By Marsida T. Najdeni
Memorie.al / Every time the weather turns cold, I remember the stories I heard during my feminist days at home, how the communists killed intellectuals all over Tirana after the “liberation”, whether they were locals or not. No matter where they were, they were people of my blood, who did not deserve communist torture and the bloody bullet. And why? Only because they did not believe in that political spirit whose consequences we are still suffering today! The new spirit that took over Tirana with murders, shootings, torture, imprisonment, theft, all kinds of atrocities, that that generous city had never seen or heard of before, to make its own compatriots do that. Ahhhh… yes, maybe never…?!
Kurt Pasha of Berat in 1787 wanted to force Tirana under his orders, which the Tirana people defended themselves with honor and blood, which is where the centuries-old brotherhood with the respected Tirana community of llacifac was born. Because Serbs and Austrians, at least, did not speak Albanian. No, I lost track. At that time, it was the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Italy, etc., who made the law as an invader, but in 1944, for 44 years, who made the murder a brother?
Who still continues to do it? People who, for a house that the Party gave to Tirana, after having robbed the local people, put bullets among Albanians who studied abroad! They did not spare journalists, writers, clergymen, not to mention women and children. Did they sleep well in the strange homes of those who kill?!
With the violence they introduced into Tirana, they also brought an inferior mentality. As if life didn’t exist before 1944?! The world runs on a calendar, before and after Christ, but not with us, before 1944, there was nothing. With them, everything was born; the new man was born, except that he was born backwards. We achieved 130% growth, illiterate mathematics. We made Albanian women tractor drivers, truck drivers, and even more so, valet… eh!
But, one community that received a propaganda attack was that of the local Tirana women. The party got tired of presenting them as backward. As if the women of this city knew nothing except the veil, it seems they hadn’t seen the photos of Marubi, of the Catholic women of Shkodër, lokas with veils. Who the hell is listening?! Thus, the red propaganda threw mud at the backwardness of the Tirana woman.
Even my grandmother, who had finished school there, until 1998, did not show up for fear of the communists, where she had studied. They had been so frightened, by the malicious compatriots. But, the Party trumpeted backwardness, among these native women of the capital! If they were uneducated, undressed, untrained as women, certainly none of them would have slept with silk sheets, they would have cursed, and so my mother’s aunts, they had grown up like that.
One ended up selling coal, out of inferiority hatred. My father’s aunt, spoke 3 foreign languages, etc. I do not want to talk about the women of my tribe, but I am bringing for the collective memory some native Tirana women, in photos before communism. You will be surprised by the backwardness.
Vera Mulleti was only 9 years old when she was expelled from her childhood home, because she was the daughter of lawyer Haki Mulleti. She was interned in the Kavaja district. A story told to me by her daughter, Mrs. Mira Dine, who has told me at length about the family’s suffering. The tyrant Nevrez Këlliçi with her husband, 1937. Mr. Akil Sakiqi would be shot. The Këlliçi family would be deprived of all their wealth. The tyrant Emine Farka, who graduated from Harry Fultz, left with her husband.
Mr. Deliallisi would be sentenced to 18 years in prison. Her brother, journalist Xhemal Farka, would be shot in 1948. The tyrant Ganimet Toptani, who graduated in Vienna, Austria. She holds the high title of “Righteous Noblewoman” posthumously from the State of Israel, together with her husband, for their assistance to the Jews in Tirana. She would serve 3 years in prison, her husband Atifi 5 years in prison, all her property, movable and immovable, would be confiscated.
Tirona Safije Basha, released on the premises of the Basha family in Tirana. Wife of the great painter Sadik Kaceli, mother of the painter Buron Kaceli. Tirona girls of the Beshiri family, educated in Italy. Note the “remnants” of Sybhije with a collar and jacket. Photo from the 1930s. All the property of the Beshiri family would be confiscated.
Tirona Sadete Lleshi in 1937, her father Muharremi was shot by the communists in November ’44. Also her brother, Sulejman. The mother of the author of the book “Bloody Tirana” Mr. Bedri Alimehmeti. Tirona Dylbere Liku in 1933 on her wedding day. Her husband Muharrem Liku was shot. Three Tirona in-laws, the Maçi – Petrela – Kondi families. Teachers, doctors, engineers all together. Specially seated on the first left is “The Teacher of the Nation”, Servete Maçi. (Photo by her niece Mrs. Zanusha Jashari).
My Tirona grandmother, Qerime (Struga) Tufina, educated at the “Nana Mretneshë” Institute in Tirana. She did not see her brother, who was left behind with studies in Italy, for 44 years. “Uncle Xhemoli”, had become a legend in children’s fairy tales. Tirona’s Safete (Tafaj) Bërmema was known in the city for her exquisite taste in clothing. I saw this photo for the first time, in 2013, from Mr. Ed Bërmema, who remembered her with nostalgia. My friend Isida Kalaja’s grandparents, from the left P and O Kalaja, sitting Mr. Toptani.
Tirona’s Ballkiz Nallbani is the sister of the first Albanian tennis player, Sali Nallbani. He is undoubtedly the father of this bourgeois sport, as it was known at the time. The entire Nallbani family was deeply involved in this sport, building two tennis courts in Tirona, since the late 1920s and early 1930s. But, most of all, the fever seized Ballkize, who set herself a goal, following in her brother’s footsteps. Until the mid-1940s, Saliu and Ballkizja participated in many tennis events, both domestically and internationally.
Tironsja Qemoran Toptani, or Doctor Lona, is known as the first female Albanian surgeon. The daughter of the patriot Fuat Toptani, she would be removed for 10 years in Peshkopi, but due to the need they had, she returned to Tirana. Graduated in Austria and Italy. (I saw the photo from Mr. Olsi Ferrazini). Tironsja Meleqe Preza, after graduating from the “Nana Mretneshë” school in Tirana, continued her studies in Rome, which she did not finish due to the war.
With the “liberation” of Albania, she would serve as a teacher, but the Party would soon remove her, removed her as a manual worker at the tile and brick factory, since she had a brother who had escaped. After 1990, she went to Australia, to be with her family.
My grandfather was an amateur photographer, this photo says; “Memory with friends, excursion outside Tirana”, only the names are not read. Anyone who has information about the ladies, I welcome it. Urie (Tomini) Bakiu, until the last moments of her life, remained a heroine, even though her husband, the intellectual Ali Bakiu, went to prison after prison, she never let herself lose her dignity and citizenship. (This photo was shown to me by her son, the researcher, Gazmend Bakiu). / Memorie.al
