Public debate with a European approach, based on documents and facts, through the filter of scientific discipline
Opening speech at the scientific conference "Albanian political emigration 1944-1990"
Immigration itself is the topic of the day, but we will not stop at immigration itself.
We will go back in time, to the end of World War II, when immigrants knocked for years on doors that were not opened for them. But they could not turn back, since the doors they came out of were also closed and set traps. We will talk about monism, when immigration was not considered a strong bridge of communication and facilitation of exchanges, but as a route of infection with "viruses" of freedom, which contradicted the isolationist policy, endangering the dome of time and the communist regime itself.
Today we will "forgive" speakers who may commonly use Sigurimi epithets, including "fugitive."
A little context
The end of World War II coincided with demographic shifts in Europe. Millions of Germans left their lands in Central and Eastern Europe, Jews left their suffering countries for safer places, and non-communists fled to escape the violent communist regimes that were established in their countries. There was also a significant exodus from Albania.
The fate of these millions of displaced persons in war-torn Europe was very difficult. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guaranteed them protection from persecution and denial of citizenship, and the 1953 Geneva Convention on Refugees guaranteed them the right to repatriation, their situation remained very uncertain, especially since after the communist takeover of Central and Eastern European countries, they largely resisted repatriation, attempting to travel to the United States.
US immigration policies themselves were shaped by the conflicts that arose from the Cold War. Thus, in 1948, a displaced persons act and a special “fugitive” program offered a safe place of residence to those fleeing communist regimes.
The deepening East-West conflict and the early years of the Cold War created sufficient context for another legislative reform in the US, the Refugee Relief Act, which in 1953 allowed the admission of 214,000 refugees over three years, almost 70% of whom came from communist countries.
In 1959, some difficult refugees were still being held in camps in Europe. At this time, the United Nations launched the ambitious project that declared 1959-1960 the “World Refugee Year” and aimed at the final closure of refugee camps in Europe. We believe that with a few exceptions, the refugees from Albania belonged precisely to the latter category.
And in Albania, how did things go?
It was precisely in 1959 that a decree in the form of an amnesty was passed, from which around 208 people, who were considered “war criminals”, were excluded at the time. In fact, only 60 people were repatriated during the entire period, and only around 190 people were stripped of their “fugitive” stigma.
For others and their families, the State Security imposed a strict regime of surveillance and repression.
About 13,600 people were counted as fugitives in State Security reports from 1944 to 1990, not counting those who fled through embassies. Of these, about 4,784 were women and children. The majority of those who fled in 1945 and 1948 were dominant.
Some 998 others died or were killed by the regime in this effort.
The most departures were from Gjirokastra (1399), Shkodra (924), Saranda (859), Korça (729), Kukës (777), Vlora (436), Dibra (520), Tropoja (402) and then Tirana, with 333, Erseka (214), Pogradec (178), Puka (184), Durrës (161).
Around 4,785 left the embassies, with the first wave on July 2, 1990. The state then began issuing passports and allowing exit from Albania, through mass exodus, which are in fact the most powerful images of denouncing an inhumane system.
This story, for many of us, may seem distant, if we do not directly connect it to human history. The fact is that today there are many of them who are alive and have many questions for which they seek answers about their respective fates, about the stigma of "fugitive", or about being "put in a bag", as implicated with the invaders, although about 200 of them were categorized as such.
Allow me to share with you the extraordinary story of an honorable lady, Mri Mrnaçaj.
We met her in New York, where she welcomed us like a sovereign, surrounded by her court, with sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A patriotic family that gave life to the youth movement for national rights and freedom in America. The Sigurimi files on the characters of this saga are being revealed.
Her rare story begins when, at the age of 5, she left her ancient lands in the highlands, where her father was an honored bannerman, leaving her tower in flames and her father who tragically burned inside. The reason was that the beliefs of the family and gender did not match the way the communist leadership of the time thought about life and progress. Their way of life and patriarchy, which did not bow down even to the Ottoman invaders, put them in a life-or-death confrontation with the “pursuing forces”, or with the only alternative: leaving the country without returning, for what would be possible.
Today, Mrija tells for “Even the Walls Have Ears” a story that our ears have not been able to hear before, due to isolation and distance, although her home is a piece of Albania in the USA…
That of wandering without a homeland for more than 10 years in the camps of Europe, until settling in America; the pain of losing loved ones, separation from family, from ancient lands…
Like Mrija, in the USA, Belgium, Egypt, Italy, etc., we have encountered traces of suffering and denial of the homeland, anxiety about the persecution of the family that was left behind, who was interned in forced labor camps or in the fields of Myzeqe, always suffering the stigma of “enemy of the people”, since the family belongs to a “fugitive”; often, even today, associated with the lack of access to citizenship, housing, property or personal belongings; the need to understand one’s fate, as well as to be understood in a nation to which they belong with greater determination and desire; the need to recognize the efforts and sacrifices of their families for freedom and national rights, in the way they thought.
The main objective of this conference is to promote public debate based on documents and facts, with the filter of a strong scientific discipline, and with a European approach, answering the questions:
For this reason, AIDSSH has made available to researchers the archive and oral testimonies it has collected:
ARCHIVE
A variety of archival documents are stored and administered at the AIDSSH archive, which contain and process information and data about Albanian political emigration, fugitives abroad, sabotage groups, various political organizations created by Albanian emigration in Europe, the United States of America and other countries. These documents consist of reports, statistics and information on the activity of Albanian emigration in various countries, reports and reports on gangs and saboteurs that operated mainly in Yugoslavia, etc., reports and statistics on fugitives, data and files on political and economic emigrants, etc.
The above documents are estimated to be approximately 90 thousand files and folders and belong to the period 1944-1991. Most of these documents are made public for the first time to citizens and researchers.
ORAL TESTIMONY
Meanwhile, for a year now, the Authority has been undertaking a project to collect oral testimonies from survivors of persecution by the Sigurimi, based on the now well-known platform “Even the Walls Have Ears”. Journalist Kristale Ivezaj will present her work to us via Skype, which includes the Albanian community in the US and Belgium. AIDSSH’s agreement with Voice of America and cooperation with the Pan-Albanian Federation Vatra has enabled the realization of interviews with fugitives in the United States, persecuted by the State Sigurimi, whose testimonies have been deposited in the Authority’s digital archive. The same project continues in Belgium, in cooperation with the Albanian community there, and will also target the community in Germany; in this race against time!
In all this complex issue, of course, today we will touch on hot topics, but I am sure that the discussion on this topic will continue.
In the high figures of Albanian emigration over the centuries and during the prolonged transition, this size seems to be only a fraction. But this fraction is very important for our country. Fully integrated into the host societies, today they represent a strong bridge of communication with the most developed countries and with our allies. They did not stop loving Albania and being active in various forms, denouncing the violations of human rights in communist Albania and raising their voices for national rights.
Above all, this community represents 15,000 large Albanian families, to whom our society owes the removal of the mud, the clarification of fate, the recognition of contributions.
That's it for now, since the crimes and sins of a part (about 200 individuals) have been spoken about sufficiently by monist historiography, since 1944.
I wish this conference successful work and fruitful cooperation to all the unsparing partners!
Gentiana Sula
National History Museum, February 19, 2020
