The EU Delegation to Albania said Thursday that this week EU representatives visited the town of Pogradec, a popular tourist destination in south-eastern Albania, to attend the symposium “From Past to Memory: The Borders of Dictatorship 1944-1991.”

This event serves as a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences of Albania’s border policies during the communist era, emphasising the need to preserve the memory of those who suffered.

In her remarks at the event, the EU representative Frédérique Hanotier said that learning from the past empowers citizens to build a more resilient and democratic society.

“Learning from the past empowers citizens to build a more resilient and democratic society. This is a complex issue, and the EU continues to strongly support Albania in dealing with its past and increasing social cohesion in the context of the country’s EU membership,” Hanotier said.

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Genitiana Sula, the head of the Authority, acquainted the PACE representatives with the work done since establishment of the institution.

The guests visited the archive of the Security documents and were informed about the work processes, the way of storage, the typology of the files, etc.

Head of PACE delegation Louise Barton expressed his support for the work of the Authority, especially in terms of the declassification of documents, as well as the significance of the transparency of public authorities in a pluralistic, democratic society.

During the morning, PACE delegation in cooperation with the Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Assembly of Albania, held, in Tirana, the seminar on “Access to historical documents”.

Regarding the recent legal changes, Dr. Gentiana Sula said that, “With the approval of the changes in the law 45/2022, the Assembly has created the necessary legal basis for a greater impetus to the opening and access of historical documents”.

In the 2018-2022 timeframe, the Authority has declassified 317,051 documents and with the entry into force of the legal changes, it has taken measures to declassify 610 archival units or about 13,300 documents by March. /gj.m/p.s./

The activity, held in the framework of February 20, 1991, a day of national memory, which marked the radical change of the political system in the country, took place in the presence of the protagonists of the events, lawmakers of the committee on security, education and laws, the community of researchers, historians, interest groups, education professionals and young people, as well as Minister of Education and Sports Evis Kushi.

The attendees were first introduced to the collection of 70 voluminous files from the Authority’s archive, which describe the most important events that happened in Albania immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of the popular revolt but also the psychology of the dictatorial regime, the oppression and violence that it applied even though it was in the last year of his life.

The activity continued with the presentation of the digital platform project “̈ ̈̈ ̈ ̈ – ̈ , 1944-1991”, the creation of which is considered as a need of society to get to know more deeply and more accurately the consequences caused by communist regimes, emphasizing the necessity of challenging the one-sided historiography, the censored sources, the flowing time to ensure the European path that requires a youth clear for the costs of the communist dictatorship.

In this initiative, the Authority has requested and found the cooperation of the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, the Albanian Radio Television, that will contribute providing documents, photos and videos that were created during the communist regime from official sources. These sources, including archival documents, articles, videos and photos, will be included in this digital platform, which will serve professionals in the recognition and study of the events that marked the history of Albania from 1944 to 1991. /p.s./

The photos reflect the two realities of what the building of the Central Archive of this institution was like before and how it is being transformed after the investment.

PM Rama commented on the photos where it can be easily seen where we come from and where we want to go.

“Here’s the photo album of the construction site of the Central Archive of the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, where it can be easily seen where we come from and where we want to go”, said Rama.

The reconstruction of the building of the Central Archive is almost completed, an investment realized with 100% funds from the self-funding of the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, without affecting the state budget, thanks to the good administration 2019-2021./p.s./

The international conference took place from 11-13 May, organized by the European Network of Remembrance and Solidarity.

The President of Albanian Authority Gentiana Sula, observer member of the Advisory Board at ENRS, moderated the discussions in the 5th panel on “International / European Strategies for the Prevention of Misinformation”.

During the three days of the conference, there were addressed issues related to ethics, truth and misinformation, political memory, different historical approaches and the totalitarian regime. It was also discussed on the role of media and education, focusing mainly on the methods, techniques and actors that lead to misinformation and the avoidance of the truth.

In conclusion, there were given recommendations and proposed strategies that can be used to prevent this phenomenon, mainly in the field of political memory./p.s./

The object of the agreement is the institutionalization of the relations for determining the rules of cooperation, between the two institutions in the framework of implementation of joint support policies, which includes the period of communism, in the years ’44 -’91, cooperation in the field of projects with focus on recognition and commemorating the values ​​for the younger generations, through the study, inclusion and participation in places of remembrance of events and places that testify to the history and realities of 1944-1991, from the crimes of communism, to the functions of the former State Security in Albania; cooperation in the field of developing joint programs for history teachers, history textbooks and school curricula with the documentation administered by the Authority.

“In this agreement both undertake to create the necessary conditions to become a visitable study center for pupils and students the facilities that may be in their interest and to make available: the archive of the Authority; reading room, library, publications of the institution; thematic exhibitions on the communist past; the development of research projects of the past, with the facilities and resources of Authority and partners ”said the President of the Authority Sula.

According to Kushi, “The agreement promotes and supports the implementation of joint research projects and civic education for democracy, where it will contribute to the development of joint programs for: history teachers; history textbooks and school curricula; school programmers: history, literature, linguistics, biology, chemistry, citizenship, geography, etc., as well as for the organization of joint activities focusing on the crimes of communism in Albania and the period when the former State Security functioned, in order to acquaint and educate pupils and students with history ”. /j.p/p.s./

“This was not 70 years ago, it was the same until 7 years ago while the hospitals are no longer the same,” said the prime minister while posting the video.

Rama said that, “There is a lot of work ahead, there is still a lot to clean, fix and transform, but whoever forgets where one began does not even understand where one is, nor does he know where he is going”.

The video shows the miserable condition of the hospitals a few years ago, when Petrit Vasili was Minister of Health, while the patients were receiving the health service in very difficult conditions. /m.m//a.a/p.s./