“After we waited for three months in front of the Central Committee and the Prime Minister’s Office, and the paths to a meeting with you are blocked, we are addressing you with…” / The rare story of the family from Tepelena that put a “Lightning-Bolt Leaflet” (Fletë-Rrufe) on Enver and Mehmet Shehu.

By Dashnor Kaloçi

Memorie.al / In the mid-1960s, while spreading the famous slogan: “anyone without fear and in capital letters, to write what he thinks about work and people,” (something he had borrowed from the “daci-baos” applied during the “Cultural Revolution” in the People’s Republic of China led by Mao Zedong), a slogan which, from that time until the fall of the communist regime in 1990, would take the main place on every emulation board where “Fletë-Rrufetë” (Lightning-Bolt Leaflets) were placed, in city centers, production enterprises, military units, schools, various institutions, etc., the main leader of communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, would hardly have thought that someone “without fear and in large letters” would write about him, even placing that “Fletë-Rrufe” in the center of Tirana?!

Not only that, but the authors of that “Fletë-Rrufe,” residents of one of the lost villages of the Tepelena district, would dare to hold the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, Enver Hoxha, and the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Mehmet Shehu, accountable for why the two of them had not responded to their letters and also had not deigned to meet with them, so that they could discuss the great trouble they had and were not finding a solution, neither from the Party Committee and the Executive Committee of their district nor from the central institutions of the state?!

But even though they blindly trusted the “lessons of the Party and Comrade Enver,” by placing that “Fletë-Rrufe” in the middle of Tirana, the nine members of the family from Tepelena not only did not solve anything from their great trouble and problem, for which they had been struggling for years at the doors of the Party and the state, but on the contrary; they were “exposed” in several meetings organized by the Party Committee of the district at their workplace and finally were arrested, ending up in prisons and forced labor camps.

But who were the nine members of the family from Tepelena who dared to put a “Fletë-Rrufe” on Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu?! What was their trouble and problem, and where had they complained before they made the decision to place that “Fletë-Rrufe” in the middle of Tirana? Why was the Party Committee of the Tepelena district forced to organize a demasking meeting for the members of that family, and what were the accusations against them and who articulated them?

For all this and more from this event, one of the rarest, even we would say unique in the entire period of the communist regime, we are informed by archival documents (taken from the Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), which are published for the first time and with the respective facsimiles by Memorie.al.

ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, WITH THE FULL TEXT OF THE FLETË-RRUFE THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE ZIKA FAMILY FROM TEPELENA PUT ON ENVER HOXHA AND PRIME MINISTER MEHMET SHEHU, ON MAY 5, 1973, IN THE CENTER OF TIRANA

                                   FLETË-RRUFE

TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE P. P. SH. COMRADE ENVER HOXHA

TO THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE R. P. SH. COMRADE MEHMET SHEHU

“Everyone has the right to write in large letters what he thinks about work and people.” Enver

Since the paths to a meeting with you are blocked, we are addressing you with this lightning-bolt leaflet for review.

Nine members of the Gani Zikaj family of Tepelena have the honor to submit our request as follows:

We left the village of Luftinjë No. 2. As a family since 1960, in 1963 we applied for a passport in the city of Tepelena, and we were given a passport with the decision of the Executive Committee of the Tepelena district, No. 154, dated 27.8.1963.

During this time, we have requested housing, but they have not given us, we lived in the Malas neighborhood provisionally renting, until they would stabilize us with a house in the city of Tepelena.

At the same time, when the local families, having and disposing of wealth, connections and support from the Executive Committee of the People’s Council of the district and the Party Committee of the district, arbitrarily built residential houses in the city of Tepelena.

We asked for land, but they did not give it to us. Our requests continued from 1965 until 1970. Finally, we addressed you with a letter, where the answer came to the Party Committee and they told us to address the Executive Committee of the People’s Council of the district for land, and so we did, but without result.

The answer was: “we do not have land, to fulfill your request, therefore, address the Executive Committee of the city for housing.”

Since our requests were not being fulfilled, on 20/3/1970, we bought a pair of houses in the Kala neighborhood (where we also had our passport). The Executive Committee of the P.C. of the district, based on false data and protecting the friendly network and the sick familiarity created between them, gave a decision to leave the house we bought, preventing the completion of notarial documents, not notifying us of the decision to cancel the passport and the one for leaving the house, but giving it to the Branch of Internal Affairs for execution, and on 1.3.1971, these bodies executed the decision, taking all the clothes of the house and taking them to the Farm, where they left them for four days in the rain, the household materials were badly damaged, as if this property were the property of some feudal lord, who had sucked the people’s blood and not that they were the clothes of a poor worker, who in the past had not filled his stomach with bread, and today thanks to the Party and the Government, he manages to breathe freely.

They forgot that the clothes were put on with effort, that every ALL was taken with sweat and blood stains, just like every American dollar, which has the stamp of the poor worker. For three months in a row, one of the members of our family was at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania and the Prime Minister’s Office for complaints, and they were not given the opportunity to meet with you, even going out on the road on 25/5/1971 (for a meeting).

On 25/5/1971, a meeting was organized at the S.A.E., on the occasion of buying the house. Although members of the Party and the Government in the district participated in the meeting, this turned into a tribune of the vilest slanders against our family; of course, this was prepared, to leave our problem unresolved, to politically and morally discredit our family.

From the beginning of the meeting, Fido Rusto (head of the organization at the Executive Committee), said: “I think that your collective, should support our opinion.” Comrade Thoma Laçi (former stand-in at the S.A.E.), continued: “Gani must be punished, because his wife is the cousin of Xhemal Brahimi, the notorious traitor,” with whom our family has nothing to do, not even our kinship.

Ramadan Hasaj (today, secretary of the basic organization of the sector), continued: “Gani wants the past to return, for which his brother fell as a martyr with Balli and was shot by the party.”

Pelivan Bani (head of sector F – worker S.A.E.), continued: “I also made a mistake that I helped his son wounded by a bomb, that I also got stained with the blood of the enemy”!

Look what he thinks about a minor child and he himself forgets that he is the nephew of Ismail Sejfo, the notorious enemy?! What forces these three communists to slander and who does this serve? We also filed a civil lawsuit against the slanders and it was not accepted, saying that they are words with responsibility (is a communist allowed to speak and slander in a meeting, without responsibility?).

Based on the passport decision, No.154, dated 27/3/1963, as well as other documents issued by that committee, the sheet of good behavior of the basic organization of the party of the village and the People’s Council, Luftinjë No. 2, we request:

• To verify our problem once again, in a party and government way.
• For more detailed explanations, which cannot be explained in a lightning-bolt leaflet, we ask that a member of our family be given the right to meet with you, no matter how late.
• The house where we live is out of use and we may soon fall victim to it, where there is also no electric light (if possible, send someone to verify the condition of the house).
• Measures should be taken against the slanderers.
• After the problem is verified, we should be given the right to live in the city of Tepelena, based on the passport decision No. 154, dated 27/8/1963, since there is no reason for cancellation (in the house we bought where we also paid 400 new ALL, where we live with others on rent from the state, or to be stabilized with a house in Tepelena).

                        With honor and respect

           From the nine members of the family

                                 Gani Zikaj

                                  S.A.E. Tepelena

                                    5.5.1973

ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS WITH THE COMMUNICATIONS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS FOR THE PROBLEM OF THE FLETË-RRUFE OF THE ZIKAJ FAMILY FROM TEPELENA, ADDRESSED TO ENVER HOXHA AND MEHMET SHEHU AND THE NOTES OF THE HIGH OFFICIALS

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA / Secret

MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS / Copy No. 1

DIRECTORATE OF ADMIN. OF STUDIES / Tirana, May 10, 1973

OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 109

This file is attached to the communication, together with the two materials, for temporary storage.

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA / Secret

MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS / Copy No. 1

DIRECTORATE OF ADMIN. OF STUDIES / Tirana, May 16, 1973

OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 104

TEPELENA

On 15.5.1973, at the request of the workers of the S.A.E. Tepelena, Enver, Drita, and Gani Zika, from the village of Luftinjë, workers at the S.A.E., were arrested, as criminal collaborators with their father, Gani Çerçiz Zika, who was arrested on 9.5.’73, for a lightning-bolt leaflet placed in Tirana, which contained slanders made by them.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

SHKËLZEN BAJRAKTARI

EXCERPT FROM OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 109 DATED 10.5.1973

TEPELENA

ON 9.5.1973, Gani Çerçiz Gjika, 73 years old, from the village of Luftinjë, was arrested, because on 5.5.’73, he placed a lightning-bolt leaflet in Tirana, where he slandered and purposefully discredited the dignity of the Party and government bodies.

Comrade Minister made this note: “To the First Directorate, the Investigation, – What did he write, tell me? How is the arrest based?”

Please, after the comrade minister is informed, as he requests, the file should be returned to us, with a note on the implementation. If possible, as soon as possible.

Verified with the original

Hamit Gjoshi

Report to the First Secretary and not to us.

Kadri Hazbiu

We talked to the court, the prosecutor’s office, to reconsider, if they have the right, because the imprisonment of 3 people, in one family …is difficult …to be made known to comrade Haki Toska.

            11.7. 73

              NOTE

On what the comrade minister orders, we inform that:

The lightning-bolt leaflet placed in the name of the Gani Zikaj family in the city of Tirana, is addressed to comrade Enver and comrade Mehmet.

Among many other things, the lightning-bolt leaflet says: “Since the paths to a meeting with you are blocked, I am addressing you with this lightning-bolt leaflet.”

Below it says: “The local families, having and disposing of money, connections and support from the Party Committee and the Executive Committee, arbitrarily built houses in the city of Tepelena.”

‘On 23/3/1970, we bought a pair of houses. The Executive Committee of the People’s Council, based on false data and protecting the friendly network and the sick familiarity, has given a decision for me to leave the house I bought….! The Branch of Internal Affairs, by executing this decision, took the household clothes to the Farm, leaving them for 4 days in the rain.”

On this basis, with the approval of the Prosecutor, Gani Zikaj was arrested.

During the investigations, especially during the popular investigation that was carried out at the S.A.E. (State Agricultural Enterprise,) Tepelena, it turned out that the person mentioned, in cooperation with his son, Enver Zikaj, and his daughter, Drita Zikaj, had slandered, not only what they wrote in their lightning-bolt leaflet, but also in conversations with other people.

For these reasons and because Enver and Drita took a very bad stand in the collective’s meeting, which was held on the occasion of the popular investigation, slandering the Party Committee, and the Executive Committee of the People’s Council, as well as specific persons, the Prosecutor ordered their arrest.

The guilt of the three aforementioned defendants was proven by the depositions of many witnesses. In conclusion, the court of the Tepelena district has sentenced the defendant Gani Zikaj for the crime of slander, to 1 year of deprivation of liberty, Enver Zikaj to 2 years, and Drita Zikaj, to one and a half years of deprivation of liberty. / Memorie.al

HEAD OF THE INVESTIGATION BRANCH

KAPLLAN SAKO

Tirana, 26/6/1973