By Fritz Radovan
The first part
HOW LONG AT THE SERVICE OF AN ANMIK?! KOL MIRAKAJ ANSWERS
OPENING LETTER, Mr. ABAZ ERMEN
New York – June 1967
Memorie.al / “…I believe that he expressed the feelings of the entire Albanian people, that if our neighbors understand the need for peaceful coexistence and loyal cooperation of good neighborliness, give us back the rights that belong to us, the Albanian people, sincere friendship with the Greeks and the Slavs of the Balkans.”
Kole Mirakaj (1967)
Do you believe me, Mr. Abaz Ermeni (and you his followers) that my heart is hurting, that I am forced to give you this worldly answer, because I know that controversies do not bring any benefit to the painful and difficult moment that fate has dealt us has charged all those who call themselves anti-communists and patriots?
Although in this open letter, I need to document general issues of the historical development of events and actions (however briefly), I put the responsibility of this document on myself, since I have not been advised by anyone, except my conscience.
It’s been 22 years, in this black exile, and it doesn’t cross their minds that the non-unification of anti-communist groups, the attacks against healthy national forces and the sabotage against those who wanted to work for the salvation of the Motherland, are the main factors, which they brought communism to power, not their own strength. You have been doing the same actions you did in Albania for 22 years now, even in exile, without being able to learn anything from the past.
You continue even today after 22 years, that the Albanian people have been covered by mourning, you try to denigrate the national anti-communist forces, you constantly attack the ‘Independent National Bloc’ and its leaders, and not only the Bloc, but anyone who is not subject to your selfish will .
For twenty-two years, we have been silent, before the fictions and personal insults, which you have thrown against us unmanly, not because we lacked courage or arguments, but only for the sake of the national issue; to pave the way for the unification of all anti-communist forces, including you; for the unity of the Albanians’ souls, because we are aware that even if the communist regime disappears, for one reason or another, we will still be able to face the dangers that may threaten the Motherland, from anyone else, especially Greece, since 1913, he did not give up his predatory claims on Korça and Gjinokastra.
What, even my feelings in that matter: You know very well that; communism has broken my heart; I was drowned in blood and cloth, everything is bad for human life. However, if Greece or anyone else attacks Albania, in order to rob Albanian land, Enver Hoxha and I were at their disposal, so in old age and crippled as I am, in defense of the integrity of the country To the motherland, as a simple soldier, he saw no conditions. Well, I am also sentenced to death by that regime.
Now 22 years ago, we asked for cooperation and brotherhood; you have always preached and acted for the destruction of national forces. This is also documented by the press of both parties. This way of your action proves that, whether you like it or not, you are serving the common enemy of Communism and other enemies of the Albanian Nation.
When I said you, I’m not just addressing you, Mr. Abaz Ermeni, I am reminding the other leaders of the International Agrarian Party, that you, like the late Mit-hat Frashëri, want to keep them captive to their will, the scumbag, with flattery for their dark purposes. I know that you are an anti-communist, and I do not deny either your patriotic feeling or your bravery, but I advised you to take a good look at what is around you. Pray, don’t fall victim, as Mit’hat Bey fell victim to!
How regretfully I made the decision, I was answered once and for all, my conscience knows, but even now, after 22 years of tragedy in our country, you are continuing the path of destroying the national forces, with fabrications and lies that aim to falsify history, the time has come for the anti-communist diaspora and the general Albanian opinion to stop listening to the myth of distorting the facts, but to listen to the myth of the facts, the myth of the truth.
To clarify everything, a limited writing like this letter is not enough, but a book is needed, which has been prepared for 16 years now (saved in three copies in different places) and which the author has not wanted to publish yet, for not to be an obstacle, for the coordination of national forces, in a single anti-communist trench, with which the truth we documented, could come out and be thrown for anyone, and maybe some Idol, could be rolled to the ground.
As you see Mr. Abaz Ermeni, I am yours; I tried to keep the style of writing as befits civilized people and how the Albanian man begs to behave towards the adversary, who is fought, if known is honored, and not with banal words, as your side is used to.
I came to the United States of America, after 22 years of exile, to earn my bread with my sweat, because my conscience did not allow me to fall on the necks of those who love me, who trust me to take away a morsel of bread from the children. Of course, with my small possibilities, I tried and gave my modest contribution to the national issue, for which I have spared no effort since I was young, almost a child.
Since I came here, I have only spoken the word of moderation, the word of brotherhood, which aims to achieve brotherhood and cooperation of anti-communist Albanians, of true Albanians and their homeland.
Friends and opponents have heard this from me, why without unity, neither moral nor material strength can be achieved, and without strength we cannot carry out the difficult mission that fate and historical development have entrusted to us.
Twenty-two years of exile, before you came here, I lived as I could in Italy, first among refugee camps, then among religious communities, for sevap, then with my own sweat, when I could find a job of any kind.
After almost three months passed after my arrival here, I did not hear that you took any extremist position against the Independent National Bloc, nor against me personally or anyone else from our side, and the friendly visits that some “agrarians” paid me secondly, and the fraternal and national problems that we faced, I thought that even the Agrarian Party had already achieved, in terms of the need for national cooperation with other anti-communist political groups, and this made me very happy, and we were also ready to forget the slanders and insults personally, let’s extend a brotherly hand to you too. After being wrong.
It’s been a while since your Cell (how do you call it?) here in New York, has started a wild campaign, by means of the radio, against B.K.I. mainly, against Prof. Dr. Ernest Koliki of me. Where is your problem and aim?
If you think that in this way, you fooled your countrymen into believing that you denigrate patriots who have demonstrated their patriotism, with superior therorina and not with demagogic words, this is how the national moment is served and this is how Bolshevism is fought, know that you underestimate the Albanians too much and insult them even more than anyone else, your own followers.
If you think that with such systems, Enver Hoxha succeeded, then with such systems, you will succeed too, so much the worse. A part of the Albanians were once lied to by promises that isolated misery, but they are not lying anymore. Anyone who presents himself to the people with such systems, with hatred against blood brothers, earns nothing but contempt. Hey, happy compatriot! You have crossed every limit.
Your agrarists have been heard several times, they told people that; if you are not with Balli Agrar, you are not Albanian! To this end, have you fanaticized the naive?! Even Communism has not reached this extremism! Communism calls its opponents reactionaries, enemies of the people and traitors; but he did not deny them the Albanian quality.
And you, you are proclaimed anti-communist democrats, but on the other hand, your work almost destroys the communist system, in extremism and unfortunately, willingly or not, you serve the common enemy, the martyrs of the Albanian people, communism, and the known Albania’s other friends.
You Mr. Abaz Ermeni and you other leaders of the Agrarian Party, you know very well that; democracy has its source in tolerance and respect for different opinions. Based on this opinion, none of us has the right to judge or belittle the other, but only with correct, constructive criticism. This right belongs only to the Albanian People, when they are able to express themselves freely and to History, after the protagonists of the events have passed on to another life.
Extremism of the style of the Bolshevik system, which tells the communists (Lenin) “Hudhnje Lies” in circulation against opponents; repeat it twice, ten times, nine thousand times, why once it has to trick the brain of even the one who knows that it is a lie, he almost believed it, as the truth. This system has led them down the wrong path.
To create all kinds of lies not only against us of B.K.I. but against anyone who does not submit to stubbornness, I do not cry. This is proven by the attitude you have taken against bright patriots, such as: Nuredin Vlora, Ali Klisura, Koço Muka, etc., leaders of the National Front, who probably cannot convince you to give up the destructive path, they it doesn’t go your way anymore.
Until you left Tyne, you were proud of the moral, political and patriotic nobility of our Veterans, and I am sure that you would have denigrated the late Mit’hat Frashëri in the same way, if you had not succeeded with your kindness, to terrate his mind and wither his heart.
Today that Mit’hat Frashëri has passed into Eternal Life, I humble myself before His memory and, as the son of a family that has left a blessed mother in national history, and as He Himself, who was an unabashed patriot, Who, but for the name he carried, perhaps he was (we remembered) the most suitable personality of this hermit, who in cooperation with other enlightened minds, would have been able to unite, fraternize and lead these hermits.
We of the B.K.I., have offered this opportunity and ourselves at His disposal; unconditionally, it was enough for Him to be an impartial Father. And He appreciated and accepted this initiative, but after meeting with His circle, he rejected it…!
Mit’hat Beu has been called twice by history:
- In Albania, after the surrender of Italy, together with all the Albanians, in the war against communism, I stuck out the necks of this fifth column of Slavism, the Nation, for the months with more assurance for the expected time, the protection of the Motherland in general, since I personally suggested it and offered it to him in August 1944. Such a deed would have saved Albania, without falling into the clutches of communist tyranny, and perhaps Kosovo as well.
- During the years 1946-’49, when we asked him to take the Union Flag and print it for us!
Between the two times, you extremists who dominated His will, it was stopped without coming to the test of History! History continued its course, for the Albanians, it left us behind in the fate we find ourselves in today. This is the reason why the Albanian diaspora is in this state today!
Perhaps, this is also the reason that since 1948, when Albania’s communism broke with Yugoslavia and was still not strengthened by Russia, it was in its last throes, and we had a resistance to arming among the Northern Mountains, well organized and that had penetrated the Army, and even the Police, for a general uprising, that if we had given the exiles a little spirit and help, it is very likely that, then, communism in Albania would It was upside down.
And you still today, continue to brag about what you did to the Union of Albanians and the moral murder of Mit-hat Frashëri! (See the “Flamuri” notebook, February 28, 1966, no. 148-151, sixth column).
You are against King Zog, a symbol of Albania’s sovereignty; you have accused him of all evil, without recognizing his merits. Well, nothing else should make me known to the King of the Albanians, in His political life, from the Congress of Lushnja until his death, and then as head of state, conscientious people (followers or opponents), as well as history: They recognize that he is here, who was able to create an Albanian State, with internal political administration and external diplomacy, known by the whole world and public order with exemplary calmness.
You are against Ernest Koliq, in a rude and banal way, what a former student of His, like you, Mr. Abaz Ermeni should never have allowed it, because neither Albanian men nor the morality of civilized people accept it. Other former students of His, no less cultured than Mr. Yours, and with ardent patriotic feelings (like Isuf Luzaj), still today they call him Mješër.
This writer of great caliber, from the age of youth with his novellas, articles and novels, is constantly trying to point out (pah), the high virtues of the Albanian tribe, to preach their preservation and, the drawing of good things of modern culture, on the stump of those virtues and good habits, without which the Albanian would not be an Albanian.
He honors us even today with his high personality, which brings great culture even before the foreign world and always produces good things, like no one else for the culture of Albanian literature. If Ernest Koliqi had nothing else to do, for the national issue, it is enough to put him in the first place of patriots, his educational work in general and in particular, in the lands liberated in Fatbardha April, 1941.
After the union of Kosovo and other Albanian countries with the Motherland, the issue of education came first among those countries where, under the Karagjorgjevic kingdom, even the lowest Albanian school was not allowed. The government of Rome persistently demanded that the example of Italy be followed, when it had annexed Alto-Adige (South Tyrol), without remembering that between the two cases, there was no analogy with the fact that the South Tyroleans were German-speaking Austrians, while Kosovo and other free provinces, were of Albanian language and blood.
The delegate of the Italian government, an expert of the Ministry of Education of Italy, demanded that the Albanian language be introduced in those schools, from one class per year, starting from the first primary to the first high school, thus, only in at the end of eight years, all classes could be Albanianized.
The government led by Shefqet Vërlaci opposed the Rome project, but the one who gave the punch here, Ernest Koliqi, who did not accept any compromise, and as responsible for Education, submitted his resignation to the Viceroy of the King as a protest. Jacomoni, on the one hand, meets with the orders of Rome and on the other hand with the uncompromising stance of Colic, to whom he refuses his resignation in a confidential form, you authorized Colic to find an unshakeable solution.
Ernesti found the solution, you did the deed. He gathered 250 teachers (among who were some of you former agrarians), sent them to Tokat e Lirueme, supposedly to collect folklore, but with the taxing order: To prepare the opening of schools in the Albanian language, for all classes, from from the first primary, to the eighth high school, for September of that year, and that’s how it happened.
The necessary funds were given in a different form by the King’s Deputy and Prime Minister Verlaci. It was not the courage and fine mind of Ernest Koliq, who realized this great national work, which did not disappear, nor can it disappear. Even you agrarians know this very well; if you don’t say it, remember that the sun darkens with a sieve.
The benefit of literature and national culture advises all intellectuals to gather around this day and work together for Albanian culture and literature. Leave the ghosts (angers), and ambitions, and come to good work. With time, effort and intelligence, you too can become a useful, giant piece like Him!
Today Kosovars do not think, as the majority thought when they joined Albania that they would find a small Turkey there, they feel that they are entering the gulf of Nana, the gulf of the Motherland. This ardent Albanianism, which is reviving among the captive Albanians, is the merit of the Albanian school, and in this merit, the first place belongs to Prof. Dr. Ernest Colici.
And what you did not leave unsaid, against Mustafa Kruja, against that bright mind and heart warmed by patriotism which forced him to spend more than 40 years in exile at the best of his age, the last in this exile, had it not been for the work of His sister and the generosity of King Zog, he would have died of starvation.
Well, it is known that Mustafa Kruja, had he thought about himself, had the opportunity to ensure his livelihood and the economy at the most satisfactory level, but he never thought about himself, but about Albania, to serve them with every slaughter.
What did you say and what do you have to say against me? – Because I am a fascist, because I came here and organized the fascist group. Have I ever denied my past? – I don’t even intend to deny it under any circumstances. I affirmed it even when I was arrested in Brescia, by the Italian police, in May 1945, that time when a “fascist” killed me even without trial, to be called “merit”, I also affirmed it before the American officer, who was in charge of controlling the actions of the police and I had proof that those who were men were respected!
As soon as I told him the national reasons, he ordered the quaestor to release me immediately, and from that moment he declared me under the protection of the Fifth Army; while they would act as collaborators of the Allies, they would have been different from Enver Hoxha, had the circumstances not changed; why didn’t they know how to keep a way of staying forever.
The word fascist today, is completely without salt, and it is useless to think that anyone sings with that word! Fascism was a historical phenomenon of its time, which, in my opinion, should not return. A former socialist named Benito Mussolini took advantage of this, to save his homeland, without falling into the clutches of anarchy and Bolshevik tyranny, and with this movement, and with the help he gave to Spanish nationalism, he saved Europe!
It was a phenomenon born from the needs of the time. In Albania, there is neither fascism nor anti-fascism in the sense of the word; there were only different currents of thoughts, all of which aimed to serve the Motherland.
We, under the shadow of fascism, tried to preserve and strengthen Albanian nationalism, and with that activity and loyalty we made many concessions for the benefit of the national issue, and we laid the foundations for ethnic and sovereign Albania for the future. I said that there was no fascism and anti-fascism in Albania, because fascism did not come to us either as a cultural-propaganda-political movement, or as a movement of arms as in Italy and stuck. Memorie.al
The next issue follows
