Albanian History: Enver Hoxha

Histori Shqiptare : Enver Hoxha (English below)

Asnjë person tjetër nuk ka luajtur një rol më të madh në fatin e Shqipërisë në shekullin e 20-të sesa Enver Hoxha. Ai është Skënderbeu i shekullit të 20-të. Megjithatë, ndërsa udhëheqja e Skënderbeut ishte për mirë; Hoxha ishte për të keqe. Ndërsa trashëgimia e të parit i ka rezistuar kohës, trashëgimia e Hoxhës është rishkruar rrënjësisht menjëherë pas vdekjes së tij, me shqiptarët që e etiketojnë atë jo si hero, por si shejtan. Hoxha kishte përkrahësit e tij në mesin e bashkëmoshatarëve të tij, të cilët tashmë janë të moshuar dhe të vdekur, por askush nga brezi i ri nuk e vlerëson atë. Hoxha, mund të argumentohet, shkatërroi Shqipërinë dhe çoi në emigracionin masiv që pasoi kur ai vdiq. Hoxha ishte një udhëheqës kulti: ai e izoloi kombin e tij të gjithë për t’i shërbyer vetes dhe rrethit të ngushtë. Ai madje vrau miqtë dhe familjen e tij. Ai ishte karizmatik; e bëri me buzëqeshje për njerëzit. Ai nuk do të ndalej para asgjëje për t’u kapur pas pushtetit, edhe nëse kjo do të nënkuptonte ndërtimin e bunkerëve të shëmtuar mbrojtës në të gjithë Shqipërinë. I talentuar nga mashtrimi dhe persekutimi i pamëshirshëm, mund të shihet se si ai ishte një forcë e tillë. Por ai nuk ishte një forcë për të mirë; ai ishte një forcë për të keqe. Le të shqyrtojmë krijimin e kësaj figure konsekuente, por djallëzore.

Enver Hoxha lindi në jug të Shqipërisë më 16 tetor 1908. Megjithatë familja e tij nuk vjen nga gjirokastra e vjetër dhe mund të jetë shpërngulur atje nga një pjesë tjetër e Shqipërisë si nga Malësia e Veriut apo edhe nga zonat shqiptare të Maqedonisë. Babai i tij ishte një klerik mysliman. Më vonë në jetë Enveri do të përplasej me të atin për besimin e tij. Thuhet se ai dogji edhe Kuranin e babait të tij. Në mesin e viteve 1960 Hoxha e shpalli Shqipërinë një shtet zyrtarisht ateist dhe mbylli të gjitha shtëpitë e fese. Ai e bëri këtë pa dyshim sepse mendonte se feja kërcënonte mbajtjen e tij në pushtet.

Hoxha mori pjesë në shkollat ​​e mira të qytetit të tij, përfshirë të parën që mësohej në gjuhën shqipe. Ai nuk ishte i talentuar si student; por ai rridhte nga një familje e pasur që donte që ai të kishte një arsim. Pas shkollës fillore u dërgua në një shkollë franceze në Korçë. Megjithëse nuk shkëlqeu, ai përfundoi kursin. Pas diplomimit ai donte të shkonte jashtë vendit. Ai dhe familja e tij i bënë presion një bamirësi që t’i ofronte një bursë për të shkuar të studionte në Francë. Ai shkoi në Universitetin e Montpellier. Megjithatë, ai ishte një student shumë i varfër dikur atje. Ai nuk ishte i interesuar për studimet e tij. Ishte e qartë se ai nuk ishte për akademikë, dhe bursa e tij u anulua për shkak të statusit të dobët. Në fakt ai u hakmor ndaj zyrtarit që i hoqi bursën, duke e dërguar në burg, në jetën e mëvonshme kur u bë diktator.

Pas Montpellier shkoi në Paris dhe u miqësua me revolucionarët e asaj kohe, klikën komuniste franceze. Duket se këtu u mboll fara për fatin e tij. Ai donte të bëhej një udhëheqës komunist. Pas kthimit në Shqipëri ai kaloi ca kohë në shkollën e tij të vjetër në Korçë si mësues zëvendësues, duke pritur Luftën e Dytë Botërore dhe duke kërkuar kohën e tij kur të mund të godiste. Ai duhet ta ketë ditur se ishte një gjeni i keq dhe për çfarë ishte i aftë. Ai u transferua në Tiranë dhe bëri më shumë miq komunistë, ndërsa punonte si shitës puro në dyqanin e xhaxhait të tij, një punë e zakonshme për dikë që ishte i destinuar të ishte heroi i popullit të tij.

Hoxha bëri një pakt me djallin. Dy agjentë erdhën nga Serbia për të ndihmuar në formimin e partisë komuniste shqiptare, Dushani dhe Miladin; për shkak të ndikimit të tyre negativ – në fund të fundit ata donin të instalonin një njeri që do t’i lejonte Serbisë, rivalit të Shqipërisë, të mbante provincën të Kosovës – ata mbështetën Hoxhën, si liderin e partisë, më joparimoren e grupit. Kudo që kishte një luftë për pushtet, Hoxha do të fitonte përmes persekutimit. Sapo mori pushtetin në vitin 1944, ai ekzekutoi rivalin e tij kryesor, Koci Xoxe, si dhe krerët e partive kundërshtare, Ballin Kombëtar dhe Legalitetin; partitë që komunistët i kishin ftuar më parë të bashkoheshin në luftën për çlirimin e Shqipërisë nga nazistët dhe fashistët. Në pleqëri, Hoxha e përfundoi mbretërimin e tij të terrorit duke ekzekutuar përkrahësin e tij kryesor, Mehmet Shehun. Ai vdiq në vitin 1985, pas 40 vitesh në pushtet.

Lëvizja komuniste është kritikuar gjithmonë në Perëndim. Nëse jo qëllimisht keq, sigurisht që nuk është e mençur. Edhe nëse fillon të funksionojë siç duhet në fillim, ekonomia e saj gradualisht ngec. Komunizmi duket si mashtrues. Megjithatë, në atë kohë ata ishin të rinj që aspironin për diçka më shumë, dhe në fakt shumica e komunistëve kishin qëllime të mira. Megjithatë, një problem me revolucionin komunist – ose ndoshta me të gjitha revolucionet populiste – ishte se ai ishte subjekt i uzurpimit nga një udhëheqës i keq. Hoxha ishte pikërisht tipi i liderit joparimor që uzurpoi lëvizjen, kur revolucioni ishte në fillimet e tij dhe e ktheu komunizmin në diktaturë. Hoxha me taktika te padrejta ngjiti majen. Pasi e bëri këtë, ai nuk e lëshoi ​​kurrë. Ai e bëri këtë përmes mashtrimit, persekutimit, ekzekutimit, izolimit dhe internimit. Ai është ende një emër i njohur në Shqipëri… për te keqe.

(in English)

No other person has played a greater role in the fate of Albania in the 20th century more than Enver Hoxha (Hodja). He is the Skanderbeg of the 20th century. However, While Skanderbeg’s leadership was for good; Hoxha’s was for ill. While the former’s legacy has withstood the test of time, Hoxha’s legacy has been radically rewritten immediately after his death, with Albanians labeling him not as a hero but a villain. Hoxha had his supporters among his peers who are now old and dying out, but no one of the younger generation esteems him. Hoxha, it can be argued, ruined Albania and led to the mass immigration that ensued when he died. Hoxha was a cult leader: he isolated his nation all to serve himself and close circle. He even killed his friends and family. He was charismatic; he did it with a smile for the people. He would stop at nothing to cling on to power, even if it meant building unsightly defensive bunkers all over Albania. Gifted at deception and ruthless persecution, one can see how he was such a force. But he was not a force for good; he was a force for ill. Let us examine the making of this consequential, yet villainous figure.

Enver Hoxha was born in the south of Albania on October 16th 1908. However his family does not come from old Gjirokastra stock and may have moved there from another part of Albania such as the Northern Highlands or even the Albanian areas of Macedonia. His father was a Muslim cleric. Later in life Enver would clash with his dad over his faith. It is said that he even burnt his father’s Quran. In the mid 1960s Hoxha declared Albania an officially atheist state and shuttered all houses of worship. He did this no doubt because he felt that religion threatened his hold on power. 

Hoxha got to attend the good schools of his town including the first one that taught in Albanian. He was not gifted as a student; but he came from a well-to-do family who wanted him to have an education. After grade school he was sent to a French school in Korca. Though he did not shine, he completed the course. Upon graduation he wanted to go abroad. He and his family pressured a benefactor to offer him a scholarship to go study in France.  He went to the University of Montpellier. However, he was a very poor student once there. He was not interested in his studies. It was evident that he was not for academics, and his scholarship was revoked because of poor standing. In fact he got revenge on the official who revoked his scholarship, sending him to prison, in later life when he became dictator.

After Montpellier he went to Paris and made friends with the revolutionaries of the day, the French communist clique.  It seems that here the seed for his destiny was planted. He wanted to be a Communist leader. Upon his return to Albania he spent some time at his old school Korca as a substitute teacher, waiting out World War II and biding his time when he could strike.  He must have known he was an evil genius, and what he was capable of.  He moved to Tirana and made more communist friends, while working as a cigar salesman at his uncle’s shop, an ordinary job for one destined to be his people’s hero. 

Hoxha made a pact with the devil. Two agents came from Serbia to assist in the formation of the Albanian communist party, Dushan and Miladin; owing to their negative influence-after all they wanted to install a man who would allow Serbia, Albania’s rival, to keep the Albanian majority province of Kosovo-they supported Hoxha, as party leader, the most unprincipled of the bunch. Wherever there was a power struggle, Hoxha would win through persecution. As soon as he got power in 1944, he executed his top rival, Koci Xoxe, as well as the leaders of the opposing parties, the National Front and Legality; parties which the communists had previously invited to join in the fight for the liberation of Albania from the Nazis and Fascists. In old age, Hoxha concluded his reign of terror by executing his top supporter, Mehmet Shehu. Hoxha died in 1985, after 40 years in power.

The communist movement has always been criticized in the West. If not deliberately bad, it’s certainly unwise. Even if it begins to work out properly in the beginning, its economy gradually flounders.  Communism seems like a con. However, at the time they were young people aspiring for something more, and in fact most communists were well-intentioned.  However one problem with the communist revolution-or perhaps with all populist revolutions-was that it was subject to usurpation by a bad leader. Hoxha was the exact type of unprincipled leader to usurp the movement, when the revolution was in its infancy, and turned communism into a dictatorship. Enver Hoxha. strong armed his way to the top. Once he did so he never let go.  He did this through deception, persecution, execution, isolation and exile. He is still a household name in Albania… for ill.

Sources:

Panorama. Hoxha 2012

Enver Hoxha. The Iron Fist of Albania. 2016

History of Albania. Tajar Zavalani 1963

Albania: Kruja

Kruja is a small town in north central Albania that belongs to the cultural region of the Northern Highlands. Its population including villages in the surrounding county may be as high as seventy thousand. It is situated on the mountain of Kruja, which has many natural springs, perhaps the origin of its namesake: Krue in Albanian means spring. We do not have any mention of Kruja in antiquity. It seems to have been inhabited since the seventh or eighth century. Its possible that the Illyrian tribe, called the Albanoi by Ptolemy, lived in the nearby village of Zgerdheshi. These people may later have settled the area that became Kruja. The first written mention of Kruja occurs in a Christian record of the 9th century. Kruja likely was the first feudal Albanian state, of the Arbanum tribe, established in 1190. The town flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries but its development would be periodically halted by invaders.

The Turks first arrived in 1396, though it would take another twenty years for them to begin their assault. Though they captured the town, the people of Kruja put up a series of uprisings, a strong one of which was led by Gjon Kastrioti, Skenderbeg’s father. Then, when the son, Gjergj Kastrioti, Skenderbeg, came of age, Kruja became Albania’s strongest point of resistance against the Ottoman Turks. Once he captured Kruja, Skenderbeg’s principality remained independent for 25 years, for the remainder of his life, and it would take 10 more years after his passing for the Turks to capture his castle. However, the Ottoman attacks cost a lot to the town and Albania. Castles, churches, and old characteristic buildings were lost, including artistic and even literary works.

I have visited Kruja in the past and have been impressed by its rugged mountainous terrain and as well as its severe atmosphere. Is there a positive side to the ruggedness of the highlands? It’s possible. Skanderbeg, Albania’s national hero and greatest warrior in medieval battle was from the rugged highlands. Likewise, Gjergj Fishta, who wrote Albania’s national epic-a poem about war-was also from the rugged highlands. And Shkodra, another highland town is known for its fierceness in battle, preventing an Ottoman takeover of their citadel in two sieges. Likewise Marin Barletti, the medieval Shkodran scholar, had markedly heroic approach to his chronicles and he himself was a soldier in the siege of Shkodra. Although we definitely cannot prove it, it is possible this rugged environment bred clansmen with battle toughness, one unmatched by southern Albania. Southern Albania has not produced a warrior like Skenderbeg. Though it has produced a finer culture, with more intellectuals like the brothers Frasheri.

Yet at the same time, the Northern Highlands have suffered what sociologists call an “honor culture,” a culture of family feuds and vendettas which has been known to exist in other rugged highlands such as those of Sicily, Scotland and Appalachia in the US. Supposedly, this culture arose from the need to protect one’s cattle from theft. However, this culture did not take root in southern Albania, where shepherding is also common. Certainly, the rugged mountains facilitated this unfortunate custom. But it would seem, this is a regional cultural trait too. It endured until the Communists, who though discredited, did good to put a stop to the senseless violence. After communism, the custom sprang up again, but now this unfortunate culture thankfully seems to be put behind.

I really did enjoy my time in Kruja back in 2012. The best part of the town is the old bazaar, a tiny stone lane, said to be 5 centuries old, and offering all sorts of Albanian knickknacks and decorations a tourist could want. I met a shop keeper, a woman who spoke to me in the northern accent, which surprised me. Although I grew up in nearby Tirana, only 45 minutes south, Albanian there has a different accent. The lady did not have a trace of humor to her face, but was of a very sincere kindly disposition. Try as I may, I could not get a smile out of her. Yet, she took a liking to me because I told her I came from America, where her son had emigrated to. Now that I come to think of it, she was an embodiment of her environment.

My mom and I along with my aunt and cousins then walked past the bazaar which led straight onto the castle. Though the ravages of age such as an earthquake of 1617 and a further Turkish onslaught in 1832 after another uprising, had taken a toll, some of it was still standing and housed a historical museum dedicated to medieval Kruja and its heroic native son Skenderbeg. After visiting it, we ate pilaf in the patio of a restaurant housed at the end of the castle. The day was obscured by clouds, which seemed to hang near us on the mountain top. There were no other diners. But we were surrounded by a family of cats, aiming at our chicken bones, who called old Kruja, this tiny, secret gem their home. This day trip, as if one back in time, to the home of Skanderbeg, was quite special.

Source:

Kruja and Her Monuments
Shtepia Botuese 8 Nentori
Tirane
1981

Albania: The Ottoman Invasion

Albania came under the sway of the Ottomans in the early 1400’s and would remain in their empire-although not wholly and not all the time-until 1912. But who are the Ottomans? The people who came to be known as Ottomans were the Muslim Turcomans, or Turkish tribes who originated in central Asia and moved to Iran and eastern Anatolia. Many of them were nomadic. Partly owing to the Mongol invasions of the 1200s in Eastern Turkey, which oppressed them, they migrated west, and began settling near the border of the Byzantine Empire.

Once there, they embarked on a Gazi, or Holy War, against the Christians of the Byzantine Empire. The crusader with land closest to Constantinople was Osman, a capable soldier, who in 1302 led an ambush against the Byzantines in a decisive battle. Their win first established the Ottoman principality. He and his people wrested provinces in western Anatolia from Byzantium, and many Turks flocked to do battle with him, calling themselves Osmanlis. Their mission was holy war and colonization.

Emboldened by their seemingly easy conquests in the western frontier, the Muslim incursion of Gazi crusaders gained great momentum and the prospect of even entering Europe became a real one. Constantinople was very much occupied keeping the Balkan provinces in check; it didn’t have the capability to defend itself from the East. With each passing year, the Ottomans kept gaining ground and rising in power. By the 1350s the Ottomans had taken Salonica and Gallipoli. Then came Adrianople, which would be their capital for almost 100 years. Constantinople, was in such poor shape it hired Ottomans to hold on to its Balkan provinces. This portended a bleak future for its survival. The Ottomans could turn on it. But it was desperate.

There was a renewed campaign to unite the Orthodox and Latin church in order to strengthen the Empire. Appeals for protection were made to Western nations. A call was made for a crusade not recapture Jerusalem but to save Constantinople. But history was not on Byzantium’s side. Now at over 1000 years old, perhaps, the ravages of ages finally caught up with it.

Within the Balkans, Ottoman soldiers found plenty of work in the armies of feudal lords to fight neighboring peoples. Sometimes nobles of the same nation hired Turkish soldiers to fight each other. They were all playing with fire. Division within the Balkan peninsula along ethnic and religious lines greatly weakened it. Yet the new invader was not a scourge upon all. Bulgarians, for example, preferred Turkish occupation to Hungarian occupation. Likewise, Albanians also preferred Turkish rule to their Serb rivals. This only hastened the Ottoman incursion.

In 1385 the Turks first came to Durres as mercenaries of a local lord, who was fighting a fellow Albanian in the north. Three years after winning this battle, the Turks returned again, this time not under the command of a local lord but under the direction of the sultan himself to conquer for their own benefit. Although many feudal lords finally united, it was too late. They were beaten and soon enough each of them were forced to become vassals of the Sultan. Meanwhile in 1453 Constantinople finally fell to the long coming threat, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire.

***

Zavalani, Tajar. History of Albania. London: 1963. Robert Elsie and Bejtullah Destany 2015.

Inalcik, Halil. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600. Phoenix Press, 2013.

Albania: Brave Old World

Recently I’ve been rereading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This book was a high school favorite of mine for the reason that it discusses forced conformity and brainwashing, two things that I faced and that I think every young person is faced with to some degree from his peers and false friends. Here I am, all these years later, relating to this story now for the opposite reason; Now instead of being faced with brainwashing, in order to arrive at “stability,” I have essentially arrived at the perfect point of stability, and I didn’t have to sell my soul it! It just came about naturally. How? With age, of course! Time heals all wounds, and time cools all heads. The only problem is that the adult mind is too stable, and not exciting like the spirit of youth. Regardless, although life doesn’t have the thrills of youth, it does have more peace. Yet age brings physical health problems, which make this stage of life harder, but I can’t blame that on a conformist society that tries to brainwash its members.

Now let us move on to the Albania blog. Let us pose this question: Can one draw an analogy between the US and Albania, where the US represents the Brave New World and Albania represents the Indian reservation? Certainly we can. Here is the comparison. Like the Brave New World, the US is a more perfect society: quiet, clean, law-abiding, and orderly. By comparison Albania is more “savage”: messy, noisy, hectic, unpleasant, disorderly, and chaotic.

In the US, to quote Huxley, “there isn’t any need for a civilized man to bear anything that’s seriously unpleasant.” If true, this certainly draws people to come here. But by the same token, the US is a much less soulful country than Albania. Stability gets rid of soul. A messy country is full of soul.

“My dear friend, civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism,” says the Controller, dismissing the good qualities born of strife.

“But tears are necessary,” says the savage. You’ll get plenty of tears in Albania, if not literal, proverbial. Life there is more of a rollercoaster ride than the US. One has to endure a dizzy array of “flies and mosquitoes”; where it be open sewers, fellow passengers breathing down your neck in a city bus, or drivers who feel pedestrians get the right of way only if they earn it.

“Charming! But in civilized countries,” says the Controller…there aren’t any flies or mosquitoes to sting you. We got rid of them.” In America, everything is spic and span, or if not spic there is general standard: the busses are empty, the sewers are lidded, and pedestrians always get the right of way. But by the same token America somehow got rid of the pedestrians!

“You got rid of them. Yes that’s just like you,” says the Savage, “Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it.” By getting rid of the inconveniences, we reduce our own ability to cope/fight/and grow from difficulty. In Albania there are plenty of unpleasantries to fight and grow from. Yet, by the same token, life there is more uncomfortable.

“What you need is something with tears, for a change,” the Savage goes on, “Nothing costs enough here.” True, this makes us ask: Have we gone too far? Is America too quiet, too comfortable, too peaceful, too perfect? Yet, there are parts within America that are anything but “nice and clean.” i.e. the inner cities.

“I like the inconveniences,” says the savage, preferring an imperfect society, perhaps one like Albania.

“We don’t,” says the Controller, “We prefer to do things comfortably.” He prefers America.

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” says the Savage. He wants to live life to the fullest.

The battle of the two societies mentioned above can also be framed as the battle of the society of peace versus the society of excitement. The Controller of the Brave New World prefers peace. The Savage of the Old World prefers excitement. America is the society of peace. Albania is the society of excitement. The society of peace is sophisticated and perfect. The society of excitement is unrefined. The epitome of peace, cleanliness and order, is the suburb, coveted by all well-to-do Americans as the ideal dwelling place. Meanwhile, the downtowns of cities are anything but peaceful, and this is why Americans, who crave peace and quiet, avoid them. Albanians crave noise! The culture is one where people covet living in the big city. The closer to the action the better. Tirana, Albania’s capital, is a buzzing beehive! I have been to Chicago, New York, Miami, and none of them are as energetic as Tirana. At the same time American architecture is massive and unmatched in size and scope by Albania or even Europe. Conversely, there are parts of Albania which are peaceful; villages. Unlike suburbs, they are very small, just a handful of houses, and are out not part of a city, but rather are out in the fields. They may have farmland nearby and even farm animals.

Albania: Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa is the most internationally recognized modern Albanian figure today. Her name has entered into the mainstream both in the East and the West. Her impact is global. Upon her death the order of nuns that she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, stood at 4000 strong and had houses that cared for the poor, sick and destitute in over 90 countries all over the globe. This diminutive woman born of a common Albanian family was a force of God. The indomitable nun as she came to be known truly was unstoppable. Because she did not meddle in politics but merely wanted to have mercy on the poor, she was usually welcomed all over the world. She had a universally liked personality and charisma. Moreover, she never took no for an answer. It is only through immense persistence that we may imagine she set up her missions everywhere.

Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Bojaxhiu in Shkodra, Albania on August 27, 1910. In youth, her family moved to Skopje, Macedonia. When the Ottoman Empire fell Macedonia and Kosovo were incorporated into Yugoslavia. Her father who was a political activist for Kosovo, the Albanian majority region, was poisoned by the Serb authorities. From her youth little Agnes showed the signs that would distinguish her in adult life: she was principled, religious, and compassionate. She often visited a poor widow in the neighborhood while her siblings would not.

One day when she was 12 a Jesuit missionary group came and spoke to her class of their mission in India. This talk captured her imagination and was the spark that lit the fire for the religious life of a nun. At 18, after receiving her mom’s blessing-who was initially astonished- Agnes left for Ireland to train with the Sisters of Loretto. A mere two months later, Agnes went with the mission to India. She adopted the name of Teresa in reverence of St Therese of Lisieux who believed in simple goodness and died at merely 25.

In 1934, she heard news that her mom and brother and sister had moved to Tirana. However, time would prove this a costly move. Albania would soon be run by a severe dictator who ridiculed religion and persecuted her family on account of her renown. Meanwhile Sister Teresa was promoted to Mother Teresa at merely 27. She still kept her usual duties of prayer and teaching children whom she was particularly fond of. However, World War II would bring a terrible famine to India. 2 million souls perished.

After 17 years of service to the sisters of Loretto Mother Teresa heard a call from God. She must live among the poor. She was haunted by poverty and felt the only way to truly care for them was to become one of them. She became a beggar for beggars but before long other nuns came to her side, and she would set up an new, independent mission under the Catholic Church. Although she would never accept official church funds, the money always turned up, as if miraculously. The rich gave a lot and the poor gave their last coins. She set up houses to care for children, lepers, the homeless, the sick and dying. From Asia to Europe, to North America to South America, to Africa; perhaps in every continent; It is no wonder that she was universally beloved. She met with heads of state. She even tried to reconcile Saddam Hussein and George Bush to prevent the Gulf war; afterwards in Iraq, she would set up a mission to care for wounded civilians.

She flew around the globe to her dying day and was recognized by prizes for her work everywhere, including being awarded the prestigious Nobel prize. In 2016, she became canonized a Catholic saint. Interestingly, the only two places where she was rejected were her homeland of Albania, where the dictator persecuted her family, and Northern Ireland, which refused to have a Catholic mission, especially one founded by a nun who had first trained in its rival, Ireland. Mother Teresa is an example to all of us: to care for those less fortunate than ourselves in the name of God.

Source
Hurley, Joanna. Mother Teresa 1910-1997: A Pictorial Biography. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1997.
Image: Mother Teresa accompanied by children at her mission in Calcutta, India 05/12/1980 (Getty)

Albania: Series II introduction

Friends, here I am. It is now Summer 2021, I have recently completed series I of my blog Curiosities from Albania. What a fun time I had. I did not realize it would be so much fun. I was hesitant to begin but once I got going I got thirsty to learn more and more about my country, to write more and more about it, and to share my experience there on my last trip. Recalling those memories connected me to my roots, to my relatives, and it was a very worthy affair. It gave meaning to my days.

But now I would like to begin a new series; on Albania, of course. However I have a problem. I don’t have any additional trips to Albania that I can write about. My final trip there was in 2014. Typically I visit every four years. My next trip ought to have come in 2018. However owing to poor health I have been unable to travel. I’ve been struck down in my prime! Chronic fatigue syndrome. Not only does it prevent me from visiting Albania, if affects me in my daily life. Yet despite aches, pains, and debilitating fatigue, my spirit soars when I think of Albania! Just like eagles of Scanderbeg which mark the center of my world!

I wish I was half as strong as Scanderbeg. He was known for prodigious physical strength and a great military mind. I don’t know when or if I will improve enough for travel. I may never set foot in Albania again for as long as I live. It doesn’t bother me. I have come to terms with it. But this means this new series will be primarily historical and memorial, since I have no fresh experiences to write about.

Although I have not been able to visit my dear country, Albania, I find nevertheless that in writing about it I get closer to it. I think people have an innate desire to learn about their home; they are fundamentally attracted to their roots, some of us more than others. I am one of those people who is indeed very drawn to home, to the place of his birth. I have an older brother who doesn’t much care about Albania. He is the opposite of me. He is happy here in the US, doing his job, raising his family, and never thinks of his roots. But I am one of those people who roots deeply, as they say. So with that being said, I look forward to a new blog series on Albania. I look forward to learning more and more about my homeland, and to sharing it with you here.

Albania: Exodus of the early 1990’s

In the early 1990s, after a 47 year isolationist dictatorial regime, Albania was starting to open up. The Berlin Wall had fallen, the USSR had disintegrated, and Romania’s dictator had been promptly executed. All signs pointed to the end of communism. This was the first time that we as a people were allowed to immigrate in almost half a century. And the general mentality in Albania was “Anywhere but here!” In fact, in 1990 when Europe saw that our borders could no longer hold us in, and that we were dying for a breath of air, they opened their doors to us. Embassies from major western European countries like Germany, France, and Italy set up shop and were filled to the brim with people desperate to immigrate. These people had nothing to lose. They tended to be a bit younger in age and perhaps a bit adventurous too. They stood in line, and camped outside from morning till night for days on end, hoping for the embassy doors to open. They did open and everyone was labelled a refugee and got instant political asylum.

At the same time, there were heart wrenching scenes of large cargo ships being stormed by thousands of people who climbed aboard via ropes! These ships were for the daring and desperate. They sailed to the nearby Italian coast; this journey took place a few times until the final one sunk under suspicious circumstances. The most accessible destination was Greece; it was reachable by foot over mountain and field, or by vehicle. Being the most developed nation in the Balkans, and part of the European Union, it was the default destination for countless Albanian refugees, mainly from the south. It is fair to say there was an exodus of Albanian immigrants in the early 1990’s; something that was bound to happen after a nation was forced into isolation, and thus into poverty, for over 45 years.

America was the ultimate dream for us Albanians. There a culture reigned where America was and is beloved. I don’t know when the love of America began; perhaps it began at the very beginning when America defeated Great Britain to become civilization’s final frontier in 1776. Although, historically, I don’t know when the first Albanians started immigrating to America, by 1900, the largest community was in Boston numbering at about 50,000. Other large cities such as New York and Chicago may have had similar sized communities at the time. Then in 1944, our communist government put a stop to all emigration, particularly to America. We were now allied with Russia, and later with China. These Eastern powers became our mentors, and we were made to believe America was our enemy.

Albania has always looked up to America, and with good reason. It can be argued America is Albania’s greatest ally. In 1920, America came to our aid at the end of the first world war. At this time, our Slavic neighbors, and Greece wanted to use the chaotic opportunity to partition Albania altogether and take it for themselves. Their armies invaded the country and and our very existence was threatened. Although, other major European powers like Italy, Austria, and France were actors in the decision as to Albania’s fate, it would be America under the leadership of President Wilson that supported and conclusively reaffirmed our independence. This made our countries allies. In 1999, it would be with the aid and protection of America that Kosovo’s Albanians would survive the Serbian campaign of genocide. In 2008, our alliance was renewed yet again when Kosovo declared independence, with support and recognition from America.

On top that, like it does to much of the world, to us as people, America gave us hope; in the early 1990s Albania was a small eastern nation with a troubled recent past, and bleak immediate future. By contrast, here was America, a big western nation, powerful, with a storied past and a promising future. We were all dying to come here! It was a dream so big that we dare not dream it. America in our eyes was larger than life. Certainly, part of this impression had to do with the fact that no one had ever come to America and lived to tell about it. America was the dream of the unknown. Although, our dictator had tried to brainwash us that America was an evil imperialist who had intentions of invading Albania for decades on end, and he even forced us to build thousands of unsightly “defensive bunkers,” which littered neighborhoods and the countryside alike, by the fall of his regime we were free to think for ourselves.

Our natural inclination was to look up to America. Not Russia, not China; as the communist regime had bade us do all those decades, but America, the forward thinking western super power. We all dreamt of coming to America. Of all possible destinations, America the best; a nation built by immigrants for immigrants. In my family, in the early 1990’s, my dad really wanted out of Albania. But God knows my family was not “the cargo ship” type. Dad was a musicologist. He didn’t have that sort of daring in him. Dad thought of all possible destinations particularly the ones where he had contacts, through work. In Europe, this included Romania, England and Austria. But none of them came to pass.

Like other western embassies, the American embassy also opened in Albania at this time. There were rumors they were even offering Fulbright Grants to those few who dared apply; this was the type of daring appropriate for dad. He was an academic. However, earning a Fulbright was impossible at first. There were none! However, dad got a chance to meet the person in charge of the Fulbright Program in Albania, a man called John. Dad gave him a copy of his book; this gesture, and the fact he even had written a book, I believe impressed John. John was a kind man, but he could not help dad; there simply were no grants left, for any one. It was a game of numbers; too many applicants, too few grants. The small budget was already spent. Yet, as fate goes, after months and months pass, John calls dad with great news. A few Fulbright Grants had come in from America and he told dad to apply. He applied, and the rest is history. In the meanwhile, dad invited John over to our apartment for dinner; it was a celebration. We never heard from John again. As we left for America, he left for Asia.

Contains excerpts from my essay: “How did I get here? Out of the Old country and into the new World.”

Albania: Memories of Durres

During this visit i had a most unremarkable time in Durres; being so near Tirana, less than one hour away, my company and I drove there haphazardly one Sunday, coupling it with a visit to the Bay of Lalzi; a secluded beach that in my view outdoes the one at Durres. At Lalzi, we parked our car, walked past the woods and to my pleasant surprise were met with a white sand beach strewn with cute wooden umbrellas the kind of which I’d never seen before. The only catch was it was a cool, cloudy and somber day and not a soul was around. We strolled a bit, jumped back in the car and zigzagged through a suburban neighborhood of nice, gated houses; a concept that didn’t even exist back when I was growing up here. We only stayed in Durres for lunch, eating in the restaurant of a random hotel. The food was average, the weather dreary and rainy…

I prefer to remember the Durres of my youth. Back then, Durres was a popular beach destination. Being on the Adriatic coast not too far from Tirana, though back in those times one took the train, it was the default destination for middleclass Albanian families of all nearby towns. We went there every summer, for one or maybe two weeks.

One particular vacation to Durres that comes to mind is 1990. I know this because it was a World Cup year, and being a young Albanian kid, I was mad about soccer. I was only seven but I understood the game and I loved watching it and playing with my friends outside on the dusty asphalt of our apartment building. Today, except for the World Cup, you can’t pay me to watch your soccer! I prefer football but back in that time and place I was a fanatic, like my brother and our friends. All the men in the country were soccer heads. All the women never watched a single game! But now times have changed there and girls and women participate in athletics.

That year a friend and colleague of my dad’s was also vacationing with his family in Durres. This guy had a kind of gift at getting ahead in life under communism. He always found a way to make friends with those in power and in turn secure advancement for himself and his family under the most meagre of material circumstances. Well, in Durres, he did it again! He had pulled some strings, and booked a room for his family in the fanciest hotel in town, reserved at that time for western tourists and the political elite only. We would visit them daily and live the high life which to me today seems standard, but back in that day when material possessions were so very lacking, everything this hotel had was a big deal.

It was the at that very hotel that I first became exposed to color television. At home, all throughout my life we only had black and white TV. Seeing this new color TV set in the lobby of the hotel was a huge deal. It was a new thing for us. Moreover, it was absolutely awesome because that World Cup I mentioned was taking place at this time. We could watch games on color TV! Boy oh boy, I have seen one of the wildest soccer games of my life on that TV. It went into overtime and then into penalties. We were loving every second of it, only as a fanatic can!

Another incident that took place at this hotel was more comical. It was here that I tasted Coca Cola for the first time in my life. But not in the usual way, where one buys a drink and enjoys it. No, we weren’t staying at the hotel so I suppose we weren’t allowed to buy anything. Besides we didn’t know what coke was. Anyhow, my mom, my brother and I, and her friend and her two sons went up to an empty table spontaneously on a patio cafe where the privileged westerners had just leisured and left all their pop cans. Well, we saw the remains of a dark fizzed drink at the bottom of their glasses. Out of curiosity to know what it was, and perhaps to see what the fancy tourists were having, we picked up their cans and had a taste. It was awesome! It was Coca Cola. It was also pathetic that our country’s economy could not even provide us that…

Albania: Durres history

With a history as old as Europe, Durres is Albania’s most ancient city. The fame of Durres rose with the Greek Colony. It was here by the Adriatic Sea, on the land of the Illyrian tribe of the Taulanti, that they would settle in the 627 BC. They came from Corinth and Corcyra and would stay for over 300 years; until the city was captured in 312 BC by the Illyrian King Glaucus. Appian Alexandrinius, a writer of the 2nd century BC tells us the founder of Durres was called Epidamnos and named the town after himself. His nephew was called Dyrrachion and built a pier on a bay near the city which he named after himself. Later Strabo, the Greek geographer, writes Dyrrachion took its name from the peninsula on which Durres was founded.

The Greeks set a foundation for a city that would stand the test of time. For several centuries, when part of the Roman Empire, Durres became the greatest city on the Adriatic. In the first two centuries of Roman power, an amphitheater, a library, public baths, an aqueduct, and many luxurious villas were built. It was at its port that the Via Ignatia, the Military Highway of the Balkans, began and led to the east past other major cities of the time like Manscio Scampa (Elbasan) and Thessaloniki to Byzantium. Durres’ ancient port, the largest of Illyricum, has survived over 2000 years, and is still Albania’s largest port today. The city became a center of trade and gave and took goods from other major cities of the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, and the Italian Peninsula.

Durres like the rest of Albania has been invaded often through the ages. Perhaps, even more so, owing to the fact it is susceptible to invasion by sea. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Bulgars, Serbs, Normans, Achaeans (Greeks), Venetians, Sicilians, Turks, Nazi Germans, Italians, and the like have all passed through Durres. Some stayed a very long time. The ancient Greeks spent over 300 years here; the Romans over 400; the Byzantine Empire held Durres for 800 years, the longest of all, with periodic interruptions from Albanian families or invaders, which lasted for years to decades to even centuries. After the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire held Durres for over 400 years.

Of all eras, a little to a lot of evidence can still be found today. Greek artifacts abound. Numerous historical sights worthy of recognition stand today. The Romans built the 1500 seat amphitheater, the second largest in the Balkans. The Roman era also gave Durres a castle, a small part of which still stands. The Byzantine Empire which held Durres the longest time, built a church in the 9th Century. The Venetians built a tower in the 1500’s, which still stands and in good shape, although as a cafe. While the Turks who would hold Durres for four centuries converted the population to Islam and built mosques. Later in the early 20th century, the Italians built roads and government buildings.

Important personages have noted Durres. Aristotle wrote of its constitution. Cicero wrote “I came to Durres because this is a free city and loyal to me,” and may well have lectured here, perhaps at the amphitheater itself. Julius Caesar came here probably during Rome’s fight with Pompey, which happened on the Adriatic coast. Durres captures the imagination for its ancient storied past, in particular for its classic Greco Roman civilization. While today it has been outshined by Tirana, it was in fact declared modern Albania’s first capital in 1912, and remains Albania’s second largest city. Though Durres may be thought of as second best, and a “has been,” its history is old as Europe itself.

Sources:

Hoti, Afrim. Epidamnos-Dyrrhachion Durres. Cetis. Tirana, 2006.

http://www.britannica.com/place/Durres

http://albania.al/destinations/durres/

Photo:

Venetian Tower https://wherefoodtakesus.com/tirana-day-trip-what-to-do-in-durres/

Albania: Invasions of the Middle Ages

In 395, after the division of the Roman Empire into East and West, the Illyrian lands of Moesia (Serbia) Dardania (Kosovo) and Epirus (Albania) fell to the east. The east, the Byzantine Empire, called their political units themes, large states led by a deputy to the emperor, with several provences such as Vlora, and Lezha, in central Albania or Praevlitania, in the northern Albania, or Moesia in modern Serbia; each were ruled by nobles. On a larger level, there were four prateorian prefectures, which were divided into dioceses.

Emperor Justinian, 527 to 565, built many fortifications to defend the Empire. Eventually, the invaders would come, and great as defence was, the wave could not be stopped. Though he built 26 forts in Illyria, his home, IIlyria itself would be most affected by invasion. The first invaders came from central Europe from the Germanic peoples. The Goths, and the Iranian Sarmatians, swept through Balkan regions such as Thrace (Bulgaria), Macedonia, Dardania, Epirus. etc. Though they wrought great violence and suffering, they left no trace on the people and place. The Huns came from the east in 441 followed by the Avars, to further ruin Dardania and Macedonia. Ostragoths from the north would follow in 459.

These periodic invasions however would only increase in the 500s and 600s. The new wave would begin from the East where the Bulgars, a Turkic people, would defeat an Illyrian army in Thrace and settle the land. Constant wars would weaken the Byzantine army and its capacity to defend the empire, which only led to further invasion, and finally permanent settlement. The waves of settlers would come from the north and east, from the Slavic peoples; these people, who were numerous and particularly ruthless, would ravage the empire, killing, expelling or assimilating the natives. So bold and unstoppable were these invaders that they attempted to capture Constantinople itself; in this ambitious campaign, however, they were defeated. But they would forever change the ethnic composition of the Balkans. Today their descendants live in the modern countries of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Illyria would loose Moesia to the Serbs and all territory north of modern Albania; though today there exists an Albanian minority in neighboring Slavic countries, like Monte Negro, as well as Macedonia, which is 25 percent Albanian. Ancient Dardania, modern Kosovo, would have centuries of conflict with the Serbs, until it gained independence as its own country in 1999.

From the east came further invasion into central Albania, this time from the Bulgars, who themselves now had been overrun by the more numerous Slavs. The Bulgarian Slavs were to build a kingdom in 851 whose zenith would be in the 10th century, and whose reach would extend through Macedonia, northern Greece, and central Albania. Though it would last for close to two centuries, until 1018, it would have no permanent impact on Albania, other than some Slavic place names or words.

From the west, Albania and the Balkans would have yet more invasion, this time from the Normans, an adventurous Viking people, who are most known for conquering England in the year 1066. In 1081, the Normans invaded Vlora and proceeded to Durres without much resistance. Meanwhile Emperor Alexius called on Venice for support. On the sea, the Normans would loose to the Venetian force, but not on land; all of Albania and Thessaly (Northern Greece) would be occupied until 1085, when Alexius raised another army and routed the invaders. Yet the Normans would return once more in 1107, this time without success. So weak was their campaign in Durres that their leader Bohemond instead of conquering, joined the Empire as a governor in Asia Minor.

Sources:
Zavalani, Tajar. (1903-1966) Histori e Shqipnis, 1957, Tirana. History of Albania. London, 1963. Reprinted, 2015 Robert Elsie and Bejtullah Destani, editors.

Elsie, Robert. (1950-2017) Albania in a Nutshell, 2015.

Painting by Viktor Vasnetsov 1881