Well-known British and German filmmakers and journalists, together with the globally recognized academic Lea Ypi—famous for her book *Free*—“landed” unexpectedly at the former State Security archive. Their visit was deeply moved by their engagement with Albanian culture and history.
Organized by Joanne Ooi, founder of the EA Festival—a well-known literary festival in the United Kingdom—they are a team of renowned writers, journalists, and thinkers who bring to life the initiative “Freedom and Transformation,” which also concludes the British Cultural Week (September 16–22) in Tirana.
Experts on topics ranging from Balkan history and culture, human rights, migration, security issues, to politics and poetry—journalists included—while visiting the AIDSSH archive, became deeply curious to better understand Albania’s past, the dark mechanisms of oppression, and the consequences during the rule of the dictatorial regime.
The Chairwoman of the Authority, Dr. Gentiana Sula, acquainted them with the history of the former State Security’s activities, the documentation created, and the persecution of citizens during the period 1944–1991. Archive specialists and scientific support staff presented various types of documents, scientific publications, as well as informative and educational exhibitions.
Albania today is also known through its tourist catalogs. It has a totalitarian past that has left marks on the history and the formation of our society’s mentality. Change and the need to create a freer and more just future come only through understanding the past.
“Foreign visitors want to learn more about Albania, a country with an extraordinarily rich culture, at the crossroads between West and East, where ideas have often tragically clashed and where the lessons of history are sometimes absorbed with difficulty,” says Lea Ypi, an Albanian, a global thinker, and a pilgrim of freedom and transformation.
