From Sulejman Gjana
Second part
– Report-information of Major Abaz Kupit and Professor Gaqo Gogo, on the developments in Albania during the Second World War –
Memorie.al / “National Organization Legality Movement”, offers a perspective and another version of the political-military developments during the Second World War, quite different from that of the official communist historiography. Through a typewritten report for King Zog, then in London, written from Cairo on 31 pages, dated August 2, 1945, the Chairman, Major Abaz Kupi and General Secretary of OKLL, Prof. Gaqo Gogo, give us a very interesting overview of the anti-fascist resistance and the main political and military developments in Albania, during the period; April 1939 – November 1944. The clarity of thought, the beautifully written and highly figurative language, the emotional colors in the description of the developments, concrete work and political positions of OKLL, mark a culmination of epistolary journalism and the philosophical and political concession of one of the three the parties that represented and dominated political life in Albania during the Second World War.
Continues from the previous issue
Letter sent to King Zog by Major Abaz Kupi and Professor Gaqo Gogo, on October 28, 1944
Greatness!
The leftists quickly realized that liberation begged other forms of struggle. Our movement consisted of clandestine groups of volunteers who, in addition to their assigned duties, would participate in the war, in action and squad operations, and would do whatever they could to fight the occupier and Quisling rulers, to paralyze their civil and military power, i.e., a real secret army. Thus new problems arose, which had to be solved under the worst conditions. It was necessary to create leaders, to maneuver groups among them, to study the tasks to be completed, to find, collect and hide weapons. This task is very extensive, non-stop and with many sacrifices.
With the help of some determined young people, the newly started activity got its natural momentum, the idea was imposed and it was understood that it was possible to realize it, without relying so strongly on the landing, only that it must be fought relentlessly and, bravely and united all. With the help of many tracts, articles and other publications, the entire Albanian people and foreigners recognized the significant activity of the Albanian Movement, a Movement in which all political currents participate.
Sabotage and direct war against the occupier began, especially in Northern Albania, action groups were formed consisting of young volunteers, fanatics for the unparalleled patriotic spirit, in love with the sacrifice of risks and ready to give their lives. This is the basic element of the volunteer army for the freedom of Albania and its volunteers represented the heroic battle, many times deadly and full of dangers. Their first actions were rather demonstrative, here and there destroying nests of collaborators and thus the climate of war was created out of nowhere.
The movement included all Albanians, regardless of political opinions or other claims. In its ranks there are workers, intellectuals, bourgeois and peasants; all social classes, all crafts and all philosophies. Everyone brought with them what they could, their time, their money, their special qualities, their masters, etc. The leader of each group was the most skilled and not the oldest, or the richest, or the most orator. The work program of these groups of our Movement consisted of tasks that were added day by day and night by night; active or passive duties, destruction of warehouses, factories; recognition of the equipment of military columns, their directions, detection of guard stations; liaison service. In this task, the information service helped a lot. But who informed them? All…! Many times the work was simplified with the help of officials who were members of the Movement, or sympathizers, whose contribution has been very useful.
To talk about the works of these servants of the Movement, they needed a volume. It is impossible to imagine the courage, bravery and determination of these men. All cannot be said, and all is not known. Without words, the true acts of heroism will remain forever unknown, because many of their actors have not returned from their dangerous mission. Danger was everywhere. For days, the enemy and his collaborators suffer damage and are convinced that the resistance becomes stronger. For days we have obstacles of means of communication. The destruction of military convoys has been done in Albania, daily deeds, to which the people give a special importance! The burning of streets and various blockades by the enemy are increasing daily. In the South, officers and soldiers of the occupier are killed, and the same actions are done in Central and Northern Albania, and many times the traffic is stopped for a long time. Ammunition and weapons depots are regularly visited by patriot sabotage groups. The work becomes more economical and safer than that of the allied airmen, and does not involve much risk. Telephone lines and poles are cut regularly and without fail. The burnings, these are also the works of the patriots of our Movement. Vehicles are sabotaged and burned.
Many traitors are killed. All these destructions, because they worked for the enemy. Some bombs are thrown at the centers of enemy propagandists, who wrote articles of praise in enemy magazines and notebooks. With these bombs, the patriots fired twice: annoying the enemy, and; causing a terrible panic to his associates. Musolinophilia and Hitlerophilia are shocking day by day, worse and worse. In the capital, inside, the genius burns, day and night. Stocks of valuable materials go up in smoke. The enemy is forced to increase his guards tenfold, over all the centers of importance, near the bridges and elsewhere. Bridges continue to blow up, transformers burn. Many times it happens that the desert guards are thrown in prison, because they could not give the alarm at the right times.
Through the piers, here too, the activity is very useful. No matter how many measures were taken, the members of our Movement entered the personnel of the piers. They receive very important information, discover projects and objectives. These series of sabotages, wonderfully organized and perfectly connected, have for a long time hindered the activity and movement of the enemy. Such works are without number. It is impossible to take a full stock of all the actions that every day and every night force the enemy to lose his balance, with the material losses he suffers, slowing down his war effort.
Your Majesty, above we described to some extent the active resistance of our Movement in Albania; it should be known that we also have a passive resistance, at a higher level. This expression is not felt so strongly by the majority that it enjoys the right characteristic for the behavior of the Albanian majority in the presence of the occupier. Enemy opposition takes a thousand unforeseen forms as circumstances arise. The attitude towards strengthening the internal front constitutes the main duty and need of the life of all Albanians. In a Municipality, an official denies an order, delays its completion, loses a document, and disappears a circular. The inspectors, who are in charge of detecting the absences, supposedly check and from the failure of their inspection, they return secretly satisfied. This is a passive stance. Small? On the contrary, great, because this is repeated every day and in every place. Every Albanian has acted like this every day. Perhaps some were not satisfied at once, because such work does not give immediate results. Yes, but the Albanians who are involved in these very delicate actions, have the conscience to contribute as much as they can, to exterminate the enemy.
In the beginning, the work of these was not so strongly distinguished, but with the enlargement of the resistance and the addition of tasks, the definition of special services that differed from normal services was achieved; it was necessary to assign people to devote all their time to the organization. So some of the resistance, tracked by various agents, had to leave their homes and live under false names. The attitude after many efforts, managed to secure false documents that were put to use, by people with special services duties. As for shelters, these were achieved in many ways and all of them had risks. It is illegal for you to change your accommodation. Most of the times, he finds shelter among friends, sympathizers and strangers.
Many people in Albania took it as a habit, in these last years, to give shelter without causing questions to men and women, whom they did not know at all, and whom they had never seen. Although many times they have been dangerous and wanted by the Police, SIM or Gestapo. Checks were carried out regularly and a special service was assigned to monitor housing. The people of the shelters were often not recognized as members of any political organization, but whenever they accepted the risk of harboring a passing clandestine or illegal, or an allied aviator, they passed them from station to station until he arrived. in the right place, to go to its own base.
All of this was not without risks because home visits at night are not rare, on the slightest pretext, as well as without pretext, in the cities of Albania. Fortunately, the Albanian police, or those of the occupier, are not enough for a serious and continuous verification throughout all the residences and secret dungeons. Loyalty for reception, shelter and escort, is done by all social classes. Bourgeois or intellectuals have found shelter among the poor houses of the workers; the people of the “terrorist” people have been hiding in villas and in various religious institutions and objects. With the deterioration of living conditions, caused by the behavior of the occupier, the psychological evolution of the Albanian people is accelerated. The number of Albanians who have believed in happy endings of collaboration has never been significant and from these, day by day, the conviction emerged that it is an unpopular need.
The most willing collaborators were recruited from among the people of the fascist leagues, among the commercial and industrial establishments, where it was hoped to find an agreement with the occupier to ensure the opportunity of good profits. These hopes that soon failed….! From time to time, the spirit of resistance wins the majority of Albanians. The number of listeners of Albanian radio in London is constantly increasing, as long as listening to BBC broadcasts is banned by the occupier. Many people refuse to listen to Radio Tirana, which is equivalent to the occupier’s radio. The enemy multiplies his propaganda efforts through the press, cinemas, conferences, etc. Despite all this, Albania is strengthening its resilience day by day. The opinion of the Albanians was made.
In the cinema halls when the current events are shown, many times there are many voices, footsteps and noises from all sides. The occupier and the government of Tirana, in support of these events, force the owners of the cinemas to keep sufficient light during the projection of the films to allow the opportunity to catch and discover the demonstrators. Spectators with this measure discover another way: “dead” calmness, or by singing notebooks and appearing after the “journal”, of special current events.
The occupier forces the cinema owners to project the current affairs “journal” in the middle of the main film. Despite all this, the opinion has been possible to change. The occupier banned films of American and English origin. Only German and Italian films were shown, controlled by a special commission, inspired by the governors of Tirana, despite the occupier’s censorship. Unhelpful is the long verb for the press. Those traitors in the capital do not lack money, but they lack singers. The other press could practically not give other news, except what the occupier said: that is, what the occupier wanted. The entire press has been completely under the orders of the Quisling government and the enemy.
Despite all this, unrestrained propaganda and despite the writings of some famous people, which were used for advice, all the Quisling governors complained about the in-discipline of the Albanians. All the measures of the Quisling governments have been retroactive, suspicious, rejected by the public, despised and hated. The workshop has never believed in the so-called social policy of some government press preachers. All these sermons are received with a general indifference. Some Albanians have hung (believed it as true), the double game of the heads of the governments of Tirana, but all these heads have been tools and they have all done the policy of the occupier.
With the failure of some governors, these quislings have tried to find support from our Movement. But I do not open the doors to these blind, unreasonable, these short-sighted, adventurers and tools of the occupier. With the non-acceptance of these types, they form reactionary movements, openly manifesting betrayal towards Albanians and especially those of the resistance. A good number of these suffered what they deserved. Many of them could be forgiven if they followed the true patriotic path, rather than remaining secret emissaries, representing the “two-sided game”. But these did not return from the good and could never be forgiven, because they had stained their hands with blood and openly worked with the occupier.
The war continues, faith in the final triumph of the allies is affirmed every day. The magnificent Russian attitude surpasses all predictions and galvanizes courage. The entry into the war of the United States of America is greeted by a popular enthusiasm that cannot be described. The triumphant campaign in Africa, followed by Sicily and Corsica, is regarded as a promise of future liberation. Needless to say, many times the high hopes exceed the measure and with them also the moral. The people do not measure the great efforts that had to be made by the Allies to regain the lost time, nor the great hardships (difficulties) attributed to the condition of the island of Great Britain and to the removal of the areas of operations, but still the belief in victory, it does not stop expanding in parallel with the weakening of the governments of Tirana. These governments do not enjoy any kind of authority. Most Albanians constantly sabotage government activity.
When friendly aviators landed on Albanian soil, those who survived know very well the hospitality they had near the population that did everything to serve their needs. Through mysterious routes, these aviators have repeatedly reached the countries from which they set out on a mission, and from there they were able to return to the allied land. The graves of those who have left their lives on our land have been flowered by Albanians, who thus prove their feelings of friendship towards Free states. Albania has been against the governments of Tirana, because they were nothing but tools of the occupier. The popularity of the national liberation fighters increased day by day. The attitude, previously reserved and jealous of independence, melted completely into the effort of national liberation, causing in every way an unbroken war against the occupier.
The governments of Tirana forced cooperation, but the Albanians did not want it; measures were taken to imprison patriots; the workers were captured and handed over to the occupier; food was collected for him. At this time, the London radio defined the general lines of activity of the Albanian resistance, setting the main goals: first, the continuation of the war alongside the allies until victory; then let the word be given to the Albanian people, so that they themselves can choose the form of their government. Many friends of Albania have appealed to Albanians. The prophetic words of these friends took on a truer meaning day by day. They symbolized for Albania the will for the recovery of a sovereign nation, its own lord. Many friends of Albania, in support of the efforts of the Albanian Youth, committed themselves with honor to restore Albanian freedom after the victory; but they showed that in order to become free, Albania must fight, because freedom is earned and deserved.
Our movement has made the resistance with leading elements that emerged from the bosom of the people, all brave and determined and with clear and reasonable views. Many Albanians did not know them, had never seen their photographs. These unknown elements at first became the aggregators of Albanian energies. They became “flag”, “symbol”. The supporters of these new elements were not for friendship or fellowship, but for what they expressed and which was very reasonable. This is also the reason why the foreigners, the occupier and the enemies who were in Albania, looked in the most lost villages, as well as among the most miserable neighborhoods, for the propaganda signs of our Movement.
Our revolt finds occasion to express itself publicly. In the South, opposing demonstrations took place on the occasion of the marked days. Hundreds of policemen have not been able to stop the people, to sing the anthem of the Flag, to prevent the calls: “Down with the occupier”, “Down with Fascism”, “Down with the traitors”. 200 arrests, 600 administrative internments and sent to concentration camps in Italy. Large popular demonstrations on the occasion of this marked day, gathered extraordinary masses of the people. These gave the people of Albania the consciousness of their power, giving a punch to the governors through popular protest.
The Albanians attracted by the success of the demonstration paraded through all the main places with the Flag at the head, singing his anthem, calling out for Albania, for the Allies, for the King, for the Youth, for the People; behind this measure, the people, the agents with revolvers, machine guns and tanks, and with this weaponry, did not dare to do anything except advice for a “moderate attitude, because of the consequences that may follow”…! In many places, bouquets of flowers were placed in front of national monuments. Even in the last few days, although the dangers have been very great from the terrorist measures of the police and the occupier, the demonstrations have not decreased. November 28, 1943, was manifested by the people, depositing flowers among the monuments of the martyrs, in the mausoleum of the Queen Mother; among many places the works were suspended by the workers. Small flags were scattered all over the place. The police made many arrests, of which a large part was exiled outside Albania.
All these gestures have had their benefits in creating a very unpleasant climate for the occupier. Our movement prepared the people of Albania and convinced them that their interest coincided with their duty, to reject the indignities that were proposed to them. That’s why our people wanted to defeat Fascism to death. That all hoped for the arrival of the hour of the great battle. The military corps, with officers of each weapon, the Youth, completed the necessary cadres. Through the mountains and plains, the patriots conducted military instruction, practiced in the use of weapons. At night, in the mountains, fields, forests, the guards performed their assigned tasks. You lived the life of the fields, of the mountains, of the forests, brotherly among all kinds of people of every province and of every social class. There were several rifles and several machine guns. Instead of the lack of modern weapons, there was courage, will, enthusiasm, ideals.
Members of our Movement, who spent their lives in the mountains, needed many things: food, blankets, clothing, weapons, various tools, oil and gasoline for the trucks they had seized from the occupier. In order to procure all this, the attack on the enemy convoys began gradually, little by little, to secure the trucks and their contents. The occupier and his accomplices were preparing for a purge in grand style. Every day and every night, the sabotage did not stop but increased and was organized even better. The condition of the warriors in the winter, in the mountains and in the forests, was becoming very difficult, therefore the stakes were increasing a little more; the warriors exposed themselves even more and became very impatient with the occupier. Memorie.al
Secretary Ans. Legality Movement
The President
Prof. Gaqo GOGO Major Abaz KUPI
Cairo, on August 2, 1945
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