Part One
Who was Llazar Papapostoli?
Memorie.al. Born in the village of Ziçisht – Bilisht, in May 1915, son of Fotini and Dhimitri. He completed primary school in Ziçisht. From 1927–1930, he worked at the “CEKREZI” Printing Press in Tirana. In 1930, he received a scholarship to the American Technical School in Tirana. In 1937, he went to the USA and enrolled at the “ILLINOIS” University, in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. He graduated in June 1941. Until January 1942, he was unemployed. From January 5, 1942, until June 1943, he worked as the secretary of the “Free Albania” Association and director of the newspaper “LIRIA” in New York. In June 1943, at the invitation of Mr. Francis Calleny, he went to Washington, to the O.S.S.
From September 1943, until October 21, 1943, he served in Cairo, at the O.S.S., and at the end of October in Bari, Italy, in the service of the O.S.S., as the deputy of Major Coon, until Harry Fultz arrived. He was stationed in the “Azzon” villa as the person in charge, not only of materials and equipment, but also of the enrollment of Albanians and as a lesson instructor. At the end of October 1944, he left for Albania, with the Albanian Mission at the General Command of the National Liberation Army.
A classmate of Mehmet Shehu at the Fultz Technical School in Albania, he immigrated to America in 1937. In 1943, he took part in the O.S.S. where he earned the pseudonym “Larry Post”. “Larry Post”, an American secret service officer with the rank of major, was Llazar Papapostoli from Ziçisht, Korça, whose life would take another course as soon as he decided to return to Albania in 1944.
Just two years later, at the moment when the world was enveloped by the Cold War, he was arrested by Enver Hoxha’s communist regime, isolated, and sentenced to ten years in prison. He lived alone in a cell, was threatened and abused, and interned! It is said that only Mehmet Shehu maintained direct contact with him until the end of 1974, when he died under mysterious circumstances, while officially his death was published as a heart attack.
Who was the official American Secret Service officer, how did his path begin the moment he emigrated to the USA, why did he return to Albania, why was he isolated, and what was said in his letter found in Mehmet Shehu’s safe on the day he died? The only ones who can tell about the life of Larry Post (Llazar Papapostoli) today are his family members: his son Rudolf, his wife Liza, and her brother, Llambro Labo, the person who stayed with him in prison and was the reason for “Larry Post’s” marriage, a few months after his release from prison.
The mysterious life of this man in the most important period (1946-1958), between Albanian Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and foreign services, mainly American, Italian and Greek. A time that coincides with the establishment of espionage centers in Puglia, Italy, on the Greek border; in Ioannina, Thessaloniki, Florina, where individuals or groups of spies were prepared and directed by the American and British secret services, against the countries of the East, involved in the Cold War, which also included Albania…!
What happened to “Larry Post” (Llazar Papostoli)?
No one knew who was in cell number 1 in the Tirana prison, at “Brraka”. He was isolated so as not to have contact with anyone, at the moment when Koçi Xoxe fell and Mehmet Shehu came to power. “Larry Post” had become a mysterious character for all of us in prison. The old convicts remembered that Koçi Xoxe tortured him in the cell, tying him to a spit, so that the whip would hit all parts of his body.
Llambro Labo thus begins to talk about his acquaintance with “Larry Post”, who after ten years would also become the husband of his sister Jolanda Labo (Liza), the granddaughter of Odise Kasneci and Nase Labo.
The 31-year-old American secret service man was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to ten years in prison, accused according to investigative file no. 1081/3 at the Ministry of Interior; “for participation in the fascist terrorist organization of the Monarchist group, which sought to overthrow the Government, as an intermediary of the foreign reaction to the detriment of the high interests of the Motherland, for participation in all the meetings and decisions issued by this organization for assassinations against the leaders of the government and the people and sabotage to the detriment of reconstruction.”
One night before, while he was in Tirana, Larry Post received a message from Fultz: “You haven’t left yet, what are you doing?” “I decided to leave quickly and entered some alleys to get to ‘Rruga e Elbasanit’, where they had set up an ambush for Me.’Zizi’ with armed forces was waiting for me,” Larry told Labo. This was the moment when people would start talking about the American man with the pseudonym “Larry Post”, a moment that coincided with the period of the breakdown of the American embassy’s relations with the government of that time, which emerged after the departure of the Nazi-Fascists.
The secret testimony of “Larry Post” given during the investigation, about his activity in America
“In June 1943, I was called to Washington by Mr. Francis Collney to meet with him in Washington, while I was in New York as the director of the newspaper ‘LIRIA’. The meeting took place the next day in the office of Mr. Collney, who introduced himself as the official of the American government, who was preparing some Albanians to enter Albania, for the organization of the resistance. For this purpose, they would perform some special courses.
He asked for my approval. I accepted and promised to be at their disposal. He asked for any other Albanians, I recommended Spiro Thanasi and Dhimitër Trebicka. Mr. Francis gave me some forms with all the detailed personal information in three copies. After a few days, I was called on the phone from Washington, to meet with Major Coon, commander of the O.S.S. for Albania.
Coon, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University, approximately 50 years old, had been to Northern Albania before. Coon treated us in detail about the difficult mission in Albania and the task that fell on us for physical preparation and special courses. For physical preparation, they sent me to Zone A, outside Washington.
Coon, who in turn introduced me to Captain Hans Taft, who would work with us, asked for me. They sent us to Zone B, another camp near Washington. In this camp, the conspiracy in all directions was stronger. Here I took the name Larry Post.
We were approximately 60 people. We were subjected to lectures.
Propaganda with Prof. Essere Shine, Shefren, and a Spaniard, Topography with Prof. Forest, and weapon training with the English Major Fainlan. After a three-week course, we went to Washington, where we stayed for five days. Then they took me for two weeks to a farm near Washington, where we only repeated the lessons. Every week I met Dr. Coon and Taft in Washington for explanations.
After two weeks of staying on the farm, they took me to a small town near Baltimore. I stayed for five days and got acquainted with the weapons and ammunition of all states. I returned to Washington and prepared the documents and passport, etc., to leave for Albania. Coon and Taft left first, later Angela Mitro, etc. I left by plane for Scotland-Cairo. I left on September 27, 1943, on the Scotland-Casablanca-Algeria-Cairo route.
In Cairo, we stayed for three weeks in the O.S.S. office, but I did not meet Coon and Taft. I was introduced to the O.S.S. Commander for Albania, Lieutenant Wells, the son of Vice President Sumnur Wells. I also met Major Mc One, who was the head of SI for Albania. Coon and Taft returned and we left for Bari, where we set up the S.B.S. office. To get to Bari, we followed the Cairo-Tunisia-Algeria-Bari route.
I and Captain Taft, with the help of Mr. Mc BANI, had to get in contact with Albanians. We were placed in Villa AZZORE, Via Re David, and Villa ROSE in Carbunare, where courses were held with other Albanians. The courses ended in March 1944. The professors were Cook, Fultz, Angelo Prifti, etc. I wanted to come to Albania with a mission, but I was denied it with various pretexts. They told me I would only go as an Albanian.
I requested my resignation and a letter of thanks for the service in the USA signed by Edwart Green. It was decided that I would leave. Fultz’s directive was that I should introduce myself to the American Mission in Albania and work with Tom (Thoma STEFANI). At the end of October 1944, we left Bari-Kakome and then with another motorboat, we arrived in Saranda, where we stayed one night. We continued to Delvina-Gjirokastër-Këlcyrë-Berat. In Berat, I presented myself to the General Command of the Movement. They received me well.
They introduced me to Myslym Peza, Haxhi Lleshi, Isuf Kambo, Gaqo Progri, Sejfulla Malëshova, Ymer Dishnica. Before I introduced myself to them, I handed Tom a sealed envelope from Fultz. Tom, after studying Fultz’s directives, instructed me to stay a few days with the personalities of the Movement, to get a job, since it was the eve of liberation. The Albanian Command sent me to Tirana.
I arrived two days before the liberation of the city. I presented myself to Mehmet Shehu and Dali Ndreu, who sent me to the IV Brigade. In May 1945, Fultz came and I went and met him at the Mission. Since I had been unemployed for approximately 10 months and was being compromised, Fultz found me a job at UNRRA and to lose my tracks, he sent me to Durrës. From December 2, 1945, until the arrests began, I met Fultz twice. He told me: “They still haven’t arrested you; you must leave secretly on an UNRRA ship!” I tried to leave, but it was impossible!
Why was “Larry Post” kept isolated, what happened to him after his arrest?!
In Italy, as an American envoy to take part in the Mediterranean Staff, as the main representative of the Allies, which was not done, while the British preferred Rundolf Churchill, Churchill’s son, “Larry Post” came into contact with the head of the Yugoslav mission, Colonel Velebit.
There he got in touch with the leaders of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, meeting with the first missionaries of the A.N.L.A. (Albanian National Liberation Army), Halim Budo and another person named Sala. He came to Albania accompanied by the delegation of the Yugoslav Anti-Fascist Woman, led by Olga Kavaçiç.
He was received in Berat by Velim Stojniç, the head of the Yugoslav mission in Albania. In this city, he met with all the leaders, except Koçi Xoxe. Enver Hoxha sent him to Tirana, to see the liberation war of the capital. This would be the moment that for “Larry Post”, would bring the time of his fall.
Surveillance and isolation began for him. He was sent to the IV Assault Brigade, where an attempt was made to eliminate him, according to the testimony left during the investigation. After the liberation, he worked for UNRRA, where he also contributed to the escape of Albanians to Italy through Durrës, as the only person who had the opportunity to board a ship. He was arrested in December 1946.
“In cell no. 1, he was also tortured by Koçi Xoxe, who asked what ‘Larry Post’ had given to Enver Hoxha. “I told him nothing and he asked for nothing, I only gave him a watch from America,” Llambro Labo recalls, from the conversation he had with “Larry Post”. Labo continues to tell that the arrival of Mehmet Shehu instead of Koçi Xoxe would offer another way of punishment for “Larry Post”.
Until the date he was released from prison, on January 23, 1956, “Larry Post” was not met by anyone, except for his sister, married in Tirana, Nastasia Duma, and some officials. “When the doors opened and Larry Post came out of the cell, he held his head up and looked sideways, shaken,” Labo testifies.
When they had the opportunity to communicate, before he was isolated, Llambro had given Larry permission to go to his house for a visit after he was released from prison. This was the moment when the secret service major met Labo’s sister, Jolanda, whom they called Liza. He decided to go to his hometown, in Ziçisht, Korça.
But, according to the investigative file no. 1081/3, after he was released, “since he again carried out hostile activities and since he had shown tendencies to escape, as his village was near the Greek border, the Commission of Internment and Expulsion, with decision no. 5, dated July 16, 1956, decided to intern him in Shtyllas of Fier, for five years. The period of internment started on July 16, 1965, and ended on July 16, 1961. This measure of punishment was repeated.”
At the same time, the expulsion of Jolanda’s family was decided as a reactionary family, where her brother and father were serving their sentences in prison. They left to find shelter in Kavaja. Liza went to meet her brother Llambro in Zadrima, Lezha, where the prisoners had been sent to dig the big channel of the field, and she told him that; “I have decided to get engaged to Larry”.
“From here, the married life of ‘Larry Post’ with my sister Liza began, where they had children, Greiss and Rudolf. They were placed in the internment camp on the ‘Çlirimi’ farm in Fier. The only person who kept in touch with him was me. I learned that the only one who kept in touch and often came to the camp were Mehmet Shehu’s people,” Llambro recalls. One day, when he was in the nursery garden, where he was the only one who worked without having a connection with anyone else, except his family, Mehmet Shehu came down to “Larry”. When one of the guards grabbed Rudolf by both arms, “Larry Post” said: “He is my son”.
For Llambro, what Mehmet asked of his brother-in-law remains a mystery, while he was given the right to move only with permission to Lushnja and Berat. “One day when I was in a meeting, just as we used to meet, where ‘Larry’ often did not speak at all, Remzi Ndreu was with us. He says to me: What do you say about the union with Yugoslavia? This is not a solution for Albania, I tell him in a moment.
He shook his head in approval and not a single word was spoken again. At that time, in the “Transatlantic”, it was said that the meeting had taken place between Mehmet Shehu, Tito, Fultz, and Randolph Churchill. They were looking for something from Larry,” says Llambro. He remembers well the day when Llazar Papapostoli managed to get a permit for Berat, allegedly to have his eyes checked.
When he returned, he told me: “I met the Doctor (Ymer Dishnica), nothing more.” Llazar had his relations cut off; he had told me this with his own mouth. “Llambro,” he told me, “they have cut my connections with everyone, I can’t even send a letter to Enver Hoxha,” says Llambro. “Larry Post” after all those years in prison and internment, had sent a letter to Enver Hoxha and asked him for a plea for the children. The answer to the letter came from the Ministry of Interior.
“You will receive an answer from Mehmet Shehu,” it said. According to Llambro, at this time “Larry Post” had lost hope. One day he left the camp to buy something in Pojani, Fier. In the evening he had told Drita Kosturi, who promised that they would go together. In the morning, Kosturi refused, making an excuse. “The road went through the stream,” Llambro recalls. “Larry” was seen turning on that road, entering the curve, but not coming out again. Two days later he was found and sent to the hospital, where it was said that he died of a heart attack.”
“A year earlier,” Llambro recalls, “‘Larry Post’ had told him that one day while he was drinking coffee at the camp cafe, he was given a cigarette, he couldn’t even smoke it three times, while he had suffered a stroke and fallen. The doctor told him he had a heart attack…! This was the end for the mysterious man Llazar Papapostoli, or otherwise known as “Larry Post”, whose pseudonym would be mentioned by Enver Hoxha in his works “The Titoists”, “The Danger of the Anglo-Americans”, etc., but without anyone speaking at length about him…! / Memorie.al
To be continued in the next issue
