By Adela Kolea
Part Two
Memorie.al / Mr. Antonio woke up very early, as he did every morning. He was, however, the second member of the family to rise so early: the first was his wife, Lady Maria, who would begin the breakfast preparations. Since their family was accustomed to consuming sweets prepared by the lady of the house for breakfast, she personally ensured that her husband and children would wake to a table set with typical fresh pastries, fruit juice, and jam. The warm milk mixed with coffee released its aroma throughout the house – an aroma that, blending in the air with that of freshly baked sweets, turned the awakening of this family into a moment of true joy.
Continued from the previous issue
It was a challenge born from the newness itself, stemming from the fact that, despite the similar characteristics between these two neighboring lands – Albania and Italy, especially the south – Anna’s parents could not ignore the saying: “Paese che vai, usanze che trovi” – “In every land you visit, you will find its own customs.” Yet, they respected the wish of their daughter, who was madly in love with this Albanian boy, now her husband for a short time.
Their move to Albania occurred immediately after Xhulio’s university graduation. He had proven to be truly capable. He had faced many difficulties to achieve his greatest dream in life: finishing his university studies and graduating in Economics and Commerce. And not only that: to return from that land to his own with the woman of his life!
The early years of their life in King Zog’s Albania were stable; at least, they offered the opportunity to live in a rather privileged manner. Driven by the desire to build everything in life with their own hands, they dedicated themselves to establishing a home and work in Tirana. Meanwhile, their new family was growing.
Due to his excellent professional training in Italy, Xhulio found it easy to secure a position as a bank official in Tirana – a role in which, over time and thanks to his skills, he advanced further and further in his career.
Anna dedicated herself to the home – a home she had already personalized with her taste, assisted by the family’s governess, an Albanian woman named Nurija. The first fruit of their love arrived: their first child. The joy of the couple, the parents on both sides, and the entire family was immense. The years passed…!
For Anna, Italy remained present even though she lived in Albania. Not only for her, of course, but due to the simple fact that between the Monarchy of King Zog and Italy, there were pacts that made the Italian presence in Albania distinct.
Among them – at least, as the public was informed – was the agreement on the equality of rights for Italian and Albanian citizens, according to which: “Albanian citizens residing in Italy and Italian citizens residing in Albania shall enjoy the same political and civil rights as the citizens of these two states enjoy in their respective territories.”
Until those moments, Anna was at peace regarding her position as an Italian citizen in Albania. In 1939, Italy landed its troops in Albania; King Zog fled. Political confusion and disorders manifested in the lives of Albanians, and their family was no exception. Consequently, no one could be excluded, for in the meantime, a bloody war was being undertaken that had engulfed the ‘world.’
Those were, certainly, very difficult years, but through great caution on their part, they did not face significant dangers. One single danger, which was worth as much as many others, was linked to a grave episode that occurred in 1943, during the German occupation of Albania. This coincided with the capitulation of Italy when, besides pursuing their own interests, the Germans began hunting down Italian military personnel remaining in Albania.
Loud, heavy knocks were heard at the door of Anna and Xhulio’s house in Tirana. For several days, Xhulio – who loved his country deeply and had never lost faith in it, despite it suffering under the new Nazi weight – had been carrying his Albanian flag, folded and hidden against his chest, inside his jacket.
Terrified, they rose and opened the door. Before them stood a group of three or four German soldiers! They were accompanied by their Albanian interpreter, who spoke German perfectly. They were searching for those responsible for an act in that neighborhood: the torching of a German truck, an action organized by the communists. Receiving no answer to what they were truly seeking, they began to ask if Anna and Xhulio knew of any Italians hiding in the area.
Anna did not utter a single word. By then, she had mastered the Albanian language well, but her pronunciation still immediately revealed she was not a local. Although she was simply a woman who had nothing to do with the war, much less with the attacks against the Germans, it was only natural to fear that the Germans, in their anger at not finding those they sought, would vent their hatred on Anna for being Italian.
Meanwhile, the interpreter began to speak to Xhulio, translating and repeating the Germans’ questions about whether he knew of any Italians hiding nearby. Xhulio remained calm, telling them he knew no Italians, but something was wrong. That interpreter knew Xhulio very well: they had both been students together in Italy.
Aware of the looming danger, Xhulio reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, where he kept his folded Albanian flag, ready to unfurl it in the event of an arrest – should the interpreter “confess” that his wife was Italian. But they were stunned: the interpreter said nothing!
He mentioned neither Xhulio nor the fact that his wife was Italian – something that could have triggered German fury following their failure to find what they were so insistently searching for. At the interpreter’s reaction, in the name of their friendship during their university years, Xhulio was truly left speechless. So was Anna.
The Germans left, slamming the door of their house. The interpreter whispered under his breath: “Keep your eyes open, be careful next time!” – and followed his superiors. Xhulio came from an Albanian family whose genealogical tree included individuals of historical, intellectual, and patriotic weight for Albania.
The year was 1944…!
In Xhulio, patriotic feelings were very pronounced. However, perhaps because he had studied and been professionally formed outside Albania’s borders, he had seen another reality. Perhaps because he read a lot and was informed in real-time about recent events, or because he moved in a social circle in Tirana that was deeply attuned to the facts currently unfolding in Albania, the moment came when, deeply moved, he turned to his wife one day:
“Anna, it is my duty as a husband and a father to ask you to think carefully, but also quickly, about what we will do next with our lives: where will we decide to continue living – in Albania or in your country, Italy? Because here in Albania, I suspect the situation will become extremely complicated.”
With tears in her eyes, Anna made the most delicate and important decision of their lives: the choice to live in Albania. It was 1945, and Italian citizens living in Albania were subsequently denied the right to return to Italy. Meanwhile, many of them suffered severe persecutions.
Underground, between ‘black gold’ and moles
“To have such a rich underground and see it reduced to such conditions… this troubles me; in fact, it causes me much pain,” Xhulio discussed with a trusted friend. “Well, let’s say that, having just emerged from the War, on one hand, we couldn’t expect things to go differently. But on the other hand, if foundational points like Kuçova, which represent a kind of national pride as a significant source of underground wealth – if we had preserved them a bit better, they would have eased our current work and accelerated the process of reconstruction and recovery.
“In fact, I would add that if AIPA (the Italian Petroleum Society for Albania) had not limited itself to transporting oil to Italy – if it hadn’t stopped at merely christening Kuçova with the name ‘Petrolia’ but had also built a refinery – perhaps, despite the destruction of the War, something would have remained for us to use as a starting point to begin anew,” the two colleagues continued their hushed conversation inside the Ministry of Industry and Mines in Tirana. It was at this institution that Xhulio had been transferred as an official in a sector placed at the center of the country’s leadership’s attention: the Mining Industry.
While the process of national reconstruction continued after the War – the country’s industrialization, aiming to transform it from a backward agricultural land (which, among other things, suffered from fresh wounds from the attempt to overthrow private property) into an industrialized or, rather, an agro-industrial country – while electrification, the fight against illiteracy, and dedication to economic sectors in general continued, there was an awareness that these achievements required support from the little existing industry. Every effort had to be made to strengthen and expand it by creating new industries.
To achieve this in record time – and, above all, relying solely on our own strength – the support of all the country’s best experts in every field became a fundamental factor. For this reason, the Extraordinary Commissariat for Petroleum – created specifically to solve problems related to the exploitation of our underground wealth and the position of their sole owner, the Albanian State, in Kuçova – called upon the best intellectual potential of the country: engineers, technicians, geologists, economists, etc. – experts drawn from every corner of the land.
And an economist as capable as Xhulio inevitably could not fail to ‘hear’ this call coming from Kuçova. They moved to this small town in the center of Albania. Anna proudly followed her husband in these new professional experiences. This was, among other things, a signal of the appreciation of his professional skills and, for Anna, an additional opportunity to get to know new areas of Albania, even in an Albania still groaning from the wounds of the War.
Only, Xhulio had a character so strong and original that, when faced with the challenges and objectives set by the State to be achieved and exceeded at all costs, he did not hesitate to speak his mind. Or rather: to point out the absurd relationship often imposed between working conditions, the tools possessed, and the terrible deadlines and rhythms.
Someone had told him in confidence: “Look, while everyone without exception must be careful in their comments and reactions, you have one more reason that forces you to be twice as careful. I tell you this with all the respect I have for you, both personally and professionally.”
“Ah, is that really so?” Xhulio had replied. “Where does all this insistence on your part to warn me to be careful come from?” he asked his friend in good faith, whose friendly stance and concern he understood quite well.
“Well, simply because of your biography, right? Your wife is Italian, and rumors are circulating.” Xhulio’s ancestors – important elements in the history and culture of the country -counted for nothing in his biography, for time would show that they themselves would soon be left entirely in oblivion.
Regardless, in Kuçova, the experts worked brilliantly – despite the extremely difficult conditions – with a strong spirit of cooperation, each contributing to their maximum in their respective fields to enable the first positive results for that small point on the map of Albania marked with the conventional sign of underground wealth. And Albania could truly boast of this point.
Once the situation in Kuçova was somewhat settled and calmed, his task as an economist ended successfully. This served as a catalyst for Xhulio to be constantly transferred to problematic areas of the country in service of the national economy – an economy that was also straining for the rapid development of the countryside.
The Rubber Processing Factory in Durrës (NISH Goma) was another very important factory that needed careful management, and Xhulio gave his contribution with all his strength and professional dedication until the successful achievement of the objectives set by the government. The Leather Processing Factory (NISH Lëkura), also in Durrës, was also in difficulty regarding its balance sheet. Xhulio received the call to transfer this time to this factory.
Xhulio accepted all these professional assignments with enthusiasm – not only because he was a serious and highly capable professional, not only because he derived extraordinary pleasure from achieving excellent results where he was assigned, and not only because his stance toward challenges was strong and dignified, but also because he understood that Albania, in those moments, needed the total professional dedication of all its sons – a duty and respect even toward those who had given their lives in the War. The sense of responsibility and duty toward the fatherland was very pronounced in him.
In all this progress of their affairs, Anna also had her merit, for she followed her husband and supported him devotedly, standing by him in difficult moments to face every new hardship that came their way. The workers and officials of the Leather Processing Factory, that day, were also introduced to an economist colleague of Xhulio’s who came from Tirana and would share the same office with him.
The two colleagues rolled up their sleeves. Something was wrong with that factory’s balance sheet. All the causes of the problems had to be studied and the necessary strategies determined for a positive outcome. Meanwhile, Xhulio, tireless, came from another fruitful professional experience like the previous one in Kuçova. In Kuçova – between one oil extraction from the ground and another – there near the sources, they had happened to encounter a few “moles.” / Memorie.al
To be continued in the next issue
