“In the report of the US government, presented to the UN in 1955, about the camps and prisons of Albania, it was mentioned as immoral, Xh. Pogaçe, from the Tepelena camp…”/ The unknown story of two soldiers

By Kastriot Dervishi

Memorie.al / As I have written before, first of all the communism of Albania was the installation of a majority of ignorant people, who, with mainly criminal means, took power to destroy everything good that existed in the country at that time. They saw with envy, envy, everything that caught their eye. In short, let’s look at the biography of the commander of the Tepelena camp (Tepelena Camp), Xhafer Pogaçe, in the context of the last debate about this camp. 

Born in 1922 in the village of Plasat in Kardhiqi Gjirokastër, farmer by profession. Illiterate until after the war, but at the age of 22, in February-September 1947, when he was working in Skrapar, he finished (all) primary education. The time when he finished this education, is unlikely to prove the fulfillment of this “major” obligation, for the communist cadres of the time.

He became a partisan, as the majority did, in the last year of the war, on 15.2.1944, in the Kurveleshi battalion. He was then placed in the 16th Brigade, where he rose to the rank of company commissar. He ended this “career” on 9.5.1945. In the years 1945-1947, he was an officer in the 1st Battalion of the 1st Brigade, of the People’s Protection Division, in Peshkopi and Shkodër. In 1947, he was the police chief of Skrapar. In the bodies of Internal Affairs, he served in the years 1945-1955.

From here, on 25.9.1947, he was appointed in charge of the Berat internment camp. On 9.5.1949, he was transferred with the same duty to the Tepelena camp, staying there until 15.2.1952. In the characteristic dated 2.12.1951, of the head of the Internal Affairs section of Tepelena, Gani Aloçi, it was said that: “Xhaferi is loyal, he hates the enemy”.

Pogaçe ended his career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as deputy commander of the Dog Training and Instruction School, in November 1955.

In May of this year, in Tirana, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came the report of the American government on the camps and prisons of Albania, which was presented to the UN on 29.3.1955.It is not known precisely whether or not there was a connection to the release of the commander of the Tepelena camp, from the mention of his name in this report of the American government, where it was mentioned; “the negative and immoral activity of the Tepelena camp commander”!

After Xhafer Pogaçe, the second and last commander of the Tepelena camp was Haki Ibrahimaj, born in Dhëmblan of Tepelena, in 1924. He also became a partisan in the last year of the war, precisely on 5.4.1944, in the “Perlat Rexhepi” battalion ” in Shkodër, and then in the Partisan XXII Brigade, which was formed on November 30, 1944, one day after the war ended. His life profession was that of a carpenter. The career up to the exercise of state responsibilities, by years, was this:

1934-1939, shepherd in Martalloz of Tepelena.

1939-1940, servant in Kakos of Gjirokastra.

1940 (January-February), apprentice at Veip Runa’s restaurant in Vlora.

1940-1944, carpenter in Xhemal Kasmi’s carpentry in Shkodër.

Until this time, the data proves that the mentioned person did not have any education.

After May 1945, he went from being a partisan, to the forces of the People’s Protection Division, to the ranks of the People’s Police, as well as an investigator in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the years 1951-1952, he was a trainee at the Police School, where he learned to read and write, as well as some elementary principles of police work.

From 15.3.1952 to 15.9.1953, he was commander of the internment camp (surrounded by barbed wire) of Tepelena. In the years 1953-1964, he served in various tasks of the People’s Police, in Shkodër, Elbasan and Skrapar. He was released on 30.5.1964, for “abuse of official position, with the aim of embezzling 5,500 ALL”.

Although with this education, his military career, from sergeant in 1945, took him to major in 1962. When he was serving in the Tepelena camp, he had the rank of lieutenant. Memorie.al