“Even though Nikolli was sentenced to 13 years in prison, just because his brother escaped and went to the USA, Dila, the most beautiful girl in the area, went to his house as a bride, but…”/ The sad event, in the villages of Mirdita

By Dodë Mëlyshi   

– Dila and Nikolli – the story of an engagement that survived the “attack” of the dictatorship -.

Memorie.al / When Nikolli went to prison in the early 50s; he was about 22 years old. E Dila a little younger. Two fiances, whose families lived in two adjacent villages, part of the autochthonous Mirdita, near the city of Lezha. Nikolli’s only fault was that; that brother with Pjetri, who a few months ago, had decided to escape. Through Ulcinj, straight to America. Peter’s only fault that; that he was among the most prominent boys in his area. And as such, under the pressure of the government, which with surgical selection attacked exactly this strain. The fear of dictatorships comes only from the chosen, from the enlightened, and from no one else. For this reason, his additional fault; journey to the free world. The government at that time took brutal punitive measures for all family members of the fugitives, in order to discourage this phenomenon. That’s where the comprehensive discrimination started. Then for someone prison. For someone else internment. And for all family members together, the deprivation of every basic human right.

Nikoli fell to pieces, political prison!

A young man, newly engaged, was in prison, completely innocent. Under communism, whoever was unlucky enough to go to prison knew the day of their arrest, but never the day of their release. Because often, the punishments were not definitive. They multiplied according to the appetite of the “a dragon”, even inside the prison. And how could a young girl wait for her imprisoned fiancé, when it was not known if he did; five, ten, twenty years in prison, or life in prison?! And with whom, she wasn’t even married yet?!

The dilemma was great!

The trouble was great. Doubts, anxieties and insecurities as well.

And all these doubts were sifted, in both families, both the son’s and the daughter’s. The boy’s family, including him, probably had no claim, in the face of such an almost hopeless situation. Of a completely uncertain future. The girl’s family was probably tempted by these circumstances.

What about Dila himself?!

This young, beautiful girl, the most beautiful among her friends (for the sake of truth, the boy too), with the borrowed name “The Sun”, who had in front of her, her whole life to live, none of these doubts did not feed. He had no dilemma. However, generally, engagements at that time were made through mediation!

“This has been my lot. He has brought me the ring. I have given my word to him; with mine close, in joy and in sorrow, in beautiful days and in dark days! “I will wait for him, until I am alive”! (Sentence)!

Someone perhaps, the young girl, draws attention; “to think that there is still time, that life has its surprises, and then the boy’s family, already with a bad biography, you will have countless difficulties anyway, with an uncertain future…!” – Without being able to influence at all, her stubbornness, both extreme and proud.

The girl did not understand why her fiance, unjustly punished by the system, had to be unjustly punished, even by herself!

And so ended the story of an engagement that never failed.

There is talk of a period of time, where among the diabolical “pleasures” of the actors of the dictatorship, was precisely the demolition and destruction of the affinity.

Penetration to the most private things and intimate relationships. The destruction of relationships between couples, or brother to brother, sister to sister, parents to children, cousins to cousins. For the breaking of engagements and the destruction of families, in the name of proletarian principles, titles, medals and awards of gratitude and encouragement were given.

Forgive me, God!

Nikolli, however, served a full 13 years in prison. Dila received him at his house. She had gone as a bride years ago, a bride without a groom and without a wedding. She lived with her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, waiting for her “fate”. A bride who, instead of the bridal crown, instead of the “cap and strings”, had a mountain of dignity, a river of pride on her forehead. A young girl, like a ray of light, who was teaching humanity and perseverance, not only to two families, but also to two parts of the neighborhood, and even to the whole area.

A humane and self-aware model, quite the opposite of what was represented and cultivated by some of the spineless segments of the “Party leadership comrades” who lived in the so-called “Block” of gloomy Tirana, who in the war within the species, and in the name of the class war, the women and girls (until the day before at the peak of their careers), separated from the men between the four roads, with small children by the hand, without help or hope!

A affinity, who was the cause of (himself), killing the number two of the communist nomenclature. That system was so close to these topics. We do not feel the need at all to feed on the ancient stories of Penelope and Odysseus. As long as we have our silent stories, which are numerically numerous, waiting to be discovered and cultivated, of Dila and her ilk, which in terms of drama and human lesson, are as deep, as high, as exciting , so unique in their kind! Memorie.al