Dashnor Kaloçi
second part
Memorie.al /publishes the unknown story of Ndue Marashi, former Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana, member of the People’s Assembly and member of the Central Committee of the ALP, who on December 16, 1975, was found dead by a bullet pistol in one of the rooms of his villa (at the “Red School”), the circumstances of which have not been clarified even today after 45 years ?!
Rare testimony of his son, 62-year-old Xhovalin Marashi who has lived in Belgium for years, who testifies for the first time publicly, the whole unknown story of his father and the Marashi family, starting from: their origin, arrival in Tirana, work, education, graduation and career of Ndue first in Kamza and then in the Kashar cooperative, the Party Committee of the Region no. 4 and then as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana, where he served from 1973 until December 16, 1975, when Xhovalini and his younger brother, Vlash, found their bloodied father in the last minutes of life and the bus that we announced by phone, came after only 45 minutes ?!
Xhovalini’s story about the friendships that their father had with a part of the senior leadership such as: Beqir Balluku, Abdyl Këllezi, Fadil Paçrami and Myslym Peza, or others with lower positions and functions such as: Irakli Bozo, Abedin Çiçi, Mark Dodani, Hazbi Lamçe, Demlush Thaçi, Fadil Lamin, Halim Stërmasi, Ilir Gjylbegu, Panajot Pano, Fatmir Frashëri, Bert Jashari, Miti Dheodhosi etc.
How was Ndue Marash’s execution scheme carried out, who were the people attacking him in the Politburo and those whom the State Security committed to his physical elimination and why does his son, Xovalini, rule out that it was done with the knowledge of Enver Hoxha, who is said to be one of the people who loved Ndue very much and he together with Nexhmija and their son, Iliri, have done a lot for the Marashi family, starting from… ?!
After the publication of several articles by Memorie.al in the last two issues, regarding the story of the former Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana, member of the Central Committee of the ALP and member of the People’s Assembly, Ndue Marashi, who for 45 years Earlier, at noon on December 16, 1975, he was found dead in one of the rooms of his villa, which is still located somewhere near the “Red School”, where according to the official version, given by the press release that was published the next day in the press, he had committed suicide, Memorie.al returns to this story.
This serious event, which did not go unnoticed even at the time it took place, as we refer to the official version, was the first time after many years that a suicide took place by a senior state official, (we have in mind, in in 1947 Nako Spiron, former Chairman of the State Planning Commission, who ‘de jure’, was the Prime Minister of the country and then in 1956, Omer Nishani, the President of Albania, or as he was called at the time, the Chairman of the Presidium of People’s Assembly), and according to communist morality, as well as the laws in force, suicide was considered a hostile act and the person who did so, especially when in office, was at best considered a “loser and capitulator”, otherwise was labeled as: “traitor and enemy of the people”!
Based on these, Ndue Marashi was not an exception from the communist regime of that time and all the accusations against him as “enemy of the people” etc. fell on him, and his family was expelled from Tirana and persecuted until the collapse of communist regime. Regarding this event and the mysteries that it still carries, it was written only after the ’90s and in 2018, a television documentary was made by the Albanian Public Radio-Television, where family members of Ndue Marashi, gave their related versions with that event.
Given the fact that on December 16, it was 45 years since the day Ndue Marashi lost his life in tragic circumstances and that event still remains shrouded in mystery, Memorie.al was contacted by Mr. Xhovalin Marashi, (Ndue Marashi’s eldest son), who has been living with his family in Belgium for years, who after expressing his thanks to our editorial office for the articles published about his father, was also willing to give a long interview. and exclusive to Memorie.al, making public for the first time, many of the unknown sides of that story related to the name of Ndue Marashi and their family, an interview which we are publishing starting from this issue.
follows from the previous number
Mr. Xhovalin, before we go out and talk about the event of December 16, 1975, let us return once again to the friendships that your father, Ndue Marashi, had, to have a clearer idea about the conjunctures and clans in the leadership of high communists of that time, who influenced or promoted its elimination?
As I said a little above, after Colonel Myslym Keta who was also a member of the People’s Assembly and died or more precisely eliminated in 1966 with a “car accident”, with which his father was very close, Fadil Paçrami, was one of Ndue’s other close friends, as far as I remember, Fadil was also an MP in the Kamza area, where my father had started working initially and had many connections, as our grandfather’s family lived there for a long time. The father had such a friendship with Myslym Keta that when his grandfather died, he buried it next to Lymi’s grave in Tufina (on the plot of people honored by the government of that time), but after the death of our father, Ndues, our grandfather’s grave they removed it from there. In addition to the friendship that the father had with Fadil Paçrami, which also came from their origin as people from Shkodra, our mother, Francesca, was very friendly with Fadil’s wife, Violeta, and they have been together for treatment in Italy for several months. Both our parents, Nduja and Francesca, spoke very well about the Paçrami family, even after they were hit by the communist regime, that is, in 1973-’74, a year or so before the event with our father.
Let’s go back to the event of December 16, 1975, where were you that day and how do you remember it?
That day, December 16, 1975, was Tuesday and I was in class, as I was continuing my schooling at the “Ismail Qemali” gymnasium in the third year. Likewise, my brother (Vlashi, who was three years younger than me), was also in school, after attending the first year of a school with me there at “Ismail Qemali”.
Who called you and when did you go home?
Our neighbor, Ramazan Akshia, a peer of my brother, Luli, came and informed me at school. (They were a very poor family with seven children, but great people and our father Nduja and all of us, loved them very much and got along very well with them). Based on this fact, Ramadan came running and informed me at school and together with Xoni, I ran home, around 11 o’clock in the morning. I was not allowed to enter, as the house and almost our entire neighborhood were surrounded by State Security people and police, civilian and in uniform. Shortly before me, ten minutes’ work, there went my mother, Francesca, who was also not allowed inside, even though she was crying and shouting loudly, even cursing them.
What did mom say to them?
In fact, what my mother was saying to them was not an insult, but an accusation, as she was saying to them: “Killer”, etc.
Where was your mom working at the time and who informed her about what had happened?
The mother, Franceska, at that time was working as the director of the Kindergarten no. 49 and Luli had informed her by phone, not from our house, but from our neighbor’s house, Olimbi Mici and the mother had come there with one breath… Likewise, after the mother, Luli called the grandmother who worked at the Leadership Clinic and the grandmother arrived there in front of the mother. After the grandmother, our uncle, Zef Marashi, who still lives in Tirana, arrived.
But who was the first to go home from your family?
The first to go was our aunt Dila (Nudes sister), who did not know anything about what had happened, but since she was aware that father and mother would go on vacation to Vlora, she had come to meet them and as she was approaching the door of the house, she saw two strangers who hurried away on a motorcycle!
But who reported Luli and who did he find there at home?
Luli had gone quite by accident, as she had had an hour off because she was missing a teacher. Luli later told us that as he was entering the house through the main gate that was open, he noticed that two soldiers in Republican Guard uniforms (distinguished by their boots and boots) and a woman with red coat behind them, coming down in a hurry.
Did Luli communicate with them?
Luli was small at the time (as I told you he was not 15 years old) and neither did they know who he was nor did he know them. But Luli told us that the woman had drops of blood on her face!
What about when he entered the room where his father was, without other people there?
When Luli entered the room and saw the horrible scene, that is, the father with the pistol bullet wound, who was still moving so lying down, he was horrified and started crying a lot. Before Luli, as I told you, our aunt Dila went there and then our grandmother also went, who tried to make Ndues breathe, but everything was in vain, as her father was finished.
But while your father, Nduen, aunt Dila and Luli were found breathing, was the ambulance notified?
By home phone (according to the counter we had), those who were inside the house, namely aunt Dila, uncle Zefi and grandmother Drane, informed the Special Leadership Clinic, but the ambulance with doctors and nurses arrived there only after 45 minutes and they they did nothing, as it was all over!
But besides those of the Special Clinic, who else came after them?
The investigative group came with the forensic experts who performed the expertise and it was done only in the presence of our two children, so I was not yet 17 years old and Luli was not yet 14. So the act-expertise of the investigative group for the event that happened, Although the father was a senior official, as a member of the People’s Assembly, a member of the Central Committee of the ALP, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Tirana, a very well-known personality, he became only in the presence of our two children and without the presence of our mother, Francesca, (who was not allowed to enter the house at all), or her uncles, Zefi, etc.
What about the senior police officials, no one came in those moments?
Nustret Dauti himself came, Director of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Tirana (he was the first cousin of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kadri Hazbi Dautaj), so he was the main one who came there. From the home phone, in the presence of me and my brother, Luli, he called Manush Mufti and we heard him say: “No no comrade Manush, I think it is better not to come, because…” and he interrupted the conversation, apparently seeing that we were listening.
Did Manush Mufti come there?
No no he did not come.
What about Nustret Dauti, what relations did your father, Nduja, have with him?
In parentheses I wanted to say, that apart from Mark Dodani, that his father had many friends (I do not know that they had some friendly relations, that Marku was also from a village that was captured by the Shkodra Region), with those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Interior and State Security, the father had no ties or friendships, on the contrary did not love and disregard them much. Likewise, with Nustret Dauti, not only did he not have a friendship, but on the contrary he had debates and clashes with him, because of an apartment that Nusret wanted to give him and his father did not give him.
Specifically, what apartment was it about?
Nusret at that time lived somewhere in Shallvaret in an apartment (two rooms and a kitchen) and had made a request and claimed to get another apartment with larger space that was in a building at Mapo at the beginning of “Dibra Street”. However, father Nduja had not agreed, as that apartment would be given to Dr. Ilir Gjylbegut, as he not only had two children (son and daughter) but also needed a studio, while Nusreti, had no children and did not need expansion.
After Dr. Ilir Gjylbegun, father Nduja had a friend?
Yes, he had a lot of friends, but he did not give the house to him as a friend, but why he belonged to them. The father was a principled man and never used the post for friendships, as as I told you above, the father’s friends and acquaintances were mostly from the common class, workers and peasants
Let’s go back to the event, why was my father, Nduja, at home at that hour, so why didn’t he go to work?!
The father was at work that day as usual and there he did not feel well and returned home.
Has anyone met before entering the house?
As I said a little above, the father has been a very popular man and quite communicative with everyone. So, shortly before entering the house, he saw Shefqet Sheshi’s mother (an excellent Tirana family with whom we got along very well), Ijen as they called him, and after greeting him, she asked him, Nduen, saying: “Ca mi none, are you unhappy”?!
How did Nduja respond?
The father said: “I do not know Ije, but I drank a coffee in the office, he was hurting me and I feel dizzy” and entered the house. And after 10-15 minutes, Ija, heard the sound of the pistol and went to the door of the house, where she saw the two soldiers of the Guard coming out quickly and they shouted at her: “Come in quickly, my old witch that… “, And they insulted him. And for the words that Ija told us, they destroyed his whole family…!
Before we went there, that is, to the problems and consequences that the communist regime had, your family, your relatives or neighbors, etc., I wanted to ask you, I was the maid, that is, the woman who worked for you, where she was when the event took place. ?
I would tell you myself without asking you about the maid who was assigned to our house, as she is one of the key persons of that event, as….?!/Memorie.al
continues tomorrow
