By Enida Himaj
Part Two
Rukie Rama: “I was not arrested like everyone else, I was stolen and sent to Tirana, where in my trial, there were 43 sold-out witnesses, whom I met later”.
Memorie.al / They convicted her of politics for fleeing abroad, when something like that had never crossed her mind. Rukie Rama’s arrest, in the winter of ’75, did not resemble any of the stories we are used to hearing during the regime, despite the fact that it was presented as such. The motive for handcuffing the beautiful teacher from the Tropoja Mountains was not related to hostility towards the system. Rukie Rama had fallen victim to hostility: She had refused to submit to a high-ranking Sigurimi official and had ended up in a punishment cell. Her story would eventually be collected in a ‘secret’ type of file, with fictional names and events, which did not contain anywhere the truth of the punishment.
Continued from the previous issue
However, she, with the strength of her character, was able to overcome this and rise stronger, to strongly denounce it, so that such fates would not be experienced by her friends. Punished by the beauty and greed of the powerful of the system, she discovered another unknown aspect, the perverse character of the representatives of the regime. In an exclusive interview, Rukie Rama agrees to show the true “file” of her drama, pointing the finger at the protagonist who ordered the opening of the ghost file, which would steal the most beautiful days of her youth.
“My file was opened by Feçor Shehu, when I refused to go to bed one night with a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Interior.” Beyond the debates about the opening of the files, which has recently engulfed Tirana, Rukie Rama, conveys from Brussels, where she has been living for years, the sad message that the process may now be unreliable, not only for the long delays, but also for the compromising way in which they have been operated with during this time by the official authorities…!
“Feçor Shehu has used his official position for sexual favors.” Beyond this accusation, which was convicted among others, the former Minister of Interior of the communist regime, Rukie Rama, the Tropojan who spent her youth in the hell of the dictatorship’s prisons, recounts this shocking event, which sheds light on this bastard vice of the former head of the secret police at that time.
“It was two o’clock in the morning on August 22, 1974,” she says, “when they took me from my cell and took me to another room. There, along with the area operative, Feçor Shehu appeared who, as soon as he saw me, ordered me to remove my hairpin. He immediately jumped up from where he was and attacked me like a rabid dog. I don’t know where I found the strength and I pulled his arms away with all my hatred. The other person who was standing there, when he saw that the boss’s attempt was unsuccessful, tried to cool his temper. “You bad bitch, worse and worse, you’ll get your way,” Feçor muttered through his teeth, opened the door and disappeared like a shadow.
Following the interview from the previous issue, Rukie Rama reveals the circumstances of her arrest, the role of the former head of the State Security in her arrest, the profile of the 43 witnesses and secret collaborators of the secret police, with whom she was confronted directly, but not only during the process, the experiences after confronting them after being released from prison, and the many worries about the youth lost in the dark cells of the communist dictatorship…!
Ms. Rukie, under what circumstances were you arrested and what was the charge that was communicated to you at the moment you were put in handcuffs?
This is one of the most difficult questions that I can answer, since the circumstances are as complex as they are mysterious. Two weeks before I was arrested, I was officially called to communicate my appointment as director of education in the area.
It was a time when a reorganization of education was taking place and this task seemed difficult to me, since the schools in the Bytyç area were scattered throughout the area, the means of transportation were few, and for a young girl, it was not easy to move on foot, since the schools were two hours away, starting from Paci, Kami, Berisha, and all the way to Zogaj.
For this reason, I refused the new task, without knowing what would happen next. To those who offered me, I replied that I wanted to serve in the school in my village, also for a personal reason, since my mother had health problems. Just a few days later, what I did not expect happened…!
Who communicated the arrest order to you and how did this happen, at a time when only a few days earlier, you had been proposed a responsible task?!
I will not forget this moment until I die. It was August 17, 1974. Together with my sister, we set off to join our family, who were in the mountains. As if God had planned that meeting, this was the only occasion that the whole family gathered in Sulbica. Lokja (my mother) prepared a dinner with all the goodies.
If only we had known that it would be the last meeting, we would have stayed together that night, all sitting on a carpet, exchanging various conversations, remembering everything from our childhood, until dawn. We were face to face with Gjerovica and the breeze seemed to reflect us in that clarity of our eyes, that unforgettable night. At dawn, it found us awake.
My brother Sadiku, as the eldest in the family, suggested that we have lunch at the upper Rudinas, where the mountain lakes were. And so we did. So, August 18th turned into a family celebration. It was this last meeting, where we all celebrated together, because I couldn’t find my brother, Sadiku, when I got out of prison, because he had died. At the moment when we were going down from Rudinas to the camp, the commander of the border post sent two soldiers to inform me that they were urgently looking for me at “Bajram Curri”.
I don’t know why, but in a moment, that whole happy situation was ruined and it seemed to us like a bad smell, spreading everywhere. No one had any idea that it was a treacherous trap. The next day, August 19, over ten times, soldiers sent by their commander came again, repeating the request and ultimatum that I had to go down to “Bajram Curri”. On August 20, at 5 o’clock in the morning, I set off there, without knowing why…!
Did it occur to you that you had been called to be arrested?
At that moment I could imagine anything, but that they could never arrest me. That day, my brother, Mehmet, who lived in Shkodra, accompanied me and I remember that as we parted ways at the Zogaj fence, he told me: “Take care of you”. These words seemed to burn me, but I didn’t have time to think long. I ran to catch up with my fellow villagers and together with them we entered old Tropoja, around 7 o’clock in the morning. When I arrived, we went to have breakfast at a canteen where a niece of our family was serving. At the tables nearby, as rarely before, were sitting some employees of the Internal Affairs Branch.
Hajria, a beautiful and very noble woman, came to meet me and said under her breath: “What’s wrong with you, my dear, and all this noise today”?! We placed the order and while we were eating, one of these Branch operatives came and with strange warmth, met us and proposed that we travel in one of their cars, which was going to “Bajram Curri”!
We accepted right away. We went with them to the city. As soon as I got off, I left in a hurry, to be on time for the meeting that had been scheduled for me. It was 10:30 on Thursday, August 20, 1974.
I climbed the steps of the Party Committee, with tempting curiosity, to know the reason for being summoned so urgently, since I was not a party member! I was simply a teacher, a simple professional, an activist for the good of the people and my country. For a moment, it was as if my legs went weak, as if my heart trembled and my mouth became bitter.
I do not know why this state came to me, from which I was shaken, the confrontation with one of the noble men of Tropoja, an extraordinary reader of literature, Sherif Malësia. “Director, come down from Sulbica – she says to me – as we greet each other, – you brought with you the scent of Gjerovica flowers”?!
I tell her; they have called me to the Committee, I don’t know why?! “As if they were going to start with service”, she said to me and we parted. One of the instructors, who knew me, as soon as he saw me, told me that they were waiting for me in the office of the First Secretary. The door knocks and as I enter, the portrait of the Secretary appears to me, next to who, majestically, sat the head of the Internal Branch of Tropoja.
From the beginning, they receive me with criticism, because I had allegedly refused the task, but then they soften it, telling me that I would urgently leave for Tirana, from where I would get something, for the “Bajram Curri” museum, which was being built. For the moment I was surprised, but in fact I was very passionate about historical topics and some time ago, I had worked with a colleague, for some figures of Tropoja, although I was a math teacher.
When did you understand the alibi, for the unexpected trip?
According to the task they gave me, I went to the travel agency to buy a ticket. When the service counter told me that they were finished, an employee of the Internal Affairs Branch approached me, found there “by chance”, who had worked in my area for eight years and after approaching me, addressed me with a pretended attitude: “Where are you going, teacher”?
I explained it without offense. Meanwhile, he approached me and right there, he answered me: “Do you have work waiting for you, or do you have an emergency, because tomorrow we will travel to Tirana, in a Branch car”? For a moment I felt good, but I quickly changed my mind and shot back: “No, thank you.”
The virginity certificate that defied State Security…!
The process of Rukie Rama was not easy for the secret police, for the very secret motive for which they had crucified her. After 13 months of investigation, the first alarm signal appeared. Occurring on a good day, the prosecutor of the case would declare the bad news: “None of the denunciations against Rukie Rama are true”! This meant freedom for Paci’s teacher, who had been arrested for agitation and propaganda.
But the officials who had ordered her arrest could not agree with this. Then another accusation was raised, for the girl from Tropoja. A witness was found to prove to the investigator that he had been her lover for years and that in intimate moments with her, he had confessed with the intention of escaping.
This time, the pride and dignity of the highland girl, who guards it as the most sacred thing in life, would be struck. And it would take strength to convince them that she didn’t know this deviant at all, let alone had made love to him. Rukie Rama would insist to the investigators that everything was a vile fabrication.
That she had not only not loved anyone yet, but was also a virgin. The teacher from Tropoja, with her own mouth, would request the relevant analyzes, to confirm justice, the truth, to unravel the intrigue of the “lover”. To get to the certificate of virginity, Paci’s teacher had to go through other vicissitudes. As she describes them, Rukie Rama remembers:
“It was 6:00 in the morning of January 20, ’75, when they took me from my cell and tied me hand and foot and put me in the ‘Gaz’ of the Branch. In the seat where I was sitting, two Sigurimi employees were sitting next to me on both sides. In the seat next to the driver, sat a high-ranking official of the time, of course, from the Internal Affairs Branch.
It was a very cold day, with snow, frost and ice. I had set off without eating anything. They didn’t even let me take a bottle of water with me. We walked along the roads of Qafë e Mali and when we arrived in Tirana, it was 7:00 in the evening. A full 13 hours, tied hand and foot, without eating and without performing any personal needs.
At first my hands started to turn black, because I couldn’t feel my feet at all, but then they turned completely black and numb. I was going to I was doing an expertise, for my honor. How beautiful the words sound, that people use in special moments, when they see or hear something that is not right, “open up and swallow it”! All the way, they talked and laughed, as if nothing was wrong.
They stopped from time to time to eat bread and drink coffee. I, always tied to the car, like a log. And so on until this procedure was over. For a few days, I had to become a resident of the Tirana prison. I remember like now a humane guard, called Myrvete, who helped me, like her daughter, with a lot of care and love.
However, all these hardships from Tropoja to Tirana would be worth it. That certificate from the laboratory would refute the testimony of the Sigurimi collaborator, to whom I had told in intimate moments that I would betray my homeland and escape. Now that document, which scientifically confirmed my virginity, would fall like a bomb on all those who had organized this trap. This time, everything would go back to square one.
But up to this point, I had done pretty well. Every time I remember this pain, I think of that highlander, who, when her two sons were killed at once, sat between the two corpses to mourn them and began to say: “The mother will live, son, because the mind has roots.”
I feel, therefore, reasonable to say this expression, in those moments, because the mind truly had roots. Well, this caravan of my suffering lasted for many years; I experienced much torture from people without humanity, from people without a backbone, from heartless people. And these, never and for nothing, will ask for forgiveness, because they are sadists,” concludes her story, Rukie Rama. Memorie.al
