By Lek Pervizi
Part six
THE ODYSSEY OF INNOCENCE
To my brother Valentin, who faced
47 years of the ideological storms of
communism, moreover, separated
from his wife, a true Odyssey
in the middle of the twentieth century.
Memorie.al / When you enter Skuraj and cross the Urdhaza stream, the mountain ascent begins, through the hill called of Lekbibaj. You pass three mills in a row, known as those of Gjin Pjetri, which are built one after the other. You also pass the two-story tower of Ndrec Pjetri, Gjin’s younger brother, and then, you encounter a rocky outcrop on which a complex of three stone buildings is built, the historic towers known as the towers of Gjin Pjetër Pervizi of Skuraj, the leader of the Kurbin uprising. These buildings dominate the entire valley, which is formed by the union of the Mat and Fan rivers (a branch of the Mat), up to Milot. Almost a fortress, which protects and defends the area from the expeditions of foreign invading armies, which could penetrate from that gorge, until they hit the wall of the Skuraj Mountains, where the towers we mentioned were built.
Continued from the last issue
Arrival in the Homeland
It was October 10, 1944, when Valentin and Nuri with their wives got off a German truck somewhere in Shkodër. Nuri Nuçi told them that there was a cousin of his behind the Prefecture. They asked someone. That street led them directly to a square, where the Prefecture building was. They did so and reached the square. They looked for the building and couldn’t see anything. They must have come to the wrong place. They asked a passerby, and he told them that they were right in front of the Prefecture’s door. This Prefecture? A building this small is called a palace? Anyway. They were used to seeing palaces in European cities, and the concept of size here lost its true meaning and became relative. Meanwhile, an officer approached them with a smile.
- “Excuse me. If I’m not mistaken, you are Valentini, the son of General Prenk Pervizi, aren’t you?”
Valentini, surprised, replied:
- “Yes, I am. But how do you know me, sir, and who are you?”
- “I am Ded Lufi, I am in the general’s staff. I met you in Tirana, three years ago, when you were at a meeting of officers. You had come for the summer holidays. But what brought you here at this time? Weren’t you in Italy? Why didn’t you stay there? Don’t you know anything about your father and family?”
- “I’m glad to have met you. Now I know who you are. But why, what has happened to them? I have no way of knowing. I just arrived in Albania with my wife. This is my wife,” Valentini replied with surprise, introducing Gori to this Albanian captain, who turned out to be a kind and loyal friend.
- “I just came from there, sent by the general, to meet some people. He has gone to the mountain with his staff and has joined the English mission in Skuraj. Your family, your grandmother, mother, and two brothers, Genc and Leka, are sheltered at Nikoll Llesh Gjoka’s. I have been with them for some time. I am sorry that you have come at a very inappropriate time. We have talked about you. But no one thinks that you are in Albania. Moreover, with your wife…!
You must be careful here too. Because if the Germans find you, you can get into big trouble! Listen Valentin, I will go back there to the general, whom I will inform about you. In this case, you can write a letter, as I will deliver it directly to him. Yes… do you know that here in Shkodër, you have the Gjomarkajs, your cousins and nephews? Come with me, I will escort you to their house. But I cannot stay longer with you, because I must leave without fail.” This is what the officer said, who proved to be a true man.
But… how can you explain this kind of fate that made them meet him, just by chance? After a three-month journey, which seemed like something preordained?! Meanwhile, they parted from Nuri Nuçi and his wife. From that moment, they would never see each other again. Their fates would take different directions. What makes you think is the dilemma: where did this man, Nuri Nuçi, come from, who was the cause of bringing Valentin to Albania, while he himself, at the first opportunity, found a way to return to Italy without any trouble, in 1945, and escaped hell, after he pushed the other one into hell? Was he simply an instrument of fate, or how else can it be explained?!
They entered a café, where Valentin quickly wrote a letter to his father. Then Ded Lufi took a carriage and escorted them to the Gjomarkajs’ house. There he said goodbye to them, but before he left, he took out a number of napoleons and gave them to Valentin. As soon as the captain left, they knocked on the large door. A servant came out, who, when he found out who they were, let them in and ran to inform the people of the house. Immediately, Captain Gjon’s two daughters, Marta and Bardha, and the three sons, Lleshi, Deda, and Nikolla, came and hugged them dearly.
They went inside the large reception room, where Mother Mrika, his father’s cousin, a magnificent woman in Mirditor costume, came. They greeted her with love. Then Captain Gjon himself came with Ndue, the second son. The eldest son, Mark, was in his studio. As soon as he found out, he came and greeted them warmly. Coffee, raki, talk. Mark warned them, how they had dared to make that decision, to return to Albania, where everything was coming to an end. Everyone was surprised and amazed. How was it possible?!
They talked about many things. After some time, Valentin got permission to leave with Gori. No one thought about where these two unfortunates would go! They were so shocked by this unexpected meeting that they forgot to keep them for lunch! Let alone that they would stay there, as if in their own home! In fact, Valentin, confused by how things had gone, and impressed and emotional, made the mistake of not asking them to help him in those critical moments. So they left as if they had been on a casual visit. But that was not a visit, but the beginning of a drama, which would go day by day, transforming into a tragedy.
Fate had set its intrigues well. They went out onto the main street of Shkodra and arrived in front of the Grand Café. There they accidentally met Ernest Gjeçi, a close friend of Valentin’s, with the rank of captain. They hugged. They sat in that café. Ernest was alarmed and could not believe his own eyes. The same old tune. “What did you need to come to Albania for? And with an Italian wife! Do you know that the family, the father…?”!
- “You must leave here as soon as possible. The Germans are angry with the general. If they find you, you’re in trouble! Let’s call Lek Vojvoda. You should take shelter with him, in Theth.”
Ernest escorted them to the gendarmerie command, from where they contacted Leka by phone. He was the District Commander of the Dukagjin and Great Highlands area. He was ready to take them there. They agreed to be escorted by two gendarmes. Ernest talked to those at the command and everything was arranged for them to leave the next morning. That night they stayed with Ernest’s friends.
The next day they left for Theth, accompanied by the gendarmes. Ernest himself escorted them to a certain place. When they arrived in Theth, there was a great celebration. Lek Vuksani was Valentin’s closest friend. A loyal, generous, brave man and a skilled officer with a future. He had finished the Academy with Valentin in Modena, in the Carabinieri branch. At that time, Leka, with the rank of captain, as we said, was the commander of the gendarmerie for all of Dukagjin, with the center in Koplik. In this case, he happened to be at his house in Theth.
As soon as Valentin left the Gjomarkajs, when Mark found out, he shouted at his sisters and brothers, where were their minds?! How had they behaved so rudely? How had they allowed the two of them to leave?! Wasn’t Valentin the son of Uncle Prenka, that is, our cousin? Where would they end up, when the general and the whole family have gone to the mountains? This outburst of Mark’s mobilized everyone, sisters, brothers, and servants, to look for the newly arrived couple. They searched Shkodra high and low, but no one knew what to tell them, because no one knew them and no one had seen them.
The meeting with Ernest and going to his house without anyone knowing had made the two spouses disappear without a trace. The events had rolled so fast that they seemed to have vanished into thin air, by a magical command. Later Mark found out that they were in Theth, and he had sent a message for them to return to Shkodra. When things are in the hands of fate, you cannot make personal decisions. If they had returned to Shkodra, it would have been their salvation, because it was not long before Captain Gjon with Ndue left for Italy after the Germans, and they would have taken them with them.
Gori, Valentin’s wife, liked that mountainous place and those behaviors and customs. The beautiful nature, the simple and sincere people, very kind and hospitable. The natural food and the wonderful water. The clean air and a very favorable climate. The weather remained good. An ideal place for tourism. And in truth, it would have been a beautiful tourist experience, if some ugly events had not happened, due to the criminal arrogance of the communist partisan brigades, which were penetrating towards Shkodra, Dukagjin and the Great Highlands, with conquering intentions, more terrible than those of a foreign occupier.
The evil was getting closer every day and was endangering Lek Vuksani himself and the brave and patriotic highlanders. The problem arose of how to save the guests. They had to return to Shkodra, without a doubt. Even Mark Gjomarkaj had called, for them to come down to Shkodra as soon as possible. But how…?! The communists were circulating everywhere…! Lek Vuksani would stay in the mountains with his own forces, for a final resistance. In these circumstances, Prof. Kol Prela became their friend, who was involved in the National Liberation Movement, as a communist in a leadership position. But a very good and wise man. He took it upon himself to escort the couple.
Gori had to leave accompanied by some highlanders, men and women. She would pretend to be a mute citizen, who was returning to Shkodra, to her people. As for Valentin, he would take it upon himself to accompany him himself, who would come down to Shkodra, for the duty he had. Just a little later. That’s what was done. Gori went down to Shkodra and took shelter with the Gjomarkajs. Here happens what we mentioned, if they had both been in Shkodra.
Captain Gjon decided to leave Albania with his second son, Ndue, and invited Gori to leave with them. She refused. She would not take a single step without Valentin. On the other hand, Mark and Lleshi would also go to the mountains of Mirdita, to organize the resistance against communism. The family would be sheltered somewhere around Shkodra, with some loyal friends. With the family, the two younger sons, Deda and Nikolla, would stay. Mark gave her a good amount of money. Gori, left alone, took shelter with a friend of Ernest Gjeçi. This happened at the beginning of November. Towards the end of the month, Valentin also came down. Kol Prela showed great manliness, and managed to overcome difficult moments in that journey, endangered by the vigilance of the partisans, who were suspicious of everything.
In Shkodra, the couple found a room with a family. Some friends from Shkodra had helped them. Shkodra had fallen into the hands of the communists, who had begun arrests, imprisonments and executions. Every day in the Kir riverbed, dozens of men were executed, guilty of being good people, patriots and honest Albanians, and completely innocent. It was understood and seen openly that the Albanian communists were implementing a Slavophile policy, and in the first place, was the disappearance of Albanian patriotism and mainly of intellectuals and big families. In that month of December, a state of siege was imposed by Mehmet Shehu.
Fear had gripped the city, which was caught in the claws of terror, like a devouring and bloody monster. The horror, as time went on, became greater. The executions happened not only in the Kir River, but also inside the neighborhoods and alleys of the city. Mehmet had “carte blanche”, so he declared a state of siege in Shkodra, which was known as the most anti-communist city. For several days in a row, no one was allowed to circulate, neither during the day nor even less at night. Several armed partisan squads were created, which had orders to control the entire population, house by house.
These squads were helped by one or two advisors from each neighborhood. These advisors, who knew the residents well, were communists and loyal to the regime, spies and malicious, only to do evil. In those days of terror, hundreds of people were arrested. The prisons were completely full. In this case, some private homes were turned into prisons. Even the Franciscan Monastery. Catholic clerics were arrested, brutally tortured, and executed without trial. The windows and doors of the homes, turned into prisons, were covered with iron bars. The two large prisons in the city were not enough for all those prisoners. It was the last week of December 1944.
Arrest and Imprisonment
It had not been a month since the so-called liberation of the country, when from the middle of December, this severe state of siege was established in Shkodra. Every family and citizen had to put their name on the door of the dwelling. Meanwhile, the whole city was covered with snow.
Valentin and Gori were also locked in their room. A premonition of fear had gripped them, because Valentin was still carrying his “Browning” revolver, and what to do with it in case of a check. The children of the house where they lived saw the control squad coming and came and notified Valentin and Gori. Since it had been snowing for days, their clothes were soaked, so they had placed a fixed rope from one side to the other of the room’s walls, where they had spread their wet clothes, including Gori’s overcoat.
What to do with the revolver?! They didn’t know where to hide it. Valentin was about to throw it out the window. If they found it, he was screwed, even more so when they found out whom he was. The two poor people were scared to the core. The partisans had started the check downstairs, but the advisor had told them not to bother with that family, but to go up to the top floor. He knew well who Valentin was. The maliciousness had begun to do its work. And so they began to climb the stairs. Valentin was at the peak of tension. Cold sweat was dripping. The footsteps were getting closer. A knock on the door and the handle was going down. At that moment, Gori was emboldened and took the revolver, and put it in the pocket of her wet overcoat. The partisans entered and began the check. They didn’t ask any questions. It seems they hadn’t read the name on the door, and the advisor hadn’t told them anything.
Although the couple had few clothes, the check was meticulous. A partisan girl was in charge of the check. As she moved, she touched the overcoat and saw that it was wet and moved on. When the check was over, they went out and began to go down the stairs. Valentin and Gori breathed a sigh of relief, they had escaped that danger. But not the other one, even worse that would happen.
The advisor said something to the partisans and they returned. “Valentin Pervizi” was written above the door. It seems that the malicious advisor had told them whose son Valentin was. One of the partisans asked for his ID document and went downstairs, with everyone else. After a while, a boy came up and told Valentin that those partisans were looking for him downstairs. Valentin was aware that the communists would not leave him free for so long, and it seemed the moment had come.
He found the partisans drinking coffee, after having swallowed a glass of raki. The same partisan asked him what Prenk Pervizi was to him, and then told him that he had to go with them to the Command for some clarification, from where he would surely return home again. This was a known method of theirs, to arrest people as if nothing was wrong.
Controlling his emotions, he went to Gori who was crying, trying to calm her down. What would happen to Gori, that foreign woman, left alone with no one nearby?! It was the separation. The new Ulysses, Valentin, was leaving for a war, not like that of Troy, but just as dangerous and long-lasting, whose end and the possibility of returning to his beloved “Penelope” was unknown. She was left completely alone, at the mercy of fate. A foreigner in a foreign land. All the members of the family were under the persecution of the communist regime, expelled and persecuted, with their houses burned and property stolen, by the communist partisan hordes.
She knew no one, she did not know the language, nor did she have a living. What would happen to her?! With these thoughts, Valentin hugged Gori and left with the partisans. When they reached the courtyard door, that first partisan expressed his regret and put handcuffs on him. All the neighbors who were outside with Gori started to cry. It was a shocking moment for them too, because his case was special.
Finally, they arrived at the Command. The Head of the Internal Affairs Branch was waiting for him in his office, behind a desk. As soon as he saw him, he gave him a sullen and devilish look and spoke with irony:
- “The longing for your homeland pushed you to come here, didn’t it?”
- “Of course,” replied Valentin. And he again:
- “But it seems your homeland didn’t welcome you well?! You should have joined the partisans of Italy, to give your due contribution to the common cause. What do you say?!”
- “I had no intention of leaving my skin in a foreign land,” Valentin continued. – “That is not an acceptable reason,” the head concluded and gave the partisans the order to take him to the “Gestapo” prison. This prison was a building that the Germans had turned into a prison, equipping it with narrow concrete cells.
- “Look, look,” the prison director said, as soon as he found out who he was and continued:
- “I knew your father when I was serving in the Korçë garrison, where your father was the commander. He was a man who enjoyed everyone’s respect, except ours, because he did not accept the offer that our leadership made to him, to give him a command in the partisan armed forces.”
This director had a bad face, and when you talked to him he would stare at the ground and never look in the eye the person he was talking to. Such people were completely treacherous.
He took off Valentin’s handcuffs, and escorted him with a policeman to the door of one of the large rooms. When the door opened, a cloud of cigarette smoke and a foul stench enveloped him, making him want to vomit. Valentin had to enter there, pushed by the policeman.
The majority of those who were locked in that room were from Shkodra. When he entered, and the door closed with the sound of iron bolts, almost everyone who was there turned to look at him with attention and curiosity, because for them, he was a new, unseen and unknown face. He remained standing for some time, since he could not find a free place to line up with the others. One of them signaled to him to approach and sit next to him, while the others squeezed together to make a little room. Valentin was very desperate, but he tried to hide his feelings, so as not to show his serious spiritual state.
The one who invited him near him was a gendarmerie captain named Pjetër Gurakuqi. Who, when he found out who he was, was very warm, giving him courage? After a while, unable to lie down, they leaned against each other to sleep, while the others had started to snore. Memorie.al
Continued in the next issue
