Dashnor Kaloçi
Part twenty-four
Memorie.al publishes some parts of the voluminous autobiographical book in manuscript “Beautiful land, ugly people” (memories from hell) by the author, Kasem Hoxha, originally from the village of Markat in Saranda and living in the USA since 1985, when he fled Albania after suffering ten years in the prisons of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime. The whole sad and painful story of Kaso Hoxha, from the life and hard work in his village in the southernmost part of the country, the dissatisfaction with the regime and the first poems of a political nature, how they fell into the hands of the State Security and who were his relatives who spied on him, the arrest in the office of the Chairman of the People’s Council of Markat village, by the State Security on June 21, 1973, the investigation in the Saranda Branch of Internal Affairs, the trial against him and the sentence with 10 years in prison for “agitation and propaganda”, staying in “Kaushin” of Tirana (Ward 313), and the prisoners he found there, being sent to Spaç and working in that camp with criminal and “soft” police officers, the accomplices of description of their “portraits” with positive and negative sides, release from prison and return to the countryside, escape to Greece and stay in the Lavros camp, gaining political asylum in the USA, correspondence with Amnesty International, e London branch, inf information with the data he sent to the prisoners of Spaç and the communist regime in Albania, to the creation of a new family and life and work in that distant place with the Cham community divided by the intrigues of the people of the State Security from Albania operating there.
Excerpts from the manuscript book, “Beautiful land, ugly people“, (memories from hell) of the author, Kasem Hoxha, sent by him exclusively for Memorie.al
Prologue
Dear readers!
Do not pay attention to the title I am presenting to you, I mean, if you are not patient to read this collection of memoirs, if you want to forgive the author, that his style is pale, uninspired before this drama of great, of my people, of my martyred nation.
My characters are not created by my imagination, but are real people, they are your brothers, your fathers, your relatives. The events are not fictional, but real and lived. You will convince yourself, only after reading this summary with memories. You will find something from your life, something real from the lives of your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, how they suffered and how they died.
I wrote this collection of memories about the legacy left to me by my friends, for the world to learn the truth, how innocent people were tortured, how they suffered, how they died, in the camps and prisons of the executioner, Enver Hoxha!
I go with the hope that any reader, Albanian or foreign, is not left with hatred, from criticism, beating opposing opinions, as it is the best way to find the truth. The title of the book, “Beautiful land, ugly people”, will anger the reader, but in the end, I will conclude that I have the right to call it “The 45-year era of the satanic communist regime of Enver Hoxha”: Ugly.
I, alas, for the misfortune I had, saw and lived the great drama that happened before my eyes. I am neither a poet nor a orator, I will need hard work to escape the literary mistakes in this historical book, which can inspire future poets and writers, on the tragedy of our time, of the darkest time of my nation !
Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all freedom and peace…!
Kaso Hoxha.
Llavrio, Greece 1985
Continued from the previous issue
Tied feet and hands on the pole in front of the prison and frozen by the cold!
When the savages were staring at me like that, they were laughing, grinning with some rotten and blackened teeth that disgusted their two ugly bastard faces even more!
The icy cold froze my body and was getting into my bones, my nose was breaking, my ears and my hands and feet did not feel like I had mine! The blood in my hands was blocked and they were swollen and made me fly, an unbearable pain.
How strong is man?! The soul does not come out so easily. I gathered all my physical strength and made my heart stone. I looked up at the sky, where you could see nothing but the stars in that golden sky! Stuck as I was freezing and in pain in my soul, I prayed to God to give me the strength to face these sufferings and tortures.
– “O God, have I committed such grave sins in my life?! I have always guarded with confidence in your strength, help me, get me out of the clutches of these beasts “, I prayed with my mind not taking my eyes off the sky, focused on billions of stars, in that infinity all fire. The clocks seemed to move, it seemed to me that that unforgettable night would never dawn, that difficult night that can never be erased from my memory. In that dream, I lost consciousness and so tied up, hung behind the pillar, death is sweet, nothing hurts anymore!
The policeman who came out from time to time and saw me, asked me to beg him to pick me up and agree to work in the gallery, but I did not give him any answer. I accepted death under heaven, rather than death inside the mine! In the morning, I found myself lying in the police barracks, with my hands and feet tied, with a container of warm water. The hut was heated by a stove bubbling with fire. I felt my heart start beating, I felt blood start circulating in my frozen body that hurt so much from the cold.
It was 6 o’clock in the morning and the prisoners had all left the gallery, waiting for the order to enter the prison.
“Get up, mascara,” shouted the policeman. “Better like that, or work,” he continued. I did not reply at all, looking at those bastard faces with hatred. My co-workers brought me clothes and when they saw that I was in a bad mood, they came to help me take off my overalls and get dressed. I hated them both, not that they were the perpetrators of that torture, but that they obeyed orders and accepted death without objecting!
Thorough control of the cops, in the icy cold!
I gathered all my strength and got up on the numb legs that I could not command, and with difficulty I got dressed and left the barracks. The policeman tied me again with bars in his hands, but did not squeeze them so much! The prisoners prepared for the check, in front of the prison gate. Four police officers checked them by inserting their hands in every part of the body, where the boots should be held in the hand, together with the hat.
The prisoners waited for more than an hour for this barefoot control over the ice. After they were all finished, the guard officer counted them according to the brigades. When all the prisoners entered, the policeman picked me up who had left me tied up away from the prisoners. He introduced me to the guard officer and reported: “Comrade guard officer, this convict will not work in the mine, he opposed me and agitated his comrades not to work either.” He said this almost breathlessly, in front of the officer.
Officer Jovan Andoni noticed me with remarks and addressed me: “What you do not work, you are also a young boy”, he said, closing the block of minutes.
– “I do not work there, where the Technical Security regulation does not allow me”, I returned immediately. Formally the Command spoke to the prisoners to follow the Technical Security regulation.
– “So hëëë…, you have decided not to work, take a non-commissioned officer Gjini and go inside and you know, you do not need instruction”!
– “How do you order boss”, answered happily policeman Gjin M., one of the biggest executioners of Spaç prison, who grabbed me by the arm and dragged me, gritted his teeth like a hungry savage that has just thrown on the ground to rip his victim to pieces!
– “Hmmm, I will not touch your face?! harlequin, makes Gjin M., to realize the norm and look for work again. Have you not heard who Gjin M is?! It sticks you like the best on the ground, bad face “, exclaimed policeman Gjini, until he took me near the dungeons. When we approached, he stopped me and told me not to drag my feet and in May of my toes, he approached over the rail carrier that covered the dungeon corridor, keeping an eye on which of the prisoners was talking inside the cells!
Policeman Gjin M., beat Pashk Pashku from Bërdica, why did he laugh…!
Pashk Pashku., A 50-year-old man from Bërdica in Shkodra, was short, telling a story to Dod Mirit, from the Kruja district.
– “Hauuu…, Pashk Pashku, tell me the story…”, the way Gjin M. spoke, made you laugh even though you were in such a depressed mood!
The policeman opened the iron gate of the dungeons and gave me an order to undress, he opened the dungeon no. 2 where Pashuku was. He ordered her to go out into the corridor, which was water and ice. He lifted the black scythe he was holding around his neck and dropped it violently on his head, but Pashuku avoided it and grabbed him by the shoulder.
– “lie down upside down, harlequin, because if he cuts his beard”, he exhaled and Pashuku lay on the ground in water and ice, while policeman Gjini climbed on his back and was crushing the corpse of that old man with all his strength! Pashuk’s bones ached and he cried out in pain, but the policeman did not want to know! Prisoners of dungeon no. 4, laughed at the gestures of that idiot, who was leaving a name!
Regulation of how you should behave in dungeons!
– “Hauuu, whoever laughs here, gets bad faces”, said policeman Gjini and opened the door counter.
“Nobody laughs here, Commander Gjini,” replied Fatbardh Frashëri, a prisoner from Tirana who had served ten years in prison.
But, Dullë American, as we prisoners talked, could not contain his laughter and laughed in the eyes of policeman Gjini!
– “Hauu, you laugh, bad face, let me fix it, don’t worry”, and I start with…, forgetting me and Pashuk who were in the corridor.
” lie down upside down, harlequin,” he shouted.
Dulla was a coward and begged him not to repeat it, but he did not want to know and sewed boots on his back, crushing his bones. As he was satisfied, the policeman ordered him to get up, but Dulla was confused.
– “Why are you looking at me, clown?! Fatbardh Frashëri, this convict does not know the rules”?!
“No, Commander Gjini, he has never been in prison,” Bardhi replied.
– “Clear bathroom rules of the convict”.
– “As you command, listen to Dullë: You have it first, you must keep in mind that Commander Gjini, does what your mind does not expect”.
(Gini enjoyed bragging and was overjoyed if you told him: “You are the only police officer with authority in 303”).
- Conversation is forbidden in the dungeon; you just have to think about the guilt you have committed.
- When the policeman enters, you should stand up with your head down, looking at your feet, ready.
- Any kind of game is forbidden.
- It is forbidden to sing or cry out loud.
- You must perform the actions with great speed, especially when Gjini is the commander.
- It is forbidden to flash at friends in other dungeons.
“These are the messiah I, Commander Gjini”, said Bardhi with an irony, which he did not understand.
– “You are clear, harlequin, repeat once more if you want, that he finds out who Gjin M. is”, and came out of the dungeon closing the door of dungeon no. 4.
– “Put inside you harlequin”, he shouted to Pashuku who was standing, shivering from the cold that was entering his marrow.
“But you, bad face, you are not ready yet,” he told me as I stood in the corner of the dungeon corridor.
– “I am almost”, I told him that I had removed the sweater and a torn pair of hoods that I had thrown on the ground. The police checked me to see if I had anything forbidden or extra clothes. In the dungeon, only a pair of dock pants, a shirt and a summer jacket were allowed. At 9 o’clock in the evening, give an old blanket.
Isolation in Dungeon no. 1, where I found Aristotle from Derviçan
The police opened dungeon no. 1 and dropping me on the black cartridge, pushed me inside. Inside, Aristotle was waiting for me on his feet, trembling from the cold. I shook his hand and we made the ground without speaking, because policeman Gjini was at the door closing it with a padlock. When he left, I asked him how much he had been sentenced to in the cell, and he told me that it was a month. This was the fourth month he was doing in the dungeon.
We sat and talked in a low voice, while the cold surrounded me on all sides, along with the darkness. The cell was two meters long and one meter forty, wide. It was a real refrigerator and the hours did not pass so easily in such conditions, with a suffering and torture as great as that of the cold! Not even a ray of sunshine entered this hole, it was like the end of hell and you did not believe that you could escape alive!
The wire got up and started moving, as only the movement kept it a little alive. Always digesting meat, because all 500 grams of bread did not have even 100 calories. I told Tel to give me a little massage because my shoulders and all my muscles were frozen, and while massaging me, he was blowing on my back to warm me with his warm breath.
– “I told him enough, let me do a little for you”?
“No,” he told me, “I will also sit back to back, as it will be better.”
Teli was an intelligent boy, loved in society. He told me his whole family and arrest history. He had fallen into prison, his third. One of his friends died in the investigation cells, while the other was with him in Spaç and was called Kosta Qirjako.
-Police Gjini brought lunch late at eight o’clock in the evening. Jorgji, the camp tellall, hung the tea box and the pieces of bread over the tap sink. The policeman started and opened the dungeons one by one from the beginning. We only had five minutes to get the bread and go out, to the WC. During the 24 hours, we went out three times at ËC, and 20 minutes cleaning the cell, or to get some air in the hallway.
Aristotle’s conflict with cop Gjini over my tea!
I took the slice of bread that was not more than 100 grams and, in the bowl, I threw a spoonful of turbid water called tea! Pieces of ice fell into the bowl after it had frozen! When he saw Teli throwing pieces of ice into the bowl, he laughed and said ironically to the policeman standing above the bars:
– “How much sugar did you throw away, your hand went crazy tonight”, showing the policeman a piece of ice floating in the pot.
– “Hauu, I did not like your face”, he jumped from the place where Gjini was sitting, “to make you eat hekra, not bread. don’t worry”, and he came to the iron door, opened it and entered our dungeon, very angry.
– ” lie down upside down, harlequin”, wrote Gjini.
– “I do not want”, Teli objected and was ready to jump to tear it if you approached to touch it.
– “Hau, are you brave?! ” lie down upside down, I’m telling you.”
“I do not want to, get rid of it from here,” objected Teli again, determined.
“Turn your hands to tie you,” shouted the policeman again, who had become nervous.
“Go away, what are you, a captive bitch,” said Teli, not disturbing his temper.
The policeman closed the iron doors, not giving us bread to the other prisoners, and ran outside, to go to the command to complain.
– “What did you do to us Teli”, complained the prisoners that they had not eaten yet, the risk of bread, that we had eight hours to look forward to!
Meanwhile, police officer Gjini came with two other police officers, Jakun and Preng S. All three police officers entered our dungeon!
– “Where are you evil face that opposes”?!
“Here I am,” replied Teli from the bottom of the cell, which was forever covered by darkness. The policemen rushed at the three of them on their backs, like hyenas to their victim! Before my eyes, a battle was unfolding, not equal: three with one?! I had no strength to help this unfortunate man, who was breaking bones with boots and cartilage.
They tied him up and dragged him away, slamming him into cell corridors in water and ice. They locked my cell and for more than an hour, they beat Teli’s body, bone and skin, while he was not making a sound! The policemen fled after coming out victorious, laughing and rejoicing over their criminal act.
Gender, threw the prisoners a slice of bread through the cells and the blankets that had already passed their time, and left, leaving Tel tied up in the corridor of the cells, lying down. Late at night in the cell, Peter K. came, and threw into the cell the frozen body of Tel, his body that had all the wounds./Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
