From Blendi Fevziu
Velo: “Agolli had gathered the young writers of Devolli in Dardha, who were all Muslims, and after eating and drinking pear brandy, cheese and meat, they became thirsty; the cowries will…”!
Memorie.al / Well-known painter, publicist, researcher and architect Max Velo, in an interview with Blendi Fevziu on his weekly TV Klan show, “Opinion”, tells everything about his life. Architect, painter, writer, researcher, Velo stops from coming to life in Paris, the wave of persecution by the State Security and the arrest, until the wonderful collection of a thousand works that he has.
Continues from the previous issue
Velo, what is the difference between camps and prisons?
At first they were not like that; the prisons in 1947, ’48 and ’50 were only political. Then they started to introduce the model of the Siberian camps, where not only these people were put, but also ordinary murderers. Therefore, I have repeatedly asked to open the files and files of the convicted and see how many are political cigars and how many are thieves.
For example, he killed in the north and crossed the border into Yugoslavia and the Yugoslavs returned him, as is extradition today, and sentenced him to 8 years for the murder and 8 years for the escape, as well as with the union of articles, 16, and brought him to the prison political. This had nothing to do with politics. There were an infinite number of such.
Were they violent in prison?
Of course. All those things were stolen from me. In this case, the police were much better than these. Once someone wanted to throw me into the furnace, a Kuksian. He threw me, pushed me, but I held on to the wagon.
Why?
Because they made us both work at the same level. Level was called when you threw the material down and then it came out and it was a big funnel 60 meters deep, where the materials were thrown. In this case, they looked at people and analyzed them. They had told him that this artist, a gentle man, a citizen, should put an end to them?! And he said to me: You will do everything, I will stay too! How? – I told him.
Here was the problem. I did not accept, then we had a conflict, I went to the technical office and they told me no, you will continue. We both removed the wagon and when I went to the furnace, he pushed me with the whole wagon and I got caught in the wagon. I took it out then and we were busy with the candles, it broke me. Then I went to the camp commander, Meto Kondi, and he came and they removed him.
Mr. Velo, who were the well-known characters of the artistic life, who were with you in prison?
And I had Edison Gjergo there, who was released earlier. Fatos Lubonja Church. Fatosi then went to Burrel. It was Njjela, but he stayed very little. Njjela, as it is today, even in prison, did not ask about the police or about us. Mind me…!
Was it causing problems?
No, no, it didn’t cause problems. But, the way of standing, dismissive of everyone.
What were the most extreme methods used in Albanian prisons? There is very little documentary literature. In addition to what you wrote, there are some by Agim Musta, there is a book-punishment by Fatos Lubonja, which is very interesting, but there is not much. What was the most difficult problem, the most extreme method they used in Albanian prisons?
I have made a list of the perpetrators of the prisons. There are about 30 authors. Father Zefi who has one of the most chilling testimonies of prisons. That’s why the association did not work, the association turned into a place of theft and actions that are not at all correct and not at all dignified.
What was the worst problem?
It was the re-conviction.
This was the most terrible mechanism that held the prison?
The mechanism was like that, the mechanism of espionage. The Ministry of the Interior decided who would not be released from prison and took the list to the operative of the camp, and the operative, with the help of internal spies, re-sentenced them. Here, too, it is very abnormal, that a man – who has shot two or three people and who has been a witness for 30 people – receives rewards, will receive money, like everyone else.
This is one thing, which I have the impression is not resolved?
No, it’s solved. But we didn’t want to solve it, because while others have solved it, we can solve it too.
We were talking about the Albanian prisons, we were talking about a very painful reality, but also very little documented afterwards. You told me that there are about 30 authors…?
It is very painful that we broke it. At least we had kept Spaci and it was possible.
Are there any attempts to turn Spaci into a museum?
I do not believe, that it cannot be restored in this sense, not that it cannot be installed again. But the problem lies in who has a guarantee that they don’t destroy it again. They have stolen the tracks of three railways, they have stolen train stations, they have destroyed monuments.
Would it be better to have them and remember or forget them?
No, we must remind them, that the whole world reminds them, that if the Western world was like this, the Germans would have destroyed the camps. Yes, they are kept to become better. That is why they are kept, so that this serves the memory. Memory is always a purifying phenomenon.
Do you think that memory has left us a little in this direction?
But we do it on purpose, our memory doesn’t leave us. But we leave the memory on the way and move on because we want to do more.
We talked about the reality of prisons, but post-prison has been such a sad reality, hasn’t it?
In January ’86 I was released…!
How was an ex-prisoner involved in society, how difficult was it?
Now here was the problem, they made me an offer. Three days before the release, three Security officers called me, it was the seventh time, and of course they offered me to cooperate and I refused. And if I wanted to cooperate, they told me everything. They told me: “we know that you were punished in vain”. They told me themselves, after I had finished prison.
If you will cooperate, we will return the architect, we will give the innocence, we will reward. Etc., etc. I told him this: “I can’t do three things in life: spy, be gay and steal.” If I were, I would have done it by now, because this is the seventh time, I also mentioned it to you.
They did not react violently?
No. They tried for an hour to convince me. But, in the end, then, they told me calmly, that; “You are a sworn enemy, you will be a worker for the rest of your life.” And when I came out, I didn’t tell those in the house. They immediately sent me to Abrazivi with the first category and violating the state law, that even when you are sent for re-education, senior staff are taken with the highest category.
What did you do at Abrazivi?
I worked as a laborer. I carried the sacks.
How many years have you worked there?
Until July 1991.
So, for 5 years you worked as a laborer. How he shot, what was the life of an ex-prisoner; was released from prison, was there contempt, were there differences?
Yes. Everyone treated you like you were a ghost. That is, a piece of air, which moved and was not seen at all. Thus, even then, after 1991, attention was focused, smiles and love opened up.
Can you explain this to me a little better than what you mean you were a ghost that didn’t…?
That is, to look on the street, and no one would see you.
Did they pretend they didn’t see?
Yes of course.
And they didn’t greet…?!
No never. The only one, the only one, and I’ve said it, and I don’t forget this, was Kadareja…!
Who greeted you?
Not only did they greet me, but it was in front of the 15-story building; I was coming back from Abrazivi and pretended I didn’t see them, to escape them. They shouted at me and this is written, which is true. When I saw Dritërona and Alfred Uçin walking there on the sidewalk. Of course, I knew them and they pretended I didn’t exist at all. They made a face, a light greeting.
Did a close friend who didn’t talk to you shoot you…?
All.
How could a man live so isolated, when even his friends pretended not to see him, Mr. Velo?
But then there was one thing, passing the prison, this thing no longer counted and I had seen this thing once before, in Leka Totoja, whom I had in my class in high school. He was put in prison and the way Leka behaved, the way he walked, the way he did things, and I also did that technique later.
You say it was an arrest in vain, it came in vain, the evidence was there. Meanwhile, in your books, you yourself said that you had decided to escape…?
Good…! But, I didn’t escape now, and there I wrote. I wanted to escape, I went all the way to Saranda, but I didn’t escape. Now my escape, it was rather, how to call it, that I have it here, now that I have the American passport, I would live in Albania. This is the fact that my connection with Albania is very strong. But it was more of an artistic agitation than a hatred for Albania.
You lived in that society, you had the opportunity, you were lucky to live afterwards, because many people did not manage to get beyond the borders of 1990. Did Albania have a real elite before the 90s and did it have a double life?
Now the elite always have. That is, even in a primitive society, where they are quite primitive, like in Africa, there is an elite. So, there was an elite and, for example, I had a very close friend, Skender Luarasi, who was a wise man, a man who inspired you.
So there was an elite, it was not the problem that there was no elite. The problem was, that this elite was too scared, too deformed, that was the problem. There was a reformation, that is, that there was a part that resisted in silence and there was a part that betrayed itself, even for the sake of…!
Will you revise something in yourself, to the accusations you made to the League of Writers?
No no. They have behaved very badly. I’m telling you something I’ve never said before. There were about 30 families in Dardha and meat was given once a week. In Naska, there was a butcher and a lamb or a sheep was taken, slaughtered on Saturdays and divided, I say during communism. The president of the League, Dritëro Agolli, used to call and say: “Roast my meat”! And the whole village was left without eating meat.
What does this mean?
You can verify it with the elder of Dardhe, Koli Skënde, who told me. He was a party member, a school principal, and go ask him, is it true or not. And there were times when he called him from Tirana and told him: “I can’t come, but I’m starting the car, the ‘Gas’ of Laga and put it in my plasma, and drive me to Tirana”!
However, your accusations have gone beyond this…?!
Okay, okay, but this has killed me a lot, when they told me, told me. He had repeated this several times, coming to Korça and Tirana as well. Another was in Dardha; had gathered the young writers of Devolli, who were all Muslims, and after eating and drinking well, pear brandy and cheese and meat, he told them, we will exterminate the cowries. Then after he slept, he went away and realized what he had said, and said that I was wrong. So now we come to the Link.
What is the opinion of the League…?
Of course, until 1945, you also know that situation well, there were writers, there were publishers, there were artists, there were painters, who had just started. Paskali, Mioja, Buza, they had just started and I have also seen the first exhibitions. For example, the exhibition of 1957, which was held at the Academy, in the academy hall below. And it was the first exhibition. Certainly the League did an important job. In other words, they organized, held exhibitions, helped artists and influenced cultural life. The problem is here, what was the result of this work? Is the result of the balance positive or negative?
How is your balance?
The balance shows that, except for Kadare, that was not a product of the League for me. It is a personal product, a product of Gjirokastra, of other circumstances. There are others, Petro Marko, there are special writers. But, as a whole, that whole product, to do this, to get all the prizes of the Republic, of the first prizes in the exhibition and to build an exhibition with the first prizes in painting and sculpture, and go see them. You will see that it is the greatest negation in the history of world art.
Why is the greatest negation?
Because it’s anti-art, Blendi. You who buy them, because you buy them who are looking for war, don’t buy them as art, but as anti-art, as evidence of a time. But, anti-artistic evidence.
Let me ask you a question, which has not been asked to many characters, perhaps also about their specificity. You were one of those people who aspired to go beyond the society in which you live. A dictatorial society, not free, with anti-values and not values. Now that we have emerged in a different society, one that ultimately relies on freedom. Do you feel disappointed by this society, or did you believe in a real dream, a dream that was worth…?
I thought communism was to blame. Not just communism. I mean, it wasn’t communism that led us to that state, it was before communism, it was 500 years of Turkey, that’s the problem. It is inevitable, that period will be paid. In those conditions, we are the only country, because they did not change their religion, the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, none of these countries, I do not betray the religion.
So you say they are carryover problems?
They are all carried and see the documentation of the Catholic clergy who write about the north, 600 years ago, 500, 400, they are the same things you have today and the whole problem is this. Lack of love for work, which is the essential problem of Albanian society.
Mr. Velo, you have published many books. One of them, as I said, was published in Paris, together with illustrations. it is a special edition. I wanted to tell you something else, I want to read something at the end that says that this book is in 30 copies, which is a book for collectors. 20 specimens are titled “Spaç” and 10 specimens are titled “Reps” and three specimens are numbered from I to III. Why 20 “Reps” and 10 “Reps”?!
Now here it says that it was printed in 1500 copies, in May 1988. I want to note one more thing that I am responsible for, that this is the last translation of Christina Monteko, then she passed away and that she was the best French translator and I have an honor. Now the publisher of this work, he had a publishing house traditionally for textbooks from his grandfather and for the first time he would start the textbook, but he would also start literature.
Then, since I was both a writer and a painter, he thought to make an edition in 33 copies, which are for collectors at a very expensive price. In other words, there are 20 copies of “Spaçi”, which is this one, another cover, and this one has another engraving inside, while this one has another one.
How much did such a specimen cost?
This is 500 euros, I believe such a book. That is, it is bought by wealthy collectors, who have it as an honor, it is made of Japanese paper and is not torn. There are also three specimens, but it seems to me that this, 500 seems to me to be this trio. There are also three with leather, which should be more expensive.
Do you write daily?
Yes, I work in the time period that occupies me. Sometimes I’m into images, sometimes I’m into volumes, I want to work on architecture, sculpture, and sometimes it’s writing, that is, what I find unaffordable at that time that I have to do, is that I haven’t had any big profits.
What is the biggest project you have in mind for all these areas?
I have a desire, I have some architectural projects in hand. I have some models of sculptures and I want to make some in the city and I have about five books that want to be published. Now a book is published by “Toena”, and it is titled “100 poems”, it will be published at the book fair and then I want to publish that book with the studies, it is very important. First of all for the images that the People’s Theater has and then I have the book about the architecture. I would like a book with prison memories, I have these projects.
I hope some of the memories you brought up today were not painful for you yourself?
No no. The human ability is to transform everything into art, even pain. I have done this too. Without pain, these drawings could not be made, this whole product, without pain, could not be made.
How much is your collection?
Yes it can be, 1000 works.
Keep selling or keep them?
I am happy when people receive them and I get a lot of good messages. Memorie.al
