By Ahmet Xhavit Delvina
Part Two
Memorie.al /I am writing this event, which I handled as the “conductor” and which left me with unforgettable impressions because it is a small fragment of our people’s lives during that bad period of communist rule. It was the year 1954; I set off for Tirana from Burrel at 4 in the morning. I was a soldier in Unit 7620, working in the workshop as an auto mechanic. On this occasion, I was taking a military truck, a GMC type (“Jims”) Made in USA, for overhaul – capital overhaul, to the Central Army Workshop. This type of military vehicle, I can say, was completely unsuitable for civilian transport because, as a construction, the driver’s cabin was completely open with a canvas top, but actually, on this one, the canvas and the front windshield were missing; it didn’t exist because it had been in a collision sometime in the past. The bodywork was totally metallic, with low sides 25 cm high, and this was uncovered, without a canvas or any side supports. It was the month of February, the peak of that harsh winter.
Continued from the previous issue
Naturally, I knew many things about Esat’s life, chatter like a sister for her brother, and this allowed him (Beqir) for us to talk calmly about Mustafa Gjinishi, Mustafa Kaçaçi, Qemal Stafa, Kajo Karafili, Nako Spiro, Vojo Kushi, Gogo Nushi, Kozma Nushi, etc., and when I spoke, he listened to me with great, special attention and from time to time asked me some strange questions like: “What opinion did Meli and Esati have about this or that problem of the time, or what had I heard from any conversation between the comrades who visited Esat at home, or even any conversation from Gjystina or Ymeri (Dishnica), Spiro Moisiu, Sejfulla Maleshova, Kadri Hoxha, etc., I mean,” Beqiri would say, “how did they connect those old conversations with today’s thoughts?”
I naively talked to him about what he asked, but I noticed that some of my conversations made a great impression on him, and sometimes he seemed troubled, and perhaps he was hearing them for the first time, because there was no other way to explain his immense interest in the conversations I was having. After I returned from the “service,” I cheerfully explained to Esat (my brother) the success I had with Beqir and every conversation we had with him, and I said; “I was surprised that you had such close connections with him, he knew you all well”!
But surprisingly, Esat was not at all pleased about those conversations I had with him, and at one point he interrupted me and said: “Leave it, just leave that fool alone; apparently, he has gotten old and senile, he has completely lost it. Why does he need to ‘scratch’ at old conversations from that time today? In these matters he’s trying to dig into and get involved with, he’s completely wrong, because the Party has clarified those past histories long ago, and he knows very well that discussing these things outside the framework the Party has fixed is not allowed! Strange, I knew that ‘scabby dog’ as a sensible man, but apparently, his time to die has come”!
He shook his head and asked me anew; “Tell me again, point by point, his conversations about Qemal Stafa, I swear on your life, if you don’t mind, but remember well though.” I start to repeat the conversations point by point, but I noticed that he seemed not to give them the same importance as before, but only shook his head and told me: “That donkey is going to find trouble; he’ll find it like that fool Qemal.”
Years passed from that time, and one day I asked him; why did he revolt then about the conversation Asimeja had with Beqir Minxhozi?! He answered me: “I think I’ve spoken to you another time about this matter, and especially that donkey shouldn’t talk; in fact, only he should never mention Qemal’s name. He knows why himself, and please close this conversation, because it’s not for you, if you also don’t want trouble to find you, and big trouble at that. Do you hear? Say, I hear”?
So, I connected Esat’s conversation with that of Flora Dishnica, where I noticed that both sides have Beqir Minxhozi as the protagonist. The devil can understand today the criminal mysteries of communism. But all Albanians actually know and don’t doubt it at all, especially the foolish veterans of that time, because the denunciation for Qemal’s location at those moments was ordered by Enver Hoxha. In this same way, other “heroes” were annihilated: Vojo Kushi, Vasil Shanto, and many other communist “fighters” of this caliber.
The auto-elimination methodology, imported as a highly valuable experience from Soviet Russia, disrupted the rhythm of this constant progression of executions within its own cadres whenever the international situation worsened, which certainly reflected badly on the life of our Party as well. In these moments of crisis, the “Dagger of the Dictatorship” saw nothing regarding the candidates who would be included in the annihilation or execution programs; neither seniority in the Party, nor the position they held in its leadership, nor the popularity they might have among the people, etc., were valued. But one thing was very interesting to see: how they went with wisdom, certainly feigned, towards death, or, to explain it more simply, they were kamikazes by force.
They immediately, according to custom, to explain to the people the reasons for their annihilation, were grouped into categories of those who had betrayed the cause, or saboteurs, agents and multi-agents, in the service of foreign states, and this chapter for them was closed, to begin later, as the case may be, with other groups. It was not a little strange that even in these last moments of life, being the classic serviles they were, they contributed to the longevity of the Party, accepting every non-existent or never-imagined fault or responsibility; they were convinced that their Party would rehabilitate them very soon.
An example worth remembering, which is very interesting, is that of “Shule” – Koçi Xoxe, the former number two after Enver Hoxha. This “Macedonian” was a arch-criminal sadist, ordinary as a person; he was nothing but a low-skilled tinsmith, very ignorant, a beast to subordinates and the people, and a gentle lamb to Enver Hoxha. He was Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs and State Security, and above all, the chief comrade-in-arms with his commander, Enver Hoxha.
Enver precisely used him to escape responsibilities without getting wet, for the faults that Enver Hoxha himself had towards his people, in relations with Yugoslavia, which amounted in every judgment to the level of national treason. After the two talked together, like two communist brothers, about Koçi, it became clear from the first moments that he would be charged with serious responsibilities of treason and that he must accept them without any reservation.
Among many faults, he had to admit that he had become too big-headed because he had received very high responsibilities and duties both in the Party and in the state, and with these duties he could do whatever he wanted because he considered them part of the nomenklatura’s work. His biggest fault was that he never informed either the Central Committee or Enver Hoxha about these matters he was handling in his own way. When Koçi’s poor work was “discovered,” he was initially ordered to go to all the main districts of the country, where Party activists would be organized, to make a Bolshevik self-criticism and inform the Party base about what had happened and the responsibility he felt in his personal prism for these serious faults and the danger that could arise from them.
Enver privately and confidentially told Koçi that; “after you complete this high Party duty, the Central Committee will take into account your ‘sincere penance’ and we will be generous with you, forgiving you, and indeed in the very near future, I will promote you to responsibility. This case with you will prove fourfold the internal democracy in the Party and its great heart.” But Koçi knew what it meant to oppose the “friendly request” of Enver Hoxha, in those difficult moments the Party was going through.
He was of that trade by profession, chief terrorist, minister of Prisons, tortures, internments, where they would break the victim’s legs with an axe to fit them into a smaller coffin, etc. Therefore, he accepted the “Commander’s” request with joy, even telling Enver that, “when you brought us into the Party, we answered you, that for the needs of the Party, we would give even our lives.” – “Well done,” the commander told him, and ironically, from that moment on, they were never seen again in this world, and for Koçi’s bad luck, “this time as always,” the promise given by Enver to Koçi was not kept.
The Party not only showed no mercy or the promised gratitude for the “self-criticism” ordered and imposed by it, but pronounced itself expressing the opposite, saying that; “it was precisely the revolutionary vigilance of the Party, led with foresight by comrade Enver Hoxha, that discovered within its ranks comrades who had reached the high leadership and were nothing but very dangerous enemies, like Koçi Xoxe and his comrades,” and after his “historic” speech at the Central Committee, “this group of enemies and traitors” was handed over for judgment to the ‘People’s Court’.”
Enver Hoxha’s cynicism and sadism were endless, unimaginable. He appointed Bedri Spahiu to judge them, who in the “Special Trial” for “war criminals” in 1945 had been the prosecutor, and the president of that trial was the defendant Koçi Xoxe, and strangely enough, “Russian style.” During the trial, Koçi and his comrades “accepted” the indictment without any objection, and the entire group, with Pandi Kristo, Vangjo Mitrojorgji, and Vaskë Koleci, adhered to the meticulously prepared communist script.
The defendants throughout the trial maintained an unwavering stance of loyalty, according to the script. At the conclusion of the trial, Koçi Xoxe was sentenced to death and executed summarily, while his group comrades received various prison terms. Thus, the Party got through the issue of relations with Yugoslavia completely unscathed and left behind all faults and mistakes, thanks to the sacrifice of its “best” sons for the interests of the homeland. A little later, they also arrested Bedri Spahiu and sentenced him to imprisonments and internments, destroyed his family as well, until he too suffered like an abandoned dog, just like all his comrades in the series.
This refrain continued, unfortunately, as long as the Party and “our Enver” lived. More interesting was how this auto-elimination mechanism within the Party, which functioned without interruption, was never understood by the ranks of cadre candidates destined to be victimized. It was truly unbelievable that all the new selectees taken from the base, or the working class, or even from the cooperative peasantry, to be put on the career path, were pre-educated with the conviction that their predecessors had betrayed the Party and the Homeland for banal reasons, or had become too big-headed and gotten dizzy, therefore all “public opinion” unanimously approved the punishments, and even solidarity meetings were organized for these sentencing decisions.
It was not a little strange with the new cadres when they started working for the first time; they never even thought that a day would come when they too would enter or be pushed onto the path of “treason,” like their predecessors. They began their new duties with enthusiasm and meticulously implemented “criminal orders” from above, without discussing or analyzing them on any level.
Consequently, these too, like their predecessors, over time and little by little, sank into the path of organized crime by the Party-State, and as a result, they too became new witnesses who knew many things that should not be known in the future; they were very compromising facts for the society of any time. Therefore, this risk of exposure still resided in the minds of these young people in these “delicate” duties, hence these “fakirs” too had to be sacrificed using the “auto-elimination” method!
Thus, the Party’s road to Communism always remained clean and constantly renewed with fresh and career-hungry elements. The methodology of this auto-crime was based on everyone’s personal file, which had a beginning, like everything, and was filled during the work period with future faults and the “indictment,” which then allowed the “Justice” organs to annihilate their friend, collaborator, or comrade in a legal manner! The duties performed by the “victims of perspective” in various sectors of the dictatorship’s organs instinctively cultivated in them a certain pride and self-confidence because they were strong people, and the career itself in such jobs necessarily created new social connections or credit for them everywhere. These people were preferred everywhere, and in many cases, this preference was also out of necessity; it wasn’t bad for anyone to have such a person as a friend.
Their work and duties favored them to become alcoholic, to interfere everywhere, and to create unjust favors, etc., because this element was “active” everywhere, in the government or in the high organs of the Party-State. Therefore, their entire life was documented, and when it was necessary to act against them, these issues were artificially multiplied and became the causes or motives for striking them down in the “farce” judicial processes, even in the most banal forms, such as road accidents, suicides, etc. Based on these realities and facts, we can say without fear that this fate or methodology was subjected to by all levels of cadres of that system, from the commanders of the so-called “National-Liberation” Army, the men of the communist state, various Party leaders, down to the relatively simple State Security employees.
It may be unbelievable for human or Western logic, but it is a documented fact and we have lived it ourselves; if you were to line up the names of the communist genocide against nationalists or of this criminal “fresh regeneration” among them, entire volumes would be needed. I am not mentioning the nationalists they killed, but the “auto-eliminations” among their own kind, from the commander and commissar of the “heroic First Partisan Brigade,” Mehmet Shehu and Tuk Jakova, down to one of the last brigades, the XXIV-th – with commander Abedin Shehu.
For a simple illustration of this reality, I am mentioning some of the historic commanders of the “National-Liberation” war, or leaders of their Party, not forgetting the “men of the state,” such as: Beqir Balluku, Hito Çako, Petrit Dume, Gjin Marku, Teme Sejko, Hulusi Spahiu, Rrahman Uruçi, Tahir Kadare, Mestan Ujaniku, Sadik Bekteshi, Rrahman Përllaku, Dali Ndreu, Pëllumb Dishnica, Islam Radovicka, Nexhip Vinçani, Kadri Hazbiu, Halim Xhelo, Kadri Hoxha, the arch-criminal Liri Gega (whom they executed pregnant as a “token of gratitude”), Liri Belishova, Naxhie Dume, Fiqirete Shehu, Bedri Spahiu, Nako Spiro, Abdyl Këllezi, Koço Tashko, and many, many others.
If we base ourselves on the above-mentioned “auto-victims,” who are only a microscopic fraction of those annihilated who were officially labeled based on their trials as “traitors, agents,” etc., then we draw the conclusion that: “The Communist Movement in Albania, since its historical foundation, has been a collection of people without any positive moral qualities, agents in the service of foreign intelligences, who worked for the interests of foreign states to the detriment of their Homeland.” So ultimately, these agents of politicians, without any kind of patriotism, remained as representatives of the darkest part of the history of our nation. / Memorie.al
