he was able to forgive his persecutors. He looked me straight in the eye and said: "1

196 www.cimec.ro

"The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

will consider forgiving them when they apologize for their crimes; not before."

Psychologists have coined the expression 'Elephant in the living room' to describe a condition when someone commits a reprehensible act and the family finds it hard to discuss it in the culprit's presence.

Is there an elephant in Albania's living room? And if so, what is it? Yes, there is and it is huge. It represents the sum total of crimes committed by the Communist Party against its victims through violations of human rights and persecutions, through tortures and massacres over the span of half a century. It is more than tragic because the perpetrators were never brought to justice. As if this were not enough, many of yesterday' s rulers and their offspring continue their stranglehold on the nation having added ill-gained wealth to their politica! power.

What is the likelihood that some day soon there will be a judicial inquiry into the past and present activities of Albania' s self-perpetuating ruling class? The chances of this happening are slim. Under Communism, Albania functioned without an independent judiciary. In fact, for a number of years Albania had no Justice Departrnent because, according to the Party, "in a People's Democracy, justice was guaranteed as the people were at the helm and no special Departrnent was needed to ensure justice". To no one's surprise, even after the fali of Communism, Tirana governments have never felt the need for and in fact have opposed the creation of an independent judiciary. Instead, these governments have provided the country with a democratic fa<;ade. Today's two major politica! parties continue to actively shield those with a communist past from having to account for their crimes. Yesteryear's Communists try to hide behind the pretext of 'collective guilt' by forcing themselves into the ranks of those among their former victims who, unable to endure excruciating tortures, had broken down and had signed a piece of paper indicating their surrender to the dreaded Sigurimi. Always faithful to the cause, today's Socialists proudly publish the daily "Zeri i Popullit", the voice of the Albanian Communist party under Enver Hoxha, continuing the sequential serial numbers that started on day one when the paper first appeared.

The regimes since the downfall of Communism in 1992 have raised hurdle after hurdle to prevent victims of communism from regaining their confiscated properties or getting paid for their years of unjust imprisonment and deadly forced labor. They continue to push the best and brightest youngsters from formerly persecuted families out of the country and offer little inducement for their retum. Realistically, there is little likelihood that conditions will soon change for the better.

Under these circumstances, will the elephant ever disappear from Albania's living room? 1 believe the answer is 'Yes', but it may take time. A boii has to be lanced and a cancer cut out before the body can heal. Neither

197 www.cimec.ro

GENC KORTSHA

governrnent headed by Berisha or Nano has done anything to begin the healing process. Time, however, is on the people's side. The perpetrators of crimes under Communism are old and will disappear by normal attrition. Their ideologica! heirs will metamorphose to keep their illegal gains but may eventually run afoul of a true system of justice. Unfortunately, time is a slow, a very slow healer.

The Allies did not hesitate to act promptly and decisively against Nazism at the end of WWII. In the American zone in Germany, by 1947 former members of Hitler's party were in concentrations camps and many were sentenced to manual labor. In the Soviet zone, many were promptly shot. Unofficial data indicate that 120,000 were placed in concentration camps and about 40,000, or one third of them, died in these camps; a staggering percentage.

A few voices are now being raised in Brussels to remember and pay tribute to the millions of individuals martyred by Communism. Will the Free World rise to or recoil from this challenge?

Recent history may be an indication of what to expect. Zhivkov, the Communist head of Bulgaria, was arrested soon after the fali of the Berlin Wall. He was charged not with crimes committed by his regime but with embezzling $24 million. He was sentenced to seven years of house arrest.

In Romania, as the Communist regime was losing its footing, a hastily summoned court sentenced Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu to death. The turmoil that followed their execution led to the involvement of the army and wound up supporting the survival of former Communist comrades.

These are but two examples of former Soviet satellite countries that have been accepted into the European Union.

Let' s ask ourselves: how is today' s world reacting to the Communist atrocities across the globe? Clearly, the Free World is allowing Communist parties to exist, act, and seek power out of the World's "respect for freedom of thought, of expression, and of politica! assembly". What about respecting the millions of victims of Communism? Many victims of Marxism-Leninism are still suffering and dying while the world turns its collective head away. This tragedy goes beyond denial of freedom of thought, of expression, of politica} assembly. It is a continuation of the programmatic violation of the basic human right to live free and with dignity.

State-sponsored corruption in the ex-Soviet satellites is endemic. Countries like Poland and Hungary that had strong national identities and governments before the war are faring better. As to Albania, Transparency International has categorized Albania at the top of the list of countries where bribery is the lubricant of the country's socio-political infrastructure.

Nexhmie Hoxha, Enver Hoxha's widow, was arrested and sentenced to prison on laughable charges. In jail she demanded that the windows in her cell be enlarged and that her hair dresser be permitted to visit her more than

198

www.cimec.ro

"The Red Elephant" in Albania's Living Room

once a week. It was widely spoken in Tirana that both her requests were granted. Patos Nano, before becoming prime minister, also spent some time in jail until released by then President Berisha. He had a court declare that he had been sentenced unjustly and was paid $50 a day for each day he had spent in prison. Compare this to the $5 a day payment promised to those jailed under Communism. Few victims have had their properties retumed. Others were swindled out of their money and have little or nothing to show for it.

For Albania to emerge from its present nightmare will require more than the 'blood, toil, tears, and sweat' Churchill promised the British at the beginning of the Battle of Britain. Great Britain was a free country, an empire, which Churchill called to the ramparts against a powerful aggressor. Albania, on the other hand, is a small country that suffered centuries of oppression. It enjoyed a window of national independence of only 27 years, including the years of foreign occupation during WWI. After Italy's invasion of Albania in 1939, followed by two years of civil war in 1943-44, the Communists grabbed the reins of power and the country experienced the worst oppression it had ever seen. The red terror marked a crescendo that lasted a half century. The Ottoman Empire had tried for almost 500 years to eradicate Albanian national pride and independent thinking. The Albanian Communist Party unleashed its furies with the same goal in mind using means and methods nothing short of diabolica!.

To recover, Albania will have to shed the lethargy and paranoia imposed by decades of paralyzing fear. It will have to stand up and take its destiny into its own hands. It will have to flush out corrupt politicians and their putrid leftovers as Hercules did with the Augean stables. It may need the help of its friends in the international community but the pain and sacrifices of this rebirth will have to be bome by the Albanian nation. 1 firmly believe that Albania, sooner or later, will emerge from its present nightmare. When that day dawns, Albanians will once more be worthy of their ancestors and then, and only then, will peace and dignity retum to that tortured country.

199 www.cimec.ro

www.cimec.ro