From AGRON ARANITASI
Part Six
– THE TRUTHS I BELIEVE –
– THE FRENCH AGENT –
Introduction
Memorie.al / When I began to write the book The Truths I Believe, I had not intended to write about myself. The first impetus came when I became acquainted with the State Security files on the surveillance of the citizen Agron Hajdar Aranitasi. Those files are one more testimony of how someone could be persecuted who, at a given moment, was placed among the enemies of the people’s power. Nothing was taken into account – neither how he had worked, nor how he had behaved, nor how he had lived. No account was taken either of the stance of his parents, brothers, and numerous cousins, who automatically were subjected to brutal blows and suffered consequences without having any fault.
Continued from the previous issue
Chapter One
Family Origin
Hajdar Aranitasi
Thus, on 29 October 1982, he had sent a piece of information to Hekuran Isai: (Form‑file of Kadri Hazbiu, Volume 6, p. 132).
Information
To the Minister of Internal Affairs,
Comrade Hekuran Isai
“At the time when the enemy Todi Lubonja was editor‑in‑chief of “Zëri i Popullit”, I informed the party, through the secretary of the Party Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Hajdar Aranitasi, to whom I gave in writing the suspicions I had observed toward that enemy, but from Hajdar I was instructed not to show those things I had written to anyone.”
Xhemal Belegu
Hekuran Isai placed his signature on the received information and forwarded it to Zylyftar Ramizi. Zylyftar passed it on to Enver Zeneli. The latter wrote:
To S. Ylli (Birçe),
“The part concerning Hajdar Aranitasi I am passing to Tirana. Check in Todi Lubonja’s file whether there is such material about him from Xhemal Belegu. It is very interesting to know where Hajdar Aranitasi forwarded those things.”
The denunciation against Hajdar Aranitasi is scandalous. Xhemal Belegu had been an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For violations and abuses of duty he had been expelled from the party and the ministry. He was sent to the State Security Directorate (Drejtoria e Sigurimit të Shtetit – DSSh), where he continued to do Security work. He had appealed the decision of the basic organisation that had expelled him from the party.
His appeal had fallen into the hands of Hajdar Aranitasi, who at that time was deputy chairman of the Party Control and Revision Commission. After examining the case, Hajdar proposed that Xhemal remain a party member. And now Xhemal was repaying him according to the principle: “Do harm to the one who did you good!”
In the file appears the Security agent “Dajti”. I personally had helped him through my father Hajdar when he was mistreated in the Labour Battalion in Shtoj, Shkodra. His intervention not only straightened out his situation in the army, but also secured him a job after demobilisation. He too “rewarded” Hajdar’s good deed, just like Xhemal.
Document No. 9 is a long letter (over twenty pages) from Zoi Themeli against Kadri Hazbiu. I will not say more, as I have written about it in the chapter dedicated to Kadri Hazbiu. In this document, Hajdar Aranitasi’s name is not mentioned negatively.
Documents Nos. 20 and 24 is anonymous letters sent to Enver Hoxha and the clarifications regarding Hajdar and his brothers, reported to Hekuran Isai by Zylyftar Ramizi. Document No. 21 (located in Kadri Hazbiu’s form‑files – my note) contained two minutes from two basic party organisations in Fier, which had criticised the enemies Mehmet Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu and had cast suspicions about Hajdar Aranitasi.
In them, it was demanded that Hajdar’s relations with Mehmet and Kadri be clarified. Such meetings were common in that period. They could prove dangerous, and the innocent were burned together with the guilty. As was later recounted to Hajdar, Naunka Bozo had a hand in these meetings; she spoke against him also at the Fifth Plenum of the Central Committee (13‑14 October 1982). There she said the same things that had been discussed in the two Fier organisations. (Kadri Hazbiu’s form‑files, Volume 1, p. 194.)
The document that aroused great interest in me was No. 19, which was reported by the head of the Burrel Internal Affairs Branch. He had gone to Burrel Prison and interrogated three prisoners: Idriz Seiti, Azbi Lamçja, and Halim Ramohito. He had asked all three about Mehmet Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu. Only Halim was asked about Hajdar Aranitasi. Halim and Hajdar had known each other since the time of the National Liberation War. They had been partisans in the Fifth Brigade.
After liberation, fate bound them inseparably. In December 1953, Hajdar Aranitasi left for the Soviet Union, and his position as commissar of the Eighth Division of the People’s Army was taken by Halim Ramohito. At the end of 1957, Hajdar returned to Albania, and his position as military attaché in the Soviet Union was taken again by Halim.
In 1961 (at the Fourth Congress), both were elected candidate members of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania. They were close comrades—this was known. When Halim was condemned, Hajdar and Liria suffered spiritually over his fate. Before speaking about Halim’s testimony, I wish to speak about the scheme prepared by the State Security to provoke him. Here is the document:
Secret Single Copy
Tirana, 18 October 1982
Operational Note
Now that the party has uncovered the hostile activity of Kadri Hazbiu, I consider it of interest to inform about the following:
“I have observed that Hajdar Aranitasi constantly associated with the putschist enemy Halim Ramohito. I was struck that the two of them, on the eve of the Sixth Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee, when the putschists were condemned (on the evening of the day before the plenum was to take place), took a long walk, so much so that their conversation seemed extremely intimate and important.”
Operative Worker
Çarçan Zogu
Certified as identical with the original by
Operative Worker
Hasan Ulqinaku
Minister Isai addressed the head of the operative group, Enver Zeneli. On the operational note he wrote:
“We have Halim Ramohito in prison, interrogating him severely. We must get to the bottom of what he discussed with Hajdar Aranitasi, telling him that ‘Hajdar Aranitasi says many things about you’ (!). Hajdar Aranitasi is not a pure person; he is a man of Mehmet Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu. Mehmet Shehu protected him in (the village of) Aranitas and Hajdar made a song (!) about Mehmet Shehu. His connections must be followed and attention must be paid to Hajdar Aranitasi.” (Kadri Hazbiu’s form‑files, Volume 1, p. 136).
Enver Zeneli writes:
“Today, 21 October 1982, the head of the Burrel Branch, Comrade Thodhori B… (surname illegible – my note), was summoned by Comrade Zylyftar and was acquainted with the orders of Comrade Minister and with the operational note.”
Zylyftar Ramizi writes on the operational note: “At 5 o’clock, on the 21st, let the investigator who is interrogating Halim Ramohito come.”
Minister Isai, his deputy Zylyftar Ramizi, and the head of the Operative Group, Enver Zeneli, wove a dirty scheme to involve Hajdar Aranitasi in the group of collaborators of Mehmet Shehu. All acted in violation of the State Security Platform. The head of the Burrel Internal Affairs Branch carried out the order. He interrogated Halim Ramohito. He provoked him according to the scenario prepared by the top echelons of State Security.
Here is the answer obtained from Halim:
“I did not have close social relations with Kadri Hazbiu, even though we had fought in the same brigade and were sons of Vlora. The rapprochement happened when Hajdar’s eldest son, Agron, became engaged to his daughter. I respected him as a party leader. That was all. As for Hajdar, I had close social relations with him until 1975, when I was internally exiled with my family to the district of Fier. Since then I have never met him again.”
As can be seen, Halim Ramohito did not fall into the prepared trap. He knew Hajdar Aranitasi well! I can only respect Halim’s stance, which was loved by everyone in our family. Document No. 25 is of no importance; it is Zylyftar Ramizi’s proposal to obtain permission from the Tirana Party Committee to place Hajdar Aranitasi under “processing”. He requested permission in August 1984, even though, illegally, he had been surveilling him since November 1982.
I am convinced that the other documents are also somewhere in the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or in the Central State Archive.
Document No. 10 is an implication extracted from the information of Xhemal Bejto Fasllia, dated 20 November 1982. It contains a concrete accusation regarding the killing of Haxhi Lleshi’s nephew, Qamil Lleshi, in which Hajdar had also taken part, at that time being regiment commander in Peshkopi. His implication has also been placed in Kadri Hazbiu’s form‑files, Volume 13, p. 50.
The People’s Defence Regiment (operating in the Dibra area) had been ordered to kill Qamil Lleshi. He was accused of being an agent of the Italian counter‑espionage in Albania (OVRA) and of having participated in the killing of Qemal Stafa. The order was signed by the commander and the commissar of the People’s Defence Division (Gjeli Argjiri and Gafur Çuçi – my note). As appears from documents, the order had been given by Koçi Xoxe.
Several of the regiment’s senior staff officers were made aware of it. Hajdar Aranitasi, together with them, executed the order. (This event was once discussed in the newspaper *Koha Jonë*. It published an interview with an officer of the Dibra regiment who told how the order arrived and how it was carried out.)
After the killing of Qamil Lleshi, Hajdar Aranitasi reported to his superiors. Later, Enver Hoxha organised a meeting with the leaders of the units of the Defence Division. It turned out that there had been dozens of such incidents. Qamil Lleshi’s case was examined there as well. The division commander and commissar, present at the meeting, admitted that they had given the order to kill him, as well as several dozen others.
Ultimately, the killings were attributed to Koçi Xoxe. They were debated at the First Congress of the Communist Party of Albania. The event became known to the Lleshi family. One night, Qamil’s brothers went to the house where Hajdar was living. They secretly entered the yard, but they did not escape Liria’s eyes.
She informed Hajdar. Knocks were heard on the house door. The night visitors asked for Hajdar. “He is not here,” Liria told them, “he left for Tirana in the afternoon.” They left. A few months later, after the Eleventh Plenum of the Central Committee (September 1948), Hajdar was transferred to Tirana.
The consequences of this event would reappear in 1982. When I had been removed from Tirana, Qamil’s nephews stopped Hajdar near the Palace of Culture, where he was having coffee with his comrades. The Dibrans threatened him because he had taken part in killing their uncle.
Hajdar told them: “This matter has been known for forty years; why have you left it to be solved today? I reported it to the party back then. I was an officer; I was given an order, I carried it out, and then I reported.” Qamil’s nephews fell silent.
Then they left. They were never heard from again. The next day, when Hajdar went for his usual coffee, an officer of the Tirana Internal Affairs Directorate approached him. “You, whom are you showing heroics to—the party?! Do not set foot here again!”
He understood the meaning of the order: he remembered the case of Sadik Bekteshi, who was sent into internal exile because he drank coffee in a club in Berat. He was not to appear in public! From that moment on, he drank his coffee with Liria at home.
I felt it necessary to recount this event, both because I have promised to write about everything that concerns me and my family, and to silence Mr. Vladimir M. and his ilk. My friends are witnesses as to how Mr. M. used this event as a means of pressure against me.
I wish to add that Haxhi Lleshi always maintained social relations with Hajdar Aranitasi. One day, when the Aranitasi family was in Moscow, he came to lunch at our house. He was together with Liri Belishova. During lunch, Hajdar disagreed with Liri about something.
She opposed him and, in the heat of the moment, mentioned the killing of Haxhi’s nephew. The situation became unpleasant, but Haxhi himself resolved it. “Hajdar, do not pay attention to women’s words. They have long hair and short minds!” Liria did not feel good. / Memorie.al
To be continued in the next issue
