Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown letter of the legend of the Albanian Circus, “People’s Artist” Telat Agolli, addressed to Enver Hoxha in 1982. Agolli: “Feçori told me, you are our man, we as a party and Security need to help us and to say that the Haxhihalili brothers are UDB agents, that they were sent here for certain purposes, that when you were in Yugoslavia you were given orders for them in the UDB offices, etc.
Telat Agolli, or as he is otherwise known and as the legend of the Albanian Circus, (he had entered that tent since he was 13 years old), while he was at the peak of his splendor and artistic career, suddenly one beautiful day, sees himself under handcuffs and locked in one of the cells of the Tirana Investigation. Even being accused as an agent of UDB and in his investigative process assisted the highest cadres and officials of the State Security of her time, up to the Deputy Minister of Interior, Feçorr Shehu. All those who lived at that time, remember that the arrest of the great master of the Albanian Circus, was followed with great fanfare among the people and was rumored for a long time, not only for the fact that he was a well-known name, but also for what was said and whispered about him, during the time he was arrested and held in the Tirana Investigation. For example, it was said that he had burned the Circus Tent in Saranda, which was spread by the State Security itself, in order to make his arrest as credible as possible to the people and the general public?! Although Telati appeared in a trial in several instances and was convicted and suffered for more than six years in Spaç prison, the truth of his beating remained for a long time covered with fog?! This even after he came out of prison gaining innocence and returning back to the Circus, with all the rights that had previously been denied. Even after the overthrow of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime, the great master of the Albanian Circus refused to ever speak publicly about his tragic fate and everything that had happened to him, in those most terrible years of his life and family as well. … ?! He remained faithful to this silence until he passed away a few years ago (October 13, 2016) in the US, where he had gone to visit his family. But what happened to him and why was he punished? In this regard, we know this letter that we are publishing below, where Agolli tries to explain to the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, all the injustices or physical and mental torture that were done to him, by Feçor Shehu and his people of the State Security. And according to archival documents, the famous master of the Circus, did not complain about his arrest and unjust sentence, only after the arrest and beating of Feçorr Shehu, but that he has done since Feçorri was at the peak of his power. Which leaves no room for speculation or doubt that everything he has written there, (from the position of an honest and idealistic man), is not stifled by him. But he became a tragic victim of the State Security phalanxes and their intrigues, as did many other writers and artists, who had the misfortune to be swallowed up by the gears of that monstrous regime.
Letter of Telat Agollit
Comrade Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of K.Q. of the ALP.
Tirana.
Comrade Enver
I am Telat Agolli, a printing worker at the age of 14 whom the Party helped to become the founder of our first Circus and People’s Artist, but who then, the enemy of the Party Feçor Shehu, after trying to make it a tool for his purposes dark against the Party and its leadership, threw him in jail for 6 whole years. I emphasize from the beginning that not only today, when the Party revealed the vileness of this traitor but also when he had great power, I twice in a row (once from Spaç prison in 1977 and once from Tirana Hospital in 1979, by regular delivery of prisoners mail) I have sent you two letters to clarify the following circumstances in which my arrest and conviction took place. Becoming clear, that those letters were not delivered to you, now you and the Party have forgiven me the freedom, I am doing this for the third time, taking criminal responsibility for all that I write here.
“My misfortune, visits to uncles in Yugoslavia”
My misfortune is related to my visit to my uncles in Yugoslavia and the fact that I have had and still have family friendships with the families of Abdurrahman and Dinçe Haxhimihali, residents of Tirana, repatriated from Yugoslavia and whom I have married, since their sister Nadire, is married in Ohrid to my uncle Fejaz Rifati. In 1971, after the Ministry of Education had officially talked to Feçor Shehu to go to a circus tent in Italy or Yugoslavia, he stopped me one day before the District Court and told me to go to the Tirana Directorate of Internal Affairs to get my passport. to Yugoslavia, where I would go as a visitor. Thus, without making a request for such a thing myself, I went to Yugoslavia to my people and stayed for two months. I was very surprised when upon my return, different people warned me and I myself was finding out that the Security organs were following me. This impressed me greatly, but it did not frighten me that I knew I had held a dignified stay in Yugoslavia and was clean before my Party and state, which had the confidence to send me there.
“Në Sarandë më arrestaun dhe më lidhën si kriminel”
Për habinë time të madhe më 24.6.1976, kur isha në turne në Sarandë, më arrestuan dhe më sollën të lidhur si kriminel në Tiranë ku më njoftuan se akuzohesha se isha agjent i UDB-së. E hodha poshtë me vendosmëri këtë akuzë sa të turpshme dhe aq të pabesuar që më bëhej. Megjithatë më hodhën në një birucë izolimi ne hetuesinë e Tiranës dhe filluan pyetjet e pambarueshme të hetuesve dhe presionet që unë të pranoja faje, të paqëna të cilat vazhduan për 13 muaj të tëra. Kohët e para kisha për hetues një të ri, Nasho Gjinopulli, i cili megjithëse bënte ç’mos që unë të pranoja akuzën, nuk u soll keq me mua, ndoshta sepse edhe vetë po e kuptonte se ato që më kërkoheshin ishin fare pa bazë. Ndërsa unë vazhdoja të sqarohesha për gabimin eventual që mund të kishin bërë dhe ngulja këmbë në mohimin e akuzës, më erdhi dy herë Kadri Gojashi, zv Drejtor i Përgjithshëm i Sigurimit. Duke më marrë në një dhomë vetëm për vetëm, ky filloi të më merrte me të mirë, që unë të pranoja se isha agjent i UDB-së. Kur unë i përgjigjesha se isha bir besnik i Partisë dhe i popullit, ai përpiqej të më mbushte mëndjen se në rast se unë me të vërtetë e doja Partinë, duhej të pranoja ato që kërkoheshin nga unë, pasi kështu e kërkonin interesat e Partisë, e cila priste prej meje gjëra të mëdha për të demaskuar revizionistët jugosllavë. Meqënëse unë nuk kisha dhe as dija gjëra të mëdha, pas disa kohësh të pakënaqur nga gjëndja e hetimeve ia dhanë çështjen time hetuesit Koço Josifi.
“Hetuesi Koço Josifi më godiste egërsisht mua”
Krejt ndryshe nga hetuesi i parë Koço, sillej shumë egërsisht. Ai përpiqej ta arrinte qëllimin me presione, friksime, shantazhe, duke më sjellur në qeli për 8 muaj B. X. me anën e të cilit më kurdisi lloj lloj provokacionesh, të cilat i dështonin sepse unë isha i pafajshëm dhe nuk kisha asgjë për të mbajtur të fshehtë. I nevrikosur nga kjo, njëherë Koço pasi më goditi, mu kërcënua duke më thënë, Prano të them, se për ty bien telefonat për ditë dhe nga ti presim gjëra të mëdha. Mos mbaj shpresë te gjyqi se ai është formal, gjyq jemi ne sepse ne të dënojmë dhe ne të falim etj. Në muaji Dhjetor i pakënaqur prej meje, një paradite Koço, më mori dhe më çoi në një dhomë. Këtu pas pak erdhi Feçor Shehu, kurse Koço doli jashtë dhe na la vetëm. (Hollësitë e këtij takimi ia thashë mjaft kohë para lirimit tim Kryetarit të Degës së Rrëshenit B. Pelës. Më është thënë se Feçori mohon të më ketë marrë fare në pyetje, por këtë e din mirë ai). Kur i thashë se jam i pafajshëm dhe se nuk po kuptoja se pse veprohet kështu me mua, Feçori u përgjigj: “Ti je njeriu ynë, ne si parti dhe Sigurim kemi nevojë të na ndihmosh dhe të thuash se vëllezërit Haxhihalili janë agjentë të UDB-së, se ata janë dërguar këtu për qëllime të caktuara, se kur ke qënë në Jugosllavi, ty të kanë dhënë në zyrat e UDB-së porosi për ata etj”.
“Feçori said that UDB had given me an order for Haxhi Lleshi”
Astonished by what my ears were hearing, I had the courage to interrupt and tell him; Comrade Feçor, what are you saying, they are honest people and respected by the Yugoslavs. Then they are the sons of his wife Nexhmije Hoxha aunt?! Feçori answered me; nothing Wires, we know all this. You should even say without fear what they have ordered you in the UDB offices and what they have told you about your wife Nexhmije, Haxhi Lleshi or any other friend, whoever he is and his post. We, these Wires, Feçori continued, only need to have them in the archive and to discredit those Yugoslavs when the time comes, because now we have good relations with them (this was the essence of the conversation that I can to reproduce it completely if I am given the opportunity to confront F. Shehu). Although I did not understand why such things were being asked of me, I was shocked and frightened by Feçor’s words. I saw that I had finished myself, but I told him that I would not say what was required of me about the Hajj and anyone else here. Irritated, Feçori got up and before leaving he ordered me to think well about everything, because I would take myself in my arms. At this time Koço came in and Feçori said to him: “Koço, I talked to Telati, in case he does not say what we need, use other methods”. When Feçori left, Koço said to me: “Hey, you see who is interested in you, so say that everything you say is in the interest of the Party”. After that, the interrogations continued again and again, at any time of the day or night, pressures and provocations in the conditions of the unbearable spiritual and physical life of the isolation cell./Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
