By Sokrat Shyti
Part Thirty-Six
Memorie.al / The writer Sokrat Shyti is the “great unknown” who, for several years now, has shown the tip of the iceberg of his literary creativity. I say this based on the limited number of his published books in recent years, primarily the voluminous novel “Phantom Night” (Tirana 2014). The novels: “BEYOND MYSTERY,” “BETWEEN TEMPTATION AND WHIRLPOOL,” “THE DIGGING OF NIGHTMARES,” “THE SHADOW OF SHAME AND DEATH,” “THE HEAD OF THE COLONEL,” “THE HOPELESS HOPES,” “CONFUSIONS OF FATE” I, II, “SURVIVAL IN THE COW’S HUT,” as well as other works, all novels ranging from 350 to 550 pages, are in manuscripts waiting to be published. The dreams and the initial fervor of the young novelist returning from studies abroad full of energy and love for art and literature were abruptly cut short by the harsh edge of the communist dictatorship.
Who is Sokrat Shyti?
Having returned from studies at the State University of Moscow, shortly after the interruption of Albanian-Soviet relations in 1960, Sokrat Shyti worked at Radio “Diapazon” (which at that time was located on Kavajë Street), in an editorial team with his journalist friends – Vangjel Lezho and Fadil Kokomani – both of whom were later arrested and subsequently executed by the communist regime. Besides the radio, the 21-year-old Sokrat, if we can imagine him, had a passionate interest in literature at that time. He wrote his first novel “Madam Doctor” and it was on the verge of publication, but… alas! Immediately after the arrest of his friends, as if to fill the cup, a brother of his, a painter, fled abroad.
Sokrat was arrested in September 1963, and in November of that year, he and his family (with his mother and younger sister) were interned in a location between Ardenica and Kolonje of Lushnje. For 27 consecutive years, the family lived in a cow shed made of reeds, without windows, while Sokrat was subjected to forced labor. Throughout those 27 years, he was legally obliged to appear three times a day before the local authority. He had no right to leave the place of internment and was deprived of any kind of documentation, etc. In these conditions, amidst a cow shed, he gave birth to and raised his children. It is precisely based on this event, or rather a very long history of persecution, that he was inspired to write the book “Survival in the Cow’s Hut”!
Agron Tufa
Continued from the previous issue
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK “SURVIVAL IN THE COW’S HUT”
– First, let’s have a nice coffee, then we’ll chat…”, -said the Chairman of the Committee in a heavy, authoritative tone. -“Our club makes better coffee than the Party Committee club”.
-“My friends and I usually drink coffee at the ‘Lushnja’ bar. But I’ve heard about your coffee…”, -replied the Chief of the Military Branch, not wanting to make any comparisons between the two clubs.
-“I gave the order to open the club in our Executive Committee premises so that the employees here wouldn’t have to wander up and down other bars, where they spend hours chatting and gossiping”, -the Chairman added with pride, taking a quick sip from the cup of coffee that the waitress had just brought.
-“I believe you’ve noticed that there are neither tables nor chairs to sit on in the club. Their absence disciplines the employees, telling them: stand for five minutes at most and get back to work as soon as possible, there is no time for whispering and idle chatter. Discipline is established through strict rules. As a soldier, you know this better than civilians. And did you like the coffee? Our bartender bursts into tears: you can’t find coffee with cream like this anywhere!
I’m not exaggerating; it even beats the Reception House! So I very rarely go there, only when some big boss comes from Tirana. Because the many tasks and daily troubles don’t leave us time to talk freely, like at this moment. I believe that you in the Military Branch, having the most compressed and concise tasks, than other sectors, have no right to complain about the failure to implement the plan.
Deviations, no matter how small, only happen if your subordinates are less careful. From your reports, two cases of breach of discipline are presented: here and there a blind eye is turned and an ear is deaf, a recruit is not called up at the right time, lured by bribery. Or the deadlines set by the Ministry of Defense are postponed with specific goals, when parents have claims to send their sons to units with a well-known name and agree to stay at home for a year, until the request comes. But there is a category of recruits, to whom you pay very little importance and attention, because these and their families have no choice, since it is known that they will go to military labor units or to the NBU, as these are called recently. According to the reports, it is precisely in this direction that your work is somewhat lame, comrade chief, and this puts you in front of responsibility and burdens you with guilt. Because irresponsibility towards this category of recruits leads to a fatal mistake, which is punished by the criminal code, leaving a few grains of salt in oblivion, until the age of 27, the last limit allowed by the law of conscription, and through this unforgivable disregard, the recruit escapes compulsory military service.
Especially for declassed individuals of society, sons of kulaks, sons from families with sooty biographies, who even today have their fathers in the secret services against our people’s power or, have come from Tirana to our district, as convicted by the Government Commission of Deportation-Internships, the guilt towards you takes on the most extreme proportions. According to reports, this category of recruits is called up under arms in the spring. Or have they informed me wrongly”?
– “You are very correct, comrade chairman. Your remarks are all right. We feel indebted to the local government and personally to you, who know so thoroughly the situation of our Military Branch and with your valuable remarks, give us instructions on how to increase revolutionary vigilance, especially towards declassed recruits. If my subordinates have missed any specific name from this category, we will be very grateful if you would point it out to us so that we can make the appropriate correction…”, – the lieutenant colonel spoke with a sigh, pale in the face and covered in sweat from the thought of the criminal code, anxiously awaiting the grave mistake.
– “As the head of the local government in the district, I examine all problems, including military and security ones. It is not for nothing that I have several paid advisors, who are paid to follow every field and report from time to time. Let me ask you a question: has your attention and eye caught the latest instruction of the Ministry of Defense, which states that; students who have studied in the Soviet Union are forced to be called up for military service, not in 6-month training courses, like our university students, to obtain a reserve officer certificate, but just like ordinary recruits, because the military education they have learned during the first two years is not recognized, because this knowledge belongs to the Warsaw Pact Armed Forces? Do we have such cases in our area?… – and the head of government, nailed him with a stern look.
– “I am aware that we have had two cases of remaining students who have been called up for military service according to the law…”!
– “I am talking about a completely special case, which differs from all the others, because first of all, they were among the declassed. Even if someone has completed their university studies, but then was branded with this nickname, before turning 27, the special instruction orders compulsory military service in the NBU, as a continuation of the sentence determined by the Government Commission for Internment-Deportations. Am I correct with the military laws and instructions? – asked the chairman.
– “We will look into this case with priority. I feel it my duty to express the gratitude of all the officers and non-commissioned officers of our Military Branch for this valuable assistance! In two days, I will report to you personally, about the new recruits who will be called up in the spring to serve in the NBU, where the terrain is quite difficult and there is a need for manpower.
The NBUs were opened specifically from the background of the Ministry of Defense, for recruits with spots on their biographies, because they have great economic benefit, they produce potatoes and beans, products with high nutritional value, which are the basis of food for our army. If you have nothing else to add, comrade chairman, may I leave? I thank you for the advice given and the warm welcome”!…- and the lieutenant colonel stood up, with a ready stance.
– “The numerous troubles of duty do not give me the opportunity for a second meeting, like the current one. Therefore, you will inform my assistant. Or, more briefly and better, call me to report the actions taken, related to the latest instruction of the Ministry of Defense, and specifically, whether the declassed person I have in mind will be included in the group of spring recruits, designated to go to the NBU”.
– “I am at your service, comrade chairman”!
The lieutenant colonel put his cap on his head, saluted militarily with his fist, made a deft turn and left the office with a noticeable relief of the oppressive weight. In the waiting room, he put the “Bereta” in its leather holster, bowed his head to his assistant, and left, almost completely freed from the countless nightmares that had been gnawing at him for hours, ever since the chairman of the Executive Committee invited him to have coffee with him.
Precisely when the chairman of the Executive Committee mentioned the instruction of the Ministry of Defense (for the exclusion from the 6-month military course of students who mastered the program of the Soviet armed forces, especially those individuals with “erasings and scratches” in their biographies, who do not meet the class conditions to receive the rank of reserve officer), he sensed where he wanted to go and that the invitation to drink coffee together in his office had as its sole purpose, to indirectly order him to fulfill this request, without the others finding out, especially to be careful, lest this secret get out of the Military Branch and someone inform the assistant to the first secretary.
(Like all other bosses with some weight in the hierarchy of power, the lieutenant colonel was also aware of the friction between the chairman of the Executive Committee and the senior Party boss in the district, due to their opposing attitudes towards the former Radio-Diffusion journalist. Since the chairman of the government sees me with hostile eyes, he considers me to be outclassed, so I must be treated as such. On the contrary, the First Secretary of the Party Committee, guided by humane principles, does his best to introduce me into the normal course of life, fully explaining and arguing the decisions and actions, so that they are not opposed either here in the District Bureau or in the higher bodies in the capital).
If his attitude towards the former Radio-Diffusion journalist were directly conditioned by the authority and power of his position, as head of the Military Branch, he would act differently. Because the terrible vicissitudes that he and his mother and sister endured during the three years in the cowshed were enough, in addition to the heavy work of the porter, so as not to become the cause of increasing suffering. So as he walked, the weight of sin began to weigh on him, because he was forced to perform an act against his will and desire, at a very important moment for the former journalist, when a good turn of events had just begun to smile upon him and thanks to this turn of events, he would soon be engaged to the girl of his heart.
Looking at this goal from a moral perspective, the insistence of the head of government, on the verge of improving the difficult life, seemed extremely shameful and cynical, so the question naturally arose: why did the head of government not remember this punishment during these three years?!… But if the clash of two opposing positions between the main leaders in the district, towards the same objective, had not occurred, would the head of the Executive Committee have remembered a fuel loader, who is enslaved from morning until dark, to earn a piece of bread?…
Why such fierce anger towards the former journalist, who has worked with dedication and devotion in the important institution of Radio-diffusion? Could it be that this attitude, so rude and not at all human, has its origins in former anger, perhaps there was a friction of opinions with the head of the family on a matter of principle and now the opportunity has come to vomit bile on his son?… If someone in the Executive Committee had remembered this issue two years ago, telling him to call the former journalist who had come from Tirana with a sentence to arms, the lieutenant colonel would generally have thought it a more or less sincere and reasonable request, because he was pointing out something that did not occur to him, because up until that moment, there had been no harassment.
And so it happened, the former journalist was suddenly put at the epicenter of a fierce discussion of the class struggle, he became a bone of contention between the main leaders of the district, two diametrically opposed positions were expressed, where the sick disposition of the chairman of the Executive Committee was openly revealed, who not only did not accept the point of view of the First Secretary of the Party Committee, on the contrary, expressed himself as a strict vengeful opponent, using all sorts of tricks to prevent the insulting and humiliating goals of this arrogant person from being fulfilled. The chairman of the executive could not stand the class struggle in the people’s government being treated through the prism of liberal colors.
And he would never allow mud and dust to be thrown on his unblemished authority as the head of government! His indignation reached the proportions of rage, especially when the First Secretary of the Party Committee, using an absolute veto, took away the right to employment and housing for the former journalist of the Radio-diffusion, took them over himself, putting a concrete cap on the interference of the government. The peak of arrogance was displayed against the chairman of the Executive Committee, when he made the decision of the appointment in education, using personal clauses as the leader of the entire political and social activity of the district. If the restoration of the offended seat, would not become a daily goal, his authority among subordinates, would decrease significantly.
Finding this opportunity to take revenge, through the Military Branch, even if it did not overturn the decision to appoint the fuel loader to education, at least postponed it for two years, enough time to devise traps and intrigues to dismantle the previous position, hoping that the First Secretary of the Party Committee would be transferred to another district. Even if the opposite were to be assumed, that the transfer could come to him sooner, the chances of enjoying the current fruits of revenge are certain, due to the very short ripening time. So the Chairman of the Executive Committee will still feel happy that he took revenge on the arrogant man with liberal convictions, moreover, he used a camouflaged form of revenge, based entirely on government laws and instructions.
Upon arriving at the Military Branch, the lieutenant colonel called his secretary, Captain Engjellin, and ordered him to prepare a list of backward recruits, especially those who are at the last age limit.
– “Here you will also take into account some odd-numbered person with higher education, who came from Tirana, not as a transferee, but by decision of the Government Commission of Internment-Deportations”.
– “Are you talking about the contingent of NBU recruits”? – asked the captain.
– “In order to avoid an obvious class division, the current recruits will not be only those with a tainted biography. You will also include in the list some teachers with a two-year institute, including candidates for Party members or communists, since these are necessary to strengthen the basic organization of the Party in NBU, as well as to lead the Youth Committee of the unit. Tomorrow the list should be almost complete with all the characteristics”.
– “What about a specific case, where am I unclear?” – asked the secretary.
– “Where there is ambiguity, you will ask questions. But especially be careful with the age of the backward recruits, who are at the limit of 27 years. Otherwise, we will wander through the courts. Did we agree?”
The captain bowed his head and went to his cell to fulfill the order of the chief. From the way the lieutenant colonel presented the task to him, knowing that he was returning from a meeting with the chairman of the Executive Committee, he immediately smelled where the hammer was striking, that this time the oil engineer, along with the former journalist of the Radio-diffusion, who had come three years ago from Tirana, as an internee, would be included in the list. He had no doubt that the order to include them in the list of recruits, for the NBU contingent, had probably been given by the head of government, perhaps under the instigation of someone, or a special letter, and specifically for this, he summoned the lieutenant colonel to the cabinet, to give him instructions on how to act.
He felt sorry that he would give the former journalist the bitter news about compulsory military service, precisely when he needed his free time like air, to enjoy his engagement as pleasantly as possible. But he was completely powerless to help him, at least to postpone his call-up for a few months (which he would have done willingly and willingly, if he had been given even a little space and the order had not had the dimensions of a final form). He was in the most difficult situation, because he felt like a direct participant in the trap set against the former journalist, so he would be very ashamed to look him in the eye.
However, he hoped that the former journalist’s sense of smell would make him understand how embarrassed the secretary of the Military Branch was, forced to fulfill the final orders of his superior, without giving him any opportunity to intervene. Finally, he would explain to him that this case was one of the rare exceptions, when even the lieutenant colonel himself felt powerless to help his close friend, and it would not occur to the captain to ask him for a concession, to postpone the deadline until the next call, especially when the main concern was related to the final age limit. The most he could do was to inform the assistant to the First Secretary of the Party Committee, since he was in company with him, hoping that he would find a way to convey this delicate message to his boss and perhaps an attempt could be made, although the barrier of the extreme limit prevents any intervention.
Ultimately, as the secretary of the Military Branch, he has only one social obligation: to verbally inform his acquaintance, the former journalist, after the list is approved by the heads, to take the appropriate measures within this short time, considering that he will be separated from his family for two years and that the deep time gap after the engagement causes and continues to cause severe emotional shock, in addition to the main concern of survival, how will his mother and sister pass the days and nights during his long absence…?! Memorie.al
Continues next issue
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