By Dashnor Kaloçi
The third part
Memorie.al / Based on the special specificity that Albanian Radio-Television had, as one of the most important information and propaganda institutions of the communist regime, until the end of the 80s, it was not only under the subordination and supervision of of the secretariat of the Central Committee of the PPSh, but also of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security, which as an “ORV” (Object of Special Importance), kept it under strict control, not only from the physical security side of that institution, but to the “cleanliness and moral and political figure” of its employees, whose biography was looked at in detail for several generations, passing them through the “sieves” year after year.
Not only that, but the State Security bodies, through the agency they had recruited within that institution, had and kept Radio-Television under constant and strict control, penetrating all its links, such as; directorate, relevant newsrooms, editing points, broadcasting studios, sound recording studio, archives, film production groups, warehouses, backstage, drivers and their vehicles, up to the physical control of employees and guests, to the doors they came in and out. All these, among others, are revealed by a series of archival documents, which are part of a file belonging to this very important institution, from its creation in 1961, until the collapse of the communist regime in in 1991.
From this file extracted from the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the fund of the former State Security, which are now part of the Authority for the Information of Files of the former State Security), we have selected some documents belonging to the 70s -’80s, starting their publication with three documents from the period of 1978, 1980 and 1981, where the directors of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Tirana, namely Nustret Dauti and Zef Loka, inform the Central Committee of the ALP, on all the problems of this institution.
For more about this, we know the documents in question, where, in addition to a large number of employees of that institution, who have been followed and monitored by the State Security over the years, there are also some very well-known names, which have been considered as ” icons” of Albanian Radio-Television, before and after the 90s, such as; Robert Shvarc, Gaspë Çurçia, Alfon Gurashi, Gjon Simoni, Qemal Xhomo, Viktori Xhaçka, Meropi Xhai, Shpresa Musliu, Gjergj Pekmezi, Alfred Papuchiu, Xhezair Abazi, Shpëtim Gina, Edmond Dilaveri, Merkur Bozgo, Agron Aranitasi, Jochen and Irene Blanke, Muhamet Oseku, Arben Xoxe, Janka Selimi, Timo Luto, Xhuni Taylor, Arjan Bakiri, Gazmor Halilaj, Mond Lako, up to Vera Grabocka, etc. These documents are published for the first time in several numbers exclusively by Memorie.al
Continues from last issue
SECRET DOCUMENT COMPILED BY THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE DIRECTORATE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF TIRANA, ZEF LOKA, SENT TO THE RELEVANT SECTOR NEAR THE APPARATUS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF ALP, REGARDING THE SECURITY OF RADIO-TV AND ITS RADIO STATIONS, WITH THE RELEVANT AGENCY
THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA S E K R E T
MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS Copy No. 4
DIRECTORATE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Temporary 5 years
SECURITY SIDE Tirana, on 27.8.1981
No. 2396
ANALYSIS
FOR THE WORK DONE FOR SECURING RADIO-TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS
MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS
1st Directorate (III Branch)
T I R A N E
Pursuant to the orders given by you, with letter No. 2345, dated 9.7.1981, we analyzed the objects of particular importance, Radio-Television, the antenna of Dajti and the radio stations of Kamza and Kashari, from which it resulted:
On the part of the Directorate of Internal Affairs, these institutions are considered objects of particular importance, due to their great role as carriers of the Party’s propaganda, inside and outside the country and in the international arena. For the function they perform, these have been and remain the object of hostile and malicious activity.
From our side, operative agency work has been built in these facilities, to detect and prevent any possible hostile and malicious activity; for maintaining cleanliness in the ranks of employees. At the same time, military measures were taken for the physical preservation of these objects. For each object, the status is presented as follows:
RADIO-TELEVISION
- In this facility, 930 employees work, journalists and technicians, engineers and operators, directors and orchestrators, etc. In the composition of Radio-Television, under the dependence of the General Directorate, are: Internal Radio, External Radio, Technical Directorate, Personnel Directorate, economic sector, Tirana’s directorate for radio stations and Television.
Each of these directorates has several editorial offices and sectors, according to the respective directions. During the war, this object has four points, which are located in Priska, Martanesh, Gramsh and Tepelena. Each directorate has its own importance, but within each directorate, there are some sectors, which are among the most important, these places, where our agency-operational work is more concentrated.
In this facility of particular importance, four people currently work under operational control 2/B, namely: Robert Shvarc, Prokop Nishku, Janka Selimi and Vjeslava Hidri. Likewise, two contingents work: Demail Tola and Haki Katroshi. Before 1980, in this facility, there were also 8 processing facilities in 2/A, but based on the information provided by the Party Committee, they were removed from this facility. During the year 1980-1981, based on the data, four people were advised for hostile activity in this institution, two of them in 2/A and 2 out of processing.
The data on hostile activities are mainly for agitation and propaganda against the Party line in the direction of our culture and art of socialist realization. From other data on some processing facilities, which do not work in this institution, it appears that they have developed sharp hostile activity and have connected this with the desire to occupy the Radio and through it, to develop propaganda against the popular power.
Thus, the object of processing, Muhamet Oseku, who has been arrested by us, has recently expressed that: “After the main leader is killed, with two or three soldiers, Radio must be occupied and through it, let us announce to the world and Albania that the dictatorship took end”.
Both from the data of the agency and from other sources, in addition to the data on hostile activities that we mentioned, it appears that during these two years that we are analyzing, several problems have arisen, among which the most important ones are:
Given that the maintenance of cleanliness among the employees of this institution has been and remains one of the main tasks, in the work process there have been data that some employees, in the contacts they have had with foreigners, (on the basis of the agreements that there is our Radio-Television, with some foreign television stations), have manifested foreign attitudes and shows, which do not correspond to the norms of socialist morality.
Likewise, some employees, when they were in Pristina, accepted various gifts in violation of the rules. From our side, we have just been made aware, they have become a problem by informing the Party Committee and the 8th Branch in the Ministry and based on the orders given by them, measures have been taken.
The preservation of the cleanliness of the employees of this institution, from the activity of foreign discoveries, has been the object of our analysis, we have analyzed this in March of this year and a copy of it has been sent to you as well, (With no. 852, dated 19.3.1981). We are currently carrying out the tasks resulting from this analysis.
- Malicious elements have tried to damage the socialist property in Radio-Television. Last year, as we have informed you, based on the data of the agency, it appeared that a storekeeper wasted the goods he had in charge and in this case, many people were implicated, including the former Deputy General Director of Radio – Television.
From our side, the criminal case was initiated and the agency’s data was fully verified. The storekeeper and two other people were fired, forced to pay the value of the embezzlement, but the criminal case against them was dismissed for criminal policy.
Based on the information provided to the Party Committee, the Deputy General Director of Radio-Television was removed from this position and a worker was sent. Currently, measures have been taken to protect socialist property, but we have data that there are still cases, especially in Television, where various items are stolen, such as lamps, shutters, personal belongings of employees, etc. These data have been consumed with the managers of the Television and on the other hand, measures have been taken to find the perpetrators.
A special care has been devoted to the preservation of monetary and material values, especially in the filming groups in the districts. However, there are data that the working time is not used and this artificially increases the cost of the films, the vehicles were in some cases used for personal work, some film directors did not apply the criteria with the allocation of royalties, etc.
The Party Committee was informed about this, and for one film director, action was taken and he was sent for re-education. Also, many of these data were used with RTV managers, who evaluated them and took immediate measures.
- We have paid great attention to the fire protection of this institution. For this problem, the agency has been given the duty to signal at any time whenever a violation of the fire protection regulation is found, as well as with the managers of the institution and with other people, it has been discussed continuously, about the care they should have in this direction.
However, there have been cases and the agency has signaled that these rules are not fully implemented. So in 1980, in Television, there were cases of fire due to carelessness and this case was also analyzed by you. Currently, measures have been taken, by setting up voluntary groups of the Ministry of Health, placing warning signs for the prohibition of smoking in areas with a fire risk, etc.
For two people on Television who smoked in prohibited places, measures were taken by sending them to production for two months. Bearing in mind that we are dealing with a very important object, where there are great fire risks and important values, we are of the opinion that intervention should be done to organically establish a civil inspector of the MZ.
- The entry and exit regime in this institution has been generally good, but there are still findings that the regulations are not always rigorously applied. Some of the people who have the authority to introduce external collaborators in the institution, in some cases have also introduced people who do not have a job, without the appropriate guarantees, not approved according to the rules of the editorial offices. These findings, case by case, have become a problem with the leaders and measures have been taken to strengthen the entry regime in this important institution.
The task of entering and exiting the institution is carried out by the Police Department, who also perform the task of guarding the facility. We are of the opinion that the Police department should not perform the duty of the guard officer that should be performed by the RTV, like any other institution.
We say this, because the Police on Radio and Television also deal with the notification of employees who are called by various citizens and in this way, the attention is diverted from its main task, and the enemy element, or criminals, can take advantage of this to enter the institution. For this reason, we are of the opinion that in Radio-Television, the service clerk should work during official hours, as is also done in institutions, although there are police guards.
- Radio-Television also has the task of broadcasting foreign television stations, mainly from Yugoslavia. Loudspeakers have been placed in some dominant points of Tirana, but from the data we have, it appears that they do not always work well and in some cases, they have been damaged by unknown persons. From the analysis that was made of this problem, with the managers of the Radio, technicians, it turned out that these loudspeakers have not been placed in all the places where they can be stored, and different elements have benefited from this.
It has been decided that these loudspeakers, after a study that will be carried out by the technical sector of the Radio, should be placed in suitable places, where there are opportunities to be guarded by military or civilian guards, for this problem, we have informed you with the letter ours, No. 831, dt. 17.3.1981.
- For the physical protection of this institution, seven guard posts have been placed by the Facilities Battalion, of which three outside and four inside the institution. For cases of readiness, another guard post is added. In general, the duties of these guard posts have been performed well and we have not had any occasion where a problem has arisen.
In order to maintain their cleanliness, the agency-operational work has been built and the data shows that the service is performed properly, there is vigilance, etc. It should be noted that last year, from the ranks of the policemen who served in Television, a policeman was taken into active processing, for hostile activity in agitation and propaganda, after the data was verified, this policeman was counseled and released.
For the physical protection of the institution, we are of the opinion that a guard post should be added to the Radio, at the main internal entrance. This will better guarantee the preservation of the institution, from the penetration of enemy and malevolent elements, since in today’s conditions, as we said above, this is not fully guaranteed. Memorie.al
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
ZEF LOKA
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