Chairman of the Institute Board Mentor Beqa presented to the Parliament the report and spoke about the activity of the Institute during 2024.

Beqa emphasized that the statistics were drawn up based on data from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Victims of Communist Terror, while emphasizing that “This figure could be higher, because the documentation was not in order”.

Also, Beqa said that last year, there were identified 2254 people killed by communists during the period January 1, 1942-November 29, 1944.

Also, Beqa said that an important part of the Institute activities during the past year was the organization of scientific conferences and the publication of study articles, while he highlighted the collection and preparation for publication of the repressive laws of the communist regime, as evidence of structured state violence against citizens.

Public information, according to him, has been focused on informing the younger generation about the lives of children in exile and prisons during the communist regime.

Beqa also emphasized that the Institute has also worked to collect testimonies of former political prisoners, publish them and inform the public about life in prisons, internment, deportation and other forms of persecution.

“The Institute has also worked to internationalize the history of communism in Albania, through publications abroad, lectures at international conferences and the expansion of the network of activities and international partners”, he added. /r.e/a.f/p.s./

Hoxha said that, “During 2023, the Institute was mainly focused on the realization of a scientific conference focusing on the condition of Albanians during the period of communism (1944-1990) in the entire Balkan space”.

During the year 2023, Hoxha continued, there were held important events to commemorate the anti-communist resistance during the communist regime, such as the Revolt of political prisoners in the Spaç prison camp on May 21, 1973.

During his speech, Hoxha highlighted the importance of informing the public, and especially the young generation, about the life of children in internment and in prisons during the communist regime, where the minimum living conditions were lacking and which contradicted propaganda of the time and international conventions of children’s rights, as well as published statistics on the number of children who lived in camps and places of internment.

In the focus of Institute’s work, Hoxha emphasized, has been the identification of the victims of the communist regime.

Hoxha also presented in the report the projects carried out during last year, such as publications, conferences, various meetings and promotions, talks in schools and universities, etc./r.e/p.s./

Accompanied by Minister of Culture Elva Margariti, they took the opportunity to discuss about the institutions of remembrance and ways of how they can become attractive to the younger generation.

Invited by the organizers of the “Manifesta Biennial” in Pristina, the coming station of the foreign journalists was Tirana, where they got acquainted with the city and in particular with one of the most significant museums and witness of 45 years of dictatorship in Albania.

“An opportunity to share experiences and promote our country, through whatever media organs they write for: “New York Times”, “Le Monde”, “El Pais”, “The Art Newspaper France”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, “Tagespiegel”, “Monopol”, “NOS”, “Euronews English”, “Volkskrant”, “Zeit “, said Margariti./m.m/a.a/r.e/p.s./

This documentary film shows three bus tours of high school students through the city of Tirana, led by art historian Eled Fagu and sociologist Ergys Mërtiti. Tirana is chosen as the city where was invested more in the aesthetic aspect using it as a propaganda means, but also where this architectural heritage is better preserved.

During this journey, the art historian acquaints us with the traces and history of communist architecture, with foreign ideological influences on architecture, urban planning, and on the monumental works inherited from that time; he explains how the regime produced its own Tirana, imposing on the citizens its own tastes, dynamics and way of life, starting from the cult objects of communist propaganda like the former “New Albania” Film Studio, the pride of industrialization myth displayed in The Textile Combine, up to the grim uniformity of the blocks of flats.

While the sociologist Ergys Mërtiri offers during this trip what is hidden beyond the view: life under communism and the psycho-social impact of this aesthetic environment on the individual and society as a whole.

The documentary, which is developed according to an idea of ​​Ergys Mërtiri, is based on the filmed episodes during this trip and on audiovisual materials from the archives.

To get familiar with communist architecture through such tours, similar to a “moving museum”, was applied for the first time in the international(“Following the traces of Communism in Albania” project in 2017 , realized by the “Konrad Adenauer” Foundation in Albania, with originators Luljeta Lleshanaku and Klaudja Zerva. /k.s/a.a/r.e/p.s./

The Authority posted excerpts from the State Security file of a group attempting to flee the country and how the State Security pursued them.

“The enemies who are betraying the Homeland, escaped control for a moment and took the boat in the lake. The night was dark, favorable for them, but the boat had cracks from which water came into the boat. They tried to fill the cracks with pieces of cloth, which they had taken with them, but got scared, came back, hid the boat on the shore of the lake so that to perform the act the next day, after avoiding the defect of the boat”.

The above information is found in the State Security History of the Internal Affairs Branch of Pogradec district, for the period 1949-1975, declassified by the Authority on 02.06.2020.

The background can be made available to researchers, in accordance with the amended law 45/2015 and the guide for researchers and media./p.s./

The Archive produced a rare photo of two students of the University of Rome Musine Kokalari and Drita Kosturi. The photo was taken on June 25, but of the year 1934.

Musine Kokalari and Drita Kosturi, two friends, students of the University of Rome, the first for literature and philosophy, the second for medicine, two idealists who wanted with all their heart the progress of the weakened Albania of that time.

But, this was not “enough” for the regime, which was given as a “reward” dozens of years in prison and exile. Nevertheless, their endurance was dignified.

The challenge that Musineja posed to the court is unprecedented. “I think differently from you, but I love my country. You are punishing me for my ideas. I do not apologize because I did not do anything wrong! ” – she said among other things.

Whereas Drita, being a doctor, served the sick prisoners and others who came out of the cells with broken bones. Father Zef Pllumi also wrote about this with admiration in “Rrno për me tregue”, where, among other things, he fixed in the book and a testament that Father Paul leaves to Father Zef for Drita:

“I will never forget her sacrifices for me. I urge you that, if the day of freedom ever comes, she should be considered a friend of the Franciscan Order.” /j.p/r.e/p.s./

The file can be made available to researchers, in accordance with the amended law 45/2015 and the guide for researchers and media.

The file of the Object of Special Importance for the Opera and Ballet Theater, with two files, was declassified on 2.04.2021. The file was opened in 1973 and covers surveillance of the structure of the National Library, the Palace of Culture and the Opera and Ballet Theater. The file was closed on 16.03.1991.

About 78 people (composers, ballet dancers, singers, orchestra players) used to work at the Opera and Ballet Theater. Among them, there were also State Security collaborators. 53 people of them were monitored because, according to Security reports, they had a “bad political attitude”.

Among them, 45 belonged to  the Opera and Ballet Theatre, 6 to the National Library and 2 to the Palace of Culture./p.s./