0 thoughts on “Images tagged "vilar-de-castanyar"”
Hello, Harrison. Do you have a link to download this book? It cannot be downloaded via WordPress, but the pdf-file may be published elsewhere. Thanks!
A concise history of the Communist Party of China, (Seventy years of the CPC.), Hu Sheng (chief editor) Party History Research Centre of the CPC Central Committee, FLP, Beijing, 1994, 873 pages.
It’s not available on my CPC pages as the pdf version I have is too big (128MB) to be uploaded to my blog. I could send you that version via wetransfer. If you want that then let me know the best email address to use.
Hello Adam, thanks for directing me to these ebay sites. In fact, I do have all of the ones on sale on my blog. However, there are two of them that I would like to get hold of as the present scan is not the best and is a very large file – so it’s in two parts. The problem is that the seller is asking too much, as far as I’m concerned, but might get in touch with an offer if they seem to be on the site for some time.
Thanks for the update. That’s good to hear. I think matters such as how to commemorate the past depend a great deal on the ideology of the government (both national and local) at the time. The flame by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior looked as if it was still functioning on my visit, although the one just below the Mother of the Place looked as if it had not been used for years. As it is at the war memorial by the museum in Gori.
I didn’t go into the Akhalbagi park when I was in Gori earlier this year but I see no reason why the statue of Uncle Joe would have been removed since I was last there. After all he’s Gori’s most famous son.
The statue in the railway station is still there – although I wasn’t able to gain access to the room itself. Perhaps speak to the station master (not the women in the ticket offices) to see if he will open the room so you can get a better look. Perhaps think of an incentive.
There’s another statue in the Great Patriotic War Museum, just down the road from the Stalin museum towards the town hall. That museum also has some interesting banners from the time of the war.
Let me know how you get on – and have a good time searching them out.
Even with the write-up, it seems like an enigmatic sculpture. I was reminded of Saturn the alligator, but he lived in the Moscow Zoo after WWII. I wonder if the species in the sculpture can be identified.
It’s not easy getting accurate information about many sculptures etc., from the Socialist period in any of the post-Socialist societies. A lot of information might well have been destroyed but there’s also the language issue. Often I come across information just by chance. All I know about this sculpture in Stalingrad is already out there, I’m afraid.
My name is Allison Leacu and I have been doing research about my family history, and have an inclination I may be related to Vasil Laci. My great grandfather immigrated from the Korce region (I don’t know exactly when, but probably early 1900s). His name was Michael Vasil Leacu, born around 1886. I suspect the last name was changed when he immigrated. Originally we thought this name could have been Lako, but upon some research, of the Vasil name in Korce, I am seeing more about the name Laci.
Anyways, I see in your article about Vasil Laci’s brother. Do you have any idea about Vasil’s parents or family in the Korce area? I would love to learn more, it’s hard from the US and with our name changed, to be able to get this history.
I’m sorry but I don’t think I can really help you. I’m interested in the statues and monuments in Albania (what are called locally lapidars) and it has been difficult for me to find documented information about many of them. Many documents were destroyed when things fell apart in the 1990s when archives were destroyed. I have only managed to fill the gaps in my knowledge often by chance, just accidentally coming across a new fact, for example. The National Archives in Tirana might have something that will help but then the vast majority of material there will be in Albanian.
I don’t know if you’ve seen it but I have another post on Vasil Laci, the date of his execution. There may not be a great deal of information there about him or his family but there is a photo which might provide a lead – I don’t know if you’ve seen it.
Comrade
1) looking for Douglas Tottle – Fraud Famine Fascism
2) World Federation of Trade Unions is exposing the TUC leaders NATO militarism, and showing the biggest unions who call for ceasefire in one country while sending weapons to bomb another, how to do international solidarity.
I don’t really understand this comment. The link is to the bannedthought site – over which I have no control whatsoever. And anyway when I click on the link it works, although slowly. Further, the fact that a item has been published doesn’t mean to say it is readily available.
Have been published in the Year 2023, your website only has till volume 8 of that work, which is the only English translation of the 1912-1949 collected works of Chairman Mao.
Your website has the official Selected Works, but still, Mao’s Road to Power
Revolutionary Writings: is an awesome book, if it’s accurate.
The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project does excavations in the area and seeks summer volunteers, with the possibility of academic credit through Northern Arizona University. The similar Maya Research Program does work in northwestern Belize. I’ve thought about volunteering or otherwise visiting Belize, but I haven’t been to Mesoamerica at this point. Are the decapitated figures mentioned on El Castillo supposed to be modelled on specific people and if so who were they?
All I know about the decapitated figures is what is written in the text; ‘seated inside the niches are the figures of people who were decapitated towards the end of the Classic period (AD 800-900). Judging from their position, these figures may well represent the Bacabs or ‘skybearers’. The frieze on the west side displays just one and a half of these masks symbolising the sun god. Situated between them is a square frame around an image of the fire god Chaac or Kah’k Chaak, which in turn is framed by bands adorned with the woven mat design, Pop in the Maya language. The upper record also shows the image of a mutilated figure, possibly corresponding to a pauwahtun, as in the frieze on the opposite side’.
The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project, which Dr Jaime Awe is a co-director of, does excavations in the area and seeks summer volunteers, with the possibility of academic credit through Northern Arizona University. The deadline for the 2024 field school with academic credit is in February, though there might be flexibility. The similar Maya Research Program does work in northwestern Belize. I’ve thought about volunteering or otherwise visiting Belize, but I haven’t done much travelling at this point. I’ve wanted to visit Mesoamerica, especially central Mexico, and the American tropics for a long time, so this is an interesting series of posts.
Hi Michael I’m searching for a trail guide of Els tres mont. any idea where I can find one? Trail description directions to trailheads etc. thanks Maureen Connors mcandbrowns@gmail.com
Hello Maureen
Sorry for the delay. The information I used when I did the walk was the guide and maps for the Cingles de Bertí. The guide I have scanned and placed at the bottom of the post Els Tres Monts – Stage 1 – the post to which you added your comment. It’s in Catalan but hopefully it will be of help. The two maps that accompany the guide I found (if my memory serves me right) quite good.
Please remember that I did this walk more than ten years ago and some of the information might be out of date. However, I don’t see why the maps shouldn’t still be available.
I found some interesting books here. Thank you very much. But what a pity that some books are in image format, not PDF. It would be great if all books are available in PDF. By the way, the link to
On Literature and Art, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 509 pages.
is broken.
Best regards
Naser
Good to read you found the Marx/Engels page interesting and useful.
Thanks for pointing out the broken link – don’t know how that happened. Should be OK now.
Don’t really understand your other point. All the documents on that page (and most of the documents on the rest of my site) are downloadable as pdf’s. Could you cite specific cases so I can investigate and understand what you mean?
Firstly I very much enjoy meandering through your wonderful website, especially the Albanian writings.
The tampering of this mosaic is certainly an interesting topic.
“The War of National Liberation against the invading fascists, first Italian then the German Nazis, was led by and principally carried out by Albanian Communists. ” I am not sure David Smiley would agree. I think the history Albanian resistance has not been fully understood and published. The communist regime most certainly exaggerated their effectiveness and of course set the narrative for the Ballists and Legalitit combatants.
Just as the ‘west’ tried to undermine the crucial/fundamental role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of the Nazis (all as part of their ‘Russophobe’ campaign (which began long before the Special Military Operation of February last year) so capitalism has constantly been attempting to undermine any role played by Communists in the Second World War.
But if it wasn’t the Communist who drove first the Italians and then the German fascists out of their country who did?
The ‘Nationalists?
The Communists disrupted ‘the plans of the German Nazis from establishing some element of legitimacy to their occupation of the country with the setting up of a ‘Quisling’ government. The date chosen for this sham was the 18th October 1943 and on that day the Albanian traitors met in the Victor Emmanuel III Palace on the outskirts of the city of Tirana.’
And who was it who brought the disparate groups fighting the invaders together?
‘Different nationalist groups, but especially those organised by the Communist Party of Albania (CPA) after its foundation on 8th November 1941, fought against the invaders but by the middle of 1942 it was recognised that the struggle for liberation needed co-ordination and with that in mind the Communists invited all nationalists to a conference to create a structure that would defeat the materially superior foreign forces.’
Perhaps it was the English ‘James Bonds’ who threw out the fascists, all by themselves?
But the Nazis knew who were their real enemy shown by their murder of Persefoni and Bule and the destruction of Borove.
And even the British knew who the real fighters were by finally ‘accepting’ that the Partisans were the only force that was serious in its fight for National Liberation.
I am not denying or trying to change the fact that the Partisans did much of the heavy lifting. All I am saying is that some of the stories and successes were grossly exaggerated. Some (as written by David Smiley) were just out right catastrophic military engagements that the communists deemed as great triumphs.
Further to this the role of the Ballists still to this day is under played and misunderstood due to the narrative set by the communists. Some British operatives actually thought the Ballists more efficient at fighting the Nazis. I presume the closer you got to Kosovo the less efficient they became.
Grover Furr is not a Soviet Historian! He’s a despicable apologist for Joseph Stalin and denier of his atrocities! Furr has a degree in Medieval English not Russian History or any history! Conquest didn’t lie about anything Skunkwipe! He used legitimate sources and provided evidence of Stalin’s genocide! Furr ignored evidence and provided worthless sources! He’s the scum of the earth and so are you!
Well, you may be right about that, for little appeared to be going on this week ((the one which ends up with oil being wiped over the British head of state. But the statutes of Lenin and Stalin, at least, have moved from the gallery’s back yard to the (impeccably kept) front garden of Mehmet Shehu’s house, now guarded by security men. Makes of that what you will….
Thanks for the update of the whereabouts of Lenin and Stalin. Does it mean both the Stalin statues have been moved there. And do you have the address of Mehmet Shehu’s house? I don’t think I’ve ever been there. If you give me the adress I’ll update the post in case anyone wants to go looking for them now that the art gallery may not return to what it was if any renovation actually takes place.
If you walk down rr Ismail Qemali from the Boulevard, into the former Blok, you walk along the north side of a little park. When you get to the end of the park, the house on your left is Mehmet Shehu’s house, so the address is probably the corner of Ismail Qemali and rr Ibrahim Rugova. The front or Enver Hoxha’s house is diagonally across the crossroads in front of you and at the back of the Shehu’s house, but whether there is a tunnel connecting them, as Kadare wrote, is not known. The house is used as a government guest house, and is under security guard, which prevents getting near. In the front garden you can see (the top parts of) Lenin and Stalin (and a jeep-like truck). I am afraid I cannot say whether there is any more, though someone suggested that some works from the gallery of Figurative Arts were being stored there on the inside.
Thanks for the update Adrian. I’ll try to work out how best to include the latest information in the other blogs where I’ve mentioned the statues of Lenin and Stalin. It will also be interesting to see how, or indeed if, they find a permenant home – accessible to the public – in the future of all the statues that were hidden away at the back of the National Art Gallery. I’m particularly concerned with the fate of the statue of Liri Gero
Michael, I wonder if we might have permission to use your photograph of Beggars Bridge to accompany a biographical entry for Thomas Ferres? He is to be included in a new book on people related to Hull over many centuries which is currently being compiled to mark 100 years of Lord Mayors in Hull.. All proceeds are to go to the Lord Mayor of Hull’s charities. I look forward to hearing from you. Dr Robb Robinson R.N.,Robinson@hull.ac.uk
Thanks for this write up. It was very helpful. Would you please tell me if they move all business class seats towards to forward movement direction of the train? Thanks!
I might have posted information and pictures of the mosaic some time ago But I’m still interested in updating/correcting if necessary anything I might have written. In that way I be able to, slowly, fill in the gaps in my information about Albanian lapidars in general.
Thanks for the name. Would he have been an artist or an architect? I know on other lapidars the two skills worked together.
Hello, Petro Sota was my grandfather’s brother. There is a book made about him. Also there is the technical university of Albania that was named after him.
I can give you more details on his life.
As per the sculpture in 2014. It was paid by my grandpa in honour of his brother. The original monument was destroyed when the city council gave the land to UAE mollahs to build a mosque without any consultation and through some generous bribes.
My grandpa collected a few favours here and there in order to get the statue there.
Side note, Raqi Sota (another brother also died during the occupation) him and Petro were exercising their aim when a bullet ricocheted and killed Raqi. He was later made hero of the people.
As per Petro, he was being followed based on information given by a local spy. He noticed that he was being spied and tried to get into a local “bar”. He tried escaping from the windows since he had in his possession a lot of over 40 something names of the resistance. He got shot, and tried eating the letter based on the local eye witnesses. The fascist broke his jaw while his was dying in order to get the letter. Apparently the letter was so damp with blood and chewed that it was unusable.
He got shot a total of 28 times total. And left in the the middle of what yes to be the market for 2 days. His father went to pick up his corpse on the 3rd day by night time.
After this incident, his/my family was sent to the goulag for 2 years.
They were able to come back when the Germans were defeated.
Hello Bessi,
Thanks for the information. It’s so difficult to get details about many of the lapidars and monuments from the socialist period in Albania and there are many gaps in my knowledge. Thanks you, again, for filling some of those gaps.
Michael
Thank you very much for this very accurate and useful article. There is so much good content.
Glad you shared the coordinates as some points are really hard top find.
I’m currently in Albania and will take time to visit some of these fabulous places.
Keep up the good work.
Glad to hear you have found the information useful. Please get in touch if you find any errors or omissions. I will then update. Have a good time in Albania.
The National Art Gallery was closed around the end of November 2021 following the most bizarrely curated exhibition I have ever seen. For a few months towards the end of 2021 it seemed that ALL the exhibits from the Gallery’s storerooms were brought into the exhibition space and put on ‘display’. No organisation, no information but an interesting exhibition, nonetheless, for anyone interested in Albanian Socialist Realist art. I wrote a blog post, together with hundred of pictures, here. When I saw the hoardings around the building I wondered about the fate of the statues from the ‘Statue Park’ at the back of the building.
When I first went to Tirana I had to play cat and mouse with security to get to the back of the building but in recent years it has been on the itinerary of the Tirana walking tours. So it seems Joe and Vladimir have a new, if only temporary, home. Some of the other larger bronze statues can be found in the internal courtyard of the Historical Museum in Skenderbeu Square – go through the doorway that is opposite the main visitor entrance and turn right.
I wasn’t able to find out anything about when the gallery would reopen or what had been the fate of all the exhibits that were placed on show last year.
The ‘anger’ mentioned in the short piece to which you provided a link just goes to show how stupid some people are. These statues, and more, had been on ‘public’ display for years. Ignorant people seem to have the perpetual desire to be outraged.
I’ll place a note at the end of my posts about the gallery to let readers know of the current situation with the ‘refurbishment’. Thanks for your comment, it has reminded me that I should have done that once I realised the gallery was closed.
Liverpool Town Hall.
“The statue at the top of the first flight of stairs is of George Canning, an MP for the town and Prime Minister for 4 months in 1827, was completed in 1832 by Francis Chantry.” — Chantrey seems to be the preferred spelling.
Not mentioned directly is the fact that at Yalta and Teheran, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed that Greece would be in the Western sphere, whereas Albania and Yugoslavia would be in the Eastern sphere. If Stalin had broken the agreement and supplied arms and support, the Greek communists would certainly have won control of the country after the war.
You have done a great work publishing all of these issues. I hope you will publish more on your blog in the next month. That would be amazing. I hope you’re still active
Hello Adam
The reason there are gaps in the postings is that I don’t have access to those issues. I’m constantly looking for a source but, to date, without any luck.
If that situation changes then I will certainly post the missing issues as soon as possible.
But not in the next month, I’m afraid
Hi Michael, an incredible work you have done with pulling together all this content. I am the found out albaniangallery.art website and was wondering if I can republish some of your articles on my website. Without saying the credits will go to you as author/curator. let me know if I get your permission. Regards Alban
Are you related to the Michael Harrison who was moved to leave the rather disobliging assessment of Rinas airport, and those who work in it, last year ? If you are, it sounds as things do not only get better…
I posted on the airport more than nine years ago. Since then I’ve both arrived and left Rinas a number of times. It’s a small airport – though much busier now than it was when I wrote the post – as well as being quite modern and because of that is one of the more ‘pleasant’ airports to pass through. (ALL airports are unpleasant to a lesser or greater extent.) I don’t have any serious criticisms of the airport and I’m not the person that has posted on any site about Rinas – I don’t post on review sites for anything.
Another attempt by the imperial core to offload the blame for their own problems onto the victims of neocolonialism. Perhaps somewhat related to this was the recent remark by William Windsor blaming environmental damage on “Africa’s rapidly growing human population.”
I became skeptical and did a search. According to the only Amazon review of the Budu Svanidze book, it “was exposed as a forgery shortly after it came out by historian Boris Souvarine (Bulletin de l’Association d’Etudes et d’Informations Politiques Internationales, May 1953, Nos. 88 and 89.)” I acquired the articles and confirmed they do indeed refer to this book as a forgery – along with several others. I could send them along with my translations if you’d like.
It’s a long time since I read ‘My Uncle Joseph Stalin’ but my memory was that it was quite benign. How Joe came out of it I can’t remember exactly but I don’t think the book tried to make out that Stalin was a perfect husband and partner – the only reason why I could think of of it being a ‘forgery’.
At the same time I would think that anything written by Souvarine has to be considered suspect – especially when it comes to the topic of Joseph Stalin. Souvarine was a Trotskyite and like all Trotskyites spent much of his time from the mid 1920s attacking the Soviet Union and its leadership.
By all means send the article you mentioned (with translation) if you have them to hand. It would be interesting to read Souvarine’s ‘proof’ that the publication was a ‘forgery’, by whom and for what reason it was ‘forged’ and what political gain there was in such an elaborate task over a book that is hardly well known. I’ve never come across any reference to it so if it was concocted then the aim was a failure.
Yes, your memory is still quite sharp. It is _unusually_ benign. That’s partly the rub. And the BEIPI analysis isn’t free of errors either. Perhaps I should have elaborated more up front.
Two sample points that can be checked independently of BEIPI on the “Svanidze” book (“forgery” = not Stalin’s nephew): [1] Stalin’s second wife didn’t overdose but instead shot herself by the morning of 8 Nov 1932 due to a migraine episode that started Nov 6 and was made worse by attending the Nov 7 anniversary parade; [2] Rosa (Rachel) Kaganovich could not have been an option to be Stalin’s third wife because she died in 1926.
[1] Artem Sergeev, Stalin’s adopted son, comments on Nadezhda’s migraines: translate.yandex.com/translate?url=hrono.ru/biograf/bio_a/alliluevans.php&lang=ru-en – “…Nadezhda Sergeevna had constant, very powerful, completely unbearable headaches. She often held her head in her hands and cried out: ‘My head! My head!’” “Svanidze” may have known this: “‘I have a headache,’ Nadia said stiffly. ‘Please excuse me.’” (p. 59) “Svanidze” says: “One night she took an overdose, with fatal effect.” (p. 98)
[2] Kaganovich family comments on ‘Wolf of the Kremlin’ (1987): revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv1n2/kaganfam.htm – “LMK’s [Lazar Kaganovich’s] only sister, by mistake named in the book as Rosa (her name was Rachel), died in 1926…” Therefore the statement in “Svanidze’s” book that “Molotov, Kaganovitch, Mikoyan, Beria […] now that Stalin was once more a widower […] took the liberty of selecting a wife for him—Rosa Kaganovitch, the beautiful sister of Lazar Kaganovitch” (p. 99) is false.
“Waverly Root” (“Svanidze” again?) in the preface: “If Molotov is to be one of the future rulers of Russia also, it is not unimportant to know that he is a bad loser, or that he dislikes to take responsibility in critical situations.” Fake Stalin quote: “Everyone complains of Molotov’s stiffness, his inability to show the slightest flexibility. It’s true, you know. Sometimes he is really unbearable.” Fake Mikeladze quote: “…we’ll arrange for you to come again when you have that memorandum to prove that Molotov has become anti-Marxist.” Even without BEIPI or the sources above it’s not impossible to see “Svanidze” only pretended to be favorable to the Soviet leadership while in substance making them appear ridiculous.
I’m not really sure where this discussion is going and neither could I couldn’t really understand the points made by the BEIPI analysis.
If the Trotskyites want to make out it is a forgery then it’s to use that against the Soviet Union. But then it would have to have been produced in the Soviet Union. However, the simple mistakes which you point out would seem to suggest it wasn’t produced by someone who knew all the facts.
Then who do you suggest created this ‘forgery’ and for what purpose? And is it really important? It is a rather obscure book and I can’t remember exactly where or when I came across my copy.
If it was created for some ‘ill intent’ then what was it? As it doesn’t seem to have been very successful – especially in the great scheme of things when Uncle Joe has been accused of everything apart from causing the present climate emergency.
This was written just prior to Khrushchev’s slander of “Uncle Joe” and it’s true the book was soon overshadowed. One of the points made in BEIPI is that this series of publications, including those by “Svanidze”, occurred with unusual (or even impossible) speed, so the implication is that the book was authored by international imperialism. The purpose would have been to create confusion and dissatisfaction abroad with the Soviet leadership, potentially for people to quit their parties. And from the description in “The Wolf of the Kremlin” (1987): “The true story of Stalin’s third wife, Rosa, who was Lazar’s sister.” This was decades later so was this sort of narrative really unsuccessful? As to where this is going, the whole point of reading history is to learn, isn’t it? And if it’s disinformation, to alert people. I’ve given my contact info if more needs to be said. I don’t want to spam this page.
I don’t disagree with anything you say. Your memory/knowledge of some of the facts is better than mine and I also agree it’s good to point out these situations in the past to remind people what the enemies to socialism are prepared to do. We only have to look at the ‘Zinoviev Letter’ to realise that the idea of ‘fake news’ is not something invented in the last few years. There’s a book, which I have but have yet to scan, called ‘The Great Conspiracy against Russia’. That documents just such incidents to cause confusion amongst those who might have been sympathetic to the aims of the Soviet Union. I’ll see if I can get it scanned and posted on the Soviet Union page on this blog in the next few weeks.
I read your reviews regularly. It would be helpful to know whether you have been to North Korea, either as a tourist (as I have); as a guest of the DPRK; or in your own right. It might actually help people to understand more clearly the pluses and minuses of that amazing country.
It is a pity there are still uninformed people like you Michael and Thomas Mrett that believe executed innocents during communism in Albania do not deserve rehabilitation. Communist’s leaders in Albania were nothing more than murderers! They isolated the country to destruction only for their privileges.
During king Zog, Albania recognized economic growth. Private property and free speech was never denied, nor were people executed for speaking their mind.
returned to Albania in 1924 with the support of foreign, reactionary forces;
bestowed dictatorial powers upon himself;
made an alliance with Italian Fascism;
in a similar act to the megalomaniacal Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself king;
like a coward ran away when the Italians invaded Albania in 1939;
no doubt was instrumental in post-war efforts of the British government to undermine the government of the people following liberation in 1944;
and lived a life of luxury at the expense of the Albanian people.
Albania today still celebrates Skenderbeu and the idea of Independence but Zogolli’s actions and life were the antithesis of the national hero. He would have preferred to preen himself in a mirror in his dress uniform than get his hands dirty in actually fighting against the fascist (or any other) invaders. That task was left to the working men and women of Albania under the leadership of Comrade Hoxha and the Albanian Communists.
“The organisation still exists but seems to function more as a mouthpiece of the Chinese government in Britain and providing its members with official visits to capitalist China.”
“…Now it praises the erstwhile Socialist country for its capitalist (and imperialist) development.”
Excuse me, what?
Not really sure what you getting at. Is China a capitalist and imperialist country or do you think it is still a ‘socialist’ society?
Those who produced the SACU News in the 1960s and early 1970s were promoting Socialist China at a time when it wasn’t easy to get information about developments in the country. By continuing to support ‘socialist’ China after the coup against the revolutionaries within the Party very soon after the death of Chairman Mao. If such support in the early years of capitalist restoration could be excused as ignorance of the reality any support, or thought that the country still follows a socialist agenda so many years later, is just plain stupidity.
Any support organisations, for example, set up to promote the interests of the United Kingdom or the United States would be to support the dominant economic and social system in place in those countries. Such slavish support always comes with advantages.
I’ve been following your blog for a long time now. It’s probably the best account online relating to the socialist era of Albania. I have a question regarding a building that was once located in Tirana, you might be able to help me. The building is the Museum House of the Party and I can’t figure out if it is still standing or what might be at its location now. If you have any idea I’d appreciate the info.
Sorry for the slight delay in replying, have been trying to find out more information from a friend who knows Tirana better than me.
Many years ago I went looking for the building. The only information I had at that time was the small map that’s in the book Museum House of the Party. You can download it here if you have not already done so. It was posted on Documents of the PLA 31-40 page. On page 19 there’s a small sketch map of the location – the problem was that street names were changed after the reaction took power and there is no actual street name for where the building was located.
I think I found a place which looked as if it might have been the building, but all locked up and no one around. I’m assuming it wasn’t demolished as it was a good building in it’s own right close to the centre of town. My assumption is that it was taken over by some individual as a bit of free people’s property – a private privatisation.
The friend I mentioned earlier is going to see if he can find any more info, if anything more comes to light I’ll forward the news on to you.
Thanks for the link. The presentation is two and a half hours long and haven’t had the time to watch it yet. It’s interesting that it deals with the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ but the subject can be approached in a number of ways.
Considering you comment about the SACU News I’m not sure if we see the dictatorship of the proletariat in the same way.
It’s not easy to refrain from commenting. This time wanted to say that couldn’t have ever read his invaluable speech hadn’t it been singled out here. Many many thanks! I expected it to be interesting but not easy and understandable. One is able to see what he means. We are very different people now from then conscientiously speaking, but the then reality was also different from what is pictured here in 1958. A cultural revolution must’ve been due much earlier than beginning of ’80s.
It would be a mistake to think that the Cultural Revolution in China only took place after the decision of the Central Committee of the CPC dated 8th August 1966. The struggle against revisionism and those who wanted to re-establish capitalism in the People’s Republic went into a new stage after that date but a ‘cultural revolution’ goes side by side with the efforts to build socialism from the first days after the revolution – and this is the case in all countries.
And it’s not just the case of the successful revolutions which took state power in the 20th century. We can see efforts to change peoples ideas and world view during the 72 (too short) days of the Paris Commune with the Patriotic Women’s Clubs, for example.
There was no formal ‘Cultural Revolution’ in the Soviet Union though we can see references to such a continuing struggle in the writings of both Lenin and Stalin.
And also in the writings published by Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania.
Useful readings as always. It was wandering to me why this blog uses ‘Cultural Revolution’ extensively for Albania. It now makes perfect sense for even though Albania never had a ‘formal’ Cultural Revolution as you put it, at least the three first decades during the construction of Socialism were a movement close to that, a continuing restless search and critique involving all in general.
Appreciate you taking the time to stop and provide an extended explanation.
Very interesting what your said about Paris Commune.
when i look at the lapidar sculpture i just know it. We’ve known the Peza stories of WWII when we were young from many sources, history school books, movies, literature etc.
And i’m thinking now but find that i am not able to even mention a specific book or story, it seems a long time ago.
Hi Mr. Harrison,
The group to the left relates to the event of the partisan intervention in the village of Peza after the fascists burnt and massacred it. Peza has been burnt more than once by fascists as it was known to be a great support point to local and other partisan çeta.
What is happening with the left hand side group is, the harmed and vulnerable peasants are desperately welcoming the partisans as these arrive the last minute to rescue them from fascists.
The trio of family is instead a group of unrelated people: The non-uniformed partisan has just rescued the orphan baby most likely from a burning house and is holding the baby, whose one hand is on shoulder of the woman partisan. I can’t figure out what she holds in her left hand either but they’re about to go secure the baby in a safe place away from the bullets field where he is taken care of.
Next, the woman resting her head on the man’s chest is in fact the mother of the partisan, an old lady, and she has been desperately looking for him and his partisan friends to come any minute now to save them from the disgrace. The little guy is her grandson she’s guarding while his father – meaning her son which is near her now – is away from home fighting for freedom.
In the meantime partisan çeta is fiercely fighting with the fascists. In this fight they are joined by village men, the village always being a reliable point of support for partisans.
The partisans of the çeta of Peza, were some of the very first organizations that would later become the national liberation army structured into brigades and divisions. At this initial stage we encounter partisans in distinguishable uniforms and already communists as well as many partisans still on their own local outfits, these maybe recently having joined the çeta or that while into a fighter mentality were not yet a partisan. But they would become soon.
Also Peza was one of the very first liberated sites during antifascist war with the national liberation council regulating and governing the area being the people’s power established there. This is what we see to the right group of the memorial, the unified group of communist partisans, non-communist partisans, civilians and village people. Among the four front figures the two civilians who stand in the middle should be the leading figures of national liberation council for Peza.
All are armed nevertheless. All civilian people are armed to the best they can and stand unified around their power representatives, the national liberation council and communist partisans.
An interesting interpretation. As I asked when you made a comment about ‘The Albanians’ mosaic – how do you come to such a detailed reading of the sculptural story?
verses are actual folk songs, Mavrova and Drashovica are individual villages and it’s being sung to each one of them altogether. You Mavrovë and you Drashovicë, what havoc combined that day, machine guns and artillery, the night looked like day.
Hysni Kapo like a hawk, threw himself over barbed wires, spoke himself to the germans, surrender you hateful aggressor.
With Shkoder being the last liberated, on Nov. 29th 1944, the Albanian National Liberation Army kept the fights going beyond country northern borders, in the area of Kosova and further northern to that, in Yugoslavian territory, helping neighbours and pushing Germans as further away the Albanians border as possible. These last army sections returned home in 1945.
My grandfather fought there and returned home only that year.
the mosaic man in suit with a piece of paper in hand is an Albanian renaissance figure rather than Ismail Qemali, the independence man.
this man is likely one of the three Frasheri brothers, probably Sami Frasheri or Abdyl Frasheri. Sami Frasheri the youngest, more of a philosopher, wrote the precious piece “Albania what was, what is and what will be”, Abdyl Frasheri the olderst was leader of the League of Prizren a unifying congress for albanians fighting against Turkey, 1878. Naim Frasheri, the second brother, was a great Albanian renaissance poet, maybe the greatest of the era.
Edvin Rama is disinterested in survival of the mosaic and is intentionally allowing its disintegration just like he’s doing with every socialist era buildings, architecture, structures, that have survived to date. His ambition is replacing the urban layout of the centre of Tirana so that no sign of pre ’90s is left as remembrance of that period.
In addition to Frasheri brothers, Edvin Rama recognized a successor of them Mit’hat Frasheri who headed a collaborationist government to Nazis during WWII, honoring him and adding him space in the grave ansamble of the trio Frasheri brothers. This was carried out in speedy sneaky but nevertheless official way, Rama being aware of not being allowed to do so if acts were publicly announced beforehand.
Thanks for another interpretation of the story behind the images. I must admit that with many of the lapidars I have described (and those still to post) I’m very much in the situation of making a (hopefully) informed guess as I have been unable to find any sources which provide a definitive explanation of the images, in whatever format.
I assume that much of this material was lost when the Writers Union archives were destroyed. I suppose there could be information in the National Archives – but then I come across the problem of the language.
Where did you find the details you have presented here?
Thanks also about the information about Rama and the addition of a fascist to the group of the Frasheri brothers in Tirana Park – I hadn’t heard of that. Reactionaries removing, destroying, or altering socialist monuments in secret and the dead of night isn’t new. The removal of the statue of Joseph Stalin that stood in the park that bears his name in Gori is another example that comes to mind.
But what was/is Rama’s rationale for this addition? Who is he hoping to impress? Surely there’s not much left of the country for him to ‘sell out’?
Rectified. But WordPress doesn’t make it easy. You would have thought that moving two letters would be a doddle but it isn’t. Thanks for pointing out the error.
very kind of you. If of any use the below is from your great post on National Art Gallery,
– Ilia Kici Dashi, 1978 – Sali Shijaku
The title is Hero i Punës Socialiste – Hero of the Socialist Work, equivalent to People’s Hero but now during construction times rather than war times.
– The wireworker, 1969 – Sotir Capo
The wire factory was in Shkoder, and that was supplied with copper raw material by the copper enrichment factory of Rubik, Mirdite.
– The days of flying, 1986 – Spiro Kristo
there’s a typo error on date, as it is year 1968, which might affect the painting concept.
– July 30, 1978 – Çlirim Çeka
Relationships between Albania and China broke in the summer of 1978, however the date might mark the first production of albanian steel. Which relates to China because with the break they quit assistance to Albania on that project.
Thanks for more information and pointing out the error on the date of the painting of the airmen. It does change the the meaning of the painting – context is everything. Have made appropriate alterations.
Glad to hear that you find the blog useful. There’s a lot more to come so if you’re interested in a particular topic you might find more material here in the future.
Very good article. Thanks.
Can I ask a question. Is there at least one party of workers in England? Is there a “red university”? a “university of worker correspondents”? a “red channel” on youtube?
«The Party’s
the compass
that keeps us on course,
the backbone
of the whole working class.»
Unfortunately, there’s no Party I would consider as a true revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party in Britain – although there are a few organisations that claim to be. As for a ‘red university’ there’s never been anything like that in the UK – and perhaps one of the reasons for the lack of a party is the lack of emphasis on creating a structure where people can learn the basics of Marxism-Leninism in the past (parties were more concerned with practice and the theory, some times, wasn’t given the emphasis it requires).
A few sites (other than this one) are providing digital versions of much of the Marxist-Leninist theory as well as the history and experience of those societies that have attempted to build a socialist society. I would recommend BannedThought and From Marx to Mao. Also for other varieties of socialism the Marxist Internet Archive.
I’m glad you found the post interesting. With the western capitalist countries virtually writing the Soviet Union out of the war against Fascism – and at the same time attempting to present their contribution as greater than it really was – it’s important to keep the Red Flag flying.
To me ‘Doi moi’ is just a continuation of revisionism from the time of the First International – but with a Vietnamese twist.
Socialism’s biggest enemy is not capitalism, vicious militarism that comes as a consequence of imperialism (and the Vietnamese people had their fair share of that experience) but the traitors from within – and the failure of people to identify and crush them when they raise their ugly heads.
This was very interesting reading. For me, as someone with no ideological skin in the game, what;s quite interesting from reading “Reflections on China” (I have a *lot* of time nowadays, as do many of us!…how I got here in fact) is that Hoxha finds Mao irreducibly weird from early on, because he’s Chinese, or more broadly, Asian. I think the subjective aspect of this is mostly positive, i.e. he;s not being ethnocentric, but simply trying to make sense of a leader, and a country, that are totally befuddling to him even though they’re his only significant allies. It’s also interesting how Hoxha, whose cult of personality was a figure of fun in the West, convincingly distinguishes between the utilitarian rationale for that phenomenon in Albania and what he sees as the beyond-all-reason (and again, only understandable in cultural context) cults of Mao and Kim.
I don’t really understand your point. For me the the issue which lay behind Hoxha’s frustration (which was expressed in the 1976 letter to the CPC) revolved around the time it took the Chinese Party to make the ‘definitive’ split with the Revisionist Soviet Union.
I haven’t read the Enver’s ‘Reflections .. ‘ for some time so don’t really know where you got your ideas about the ‘cult of the personality’.
I also don’t think that was, at all, the way the ‘West’ approached Albania post WWII. The British, especially, were pissed that they couldn’t get control of the Balkans (something which determined much of their military approach for the Britain to get back into the war – i.e., go via Italy, then turn east and deny the Red Army success in that part of the world).
As it was the Albanian Communist Partisans freed their own country (as did, indeed the Yugoslavs – even if Tito took the Federation into the capitalist camp in the 1950s) and denied the imperialists their prize. I went into this idea in one of my earliest blogs.
The propaganda campaign against Albania, at least in Britain, was centred on the country’s so-called ‘isolation’, to try to denigrate its independence.
As it stands now the word ‘independence’ shouldn’t have an Albanian translation – they have no concept of it.
It’s not possible to closely follow events in all countries that are going through the pandemic at the moment. At the same time it’s not a surprise that you can see many parallels between events, statements, inactivity, errors and crass incompetence in Catalonia and Spain as I have seen in the UK. They all follow the profit agenda and not one that cares for people or the long term well being of an economy which isn’t ruled by short term gain.
It will be interesting to see if the people will allow the same selfish capitalist system to carry on doing what it has been doing for centuries – a system which constantly creates crises, whether they be financial and economic or, as at the moment, a health pandemic.
Find your link from Stalin Society India and saw that you are doing very
good work by posting Albania today with its contents.
I will see if I have missing numbers after 15th April if lock down ends here in India.
Our Facebook page-Kamgar Prakashan.
Yours
Balram Sharma
Hello Balram, Thanks for getting in touch. Will look forward to your news about missing Albania Today’s later in the month. Hope all is going well with you in the present health crisis. Take care, Michael
I am delighted to see this very full and thoughtful article about the fantastic art in the Tirana Gallery. My wife and I were there in 2015 – very briefly in a gap in our tourist tour of the country. We were the only people on the first floor enjoying these extraordinary examples of socialist realist art – an art style which has been almost totally removed from the ex-Soviet bloc countries’ galleries. The floor attendant was very concerned that we were taking photographs – so the ones I took (mainly of industrial scenes) were rather hurried and sometimes out of focus. But I have a selection of those in this brilliant overview, and a few more which may not have been there in 2015.
Are you aware of any book covering these key works of a very significant period of western art which is so ignored by the bulk of the British art establishment ? If not, have you ever thought about publishing your own ? It would be a pity to lose these works as has happened nearly everywhere else.
Happy you found the post useful and interesting. The attitude of the gallery (and the attendants) has changed over the years. It was a bit like a guerrilla campaign some times in the past but things were very much more relaxed when I was there in the autumn of 2019.
Even the ‘Sculpture Park’ at the back of the gallery – where I had to time it so I would get by without the security guard noticing – is now possible to visit freely. The authorities have obviously decided that there is an advantage to allow people to see the works of the Socialist period, even to the extent that the rear of the gallery is now on some of the organised ‘walking tours’ of Tirana. I’m sure with all the negative commentary that is seen as obligatory by the ignorant and anti-Socialists when it comes to Albania’s history between 1944 and 1990. Albania is such a paradise on earth now.
The only contemporary album I’ve seen about Albanian Socialist Realist Art is a book about graphic art from the Socialist period.
However, albums were produced in the past and I have added two that I have in digital format. Thanks for making your comment as it made me remember that I had other material which complement the contemporary photos. They are fairly large files but you should have no real problem in downloading them if you so wish. I’ve just added them to the end of the post.
I also have photos of art work from other museums/galleries in different parts of the country. They will eventually appear somewhere on this blog
In re “The breasts seem like small bowels that have been plunked on their chests” – I think you meant ‘bowls’
The other thing is that a gang of telecommunications workers (cable layers) are also treated as heroic in Venedikt Yerofeev’s “Moscow Circles’ Anti-heroes may be more accurate, or maybe parodies of heroes, or fasiledf heroes, but even then the idea is drawing on what I think might have been a known figure of heroic legend at some times in the Soviet imagination. Cf. Solzhenitsyn’s canal-workers, perhaps harking back to and inheriting something of an image of heroic road-builders (Lermontov?) and/or railway workers, all pioneers in the opening up of communication, progress, snd the bringing of modernity, even in earlier, pre-Soviet times. Is this fair ?
Thanks for pointing out the typo. Always a problem proof reading your own work but this one takes it into another dimension. The post-socialist revisionists in Georgia might have been perverse but not quite as suggested in my original (pre-corrected) post. What a difference an ‘e’ makes?
As for the terracotta mural I still contend it is no more than decoration. I don’t dislike it. Quiet the contrary I think it has some charming aspects – the looks on the faces demonstrating an element of innocence, for example.
But that’s me being soft.
My argument is that no work of art that is created in a society that used to be on the Socialist road but which, due to manoeuvrings in the Party which had succeeded in changing that Party from a revolutionary to a revisionist one, can be considered a work of Socialist Realism.
Images of Marx, Engels and Lenin were paraded in Red Square after 1956 until things fell apart in the 1990s. That didn’t mean the country was following the sort of society those individuals considered to be Socialism.
This is a stupendously wonderful resource, particularly for someone who first went to Albania in the 80s but who now fears that his own memories will fade as the things which one could marvel at in the 80s also fade from view. May your work prosper.
Hello Adrian, Glad you find my blog posts on Albania useful. I have a few more pamphlets/books to scan as well as many lapidars to describe whilst providing a photographic record. Do you have any material from your visit/s in the 1980s which doesn’t appear on my site? If you could lend them to me to scan and then post that would make the collection that more complete. I’m especially interested in copies of Albania Today (I’ve scanned and posted all to which I have access) and New Albania – I have some more to scan but there are many gaps in that collection.
The icon “Bloody Martyrdom” depicts a real historical event. Two Franciscans from Italy – Giacomo da Sarnano and Ferdinando d’Albissola – were impaled by the Muslims in 1648. That’s why the dress of the bystanders is old (foustanellas etc). More details here: Pacifico Sella, “Testimonianze inedite circa il martirio dei frati minori Giacomo da Sarnano e Ferdinando d’Albissola (Scutari 28 febbraio 1648)”, (2015), https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5533704.pdf
When I saw the painting I was more interested in the style the artist had taken from the previous 50 years of Albanian art.
However, the putting the painting into its historical context raises an interesting point.
I’ve been in many Catholic churches in various parts of the world and seen paintings which with present thinking would be considered racist and inflammatory – Sant Iago Matamoros being one example. These images would be explained away now by the Catholic guardians as ‘being of their times. Things are different now and the Catholic Church is more tolerant.’ And then the present Pope would be cited.
But obviously not in Shkoder. Just over a hundred metres from this Franciscan church is a large, modern mosque. Yet in the 21st century, in a country that claims ‘religious tolerance’ after the atheist campaigns of the Socialist period, Albanian Catholics still seek to stoke hatred against Islam.
Conveniently forgetting the atrocities that have been committed in the name of Christianity/Catholicism since 1648 against anyone who doesn’t bow down to the incumbent in Rome – including the counter-revolutionary activity carried out in the very same building where the Franciscan ‘martyrs’ are being celebrated.
Fabulous detailed info Michael. Thank you. We visited Martyrs cemetery on the anniversary of the slain student and were fortunate to meet his cousin and friend at the graveside.
We later went to Hoxhe new grave. The road you turn off is 10.minites walk from the end of the bus line, and continues in the direction the bus was travelling (the part of your text where you said to keep on the returning bus and continue walking was ambiguous: it was not clear if you should walk on the return direction or continuing out if town direction).
Excellent information all round though. Thankyou for taking the time to post.
Thanks for your comment Tina. I’ve altered the text, and updated the bus fare, so hope that has done away with any ambiguity. Sorry for any confusion caused. Hope you’re enjoying your time in Albania.
Wonderful photos and commentary. Perhaps you can initiate a Go-Fund-Me effort to finance a rhinoplasty for Comrade Enver? I am good for a small contribution.
Thank you for letting us see some of real history , not mentioned oft I have a b a in political science and I am no smarter than the most average person believe me but the way Greece was treated was reprehensible they were committed to the fight that we anericans we’re simple as that and also simple perhaps also takes so much work but it’s the peace building with egalitarian robust energetic cooperative economies of human civilization without nationalist division but with national distinction a true communism would be the greatest step towards peace
I was wondering if I could use the picture of “The Hanged Women – Gjirokastra”, the first one in this article, for a little quiz on twitter?
Some colleagues and I run a channel called @quiztime, where we post weekly quizzes for other so solve in order to train for geolocation and verification skills.
The image would be attached to a tweet tomorrow for people as a hint where to start the search.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
Tilman
I used to work in Martins Bank International Branch in Water Street. I now live in Nottingham but often visit Liverpool to meet up with friends whom I used to work with. Could you let me know if there are any plans to see inside the beautiful old building or heritage days organised for this year.?
The building has been acquired by an up-market hotel group. It seems to be taking a long time to do the conversion and, as far as I know, there’s no date about when it will open. The plan was announced almost 4 years ago so there have been questions about funding. The latest I’ve seen is that has been acquired by the IHG chain.
When/if it does open as a hotel the banking hall will almost certainly be the reception area so open to the public. What plans they have for the Board Room I have no idea. It could be converted into a dining room so that would also be available to the public.
Start saving up your pennies if you hope to visit the building in the future.
One clue as to the strangeness or incomprehensibility of the figures/bas reliefs around the monument is given by this translation of a guide-book-style website (1):
“The monument was projected by a group of artists resident in Ushuaia, directed by the sculptor Vilma Nattero and represents the silhouette of the islands.”
The group-produced artwork has a built-in tendency towards inconsistency in execution. The “group of artists resident in Ushuaia” may have been no more than the local arts club, with members of varying competence. Bringing the local community into the construction of a monument under the direction of a ‘proper’ artist sounds like a good idea, but it does run the risk of producing below-par work, as you clearly illustrate.
Oh dear, bang goes my credibility as a commentator of the left! At least, given the date, I can claim that I was under the influence of sherry and mince pies while failing to distinguish my Galtieris from my Pinochets. Thanks for not laughing too loudly!
Mike, apart from the egregious use of ‘it’s’ when you should write ‘its’ (the English teacher writing here) this is a very entertaining and genuinely interesting piece of travel writing and matches anything to be found in the Guardian or elsewhere. [You might recall I left those animated arguments with yourself, Norman and Richard et al in the Caernavon pub, after the usual Friday show in the Merseyside Film Society, and headed out of the UK in 1980.] I was teaching in Jamaica at the time of the Falklands war and there was a strange sense of pride amongst some of the ex-pats who worked with me at the school. I saw it as a piece of grotesque opportunism from the Thatcher government. It was almost as if the Argentinian military dictatorship had colluded with her. Her wildest dreams came true as she was able to wrap herself in the union flag, sit in the front of tanks and in put back progress even further.
The museum seems rather tacky and the semi-detached house it seems to be based in (I’m looking at the blue fencing outside) might be a model for the development of future British museums, given government cuts.
Mike, I admire what you’re doing here. There’s quite an interesting alternative world view available although, as you would probably guess, I don’t agree with much of what you say. Anyway keep travelling and wrirting.
Hello Frank, I know there’s no excuse for bad grammar but I will offer a ‘reason’. By the time I’ve done something in the day to write about, get back and write it, process my photos, et al it is getting quite late when I press the ‘publish’ button. That means I’m considerably down the wine bottle (my chosen tipple here) and that means I might miss the ‘. I humbly apologise and will stop drinking to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
As for the museum you have to look at the sky blue colouring as a patriotic motif – it’s the colour in the national flag (or should that be ‘its’?).
This looks like deliberate policy on the part of the owners – you do not say whether it is privately owned or state-run. Assuming the latter, and that post-junta Argentinian governments have been broadly centrist or left-wing, you’d think that some historical analysis of the failings of Pinochet would have been highlighted. On the other hand, if it is privately-owned, perhaps the owners are/were pro-Pinochet and don’t want too many historical questions asked. Some perspective on this might be gained by studying the date when the museum was opened.
Hello Ian, I’m afraid you’re getting mixed up with your military dictators. My ideas have been evolving about who actually commissions the different memorials to the Argentine dead in the Malvinas War. Some are definitely the State but others are more likely to be commissioned by local veterans organisations.
As for the Rio Gallegos museum it appears to be part of some army complex. Whether it was a barrack or some administrative building I don’t know – didn’t investigate too closely and won’t be going back there. At the same time although there was no admission fee there was a request for donations for the maintenance of the museum and for the purchase of new material.
I’m hoping the museum in Buenos Aires will be a proper affair. We see in 3 weeks or so.
It is an awkward, unbalanced monument (compare the image of the miner in your earlier post, which had the merit of capturing with some skill the powerful dynamics of a man and a manual drill) which, though abstract up to a point, reminds me of some form of plant-life, with shoots growing from the ground at different heights. From these green(?) shoots emerge the faces of workers – presumably a generic visage to embrace all workers, though specifically in this case the office-workers at the FOM HQ. Again, though, the image is unclear. Perhaps the Pinochet lackeys realised the message of this monument was too obscure to become any sort of focus for discontent, and certainly not worth the cost of dismantling it. Or perhaps they didn’t get the point, either.
I read this statue as something like ‘the spirit of Argentina’, represented by a modern woman (hence the clothing) in rebellious pose (the exposed breast a reference to Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’, as well as the Amazon warrior), armed with a lance (to represent a willingness for armed conflict) and a book (to represent the importance of education and civilisation). I am not so sure that this is intended to be an indigenous person – I don’t see the evidence or the rationale for that.
I think the bronze (?) panels with the Malvinas silhouette are effective, but a fair amount of expense seems to have been spared on the statue, which is slowly mouldering away. Pity, because it is an arresting image.
“Today we remember them, in the streets and in the schools…”
And those are precisely the places where we should teach others about what some people wish to do to us. (And if not, the internet must do, as it does here! Of course, I did not know of this piece of history, but I do now.)
We are beginning to see the ‘minute’s applause’ in the UK, in sports grounds and similar, which as you say requires a tad more participation than silence. It also obviates the possibility of a silent period being hijacked by counter-demonstrators (or just idiots) wishing to make their voices heard.
The inability of the teachers to coordinate with other workers over demonstrations is surely not because they cannot see the point of doing so, but because such organisation requires a lot of background work – which teachers (if their profession is anything like ours) simply will not have the time to do; their primary responsibility is for the children. State operatives, on the other hand, are paid to coordinate their responses.
Your first mural illustrated is indeed grotesque – what makes it so is the children’s comic idiom in which the soldier is (not very expertly) drawn. What does this say about the mindset of the artist? Gross sentimentality, perhaps, but certainly not the thoughtful dignity with which the 649 deserve to be remembered. That said, this particular area of the country seems well short of good street artists – none of the murals shown is especially well executed, the soldier-grandma image desperately short of artistry. Perhaps the best is the simplest – the “649, siempre eran nuestros heros” image. (I’m surprised that the Spanish plural is “heroes” rather than “heros”, but then again my Spanish never progressed beyond O level.)
It’s regrettable that the memorial is poorly maintained, but as you imply, it seems to be trying to say too much at once. The backwards tilt of the main element is intended, I suggest, to reflect agony (a soldier shot while advancing into enemy fire, perhaps). I can’t make much of the rest.
Some remarkable images here, Michael! Well done for circulating them.
As for the G20 Summit, we are reminded that among the plenipotentiaries attending is that currently interesting character from the Middle East MBS, whom the Argentinian authorities might (it is reported here) attempt to arrest!
Hello Ian, There are more images in the Gallery. I forgot to add it earlier on but should be there now.
Not picked up anything, on TV news or newspapers, about an Argentine arrest during the G-20. Argentina will be sucking up to the IMF and won’t want to upset MBS’s best mate in the White House.
What’s your point? It’s an Orthodox Cathedral. Christian. Crosses are all the rage. The mosque is being built elsewhere. Get your facts right before you bother me with your ignorant and uninformed prejudices.
Very. The only time I had a problem – and that was just a matter of bad timing on my behalf – was in 2011 (my first visit to Albania) when the very day I wanted to travel there was a)
work on the dock in Saranda and b) maintenance of the boat (or so I was told).
Every other time I’ve travelled by boat it has been spot on.
Obviously, depending upon the time of year, you have to take into account potential weather problems.
Very. All the buses that go to Tirana from Saranda go close to Durres and they’re very frequent, at least until mid afternoon. Those buses don’t go to the centre of Durres itself, though. They go to the bus station at Plepa and you catch a local bus from there. Local buses run every few minutes and only cost 30 lek. That bus takes you pass the bus/train station in the centre of town and its terminus is a further couple of hundred metres west in the direction of the Martyrs Cemetery.
Two days ago I visited Skadar and the Franciscan church. After coming home looking for some information I found your story. I’ll probably visit her again. Thanks for this fantastic explanation.
Aida
Hello Aida, Glad you found my explanation useful. I think the artwork in the Skhoder Franciscan church might well be unique. I’ve certainly not seen anything like it anywhere else.
The statue of Bajram Curri is by Fuat Dushku (who also worked on the monument of the Four Heroines of Mirdita, which was formerly in Rreshen, but was destroyed after the end of socialism). I found this artcle (http://www.fjalaelire.com/tema/27967.html), which seems to indicate the Bajram Curri statue was inaugurated in 1982, corresponding to the anniversary of Albanian independence.
Thank you for this – San Michele al Pozzo Bianco is my favorite church in Bergamo, where I have the good fortune to be living for a while.
And regarding the quaint saint with spectacles, I have come across two more and thought you might be interested.
Both are in Lorenzo Lotto paintings of the assumption with the apostles.
The first one is the the 1512 Assumption of the Virgin now in the Brera Pinacoteca in Milan (http://pinacotecabrera.org/en/collezione-online/opere/assunzione-della-vergine-3/) in which the apostle on the far right is looking up, through spectalces, as if to better see or validate it, at Mary going to heaven on a cloud pushed by bunch of cupid-looking angels.
The second one is the 1527 altarpiece in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Calena, Bergamo (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Lorenzo_lotto%2C_assunta_di_celana%2C_1527%2C_00.jpg). Here, the bespeckled apostle is in the center, behind the empty tomb.
My best guess is that the bespeckled in the Lotto paintings is Saint-I-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it-Thomas, but I am not sure of this.
During my search for information on war memorials in Albania I came across your blog. Having read the information, you stated that you did not know the background of the changes made to the cemetary after the 1980s. Chances are that you have already deepened your knowledge in the meantime and I have simply not read the follow-up posts, but if this is not yet the case, maybe this article that I have found online as well might be of interest to you. https://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1262/Memorial-to-the-Victims-of-the-Wehrmacht-Massacre-of-Borov%C3%AB
Thanks for the correction. I try to get the details right but I’m not an expert in WWII weapons and sometimes end up making a, as near as I can get, guess.
My wife is English and has taught English in Saranda 6 years. We lived in Ipsos Corfu 8 years.When you get off in the port a taxi to town centre is 4 to 500 Lek. Or turn right out of port walk and you will see about 40 yards on your right a long flight of steps at the bottom you will walk straight on keeping the sea on your right keep walking its a 10 mins nice short walk and you will eventually come to another flight of stone steps about 80 of them on your left easy to walk up with restaurants either side at the top you will see a bus stop that bus stop is just to your left that bus is to Butrint its 100 lek fare they run about every 30 mins and its about 20 mins to Butrint terminus and drops you off at the front of the Butrint site TAKE WATER and a CAP 80yards from terminus you will see a Hotel Toilets Food Beer Etc and very nice. Or ask a taxi how much, normally they will take you and wait for you same with Blue Eye just come to an agreement on the fare. DO NOT give any money to Gypsy kids or you will be pestered from then on by others. If hungry and want a beer 200Lek for a large draught or a nice cheap meal good varied menu with a very clean toilet go to top of steps you came up for the bus look down and 15 foot on left is Leos OR go to bottom of steps cross road and to Left is Limani good food and Beer next to sea but a bit dear. 2 Supermarkets just get off bus and walk up road with park on right you will come to Conads supermarket for Drinks andCigarettes to take back you are allowed only 1 litre of Gin Vodka Brandy Etc each and only 2 packs of cigarettes or 40cigs each NO MORE the Greeks do not have a sense of humour in customs. You will be save here no problems at allHonest you will be shocked when you compare cost off cigs beer and restaurant food in Saranda compared to Corfu believe me. Nearly everyone takes Euro but ask 1st. Sorry no commas Etc. its my wife who is English teacher hope this helpsyou enjoy yourday.
Thanks for this explanation. We travelled through Ksamil earlier this month and thought that the buildings had collapsed due to bad footings, or an earthquake. We were on a coach from Sarandë to Butrint and the guide on the bus was expounding the wonders of democracy in Albania, and mentioned nothing of the obvious wonky buildings.
I’m surprised there are still buildings which haven’t been completely demolished – I haven’t been there for a year or so. When I first saw them in 2011 there were many more along the route from Sarande to Butrint – not just in Ksamil.
Hi ,
my husband and I are planning a day trip in Albania this coming June 2018,
Would it be best to book in advance but I cannot find a website that says we will be using the hydrofoil so it would be quicker and we also want to go to Butrint and visit the Blue eye cave. Basically,Saranda,Butrint National park and Blue eye cave as day trip from Corfu(with pick up and drop off from hotel)if possible.
Which tour operators are best to use and website please?
As I don’t know how to go about from Saranda to Butrint National park,would it be best to to a package day tour for this.Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Verge
Sorry for the delay in replying. I don’t think there should be a problem with getting on the hydrofoil in June. It’s the hydrofoil that leaves every day at 09.00. You will have problems doing both Butrint and Blue Eye in the same day trip – they are in opposite directions out of Saranda. I don’t know anything about package trips s I’ve always traveled independently and with less time constraints.
There’s a local bus to Butrint that leaves from the big tree, which you can see on the right when you get to the road above the port after clearing immigration. It takes about 45 minutes but it’s only once an hour so time could be wasted if you arrive just after a bus has departed.
As you are tight on time the best bet might be to negotiate a taxi for the both trips. The cost shouldn’t be too prohibitive – how good are your negotiating skills?
The problem with going to Blue Eye by public transport is that there’s a bout a two kilometer walk each way from the main road so a taxi to take you to the sight itself makes sense.
You could do a pick and mix – taxi and public transport – but that all alters the time it takes to get from point to point.
Hope this helps.
Be careful on Package Tours the Greeks will charge you 10 Euros each person Saranda port entry tax and give you just a cloakroom tkicket with a number on for a receipt. This 10 Euro port entry tax stopped over 7 years ago its a CON We live in Saranda ask em why the Dolphin doesnt charge it and why you cant pay it when you land, wil they come back with a load of waffle honest.
Hello Gretchen
Glad to hear you find my posts on Socialist Realism in Albania interesting. This is my post on the Saranda Martyr’s Cemetery. There’s another lapidar, at Manistir, which is at a low point in the hills, between the sea and the lake, about half way along the road from Saranda and Butrint. My post is here.
All the recent development in the town of Saranda itself has left us with little. However, there’s a nice little sculpture of young girls picking oranges on the sea front promenade. This is between the port where you arrive on the hydrofoil and the small marina which you will see on the right hand side of the bay.
Hope you have a good time.
Michael
Thank you for this article. It is “true to life”, which in this case means that it is true to the real event that has happened in Edinburgh. I enjoyed looking at the pictures, learning about the artists and bits of life mosaic reflected in it.
Good “true to life” painting is always a little window to the time and place depicted by the artist. It provokes thoughts and emotions, it calls to learn more about the times and peoples that are in the pictures.
To enjoy text we have to know its language. To enjoy figurative “true to life” art we don’t have to know anything. It is universal. It moves us to learn about who, and what, how and why is there. “True to life” as a style is different from Social Realism.
Social realism is charging us with ideas of socialism the same as church art is charging us with ideas of christianity. It would be true to life to say that it is still possible to love these kinds of art not sharing the ideas expressed by them. At least it is how I feel about it. There is so much that they say about real people, their eternal struggle, inspiration, motivation…
You guys have no idea how a communist system works. Check all those countries/empires took the idea of Marx and Lenin and see how they end up. Human history could have save millions of life without communism. Arguing? Have a year in North-Korea and you change your mind…
As you’ve spent a year in the DPRK (because surely you must have if not why would you make such a crass and meaningless comment) I will welcome any comments you might make on my considerably shorter but more recent visit
Hello Michael.
I have film of a large memorial, appears to be carved from stone, in shape of a 5 pointed star, with ‘1944’ above a group of soldiers. Alongside are the words ‘lavdi brigades pare heroika sul. huesi’. I thinki it is on the road between Korce and Tirana, perhaps near Elbasan. Any ideas?
Hello Chris, The lapidar you are describing is the Star at Qukes-Pishkash, which is on the main road between Librazhd and Prrenjas, heading to Lake Ochrid – so going east from Elbasan. You can find my post on this at http://michaelharrison.org.uk/2016/03/pishkash-star/
I would very much welcome a link to a video from before everything fell apart in the 1990s. It’s very difficult to get information or other visual sources of the lapidars during the Socialist period. The quality, or your non-Academy award winning filming, is not an issue, what is important is more detail.
When you’ve finished your editing please send me the link and I add it to my post.
Do you have any other clips from your 1980 trip? I struggle to get accurate information so any clues you can pass on, from whatever part of the country, would be appreciated.
Hello.
I was in Albania in 1980 and recorded my trip (with Regent Holidays) on std 8 cine film. Only now have I had it copied to digital and I am at this moment editing it in moviemaker, with captions, and hopefully some Albanian music later. I filmed this memorial but I was not sure where it was, so I am grateful to you for putting this online. I am now able to say that it was definitely near Korce (where we visited a carpet factory, stayed at the Hotel Floria, visited a very beautiful building, the Museum of the Middle Ages, and where my diary tells me that we saw local people still wearing traditional Albanian costume.)
I will add the youtube reference to my (admittedly deteriorated film – and poor quality filming) when I have completed the editing in the next week or so.
Michael, I always appreciate your analysis of communist statuary and imagery in general, but I take issue with your assumption that the presence of large amounts of text proves a high level of literacy. Of course this is not capable of definite proof either way, and it is quite possible that the authorities also assumed that their words would be read and understood by all. But it is equally possible that the slabs of text included were self-aggrandising (“see how well we have succeeded in educating the proletariat”) or even self-justifying (“we know this to be eternally true and set in stone, and that is all that is necessary for posterity; we are not bothered whether you can or cannot read it”).
Faith in the benevolence and wisdom of authority is one of the main reasons why people have ultimately rejected communism – that and the undeniable material comforts capitalism confers on those in a position to benefit from it. The fact that a certain sort of ordinary person can also successfully jump on the capitalist bandwagon ensures that, sooner or later, successor regimes to Stalin or Mao will eventually prevail.
Hello Ian,
I think we have to look at the Nanjiecun ‘complex’ in a different manner from virtually ALL other Socialist monuments in whatever country. For a number of reasons.
One, it was constructed in 1993,the centenary of Chairman Mao’s birth, in a country that had spent, at least the government, the Party and the authorities, the previous 17 years trying to denigrate and virtually ignore all that had been achieved under Chairman Mao’s name and leadership. To say that the people of Nanjiecun were going against the flow is an understatement.
Two, the ‘authority’ which made the decision, and the people who paid for the structure, were the people who lived and worked there. I can accept that in the past the decision for the installation of a monument may not have always come from the enthusiasm and initiative of the local people. Here it definitely did. And also going against not only national government and Party but also those authorities across the road.
Three, it must have been paid for by those local people. The surplus they had created in their collective enterprises were diverted from what might have been seen as immediate needs, i.e., housing, health resources, cheaper food in the stores, etc., to something that had no tangible benefit for the people. The fact that Nanjiecun has become a bit of a tourist draw would not have been, I contend, a consideration 25 years ago. That was with the statue of The Chairman.
Four, they would not – ten years later, more or less, have then spent more money on the construction of the marble faced frames for the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and (I assume at the same time) the two bill boards for the words and images of Chairman Mao.
We must remember that we are talking about a permanent population of only 3,000, supplemented by an ‘immigrant'(this is one thing I find a little problematic) population of another 10,000. Would that number of people have sanctioned the installation and the expense of something which they co
Hello Ian,
I think we have to look at the Nanjiecun ‘complex’ in a different manner from virtually ALL other Socialist monuments in whatever country. For a number of reasons.
One, it was constructed in 1993,the centenary of Chairman Mao’s birth, in a country that had spent, at least the government, the Party and the authorities, the previous 17 years trying to denigrate and virtually ignore all that had been achieved under Chairman Mao’s name and leadership. To say that the people of Nanjiecun were going against the flow is an understatement.
Two, the ‘authority’ which made the decision, and the people who paid for the structure, were the people who lived and worked there. I can accept that in the past the decision for the installation of a monument may not have always come from the enthusiasm and initiative of the local people. Here it definitely did. And also going against not only national government and Party but also those authorities across the road.
Three, it must have been paid for by those local people. The surplus they had created in their collective enterprises were diverted from what might have been seen as immediate needs, i.e., housing, health resources, cheaper food in the stores, etc., to something that had no tangible benefit for the people. The fact that Nanjiecun has become a bit of a tourist draw would not have been, I contend, a consideration 25 years ago. That was with the statue of The Chairman.
Four, they would not – ten years later, more or less, have then spent more money on the construction of the marble faced frames for the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and (I assume at the same time) the two bill boards for the words and images of Chairman Mao.
We must remember that we are talking about a permanent population of only 3,000, supplemented by an ‘immigrant'(this is one thing I find a little problematic) population of another 10,000. Would that number of people have sanctioned the installation and the expense of something which they couldn’t understand? I would think that if they had gone against the stream on so many fundamental issues they would not have just accepted the ‘imposition’ of banners with text they didn’t fully understand – and agree with.
As I wrote in my post I am only guessing about the content of the text (I will seek to get confirmation or otherwise of that as soon as possible) but it does seem to be a reasonable guess, taking into consideration what I know about the Nanjiecun commune.
You are obviously aware of the love I have for Socialist Realist art and imagery in different parts of the erstwhile Socialist world. Perhaps the reasons why those works of art were created and installed, where and when, wasn’t always done with the active support of the people in the immediate vicinity. If it had been then perhaps we wouldn’t see the examples of vandalism and lack of care that we do, especially in Albania as I have had the chance to see at first hand what can happen if the locals are divorced from ‘their’ monuments. I will use the example of the respect that has been accorded the Arch at Drashovice in contrast to the Four heroines of Mirdita in Rreshen or the monumental panel of Enver in Berat. Perhaps, on reflection, people regret what was done in their name but if people have a connection with a particular piece of stone they will not be swayed by any fascist who might achieve a position of power and using their anti-Socialist feelings in a destructive manner.
Five, the people of Nanjiecun continue to use their surplus to maintain the square. Things get added, such as the rainbow arch, or taken away, such as the trees. All this costs,someone has to pay for it. And in Nanjiecun that can only come from the labour of the local people. there’s no subsidy from elsewhere.
Whether they know it or not I think the people of Nanjiecun are answering questions that are not really being asked. Those questions revolve around how the working class and peasantry will shape their cultural heritage once they achieve state power.
Perhaps we should consider their example when we next have the opportunity to celebrate our revolutionary leaders and the achievements of revolutionary men and women in the next round of revolutionary transformation and the destruction of this odious and parasitic system which is long passed it’s sell by date.
Yet another debate we need to have to make sure that next time our revolution will last longer than a couple of generations.
I visited the chapel last year 2017 with my wife , we picked up a gentleman after telephoning the number on the information board on the church, who showed us around, fasinating church & history, he told us this year ,it will be celebrating its 400 year anniversary. Will you be doing anything to celebrate this event, if so could you contact me on 01704 879396, or by e,mail please. Thank you. Mr p & k Cuffe.
As I’ve written before I have absolutely nothing to do with the chapel – I only wrote a blog because I thought it was an interesting building. Any queries about what they might be doing for an anniversary should be directed to the person on the end of the phone number that’s on their notice board.
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Overstated, comrade. You allow ‘savage indignation’ to trump nuanced historical assessment. This would be acceptable in a satirical piece, but here you present these arguments as history. Sorry, but for many of your readers, it is mere agitprop, which grows increasingly comical as it proceeds. If only Iannucci had realised the humour inherent in blinkered fundamentalism his lamentable ‘Death of Stalin’ film would have been far better.
The statue in Gjirokastra has now been cleaned up. It now looks rather too white. Unfortunately, immediately behind it is a collection of café umbrellas so it loses much of its impact. Happy to send a photo taken last month.
Hello Andrew, This inappropriate restoration of Albanian lapidars and other monuments/statues has been an issue for some time. The problem of advertising is also something that has had an impact on various lapidars – the result of the uncontrolled march of capitalism. A picture of the ‘restored’ monument would be appreciated, not too sure when I might back to Gjirokaster.
Hi, I am interesting in the magazine Albania Today November/December 1972. I was a pioneer at that time and 4 others and I, we were in the cover picture there standing by a canon to the old national museum. If you can find it I will greatly appreciate, and I will buy that.
Hello Merita, If I haven’t posted the early issues of Albania Today it’s because I, myself, still don’t have access to them. If what you want is the picture then I suggest you go to the National Library in Tirane when you next visit family members still in the country. They have all (almost) of the Albania Today editions in various languages. If you are careful I’m sure you would able to record your early life as a pioneer without any problems.
Hi Michael,
your post is very helpful, thank you! 🙂 Next week we will go from Paleokastritsa to Tirana. The first bus departure from Paleokastritsa to Corfu at 7.20 and the ferry departure at 9:00. What do you think we able to catch the ferry or we start to think another solutions? I read on the ferry company page the ferry boarding closes 30 minutes to scheduled departure…
Best regards, Viktoria
Hello Viktoria, If your bus gets in at 08.00, as it’s supposed to, according to what I’ve seen on the net, then you should have more than enough time to get your ticket and then get to the ferry itself. I don’t think that they will turn you away at the departure gate if you have a valid ticket. It’s now the quiet season so there won’t be great crowds of people. If there is a delay and you are in doubt ask when you buy your ticket and they can phone ahead to the ferry to let them know you might be arriving a little late but are on the way.
Hi there, thanks for the great info! I will be traveling to Albania from Corfu on September 23rd, but my flight doesn’t land until 16:50. I am planning on checking one bag, what do you think that chances of me catching the 18:30 ferry? I am hoping the airport might be less busy as high season dies down but I have no idea. Any suggestions? Thanks!
In theory 1hr and 40 minutes should be more than enough time to get from the airport to the ferry. Are you normally lucky? Just move as fast as you can, catch a taxi to the ticket office (10 or so minutes) and unless there’s any serious delays I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to make the 18.30 to Saranda
Hi Michael ……. your information is really helpful. I am hoping to get ferry service schedule information for Saranda to Corfu in December for a walk on – no car. Does a ferry depart Saranda for Corfu daily in December of 2017 or just certain days?
Depending upon the weather there should be sailings every day of the year. The timetable changes according to the season. I’ve just updated the links in the blog – that should make confirming the times of sailings from both Corfu and Saranda a little easier than in the past.
Thank you, Michael! We can say that Egels came back to his historical motherland from the place where he was worshiped as a new god and then went in exile when the masses found a different g-d to worship. I am glad for him and for the work of art and for the artist, whose impressive creation found a place, which he probably did not see even in his dreams. One more life’s twists.
Hi
Do you know of any small/interesting vineyards in the Durres Kruja area. My wife Will be on a cruise and stopping in Durres in early September and are planning on getting a car with a driver for the day and having a look around. We grow grapes ourselves in NZ so are interested in the wine culture here.
Thanks
Regards
Paul Ferguson
Marlborough
NZ
Hello Paul, There’s a vineyard close to the town of Vora (which is virtually halfway along the ‘new’ highway between Durrres and Tirana, less than 30 minutes drive from the port. I can’t remember the name and can’t find the details in the information I collected on a recent visit. If your wife has a local driver then local knowledge might help. If you want more information about vineyards in the locality type ‘kantina e veres albania’ into a search engine and you will get a few other suggestions. Some of them are very much in ‘day trip’ distance of Durres.
Not all hidden but Uncle Joe and Lenin are definitely under wraps. Pity, I made the trip just to see them. I can’t post photos here so If you would like to send me a personal email address I’ll send you photos of what was there as of last week. There might be a new one since I didn’t see any previous references to a rather large bust of a woman that is done in a Chinese red guard style.
Thank you so much for your detailed directions to the Jewish cemetery in Segovia. They were invaluable in helping us find the location…not exactly a straightforward route to figure out on our own. We were going to turn back three times times before we stumbled on your blog post giving clear instructions on how to find the cemetery. It was definitely worth the extra climbing to see the site! Your description of the Jews leaving and looking back on the city as they passed through the cemetery one last time were quite a powerful image.
Glad you found my route useful and that nothing had changed to make the directions unintelligible. The site of the cemetery definitely gives a unique view of the town walls, which are appreciated by too few.
Googling “communist franciscan” hoping in my boredom to find another communist franciscan what do I find but your excellent, informative and utterly unexpected post! Wow! Thanks for that – easily the weirdest church paintings I’ve ever come across. Nice link too (Reasons to be suspicious – Albanian-British Relationships in the 1940s). Gonna take a look at some of your other posts now.
PS I realise that this post is five years old: how’ve things been in the meantime? 🙂
The original article was posted after I had first seen the images on the left hand side of the nave. On a subsequent visit last year I saw the new ones on the right hand side. So I updated the original post with the new pictures and also some extra information I had gathered in the mean time. Not only are new paintings appearing in some of the churches (the ones on either side of the alter in the Sacred Heart Church in Tirana are also worth a visit) but the fate of the lapidars (the Socialist period monuments and statues) is constantly changing. Some are destroyed, some are located and some are renovated so it’s an ongoing project.
What an ignorant view to have. The young are leaving the country because of the severe lack of jobs, lack of economical globalisation and ridiculously corrupt government. No woman chooses to become a prostitute out of luxury, but out of necessity. And the reason the principle export is arms is because Albania was armed to the teeth by Russia and China during the Communist era for fear of being invaded – when you are the seventh poorest country in Europe, you will sell what you can. Albania is home to countless priceless Byzantine artefacts, Illyrian strongholds, Venetian architecture – unfortunately, with a GDP of 11 billion, as much as they would love to preserve this beautiful history, it isn’t exactly a priority. Not many willingly choose to leave the country they love and belong to, but making money in, “capitalist heavens” so that they can send it home to their starving families is a priority.
And with all due respect, the resilience, hospitality, loyalty and integrity of the Albanian people (despite their severely corrupt leaders, constant invasions and their status as a peripheral) far outweighs most societies I’ve experienced. But you continue with your analysis of a mosaic from your ivory tower.
I sometimes wonder at the Albanians who take exception to some of the things I write on my blog. I honestly don’t understand the world you live in, or, at least, the way you look at that world.
First of all I’ll make an admission. Although I supported the Party of Labour of Albania and agreed with the vast majority of its policies from 1944 to 1990 mistakes were obviously made. What they were and how I see them in retrospect is something that will take too long to introduce here.
Whilst saying that the blame of what happened at the end of the 1980s – and especially during the 1990s – have to be placed at the feet of the Albanian people themselves.
For reasons I still don’t fully understand they just gave up on everything and too many of them just wanted to get to the capitalist west so that they could ‘enjoy’ the fruits of capitalism. The fact that they were so stupid as to not realise that all that came with negative consequences seems to have been ignored by those who left at the time and haven’t been accepted by them, or many others, since.
I have no doubt that the situation in the country became more difficult after the desertion by the Chinese revisionists and the consequences of the isolation that Albania had to suffer following this betrayal. But for Albanians that shouldn’t have been a problem. All your history, prior to the liberation from fascism in November 1944, was predicated upon the struggle for independence.
The cult of the personality of Skenderbreu was well established before the defeat of the Italian and German fascists. Whether it was a healthy cult to perpetuate under Socialism is another issue – but as with so many ideas, not something which can be discussed in any depth here.
As the ships left Durres and Vlora, in the mad rush to get to the capitalist heaven across the Adriatic, any national pride that those Albanians on board might have had sank in their wake. Durres, where Mujo Ulqinaku was one of those who led the fight against the Italian Fascist invasion in April 1939, was only able to hold its head high for 50 years. As the workers deserted the port, the tobacco factory and other local industries they put an end to any concept of Albanian independence.
The celebration on 28th November in subsequent years has been a sham. The once proud Albanian Army is now just a lapdog to NATO. In fact I’ve encountered more foreign troops, in my visits to Albania, than Albanians. And respective governments, of whatever colour, have allowed this loss of independence to be taken away due to the misconstrued idea that by accepting such an unopposed invasion you will be invited to join, at some indeterminate time on the future, the capitalist club that is the European Union – a pipe dream that will only be realised when Hell freezes over.
Present day Albanians are a disgrace to Skenderbreu and to the thousands of partisans who fought – and too many of whom died – for your country’s freedom between 1939 and 1944.
So once you have prostituted your country it’s not a surprise that you allow your daughters to populate the brothels of western Europe – whether these be run by Albanian gangsters or the scum of other nationalities.
You say that Albanians had to leave their own country because there was no work for them there. But it is the Albanians themselves who are responsible for this.
In the 1990s it wasn’t a foreign invasion force that destroyed the infrastructure, industry and agriculture. It was the Albanians who did it themselves.
In their thousands they deserted the land and the factories. With such a reduction in the workforce any economy would have problems in adapting. Then, on top of the desertion, ‘good’ Socialist Albanians allowed ‘bad’ monarcho-fascist, reactionary and foreign agents to put the final nail in the coffin.
By not defending the collective farms and the state industries those people who had developed a Socialist conscience allowed reaction and capitalism to prevail. They allowed the enemies of Socialism, who exist in any Socialist society for many years (we still don’t don’t know how many) after a successful revolution, to destroy all the gains made over many years of sacrifice to turn a backward, semi-feudal country into something resembling a modern state in the 20th century.
I hate and detest the enemies of Socialism but, and this is a lesson of history, those who don’t defend gains from the past also have to bear some of the blame. Crimes of omission can ultimately have the same consequences as crimes of commission.
You talk of a ‘need’ to leave the country. I assume you are Albanian but haven’t you seen the innumerable deserted and looted factories, abandoned greenhouses and the results of privatisation of land that has led to the destruction of collectivised and state agriculture and returned Albanian agriculture to something resembling feudal strip farming.
Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn’t write such rubbish.
If you still live in Albanian perhaps you should travel a little bit more. You words betray a lack of knowledge bordering upon parochialism.
Have you no knowledge of the abandoned factories and industrial complexes of; Elbasan, Fier, Gijrokaster, Lac, Korca, Permet, Pogradec, Prenjas, Vlora, Berat, Durres, Shkoder, Kucove – to just mention the biggest and most obvious? Have you not seen the hundreds of railway engines and rolling stock just rotting away beside the railway lines throughout the country (especially in Vlora and Prenjas) which indicate the amount of material that used to be, in the Socialist period, transported from one part of the country to another?
You make the bizarre statement that I am making my analysis from an ‘ivory tower’. I have travelled extensively in Albania and have seen the results of the last 25 years of capitalist ‘renewal’. I have heard about countless examples of corruption and mismanagement. I have met many people whose greatest ambition is to leave the country of their birth as soon as possible. With such a background Albania has no future – apart from being a low income economy where only those who can’t escape live and work in ever worsening conditions and for lower pay.
In the 1990s. When Albanians were destroying (or allowing to be destroyed) their industrial infrastructure I and many other workers in Britain were fighting to keep our factories open. Yes, we failed, but at least we tried. What did you do?
Depending upon your age you were either a destroyer or a passive watcher. Whichever of the two you then, under the new ‘won’ capitalist ‘freedom’, were incapable of constructing a viable, modern society.
Added to this you also freed from centres such a Spac those vicious, greedy psychopaths who then caused untold havoc on the country. I’ll accept that some people were imprisoned when other methods could have been used but all societies have to deal with individuals who have no concern for anyone but themselves and who are prepared to do anything to get what they want. I don’t have the perfect answer to how to deal with them – do you?
Disagree with my analysis but don’t just think you can do so by claiming that Albanians are hard done by. In the 1990s the Albanians made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
That can be changed but not if all Albanians do is whinge about being innocent victims and/or run.
I’ve met some great people in my travels in Albania but, unfortunately, very few who want to rebuild their country for the benefit of all – that would mean the fight to reconstruct Socialism.
With all respect to your very emotional comment and to the country where I have my best friends, I don’t see a connection between the analyze of symbolism and artistic merits of the mosaic Albanians and the fact that young Albanians give up on finding a way to work in their own country. You can not blame the mosaic on supporting the corrupt government. You might use this mosaic as a symbol of Albanians struggling for their country through the whole its history. Those, who dream to have not corrupt government and work for young people to stay in their wonderful country, have to leave their ivory towers and understand that they have to struggle for their dream. Every country the young people go from Albania has a long history of struggle for better life and against their corrupt governments…
As I was reading, I was thinking to comment that the relations with China had already started to get colder, I mean publicly, since the visit of Nixon in China, although maybe not in English publications. But you mentioned it in the second half of the text.
Also in several artistic movies the end of this relationship is featured as a long agony, rather than an immediate or unexpected death, with Chinese supplying defective machinery for several years before the end of this relationship.
Hello- I’m traveling from Corfu to Saranda on 24 May. Unfortunately our flight doesn’t arrive until 10:00 AM so we miss the morning ferry. While I saw there is an 18:30 ferry departure, I was wondering if there are any other options like a water taxi that could get us to Saranda earlier? Thanks for the help.
I am an Albanian who moved in UK in the late ’90’s. I have met 2 types of people:
Type 1- those who have heard about Albania and Albanians mainly from newspapers (‘written in a hurry’ to quote a witty British stand-up comedian), TV programmes/movies (depicting Albanians as the villains of the world/pimps/drug dealers etc, etc) and anecdotal evidence from the above ‘reliable sources’ . Type 2 – people who have visited Albania like Michael Harrison (i am assuming this is a real person and judging by the web domain and comments, based in UK). I am old enough to have lived the ‘Communist era’ and also compare and contrast with a capitalism. Paranoid? Well, Michael presents some compelling evidence pro-paranoia. Villains of the world? Would you be surprised if i told you that the worst crime i ever heard of before the 90’s was someone hitting another with a bottle in a fight? The few ‘villains’ learned from the best and became better than the master – perhaps for the wrong reasons. Are all British ‘hooligans’, all Italians ‘Mafia’ or all French ‘frogs’ (don’t answer the last one!)? But thank you, Michael Harrison, for summing up Albania; to quote UK Foreign Office: ‘Albanians are very hospitable’.
I have read that the so called ‘Port Tax’ entering Albania is a scam and was obliterated 6 years ago.
What are people’s experience of this please?
Thank you
I’ve never heard of anyone being caught by this scam and had no such experiences myself. I would be very surprised if you were asked to pay such an entry tax but if you are refuse point blank.
Thanks Mike.
I’ve read a few people given a raffle ticket on the ferry over to Albanian. As payment for Port Tax!
Excursion companies have included it in the speal.
Probably go indpendant !
Thanks again
Colleen.
Getting your ticket from the office at the port in either Corfu or Saranda is so easy there’s no point in using an intermediary. If there is any sort of tax it will be included in the ticket price and will NEVER be asked for at any time en route. Enjoy your trip.
Congratulations on (yet again) bringing to our attention a work of art many of us would not have known. However, I have some reservations. While I agree with your main points (the standard behaviour of imperialists, the relative mediocrity of the statue), I feel you allow yourself to be sidetracked into routine anti-capitalist fulminations which detract from the thrust of your analysis. I suggest there is little need to attempt conversion of the bourgeois/metropolitan/Western imperialist strand of your readership, simply because I doubt they exist in significant numbers. However, judicious criticism of works of art is an important part of what you do on this website. Here I feel it is diluted, which is a pity.
Hello Ian, Glad to hear you find my blogs interesting and thanks for the time to make a comment on my last one.
I’m aware that I fall into the ‘trap’ of a rant from time to time. In my own defence I think I do that to stress that a ‘work of art’ is not divorced from the situation in society in general and hence feel I have to provide examples to back up that assertion.
However,, in future I will step back a little before I press the publish button to make sure I don’t go over the top.
Take care
Michael
Dear Michael,
I was the British Defence Attache based in Tirana between 2005-2008. Certainly while I was there Remembrance Services were annually held at the Memorial Park with good international attendance and representation from the senior most figures in Albania.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, a decision was made to greatly reduce the number of attaches worldwide and in the case of Albania after I left representation was made from the attache based in Italy. I will say no more. I am now out of touch but heard a rumour that this decision might have been changed from last year.
I continue to have a deep love and fascination for Albania. I have heard many comments about the rights and wrongs about what happened in Albania during WW2, from all sides, some expressed to me with great emotion and passion. The truth is that the complexities of the actions, from all sides, who did what and who didn’t, for what reasons, with short or long term objectives, are considerable and quite typically much easier for us to criticise in the comfort of our armchairs 70 years later. What is certainly true however is that, at an individual level, immense bravery and determination was shown by some, Albanians and British (and others), and I am full of admiration for them, if only we can strip away the politics.
Hello Mark,
‘If only we can strip away the politics’? Not something that can be done when we are talking about wars. I agree that many brave men and women fought (and too many died) in the fight against Fascism. The added complication with the Balkans was even though British service personnel were sent to those countries occupied by the Fascists to ‘help’ those local partisans fighting against the invaders they were also there with a sub-text (even if not known to themselves at the time). And that was to attempt to promote British imperial interests after the war – this especially so when the defeat of Fascism was only a matter of time after the Red Army went on the offensive and pushed the Nazi’s out of their country.
This is especially evident in the British support for the Greek Monarchists in the Civil War. British military personnel and equipment (which only a matter of months before were in action against the Nazis) were used against those partisans who had fought the Fascist in Greece and in support of those who had collaborated with the Fascists. The British supported victory of the Monarchists led to almost 30 years of on off fascist and military dictatorship of the country. The people fought a foreign fascist only to be dominated by a home grown version.
This, not surprisingly, had an effect upon the thinking of the Albanian people. I went into some of these issues in my blog on British interference in Albanian affairs and the so-called Corfu Channel Incident.
And recently, you might have heard if you are now back in the UK, their have been a number of programmes on Radio 4 telling the story of the British and American attempts at ‘regime change’ (before the term was coined) in Albania.
The stripping away of any independent military force in Albania and its replacement by a foreign, NATO force has only served to confirm the long term ambitions of the British, in concert with other western capitalist powers.
We’ll arrive Corfu at 04 am, and takes the ferry to Saranda at 09am. Is it smart to wait at the airport some hours or take a taxi to the harbour at 04 o’clock? I think we must be at the ferry 1 hour before, at 08 am? So we have 4 hours to wait somewhere…. What is your sugestion?
This is in late july, in the high season.. I will order tickets for the ferry, but I can’t buy before 3 months before we are leaving..
Hello John, can’t really give you much advice based upon personal experience. Airport’s are terrible places at the best of times but at least you’ll probably be able to find somewhere relatively quiet to rest before your journey to Saranda. At the same time you will be arriving when it’s going to be warm so watching the sun rise over the water might be attractive – if you’re not too tired. There’s a cafe attached to the docks (just opposite the Saranda ferry ticket office) but whether it will be open at that time of day I can’t say.
Hi john i think that at 4am in the morning i would split the difference i would head to harbour around 6 am as cannot see anything going to be open for you hope that helps, ian
1. The Ideas of Marxism-Leninism Will Triumph on Revisionism
English Edition, Tirana, 1962, pp 226.
2. Oppose Modern Revisionism and Uphold Marxism-Leninism and the Unity of the International Communist Movement
English Edition, pp.420
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
3. The Belgrade Revisionist Clique — Renegades from Marxism – Leninism and Agents of Imperialism
English Edition, pp.325
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
(The books contain thirteen articles originally published in Zeri i Popullit between Jan., 1962 and Sept., 1963. Articles are on the Belgrade Revisionist crusade against Marxism-Leninism and Tito’s policies and the many plots he hatched with Khrushchev).
4. The Dangerous Maneuvers of N. Khrushchev’s Group on the So-Called Fight Against the “Cult of the Individual” Should Be Stripped Bare of Their Mask.
English Edition, pp.123
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964.
( This books contains three articles reproduced from 1964 June 12, 13, 14 issues of Zeri-i-popullit Daily).
Hello Manabhanjan,
Of your list I only have ‘The Belgrade Revisionist Clique -….’. Give me a few days and I’ll try to get it scanned and posted on my blog. I’ll let you know when that happens.
Of the same period I also have ‘Marxist-Leninist Ideology will certainly overcome Revisionism II’, Naim Frasheri, Tirana, 1964. 462 pages. It contains 12 articles from Zeri i Popullit from May 17, 1962 to June 29, 1963.
Take care
Michael
I have no information of how you can take a car direct to Albania from Corfu. The only way I know would be to take the normal ferry to Igoumenitsa and then drive to the Albanian border at Konispoll.
“the so-called ‘Corfu Incident’).”? There was no ‘so-called’ about it. 44 Royal Navy men died – in peacetime – as a direct result of a minefield that had just been laid by the Albanians in international waters.
And not just in 1946. I was skippering a delivery of a yacht from Yugoslavia to Greece in 1976, and we had to cross right over to the Italian side of the Adriatic at Bari, to avoid the Albanian-laid and maintained minefields extending half way across from the port of Dürres.
So: let’s have a bit less of the “peace-loving Albanians”, and let’s remember the 750,000 pillboxes built on Enver Hoxha’s instructions, whilst he kept the entire population in impoverished slavery for over 40 years.
“Buried in a municipal graveyard” ? Too good for him; it should have been the rubbish dump; and for his even more vicious wife, Naxjimje.
If all you want to read is something that reinforces your own prejudices don’t waste your (and my) time reading my blog and stick to the right-wing, neo-fascist ideas presented in the likes of the Daily Mail. You’re not going to learn anything with such a closed mind.
However I will, this time only, respond to your lack of knowledge and understanding of the situation in 1946 and world politics in general.
I consider the events in 1946 a provocation by a failing imperialist power (with the support of the imperialist power that was to takes its place, i.e., the USA) against a small country, with a population at the time of a little over a million people and which had been invaded by two Fascist powers and had beaten them both. But at great sacrifice. The term ‘incident’ is merely a diplomatic device to avoid blame.
I state that 44 men were killed but unlike you, who merely spews out the same propaganda spoon-fed to the unthinking and unanalytical, I ask the question of who was really responsible for their deaths and why they were where they were. They were put in harms way by politicians in London who thought they could still use the ‘gunboat diplomacy’ of the 19th century. Atlee and Bevin were the guilty ones not the Albanians.
Peacetime? The war for Britain had finished in 1945 but not for many of the people in the Balkans. The reason that such a powerful naval force was in the region at all was because the British were in Greece, supporting the monarcho-fascist collaborators of the Nazis against the working people and peasants who had fought against the invaders of their country. Without such foreign support there’s no doubt the history of Greece would have been very different. (The victory of the fascists with British and US support in the 1940s led inevitably to the rule of the Junta from 1967-74.) This meant that a potentially hostile force was just over the hills from Albania on its southern border. It’s no wonder that when huge warships came close to the Albanian coastline the government in Tirana was wary.
In another post on my blog, ‘Reasons to be suspicious – Albanian-British Relationships in the 1940s’, published in January 2013, I speculated what would have been the response of the British if a Soviet flotilla had sailed along the English Channel at that time. We know now, from the fuss that was made when a Russian flotilla did exactly that (in ‘international waters’) in October of last year, of the level of paranoia and hypocrisy that permeates British thinking. There was no threat whatsoever to Britain last year, the same cannot be said about what happened close to Albania in 1946.
And that threat had not diminished by 1976.
I don’t think I’ve used the term ‘peace-loving Albanians’, not really my style. They wanted peace when they were attempting to build Socialism but the British and Americans (and their hangers-on) wouldn’t allow it. It’s a pity we can’t use the term ‘peace-loving British/Americans’ in the post 1945 context. Since 1945 the armed forces from those two countries have been involved in other people’s countries, killing under a variety of ‘reasons’, but fundamentally denying them the right to determine their own futures. It wasn’t until the slavish, capitalist government in Tirana brown nosed NATO that Albanian troops stood aggressively on foreign soil.
As for the bunkers, at least they were for the defence of the country against any foreign invader. The cost of those small concrete structures were only a tiny fraction of what has been spent by the British and the Americans to kill millions outside of their national boundaries – a list of countries too numerous to list here. With the renewal of Trident and Trump’s promise to increase military expenditure that figure will only carry on increasing. Get a perspective.
First i have to remind You that by thinking in terms like “German Guilt” You enter the realm of Nazi thinking. There is nothing like “guilty peoples” as the Nazis believed because guilt is individual and Germans behaved quite differently during Nazi rule. Some time ago there was a documentary about Jews in Germany during WW2.
A Jewish woman who then was on the run told she was desperate because she had no place for hiding anymore. She asked an unknown woman on the street whether she could help her. The woman gave her the key to her flat. So she survived. If she wouldn’t have been asked by the Jewish woman she would have remained an ordinary German later accused of not having helped Jews (like You do).
Are You really sure what You would have done?
Not “the Germans” murdered the Jews but the dictatorship that came into being 1933. And the governments of some of the nations most critical against “the Germans” weren’t innocent in regard of this.
My grand father complained about the new government a short time after Hitler was appointed chancellor. Being red and living in a mostly red district in a German industrial town didn’t help him. He was denunciated by one of the few Nazis there and was interned in one of the new concentration camps as ca. 100000 others. He lost 30 kg because of bad treatment but luckily was released 4 months later. Hitler had to do a coup d’etat to install a dictatorship because he failed to get a majority of votes (last free elections Nov. 1932 NSDAP 33,1%). The left parties never dropped under 40%. Because of the strong results of the Communists the Conservatives and big business panicked and Hitler’s defeat made him chancellor. The behavior of our enemies was an important factor in the destruction of democracy. They violated the agreed 14 points by dictating the Versailles Treaty. Instead of reparations as defined (compensation of private losses) they demanded compensation of all war costs. Because of that the German governments couldn’t do anything against the great depression unlike the US under Roosevelt. Germany had to pay or to be austere until death. That changed with Hitler. The war enemies obviously didn’t want to cooperate with Democrats instead they preferred Nazis. After war they treated the German civilian population and the German POWs ill by denying them enough food. Instead they destroyed the economic infrastructure. Their propaganda accused all Germans to have known of the Holocaust and to have supported the Nazis. These insane accusations and the bad role model of the Allies themselves proved to be very good for Nazis. Guilty people were helped by criminalizing not guilty people. Strangely the Allies preferred Nazis for most posts. No wonder it wasn’t possible to talk about Nazi crimes for a long time (including the Anti-Nazis who were thrown into the same bag as the Nazis only because they were Germans as my father told me). Great thing for the Nazis! They really had to thank the Allies.
My opinion of some peoples will forever be negative because of the role their governments had in the destruction of German democracy and the rise to power of the Nazis (and the hardships my grand father had to endure in KZ), their vile post war defamations against people who hadn’t done anything wrong, they behaving like Nazis by starving the population (my mother nearly perished) and ill treatment of POWs (Manfred my father’s brother survived live in a US camp near Liege in Belgium but many died every night. Every morning he had to put dead bodies into bags).
Sorry, but You are part of that because of Your arrogant and ignorant statements.
Hello Walter,
I’ve delayed in replying to your comments as I have had trouble in getting my head around what your point was substantially about.
It’s such a long time since I saw the film ‘Lore’ that I will have to address my reply to your comments and not to argue, again, what I might have written more than 4 years ago.
I have never said, written or believed that ALL Germans were guilty for the rise and existence of Nazism. As a Communist I praise the efforts of the German Communists in their street battles against the various fascist groups before Hitler’s election victory in 1933 – and we must also remember that the first victory of German fascism came in 1919 with the slaughter of the Spartacists by the state sponsored Freikorps. (Those murdering scum and dregs of humanity who relished the killing of the trenches were not just a German phenomenon, to the shame of the British we allowed the Black and Tans to murder with impunity in Ireland in the early 1920s, I mentioned their role in the political scene post-1914-19 war in my blog on Armistice Day.
I also accept that some people but themselves at great personal risk both in the early days of Nazi control from 1933 and well into the war to defend and protect those being persecuted by the Fascists. But they are the exception that prove the rule. Most people didn’t – whether for fear or because they actually agreed with Hitler. The argument about percentages in elections is spurious and is one of the principal weaknesses of bourgeois democracy – most parties win with a minority of the vote.
But you can’t just forget that a sizable proportion of the population of Germany supported the Fascists in the 1930s, 40s and beyond. Going across the Atlantic to Chile we saw in the referendum on the fascist Dictator Pinonchet’s desire to ‘rule’ for another 8 years that although the ‘No’ vote won still 44% of those who voted supported the Fascist (after the country had been under the military boot for 15 years).
I agree with your points about the western powers installing Fascist functionaries in positions of power after the defeat of Germasny and that the ‘ordinary’ German man and woman suffered. My question is ‘why do you seem surprised?’. What else did you thin they would do – give power to the people? Your naivete would be laughable if the circumstances were not so tragic.
And I never condemn Germany and the German people forgetting the history of my own country. Yes, tens of millions dies because of the rise of Nazism but many more have suffered and died over the centuries at the hands of British imperialism, from slavery, dominance of whole continents and the planned genocides of peoples in different parts of the globe. As a citizen of the UK I would also be ‘guilty’ of those crimes if I have not spent most of my adult life fighting against its present day manifestations.
Don’t try to re-write history. The German people, at all levels, knew what was happening in the extermination camps. Buchenwald concentration camp was only 8 kilometres from the city of Weimar, the ‘cradle of German culture’. Trains travelling across country full of people and returning empty should have pressed some buttons. The fact that the British and Americans also knew about the slaughter in the camps and did nothing about it is an important fact, often ignored, but that doesn’t absolve the Germans for what was happening in their soil, planned by the sons and daughters of the German people.
If the Germans were not guilty in the 1930s and 40s then they can prove that by making sure that such groups can never again gain such prominence and power. That is not guaranteed if we look at the present surge in support for right-wing parties.
Unfortunately history has been slanted once again. These 5 ‘heroes’ may well have been fighting against fascism but at the same time they were fighting for communism which turned out to be far worse for the country, just as the nationalists had predicted. Too bad history in Albania is always on the side of communism rather than praising the efforts of those who gave their life fighting to preserve a free Albania and rid it of the monster who ultimately ruled it with a vengeance for 50 years! Statues of the real heroes are never created. The truth of the fighters who fought and died in their fight against communism is never told!
First, apologies for the delay in replying.
When the Italian fascists invaded Durres in April 1939 patriots (like Mujo Ulqinaku) ran for their guns, the self proclaimed ‘king’ Zog ran away. Not just from the battle front but from the Second World War, living in luxury in a mansion in the countryside in England after London became too dangerous for him.
When the ‘nationalists’, that you so admire, sat down and collaborated with the German Nazis in Tirana those same Nazis were massacring the inhabitants of the village of Borove.
It wasn’t only the Communists that fought against the aggressors – that can be seen in all the martyrs’ cemeteries throughout Albania – but they were led by the Communists who were the driving force of the National Liberation Front. Without the Communists there would have been no organised and strategic military leadership, no National Liberation Front.
After Liberation in November 1944 the Albanian people had to decide whether to return to an almost feudal structure, welcome back the cowardly Zog or attempt to build a new society based on Communist principles.
Those Nationalist collaborators, traitors and cowards didn’t like losing their power base and – with the active help of the American and British states – set about undermining and attempting to destroy this new Socialist state by attempting to infiltrate hundreds of paid stooges into the country to carry out acts of sabotage. This is all documented and the imperialist nations were/are unapologetic in their illegal acts.
If you think there are nationalist ‘heroes’ that should be commemorated then there’s nothing stopping you from identifying them and placing that information out on the internet. However, whereas the biographies of the Communist heroes filled a number of volumes I would tend to think your effort would result in a very thin volume indeed.
And don’t complain. You’ve got the while of the capitalist world and its powerful media outlets fighting in your corner. You’re just a whinger who provides them with some sort of credibility, you represent the ‘common’ man.
I don’t mind, that’s how it goes.
Hello Dave
Thanks for taking the time to let me know of the broken links. I’ve had a look and they were all external links and therefore outside of my control. That’s not an excuse, just a reason why they now go nowhere. This was one of my earlier posts and I was in a learning process. I wanted to put in links but those I chose were virtually all links to the Segovia City Tourism site. They must have changed their address – not a particularly sensible thing to do for a city that depends so much on tourism, I would have thought.
I will look at my post over the weekend and see if I can get the information in a way that it is on my server and therefore much more under my control. If you need the information before I have the chance to update my post then I suggest you go to the new location of Segovia Tourism at http://visitsegovia.turismodesegovia.com/. I’ve had a quick look and it seems that all the information I was directing readers towards is on the new site.
I hope the broken links didn’t detract from the rest of the post and if you are going to visit Segovia at some time in the future you find it useful.
Thanks again for bothering to notify me of the non-existent links.
Take care
Michael
Hello Comrades, I wish I could but I don’t have access to that issue at the moment. I plan to fill in the gaps in the late 1970s at some time in the future but don’t know exactly when that will be.
Dear Mr. Harrison,
We are publishing the almanac about ecumenical orthodoxy (http://lodka.sreda.org). Can we, please, use your photo of Tirana church dome in our printnig and web edition and on what conditions?
You wrote: “In many ways they capture a feeling of optimism and hope for the future which other art forms just can’t achieve”. So very true. I wonder whether they really achieved this aim. Has anyone written anything about the perception of this kind of art by the ‘common people’ during the Socialist era?
Not that I have been able to discover. The only material I have come across is that produced in Albania throughout the 1970s and 80s. This was more a documentation of what had been produced although there were articles in various issues of Albania Today discussing the relevance of art in a socialist society.
Yoy wrote: ” I also don’t really understand why the myth around Skenderbreu was perpetuated as much as it was during the Socialist period.”.
This also puzzles me somewhat. My simplistic feeling is that because Skanderbeg defied outside forces hostile to the Albanian people, he was appealed to Party ideology, which during the Hoxha era wanted to portray Albania as being defiantly against outside interference.
Skanderbeg like Hoxha defied forces far superior to those of the Albanians.
Hello Adam, I think your analysis is more one of hindsight than one which existed from the earliest days of the Revolution. Taking the national flag as that of Skenderbeu with the addition of the gold star was a decision made when Albania was playing a part in a rapidly changing world, with the defeat of fascism in Europe and the soon to be successful revolution in China. Paskali was making statues of Skenderbeu in the 1930s and the one he created for the centre of Tirana was inaugurated in 1968. At that time Albania was still in partnership with China and although there had been a split with the Soviet Union this was not seen, internationally, as a weakness, quite the opposite, this was seen as a necessary break for the future of the revolution. In many ways even before the fascist invasion in 1939 nationalism was part of the thinking of many Albanians. The problem was that some of them ditched that idea of independence to collaborate with the fascists as they saw the Communists as a bigger threat to their personal power and influence. I disagree with the analysis that Hoxha was isolationist. He sought alliances – but based on principles not force. And, anyway, the idea of self determination was a principle established by Marxist-Leninists at the beginning of the 20th century. That’s something which few countries presently maintain, following the dictats of the most powerful, and that includes the UK with it’s ‘special relationship’ with the USA. Blair as Bush’s poodle comes to mind.
When I started on my lapidar project everything was hit and miss. Fortunately, by the beginning of 2015 I had access to the information provided by the Albanian Lapidar Survey. Here most of the lapidars have been identified and photographed. So on my last couple of visits I have used that totally invaluable resource. If you click on ‘Albanan Lapidar Survey’ at the top of my home page you will be taken to a page with downloadable pdf’s of their work. I saw and photographed the one in Peqin earlier this year. However, the one in Saranda is the first where it looks like it might be based on a traditional constellation.
Hello Adam, good to hear you found the post on the traditional wedding interesting. As for the Cajupi in Gjirokaster I didn’t know there were murals in that hotel as well. I went in there a number of times (didn’t stay in the rooms) for the rooftop bar on my last visit. Didn’t see any murals. Where are they? I’ll search them out on my next visit.
Hello Adam, I think I know the bar you mean, it’s on the right as you come through the main door from Topulli Square, just before the stairs. When I was there I went to the first floor and roof top bars. Would appreciate a couple of pictures to know the subject and will make an effort to check it out myself when next in Gjirokaster.
Hello Comrades. Glad that you are finding the magazines interesting. My ultimate aim is to post all the Albania Today issues published. I have a number of gaps in the early years but have most through the 1980s’. It’s a matter of finding the time, with wanting to work on my Albanian lapidar project. They will get there eventually.
To translate the articles you wish would be a truly monumental task. In parallel to Albania Today there was a Spanish edition, Albania Hoy. It might be worthwhile trying to see if they are available in your country before embarking on the translation task. Unfortunately the only place where I know the Spanish version exists is in the National Library in Tirana
Thank you for this information. I note that Qybra Sokoli is featured on an Albanian stamp of 1983, in a series issued each year between 1979 and 1986, depicting a total more than seventy martyrs and partisans.
Dear Mr. Harrison. I enjoy this blog very, very much. Thank you for your time and effort to enthuse us with your tales.
I wanted to know if you would give me permission to use the photo of Mao addressing the Chinese people on the 1st October, 1949, for my own blog -website
I am currently in China and a filmmaker, however, it is not easy to get the permission and entails going to the central archives in Beijing.
I would give full credit to you for this usage…With thanks…
Hello Jeanne, you’re more than welcome to use that picture on my blog. If you are in China (or even when back home) I don’t see why you should have problems about using pictures from the Mao era. China did not sign the Berne Convention – which deals with copyright – until 1979 so material published before that date shouldn’t be covered by any such regulations.
Hi
I was in Tirana this week and had à Nice chat with the security guard in front of hotel Dajti…
Was able to take Nice shots of Stalin and Lenin…still Thére !
Yes, they are still there, hidden away from general view. Good to hear you found a friendly security guard – I always seem to encounter one who sees his job to ‘protect’ the statues. But the location is dirty and I don’t understand why they are not displayed in a proper manner. Or just destroy them and make a political point. Why this ‘half-way house’?
I’d never even heard about Plazhi Gjeneralit before this post – not really a beach person, more interested in the hills. Let me know if it’s worth going there.
You say, “On a banner is the famous phrase from Karl Marx – ‘religion is the opium of the people’.” That’s a misquote. It should be “opiate”, meaning anything which acts to subdue or suppress action, create passivity, etc. Also, I think it’s important to point out that all the people in the foreground are among “the faithful”. The unbelievers are all facing the other way, toward the works of man/ buildings in the background. I’m interested in the very traditional dress of the older people. The old woman appears to be wearing Turkish-style trousers and yet there is something in her hand that may be a rosary – impossible to see due to poor picture quality. I lived among Albanians in Skopje, Macedonia years ago and saw many men dressed like those with the hairy waistcoats, white skull caps and striped trousers. Some Albanians are Catholics, some are Muslim. One aspect of culture your articles does not mention are the blood feuds or vendettas that rage between families for centuries.
Do you also have discussions about how many angels can dance on a pin head? Marx used opium/opiate as a metaphor. My dictionary gives opiate = something that soothes, deadens or induces sleep and opium = something having a tranquillizing or stupefying effect. Taking Marx in context opium would seem to be the better word.
You don’t seem to have read the words of my post. I draw the distinction between those in the foreground – there because the painter wants to give them precedence even though they are in the minority – and the rest of the people in the square.
Yes the old woman is holding a rosary, I mention that in the post, in the third paragraph below the picture. Sorry about the ‘poor quality’ of the photo.
The post is about the paintings, not the cultural history of Albania. I might write about blood feuds in the future but didn’t see it as relevant when writing about paintings in a Franciscan church.
Les américains sont des porcs qui ne savent que semer la mort et le désastre partout où ils passent. Ce sont eux qui ont encore mis le monde à feu et à sang avec leurs interventions en afghanistan,irak,libye…Il est normal qu’ils paient leurs crimes avec leur propre sang.
There’s a contradiction that in those societies (in the 20th century) that attempted the most revolutionary and radical transformation of their societies in terms of economics and politics did not extend such an approach to relationships and sexuality. Quite the reverse, in many cases, as the leaders of those societies took an almost extreme bourgeois approach towards morality.
All of us brought up in a bourgeois, capitalist society carry with us the baggage of that society and even the most revolutionary of us can get it wrong at times.
However, in preparation for the future round of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist led revolutions we will have to address this issue as part of our analysis of what went wrong in the past.
Thank you for helping uncover the mystery! Yes, this seems very prominent in the south. In Himare, where half the buildings are stalled-out and now abandoned half building constructions we saw so many stuffed animals hanging. I especially love the ones – many around Sarande- where the doll hangs from within the grape vines. These two things have now become the major symbols of Albania for me. Working title for my Broadway musical: Grapes and Dolls.
I very much enjoyed your careful analysis. I’d like to add, that it is misleading to think of Albanians as a single ethnicity, or mono culture. The people that fought against invaders and built Albania after WW2 are different from those that destroyed it after the 90. It’s not the same people that “changed their mind”.
This is an election map: https://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/wp-content/gallery/albania2013/PARTI%20EN%20TETE%202013.jpg
So, even in rapport with women, it’s not meaningful to speak about “Albanian women”. Which one? The ones that had the right to vote decades before (1920) those in Italy (1945) or those in Greece (1952)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_suffrage
You seem to damn with faint praise. All those ‘facts’ that you present in your comment go completely what I have argued in my posts which include ideas about the role of women both in the National Liberation War and in the construction of Socialism.
I won’t comment on the voting maps, parliamentary cretinism means you can prove anything with the selective use of statistics.
However, I find your racist comments about the Ghegs quite disturbing. Many people, when confronted with difficulties, either take on the victim status or blame others – as you do.
It’s difficult to deal with all the issues you raise by that couple of lines about ‘ex-slaves’ but suffice it to say that the destruction of the infrastructure in the 1990s and the continuing lack of respect or concern for anything public in Albania is encountered the length and breadth of the country.
As all Albanians can be proud of expelling the fascists from their country prior to 1944 all Albanians have to look at the destruction, chaos and corruption around them and try to answer the question, why?
I believe that to understand a subject, means to be able to make predictions. This should be obvious, the past can’t be changed so the only use of knowledge is to make predictions about the future. Explaining is similar to predicting, except that the things that you’re predicting have already happened. If you can’t explain something, you wouldn’t be able to predict it, and the reverse.
If you believe you’ve understood what has happened here during the period you’re interested in, go back (with imagination) at the beginning of that period, and start predicting everything that would happen later. You wouldn’t be able to, and your politically correct position that “everyone is the same” wouldn’t be of any help.
People generally manifest consistent behaviors. Even in those rare cases when behaviors are inconsistent, they still can be grouped in such a way, that within each group they are consistent. Such groups of consistent behaviors are called personalities, and the person in question is said to suffer from a multiple personality syndrome. The usefulness of thinking of someone as animated by multiple personalities is that once you know which personality is in charge you can start to make predictions.
This area of the globe has been the epicenter of civilization that lasted for many centuries and gave birth to multiple empires, and empires leave behind two kinds of people, the descendants of those that founded them, and the descendants of their slaves. Albanian speakers are a mix of these two diametrically opposite people / cultures and the history of Albania has reliably oscillated from one extreme to the other reflecting the culture of the group that has been in power. Ghegs have been in power only two times, in both cases with help from outside, and in both cases have given Albania the history of a nation of slaves. Until before the Ottoman invasion, they weren’t even considered Albanians, while Albania included even what now is Greece. http://www.helmink.com/Antique_Map_Porcacchi_World/Scans/Porcacchi%20World%202.jpg
What happened during the last century can’t be understood (in the sense that it can be considered predictable) without knowing from where Albanians come from.
If you’re open minded and interested to go deeper I’m willing to provide all arguments and evidences to challenge your beliefs.
Lastly, since you’re interested in visual arts, what do you think of the following two pictures? They both show a scene from crucifixion and in both paintings the soldiers hold a red flag with a two headed black eagle, the flag that now identifies Albanians.
I don’t really understand what you mean in most of your comment. I have never written anything about being able to predict the future – something which is an impossibility and the domain of charlatans. A study of the past is, however, useful in order to learn from what has gone before – both the negative as well as the positive examples. This is so as to not make the same mistakes. Unfortunately too many people ignore the past and fall into the same traps which they might have avoided if they had respected the mistakes of those before. As for the double-headed eagle I don’t know what point you are trying to make. That symbol has been around for around for just under 4000 years, stretching from India in the east to Wimbledon in the UK. The presence of a black eagle on a red flag in a depiction of the mythical crucifixion in Palestine a couple of thousands of years ago has absolutely nothing to do with what occurred in Albania in the 20th century. I don’t know why but you seem to be desperate to find someone to blame for the past in Albania. My point that it was the same people (that is, the Albanian workers, peasants and ‘intellectuals’) who made the revolution were the ones that saw things collapse in the early 1990s still stands. People are responsible for their actions and can’t always look outside of their own society for the culprit to take all the blame. External factors were/are important but ultimately it is the people themselves who ultimately determine the sort of society in which they live.
Hello Frank
Glad you found the post useful. It’s been some time since I was in Segovia and can’t help you when it comes to a guide. However, the area covered by my suggested walk is very small really and making sure you have a good (free) city map plus (perhaps) the booklet on the history of the Jewish community in the city – mentioned at the end of the post – should be more than adequate. You can’t get lost as you are never more than a few hundred meters from the castle wall – something which can’t be confused with anything else.
Dear Michael Harrison
In course of rather belatedly writing up my notes of a visit to Northern Italy in 2014 I have been trying to identify a painting of The Last Supper which I saw in Santa Maria Maggiore. I was struck by its composition. It had an angled aspect from below rather than front on or from above. The dominant feature was a white tablecloth with angled folds. The left hand lower part of the picture had a child dispensing water (?) into flagons. The right hand lower frame depicted an animal waiting for discarded bones. Does this description jog your memory perhaps?
Thank you for what you wrote about your visit to that city. As always there are regrets about what one has failed to notice or not had time to visit, and I enjoyed your unique insights into this most fascinating part of the world.
Hello Elizabeth
The painting you mention is just inside the South Portal, on the right hand side of the alter. I mention it in this posting. What struck me was the depiction of Judas. He is the principal figure on the right hand side, with his back to the viewer. He is trying to hide his bag of silver but the young servant boy to his right sees what is going on. I attempted a couple of times to get a half decent picture but failed and that’s why I didn’t use it in the post – wrong angle, too little light, no tripod, etc. I’ll send you a couple of photos to remind you of what you saw on your visit to Bergamo. I have no idea of the painter or it’s date.
Is there ever any need to book the Corfu-Saranda ferry in advance (for foot passengers)? Hoping to just turn up and buy the ticket on the day, and wouldn’t want to find all tickets sold out!
Many thanks.
It all depends upon the time of year. In the low season there should be no problem – in the high season I don’t know for sure. See the previous reply to a comment.
Do you think it’s necessary to book the ferry ticket in advance (before flying over there) during high season or is it fine to just show up the same day / day before?
I’ve only done the trip out of the high season. The trip over, as a day excursion, is becoming more and more popular so at the height of the season there may be many tour groups organised by the big travel companies. Whether they organise their own boat or not I don’t know. It won’t do any harm, if you know exactly what day you will be travelling, to reserve in advance. It would give you peace at mind, especially if you have an itinerary to follow. Outside of the high season I don’t think there’s a problem.
Hi
I’m currently traveling around Albania, and happened across your article when, believe it or not, I was googling courgettes and evil eye.
I’ve seen dolls, and ram horns, but there was one item which I was unable to identify which was grey, curved, and about 2 feet long hanging from a construction site bill board in Berat. One of the work men indicated it was a courgette, and I’m not convinced he wasn’t just making fun of the foreigner.
Interesting article too.
In can’t remember seeing what you describe but at the same time I don’t think the superstition really cares what is placed where. You can invest virtually anything with ‘magical’ powers. If a bunch or garlic why not a courgette? I’ll be on the look out nonetheless.
Once in Bergamo, do not forget to visit Lake Endine, only 18 km away.
A little hidden gem just outside Bergamo.
To sleep at Lake Endine: B&B MarcoLaura . We have been there a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic!
Hi Michael,
I will be coming to Albania via Corfu in August, but my flight arrival at 12:20 probably means I will have to wait until 18:30 for the ferry to Saranda. I’m hoping to get to Himara that evening, but will have missed all buses. Will taxis at the port take me this far?
Thanks,
Tony
Hello Tony,
Taxi drivers in Albania are no different from taxi drivers all over the world – they will do anything, it all depends on how much silver you will cross over their palms It might be expensive though I wouldn’t have any idea of the cost. It might be cheaper to find a place to stay overnight in Saranda and then catch the early morning bus heading for Vlora – but if you choose to do that book in advance as the place will be busy at that time of year.
Use this timetable as a guide only and don’t just turn up at the place and time suggested without double checking first. For example, things are more organised in Tirana and there are now separate ‘bus stations’ for buses and furgons going north or south of the city.You can see by the dates on the right hand side that some of the information has not been confirmed for years. Later this summer I hope to post information that was accurate as of the middle of 2016.
Hello, is it easy (and safe) to rent a car in Albania? Also, I would like to know if the there is highway just parallel to the coast as Croatia?
Then, any interesting beach in Albania?
Thanks a lot
I haven’t rented a car myself, using public transport on my travels. I have, however, met a couple of people who have done so and they seemed quite pleased with the experience. If you’re arriving in Saranda that might be problematic unless you intend to also leave the country from there. Honestly I can’t remember seeing car hire there but then I wasn’t looking. Once out of the cities, especially Tirana, the roads are fairly quiet so shouldn’t cause too many problems. In the cities the car rules and they drive like crap – but that’s no different from any other city I visited. Don’t know where you’re from so don’t know how that might effect you.
The coastal route from Saranda to Vlora is impressive and well worth the effort, although you climb high through a number of hairpin bends.
Both Saranda and Vlora sell themselves as beach destinations but I’m not a beach person so really can’t give any recommendations.
My idea is to come from the north, Montenegro, cross all Albania and to leave the rented car in Saranda but if there isn´t rent a car office, then I have to changes plans.
What about the services bus between locations? any web page interesting with timetables?
Thanks a lot
Don’t have any up to date websites with all country bus timetables. Plenty of buses or mini-buses (furgons) going from all major towns on a regular basis. Often starting early and sometimes finishing mid afternoon. As long as you only want to go to the major towns you shouldn’t have a real problems once you’ve arrived in Shkoder. Public transport cheap.
As always interesting and passionate, Michael! The ideas expressed using the art forms created by talented artists are very attractive and moving. The fact that these art forms are abandoned and vandalized is a direct evidence that the gap between what was said and what was actually done by the ruling party was intolerable.
The “war” agains the symbols of the communist past is actually a war against the Pharisees, which communists turned out to be. The gap between words and actions of the political powers always creates disappointment, disbelieve and anger. The new power has come. It also needed art to support it. The first and easy action to use art in its support was to erase the symbols of the previous discredited power as a promise to erase from real life all that the previous power did wrong. To my mind the war with the past in this way destroys the respect to the real heroes of the past, who are the simple people, as they are shown on all the monuments, doing their best to have a better life for their children in the future. Yet, all the monuments of the communist origin that you have been describing, are still there, in their places. They have not been distracted, they still can be cleaned and repaired. It all depends on how the thinking people of Albania will choose to deal with Albania’s resent past.
Your comments address an issue I’ve been trying to get my head around for many years.
If I said that Uncle Joe defeated the Hitlerites you would say I was crazy, that it was the Soviet people who defeated the Fascist beast. I would agree with that, as did Joe. But when things fall apart it’s the leaders who are blamed, what they did caused the failure of the Socialist experiment. But this doesn’t make sense. If the working class and peasants are those who will take humanity to a new future free from exploitation and oppression then they cannot, at the same time, be victims. They are not able to take the credit for successes but pass the blame to others in the event of ‘failure’. It’s just an excuse for their unwillingness to get involved in a consistent and determined manner in the building of a new society.
I accept that mistakes have been made in the past in the leadership but the rest of society did nothing to correct those mistakes. Those ‘persecuted’, in the main, were anti-socialist and not those looking to find a more efficient road to the future.
This is a hugely complex issue and cannot just be dismissed as the responsibility of a few. This matter is as valid in the erstwhile Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam as well as Albania.
I haven’t been to Corfu for some time but as far as I’m aware the office has not moved. Finikas Lines is the name used in Saranda, in Corfu the office that I know goes under the name of Ionian Cruises – Petrakis Lines. You should be able to get to their website via my post on the ferry.
Hi – I am looking at travelling to Corfu via Greece – I will be in Athens and would like to travel north by land a bit then ferry to Corfu and from there to Albania – any idea where I can get a ferry to do this
Hello Ulisses, The only hostel I’ve stayed is the Pink Palace. It’s on the other side of the island to Corfu town but they are good at either picking you up from or taking you back to Corfu port/airport. Put their name into the Hostelworld website. Take care, Michael
Hello Sarah, I honestly don’t know. I don’t see any reason why not but it would be better to get in touch with the shipping company in Corfu direct via email. Also I suggest you check what the situation would be with Albanian customs and immigration.
Hello Michel,
We ´ve got a flight from KERKYRA, GR (IOANNIS KAPODISTRIAS) at 10:40 on a Tuesday in July. Do you think we arrive on time there, when leaving from Saranda on that day (9 o´clock am)?
Kind regards
Ulisses
Hello Ulisses, You’ll be cutting it fine. You would need a taxi from the port in Corfu – make sure you’re the first one off the boat to make sure there’s a taxi free – as the airport is the other side of the town from the port. July will be busy. I’ve never been to Corfu in the high season and would imagine the airport security would be chaotic. And then you have to check what time your airline will close it’s gates. It’s a risk and, for peace of mind, it might be better to arrive the previous day and have a quiet night in Corfu.
Hello Scott, Thanks for your affirmation. I consider I’ve got it right when someone with your background, viewpoint and knowledge agrees with my points. Take care, Michael
Hi wonder if you could advise me, I’m flying to Corfu 29/07/16 and arrive 2am 30/07/16, I’m thinking of staying in airport to daybreak then getting ferry to Sarande and staying 3 nights, I hope to stay in Ohrid for 3 nights ( 7/08 to 9/08 ) so I have 5 days travel, where would you recommend, many thanks Carl
Hello Carll, Gjirokaster would be the next place after Saranda. There are regular buses that leave throughout the day from Saranda (heading to Tirana). They leave you at the bottom of the town. The places of interest are all in the old town, which is dominated by the Castle. If you go there try the Babameto Hostel, it’s close to the centre of the old town, between that and the Castle. As you only have 5 days you can’t go to too many other places but Tirana would be the best bet. Try the Propaganda Hostel there. From Tirana you can catch a bus to Pogradec, where I assume you are planning to stay for Lake Ochrid. I stayed at the Chill out Hostel when I was there last year but it seems to have disappeared off the Hostel Worldwide site. You might like to read some of my other posts which relate to some places of interest on those cities. Have a good time in Albania, take care, Michael
Very interesting, Michael. Your investigation sounds like a detective story. Sometime all the photos and materials you have collected will be used by Albanians to research their own art of Communist time. It wasn’t any better, or worth than any other art. Realistic art is never quite realistic, it is always charged to express particular ideas. As long as it is art, it has to be preserved. I believe this is what you are doing as much as you can.
Hello Natasha, yes, every time I write something about the lapidars or another example of Socialist art I find there are more questions than answers. I put them in the article to remind myself of what is lacking and also in the hope that someone else might be able to offer and answer or, at least, an educated guess. The next time I’m in Albania I’ll come with a list of these questions in the hope of finding a local answer.
Hi,
Thank you for these interesting informations.
I have a question about the second theory : it is difficult to imagine an importation from Greece because I never saw any dordolec in Greece. In which places in Greece did you see some of them ?
Best regards,
Catherine.
Hello Catherine, As I say in my blog post I’m not an expert on Greece myself. When I started to travel around Albania and noticed the toys and other effigies outside of buildings I did a bit of internet research when I got back home. In that search I came upon an academic paper that addressed the issue. A little bit dense and the information I took from it was very much simplified (and my understanding of what was written). You can read that article on-line by going to this link http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137641?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Take care
Michael
Thank you. Very clear and thorough, and not information it’d be at all easy for a non-Albanian to find anywhere else.
I wonder whether the cleaning-up of these monuments has something to do with the Socialist victory in the elections a year or two ago. When I was last there Sali Berisha was still in power.
Near the end, you seem to suggest that the Catholic Church was responsible for the huge cross on the mountain. (“It seems that the Catholic Church is still at it in Albania.”) In Korce I’d have thought the Orthodox church was a more likely culprit.
Hello David
I’m sure that some of the renovations that have taken place in the country were as a response to the Socialist Party election victory. However, I know that there is now, and never was, a coordinated national policy on renovation. If there have been political changes at a local level I think they have had more influence in this field. This local effect was evident when Berisha was still in place nationally. I first saw a change in attitude to the lapidars in Manastir, just outside Saranda, in 2012. (You can read what I said about that monument at http://michaelharrison.org.uk/2012/11/five-fallen-stars-rise-again-dema-monument/.)
When it comes to the cross I was drawing a parallel in Albania with what the Catholic Church had done in Latin America but I think you are correct in saying it was probably the Orthodox Church, in Korca, that was responsible for the cross high above the town. In reality I think it’s a joint effort by the Christian churches in Albania to plant these crosses in prominent locations as I have seen them the length and breadth of the country. Some parts the Orthodox is the dominant Christian presence, in others the Catholic, especially in the area around Shkoder. I’ll try and investigate further when I’m next in the country.
Glad you find the posts interesting and thanks for your comments.
Take care
Michael
I am planning on flying to Corfu this August from the US with a layover in London. The flight arrives at 16:45 and I am only bringing carry on luggage. Do you think I will have enough time to make it through customs/immigration and catch the 18:30 ferry to Sarande?
Hello Anja,
My experience of Corfu airport is that you get through very quickly – but then I’ve only been there during the off season. You will be arriving smack bang in the middle of the busiest summer season. However, having only carry on luggage will obviously help. Assuming there are no flight delays you should have plenty of time. If you take a taxi from the airport you’ll be at the ferry port within 15 minutes.
Remember you have to get your ticket at the office BEFORE going to the boat. If, for any reason, you are tight for time, perhaps the best bet would be to get the taxi to wait as you buy your ticket and then let it take you the few hundred metres to the departure point of the hydrofoil.
Have a good time in Albania.
Take care,
Michael
Hi Michael – I have heard [ I live in Corfu] that they won’t be doing the ticket office this year and you have to go to the main office – which means Anja is really going to have to get a move on as the airport in August is pretty crazy – she may make it if she does as you said and get the taxi driver to wait for her and she arrives on time….
Michael and Sarah Jane-
Thank you both for your comments! I already booked my ticket so hopefully I can sprint and make it in time. I am arriving on the 27th so I’m not sure if its still the peak season or if it will be a bit slower. Sarah Jane- do you have suggestions of places to stay or “must see” things in Corfu? I will also be there for about 5 days. I will definitely spend some time in Corfu Town and then would like to go a few days to a village or smaller town in Corfu that might be less touristy but still accessible by bus (if such a place exists). I was thinking Pelekas might be nice.
Hello again Anja,
We actually have rooms in a village just south of town called Benitses – there is a very good blue bus service which stops outside our gate to get to town and all the great things you ought to see …. have a look if you like – http://www.kerkyrarooms.com/en#
Hi Michael, Just hit on your helpful information – we are planning a return trip to Albania, and there are reasonable flights from Dublin to Corfu with Aer Lingus. (Considered Turkish Airlines to Tirana, but the stop in Istanbul makes the journey over-long) Last time we flew to Bari and took the Adria ferry (ok but a bit grotty) to Durres, then bus north to Bajram Currie and Valbona. Came back to Tirana, collected a hired a car (autocar – good value, good service) to cover some of the South (Lake Ohrid wonderful, Gjirokaster welcoming and a handy size for sight-seeing), returning the car to the airport, and back by bus to the ferry. Perhaps not the best use of our time, but we learned lot.
Thanks to your blog, we plan to pick up a car and visit interesting places in the South from Saranda. Probably need to pick your brains again!
Have to say we were very impressed by the kindness and hospitality of all the Albanians we met.
Best wishes, Douglas.
This is a great collection of PDFs, thank you for hosting it. Gilmore’s pamphlet on the Congress is particularly difficult to find today sadly. Readers might be interested to know that another recollection of the Congress, by Patrick Byrne, is easily available online and also worth reading.
Thanks for the link Thomas. I’ve been looking for this book since you mentioned it last year. I’ll put a link into my post about the so-called ‘Corfu Incident’ – for people who might want to investigate the matter further.
Actually, close to the end of the interview, he does talk about the work in the Varreza in Fier (although some of his details conflicts since he says the sculpture was complete in 1973, I believe, whereas elsewhere, like you seem to have, I’ve seen the completion date as 72). He says he worked for a year and half on the project, with Qiraku [?] Dono, and that the varreza were created with according to a special order from the central government–apparently they wanted them completed in a hurry. He also says they were the ninth such project (I’m assuming he means a figural centerpiece in a martyrs’ cemetery) realized at the time. This is facinating to me; I’ve never heard anyone talk about what order their work came in, and of course he could be off about that number, but it still gives some idea of the early stage things were still at in the beginning of the 70s decade with memorialization…Finally, he says that he sent photos of the completed sculptural centerpiece to the central committee in Tirana for approval (since there was no commission approval group in Fier), and it was very well received and–he says–the photos were reproduced and put up around the Ministry of Culture and so forth in Tirana
Here’s a link to an interview with Gjergji Toska, sone recently (in 2012) (in Albanian)–I don’t think he says much of interest in the interview; the interviewer asks him much more about his time spent in America. He does however, talk about how important it is/was to him as a sculptor to be from the region of Myzeqeja, and how his work sought to emphasize those aspects and motifs he felt to be typical of the region. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntfDx_WcoAU
I too was fed up of seeing different wars piggy-backed onto Armistice Day – a day I could never support from its origin in a land grabbing war of no interest to our class. I had arguments with people who cited the second world war as a reason why we should support our armed forces and buy a poppy. The second world war, with its anti fascist nature, provided the means to attempt to morally legitimise ‘the poppy’ and fudge over its origins. Latterly, involvement in wars in the Middle East has made some people think again about support for Armistice Day. Thank you for filling in the gaps on the ‘timeline’ since ‘The Great War’ ended; and for drawing attention to the almost ceaseless wars waged by Britain with such a cost in lives lost to our own class.
The whole issue about what Armistice Day means for our class should be more poignant for the horrific loss of life in Paris, as the consequences of Imperialist wars get close to home. In condemning the act of terrorism in Paris we will doubtless be encouraged to rally round the flag, there will be more obfuscation of acts of terrorism conducted by Britain that you aptly described. If we rightfully condemn terrorism it must mean all terrorism. We cannot cherry pick which acts of terrorism we condemn and which we ignore. Is not a drone strike itself an act of terror? Dress it up as a tool to help in the ‘war against terror’ and its true nature, terrorising the civilian population underneath is clouded. They may be “smarter” weapons than a world war two ‘doodle bug’ but their purpose is the same.
The Celebration of Armistice Day is like any other historical record – it is spun to reflect the interests of the ruling class. Thanks again for removing the spin and reminding us just how much our class suffers in the many conflicts it is called upon to fight; that’s what a poppy really symbolises, who would still wear one?
Armistice Day is a day of their making. Our day is May Day!
I just checked, and the work appears in Dhrami’s short book documenting his own works. It still might have been executed collectively (though there’s no mention of this), but I suspect that it is i fact Dhrami’s sole work.
You mention a small booklet of Dhrami’s works. Do you have a digital version or can you direct me to where I might be able to download a pdf? This is the sort of material that would be useful, not just for Dhrami but any other of the Socialist period artists, to get details and facts correct in the first place.
Hi Michael,
First, thank you for writing this ongoing series on socialist monuments in Albania–it’s wonderful to have a site out there to send (English-speaking) people to when they are curious about these works. I’m curious where you got the attribution to Hektor Dule from…I’ve always thought (and I’m still relatively certain) that the sculpture is by Muntaz Dhrami…but it’s also possible the two of them worked together on it? (see, for evidence, p. 64 of Llambi Blido’s essay on Dhrami, published [in the collected book of essay] 1987), available here: https://afterart.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/lirizmi-qe-merr-jete-llambi-blidos-shenime-per-pikturen-dhe-skulpturen/; also p.100 of Blut und Honig: Zukunft ist am Balkan (Essl Collection, 2004), where the work is also attributed to Dhrami.
Hello Raino, thanks for keeping me on my toes. I can’t remember exactly but think I got the idea that Dule was the creator of the Tirana Liri from someone who worked in the National Art Gallery. I probably got myself mixed up. I tried to verify the information and was surprised when there was no mention on the web page where other Socialist period monuments by Dule were listed. That should have rung bells. I’ll update with the correct information later this afternoon.
I attempt to verify the information before posting on the blog but sometimes it takes a long time as material is hard to access. I’m building up a collection (and I see on your blog you have made other periodicals available – thanks for that) but there are still many gaps.
I’ll try to get things right in the beginning but if I err from time to time please continue to put me right. My aim is to be as accurate and faithful to the monuments, statues, etc, as possible but I know that (hopefully not too often) I will sometimes get things wrong.
Hi Michael,
As far as I can tell the information in your posts is usually very accurate! Even having spent a few years now studying socialist art in Albania, I know it can be hard to actually verify things, and oftentimes I too just rely on what someone tells me, which is sometimes accurate and sometimes turns out not to be (especially when it comes to attribution but also in terms of dates).
Unfortunately, I don’t know the creator of the 68 Partisan Girls monument–I wish I did; it’s a very interesting use of the figure-flag transformation motif…
I’ll try to scan the book of Dhrami’s works that I have this week and I’ll post a link to the file here. (I’ve tried to limit my blog to posting documents from the socialist period, just for historical consistency). It was printed around 2011, I believe; Dhrami just published it independently. I can’t say that it is much help from a scholarly point of view–it rarely includes the dates works were completed. And it doesn’t come close to showing all the public monuments he realized together with other artists–it has Peze and the major ones with K. Rama and Sh. Haderi, but is still far from exhaustive. But as you say, you might find it helpful and so might others. (Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in Tirana around the old studios of the sculptors near Komuna e Parisit, Dhrami is still often working their, and I’m sure he’d be happy to give you a copy of the book. He doesn’t speak English, but there are several younger sculptors often working on projects there that could translate, I’m sure.)
Once again, thanks for doing this documentation of so many of the monuments in Albania!
Thanks a lot for the interesting article. I am travelling around Albania and want to read more about that scarecrow hung on the houses. Your article is very useful.
I believe Auron Tare is responsible for the maintenance of the Albanian coast line. I am quite sure that this also includes the demolition of illegal constructions.
I spent a month in the Tirana region last November and there was a lot of clearing away of illegal constructions. To the best of my knowledge this was nationwide so even if a local matter in Ksamil in 2011 it is now reached national proportions.
And Albania still considers itself an ‘independent’ country! People’s land held by an absentee landlord! And putting up two fingers (English style) to neighbours and visitors alike.
The road is actually quite good bit of forward planning. Sauk has very quickly become populated. When I first visited Albania in 2001 the only building the other side of the lake as the zoo. Now it is a mass of high rise buildings and houses that have progressed up the hills. Soon land on the other side of the hill will be populated and become a suburb of Tirana. Like all development, I am sure that those in the know of this road development have acted ahead and are in a position to capitalise on the expansion of Tiranë. The expansion of the city over the last ten years has been incredible but expected. Just look at Mullet today, it is no longer a separate village. This road over the hill from Sauk will soon be jammed with traffic like the rest of Tiranë.
As I said in my blog, this new road is in contrast to the roads in the village of Sauk itself. yes, development might increase in this part of the capital but at the moment it is only for the rich. And that doesn’t answer why the road has a small, but vital, section, missing. The only vehicle using it on my visit was a large lorry illegally dumping rubble from one of the demolished (illegally built) buildings down at the bottom end of Sauk.
Dear Comrades,
Thanks for putting these books on your side. It has helped the people to learn about Albania and its contributions in the International Communist Movement. There are certain important books which has never been uploaded in the internet and these books are essential to overcome about the illusionf of the so-called “GREAT DEBATE” between USSR and China. The struggle against Titoite-Khrushchevite by the Party of Labour of Albania led by Enver Hoxha was little known to the lager world. On the other hand the Chinese perspectives were well circulated and projected as an alternative to Khrushchevite revisionism.
I have mentioned the the following books published in between 1961-1964 which exposes the Titoite-Khrushchevite revisionism and also provide an alternative to Chinese perspective:
1. The Ideas of MarxismLeninism Will Triumph on Revisionism
English Edition, Tirana, 1962, pp 226.
2. Oppose Modern Revisionism and Uphold MarxismLeninism and the Unity of the International Communist Movement
English Edition, pp.420
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
3. The Belgrade Revisionist Clique — Renegades from Marxism – Leninism and Agents of Imperialism
English Edition, pp.325
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
(The books contain thirteen articles originally published in Zeri i Popullit between Jan., 1962 and Sept., 1963. Articles are on the Belgrade Revisionist crusade against Marxism-Leninism and Tito’s policies and the many plots he hatched with Khrushchev).
4. The Dangerous Maneuvers of N. Khrushchev’s Group on the So-Called Fight Against the “Cult of the Individual” Should Be Stripped Bare of Their Mask.
English Edition, pp.123
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964.
( This books contains three articles reproduced from 1964 June 12, 13, 14 issues of Zeri-i-popullit Daily).
If any one has the above books, kindly upload in the internet so to expose the Chinese perspective and provide the real Marxist-Leninist position on Modern Revisionism.
Thanks
MANABHANJAN
for
GEORGI DOMITROV MEMORIAL COMMITTEE, INDIA
Enjoy your blog. Thought you may appreciate this email link. There are still many images still to add to the website, like the one at Drashovicë. The month of August I had a month long exhibition of my Lapidar project at the National Gallery in Tirana. The opening night Dhrami turned up. Very embarrassing not to have had his famous arch in the printed collection. However, I did manage to loosely organise a meeting with him on my return to Albania. Will most certainly ask him about the the ‘faded’ figures on the top left arch. All the best, Robert.
Sorry I wasn’t in Tirana to have seen your exhibition. Any light you can shine on my many questions about the lapidars, including the what appears to be the missing figures on the Drashovice arch would be appreciated.
Hi, Michael! Very interesting article! I have nothing to add to it, but I have some people, who will forward it. There is a Women Museum in Tirana, run by Elsa Ballauri. She will be interested in the information you collected about women in the fights.
It’s quite silly how many quislings have been rehabilitated after 1991. It’s even sillier because most of those who were executed are portrayed as staunch defenders of Albania’s national culture, implying that the Communists were nothing more than brutish thugs recruited from the dregs of society and were also nothing other than agents of a “Slav” ideology.
Hello Thomas, The situation gets worse every time I return to Albania. Apart from the fascists now being ‘honoured’ in the different Martyrs’ Cemeteries the most bizarre and the biggest insult to those who fought and died in the National Liberation War is the attitude to Zog. Not only was a main boulevard named after him, his remains were brought from Paris to Tirana, there is now a statue of the despot, usurper and dictator at the junction where the Tirana railway station used to be. This ‘rehabilitation’ of fascists from the past seems to take place whatever party is in power.
The Chapel has been open during the ‘Heritage Open Days’ in recent years. This year that will take place between 10th and 13th September, 2015. I’ve looked on the website (http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory) but there’s nothing for the Toxteth Chapel this year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will not be open in September. Some places put their name down late but I slightly surprised that with only just over a month to go the Chapel isn’t on the list. All I can suggest is that you keep on checking the website and see if it gets added in the future. The problem is that, in the past, the information is not always as accurate as it really should be. If I come across any information I’ll let you know.
ANCIENT CHAPEL does not appear in HODS
(Heritage Open Days) List for Liverpool this Year
2015 as REPAIR WORKS ARE ONGOING IN CHAPEL
and will NOT be completed until at least the end of
November 2015. Hence we are NOT Open for this
coming special weekend – Chapel is in potentially
dangerous state (uneven floor, furnishings blocking
entrance etc.) However, we Keyholders (2) are always
willing to open at other times by Appointment. Caretaker’s
home no is 728 8028 (resident very close to Chapel).
Please PASS this info. on to enquirer/s. Many thanks:.
Mrs. A. BUTLER
You should be commended for your efforts. Socialist realism is completely denigrated in the West and I would imagine its Albanian variant would come under particularly strong criticism considering that the bourgeois and revisionist countries constantly inveighed against the “dogmatism,” “fanaticism” and whatnot of the Party of Labour.
Wow, what a piece of shit distorted bit of history written here, even the Vietnamese tour guide page does better job of presenting history more accurately and unbiased. Communism sucks, always has and always will, it’s a complete failure.
I have studied the amazing Albanian response to the Holocaust of European Jewry. It is something Albanians can be so proud of because Albanians as one saved every single Jew in Albania from the Nazis in that dark period of time between 1939 and 1945 when the Germans and their collaborators murdered over 6 million Jews and nearly destroyed the world. Albania remained a lone light in a dark world and even tried to bring in more Jews in order to save lives! This was unprecedented anywhere in the world! There were other brave and special individuals the world over but nowhere other than Albania did every single family and person protect their fellow human beings because of “besa”, honour. There are articles on the internet and documentaries on YouTube about this moving and wonderful act of goodness. I do hope that pupils in Albania schools learn about this.
Thanks for this. Thanks for the description of the statue in the castle too. When the time comes there’ll be plenty of material for an exhibition of socialist art in Albania.
Did you see the tekke just south of Gjirokastra, with a tomb of a bektashi holy man ? (On the net, it’s called the Asim Baba tekke.) And if you did, did you see the rows of what look like chicken hutches on the mountainside just to the south. I was told that Enver Hoxha had them built as houses for roma people, who he detested. I wonder whether it was true. The person who told me wasn’t gloating.
One of the common aspects of all those socialist societies that collapsed in the final years of the 20th century is that they all get blamed for all the ills of capitalism (as well as for the mistakes made under the time of socialism). I’m not surprised at that. After all this is just part of the propaganda war against any society that seeks to create a life where the majority, and not the minority, benefit. Therefore all lies and calumnies are heaped on the shoulders of socialism. The problem is that too many people are gullible and believe any garbage they are fed.
This is the case with the idea that Enver Hoxha ‘detested’ the Roma. Where’s the proof? Just some hearsay. In the years when the country was attempting to construct socialism I can’t remember substantiated claims being about racism because I don’t believe it was a problem.
The internet allows, nowadays, anyone with a critical function to investigate this. I did and will bring two reports to your attention.
To quote from the first one:
‘Before the 1990s the situation of Roma was quite similar to the rest of the Albanian population. They worked in different state sectors and incomes of their families were on the same level as incomes of the majority of the population. After the 1990s, however, the situation of Roma people in Albania grew critical; most of the Roma people lost their jobs because of the privatisation of the state industry. The democratization process that developed in Albania and the period of transition caused an economic catastrophe for Roma families. Some factors influenced the conditions of Roma in this period in particular, for example, the competition on the free trade market and labour market and migration.’ http://www.politeia.net/Newsletter/politeia_newsletter_45_may_2007/quarterly_theme_roma_in_europe/the_situation_of_the_roma_minority_in_albania/
Even the UN agrees:
‘During the socialist period, improvements in housing, education, health care and social services of the Roma were evident. In the rural areas, they found employment in agriculture and farming. In the cities they worked in construction, public services and handicraft sectors (Taho 2002). Their status relative to the Albanian majority improved.’
and
‘With the collapse and closure of state enterprises, and due to the lack of skills, low educational levels, and discrimination, Roma moved from a state of a relative well being to extreme poverty during the post-socialist transition period. They are currently the poorest and the most marginalized ethnic group in Albania (De Soto and others 2002). Studies have shown that their level of poverty is two times higher than among ethnic Albanians, while this condition is further deteriorating (De Soto and others 2005). The decline of Roma living standards during the post-communist transition has affected this group in a more significant way than it has for other groups of the population. This downfall has created a vicious circle of poverty, which produces illiteracy and low educational levels among Roma that further intensifies their marginalization in the society.’ http://ccs.dogpile.com/ClickHandler.ashx?ld=20150501&app=1&c=info.dogpl&s=Dogpile&rc=info.dogpl&dc=&euip=79.76.243.195&pvaid=b34cf29505ee46c1a469e1a9c1c29326&dt=Desktop&sid=1830193568.999174835772.1430500761&vid=1830193568.999174835772.1402909476.330&fcoi=417&fcop=topnav&fct.uid=dd3d3d58dbe24d7aba4f4da1c2db054d&fpid=27&en=0WEFU%2fZhSoTF%2fFm%2bpLeuVl4UPZzISdzyg%2baGYj7N8ISb7M1aTnzzgA%3d%3d&du=europeandcis.undp.org%2f…%2fFile%2frbec_web%2fvgr%2fAlbanian_Roma…&ru=http%3a%2f%2feuropeandcis.undp.org%2fuploads%2fpublic%2fFile%2frbec_web%2fvgr%2fAlbanian_Roma_Report_english_reduced.pdf&ap=4&coi=771&cop=main-title&npp=4&p=0&pp=0&ep=4&mid=9&hash=EAFE525B2E2E31C5BAE2FE54D31160F2
(That’s a ludicrous address, isn’t it?)
So, in less than 5 minutes I was able to come across proof that during the time of socialism the life of the Roma improved. Since the restoration of capitalism their conditions have spiralled downwards. Who, then, detests the Roma?
Hi, and thanks. There’s quite a lot more on the web, actually – on the roma in Albania under socialism generally (e.g. their resistance to the attempted ‘homogenisation’ of the Albanian people) and specifically on the roma in Gjirokastra (e.g. their difficulties after the end of socialism when landowners reclaimed the land that had been taken from them, where roma people had since settled), but it’s difficult to know how much to believe. Any or all of the writers might be consciously or unconsciously writing to conform to some extent with a pre-established narrative, they all seem to be viewing Albanian society as privileged outside observers, etc, etc. In any case, none of them have anything to say about those lines of hutches on the bare hillside you can see to the left of path as you approach that tekke.
I found it hard to believe what the person with me said about them, and I’m sure he didn’t mean it as a full account. He spoke some English, I spoke very little Albanian, and I imagine he was simplifying things for both of our sakes, maybe his perception had been affected by his close relationship to the tekke. Had it defended the roma ? Had it fed them ? Had it resented their presence ? Had the tekke been a centre for roma devotion ? As I said, he certainly didn’t seem to be gloating. Was he adapting the story to fit what he thought i thought ? Did the special status of Gjirokastra come into it ? The hutches had a strikingly ephemeral look (no gardens, no real streets, no square…), and it occurs to me that they might have been only meant as temporary. Maybe they’d wanted to clear some site outside the town for a few days for a fair or something ?
‘Homogenisation’ is a redo;ting-sounding word, but it isn’t hard to appreciate why something of the sort it should have been felt desirable. The far north east (Bajram Curri, Kukes..) still felt like a law unto itself when I was there in about 2002, and in Korce I saw a roma man and boy with a dancing bear.
If you go to Saranda, you could have a look at what I was told had been meant as a socialist model farm, about five miles out of the town on the left-hand (inland) side of the road.
Dear Michael thank you very much for collecting this part of our history and culture (and for not being one more voice in the defamation chorus about that period).
Just to show how ludicrous this propaganda can get, an American tourist in her blog about Albania explained the promenades Albanians do in the evening in most cities, as a custom born during communism by “people trying to exchange messages about the regime”.
I mean, why should a nation promenade for half century exchanging messages and never protest? Even once.
If you are interested about why Albanians did what they did during socialism, why they became the only Atheist country in the world and why they became the extreme opposite after the 90′, as well as a deeper background context, write me.
A better translation for Lavdi is “Glory.” Rrofte would be “long live”. Also, it appears to me that the big Lavdi Shqiperise in your last photo probably used to say Lavdi Partise se Punes e Shqiperise but the “workers party” part was removed.
Hello Xho, thanks for your comment. I’ve had a problem in how to translate ‘Lavdi’. I accept the best direct translation is ‘Glory’ but then that doesn’t sound right to me when placed in an English phrase. English isn’t a language where you find the sort of slogans used in the same way as many other languages. For example, in relation to war dead the phrase ‘In remembrance’ is used. That’s why, at times, I have chosen to use ‘Long Live’ which I consider more appropriate. But even that is a phrase taken from the Spanish and hasn’t really grown out of English itself.
I am sure you are correct about the missing words on the wall in Sheshi Cerciz Topulli. Looking at the picture again I see that the symmetry is all wrong and that long gash between the two existing words would have contained something else. I have come across photos of the square from the past but haven’t seen one which includes that slogan. Do you have any idea where I might come across such a picture? I could then put it on the blog to show how things have been changed.
In future I’ll have to look out for such anomalies.
Thanks again.
Thank you for your interesting and thought provoking comments. With reference to where the statue was positioned at The Florrie. You are spot on with your comments. Our first thought was to place it hall in the middle of the hall, with lots of space around it so that people could do a 360 degrees and inter-act with the statue. Our second choice was to place it parallel to the windows. However, a number of user groups utilise the Grand Hall so the statue would have had to have been moved every night to accommodate them which was logistically difficult with the chance that the statue may have been damaged. We feel that overall the positioning of the statue did not detract from the visitor experience and the feedback we have received more than confirms this.
We will be in St Lucia next month. And we plan to be there for Pentecost on the 24th. Can you send us your service schedule please.
Thank you
Mark and Bonnie
I’ve nothing to do with the church. I only wrote about a visit I made a couple of years ago. You’ll have to find another way of getting the information you require.
Im sorry to say ,but the way you conducted wrighting this article makes this not worth my read… and truly a comment. AS a historian try to keep emotions outside of a topic please.
The problem with ‘impartiality’ is that it ends up accepting, justifying and excusing the status quo for its crimes. If I even ended up being ‘impartial’ about such crimes as My Lai then I would have become an as useless waste of space as most ‘commentators’ of such events. When I write something you think is worthwhile reading I will stop writing.
Good after noon dear mister Michael Harrison!
Thank You very much for the Blog and for interesting and usefull information You share with people.With interest and gratfulness I’ve read Your blog articles about Your trips to Albania from Corfu.I am planing a trip from Corfu to Albania this year and then I have a dream to travel through Albania to Montenegro.
If You have any information about how to get from Saranda to Tirana and furter to Montenegro,could You be so kind to share it.I haven’t been been in Albania so far that’s why I am a bit stressed about how to reach Tirana?is there any railway connection Saranda -Tirana how much does it cost to get from Saranda to Tirana etc.
Might be You have Your own experience in such trips?
I would be very grateful if You share any information concerning my questions.
WIth kind regards and warm greetings from Ukraine.
Tamara.
Hello Tamara, As far as I know the information about the boat from Corfu to Saranda is still true and up to date.
There are plenty of buses from Saranda to Tirana. The last info I have is that the cost is 1500 lek (1Euro + 137 lek). There is one bus that goes from Saranda to Tirana via the coastal route and Vlora. That leaves at 05.30 (so an early start). It’s a very beautiful and interesting route as you go over a high pass. The journey is 10 to 12 hours long. I can’t remember exactly.
The other buses go via Gjirokastra. They leave Saranda at 05.00, 06.30, 08.30. 09.30, 10.30, 14.00 and 22.00. That journey takes about 8 hours.
I’ve never travelled from Tirana to other countries in the Balkans so have no personal experience but have met a lot of people who have done so and they say that’s there’s no problem in getting an international bus from the centre of Tirana. Your hostel’hotel will be able to help, I’m sure (I never found the Tourist Information Office in Tirana very helpful). Have a good trip.
Michael
William Calley and Earnest Medina were pigs then and hopefully are dead now as their leadership was nothing more than a personal war and not leaders of men…….Personal Knowledge
Yes… indeed Redi, I just wanted to say “thanks” for your effort (and for your contribution to this article) by writing this comment – what I was “wondering” myself is how is “possible” that Michael “…couldn’t really see HOW that highway benefited the Albanians” – I just had to smile, of course 🙂
Sorry for the delay in commenting on your comment. It’s all a matter of priorities. Thousands of people travel each day on roads that are falling apart (as is the general infrastructure of the country – just look at the railways). Historically such infrastructural ‘improvements’, partly funded by international organisations, seem to benefit those other than the inhabitants of the country concerned. this is especially when we are talking about communication links in’out of the country. The reaction that began its work of destruction in the 1990s has meant that there is little that Albania will be exporting to other parts of the world. If anything they will be exporting raw products which are cheap and for which others will make the profit. Roads into the country might make imports cheaper and hence will mean that any attempts to rebuild Albanian industry will come up against almost insurmountable odds. Such projects are pretty and impressive, but are they really necessary. To cite other examples in Europe take the AVE (high speed train) in Spain where the rest of the railway system is creaking and the proposed high speed train in Britain. These projects are paid for by all but only really benefit a few. The argument about resultant jobs is also a fallacy as they are becoming more insecure, with no long term contracts, with lower pay and lower productivity. These are some of the reasons I don’t think the Albanians should be too happy about the major road construction. There are others but it will take to long to give them all.
There used to be a collection of socialist-realist statues in a room off the main gallery in Gjirokastra castle, including a splendid one of Albania, as a young, noble, idealistic partisan, booting out monarcho-fascism (represented as a tiny, snivelling character in a military hat and greatcoat) and religion (a tiny, snivelling character carrying a book). Get out, she’s obviously saying, and don’t come back. I wonder if they’re still there.
As always so inspiring to see what you are writing about and so beautiful and unique in a way. I love mosaic art form and this one is very unusual. Thank you, Michael. Would be good to publish on facebook a fragment of your articles and give a link to your block.
Hello Natasha, I too like the mosaics but there aren’t too many in Albania. I’ve visited one in the hills at Bosch (just before the northern side of the high pass of Llogara on the Vlore-Sarande road) and there’s one near to Vlore which I’ve yet to visit. Hope to write about those after my next visit.
May he rest in hell. History has never seen such a disgusting leader, killing his own people, forbidding religion, blowing up churches. I hope someone blows up his tomb and erase him from history. Screw all of you crackhead supporters.
You anticommunist pig may be payed by the state and the NATO you imperialist peace of garbage. But you believing in lovely god, instead using your brain.
I think you will find that the red book symbolises both the official Party history ‘History of the Party of Labour of Albania’ and also the Veprat (Works) of Enver Hoxha, as much as education. You see the same book being held/read in paintings and artworks in the National Gallery and other museums. It is thus overtly political and no surprise at all that it was removed from the mosaic. In 2011 the scaffolding was for the awnings that it held, i think, rather than any restoration and indeed the Democrats proposed removing it entirely. I do not believe anything was done about it, though it is now an a very shoddy state, with bits missing.
I will accept the History of the Party of Labour but not the works of Enver Hoxha (none of the collected/selected works of the great Marxist-Leninists were published in red). But I will still hold to the idea of the book representing education in general. A worker with a book is dangerous. A worker with an empty sack is just taking home what he controls of society under capitalism – nothing (so, perhaps, an ironic statement by the vandal artist?). Capitalism wants workers to be constantly occupied watching seemingly endless games of football (or other sports) or reality TV shows – none of which encourage thinking about the situation in which they find themselves. If they spend their time reading about ideas they might actually get up off their knees and do something about the exploitation and oppression they face on a daily basis.
With pleasure I have been reading your posts on Albania since you started to write them, especially those concerning socialist realist monuments, which as you may know by now, is also one of my personal interests. I saw that you asked on the punctum books website for the release date of the Lapidari book, which indeed should be in the coming days. However, I can imagine that you would like to have a look already, so I would be happy to send you the links to the online PDF versions if you send me an email.
Our research was to get an overview of all monuments from that period in Albania, and therefore our analyses have been more quantitative than qualitative, and miss the narrative detail with which you describe the monuments in your posts, to my great pleasure. Nevertheless I hope the research will be useful to your own endeavors as well.
Thanks so much for this great info! I am planning a day trip to Segovia from Madrid this weekend and now that I’ve found this I am going to take this exact walk! Really helpful!
I hope you have a god time in Segovia – but it could be cold this time of year! I would be interested to know how you think my description of the walk fitted in with what you experienced on the ground. Have a good weekend.
I went today and it was wonderful, not too cold at all, bright Spanish sun! I didn’t follow your route exactly but it helped me to find the cemetery and also just to have a background idea of the area helped me locate places much easier! Do you mind if I link to this page on my blog when I write about the Jewish quarter later this month? These are just great directions and would love to share them with my readers in case they are interested!
Hello Hannah. Glad you had a good time in Segovia. No problem about linking to my post. If it is useful then the more people who can make use of it the better. Also, if anyone can improve on what I’ve already written, things i might have missed, etc., those ideas would be welcome.
Your directions to this amazing piece of art proved to be priceless. The locals, including taxi drivers didn’t know where this was. I was gobsmacked by the lack of interest shown by Dutch people to such an important monument.
To begin with I couldn’t understand why the piece sits where it does, however once you visit it becomes clear that this is the prefect place for it.
Thank you, Michael. Interesting and simple as all your publications. I saw this monument many times and never paid attention… You are unveiling Albanian Social Realism monuments to me. Look at this sample of neoclassicism: http://wikimapia.org/18710871/Liri-Gero-Statue
It was just inaugurated and is dedicated to the same partisan that is abandoned behind the NGA, who we saw together….
Hello Natasha, just by chance I came across a similar picture of the new Leri Gero statue in Fier. This is a ludicrous depiction of a young woman born at the time she was and in the society that was pre-war Albania. In this new statue she looks like any of the young women who go partying at the weekend in the centre of Liverpool – not like someone who fought and was tortured to death by the German Fascists. Not only does it turn her into a sexual object it mocks her sacrifice and courage. I am trying to find out as much as I can about her and hope to write a blog of her achievements in the near future.
Visiting Shok Enver’s grave is on my bucket list. (For those of you for whom English isn’t your native language, one’s “bucket list” is slang for places one wishes to visit before s/he “kicks the bucket” (dies).
The mistake that Hoxha made was that he hung-on too long. In the immediate post World War II period, a Hoxha was needed to secure Albania’s sovereignty as a number of surrounding countries had their territorial aims. However, once those threats faded and the internal infrastructures were solidified, Albania seemed to have got stuck in a time warp. It missed an opportunity to engage the best the world could offer while rejecting the worst. After Hoxha, Albania did not have the institutions in place for a modern late 20th century economy which created societal disorganization. This did not have to occur if Hoxha would have transitioned power much earlier.
I used to be subscribed to this magazine and it is fun to reread these issues once again. At that time, the magazine was about the only means for people outside Albania to get a glimpse into life there. How life and the world have changed.
Excellent analysis. You got this right. Today, China is an economic free-for-all or economic Wild West. While regulations exist, they are not enforced, or only selectively so. Nothing wrong with moving ahead with a progressive economy, but China had an opportunity to do so while preventing some of the downsides to it and failed (i.e. environmental problems, lack of business ethics, excessive gaps in wealth, lack of healthcare). I don’t think Mao envisioned beggars on urban streets and blatant prostitution in the 21st century. While the CPC is making renewed attempts to combat business and Party corruption, it seems to be selectively targeted and only token public relations efforts. China seems to be a ship without a captain.
Thank you for a very interesting article. I am from the Soviet Union and the Social Realism is the art I was brought up with. I love it, and looks like there are more and more people, who appreciate it for all different reasons.
I have been “paving” my Silk Road to Albania for the last 11 years. I make the artifacts of Albania’s culture into my designs for silk scarves and ties, and I tell my stories about these artifacts in the cards accompanying my Silk Gifts from Albania. It is my way of telling about the country, which I love. Here is my latest work, not yet printed, just finished and still in the process of my approvment https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205287765419410&set=a.1735847441753.2098930.1405608748&type=1&theater
I like your site and your desire to show the facts without commenting on them.
Best regards,
Natasha
The Ramsgate Tunnels are a 4.5 mile (7.25 km) network mainly built in 1939 for air raid protection, and are the largest network of air raid protection tunnels. It has been said that the Borough Engineer, Mr R Brimell, visited Spain prior to this but we have no documented evidence. The tunnels are similar in shape and also had toilet facilities, water cisterns and first aid points, and had a maximum capacity of 60,000 people although 12,000 to 20,000 was the usual occupancy during raids.
Due to lack of available accommodation over 364 families made the tunnels their home and lived there from several months to several years and even had their post delivered.
The tunnels form a semi-circular route passing beneath what were the most densely populated areas of the town, with fourteen entrances and eleven ventilation shafts so extended stays were not a problem. A connecting disused railway tunnel was far larger and housed the long stay residents who even brought down pianos and had regular entertainments, dances, and concerts to the extent that it became know as ‘Tunnel Town’.
The tunnels were sealed and neglected until much work by a volunteer group made reopening possible on their 75th anniversary 1st June 2014. Indeed the existence and extent of the tunnels even by Ramsgate residents was not realised until their opening.
There is still a lot of work to be done such as sound and light enhancements, opening up more of the network, exhibitions and interactive displays, etc, but so far over 7,000 people have enjoyed guided tours of about one mile (1.6km) into the network, complete with mockups of the dwellings people made in creating Tunnel Town.
The Tunnels are currently open Wednesday to Sunday with four tours each day although special groups can be accommodated by arrangement.
We certainly welcome any enquiries and look forward to seeing you there in the future.
Hey Michael,
Thank you for this article about the fashion issue of the moment. When you talk about Spain and the reasons it has for oposing “independence” in any other European state, I think it would be correct to add France, because it has the same two reasons North of the Pirinees: Basque Country and Catalonia.
And another thing: these two words at the end of the article ‘reach fruition’ may not be ‘rich fruition’ ?
Anyway, for the rest I agree completely with you.
Stay strong, no pasarán!
Firstly i would like say a big Thank You for your blog posts about Albania. It is my first time reading your blog and it will certainly not be my last.
With respect to your question/assumption on the newly build highway Durrës-Kukës. Quote “Again a road funded by foreign money but I couldn’t really see how it benefited the Albanians.”
Being originally from Kukës i have kept myself informed on the developments of this project.
1- It is true that a good portion of the money used to build the highway was a LOAN not free from (hope i am not mistaken ) the World Bank which the Albanian taxpayers are paying and have been paying in, for this project since the War in Kosova was over. There was a tax which was introduced around year ~2000 by Pandeli Majko the Albanian PM of that time, and it was intended to for this project only.
2- Why was this necessary and does it benefit the Albanian People?
Before the highway was complete travelling from Kukës to Tirana/Durrës took roughly 8 Hrs, while now its just 1:30 -2 Hrs.
As you have experience it yourself even people from the North part of Albania not just the North East are using it, as it is much faster and safer.
Add to that ~ 3 million Albanians in Kosova whom travel every year to the Albanian Coast for their holiday, additionally consider the ease and cost effective transportation links from Durrës port to other regional countries eg: Serbia, Macedonia etc.
I believe that the Albanian people are very much benefiting from this highway and it has made lives better for the Albanian Geordie’s :).
Let me conclude this comment by an Advert for a Flat in Prizren:
Albanian : Kemi në shitje një apartement vetëm 2 Orë larg Detit.
English : Apartment for sale only 2 Hours from the Sea.
We are travelling to Sarande from Corfu (via Ferry) next August. Would anyone know the timetable, cost and duration of journey for the bus from Sarande to Himare.
The timetable that I used in 2012 indicates that there are buses that pass through Himara leaving Saranda at 05.00, 13.00 and 14.30 every day. The journey is about 52 km and takes about 1.5 hours (I can’t remember exactly how long it took the bus on which I travelled). The cost was 400 lek (less than £2.50).
We waited for a bus in Ksamil to take us to Saranda and catch the bus there for Himara. It never appeared so we took a taxi, and was offered a ride all the way to Himara for 7000 lek. Surely more expensive than a bus, but still very acceptable. And a nice way to go, too.
Just in case anyone wants to stay a couple of days in Corfu before going or on return from Albania – we are outside of Corfu Town, [and therefore much cheaper] but have the Blue bus stop right outside – leaves at 7.20 am to Corfu Town and then a 15 min walk to the port for the first Albanian ferry …and runs until 22.45 from town to us ….. had a few people staying with us now that have done it…….
This is really a fine review/commentary about the police murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, and about many of the broader questions that this whole incident raises. There are many points of interest, but just to mention a couple:
As an American I was surprised to learn that on a per capita basis the level of murders by police in the U.K. is even higher than in the U.S.! This shows clearly that this problem is not just one in the “gun-crazy U.S.” but something that is worldwide in capitalist society. The ruling class everywhere agrees that the masses need to be kept in their place by the police, including by violence and death “when necessary”!
Then too, I thought the question raised “Why is it that whenever things go wrong in capitalist society the loudest cry seems to be ‘compensation’?” was also very thought-provoking and on-point, when clearly the main concerns should be for punishment of the murderers and for building mass efforts to fundamentally change society so that these murderous police crimes cannot continue indefinitely!
If you’re asking for an organised tour I’m afraid I know of nothing. Without your own transport it’s difficult to get there. I’ve given some suggestions for those who depend upon public transport which is possible but it’s not easy. All I can suggest is that you contact the museum directly and see if they know of anything that might be organised from Amsterdam, such as from the Anne Frank House.
My wife and I just visited the monument at Derma in late June 2014 and it now has an Albanian flag on one side and an American flag on the other (2 flag poles). Flags are in good shape. Do you (or anyone) know why there is an American flag here? Monument also looks recently painted — I can share pictures …)
The first pictures I took of the monument in April 2012 it looked somewhat abandoned, the red Albanian flag hadn’t been repainted for a long time. At the end of the same year it was quite smart and had the red stars painted. So I got the impression that someone local was starting to take care of the location. I don’t really see the need for either of the flags on poles that you mention. The contemporary Albanian flag lacks the star which is the symbol used to represent the Communists who are commemorated on the monument. The inclusion of a US flag just seems to be rubbing salt into the wound of the Socialist state. Perhaps they’re trying to re-write history and claim that the liberation of the country from Fascism was the work of the American Imperialists?
I would be interested to see your recent pictures.
I took several very closeup pics of the inscriptions so I could research this monument. The following link has the only pic showing the full monument and flags.
I’ve been unable to find ANYTHING about this monument on-line through google searches (or about the 5 communists that it memorializes), Can you direct me to more info? Many thanks. Jim Hogan
I’ve recently been on a day trip to Albania from Corfu (date of trip was 1 July 2014).
In Corfu, you can get a ticket in a shop nearly opposite the entrance to the New Port. The very first shop on the corner only sells excursion packages and the unhelpful woman inside first told me that they were sold out for the day. I soon realised she was talking about their excursion packages and went in another shop a few doors down that advertises hydrofoil tickets to Albania. That’s where you want to be. You can only buy a Corfu to Albania ferry ticket there: you have to buy the return leg journey once you’re in Sarande.
The ferry leaves from the far end of the entire New Port – a 400m walk to the left if you’re looking from the port out to sea.
Once you’re in Sarande (remember your passports), the ticket office to buy return tickets to Corfu is on the main street above the dock, to the left as you come out. It’s the head office for the ferry company – you can pay in Lek or Euros.
If you get the 0930 ferry from Corfu, you arrive at about 0900 Albanian time (they’re one hour behind Greece). The bus to Butrint leaves at 0930. Go out of the dock and head to the right towards the roundabout with a tree in the middle of it. The bus leaves from the right-hand street, if you’re looking to the roundabout with the dock behind you. It’s more a coach than a bus, and there’s a sign in the window that says ‘Sarande-Ksamil-Butrint’ and the word ‘Henri’ in our case.
The timetable is as follows: From Sarande: 0700, 0930, 1130, 1330, 1530, 1730; and from Butrint: 0820, 1030, 1230, 1430, 1630, 1830.
It takes around 45 minutes. You get on the bus and pay during the journey. It only costs 100 lek each way, so 200 lek in total, which is next to nowt and MUCH cheaper than a taxi.
We only had the day in Albania, so we took the 0930 and arrived in Butrint at 1015. You can see Butrint quite leisurely in two hours and get the 1230 bus back to Sarande, but if you can afford more time there, another hour or two would be easily spent.
Butrint is an awe-inspiring place which you’re sure to love.
Im travelling to Albania via Corfu on July 16th, I will arrive late in the evening in Corfu so I have to take the ferry the next morning. Do you have a suggestion for a (cheap) hotel close to where the ferry takes off? And is the ferry close to the airport as well? Many thanks in advance and this blog is very helpfull!
There’s a problem about accommodation in Corfu town – there’s no hostels if that was the kind you were looking for and therefore can be quite expensive. I’ve only arrived in the off season so have been able to get reasonable deals in fairly good hotels but that won’t be the case on the 16th July.
The airport is the other side of the old town to the port, about 3 kilometres away. At night there are no buses from the airport to the town.
I think your best bet would be to try the Pink Palace (bookable via Hostelworld.com). It’s on the other side of the island and would cost a fortune by taxi but they do offer a free airport pick-up. If you’re arriving on an Easyjet flight late evening there could well be a number of people going there so a hostel bus is very likely to be at the airport. Make sure you make it clear that you want a free airport pick-up when you book online.
There’s a local bus that leaves Agios Gordios quite regularly but I don’t know if it does so early enough to catch the 09.00 ferry to Saranda. The Pink Palace offers transport back to town for €5 but it might depend if others are wanting to travel at the same time. If you don’t want an early start you could always go for the afternoon (18.30) ferry to Saranda – less of a rush and a chance to enjoy the beach in the daytime.
If you are looking for a cheap hostel in Saranda the best bet (I think) is Tomi’s place (SR Backpackers). It’s only a matter of 50 metres from the ferry port. If you do go there please pass on my greetings.
Thank you so much for your answer! I will think about what to do, earlier flight would have been sooo much easier 😉 In Albania I already have places to stay in Dhermi and Vuno but thanks for the suggestion!
Hi! Me and my family are travelling from Sweden to Saranda 21th of july and we´re taking the ferry from Corfu late in the evening. The plane from Stockholm lands at 21:20 so there is a ferry going over quite late…. Maybe not late enough to match your flight Judith?!
Have to ask you Michael, are there any shopping in Saranda? We´re hoping to find leathershoes/bags, clothes och some “tingletangles” 🙂
//Jenny
I’m afraid you’ll have to stay overnight in Corfu Town, there’s no ferry that late, even int he high season.
I’m not really into shopping but one place you might like to try is the daily market. It must be the biggest secret in Saranda and you wouldn’t know it was there unless someone told you about it.
Go up Rruga Vangjel Pando (the street which has the archaeological ruins on one side and the park on the other – also many bus leave from here). Cross Rruga Onhezmi and then take a left into what looks like a car park after a fast food place. Head to an alley at the top left hand corner and that takes you to a maze of narrow streets with different types of stalls. Probably best to go in the morning as I’m not sure if it closes in the afternoon. There are also many shops on the Rrugas Onhezmi and Skanderbreu heading west from the central park.
Hi again! Thank you for the shoppingtips! 🙂 I’m a bit confused by your reply regarding the ferry… From the beginning we were told that we had to stay the night in Corfu town but a month ago we recieved an email from the travelagency that there is a ferry going over in the late evening. I will call the agency tomorrow for more information!
Jenny
Hi Michael!
I called the travelagency yesterday and she told me that they charter a private ferry for its travelers…. now I can feel at peace again 😉
So sorry Judith if I got your hopes up!
Hi!
In july we are going to Albania. It costs 19 € or 23.80 € for adults, is it 23.80 € in july? Is it the same cost for children? My son is 11 and my daughter is 14.
Thanks.
Hi,
Just back in sweden after 16 days in Corfu and Albania. We had to pay 19 Euro each and they say it is the same price all over the year if you buy in the office. Our children 14 and 16 also pay the same. They say children under 12 has a lower price but I dont know how much. markalarsson@telia.com
I’ve only ever been to Saranda in the low season (either early spring or late autumn) when it’s quiet. I’m not that into beaches but taking the local bus to the likes of Himara and Gjirokastra are possible in a day – if you get up at the crack of dawn.
Hello. Sarande looked very pretty and it has a had supermarket. We stayed in Kasamil which was quieter. We took a bus over to Gjirokastra from Sarande. The walk up to the castle was fantastic. Maxine
Hello, we are planing a car trip to Corfu in june is there any chances to find a ferry where we can have our car? 🙁 We driving thrue Croatien og Albanien
Google dosn’t seems too so much help 🙁
The best suggestion I can make is to get in touch directly with Ionian Cruises Petrakis Lines on http://www.ionian-cruises.com/index.htm. Don’t email them, send a question via their online submission form. You may have to wait a while but they should get back to you. If the news is what you want to hear please let me know.
Thank you again, Michael for all this information, but it’s the first time I hear to talk about “Falangists” in Italy. I thought that only in Spain (and Lebanon) has existed a fascist political party called “Falange”. Are you sure there have been “Falangists” in Italy in 1942?
Hello Francesc. My mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking about. You are correct, the Falangists were the Spanish version of Fascism. I’ve corrected the error on the post. Thanks for pointing out my error.
Hello Thomas, thanks for bringing my mistake to my attention. Don’t know what happened. Probably thought I had done something when I hadn’t. Anyway, everything should be OK now. If you come across any other errors please don’t hesitate to bring them to my attention again.
We are flying to Corfu on Monday 26th May. Our flight arrives late so we will stay overnight in Corfu. At 9am we hope to take go off to Albania. It costs 19 Euros for adults. Is it the same cost for children? My son is 7 and my daughter is 4. Thanks. Are there taxis once in the port in Albania? Many thanks.
The cost for the children will be 9 Euro each. In Saranda the port is very close to the centre but taxis will be available if you are going further afield.
I completely agree with the reply of Michael Harrison to Mr. Rubin Mandija.
Thank you Michael for all this information about the real history of the people of Albania.
Surely Mr. Rubin is a neofascist and a living proof that Fascism is still alive and well and ready to attack, anywhere and anytime.
We must keep on alert.
Long life to the working class!
Down with Fascism!
No pasarán!
I am planing to travel from Saranda to Korfu,will arive with car to Saranda. Any info where and how much is costing per day,
to leave car on secure parking lot ?
I’m afraid I can’t really help you with this. I don’t know of any secure parking in Saranda as I’ve never needed such a place and never saw one in passing. Perhaps you might be able to come to some understanding with one of the bigger hotels.
An excellent article on the walk through Jewish Segovia.
Just wanted to mention that the Decree of Expulsion was signed in Granada not Segovia. It was signed after the 1492 conquest of Granada, the last bastion of Moors on the Iberian Peninsula, in the Ambassadors’ room of the Alhambra Palace and is therefore sometimes known as the Alhambra Decree.
Although it gave four months to when it would apply, the effective time was less than that as it was over a month before being promulgated and becoming public.
Hello Jack
Thanks for drawing attention to my error. I’m in no way an expert on this period of history, just a keen amateur. I’ve checked on why i made such a basic error and it comes from my misreading of the first paragraph on page 43, of the Guia de la Juderia de Segovia by Bonifacio Bartolome Herrero, Libros Certeza, 2006, – hopefully not an excuse but an explantion. I’ve changed the offending paragraph to reflect the true facts. Take care
I and my partner (in our 60’s) did the walk in 2009 . We however took a local with a horse to carry our backpacks. My partner has made a Presentation of the trip if you are interested I can be reach at nimrodjoh@yahoo.com
I’d heard about the possibility of getting a guide and a horse but thought that as I was there in November the opportunities would have been limited. Perhaps, on reflection, I should have made more enquiries. I would be interested in your presentation. If I get back there I might have a better idea of how much I really had to do.
When I look at this interior compare it to some of the other interiors you have written about, for example the modernist interiors, viewing this shopping structure seems to take on, seems to give me the experience you saythe usage shopping itself gives you. is a bIt **** likes poking myself in the eye to look up on this. c
dear people. this is not a memorial dedicated to nazism. the word fascism or nazism does not appear at all anywhere on it. this is a memorial to fallen soldiers. there are memorials to fallen axis soldiers in every single country in europe. this is not an Albanian exception. please do not dramatize over a memorial which is dedicated exclusively to lost souls.
I’ve heard similar arguments defending the German Fascist monument in Tirana Park before.
I don’t know the level of your understanding of what happened in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. The rise of Fascism in Italy, Spain and Germany led to suffering on a scale that was unprecedented. I am one of those who believe that the only war that was ‘just’ for workers to fight was that against Fascism in what is now known as the Second World War. All wars previous to that and since have been wars between capitalist states and in which the workers have only been pawns and cannon fodder.
In such a circumstance the German people were not innocent. Yes many fought against the Fascists on the streets before Hitler came to power (voted in by the German electorate in 1933) and if they did not end up being the first occupants of the concentration camps many of them left their homeland and fought in the first real war against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. The Ernst Thalmann Brigade of the International Brigade was the biggest single contingent and fought bravely on the side of the legitimate Republican government.
Those are the Germans who fought in a war with dignity, with honour and for the interests of the working class. The other Germans, the vast majority from that very working class, fought against their own interests and for the benefit of capital and a particularly murderous form of racism and intolerance.
They invaded countries to the west and east of Germany and, at first, considered themselves invincible. And they were. At first all they had to face were armies that had as little understanding of what they were fighting for as these so called ‘lost souls’ of yours. Then they had to face the real patriots, the men and women who knew that the war was an opportunity for the working class to free itself from the chains that had bound working people for too long.
The glorious Soviet Red Army destroyed more than 90% of those ‘lost souls’ on the Eastern Front.
The patriotic partisans under the leadership of Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Communist Party played their heroic role in liberating their country of the Fascist invader – first the Italian and then the German. (I’m surprised you’re not calling for a monument to the Italian’s who invaded Albania. Perhaps that’s because the Zogite Monarcho-Fascists that still exist in Albania are still smarting under the fact that their collaboration and subservience to Mussolini throughout the 20s and the 30s wasn’t enough to maintain themselves in power.)
In fact the only three countries that threw out the Fascists without the direct involvement of the armies of other countries were the three forces in the world at the time that were led by parties flying the banner of Marxism-Leninism, that is in the Soviet Union, China and Albania.
Little Albania, with a population of much less than a million people, which suffered more than 30,000 dead and the almost total destruction of the infrastructure were able to defeat the might of the Thousand Year Reich.
But the destruction reeked by Fascism in those years was more extensive than little Albania, important as it obviously was to the Albanians. We will probably never know the exact number of people who died in that period from the mid 30s to the mid 40s but it was AT LEAST 60 million. This was all unleashed by the German people and their support of, or acquiescence to, the rise of Nazism. Encouraged by this development in Europe – unchecked by the so-called democratic powers of the UK, France and the USA (with other minnows swimming in their wake) the Japanese Militarist-Fascists created equal mayhem, death and destruction in Asia.
Those ‘lost souls’ you consider to be so important might have walked arm in arm along the Champs Elysee in Paris with French collaborating whores but when they moved east they killed with a frenzy that made Attila the Hun look like a conscientious objector.
Who rounded up Communists, Socialists, Jews, the Disabled, Homosexuals and the Roma to send them off to the concentration camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen and Auschwitz? Who maintained ‘order’ in those camps? Who forced people into the ‘showers’ and who threw the cans of deadly cyanide into those gas chambers? Who forced hundreds of thousands of Soviet villagers into the churches and town halls only to burn them alive and then leave thousands of those villages burning infernos as they left to kill more people and destroy more villages? Who hung Communists and other partisans on low gallows so that they strangled to death (not even giving them the slow, clinical, scientific hanging that a few (too few) of the leaders had after being convicted at the Nuremberg Trials?
Now I accept that not ALL German soldiers were guilty of ALL those crimes. But they were part of the infrastructure that allowed it to happen. Not ALL of the soldiers were members of the National Socialist Party but they allowed that Party to exist, take control of their country and then to attempt to expand its sphere of influence over a bigger part of Europe since the time of the Roman Empire almost 2,000 years before.
Perhaps some, even many of the soldiers who invaded Albania were becoming disillusioned with the Nazis but was that because of a real ideological difference or because their country was losing the war? An army always has a different attitude depending upon whether it is in advance or retreat.
Maybe there’s no Fascist/Nazi insignia on the staele with the names of the German dead who were killed by the Communists defending their country – but that’s beside the point.
They shouldn’t have been there. They were invaders and although there will always be those prepared to welcome invaders the real patriots know without having to think about it what is right and what is wrong.
If someone comes into your home with the aim of looting, raping and pillaging then you can accept it or fight against it. Many heroic Albanians chose to fight and many lost their lives doing so. Many cowards hid under rocks and came out only after the fighting had stopped, but then to claim that they had a right to the spoils of the war in which they had not taken part.
What became known as the Party of Labour of Albania, after independence and as part of the construction of socialism in their country, declared that those men and women who had fought for the freedom and dignity of their country should be honoured, in perpetuity. That was not to be the case.
Mistakes were made and reaction was able to retake control of the country and it fell again within the suffocating and parasitic clutch of capitalism. I don’t like it but it happened. We should learn from our mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen after the next time we attempt to build socialism towards Communism.
But what reason is there to attack and destroy those monuments, in all parts of Albania, celebrating the ultimate sacrifice of the Albanian patriots, partisans and Communists if not to make a declaration that they represent all that the present rulers of Albania detest, that is dignity, national independence and a hope that a better future can be constructed for ordinary people?
Because this is the context in which I wrote my original post about the German, and English, war memorials in Tirana Park. These are grand affairs. Marble or granite. Carved with precision. Expensive. Well maintained. The German memorial has a wall around it with a locked gate. The English a fence, with a locked gate. The English even ‘stole’ the red marble memorial stone that was placed over Enver Hoxha’s grave when he used to lie in the Martyr’s Cemetery. I assume this was done to emulate the early Christian Church when it took over buildings and structures previously occupied by the heathen Romans and later the Catholic Church in its murderous exploits in South America and the pursuit of the ‘extirpation of idolatry’.
I have no problem with that. At the moment they have won and to the victor the spoils.
If anyone, in this centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War, was to do to the war memorials in Britain and France what the Fascists have done to the monuments to the partisans in Albania there would be such an outcry that the noise would reach the moon. What most people don’t know or understand about the Albanian war memorials, as well as the statues erected, is that they look more substantial than they actually are. Most are made of concrete on a metal frame and most of the statues are hollow – nothing like the expense incurred to commemorate the ‘heroes’ who defended capitalism and imperialism.
Yet these simple, respectful monuments to Albanian patriots are either being vandalised or just left to decay. In the same park as the monuments to the German and English dead (less than a 100 metres away) a simple pillar commemorating the sacrifice (if I understand the Albanian correctly) of a group of students is dirty and attended by no-one. When I last went to the park a year or so ago the ‘private’ grass was being cut around the German stones and the English cemetery is under the auspices of the Commonwealth Graves Commission.
You say that there are ‘axis monuments in all countries of Europe’. To that I say bullshit. Yes in Albania where neo-Fascists have had a resurgence, yes (perhaps) in the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia where the grandsons and granddaughters of the Fascist collaborators have stayed under the stones just waiting their opportunity and yes in the future, probably, in the pro-West Ukraine if they are successful in their counter-revolution – but not elsewhere.
The only people who consider the German Nazi invader worthy of recognition as ‘lost souls’ are the Fascists, the stupid or the ignorant – probably all of the aforementioned.
Hi – planning a trip to Corfu Sept then would like to get to Kotor in Montenegro. Seems the ferry to Saranda is the best first step. Can I get a car rental in Saranda or better to look into trains or buses to head north? Thx much
I can’t give you information based on personal experience as I’ve never hired a car in Albania. However, if you went north to Shkoder you should be able to get to get a bus into Montenegro. From there I don’t know.
Is this the Michael Harrison who done the article on soldiers speak out in NI ? If so I would like to have my say! I’ve been waiting for years to have my say. I’ve tried to research Barzilay with no luck. You have a article by a Marine called Moran about abuse by Marines on the 76 tour. I was on that tour and in the same troop as ” Bugsy” Moran. At no time on that tour did we use snatch squads so we never ran into any crowds hitting people! No1 lie! Abuse was not rife on the streets No2 lie by Moran. He himself used to stop and search people and make them strip right Down. He tried to steal a Tricolor belonging to a Mrs Green. He had an obsession with Hitler. Am I painting a picture? The fact that someone watched him pack his bags on the night that he went AWOL when he was putting 24 hour ration packs into them and never thought that this was odd cause it was just Bugsy being Bugsy! Again am I painting a picture? This has angered me for years! Please answer me by email. Steve
No it’s not so I don’t really know to which article you are referring. Direct me to it and I’ll put it on the blog so people can take you comments into account in a meaningful context.
It’s on your blog michaelharrison.org.uk. Soldiers speak out on Ireland left side of the road. It’s your web address I’ve checked and double checked. If you have the contact for Barzilay I would love to put him straight to
I didn’t write the booklet, British Soldiers Speak Out on Ireland. I have merely posted a pamphlet that was produced in the 1980s. I’m not able to say whether what I have posted on the different pages of the blog is totally accurate or not. That’s something for the original writers to ensure before they publish. I have posted these documents to put the information out into the public domain. It’s then for others to decide whether they agree or not.
Any idea on how to contact Barzilay the author of The British Army in Ulster? He’s the one who published that story first and I would love to put the story straight. Are you going to put these messages beside that story?
Hi,
We are going to Saranda from Corfu during Easter 2014 for a couple of days. The departure at 12.45 from Saranda on the way back is planned to be friday April 18 – Good Friday – would it be risky business relying on that one..?
/Michele
If it’s scheduled to run then I see no reason (apart from weather) why it shouldn’t. Remember that Easter is the start of the holiday season in the Med and all days become the same. The season is so short, relatively, that if you want to spend your money then you will always find someone to take it.
Thanks so much for sharing this info and everyone’s subsequent updates. All very useful. We trying to plan a low season trip to the Ionian Islands and Albania and finding it rather like running around with a blindfold on! Also just stumbled across the http://www.gtp.gr/ website, which is a huge help on the ferry timetable front.
Hey Michael!
How are you?
The most interesting part, for me, is this story about the stable girl. A very good deduction of yours, just in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style.
And all these social considerations about so long working times nowadays people is forced to…
By the way, could you explain to me why this Bay is called precisely Robin Hood’s Bay?
Thank you very much and stay strong.
No pasarán!
Hello Francesc
There’s a problem about the reason why Robin Hood’s Bay is so called – nobody seems to know. It’s just speculation. Probably someone thought it useful to build upon the Robin Hood legend. There seems no logical reason why the character would have had any connection with the small fishing village on the North Sea.
hi will be travelling to corfu early april 2014 and have booked 3 nights at hotel in sarande. Any ferry advice and travel tips in albania please?? worried about the weather mainly.!!!
Information I have on the ferries is already on the blog. I suggest you try to get to Gjirokastra for a day trip. Plenty of buses but to make the most of the day leave very early. Then there’s Butrint archaeological site and Blue Eye, both accessible by local bus. Weather – who knows. It could be OK but who can say what’s ‘normal’ in the time of climate change. For what I know have a look at some of the links that appear at the bottom of the Corfu-Saranda ferry post.
I wouldn’t swear to it but think you could take your bike as luggage, people travel on this boat with a lot of luggage. On the coast it could be pleasant spring like weather (though I was there in April last year when the weather was atrocious). On the high mountains there could still be snow. All depends what the coming winter throws at us and how long it lingers. Global warming means that stability in the weather isn’t guaranteed anywhere.
Hi Micheal – and others who might want to go on a biking holiday to Albania,
I’ve mailed Ionian Cruises on taking the bike on the ferry, this is what they answered (29-12 2013):
“We would like to inform you that you can take with you the bicycle on the Hydrafoild. The price per person is 19,00ε and the price for the bicycle is 4,00ε.”
Thanks for the update Patrick. It’s interesting in a world of ever rising prices that the cost of the passenger ticket has now remained the same for at least 2 years now.
It is due to Scribd policy. several of your document is not downloadable. Can you please send me the scanned document or upload them on site where it is easily downloadable. May be a word-press site.
I have a book of cde Hoxha in Hindi that i will scan in next few months and upload it.
From the standpoint of the British Establishment. In both the World Wars the attitude of the British – including, unfortunately, many ordinary people – was not particularly positive to the ally across the Channel. After the 1914-18 war the attitude of Churchill that Ypres should remain a ruin as a testament to the British ‘Empire’ dead is indicative of the superior attitude that pervaded the British ruling class. Whatever the loses incurred by other countries, in terms of material destruction or human fatalities, the British would always over estimate their role in the conflict. When reference is made to the defeat of Nazism, to this day, by commentators in Britain there will be scant (and if so only grudging) recognition of the human suffering of the Soviet people. British losses in the war against Hitlerism were in the region of 500,000, the Soviet people lost anything between 21 and 27 MILLION. To the British establishment those Soviets don’t count.
The information about the other boats on the lake is not our bussines , like a privat bussines we are , me and my collegues give information only about our services , but NEVER false info .
For the privat trips 30/50 euro , does it sound horrible ?? nobody ever said sth like you about it .
Professional but not completely , your try on this forum (whoever you are) , it is so obvious that you are not a tourist at all , or maybe a really BAD informed tourist , you do not know how does it work with my trips , you just said that : Avoid this guy (me) , so you did it for sure , or not ?
And at the end , me and my collegues are workin very hard to devenlope the tourism in koman , and if you say that 5 euro (a caffe in european countrys) is too much to pay for a 3 hour trip on the lake (same for both boats) take a look here journeytovalbona.com , then this try is more than failed , much more .
like a 21 years old guy i did the first advertisment for that lake (flyers and posters) , i did register the 1st bussines registered on that area , and i am the ONLY one who pays taxes to the goverment everymonth , no other owner of boat , ferry or ship does .
Time will show itself if im a lier , or a fair guy !
We will soon clean our land from this scum. Albanians are left oriented culturally. We losed the control of our land after the communist regime. There are a lot of reasons for this and I can’t explain all of them here. What’s for sure is that, soon we will remove this symbols legally and peacefully. The last twenty years were like a bad illness for the society. People didn’t become nazilovers but just indifferent. Now were getting better and soon this garbage will take the right place in history. Thank you for posting this facts.
I’m planning an early holiday in Abania in June 2014 but thought I would split my time, (3 days there and 2 days in Corfu). Can I travel on the ferry to Corfu, stay a couple of days and return to Albania, or is the ferry crossings for day trips only.
Just one old fart offering support for another, Mike.
Okay, despite what I said before you left, I do read some of the blogs some of the time.
I hope you are still going strong, physically and mentally, albeit in my unhealthy state of hip you can appreciate that I am really concerned for your knees. I know you have determination in abundance, and some of your posts reflect the mental battles you have already overcome. The last week has been good weather here, and you are now out of the notorious lakes micro climate, so I hope you have left those grey days behind up there too.You must be over the most challenging bit of terrain now. Leonie and I wish you well for the remainder of the walk.
Coming back to the knees.from Leonie’s bad experience with prolonged use of anti inflammatory drugs don’t skimp on the food. I am sure you read the instructions but just in case you are tempted to get blaze about taking them, don’t. I have read from one of your earlier posts that you were eating very little after breakfast – they need to be taken with food or you are inviting stomach problems. That said, I have always carried these drugs with me, they are good in a crisis.
Anyway Mike, its good for me to share your experiences as its unlikely I’ll ever be able to do something as challenging as this. I enjoyed your photographs too.
Sorry to go on so about the drugs – it’s become a topic of conversation lately between Richard and myself, comparing notes and doses – how boring, how sad.
You’ll be on the home leg soon, take care and good luck.
See you for a pint in Liverpool.
I actually own this; it came in the form of two small books and ended in 1960. There were no additional small books to my knowledge, though, they simply re-released it as one single English-language “History of the Party of Labor of Albania” in 1971 which incorporated the earlier chapters while adding the rest of the 60’s to them. In 1982 a new edition (with “Labour” instead of “Labor”) was released which extended the history into the 70’s to cover the 7th Congress of the PLA, adoption of the new Constitution, and the Sino-Albanian split. There were no newer editions after that, in Albanian or otherwise.
I think the two small booklets were part of an abandoned project, and that they simply realized there was no need to divide the party’s history into multiple small books, so they went with a more attractive one-volume hardcover work incorporating all of it (which was also what they had in Albania, the English-language history being a translation of the “Historia e Partisë së Punës së Shqipërisë”) and adding a handy bound bookmark to it.
I, too, have the books you mention. I wasn’t sure if there were books covering later years that I had missed before the counter revolution. If we work together we can get all the available years on the net.
Publication of electronic books “History of the Party of Labor of Albania” (2nd edition) in website http://www.enverhoxha.ru in all major languages will begin in November 2013.
It would be great if a former fisherman living near the shores of the Koman lake could make a living working with tourists, in this way supporting his family there. But this should be done honestly.
Sadly, I could observe that Mario Molla is not respecting tourists, but rather he gives them flase information in order to convince them to pick his boat. Over the time I was in Koman, he said that ferry service had been abolished altogether, despite the fact that ferries depart every day at 9am. This was to force people to take his private boat.
Moreover, he normally behaves in a quite impolite way with the other locals working there, since he insulted them when they quietly tried to tell tourist that, yes, ferries leave Koman every day at 9 am… in sum, he seemed a kind of a mafia boss…
Hello, I am involved in efforts to scan Albanian materials of the 60’s-80’s. You can find some of them (mixed with a few unrelated PDFs) here: http://www.scribd.com/jhamelin_2/documents
If that is the case then it is scribd, since I do not profit at all from uploading these works. I also just noticed that there are other pages on this website where you have various scanned works by Hoxha, documents of the PLA, etc. Good work!
If anyone is confronted with a document I uploaded that they are asked to spend money on to read in full, email me at koco tosi [at] gmail dot com (no spaces) and I will send you said document.
In December we plan on scanning some more works. Michael, if you email me I can give you a list of works we can get scanned, and help choose from among them.
Thanks for the clarification Thomas. I have other works I plan to add to the collection when I have time. Perhaps then we should co-ordinate to make sure there’s no duplication of effort.
Hi – we travelled in this region last week (Aug 2013) and have updated info which you could post to help others regarding the car ferry from Sarande to Corfu:
Service operated by Finikas Lines from Sarande http://www.finikas-lines.com info@finikas-lines.com
Tel. +355 852 26057
Mobile: +355 692 073711 – ask for Eranda – she speaks good English
There are 2 car ferry & foot passenger sailings per day: 10:30am/4:00pm
Each ferry only takes about 4 cars so you should book several days in advance. Crossing about 1.5 hours. I can’t remember the prices, but it was 140 Euro for a car + 3 adults + 1 child to travel from Igoumenitsa in Greece (around 1h 45m by car from Sarande) to Corfu on one of their large car ferries (about 350 vehicles, 5 crossings per day, no need to book in advance) and about 40-50 Euro more expensive to travel with Finikas directly from Sarande.
No car ferry, only foot passengers from Corfu to Saranda. To go by car from Corfu your would have to go to Igoumenitsa and then cross the land border at Skala on the Greek side.
Hi all!
Have used Ionian Ferry’s to Corfu and back over 3 years now and I’ve been more than happy overall with their service.
Cheap tickets….
Friendly staff…..
Fun Journey……
2 country’s within a hour….
My flight arrives at 12.15 pm 23rd August. Shall I have to wait till 6.30 to catch evening ferry. When I arrive in Saranda I will only have Euros with me. Will I be able to get money changed when I get there late on? I will have to get bus or taxi to hotel so I will need their currency.
There are more ferries during the main summer season but a few hours is not too long to wait, just have a beer at the port. Euros will be accepted almost everywhere in Saranda, but don’t expect the best rates. If you want to change Euros or other currency wait till the next day for the banks to open, or use an ATM. Relax a little, its not that a difficult country to visit.
We had arranged a pick up with our hotel in Sarande and recommend you to ask for the same if it is possible. It was so convenient to have somebody meeting us at the port. But anyway there is an ATM close to the port.
What’s available in terms of transportation (bus, rental car, taxis?) once you land in Albania if you want to spend a few days and explore the southern coast beyond where the ferry lands? Is it possible?
I think the success of trips like these depends to a large extent on preparation. The climb out of the valley is steep, which means you need to consider the weight of your luggage. Contours of a terrain can be determined beforehand on a map. The trailhead you were looking for is indeed reached by walking though the bed of the river, which is dry in summer. A local guide + horse for the luggage can be had for 50 euro, and you will be contributing to a shepherd’s household income.
I don’t know where you were staying, but if you had to walk 8 kilometres to get to the trail head you were in Dunishe at best, or, judging from the fact that you had to walk along a road, maybe even in Dragobia. Knowing where you are is the basis of knowing where to go. GPS-tracks describing the trek from Valbona to Thethi can be found on the internet (if you want to, I can send you mine) and, provided you have a GPS, finding the trail would be easy.
I realise the above may sound like coming from someone who knows it all, but whenever we got into unexpected trouble, with hindsight lack of preparation has always been the cause. You will enjoy your trip more if you prepare.
Hello Arno
Thanks for your comments. I agree that preparation is all, especially when you are going into an isolated area in the mountains.
The problem was (and still is) the difficulty in getting accurate information about much of Albania. I looked as hard as I could but still had huge gaps in my knowledge. This is still true (at least in English) as the guidebook available concerns itself too much on comments about Albania’s Socialist past and misses out what a guidebook should present, and that’s useful, up to date and accurate information that will allow a novice in the country to travel safely and be able to achieve (within reason) what they set out to achieve.
The reason for this particular post was to help fill that gap. I didn’t have enough information and had to hack it. I made a few mistakes. I hadn’t been able to get the sort of maps that I would usually use in other parts of the world (and am only now trying out a GPS). I did the best I could with what I had.
My hope is that my mistakes will be of use to any others who follow in my footsteps.
I plan to try and complete the trek from Valbona to Thethi later this year. When I start out I will know a great deal more than last year and although I might well make mistakes they won’t (hopefully) be the same ones.
Hello Ralph
Not yet. The problem was not the walk, although I don’t think it’s easy and you need to be prepared both physically and with the gear if the weather should turn against you. the problem was my lack of knowledge of what was the other side of the pass and how much reserves I would need to get down to Thethi valley. This is a really isolated walk and if you’re not happy it’s foolish to carry on – perhaps I’m getting more careful/thoughtful in my old age. I’m intending to attempt the route (it’s become a personal challenge now) in the late spring this year – but that will all depend upon how quickly the snow disappears. There seems to have been a lot of snow in northern Europe so far but don’t know the situation further south. When I get there, hopefully in April/May, I’ll check on the local conditions. If I do manage it I’ll tell all on this blog. If you’re going yourself take care and let me know how it goes.
I would really recommend taking a guide. There are two highly trained and very helpful local young men, Bledar and Ardit Jubani, at Guesthouse Kol Gjoni in Valbona who would help you and make the experience pleasant and safe. We did the crossing the other way in July, and there are indeed some very hairy moments. Good luck!
Could anybody tell me from where the boat leaves? Is it from Kerkyra near the airport or is it far away? If its far from the airport – how can I reach the port from where the boat leaves? Are there any busses or do I need to take a Taxi? Thanks,
I would recommend a taxi, should cost about 12 – 15 €. It’s about 3 km away. I suppose you have to stop at Ionian Cruises office about 400 m before the port to buy the ticket which was 19 € in June 2013.
I actually took a bus from the airport, there is a schedule right outside the exit from the airport. It runs every 40 minutes or so, and costs 1.50 euro that you pay to the driver. It’s a comfortable ride of approximately 20 minutes, and drops you quite close to the terminal for the ferry. You have to walk back however towards the Ionian cruises office, about 400 meters.
Happy to report that there is indeed a left luggage facility in the Nautica, the building almost straight across the Ionian cruises office. There is a 2 euro fee, a chatty caretaker, and a rather longish walk from there to the passenger terminal. According to Ionian cruises staff, the hydrofoil runs only in the morning. In the evenings (nominally 6.30, but mine was delayed by about 20 minutes) it’s a slower boat, making the crossing to Sarande in about 1 hour 15 minutes. I took that, and it’s a very pleasant, albeit slow trip.
Hello Mario
Your comment and information is now on my blog. I hope you can return the favour by putting a link on your Facebook page to my blog.
Best of luck in your venture.
Michael
hello ,
i am a guy from Koman.
i started 4 years ago to do trip´s on the lake ,first i started with small fishing boats and later also with bigger boat .
from 1st june i have a new bigger boat (summer boat)and offer trip´s ,picnic on boat and launchs on the boat (like the request are ,depend) .
you can have a look on the pictures from the trip´s and boats in facebook : komani lake , boat tours ,mario molla .
i would aprecciate your help by doing an small (advertisment) of my job .
best regards .
Mario Molla
Thank you, Michael, for this interesting post and beautiful video about ‘Waalsdorpervlakte’ in The Hague. I didn’t know anything of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and Anton Mussert. I shall try to learn more. Anyway I think it would be useful for everybody if you explain some more –inside your own post– about this historic political movement at the end of WWII. What do you tink?
No pasarán!
-Francesc
Congratulations on your venture. I enjoyed your many travel pieces very much. I’m intrigued that such an avowed atheist as your good self finds so much to admire in buildings dedicated to myth and superstition. Oh, and by the way, all genres of popular commercial music originated in “the red-neck states of the Confederacy.” And the particular reason why country music is so popular even in St Lucia? Well, I’ll leave it to Steinbeck to explain:
“And perhaps a man brought out his guitar to the front of his tent.And he sat on a box to play, and everyone in the camp moved slowly in toward him, drawn in toward him. many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker. There you have something – the deep chords beating, beating while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps. Heavy hard fingers marching on the frets. The man played and the people moved slowly in on him until the circle was closed and tight, and then he sang…and the circle sang softly with him. and he sang, “Why Do You Cut Your Hair, Girls?” And the circle sang….
And now the group was welded to one thing, one unit, so that in the dark the eyes of the people were inward, and their minds played in other times, and their sadness was like rest, like sleep. He sang the “McAlester Blues” and then, to make up for it to the older people, he sang “Jesus Calls Me to His Side.” The children drowsed with the music and went into the tents to sleep, and the singing came into their dreams.
And after a while the man with the guitar stood up and yawned. Good night, folks, he said.
And they murmured, Good night to you.
And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing.”
I am currently compiling the latest edition of Oxford University’s prestigious and long-standing magazine, Isis. One of the articles is about modern Albanian culture and it would be fantastic to be able to include your photo of one of the collapsed, incomplete buildings in Saranda, found here http://michaelharrison.org.uk/tag/ksamil/. If you were to grant your permission for Isis’ rights to this image we will gladly send you a complimentary copy of the magazine once it has been printed!
Thank you for your time,
Kind regards,
Lucy Byford
St Catherine’s College, Oxford
Very impressive. Quite an eye opener, with some really interesting pieces on art, film and travel. I liked the article on the Antony Gormley sculpture and I wouldn’t mind getting over there to see it in its naked, steel power.
This is simply a message to show solidarity and support for your enterprise and to wish you luck with it. I’m sure I’ll meet you in the Fly or another pub anyway where I can offer some further, off the record comment.
Any idea of whether there is some sort of left luggage in either the airport or the port? I was unable to find the information online, and I’ve got a few hours between my flight and the afternoon ferry to Sarande. Any insight would be appreciated.
I wouldn’t swear to it but I think there may be a left luggage at the port. Not where the Saranda ferry leaves but in the new building across the road from the Ionian Cruises-Pretrakis Lines office. The building is multi-function in that there’s a cafe, waiting room and offices etc. It’s from this area that the majority of ferries going to mainland Greece depart and it would make sense to have some sort of left luggage facility there.
in October 2013 Berlin-based Christoph-Links-Verlag will publish a book on „The Cult of Personality in the 20th and 21st Centuries”, which I edit together with Thomas Vogel. I would like to introduce you to the publisher’s respective announcement at http://www.christoph-links-verlag.de/index.cfm?inhalt=detail&nav_id=1&titel_id=734.
Could you, being the author/operator of this website, give me the permission to reprint the respective photograph? Are there any conditions to this permission? It goes without saying that you will be sent a specimen copy as soon as the book will have been published.
Between July 1999 & June 2001, I was part of a WEU Mission (Multi Advisory Police Element -MAPE) working in Albania. I am not sure whether it was November 1999 or November 2000 ( I was home on leave at the time ) but a number of British Police officers held a Remembrance Day service at the cemetery.
I visited the cemetery a couple of weeks ago and it was good to see that it was now being well looked after.
Just having a nostalgia moment when I saw this entry.
They had a service both years. I attended both.
Intending having a revisit my self.
What changes have happened. Have the roads improved?
Trust you’re in good health.
I was part of the Fleet Salvage crew on RFA Sea Salvor which arrived at Corfu harbour to help with the recovery of Saumarez,to remove her bow forward of B turret and tow her (astern) to Valletta where we were involved in diving operations to remove various vessels,cranes etc.and the three sections of floating dock from Grand Harbour.
Just reserved tickets online and even got a confirmation to my email. They also answered some questions I sent on email. Have to pay for the tickets when arriving to Corfu. So far worked perfectly.
today, we celebrate the 28th anniversary of comrade Enver Hoxha’s death. Comrade Enver’s legacy is immortal. He, just like all other Classics, will live forever on the minds and hearts of every worker and of every communist.
Comrade Enver was, after the death of comrade Stalin, the greatest anti-revisionist of the world. He was engaged in a fierce battle against all kinds of revisionists, from Titoism to Maoism, and while Enver was alive, socialist Albania remained proudly victorious against all anti-communist enemies. After comrade Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s ascension to power, while other false “communist” countries were contesting among each other to see who would be the quickest to erase even the most superficial traces of Stalinist principles and to openly assume their character of bourgeois-revisionist class tyrannies, comrade Enver’s socialist Albania invariably refused to give up Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist principles. And in the end, it triumphed. Comrade Enver’s tiny socialist Albania, a country which in 1945 was totally destroyed by imperialist war, was able to transform itself into a completely independent and developed agro-industrial country and to defeat the almighty Soviet and Chinese social-imperialists on its own while being always ready to denounce the lies and trickeries of opportunists and anti-socialists of all hues. It also showed the world that socialism is not only a possibility, but moreover an inevitable historical necessity; that all the evils, oppression, exploitation, slavery, etc. that capitalism-imperialism brings upon world workers can be and will certainly be overcome.
Comrade Enver and the other Albanian Marxist-Leninists were true examples of proletarian strength, revolutionary temerity and communist fierceness. During almost 40 years, Albanian working class led by comrade Enver’s PLA confirmed again (after comrade Lenin’s and Stalin’s Soviet Union) that capitalism, imperialism and revisionism are not inevitable and that authentic proletarian dictatorship and authentic socialist and communist construction are unbeatable.
Today, the Comintern (SH) is the only true defender not only of comrade Enver, but also of all other Classics, as it is impossible to support one of the Classics without equally supporting also all others without exception. Based on the invincible teachings of the 5 Classics of Marxism-Leninism, we march resolutely towards world socialist revolution, towards world proletarian dictatorship, towards world socialism and world communism.
Long live comrade Enver Hoxha, the 5th Classic of Marxism-Leninism!
Long live the 5 Classics of Marxism-Leninism!
Long live comrade Enver’s socialist Albania!
Long live world socialist revolution and world proletarian dictatorship!
“There is the ability to buy duty-free goods on arrival at the airport, before passing through immigration”—-
Actually, the duty free goods are purchased right AFTER passing through immigration, and just before Customs.
Thanks for the information. Great review and help 🙂
Grenada, 1983
Thank you, Michael, for remembering the infamous invasión of Grenada by the US Marines in 1983 (Operation Urgent Fury). This was a very important event for me at that time, which impressed very much at least a bunch of members of my generation .
The invasión was in October. I was in the city of Lleida that night, in a little hotel with other lawyers. Next day we had a Court Martial against some Basque and Catalan youth being accused of trying to take over an Spanish army barrack, back in 1980. I remember that, in spite of our worries about the difficult job awaiting us, we’ve had a conversation about this issue, before going to sleep, because somebody has seen a book about Grenada on my night table.
Actually, that ’83 Sommer I had been in Cuba, as a member of the International Brigade “José Martí” for solidarity with Cuban people and the Cubans had offered us much information about international politics. It happened that, among the books I had brought to Barcelona, there was precisely a paperback, just published in La Habana, where I had been able to read about this little Caribbean Island, totally unknown for me (before the invasión).
This book –which I still keep with special care in Barcelona—was a clear explanation about the people’s political progresses in Grenada during the times preceding the US invasión. If you have time to read it, I would be very pleased to know your opinión about. Now I’m writing from Balearic Islands and I haven’t in my memory neither the title nor the author or authors…
I also remember a very vicious and chovinistic US film (Heartbreak Ridge), released in 1986, produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, trying to glorify the Grenada invasión. This movie –which is even nowadays passed, from time to time, in the main Spanish TV channel—is a real sample of historical misrepresentation and bias, including the sacking of a Cuban dead soldier…
Go ahead, Michael, and don’t stop writing…
Many thanks for your work! We give up hope of that, as further please us with new revolutionary materials. The Georgian section of Comintern (SH) will be always glad to co-operate with you in any questions which will help approach and a fulfilment of the World Socialist Revolution!
Activity of 5 Classics of Marxism, activity of the 5th Classic of Marxism – comrade Enver Hoxha – immortal!
With revolutionary regards,
The Georgian section of Comintern (SH)
Thanks for your ideas, Francesc.
Nationalism and Independence will always bring up many issues, here I would like to address just a couple of your points.
Your mention of the Financial Times, I assume, is to make reference to the question of whether an independent Catalonia would be able to just slot into the European Union (EU) as if nothing had changed. This is already becoming a bone of contention, more than 2 years before a referendum, on Scottish Independence, with the SNP (the Scottish Nationalist Party) being challenged to justify why they said that this transition would also automatically apply to them.
I don’t want to discuss here the merits or otherwise of EU membership, suffice it to say that many on the left (as unfortunately so do many on the right) are not in agreement with the UK being a member, as it is presently constituted, as they see this as a grouping of capitalists that doesn’t benefit the workers. In times of boom capitalism can throw down a few crumbs but in times of crisis even the crumbs are swept up by the rich and powerful and it’s ultimately the working class who have to pay. Just ask Greek workers about that.
My question in relation to Catalan Independence is, therefore, why after gaining independence from the imperialist Spain you want to be part of an organisation where even large countries are being told what to do? You will have even less independence than you do now. That seems to me to be a bit like ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’.
And in Catalonia (as in Scotland) the ‘independistas’ know that true independence (i.e. not with Spain (or Scotland) and also NOT with the EU) means that success in the referendum would be almost nil.
The second point is what you say about another possible referendum, some time in the future, to return to any future Spanish Workers’ Republic.
This is a new idea for me and truly an interesting one. However, it also introduces, at least another, previously unconsidered, question.
I have yet to come across any fully considered analysis of why Franco was able to win during the 1936-9 Civil War. All on the left seem to blame failure on whatever political grouping they are not, never considering that their political standpoint might have had something to do with it. I hope one day to be able to read such an analysis and discuss it with others so that we can actually learn from those mistakes.
As we know during the anti-Fascist struggle it was in the working class regions of Catalonia and Euskadi (as well as the city of Madrid) who held out the longest and therefore suffered the most at the hands of Fascist vengeance. If Catalonia separates itself from Spain (and then Euskadi does the same) where will be those centres of progress that would take the truncated nation state of Castille even close to a workers’ republic that an independent Catalonia would be happy to join?
And what would the EU think of a workers’ republic in its midst?
BUTRINT, SARANDA (ALBANIA)
Thank you, Michael, for your last post about Butrint, Saranda (Albania). It is very interesting for me because Albania is – since the very beginning of my understanding – an ignored place. I mean, in spite of it not being too far from Barcelona, it has always been a hidden place. I remember that my first Spanish passport, dated 1966, had a long list of countries from all over the world, which were strictly forbidden for us, Spaniards, second class European citizens at that time… and Albania was the first on that ominous list of so called communist countries, “satellites” of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
AN OLD AND NEW FOREIGN POLICY
I appreciate especially all the references to European History (of the Greeks and the Romans) and I think I can see some similarities between the Roman Empire’s foreign policy and the foreign policy of the USA Empire today:
…but their primary defence was the threat of total, complete and absolute destruction if anyone dared to attack a Roman settlement, something that was valid until the collapse of the Empire in the 5th century AD…
But they collapsed at least… anyhow… as any other past empire…
AND WOMEN GOING BACKWARDS… AS EVERYBODY ELSE
You say:
…It wasn’t until the liberation of the country from fascism in 1944 and subsequent years that women truly found a semblance of equality in Albania…
But I’m afraid since the fall of this country into the capitalist system, around 1989, everything has gone backwards in time… women and all… hasn’t it ?
Hello Pam, thanks for taking the time to comment. However, I must admit, I’m in a minority of one on this one – at least so far. All the other people I know who have seen this awful film (even people I normally consider to have some sort of taste) come away feeling good. Perhaps that says more about them than the film?
Yeah, Michael, Charity is the only answer to be expected from the System, by those who don’t dare to fight. This has been so for many years. I remember how shocked I was the first time (1997) I was able to see myself the huge numbers of people, queuing around churches in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (NYC), at breakfast, lunch or dinner time, just to get some warm food…
I was wondering, if I myself became ashamed of seeing these images, what’s the feeling of a US citizen, who still has a job and a place to stay, at least. What’s the feeling of President Obama? I don’t ask about the feelings of Republican candidate Romney, because he has very clearly explained them. The only thought Mitt Romney is able to have in front of the hungry crowds, wandering all over the USA, is that they are just parasites! And he is a millionaire! A real tycoon!
What a disgrace for the so called American way of life, for him, for them, for the churches, for the bishops, for the archbishops, for Obama, for us, for everybody…!
Hey Michael, your deep and pertinent comments about La Rambla in Barcelona and the shame you can see at 1 am, during the night wandering the streets, reminded me of a conversation I had many years ago with a neighbour of mine in St. Adrià de Besòs (Barcelonès, Catalonia). He, Senyor Martínez, was an old man, close to his seventies and a veteran of the anarchist Durruti Column during the Spanish Civil War, in 1936-39.
He was complaining also about a certain shame in La Rambla, but in these terms:
You know, Francesc, what made me upset, when coming back from the Aragon front, after several weeks of fighting against the Fascists? This was the atmosphere in ‘Les Rambles’. You could always see many people, taking walks happily and wearing firearms, but you could easily guess that some of them actually had never been to the front. There was not a clue of real commitment in their faces and manners… How could we count on this kind of people to win a war…? To permit such an unjust situation was an enormous error… And because of that and other serious errors we’ve lost… of course…!
Walking Les Rambles by night, right now, we see reasons to fear about the future and the prospects facing our young people. Certainly we can also remember some reasons to complain about in our past defeats… and to try and avoid the same errors happening…
Thank you, as always, Michael. Plus some historical remarks here.
The Vila de Gràcia is one of the most popular and active neighbourhoods of the city of Barcelona. Nowadays it gives the name to the Gràcia district, which includes, furthermore, the neighbourhoods of Vallcarca and Penitents, el Coll, La Salut, El Camp d’en Grassot and Gràcia Nova. In 2005 the population of Gràcia was 120,087 inhabitants.
Its most significant monument is the Belfry (el Campanari), which rises in the very middle of the Town Hall Square, where the district authority now meets.
The Vila de Gràcia was the principal centre of the ancient independent town of Gràcia. That town was composed from this nucleus and the agrarian area – mainly farms (masies) – of the Camp d’en Grassot.
The most remembered accomplishment of Gràcia’s people was in 1870, during the riots against the military drafts (La revolta de les Quintes). The siege of the brave neighbourhoods lasted six long days and nights when the army was confronted by the people when they tried to enter the streets.
The story of The Bell of Gràcia (La Campana de Gràcia) is very well known because by this means everybody was called to the barricades, each time the army showed up, by the end with heavy cannon.
Even today, during the Festa Major, you can see young people protesting against the Catalan or Spanish Government – it doesn’t matter about what, or who – just any injustice
Hey, Michael, here I am with more historical remarks, this time about Montserrat.
I’m glad you emphasize that the Monastery of Montserrat has always been the place of many Catalan nationalist events, but we must also take into account that some of the political events, taking place in Montserrat, have aimed further than the Catalan nation.
For example, during 1969 the Spanish police arrested sixteen members of the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna – “Basque Country and Freedom”). General Franco’s regime planned to judge them in a military tribunal, under the accusation of having killed a policeman and committed other crimes. Not only in Spain but also internationally everybody was impressed by the number of defendants (sixteen) and the seriousness of the punishments: six death penalties and 752 years of imprisonment.
A vast anti-Franco campaign took place. Banned trade unions and parties (especially the well organised Partido Comunista de España – Communist Party of Spain) called for strikes in factories and universities and demonstrations throughout the country.
On the 1st of December 1970 the ETA kidnapped, in San Sebastián, a diplomat of the Federal Republic of Germany, Eugen Behil Schaeffer, threatening the Spanish Fascist Regime with killing him, if any of the death sentences against the Basque prisoners were executed.
In this context, on the 12th of December, three hundred Catalan artists and intellectuals decided to hold a meeting in the Monastery of Montserrat. They then published a manifesto demanding general political amnesty, democratic liberties and the right of self-determination, vowing to remain there until the issue was resolved.
Then, the West German authorities and big industrial bosses, who were at that time important suppliers, clients and investors in Spain, started to put pressure on Franco in order to avoid the carrying out of the death sentences. Otherwise it was clear that there would be economic sanctions. All this, plus the popular campaign, the international press and the final involvement of the Catholic Church in favour of the amnesty, succeeded in stopping the murderous intention of the Spanish Fascist Regime.
And the Monastery of Montserrat was a part of this historic circumstance.
Bàsicament estic d’acord amb les teves reflexions, però cal tenir en compte que, encara que a Catalunya el Modernisme va tenir una eclosió d’especial intensitat, també la va tenir a França (Art-decó) i a Alemanya (Bauhaus).
En realitat, tota l’arquitectura d’aquella época es pot qualificar de modernista, encara que en alguns casos fou més socialment reconeguda que en altres. Així, el propi Antoni Gaudí te obres a altres llocs de la península Ibèrica.
També m’interessa destacar la coincidència del modernisme amb la figura de l’indià i la casa indiana, pel que fa a la seva relació amb el Modernisme. Aquest és un fenomen que sí que es dona a tota la península.(Els indians són els qui varen marxar cap a Amèrica a fer fortuna, a “fer les Amèriques” i ho varen aconseguir; després varen tornar i varen fer ostentació dels seus diners, precisament construint-se aquestes torres modernistes.)
If it is true that “…Modernism was definitely a style of and for the rich…”, it is not less true that Modernism, precisely because “…it was a child of its time…” expanded into other human activities in addition to architecture. For example, literature. That’s why when we talk about Modernism here, in Catalonia, we find it very convenient to refer to one of the most respected Modernist Catalan poets , Joan Maragall (Barcelona, 10-10-1860 – 20-12-1911) and his “teoria de la paraula viva” (theory of the living word).
Many people here, in Barcelona and further afield, remember nowadays the events of the “Setmana Tràgica” in 1909 (the Tragic Week). At that time only very few people dared to oppose the death penalty, during the bloody and merciless repression that followed those events. Joan Maragall was one of them and he took a clear stance, far from the ‘snobism’ of certain intellectuals of that time who were just flirting with anarchist ideas. He wrote a very courageous article in October 1909, “La ciutat del perdó” (The city of forgiveness), which was strictly censored by the Spanish Government. Maragall tried, by these means, to defend the life of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (Alella, Maresme, 10-01-1859 – Barcelona, 13-10-1909), who was about to be executed. In this same article he also exposed the serious responsibility of the Catalan bourgeoisie in those events… being himself a bourgeois.
Ferrer i Guàrdia was a very important Catalan educationalist, creator of the “Escola Moderna” (Modern School), a practical project of libertarian pedagogy. He was accused of having promoted rebellion during the 1909 events and was executed by firing squad, in October of the same year, in Montjuïc Castle.
“The Times” of London, after this execution wrote: “… By negligence or stupidity, the Government has confounded the freedom of education and conscience, the human right to reason and express ideas, with the right of opposition, assimilating it to a criminal unrest…”
For more information about Modernism in Catalonia, refer to a book, in Spanish, “El primer Modernismo literario catalán y sus fundamentos ideológicos”, Editorial Ariel, Barcelona 1973, by Eduard Valentí i Fiol (Pals, Baix Empordà, 1910 – 1971, Barcelona).
I’m afraid right now there is not enough freedom of speech in this Southern European country of ours, to dare to explain openly our sincere opinion about this direct action, carried out by the Andalusian jornaleros. Anyway, let’s receive your article as a precious sample of international solidarity. And to all of you: stay strong, go ahead. Forwards! Until we can establish real social justice…
Thank you for talking about interesting historical sites which have been forbidden to us during a very long post war period. Even the fact that you come from a distant European country, makes it more laudatory at our Catalan eyes…
Only a few remarks. The fact that Spain did not take part in the “big” war of 1939-45, can be explained in detail. Actually, the Nazi-fascist regime of General Franco took clear sides from the very beginning of the Second World War. They even sent an entire unit of about 45.000-47.000 infantrymen, who served inside the Wehrmacht , during 1941-43 period and treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. These were the “250. Einheit spanische Freiwilliger (Blaue Division)”, known in Spain as ”250 Unidad de Voluntarios Españoles (División Azul)”. Franco put in charge of this Division two prominent generals of the Spanish Fascist army: Agustín Muñoz Grandes and Emilio Esteban Infantes.
In addition to this very clear aggression against the Soviet Union, the Spanish Fascist police never ceased collaborating effectively with the German Gestapo (Geheime Staats Polizei), the secret police of Adolf Hitler, especially after the occupation of France by the Nazis. Both police forces murdered hundreds – if not thousands – of war refugees, because they were Jews (Walter Benjamin) or were prominent Spanish Republican officials (Lluís Companys) or simply because they had served in the Spanish Loyalist army from 1936-39.
Walter Benedix Schönflies Benjamin (Berlin 1892-Port Bou 1940), an eminent philosopher, professor and writer, a member of the Frankfurt School, was cornered on the French-Spanish border, while he was trying to flee to the United States and died there.
Lluís Companys i Jover (Lleida 1882-Barcelona 1940), President of the Autonomous Catalan Government, during the Spanish Second Republic, was arrested in Bretagne (France) by the Gestapo and delivered to the Spanish police, who tortured and murdered him. He was the only European President, democratically elected, who was shot by the Nazi-fascists during this “big” war.
Moreover, after the war, General Franco allowed Spain to serve as a safe haven for former German war criminals. For example, Otto Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an SS (Schutzstaffel)- Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, from captivity.
But in spite of all that, at the end of the Second World War, the United States Government preferred to have a war criminal, like General Franco, as an unconditional ally than to fight against him to restore democracy in Spain.
Park Güell
It’s good you are talking about Antoni Gaudí and issues in common amongst complaining tourists and residents near the park.
I wish to make only a historical remark. The first time Socialists took over Barcelona City Hall was in 1979. The first democratic elections after the Civil War were on the 15th of June 1977, but those were for the Parliament in Madrid. The second were in April ‘79 and those were also for the Parliament. And the third were also in April 79 and those, yes, were local and the so called Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC-PSOE) won and governed the city until two years ago.
The reason the System prepared these political events following precisely this chronological order, is due to the fact that the post-Franco Regime – after General Franco’s death in 1975 – well remembered the grand father of King Juan Carlos, Alfonso XIII, who was thrown off his throne just because the Spanish people had voted massively and overwhelmingly for the Republican parties in local polls, on the 14th of April 1931 and then,the next day, the Second Spanish Republic was proclamed.
Hello, Harrison. Do you have a link to download this book? It cannot be downloaded via WordPress, but the pdf-file may be published elsewhere. Thanks!
A concise history of the Communist Party of China, (Seventy years of the CPC.), Hu Sheng (chief editor) Party History Research Centre of the CPC Central Committee, FLP, Beijing, 1994, 873 pages.
It’s not available on my CPC pages as the pdf version I have is too big (128MB) to be uploaded to my blog. I could send you that version via wetransfer. If you want that then let me know the best email address to use.
Greetings
Do you know what the luggage allowances are for the trains.
I don’t know from personal experience the limits – I travel very light with a small rucksack. You might be able to get an idea from following this link https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293969-i367-k14091366-Luggage_on_High_Speed_Trains-Turkiye.html. It seems to me if you are OK with your luggage on a plane it should be OK on the high speed train
Hi Micheal I have recently found these publications of Albania Today on eBay. You may want to check them out since they’re not on your site 😉
https://www.ebay.it/itm/156109077838?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MUaqb76vSwy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cnd73OQgSBa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.it/itm/166899221347?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8PU4d46qQl-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cnd73OQgSBa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.it/itm/166639262674?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MUaqb76vSwy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cnd73OQgSBa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.it/itm/156109070815?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MUaqb76vSwy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cnd73OQgSBa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.it/itm/166639289362?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MUaqb76vSwy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cnd73OQgSBa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Hello Adam, thanks for directing me to these ebay sites. In fact, I do have all of the ones on sale on my blog. However, there are two of them that I would like to get hold of as the present scan is not the best and is a very large file – so it’s in two parts. The problem is that the seller is asking too much, as far as I’m concerned, but might get in touch with an offer if they seem to be on the site for some time.
Hi Micheal
I Hope you’ll get them since you’re the only hope to have them scanned. Please let us know.
Cheers
The eternal flame was alight when a UK tour party was there on 2 July 3024.
Thanks for the update. That’s good to hear. I think matters such as how to commemorate the past depend a great deal on the ideology of the government (both national and local) at the time. The flame by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior looked as if it was still functioning on my visit, although the one just below the Mother of the Place looked as if it had not been used for years. As it is at the war memorial by the museum in Gori.
Do you know if either of these statutes I still there? I’ll be in Gori next week!
I didn’t go into the Akhalbagi park when I was in Gori earlier this year but I see no reason why the statue of Uncle Joe would have been removed since I was last there. After all he’s Gori’s most famous son.
The statue in the railway station is still there – although I wasn’t able to gain access to the room itself. Perhaps speak to the station master (not the women in the ticket offices) to see if he will open the room so you can get a better look. Perhaps think of an incentive.
There’s another statue in the Great Patriotic War Museum, just down the road from the Stalin museum towards the town hall. That museum also has some interesting banners from the time of the war.
Let me know how you get on – and have a good time searching them out.
Even with the write-up, it seems like an enigmatic sculpture. I was reminded of Saturn the alligator, but he lived in the Moscow Zoo after WWII. I wonder if the species in the sculpture can be identified.
It’s not easy getting accurate information about many sculptures etc., from the Socialist period in any of the post-Socialist societies. A lot of information might well have been destroyed but there’s also the language issue. Often I come across information just by chance. All I know about this sculpture in Stalingrad is already out there, I’m afraid.
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HI there,
My name is Allison Leacu and I have been doing research about my family history, and have an inclination I may be related to Vasil Laci. My great grandfather immigrated from the Korce region (I don’t know exactly when, but probably early 1900s). His name was Michael Vasil Leacu, born around 1886. I suspect the last name was changed when he immigrated. Originally we thought this name could have been Lako, but upon some research, of the Vasil name in Korce, I am seeing more about the name Laci.
Anyways, I see in your article about Vasil Laci’s brother. Do you have any idea about Vasil’s parents or family in the Korce area? I would love to learn more, it’s hard from the US and with our name changed, to be able to get this history.
Thanks,
Allison
Hello Allison
I’m sorry but I don’t think I can really help you. I’m interested in the statues and monuments in Albania (what are called locally lapidars) and it has been difficult for me to find documented information about many of them. Many documents were destroyed when things fell apart in the 1990s when archives were destroyed. I have only managed to fill the gaps in my knowledge often by chance, just accidentally coming across a new fact, for example. The National Archives in Tirana might have something that will help but then the vast majority of material there will be in Albanian.
I don’t know if you’ve seen it but I have another post on Vasil Laci, the date of his execution. There may not be a great deal of information there about him or his family but there is a photo which might provide a lead – I don’t know if you’ve seen it.
Take care
Michael
Comrade
1) looking for Douglas Tottle – Fraud Famine Fascism
2) World Federation of Trade Unions is exposing the TUC leaders NATO militarism, and showing the biggest unions who call for ceasefire in one country while sending weapons to bomb another, how to do international solidarity.
Hello Lionel, the book you’re looking for can be found on my Soviet Society page.
Greatly explaining the arch that was featured on Bald And Bankrupts “This Country Was Ready For War” video. Thanks!
Hello Michael Harrison from the UK, I just wanted to call to your attention that this book of Mao is missing: https://www.bannedthought.net/China/Individuals/MaoZedong/Books/WritingsOfMaoZedongPost-1949-Chinese-sm.pdf
Also, the last volumes of Mao’s Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings 1912-1949 was published, yet it is not on your website.
I don’t really understand this comment. The link is to the bannedthought site – over which I have no control whatsoever. And anyway when I click on the link it works, although slowly. Further, the fact that a item has been published doesn’t mean to say it is readily available.
Yes, sorry for the confusion, I meant to say that the last 2 volumes of Mao’s Road to Power
Revolutionary Writings: https://www.routledge.com/Maos-Road-to-Power/book-series/MRP
Have been published in the Year 2023, your website only has till volume 8 of that work, which is the only English translation of the 1912-1949 collected works of Chairman Mao.
Your website has the official Selected Works, but still, Mao’s Road to Power
Revolutionary Writings: is an awesome book, if it’s accurate.
The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project does excavations in the area and seeks summer volunteers, with the possibility of academic credit through Northern Arizona University. The similar Maya Research Program does work in northwestern Belize. I’ve thought about volunteering or otherwise visiting Belize, but I haven’t been to Mesoamerica at this point. Are the decapitated figures mentioned on El Castillo supposed to be modelled on specific people and if so who were they?
All I know about the decapitated figures is what is written in the text; ‘seated inside the niches are the figures of people who were decapitated towards the end of the Classic period (AD 800-900). Judging from their position, these figures may well represent the Bacabs or ‘skybearers’. The frieze on the west side displays just one and a half of these masks symbolising the sun god. Situated between them is a square frame around an image of the fire god Chaac or Kah’k Chaak, which in turn is framed by bands adorned with the woven mat design, Pop in the Maya language. The upper record also shows the image of a mutilated figure, possibly corresponding to a pauwahtun, as in the frieze on the opposite side’.
The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project, which Dr Jaime Awe is a co-director of, does excavations in the area and seeks summer volunteers, with the possibility of academic credit through Northern Arizona University. The deadline for the 2024 field school with academic credit is in February, though there might be flexibility. The similar Maya Research Program does work in northwestern Belize. I’ve thought about volunteering or otherwise visiting Belize, but I haven’t done much travelling at this point. I’ve wanted to visit Mesoamerica, especially central Mexico, and the American tropics for a long time, so this is an interesting series of posts.
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Hi Michael I’m searching for a trail guide of Els tres mont. any idea where I can find one? Trail description directions to trailheads etc. thanks Maureen Connors
mcandbrowns@gmail.com
Hello Maureen
Sorry for the delay. The information I used when I did the walk was the guide and maps for the Cingles de Bertí. The guide I have scanned and placed at the bottom of the post Els Tres Monts – Stage 1 – the post to which you added your comment. It’s in Catalan but hopefully it will be of help. The two maps that accompany the guide I found (if my memory serves me right) quite good.
Please remember that I did this walk more than ten years ago and some of the information might be out of date. However, I don’t see why the maps shouldn’t still be available.
Hi
I found some interesting books here. Thank you very much. But what a pity that some books are in image format, not PDF. It would be great if all books are available in PDF. By the way, the link to
On Literature and Art, Progress, Moscow, 1973, 509 pages.
is broken.
Best regards
Naser
Hello Nasar
Good to read you found the Marx/Engels page interesting and useful.
Thanks for pointing out the broken link – don’t know how that happened. Should be OK now.
Don’t really understand your other point. All the documents on that page (and most of the documents on the rest of my site) are downloadable as pdf’s. Could you cite specific cases so I can investigate and understand what you mean?
Firstly I very much enjoy meandering through your wonderful website, especially the Albanian writings.
The tampering of this mosaic is certainly an interesting topic.
“The War of National Liberation against the invading fascists, first Italian then the German Nazis, was led by and principally carried out by Albanian Communists. ” I am not sure David Smiley would agree. I think the history Albanian resistance has not been fully understood and published. The communist regime most certainly exaggerated their effectiveness and of course set the narrative for the Ballists and Legalitit combatants.
Just as the ‘west’ tried to undermine the crucial/fundamental role of the Soviet Union in the defeat of the Nazis (all as part of their ‘Russophobe’ campaign (which began long before the Special Military Operation of February last year) so capitalism has constantly been attempting to undermine any role played by Communists in the Second World War.
But if it wasn’t the Communist who drove first the Italians and then the German fascists out of their country who did?
The ‘Nationalists?
The Communists disrupted ‘the plans of the German Nazis from establishing some element of legitimacy to their occupation of the country with the setting up of a ‘Quisling’ government. The date chosen for this sham was the 18th October 1943 and on that day the Albanian traitors met in the Victor Emmanuel III Palace on the outskirts of the city of Tirana.’
And who was it who brought the disparate groups fighting the invaders together?
‘Different nationalist groups, but especially those organised by the Communist Party of Albania (CPA) after its foundation on 8th November 1941, fought against the invaders but by the middle of 1942 it was recognised that the struggle for liberation needed co-ordination and with that in mind the Communists invited all nationalists to a conference to create a structure that would defeat the materially superior foreign forces.’
Perhaps it was the English ‘James Bonds’ who threw out the fascists, all by themselves?
But the Nazis knew who were their real enemy shown by their murder of Persefoni and Bule and the destruction of Borove.
And even the British knew who the real fighters were by finally ‘accepting’ that the Partisans were the only force that was serious in its fight for National Liberation.
But once the war was won the British did everything in its power to destroy the new Socialist Republic.
So what does a little ‘re-writing’ of history matter?
I am not denying or trying to change the fact that the Partisans did much of the heavy lifting. All I am saying is that some of the stories and successes were grossly exaggerated. Some (as written by David Smiley) were just out right catastrophic military engagements that the communists deemed as great triumphs.
Further to this the role of the Ballists still to this day is under played and misunderstood due to the narrative set by the communists. Some British operatives actually thought the Ballists more efficient at fighting the Nazis. I presume the closer you got to Kosovo the less efficient they became.
Grover Furr is not a Soviet Historian! He’s a despicable apologist for Joseph Stalin and denier of his atrocities! Furr has a degree in Medieval English not Russian History or any history! Conquest didn’t lie about anything Skunkwipe! He used legitimate sources and provided evidence of Stalin’s genocide! Furr ignored evidence and provided worthless sources! He’s the scum of the earth and so are you!
can I have wattapp number in order to communcate with someone to answer my questions regarding Spring 6 at Tskaltubo – Georgia
Just ask you questions through Comments on the Spring 6 post and I’ll try to answer them. I don’t use whatsapp.
Well, you may be right about that, for little appeared to be going on this week ((the one which ends up with oil being wiped over the British head of state. But the statutes of Lenin and Stalin, at least, have moved from the gallery’s back yard to the (impeccably kept) front garden of Mehmet Shehu’s house, now guarded by security men. Makes of that what you will….
Thanks for the update of the whereabouts of Lenin and Stalin. Does it mean both the Stalin statues have been moved there. And do you have the address of Mehmet Shehu’s house? I don’t think I’ve ever been there. If you give me the adress I’ll update the post in case anyone wants to go looking for them now that the art gallery may not return to what it was if any renovation actually takes place.
If you walk down rr Ismail Qemali from the Boulevard, into the former Blok, you walk along the north side of a little park. When you get to the end of the park, the house on your left is Mehmet Shehu’s house, so the address is probably the corner of Ismail Qemali and rr Ibrahim Rugova. The front or Enver Hoxha’s house is diagonally across the crossroads in front of you and at the back of the Shehu’s house, but whether there is a tunnel connecting them, as Kadare wrote, is not known. The house is used as a government guest house, and is under security guard, which prevents getting near. In the front garden you can see (the top parts of) Lenin and Stalin (and a jeep-like truck). I am afraid I cannot say whether there is any more, though someone suggested that some works from the gallery of Figurative Arts were being stored there on the inside.
Thanks for the update Adrian. I’ll try to work out how best to include the latest information in the other blogs where I’ve mentioned the statues of Lenin and Stalin. It will also be interesting to see how, or indeed if, they find a permenant home – accessible to the public – in the future of all the statues that were hidden away at the back of the National Art Gallery. I’m particularly concerned with the fate of the statue of Liri Gero
Michael, I wonder if we might have permission to use your photograph of Beggars Bridge to accompany a biographical entry for Thomas Ferres? He is to be included in a new book on people related to Hull over many centuries which is currently being compiled to mark 100 years of Lord Mayors in Hull.. All proceeds are to go to the Lord Mayor of Hull’s charities. I look forward to hearing from you. Dr Robb Robinson R.N.,Robinson@hull.ac.uk
Hello Robb,
No problem. I’ll send you direct higher definition copies which might be better for your purpose.
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Thanks for this write up. It was very helpful. Would you please tell me if they move all business class seats towards to forward movement direction of the train? Thanks!
I wouldn’t have thought so – but don’t know for sure. These are fixed trains. Seats will face front going one way and back the other. It all depends.
This is quite an old post, but the third artist would be Frederik Shuka.
I might have posted information and pictures of the mosaic some time ago But I’m still interested in updating/correcting if necessary anything I might have written. In that way I be able to, slowly, fill in the gaps in my information about Albanian lapidars in general.
Thanks for the name. Would he have been an artist or an architect? I know on other lapidars the two skills worked together.
Hello, Petro Sota was my grandfather’s brother. There is a book made about him. Also there is the technical university of Albania that was named after him.
I can give you more details on his life.
As per the sculpture in 2014. It was paid by my grandpa in honour of his brother. The original monument was destroyed when the city council gave the land to UAE mollahs to build a mosque without any consultation and through some generous bribes.
My grandpa collected a few favours here and there in order to get the statue there.
Side note, Raqi Sota (another brother also died during the occupation) him and Petro were exercising their aim when a bullet ricocheted and killed Raqi. He was later made hero of the people.
As per Petro, he was being followed based on information given by a local spy. He noticed that he was being spied and tried to get into a local “bar”. He tried escaping from the windows since he had in his possession a lot of over 40 something names of the resistance. He got shot, and tried eating the letter based on the local eye witnesses. The fascist broke his jaw while his was dying in order to get the letter. Apparently the letter was so damp with blood and chewed that it was unusable.
He got shot a total of 28 times total. And left in the the middle of what yes to be the market for 2 days. His father went to pick up his corpse on the 3rd day by night time.
After this incident, his/my family was sent to the goulag for 2 years.
They were able to come back when the Germans were defeated.
Hello Bessi,
Thanks for the information. It’s so difficult to get details about many of the lapidars and monuments from the socialist period in Albania and there are many gaps in my knowledge. Thanks you, again, for filling some of those gaps.
Michael
RESPEKTE PER TRIMIN, PATRIOTIN E KOMBIT.
Hello Michael,
Thank you very much for this very accurate and useful article. There is so much good content.
Glad you shared the coordinates as some points are really hard top find.
I’m currently in Albania and will take time to visit some of these fabulous places.
Keep up the good work.
Glad to hear you have found the information useful. Please get in touch if you find any errors or omissions. I will then update. Have a good time in Albania.
May have been moved recently…
https://balkaninsight.com/2022/08/30/albanian-governments-stalin-lenin-art-installation-stirs-anger/
The National Art Gallery was closed around the end of November 2021 following the most bizarrely curated exhibition I have ever seen. For a few months towards the end of 2021 it seemed that ALL the exhibits from the Gallery’s storerooms were brought into the exhibition space and put on ‘display’. No organisation, no information but an interesting exhibition, nonetheless, for anyone interested in Albanian Socialist Realist art. I wrote a blog post, together with hundred of pictures, here. When I saw the hoardings around the building I wondered about the fate of the statues from the ‘Statue Park’ at the back of the building.
When I first went to Tirana I had to play cat and mouse with security to get to the back of the building but in recent years it has been on the itinerary of the Tirana walking tours. So it seems Joe and Vladimir have a new, if only temporary, home. Some of the other larger bronze statues can be found in the internal courtyard of the Historical Museum in Skenderbeu Square – go through the doorway that is opposite the main visitor entrance and turn right.
I wasn’t able to find out anything about when the gallery would reopen or what had been the fate of all the exhibits that were placed on show last year.
The ‘anger’ mentioned in the short piece to which you provided a link just goes to show how stupid some people are. These statues, and more, had been on ‘public’ display for years. Ignorant people seem to have the perpetual desire to be outraged.
I’ll place a note at the end of my posts about the gallery to let readers know of the current situation with the ‘refurbishment’. Thanks for your comment, it has reminded me that I should have done that once I realised the gallery was closed.
WHAT A CHRONOLOGY COMRADE. NOW WE NEED A STUDY GROUP TO ANALYSE AND THEN DISSEMINATE ON ALL OUR TRADE UNION PICKETS.
Liverpool Town Hall.
“The four spandrels (the triangular corner paintings) are by Charles Furse …”
They are called pendentives, not spandrels.
Thanks for putting me right. Corrections made.
Liverpool Town Hall.
“The statue at the top of the first flight of stairs is of George Canning, an MP for the town and Prime Minister for 4 months in 1827, was completed in 1832 by Francis Chantry.” — Chantrey seems to be the preferred spelling.
Thanks for putting me right. Corrections made.
Not mentioned directly is the fact that at Yalta and Teheran, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed that Greece would be in the Western sphere, whereas Albania and Yugoslavia would be in the Eastern sphere. If Stalin had broken the agreement and supplied arms and support, the Greek communists would certainly have won control of the country after the war.
Dear Micheal
You have done a great work publishing all of these issues. I hope you will publish more on your blog in the next month. That would be amazing. I hope you’re still active
Cheers
Hello Adam
The reason there are gaps in the postings is that I don’t have access to those issues. I’m constantly looking for a source but, to date, without any luck.
If that situation changes then I will certainly post the missing issues as soon as possible.
But not in the next month, I’m afraid
Hi Michael, an incredible work you have done with pulling together all this content. I am the found out albaniangallery.art website and was wondering if I can republish some of your articles on my website. Without saying the credits will go to you as author/curator. let me know if I get your permission. Regards Alban
Hello Alban,
There’s no problem using items from my site. Good to hear you find my blog useful.
Take care
Michael
Are you related to the Michael Harrison who was moved to leave the rather disobliging assessment of Rinas airport, and those who work in it, last year ? If you are, it sounds as things do not only get better…
I posted on the airport more than nine years ago. Since then I’ve both arrived and left Rinas a number of times. It’s a small airport – though much busier now than it was when I wrote the post – as well as being quite modern and because of that is one of the more ‘pleasant’ airports to pass through. (ALL airports are unpleasant to a lesser or greater extent.) I don’t have any serious criticisms of the airport and I’m not the person that has posted on any site about Rinas – I don’t post on review sites for anything.
Another attempt by the imperial core to offload the blame for their own problems onto the victims of neocolonialism. Perhaps somewhat related to this was the recent remark by William Windsor blaming environmental damage on “Africa’s rapidly growing human population.”
Exactly. The problem is they have been doing it for decades and still get away with it. They blame someone else to protect themselves.
Hi Michael,
Interesting site/content. A 1952/3 book caught my eye: https://michaelharrison.org.uk/2018/08/jv-stalin-biographies-reminiscences-and-appraisals/
I became skeptical and did a search. According to the only Amazon review of the Budu Svanidze book, it “was exposed as a forgery shortly after it came out by historian Boris Souvarine (Bulletin de l’Association d’Etudes et d’Informations Politiques Internationales, May 1953, Nos. 88 and 89.)” I acquired the articles and confirmed they do indeed refer to this book as a forgery – along with several others. I could send them along with my translations if you’d like.
It’s a long time since I read ‘My Uncle Joseph Stalin’ but my memory was that it was quite benign. How Joe came out of it I can’t remember exactly but I don’t think the book tried to make out that Stalin was a perfect husband and partner – the only reason why I could think of of it being a ‘forgery’.
At the same time I would think that anything written by Souvarine has to be considered suspect – especially when it comes to the topic of Joseph Stalin. Souvarine was a Trotskyite and like all Trotskyites spent much of his time from the mid 1920s attacking the Soviet Union and its leadership.
By all means send the article you mentioned (with translation) if you have them to hand. It would be interesting to read Souvarine’s ‘proof’ that the publication was a ‘forgery’, by whom and for what reason it was ‘forged’ and what political gain there was in such an elaborate task over a book that is hardly well known. I’ve never come across any reference to it so if it was concocted then the aim was a failure.
Yes, your memory is still quite sharp. It is _unusually_ benign. That’s partly the rub. And the BEIPI analysis isn’t free of errors either. Perhaps I should have elaborated more up front.
https://temp.sh/BoRUz/BEIPI_1953_88-89.7z
Two sample points that can be checked independently of BEIPI on the “Svanidze” book (“forgery” = not Stalin’s nephew): [1] Stalin’s second wife didn’t overdose but instead shot herself by the morning of 8 Nov 1932 due to a migraine episode that started Nov 6 and was made worse by attending the Nov 7 anniversary parade; [2] Rosa (Rachel) Kaganovich could not have been an option to be Stalin’s third wife because she died in 1926.
[1] Artem Sergeev, Stalin’s adopted son, comments on Nadezhda’s migraines: translate.yandex.com/translate?url=hrono.ru/biograf/bio_a/alliluevans.php&lang=ru-en – “…Nadezhda Sergeevna had constant, very powerful, completely unbearable headaches. She often held her head in her hands and cried out: ‘My head! My head!’” “Svanidze” may have known this: “‘I have a headache,’ Nadia said stiffly. ‘Please excuse me.’” (p. 59) “Svanidze” says: “One night she took an overdose, with fatal effect.” (p. 98)
[2] Kaganovich family comments on ‘Wolf of the Kremlin’ (1987): revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv1n2/kaganfam.htm – “LMK’s [Lazar Kaganovich’s] only sister, by mistake named in the book as Rosa (her name was Rachel), died in 1926…” Therefore the statement in “Svanidze’s” book that “Molotov, Kaganovitch, Mikoyan, Beria […] now that Stalin was once more a widower […] took the liberty of selecting a wife for him—Rosa Kaganovitch, the beautiful sister of Lazar Kaganovitch” (p. 99) is false.
“Waverly Root” (“Svanidze” again?) in the preface: “If Molotov is to be one of the future rulers of Russia also, it is not unimportant to know that he is a bad loser, or that he dislikes to take responsibility in critical situations.” Fake Stalin quote: “Everyone complains of Molotov’s stiffness, his inability to show the slightest flexibility. It’s true, you know. Sometimes he is really unbearable.” Fake Mikeladze quote: “…we’ll arrange for you to come again when you have that memorandum to prove that Molotov has become anti-Marxist.” Even without BEIPI or the sources above it’s not impossible to see “Svanidze” only pretended to be favorable to the Soviet leadership while in substance making them appear ridiculous.
I’m not really sure where this discussion is going and neither could I couldn’t really understand the points made by the BEIPI analysis.
If the Trotskyites want to make out it is a forgery then it’s to use that against the Soviet Union. But then it would have to have been produced in the Soviet Union. However, the simple mistakes which you point out would seem to suggest it wasn’t produced by someone who knew all the facts.
Then who do you suggest created this ‘forgery’ and for what purpose? And is it really important? It is a rather obscure book and I can’t remember exactly where or when I came across my copy.
If it was created for some ‘ill intent’ then what was it? As it doesn’t seem to have been very successful – especially in the great scheme of things when Uncle Joe has been accused of everything apart from causing the present climate emergency.
This was written just prior to Khrushchev’s slander of “Uncle Joe” and it’s true the book was soon overshadowed. One of the points made in BEIPI is that this series of publications, including those by “Svanidze”, occurred with unusual (or even impossible) speed, so the implication is that the book was authored by international imperialism. The purpose would have been to create confusion and dissatisfaction abroad with the Soviet leadership, potentially for people to quit their parties. And from the description in “The Wolf of the Kremlin” (1987): “The true story of Stalin’s third wife, Rosa, who was Lazar’s sister.” This was decades later so was this sort of narrative really unsuccessful? As to where this is going, the whole point of reading history is to learn, isn’t it? And if it’s disinformation, to alert people. I’ve given my contact info if more needs to be said. I don’t want to spam this page.
I don’t disagree with anything you say. Your memory/knowledge of some of the facts is better than mine and I also agree it’s good to point out these situations in the past to remind people what the enemies to socialism are prepared to do. We only have to look at the ‘Zinoviev Letter’ to realise that the idea of ‘fake news’ is not something invented in the last few years. There’s a book, which I have but have yet to scan, called ‘The Great Conspiracy against Russia’. That documents just such incidents to cause confusion amongst those who might have been sympathetic to the aims of the Soviet Union. I’ll see if I can get it scanned and posted on the Soviet Union page on this blog in the next few weeks.
A Reeeeally Wonderful Website! Learn a lot from it ! Precious documentaries!
—— From a Maoist Researcher China
Hi there
NORTH KOREA
I read your reviews regularly. It would be helpful to know whether you have been to North Korea, either as a tourist (as I have); as a guest of the DPRK; or in your own right. It might actually help people to understand more clearly the pluses and minuses of that amazing country.
Thanks
Like you I have only visited the country as a tourist, the once towards the end of 2017.
Hi, can tell you now, the Historical Basis for socialism in Ireland is from 1919, originally published in New York
Thanks for the detail. Post now updated.
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It is a pity there are still uninformed people like you Michael and Thomas Mrett that believe executed innocents during communism in Albania do not deserve rehabilitation. Communist’s leaders in Albania were nothing more than murderers! They isolated the country to destruction only for their privileges.
During king Zog, Albania recognized economic growth. Private property and free speech was never denied, nor were people executed for speaking their mind.
Your hero Zogolli;
returned to Albania in 1924 with the support of foreign, reactionary forces;
bestowed dictatorial powers upon himself;
made an alliance with Italian Fascism;
in a similar act to the megalomaniacal Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself king;
like a coward ran away when the Italians invaded Albania in 1939;
no doubt was instrumental in post-war efforts of the British government to undermine the government of the people following liberation in 1944;
and lived a life of luxury at the expense of the Albanian people.
Albania today still celebrates Skenderbeu and the idea of Independence but Zogolli’s actions and life were the antithesis of the national hero. He would have preferred to preen himself in a mirror in his dress uniform than get his hands dirty in actually fighting against the fascist (or any other) invaders. That task was left to the working men and women of Albania under the leadership of Comrade Hoxha and the Albanian Communists.
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“The organisation still exists but seems to function more as a mouthpiece of the Chinese government in Britain and providing its members with official visits to capitalist China.”
“…Now it praises the erstwhile Socialist country for its capitalist (and imperialist) development.”
Excuse me, what?
Hello Aleksander
Not really sure what you getting at. Is China a capitalist and imperialist country or do you think it is still a ‘socialist’ society?
Those who produced the SACU News in the 1960s and early 1970s were promoting Socialist China at a time when it wasn’t easy to get information about developments in the country. By continuing to support ‘socialist’ China after the coup against the revolutionaries within the Party very soon after the death of Chairman Mao. If such support in the early years of capitalist restoration could be excused as ignorance of the reality any support, or thought that the country still follows a socialist agenda so many years later, is just plain stupidity.
Any support organisations, for example, set up to promote the interests of the United Kingdom or the United States would be to support the dominant economic and social system in place in those countries. Such slavish support always comes with advantages.
Hi Michael,
I’ve been following your blog for a long time now. It’s probably the best account online relating to the socialist era of Albania. I have a question regarding a building that was once located in Tirana, you might be able to help me. The building is the Museum House of the Party and I can’t figure out if it is still standing or what might be at its location now. If you have any idea I’d appreciate the info.
Thanks,
Richie
Hello Richie
Sorry for the slight delay in replying, have been trying to find out more information from a friend who knows Tirana better than me.
Many years ago I went looking for the building. The only information I had at that time was the small map that’s in the book Museum House of the Party. You can download it here if you have not already done so. It was posted on Documents of the PLA 31-40 page. On page 19 there’s a small sketch map of the location – the problem was that street names were changed after the reaction took power and there is no actual street name for where the building was located.
I think I found a place which looked as if it might have been the building, but all locked up and no one around. I’m assuming it wasn’t demolished as it was a good building in it’s own right close to the centre of town. My assumption is that it was taken over by some individual as a bit of free people’s property – a private privatisation.
The friend I mentioned earlier is going to see if he can find any more info, if anything more comes to light I’ll forward the news on to you.
A few additional points about revisionists: https://youtu.be/O71pyIghiRI?t=10350
Hello Aleksander
Thanks for the link. The presentation is two and a half hours long and haven’t had the time to watch it yet. It’s interesting that it deals with the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ but the subject can be approached in a number of ways.
Considering you comment about the SACU News I’m not sure if we see the dictatorship of the proletariat in the same way.
consciousnessly speaking
It’s not easy to refrain from commenting. This time wanted to say that couldn’t have ever read his invaluable speech hadn’t it been singled out here. Many many thanks! I expected it to be interesting but not easy and understandable. One is able to see what he means. We are very different people now from then conscientiously speaking, but the then reality was also different from what is pictured here in 1958. A cultural revolution must’ve been due much earlier than beginning of ’80s.
It would be a mistake to think that the Cultural Revolution in China only took place after the decision of the Central Committee of the CPC dated 8th August 1966. The struggle against revisionism and those who wanted to re-establish capitalism in the People’s Republic went into a new stage after that date but a ‘cultural revolution’ goes side by side with the efforts to build socialism from the first days after the revolution – and this is the case in all countries.
And it’s not just the case of the successful revolutions which took state power in the 20th century. We can see efforts to change peoples ideas and world view during the 72 (too short) days of the Paris Commune with the Patriotic Women’s Clubs, for example.
There was no formal ‘Cultural Revolution’ in the Soviet Union though we can see references to such a continuing struggle in the writings of both Lenin and Stalin.
And also in the writings published by Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania.
Useful readings as always. It was wandering to me why this blog uses ‘Cultural Revolution’ extensively for Albania. It now makes perfect sense for even though Albania never had a ‘formal’ Cultural Revolution as you put it, at least the three first decades during the construction of Socialism were a movement close to that, a continuing restless search and critique involving all in general.
Appreciate you taking the time to stop and provide an extended explanation.
Very interesting what your said about Paris Commune.
when i look at the lapidar sculpture i just know it. We’ve known the Peza stories of WWII when we were young from many sources, history school books, movies, literature etc.
And i’m thinking now but find that i am not able to even mention a specific book or story, it seems a long time ago.
Hi Mr. Harrison,
The group to the left relates to the event of the partisan intervention in the village of Peza after the fascists burnt and massacred it. Peza has been burnt more than once by fascists as it was known to be a great support point to local and other partisan çeta.
What is happening with the left hand side group is, the harmed and vulnerable peasants are desperately welcoming the partisans as these arrive the last minute to rescue them from fascists.
The trio of family is instead a group of unrelated people: The non-uniformed partisan has just rescued the orphan baby most likely from a burning house and is holding the baby, whose one hand is on shoulder of the woman partisan. I can’t figure out what she holds in her left hand either but they’re about to go secure the baby in a safe place away from the bullets field where he is taken care of.
Next, the woman resting her head on the man’s chest is in fact the mother of the partisan, an old lady, and she has been desperately looking for him and his partisan friends to come any minute now to save them from the disgrace. The little guy is her grandson she’s guarding while his father – meaning her son which is near her now – is away from home fighting for freedom.
In the meantime partisan çeta is fiercely fighting with the fascists. In this fight they are joined by village men, the village always being a reliable point of support for partisans.
The partisans of the çeta of Peza, were some of the very first organizations that would later become the national liberation army structured into brigades and divisions. At this initial stage we encounter partisans in distinguishable uniforms and already communists as well as many partisans still on their own local outfits, these maybe recently having joined the çeta or that while into a fighter mentality were not yet a partisan. But they would become soon.
Also Peza was one of the very first liberated sites during antifascist war with the national liberation council regulating and governing the area being the people’s power established there. This is what we see to the right group of the memorial, the unified group of communist partisans, non-communist partisans, civilians and village people. Among the four front figures the two civilians who stand in the middle should be the leading figures of national liberation council for Peza.
All are armed nevertheless. All civilian people are armed to the best they can and stand unified around their power representatives, the national liberation council and communist partisans.
An interesting interpretation. As I asked when you made a comment about ‘The Albanians’ mosaic – how do you come to such a detailed reading of the sculptural story?
verses are actual folk songs, Mavrova and Drashovica are individual villages and it’s being sung to each one of them altogether. You Mavrovë and you Drashovicë, what havoc combined that day, machine guns and artillery, the night looked like day.
Hysni Kapo like a hawk, threw himself over barbed wires, spoke himself to the germans, surrender you hateful aggressor.
“they eat bread once in three days”
Updated
your work here is really impactful
Thanks – if people can get something from my time it makes it all worth it.
With Shkoder being the last liberated, on Nov. 29th 1944, the Albanian National Liberation Army kept the fights going beyond country northern borders, in the area of Kosova and further northern to that, in Yugoslavian territory, helping neighbours and pushing Germans as further away the Albanians border as possible. These last army sections returned home in 1945.
My grandfather fought there and returned home only that year.
the mosaic man in suit with a piece of paper in hand is an Albanian renaissance figure rather than Ismail Qemali, the independence man.
this man is likely one of the three Frasheri brothers, probably Sami Frasheri or Abdyl Frasheri. Sami Frasheri the youngest, more of a philosopher, wrote the precious piece “Albania what was, what is and what will be”, Abdyl Frasheri the olderst was leader of the League of Prizren a unifying congress for albanians fighting against Turkey, 1878. Naim Frasheri, the second brother, was a great Albanian renaissance poet, maybe the greatest of the era.
Edvin Rama is disinterested in survival of the mosaic and is intentionally allowing its disintegration just like he’s doing with every socialist era buildings, architecture, structures, that have survived to date. His ambition is replacing the urban layout of the centre of Tirana so that no sign of pre ’90s is left as remembrance of that period.
In addition to Frasheri brothers, Edvin Rama recognized a successor of them Mit’hat Frasheri who headed a collaborationist government to Nazis during WWII, honoring him and adding him space in the grave ansamble of the trio Frasheri brothers. This was carried out in speedy sneaky but nevertheless official way, Rama being aware of not being allowed to do so if acts were publicly announced beforehand.
Thanks for another interpretation of the story behind the images. I must admit that with many of the lapidars I have described (and those still to post) I’m very much in the situation of making a (hopefully) informed guess as I have been unable to find any sources which provide a definitive explanation of the images, in whatever format.
I assume that much of this material was lost when the Writers Union archives were destroyed. I suppose there could be information in the National Archives – but then I come across the problem of the language.
Where did you find the details you have presented here?
Thanks also about the information about Rama and the addition of a fascist to the group of the Frasheri brothers in Tirana Park – I hadn’t heard of that. Reactionaries removing, destroying, or altering socialist monuments in secret and the dead of night isn’t new. The removal of the statue of Joseph Stalin that stood in the park that bears his name in Gori is another example that comes to mind.
But what was/is Rama’s rationale for this addition? Who is he hoping to impress? Surely there’s not much left of the country for him to ‘sell out’?
Take care
Michael
there’s a typo on painter’s name, the work “Partisan Vow”
correctly spelled it is Guri Madhi. Thank you so much.
Rectified. But WordPress doesn’t make it easy. You would have thought that moving two letters would be a doddle but it isn’t. Thanks for pointing out the error.
very kind of you. If of any use the below is from your great post on National Art Gallery,
– Ilia Kici Dashi, 1978 – Sali Shijaku
The title is Hero i Punës Socialiste – Hero of the Socialist Work, equivalent to People’s Hero but now during construction times rather than war times.
– The wireworker, 1969 – Sotir Capo
The wire factory was in Shkoder, and that was supplied with copper raw material by the copper enrichment factory of Rubik, Mirdite.
– The days of flying, 1986 – Spiro Kristo
there’s a typo error on date, as it is year 1968, which might affect the painting concept.
– July 30, 1978 – Çlirim Çeka
Relationships between Albania and China broke in the summer of 1978, however the date might mark the first production of albanian steel. Which relates to China because with the break they quit assistance to Albania on that project.
Thanks for more information and pointing out the error on the date of the painting of the airmen. It does change the the meaning of the painting – context is everything. Have made appropriate alterations.
I am looking to read the short Soviet booklets as part of the series “The Fifteen Soviet Republics Today and tomorrow.”
I have read one on Azerbaijan, printed in 1959
I might have to disappoint you there. I don’t think I have the series you refer to. However, it might turn up some time.
Michael thank you for making such wonderful socialist resources available to those who are still fighting for a socialist society ie here in England
Glad to hear that you find the blog useful. There’s a lot more to come so if you’re interested in a particular topic you might find more material here in the future.
Very good article. Thanks.
Can I ask a question. Is there at least one party of workers in England? Is there a “red university”? a “university of worker correspondents”? a “red channel” on youtube?
«The Party’s
the compass
that keeps us on course,
the backbone
of the whole working class.»
Unfortunately, there’s no Party I would consider as a true revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party in Britain – although there are a few organisations that claim to be. As for a ‘red university’ there’s never been anything like that in the UK – and perhaps one of the reasons for the lack of a party is the lack of emphasis on creating a structure where people can learn the basics of Marxism-Leninism in the past (parties were more concerned with practice and the theory, some times, wasn’t given the emphasis it requires).
A few sites (other than this one) are providing digital versions of much of the Marxist-Leninist theory as well as the history and experience of those societies that have attempted to build a socialist society. I would recommend BannedThought and From Marx to Mao. Also for other varieties of socialism the Marxist Internet Archive.
Wonderful post! Let we never forget the enormous sacrifice the Sovjets made for the defeat of Nazi-Germany and the liberation of Europe!
I’m glad you found the post interesting. With the western capitalist countries virtually writing the Soviet Union out of the war against Fascism – and at the same time attempting to present their contribution as greater than it really was – it’s important to keep the Red Flag flying.
Thank you, Michael. It’s a precious information, which helps us very much, to better understand the global situation. Stay strong. No pasarán !
Hello Francesc
Glad you’re finding what I write useful. Nothing surprising in their (the British government’s) approach – just a confirmation of their incompetence.
Just out of curiousity, I think that you can make a specific post about Vietnam under Doi Moi from your perspective. That would be great.
I could – but won’t.
To me ‘Doi moi’ is just a continuation of revisionism from the time of the First International – but with a Vietnamese twist.
Socialism’s biggest enemy is not capitalism, vicious militarism that comes as a consequence of imperialism (and the Vietnamese people had their fair share of that experience) but the traitors from within – and the failure of people to identify and crush them when they raise their ugly heads.
This was very interesting reading. For me, as someone with no ideological skin in the game, what;s quite interesting from reading “Reflections on China” (I have a *lot* of time nowadays, as do many of us!…how I got here in fact) is that Hoxha finds Mao irreducibly weird from early on, because he’s Chinese, or more broadly, Asian. I think the subjective aspect of this is mostly positive, i.e. he;s not being ethnocentric, but simply trying to make sense of a leader, and a country, that are totally befuddling to him even though they’re his only significant allies. It’s also interesting how Hoxha, whose cult of personality was a figure of fun in the West, convincingly distinguishes between the utilitarian rationale for that phenomenon in Albania and what he sees as the beyond-all-reason (and again, only understandable in cultural context) cults of Mao and Kim.
Hello Rich
Apologies for the delay.
I don’t really understand your point. For me the the issue which lay behind Hoxha’s frustration (which was expressed in the 1976 letter to the CPC) revolved around the time it took the Chinese Party to make the ‘definitive’ split with the Revisionist Soviet Union.
I haven’t read the Enver’s ‘Reflections .. ‘ for some time so don’t really know where you got your ideas about the ‘cult of the personality’.
I also don’t think that was, at all, the way the ‘West’ approached Albania post WWII. The British, especially, were pissed that they couldn’t get control of the Balkans (something which determined much of their military approach for the Britain to get back into the war – i.e., go via Italy, then turn east and deny the Red Army success in that part of the world).
As it was the Albanian Communist Partisans freed their own country (as did, indeed the Yugoslavs – even if Tito took the Federation into the capitalist camp in the 1950s) and denied the imperialists their prize. I went into this idea in one of my earliest blogs.
The propaganda campaign against Albania, at least in Britain, was centred on the country’s so-called ‘isolation’, to try to denigrate its independence.
As it stands now the word ‘independence’ shouldn’t have an Albanian translation – they have no concept of it.
As a Vietnamese I am saddened by the parts you said after Doi Moi :(.
Tragic for a country that was able to defeat the Japanese, French and then American invaders.
Thank you, Michael, for all this information. I think many comments, you make about UK, apply also to Spain and Catalonia… unfortunately.
Hello Francesc
It’s not possible to closely follow events in all countries that are going through the pandemic at the moment. At the same time it’s not a surprise that you can see many parallels between events, statements, inactivity, errors and crass incompetence in Catalonia and Spain as I have seen in the UK. They all follow the profit agenda and not one that cares for people or the long term well being of an economy which isn’t ruled by short term gain.
It will be interesting to see if the people will allow the same selfish capitalist system to carry on doing what it has been doing for centuries – a system which constantly creates crises, whether they be financial and economic or, as at the moment, a health pandemic.
Take care
Michael
Dear Michael
Find your link from Stalin Society India and saw that you are doing very
good work by posting Albania today with its contents.
I will see if I have missing numbers after 15th April if lock down ends here in India.
Our Facebook page-Kamgar Prakashan.
Yours
Balram Sharma
Hello Balram, Thanks for getting in touch. Will look forward to your news about missing Albania Today’s later in the month. Hope all is going well with you in the present health crisis. Take care, Michael
I am delighted to see this very full and thoughtful article about the fantastic art in the Tirana Gallery. My wife and I were there in 2015 – very briefly in a gap in our tourist tour of the country. We were the only people on the first floor enjoying these extraordinary examples of socialist realist art – an art style which has been almost totally removed from the ex-Soviet bloc countries’ galleries. The floor attendant was very concerned that we were taking photographs – so the ones I took (mainly of industrial scenes) were rather hurried and sometimes out of focus. But I have a selection of those in this brilliant overview, and a few more which may not have been there in 2015.
Are you aware of any book covering these key works of a very significant period of western art which is so ignored by the bulk of the British art establishment ? If not, have you ever thought about publishing your own ? It would be a pity to lose these works as has happened nearly everywhere else.
Thank you for bringing this to public attention
Hello David,
Happy you found the post useful and interesting. The attitude of the gallery (and the attendants) has changed over the years. It was a bit like a guerrilla campaign some times in the past but things were very much more relaxed when I was there in the autumn of 2019.
Even the ‘Sculpture Park’ at the back of the gallery – where I had to time it so I would get by without the security guard noticing – is now possible to visit freely. The authorities have obviously decided that there is an advantage to allow people to see the works of the Socialist period, even to the extent that the rear of the gallery is now on some of the organised ‘walking tours’ of Tirana. I’m sure with all the negative commentary that is seen as obligatory by the ignorant and anti-Socialists when it comes to Albania’s history between 1944 and 1990. Albania is such a paradise on earth now.
The only contemporary album I’ve seen about Albanian Socialist Realist Art is a book about graphic art from the Socialist period.
However, albums were produced in the past and I have added two that I have in digital format. Thanks for making your comment as it made me remember that I had other material which complement the contemporary photos. They are fairly large files but you should have no real problem in downloading them if you so wish. I’ve just added them to the end of the post.
I also have photos of art work from other museums/galleries in different parts of the country. They will eventually appear somewhere on this blog
In re “The breasts seem like small bowels that have been plunked on their chests” – I think you meant ‘bowls’
The other thing is that a gang of telecommunications workers (cable layers) are also treated as heroic in Venedikt Yerofeev’s “Moscow Circles’ Anti-heroes may be more accurate, or maybe parodies of heroes, or fasiledf heroes, but even then the idea is drawing on what I think might have been a known figure of heroic legend at some times in the Soviet imagination. Cf. Solzhenitsyn’s canal-workers, perhaps harking back to and inheriting something of an image of heroic road-builders (Lermontov?) and/or railway workers, all pioneers in the opening up of communication, progress, snd the bringing of modernity, even in earlier, pre-Soviet times. Is this fair ?
Hello David
Thanks for pointing out the typo. Always a problem proof reading your own work but this one takes it into another dimension. The post-socialist revisionists in Georgia might have been perverse but not quite as suggested in my original (pre-corrected) post. What a difference an ‘e’ makes?
As for the terracotta mural I still contend it is no more than decoration. I don’t dislike it. Quiet the contrary I think it has some charming aspects – the looks on the faces demonstrating an element of innocence, for example.
But that’s me being soft.
My argument is that no work of art that is created in a society that used to be on the Socialist road but which, due to manoeuvrings in the Party which had succeeded in changing that Party from a revolutionary to a revisionist one, can be considered a work of Socialist Realism.
Images of Marx, Engels and Lenin were paraded in Red Square after 1956 until things fell apart in the 1990s. That didn’t mean the country was following the sort of society those individuals considered to be Socialism.
This is a stupendously wonderful resource, particularly for someone who first went to Albania in the 80s but who now fears that his own memories will fade as the things which one could marvel at in the 80s also fade from view. May your work prosper.
Hello Adrian, Glad you find my blog posts on Albania useful. I have a few more pamphlets/books to scan as well as many lapidars to describe whilst providing a photographic record. Do you have any material from your visit/s in the 1980s which doesn’t appear on my site? If you could lend them to me to scan and then post that would make the collection that more complete. I’m especially interested in copies of Albania Today (I’ve scanned and posted all to which I have access) and New Albania – I have some more to scan but there are many gaps in that collection.
The icon “Bloody Martyrdom” depicts a real historical event. Two Franciscans from Italy – Giacomo da Sarnano and Ferdinando d’Albissola – were impaled by the Muslims in 1648. That’s why the dress of the bystanders is old (foustanellas etc). More details here: Pacifico Sella, “Testimonianze inedite circa il martirio dei frati minori Giacomo da Sarnano e Ferdinando d’Albissola (Scutari 28 febbraio 1648)”, (2015), https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5533704.pdf
Thanks for the historical information.
When I saw the painting I was more interested in the style the artist had taken from the previous 50 years of Albanian art.
However, the putting the painting into its historical context raises an interesting point.
I’ve been in many Catholic churches in various parts of the world and seen paintings which with present thinking would be considered racist and inflammatory – Sant Iago Matamoros being one example. These images would be explained away now by the Catholic guardians as ‘being of their times. Things are different now and the Catholic Church is more tolerant.’ And then the present Pope would be cited.
But obviously not in Shkoder. Just over a hundred metres from this Franciscan church is a large, modern mosque. Yet in the 21st century, in a country that claims ‘religious tolerance’ after the atheist campaigns of the Socialist period, Albanian Catholics still seek to stoke hatred against Islam.
Conveniently forgetting the atrocities that have been committed in the name of Christianity/Catholicism since 1648 against anyone who doesn’t bow down to the incumbent in Rome – including the counter-revolutionary activity carried out in the very same building where the Franciscan ‘martyrs’ are being celebrated.
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Fabulous detailed info Michael. Thank you. We visited Martyrs cemetery on the anniversary of the slain student and were fortunate to meet his cousin and friend at the graveside.
We later went to Hoxhe new grave. The road you turn off is 10.minites walk from the end of the bus line, and continues in the direction the bus was travelling (the part of your text where you said to keep on the returning bus and continue walking was ambiguous: it was not clear if you should walk on the return direction or continuing out if town direction).
Excellent information all round though. Thankyou for taking the time to post.
Thanks for your comment Tina. I’ve altered the text, and updated the bus fare, so hope that has done away with any ambiguity. Sorry for any confusion caused. Hope you’re enjoying your time in Albania.
Wonderful photos and commentary. Perhaps you can initiate a Go-Fund-Me effort to finance a rhinoplasty for Comrade Enver? I am good for a small contribution.
Good to read this this is true but seldom taught amongst friends and all us , should ,know yes
Thank you for letting us see some of real history , not mentioned oft I have a b a in political science and I am no smarter than the most average person believe me but the way Greece was treated was reprehensible they were committed to the fight that we anericans we’re simple as that and also simple perhaps also takes so much work but it’s the peace building with egalitarian robust energetic cooperative economies of human civilization without nationalist division but with national distinction a true communism would be the greatest step towards peace
Dear Mr. Harrison,
I was wondering if I could use the picture of “The Hanged Women – Gjirokastra”, the first one in this article, for a little quiz on twitter?
Some colleagues and I run a channel called @quiztime, where we post weekly quizzes for other so solve in order to train for geolocation and verification skills.
The image would be attached to a tweet tomorrow for people as a hint where to start the search.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
Tilman
Go ahead, no problem.
Thanks a lot!
Thank you, Michael. There are many aspects of your report that I didn’t know… See you… No pasaran !
I used to work in Martins Bank International Branch in Water Street. I now live in Nottingham but often visit Liverpool to meet up with friends whom I used to work with. Could you let me know if there are any plans to see inside the beautiful old building or heritage days organised for this year.?
The building has been acquired by an up-market hotel group. It seems to be taking a long time to do the conversion and, as far as I know, there’s no date about when it will open. The plan was announced almost 4 years ago so there have been questions about funding. The latest I’ve seen is that has been acquired by the IHG chain.
When/if it does open as a hotel the banking hall will almost certainly be the reception area so open to the public. What plans they have for the Board Room I have no idea. It could be converted into a dining room so that would also be available to the public.
Start saving up your pennies if you hope to visit the building in the future.
One clue as to the strangeness or incomprehensibility of the figures/bas reliefs around the monument is given by this translation of a guide-book-style website (1):
“The monument was projected by a group of artists resident in Ushuaia, directed by the sculptor Vilma Nattero and represents the silhouette of the islands.”
The group-produced artwork has a built-in tendency towards inconsistency in execution. The “group of artists resident in Ushuaia” may have been no more than the local arts club, with members of varying competence. Bringing the local community into the construction of a monument under the direction of a ‘proper’ artist sounds like a good idea, but it does run the risk of producing below-par work, as you clearly illustrate.
(1) see https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://www.ypf.com/guia/Paginas/Plaza-Islas-Malvinas.aspx&prev=search
That makes me feel a little better. If the artist/s don’t know what it’s all about then how can anyone else?
Oh dear, bang goes my credibility as a commentator of the left! At least, given the date, I can claim that I was under the influence of sherry and mince pies while failing to distinguish my Galtieris from my Pinochets. Thanks for not laughing too loudly!
Sherry as a ‘commentator of the left’? Shouldn’t it be mild in a dirty glass?
Mike, apart from the egregious use of ‘it’s’ when you should write ‘its’ (the English teacher writing here) this is a very entertaining and genuinely interesting piece of travel writing and matches anything to be found in the Guardian or elsewhere. [You might recall I left those animated arguments with yourself, Norman and Richard et al in the Caernavon pub, after the usual Friday show in the Merseyside Film Society, and headed out of the UK in 1980.] I was teaching in Jamaica at the time of the Falklands war and there was a strange sense of pride amongst some of the ex-pats who worked with me at the school. I saw it as a piece of grotesque opportunism from the Thatcher government. It was almost as if the Argentinian military dictatorship had colluded with her. Her wildest dreams came true as she was able to wrap herself in the union flag, sit in the front of tanks and in put back progress even further.
The museum seems rather tacky and the semi-detached house it seems to be based in (I’m looking at the blue fencing outside) might be a model for the development of future British museums, given government cuts.
Mike, I admire what you’re doing here. There’s quite an interesting alternative world view available although, as you would probably guess, I don’t agree with much of what you say. Anyway keep travelling and wrirting.
Hello Frank, I know there’s no excuse for bad grammar but I will offer a ‘reason’. By the time I’ve done something in the day to write about, get back and write it, process my photos, et al it is getting quite late when I press the ‘publish’ button. That means I’m considerably down the wine bottle (my chosen tipple here) and that means I might miss the ‘. I humbly apologise and will stop drinking to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
As for the museum you have to look at the sky blue colouring as a patriotic motif – it’s the colour in the national flag (or should that be ‘its’?).
This looks like deliberate policy on the part of the owners – you do not say whether it is privately owned or state-run. Assuming the latter, and that post-junta Argentinian governments have been broadly centrist or left-wing, you’d think that some historical analysis of the failings of Pinochet would have been highlighted. On the other hand, if it is privately-owned, perhaps the owners are/were pro-Pinochet and don’t want too many historical questions asked. Some perspective on this might be gained by studying the date when the museum was opened.
Hello Ian, I’m afraid you’re getting mixed up with your military dictators. My ideas have been evolving about who actually commissions the different memorials to the Argentine dead in the Malvinas War. Some are definitely the State but others are more likely to be commissioned by local veterans organisations.
As for the Rio Gallegos museum it appears to be part of some army complex. Whether it was a barrack or some administrative building I don’t know – didn’t investigate too closely and won’t be going back there. At the same time although there was no admission fee there was a request for donations for the maintenance of the museum and for the purchase of new material.
I’m hoping the museum in Buenos Aires will be a proper affair. We see in 3 weeks or so.
It is an awkward, unbalanced monument (compare the image of the miner in your earlier post, which had the merit of capturing with some skill the powerful dynamics of a man and a manual drill) which, though abstract up to a point, reminds me of some form of plant-life, with shoots growing from the ground at different heights. From these green(?) shoots emerge the faces of workers – presumably a generic visage to embrace all workers, though specifically in this case the office-workers at the FOM HQ. Again, though, the image is unclear. Perhaps the Pinochet lackeys realised the message of this monument was too obscure to become any sort of focus for discontent, and certainly not worth the cost of dismantling it. Or perhaps they didn’t get the point, either.
I read this statue as something like ‘the spirit of Argentina’, represented by a modern woman (hence the clothing) in rebellious pose (the exposed breast a reference to Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’, as well as the Amazon warrior), armed with a lance (to represent a willingness for armed conflict) and a book (to represent the importance of education and civilisation). I am not so sure that this is intended to be an indigenous person – I don’t see the evidence or the rationale for that.
I think the bronze (?) panels with the Malvinas silhouette are effective, but a fair amount of expense seems to have been spared on the statue, which is slowly mouldering away. Pity, because it is an arresting image.
Hoy los recordamos …. aqui, en calles y escuelas…
“Today we remember them, in the streets and in the schools…”
And those are precisely the places where we should teach others about what some people wish to do to us. (And if not, the internet must do, as it does here! Of course, I did not know of this piece of history, but I do now.)
We are beginning to see the ‘minute’s applause’ in the UK, in sports grounds and similar, which as you say requires a tad more participation than silence. It also obviates the possibility of a silent period being hijacked by counter-demonstrators (or just idiots) wishing to make their voices heard.
The inability of the teachers to coordinate with other workers over demonstrations is surely not because they cannot see the point of doing so, but because such organisation requires a lot of background work – which teachers (if their profession is anything like ours) simply will not have the time to do; their primary responsibility is for the children. State operatives, on the other hand, are paid to coordinate their responses.
Your first mural illustrated is indeed grotesque – what makes it so is the children’s comic idiom in which the soldier is (not very expertly) drawn. What does this say about the mindset of the artist? Gross sentimentality, perhaps, but certainly not the thoughtful dignity with which the 649 deserve to be remembered. That said, this particular area of the country seems well short of good street artists – none of the murals shown is especially well executed, the soldier-grandma image desperately short of artistry. Perhaps the best is the simplest – the “649, siempre eran nuestros heros” image. (I’m surprised that the Spanish plural is “heroes” rather than “heros”, but then again my Spanish never progressed beyond O level.)
It’s regrettable that the memorial is poorly maintained, but as you imply, it seems to be trying to say too much at once. The backwards tilt of the main element is intended, I suggest, to reflect agony (a soldier shot while advancing into enemy fire, perhaps). I can’t make much of the rest.
Some remarkable images here, Michael! Well done for circulating them.
As for the G20 Summit, we are reminded that among the plenipotentiaries attending is that currently interesting character from the Middle East MBS, whom the Argentinian authorities might (it is reported here) attempt to arrest!
I’m not holding my breath on that one, though.
Hello Ian, There are more images in the Gallery. I forgot to add it earlier on but should be there now.
Not picked up anything, on TV news or newspapers, about an Argentine arrest during the G-20. Argentina will be sucking up to the IMF and won’t want to upset MBS’s best mate in the White House.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this, Michael!
Fascinating as usual, Michael. A great posting.
Adam
Mosque with cross.
What’s your point? It’s an Orthodox Cathedral. Christian. Crosses are all the rage. The mosque is being built elsewhere. Get your facts right before you bother me with your ignorant and uninformed prejudices.
Hi, thanks for sharing. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if the finikas lines ferry from corfu to saranda was reliable?
Very. The only time I had a problem – and that was just a matter of bad timing on my behalf – was in 2011 (my first visit to Albania) when the very day I wanted to travel there was a)
work on the dock in Saranda and b) maintenance of the boat (or so I was told).
Every other time I’ve travelled by boat it has been spot on.
Obviously, depending upon the time of year, you have to take into account potential weather problems.
Hey! Just wondering once in Saranda how easy is it to bus to Durres?
Very. All the buses that go to Tirana from Saranda go close to Durres and they’re very frequent, at least until mid afternoon. Those buses don’t go to the centre of Durres itself, though. They go to the bus station at Plepa and you catch a local bus from there. Local buses run every few minutes and only cost 30 lek. That bus takes you pass the bus/train station in the centre of town and its terminus is a further couple of hundred metres west in the direction of the Martyrs Cemetery.
Hi Michael,
Two days ago I visited Skadar and the Franciscan church. After coming home looking for some information I found your story. I’ll probably visit her again. Thanks for this fantastic explanation.
Aida
Hello Aida, Glad you found my explanation useful. I think the artwork in the Skhoder Franciscan church might well be unique. I’ve certainly not seen anything like it anywhere else.
Hi Michael,
The statue of Bajram Curri is by Fuat Dushku (who also worked on the monument of the Four Heroines of Mirdita, which was formerly in Rreshen, but was destroyed after the end of socialism). I found this artcle (http://www.fjalaelire.com/tema/27967.html), which seems to indicate the Bajram Curri statue was inaugurated in 1982, corresponding to the anniversary of Albanian independence.
Thanks for the information Raino. Have updated the post to take the name of the sculptor into consideration.
Thank you for this – San Michele al Pozzo Bianco is my favorite church in Bergamo, where I have the good fortune to be living for a while.
And regarding the quaint saint with spectacles, I have come across two more and thought you might be interested.
Both are in Lorenzo Lotto paintings of the assumption with the apostles.
The first one is the the 1512 Assumption of the Virgin now in the Brera Pinacoteca in Milan (http://pinacotecabrera.org/en/collezione-online/opere/assunzione-della-vergine-3/) in which the apostle on the far right is looking up, through spectalces, as if to better see or validate it, at Mary going to heaven on a cloud pushed by bunch of cupid-looking angels.
The second one is the 1527 altarpiece in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Calena, Bergamo (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Lorenzo_lotto%2C_assunta_di_celana%2C_1527%2C_00.jpg). Here, the bespeckled apostle is in the center, behind the empty tomb.
My best guess is that the bespeckled in the Lotto paintings is Saint-I-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it-Thomas, but I am not sure of this.
During my search for information on war memorials in Albania I came across your blog. Having read the information, you stated that you did not know the background of the changes made to the cemetary after the 1980s. Chances are that you have already deepened your knowledge in the meantime and I have simply not read the follow-up posts, but if this is not yet the case, maybe this article that I have found online as well might be of interest to you.
https://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1262/Memorial-to-the-Victims-of-the-Wehrmacht-Massacre-of-Borov%C3%AB
Sincerely yours, Karen
The pistol held by the defeated German soldier is not a Luger. It is a Walther P-38.
Thanks for the correction. I try to get the details right but I’m not an expert in WWII weapons and sometimes end up making a, as near as I can get, guess.
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WWII Albanian Nazi collaborator statues in Macedonia – built by the ethnic Albanian political parties.
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2018/03/albanian-nazi-statues-australia.html?m=1
“Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again”
My wife is English and has taught English in Saranda 6 years. We lived in Ipsos Corfu 8 years.When you get off in the port a taxi to town centre is 4 to 500 Lek. Or turn right out of port walk and you will see about 40 yards on your right a long flight of steps at the bottom you will walk straight on keeping the sea on your right keep walking its a 10 mins nice short walk and you will eventually come to another flight of stone steps about 80 of them on your left easy to walk up with restaurants either side at the top you will see a bus stop that bus stop is just to your left that bus is to Butrint its 100 lek fare they run about every 30 mins and its about 20 mins to Butrint terminus and drops you off at the front of the Butrint site TAKE WATER and a CAP 80yards from terminus you will see a Hotel Toilets Food Beer Etc and very nice. Or ask a taxi how much, normally they will take you and wait for you same with Blue Eye just come to an agreement on the fare. DO NOT give any money to Gypsy kids or you will be pestered from then on by others. If hungry and want a beer 200Lek for a large draught or a nice cheap meal good varied menu with a very clean toilet go to top of steps you came up for the bus look down and 15 foot on left is Leos OR go to bottom of steps cross road and to Left is Limani good food and Beer next to sea but a bit dear. 2 Supermarkets just get off bus and walk up road with park on right you will come to Conads supermarket for Drinks andCigarettes to take back you are allowed only 1 litre of Gin Vodka Brandy Etc each and only 2 packs of cigarettes or 40cigs each NO MORE the Greeks do not have a sense of humour in customs. You will be save here no problems at allHonest you will be shocked when you compare cost off cigs beer and restaurant food in Saranda compared to Corfu believe me. Nearly everyone takes Euro but ask 1st. Sorry no commas Etc. its my wife who is English teacher hope this helpsyou enjoy yourday.
Thanks for this explanation. We travelled through Ksamil earlier this month and thought that the buildings had collapsed due to bad footings, or an earthquake. We were on a coach from Sarandë to Butrint and the guide on the bus was expounding the wonders of democracy in Albania, and mentioned nothing of the obvious wonky buildings.
I’m surprised there are still buildings which haven’t been completely demolished – I haven’t been there for a year or so. When I first saw them in 2011 there were many more along the route from Sarande to Butrint – not just in Ksamil.
Hi ,
my husband and I are planning a day trip in Albania this coming June 2018,
Would it be best to book in advance but I cannot find a website that says we will be using the hydrofoil so it would be quicker and we also want to go to Butrint and visit the Blue eye cave. Basically,Saranda,Butrint National park and Blue eye cave as day trip from Corfu(with pick up and drop off from hotel)if possible.
Which tour operators are best to use and website please?
As I don’t know how to go about from Saranda to Butrint National park,would it be best to to a package day tour for this.Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Verge
Sorry for the delay in replying. I don’t think there should be a problem with getting on the hydrofoil in June. It’s the hydrofoil that leaves every day at 09.00. You will have problems doing both Butrint and Blue Eye in the same day trip – they are in opposite directions out of Saranda. I don’t know anything about package trips s I’ve always traveled independently and with less time constraints.
There’s a local bus to Butrint that leaves from the big tree, which you can see on the right when you get to the road above the port after clearing immigration. It takes about 45 minutes but it’s only once an hour so time could be wasted if you arrive just after a bus has departed.
As you are tight on time the best bet might be to negotiate a taxi for the both trips. The cost shouldn’t be too prohibitive – how good are your negotiating skills?
The problem with going to Blue Eye by public transport is that there’s a bout a two kilometer walk each way from the main road so a taxi to take you to the sight itself makes sense.
You could do a pick and mix – taxi and public transport – but that all alters the time it takes to get from point to point.
Hope this helps.
Be careful on Package Tours the Greeks will charge you 10 Euros each person Saranda port entry tax and give you just a cloakroom tkicket with a number on for a receipt. This 10 Euro port entry tax stopped over 7 years ago its a CON We live in Saranda ask em why the Dolphin doesnt charge it and why you cant pay it when you land, wil they come back with a load of waffle honest.
As a result of stumbling across your wonderful blog site, we are taking the boat from Corfu to Saranda this week to go to Boutrin.
Can you tell us if there is any significant social realism art in Saranda? We will visit the martyrs’ cemetery in hopes.
Hello Gretchen
Glad to hear you find my posts on Socialist Realism in Albania interesting. This is my post on the Saranda Martyr’s Cemetery. There’s another lapidar, at Manistir, which is at a low point in the hills, between the sea and the lake, about half way along the road from Saranda and Butrint. My post is here.
All the recent development in the town of Saranda itself has left us with little. However, there’s a nice little sculpture of young girls picking oranges on the sea front promenade. This is between the port where you arrive on the hydrofoil and the small marina which you will see on the right hand side of the bay.
Hope you have a good time.
Michael
Thank you, Michael. Very interesting.
Hello Francesc. Hope to get further posts on the journey to Moscow posted soon.
Thank you for this article. It is “true to life”, which in this case means that it is true to the real event that has happened in Edinburgh. I enjoyed looking at the pictures, learning about the artists and bits of life mosaic reflected in it.
Good “true to life” painting is always a little window to the time and place depicted by the artist. It provokes thoughts and emotions, it calls to learn more about the times and peoples that are in the pictures.
To enjoy text we have to know its language. To enjoy figurative “true to life” art we don’t have to know anything. It is universal. It moves us to learn about who, and what, how and why is there. “True to life” as a style is different from Social Realism.
Social realism is charging us with ideas of socialism the same as church art is charging us with ideas of christianity. It would be true to life to say that it is still possible to love these kinds of art not sharing the ideas expressed by them. At least it is how I feel about it. There is so much that they say about real people, their eternal struggle, inspiration, motivation…
You guys have no idea how a communist system works. Check all those countries/empires took the idea of Marx and Lenin and see how they end up. Human history could have save millions of life without communism. Arguing? Have a year in North-Korea and you change your mind…
As you’ve spent a year in the DPRK (because surely you must have if not why would you make such a crass and meaningless comment) I will welcome any comments you might make on my considerably shorter but more recent visit
Here is my ‘take’ on the exhibition: https://londonadam.travellerspoint.com/53/ . Thanks again, Michael
Have visited this exhibition – it is small but superbly fascinating, and well-curated.
Looks fascinating. Will visit. Thanks for posting this.
Hello Michael.
I have film of a large memorial, appears to be carved from stone, in shape of a 5 pointed star, with ‘1944’ above a group of soldiers. Alongside are the words ‘lavdi brigades pare heroika sul. huesi’. I thinki it is on the road between Korce and Tirana, perhaps near Elbasan. Any ideas?
Hello Chris, The lapidar you are describing is the Star at Qukes-Pishkash, which is on the main road between Librazhd and Prrenjas, heading to Lake Ochrid – so going east from Elbasan. You can find my post on this at http://michaelharrison.org.uk/2016/03/pishkash-star/
I would very much welcome a link to a video from before everything fell apart in the 1990s. It’s very difficult to get information or other visual sources of the lapidars during the Socialist period. The quality, or your non-Academy award winning filming, is not an issue, what is important is more detail.
When you’ve finished your editing please send me the link and I add it to my post.
Do you have any other clips from your 1980 trip? I struggle to get accurate information so any clues you can pass on, from whatever part of the country, would be appreciated.
Take care
Michael
Hello.
I was in Albania in 1980 and recorded my trip (with Regent Holidays) on std 8 cine film. Only now have I had it copied to digital and I am at this moment editing it in moviemaker, with captions, and hopefully some Albanian music later. I filmed this memorial but I was not sure where it was, so I am grateful to you for putting this online. I am now able to say that it was definitely near Korce (where we visited a carpet factory, stayed at the Hotel Floria, visited a very beautiful building, the Museum of the Middle Ages, and where my diary tells me that we saw local people still wearing traditional Albanian costume.)
I will add the youtube reference to my (admittedly deteriorated film – and poor quality filming) when I have completed the editing in the next week or so.
Michael, I always appreciate your analysis of communist statuary and imagery in general, but I take issue with your assumption that the presence of large amounts of text proves a high level of literacy. Of course this is not capable of definite proof either way, and it is quite possible that the authorities also assumed that their words would be read and understood by all. But it is equally possible that the slabs of text included were self-aggrandising (“see how well we have succeeded in educating the proletariat”) or even self-justifying (“we know this to be eternally true and set in stone, and that is all that is necessary for posterity; we are not bothered whether you can or cannot read it”).
Faith in the benevolence and wisdom of authority is one of the main reasons why people have ultimately rejected communism – that and the undeniable material comforts capitalism confers on those in a position to benefit from it. The fact that a certain sort of ordinary person can also successfully jump on the capitalist bandwagon ensures that, sooner or later, successor regimes to Stalin or Mao will eventually prevail.
Hello Ian,
I think we have to look at the Nanjiecun ‘complex’ in a different manner from virtually ALL other Socialist monuments in whatever country. For a number of reasons.
One, it was constructed in 1993,the centenary of Chairman Mao’s birth, in a country that had spent, at least the government, the Party and the authorities, the previous 17 years trying to denigrate and virtually ignore all that had been achieved under Chairman Mao’s name and leadership. To say that the people of Nanjiecun were going against the flow is an understatement.
Two, the ‘authority’ which made the decision, and the people who paid for the structure, were the people who lived and worked there. I can accept that in the past the decision for the installation of a monument may not have always come from the enthusiasm and initiative of the local people. Here it definitely did. And also going against not only national government and Party but also those authorities across the road.
Three, it must have been paid for by those local people. The surplus they had created in their collective enterprises were diverted from what might have been seen as immediate needs, i.e., housing, health resources, cheaper food in the stores, etc., to something that had no tangible benefit for the people. The fact that Nanjiecun has become a bit of a tourist draw would not have been, I contend, a consideration 25 years ago. That was with the statue of The Chairman.
Four, they would not – ten years later, more or less, have then spent more money on the construction of the marble faced frames for the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and (I assume at the same time) the two bill boards for the words and images of Chairman Mao.
We must remember that we are talking about a permanent population of only 3,000, supplemented by an ‘immigrant'(this is one thing I find a little problematic) population of another 10,000. Would that number of people have sanctioned the installation and the expense of something which they co
Hello Ian,
I think we have to look at the Nanjiecun ‘complex’ in a different manner from virtually ALL other Socialist monuments in whatever country. For a number of reasons.
One, it was constructed in 1993,the centenary of Chairman Mao’s birth, in a country that had spent, at least the government, the Party and the authorities, the previous 17 years trying to denigrate and virtually ignore all that had been achieved under Chairman Mao’s name and leadership. To say that the people of Nanjiecun were going against the flow is an understatement.
Two, the ‘authority’ which made the decision, and the people who paid for the structure, were the people who lived and worked there. I can accept that in the past the decision for the installation of a monument may not have always come from the enthusiasm and initiative of the local people. Here it definitely did. And also going against not only national government and Party but also those authorities across the road.
Three, it must have been paid for by those local people. The surplus they had created in their collective enterprises were diverted from what might have been seen as immediate needs, i.e., housing, health resources, cheaper food in the stores, etc., to something that had no tangible benefit for the people. The fact that Nanjiecun has become a bit of a tourist draw would not have been, I contend, a consideration 25 years ago. That was with the statue of The Chairman.
Four, they would not – ten years later, more or less, have then spent more money on the construction of the marble faced frames for the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and (I assume at the same time) the two bill boards for the words and images of Chairman Mao.
We must remember that we are talking about a permanent population of only 3,000, supplemented by an ‘immigrant'(this is one thing I find a little problematic) population of another 10,000. Would that number of people have sanctioned the installation and the expense of something which they couldn’t understand? I would think that if they had gone against the stream on so many fundamental issues they would not have just accepted the ‘imposition’ of banners with text they didn’t fully understand – and agree with.
As I wrote in my post I am only guessing about the content of the text (I will seek to get confirmation or otherwise of that as soon as possible) but it does seem to be a reasonable guess, taking into consideration what I know about the Nanjiecun commune.
You are obviously aware of the love I have for Socialist Realist art and imagery in different parts of the erstwhile Socialist world. Perhaps the reasons why those works of art were created and installed, where and when, wasn’t always done with the active support of the people in the immediate vicinity. If it had been then perhaps we wouldn’t see the examples of vandalism and lack of care that we do, especially in Albania as I have had the chance to see at first hand what can happen if the locals are divorced from ‘their’ monuments. I will use the example of the respect that has been accorded the Arch at Drashovice in contrast to the Four heroines of Mirdita in Rreshen or the monumental panel of Enver in Berat. Perhaps, on reflection, people regret what was done in their name but if people have a connection with a particular piece of stone they will not be swayed by any fascist who might achieve a position of power and using their anti-Socialist feelings in a destructive manner.
Five, the people of Nanjiecun continue to use their surplus to maintain the square. Things get added, such as the rainbow arch, or taken away, such as the trees. All this costs,someone has to pay for it. And in Nanjiecun that can only come from the labour of the local people. there’s no subsidy from elsewhere.
Whether they know it or not I think the people of Nanjiecun are answering questions that are not really being asked. Those questions revolve around how the working class and peasantry will shape their cultural heritage once they achieve state power.
Perhaps we should consider their example when we next have the opportunity to celebrate our revolutionary leaders and the achievements of revolutionary men and women in the next round of revolutionary transformation and the destruction of this odious and parasitic system which is long passed it’s sell by date.
Yet another debate we need to have to make sure that next time our revolution will last longer than a couple of generations.
Very interesting article. Thank you, Michael.
I visited the chapel last year 2017 with my wife , we picked up a gentleman after telephoning the number on the information board on the church, who showed us around, fasinating church & history, he told us this year ,it will be celebrating its 400 year anniversary. Will you be doing anything to celebrate this event, if so could you contact me on 01704 879396, or by e,mail please. Thank you. Mr p & k Cuffe.
As I’ve written before I have absolutely nothing to do with the chapel – I only wrote a blog because I thought it was an interesting building. Any queries about what they might be doing for an anniversary should be directed to the person on the end of the phone number that’s on their notice board.
Excellent guide to a potentially confusing system.
It’s truly a nice and useful piece of info.
I’m glad that you shared this useful information with us.
Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Overstated, comrade. You allow ‘savage indignation’ to trump nuanced historical assessment. This would be acceptable in a satirical piece, but here you present these arguments as history. Sorry, but for many of your readers, it is mere agitprop, which grows increasingly comical as it proceeds. If only Iannucci had realised the humour inherent in blinkered fundamentalism his lamentable ‘Death of Stalin’ film would have been far better.
The statue in Gjirokastra has now been cleaned up. It now looks rather too white. Unfortunately, immediately behind it is a collection of café umbrellas so it loses much of its impact. Happy to send a photo taken last month.
Hello Andrew, This inappropriate restoration of Albanian lapidars and other monuments/statues has been an issue for some time. The problem of advertising is also something that has had an impact on various lapidars – the result of the uncontrolled march of capitalism. A picture of the ‘restored’ monument would be appreciated, not too sure when I might back to Gjirokaster.
Hi, I am interesting in the magazine Albania Today November/December 1972. I was a pioneer at that time and 4 others and I, we were in the cover picture there standing by a canon to the old national museum. If you can find it I will greatly appreciate, and I will buy that.
Hello Merita, If I haven’t posted the early issues of Albania Today it’s because I, myself, still don’t have access to them. If what you want is the picture then I suggest you go to the National Library in Tirane when you next visit family members still in the country. They have all (almost) of the Albania Today editions in various languages. If you are careful I’m sure you would able to record your early life as a pioneer without any problems.
Hi Michael,
your post is very helpful, thank you! 🙂 Next week we will go from Paleokastritsa to Tirana. The first bus departure from Paleokastritsa to Corfu at 7.20 and the ferry departure at 9:00. What do you think we able to catch the ferry or we start to think another solutions? I read on the ferry company page the ferry boarding closes 30 minutes to scheduled departure…
Best regards, Viktoria
Hello Viktoria, If your bus gets in at 08.00, as it’s supposed to, according to what I’ve seen on the net, then you should have more than enough time to get your ticket and then get to the ferry itself. I don’t think that they will turn you away at the departure gate if you have a valid ticket. It’s now the quiet season so there won’t be great crowds of people. If there is a delay and you are in doubt ask when you buy your ticket and they can phone ahead to the ferry to let them know you might be arriving a little late but are on the way.
Hi Michael, thank you!☺
Hi there, thanks for the great info! I will be traveling to Albania from Corfu on September 23rd, but my flight doesn’t land until 16:50. I am planning on checking one bag, what do you think that chances of me catching the 18:30 ferry? I am hoping the airport might be less busy as high season dies down but I have no idea. Any suggestions? Thanks!
In theory 1hr and 40 minutes should be more than enough time to get from the airport to the ferry. Are you normally lucky? Just move as fast as you can, catch a taxi to the ticket office (10 or so minutes) and unless there’s any serious delays I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to make the 18.30 to Saranda
In 2012 I discovered that the big Lenin statue was standing in the former state foundry somewhere near the Lana river: https://albanianpyramids.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-foundry/
Correction: Lenin = Stalin
Hi Michael ……. your information is really helpful. I am hoping to get ferry service schedule information for Saranda to Corfu in December for a walk on – no car. Does a ferry depart Saranda for Corfu daily in December of 2017 or just certain days?
Depending upon the weather there should be sailings every day of the year. The timetable changes according to the season. I’ve just updated the links in the blog – that should make confirming the times of sailings from both Corfu and Saranda a little easier than in the past.
Thank you, Michael! We can say that Egels came back to his historical motherland from the place where he was worshiped as a new god and then went in exile when the masses found a different g-d to worship. I am glad for him and for the work of art and for the artist, whose impressive creation found a place, which he probably did not see even in his dreams. One more life’s twists.
Great write-up. Greetings from Adam
Hi
Do you know of any small/interesting vineyards in the Durres Kruja area. My wife Will be on a cruise and stopping in Durres in early September and are planning on getting a car with a driver for the day and having a look around. We grow grapes ourselves in NZ so are interested in the wine culture here.
Thanks
Regards
Paul Ferguson
Marlborough
NZ
Hello Paul, There’s a vineyard close to the town of Vora (which is virtually halfway along the ‘new’ highway between Durrres and Tirana, less than 30 minutes drive from the port. I can’t remember the name and can’t find the details in the information I collected on a recent visit. If your wife has a local driver then local knowledge might help. If you want more information about vineyards in the locality type ‘kantina e veres albania’ into a search engine and you will get a few other suggestions. Some of them are very much in ‘day trip’ distance of Durres.
Michael
Thanks for that, if you come across the name of the place near Vora give me a shout.
Thanks again
Paul Ferguson
Gone from sight, currently shrouded.
I don’t understand. Do you mean that now ALL the statues are covered in some sort of covering?
Not all hidden but Uncle Joe and Lenin are definitely under wraps. Pity, I made the trip just to see them. I can’t post photos here so If you would like to send me a personal email address I’ll send you photos of what was there as of last week. There might be a new one since I didn’t see any previous references to a rather large bust of a woman that is done in a Chinese red guard style.
Thank you so much for your detailed directions to the Jewish cemetery in Segovia. They were invaluable in helping us find the location…not exactly a straightforward route to figure out on our own. We were going to turn back three times times before we stumbled on your blog post giving clear instructions on how to find the cemetery. It was definitely worth the extra climbing to see the site! Your description of the Jews leaving and looking back on the city as they passed through the cemetery one last time were quite a powerful image.
Glad you found my route useful and that nothing had changed to make the directions unintelligible. The site of the cemetery definitely gives a unique view of the town walls, which are appreciated by too few.
Googling “communist franciscan” hoping in my boredom to find another communist franciscan what do I find but your excellent, informative and utterly unexpected post! Wow! Thanks for that – easily the weirdest church paintings I’ve ever come across. Nice link too (Reasons to be suspicious – Albanian-British Relationships in the 1940s). Gonna take a look at some of your other posts now.
PS I realise that this post is five years old: how’ve things been in the meantime? 🙂
The original article was posted after I had first seen the images on the left hand side of the nave. On a subsequent visit last year I saw the new ones on the right hand side. So I updated the original post with the new pictures and also some extra information I had gathered in the mean time. Not only are new paintings appearing in some of the churches (the ones on either side of the alter in the Sacred Heart Church in Tirana are also worth a visit) but the fate of the lapidars (the Socialist period monuments and statues) is constantly changing. Some are destroyed, some are located and some are renovated so it’s an ongoing project.
What an ignorant view to have. The young are leaving the country because of the severe lack of jobs, lack of economical globalisation and ridiculously corrupt government. No woman chooses to become a prostitute out of luxury, but out of necessity. And the reason the principle export is arms is because Albania was armed to the teeth by Russia and China during the Communist era for fear of being invaded – when you are the seventh poorest country in Europe, you will sell what you can. Albania is home to countless priceless Byzantine artefacts, Illyrian strongholds, Venetian architecture – unfortunately, with a GDP of 11 billion, as much as they would love to preserve this beautiful history, it isn’t exactly a priority. Not many willingly choose to leave the country they love and belong to, but making money in, “capitalist heavens” so that they can send it home to their starving families is a priority.
And with all due respect, the resilience, hospitality, loyalty and integrity of the Albanian people (despite their severely corrupt leaders, constant invasions and their status as a peripheral) far outweighs most societies I’ve experienced. But you continue with your analysis of a mosaic from your ivory tower.
I sometimes wonder at the Albanians who take exception to some of the things I write on my blog. I honestly don’t understand the world you live in, or, at least, the way you look at that world.
First of all I’ll make an admission. Although I supported the Party of Labour of Albania and agreed with the vast majority of its policies from 1944 to 1990 mistakes were obviously made. What they were and how I see them in retrospect is something that will take too long to introduce here.
Whilst saying that the blame of what happened at the end of the 1980s – and especially during the 1990s – have to be placed at the feet of the Albanian people themselves.
For reasons I still don’t fully understand they just gave up on everything and too many of them just wanted to get to the capitalist west so that they could ‘enjoy’ the fruits of capitalism. The fact that they were so stupid as to not realise that all that came with negative consequences seems to have been ignored by those who left at the time and haven’t been accepted by them, or many others, since.
I have no doubt that the situation in the country became more difficult after the desertion by the Chinese revisionists and the consequences of the isolation that Albania had to suffer following this betrayal. But for Albanians that shouldn’t have been a problem. All your history, prior to the liberation from fascism in November 1944, was predicated upon the struggle for independence.
The cult of the personality of Skenderbreu was well established before the defeat of the Italian and German fascists. Whether it was a healthy cult to perpetuate under Socialism is another issue – but as with so many ideas, not something which can be discussed in any depth here.
As the ships left Durres and Vlora, in the mad rush to get to the capitalist heaven across the Adriatic, any national pride that those Albanians on board might have had sank in their wake. Durres, where Mujo Ulqinaku was one of those who led the fight against the Italian Fascist invasion in April 1939, was only able to hold its head high for 50 years. As the workers deserted the port, the tobacco factory and other local industries they put an end to any concept of Albanian independence.
The celebration on 28th November in subsequent years has been a sham. The once proud Albanian Army is now just a lapdog to NATO. In fact I’ve encountered more foreign troops, in my visits to Albania, than Albanians. And respective governments, of whatever colour, have allowed this loss of independence to be taken away due to the misconstrued idea that by accepting such an unopposed invasion you will be invited to join, at some indeterminate time on the future, the capitalist club that is the European Union – a pipe dream that will only be realised when Hell freezes over.
Present day Albanians are a disgrace to Skenderbreu and to the thousands of partisans who fought – and too many of whom died – for your country’s freedom between 1939 and 1944.
So once you have prostituted your country it’s not a surprise that you allow your daughters to populate the brothels of western Europe – whether these be run by Albanian gangsters or the scum of other nationalities.
You say that Albanians had to leave their own country because there was no work for them there. But it is the Albanians themselves who are responsible for this.
In the 1990s it wasn’t a foreign invasion force that destroyed the infrastructure, industry and agriculture. It was the Albanians who did it themselves.
In their thousands they deserted the land and the factories. With such a reduction in the workforce any economy would have problems in adapting. Then, on top of the desertion, ‘good’ Socialist Albanians allowed ‘bad’ monarcho-fascist, reactionary and foreign agents to put the final nail in the coffin.
By not defending the collective farms and the state industries those people who had developed a Socialist conscience allowed reaction and capitalism to prevail. They allowed the enemies of Socialism, who exist in any Socialist society for many years (we still don’t don’t know how many) after a successful revolution, to destroy all the gains made over many years of sacrifice to turn a backward, semi-feudal country into something resembling a modern state in the 20th century.
I hate and detest the enemies of Socialism but, and this is a lesson of history, those who don’t defend gains from the past also have to bear some of the blame. Crimes of omission can ultimately have the same consequences as crimes of commission.
You talk of a ‘need’ to leave the country. I assume you are Albanian but haven’t you seen the innumerable deserted and looted factories, abandoned greenhouses and the results of privatisation of land that has led to the destruction of collectivised and state agriculture and returned Albanian agriculture to something resembling feudal strip farming.
Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn’t write such rubbish.
If you still live in Albanian perhaps you should travel a little bit more. You words betray a lack of knowledge bordering upon parochialism.
Have you no knowledge of the abandoned factories and industrial complexes of; Elbasan, Fier, Gijrokaster, Lac, Korca, Permet, Pogradec, Prenjas, Vlora, Berat, Durres, Shkoder, Kucove – to just mention the biggest and most obvious? Have you not seen the hundreds of railway engines and rolling stock just rotting away beside the railway lines throughout the country (especially in Vlora and Prenjas) which indicate the amount of material that used to be, in the Socialist period, transported from one part of the country to another?
You make the bizarre statement that I am making my analysis from an ‘ivory tower’. I have travelled extensively in Albania and have seen the results of the last 25 years of capitalist ‘renewal’. I have heard about countless examples of corruption and mismanagement. I have met many people whose greatest ambition is to leave the country of their birth as soon as possible. With such a background Albania has no future – apart from being a low income economy where only those who can’t escape live and work in ever worsening conditions and for lower pay.
In the 1990s. When Albanians were destroying (or allowing to be destroyed) their industrial infrastructure I and many other workers in Britain were fighting to keep our factories open. Yes, we failed, but at least we tried. What did you do?
Depending upon your age you were either a destroyer or a passive watcher. Whichever of the two you then, under the new ‘won’ capitalist ‘freedom’, were incapable of constructing a viable, modern society.
Added to this you also freed from centres such a Spac those vicious, greedy psychopaths who then caused untold havoc on the country. I’ll accept that some people were imprisoned when other methods could have been used but all societies have to deal with individuals who have no concern for anyone but themselves and who are prepared to do anything to get what they want. I don’t have the perfect answer to how to deal with them – do you?
Disagree with my analysis but don’t just think you can do so by claiming that Albanians are hard done by. In the 1990s the Albanians made their bed, now they have to lie in it.
That can be changed but not if all Albanians do is whinge about being innocent victims and/or run.
I’ve met some great people in my travels in Albania but, unfortunately, very few who want to rebuild their country for the benefit of all – that would mean the fight to reconstruct Socialism.
With all respect to your very emotional comment and to the country where I have my best friends, I don’t see a connection between the analyze of symbolism and artistic merits of the mosaic Albanians and the fact that young Albanians give up on finding a way to work in their own country. You can not blame the mosaic on supporting the corrupt government. You might use this mosaic as a symbol of Albanians struggling for their country through the whole its history. Those, who dream to have not corrupt government and work for young people to stay in their wonderful country, have to leave their ivory towers and understand that they have to struggle for their dream. Every country the young people go from Albania has a long history of struggle for better life and against their corrupt governments…
Hi, is it possible to arrange a visit preferably round noon on a Tuesday or Thursday for a small group of walkers? Thankyou
The Chapel has nothing to do with me – I just wrote about it. Check one of the other comment for contact details.
As I was reading, I was thinking to comment that the relations with China had already started to get colder, I mean publicly, since the visit of Nixon in China, although maybe not in English publications. But you mentioned it in the second half of the text.
Also in several artistic movies the end of this relationship is featured as a long agony, rather than an immediate or unexpected death, with Chinese supplying defective machinery for several years before the end of this relationship.
I’ve seen the guy in the following facebook link to post frequently about the history of Vlora, often about its sport history. He may know, or find out, who is the author of those art works.
https://www.facebook.com/perlindja.shqiperise?fref=nf&pnref=story
Thanks for the information. The only problem is I’m not on Facebook.
Thanks Mike.
Happy travelling.
Colleen
Hello- I’m traveling from Corfu to Saranda on 24 May. Unfortunately our flight doesn’t arrive until 10:00 AM so we miss the morning ferry. While I saw there is an 18:30 ferry departure, I was wondering if there are any other options like a water taxi that could get us to Saranda earlier? Thanks for the help.
I’m not aware of any other option than the ferry.
Thank you for the response. Cheers
I am an Albanian who moved in UK in the late ’90’s. I have met 2 types of people:
Type 1- those who have heard about Albania and Albanians mainly from newspapers (‘written in a hurry’ to quote a witty British stand-up comedian), TV programmes/movies (depicting Albanians as the villains of the world/pimps/drug dealers etc, etc) and anecdotal evidence from the above ‘reliable sources’ . Type 2 – people who have visited Albania like Michael Harrison (i am assuming this is a real person and judging by the web domain and comments, based in UK). I am old enough to have lived the ‘Communist era’ and also compare and contrast with a capitalism. Paranoid? Well, Michael presents some compelling evidence pro-paranoia. Villains of the world? Would you be surprised if i told you that the worst crime i ever heard of before the 90’s was someone hitting another with a bottle in a fight? The few ‘villains’ learned from the best and became better than the master – perhaps for the wrong reasons. Are all British ‘hooligans’, all Italians ‘Mafia’ or all French ‘frogs’ (don’t answer the last one!)? But thank you, Michael Harrison, for summing up Albania; to quote UK Foreign Office: ‘Albanians are very hospitable’.
I have read that the so called ‘Port Tax’ entering Albania is a scam and was obliterated 6 years ago.
What are people’s experience of this please?
Thank you
I’ve never heard of anyone being caught by this scam and had no such experiences myself. I would be very surprised if you were asked to pay such an entry tax but if you are refuse point blank.
Thanks Mike.
I’ve read a few people given a raffle ticket on the ferry over to Albanian. As payment for Port Tax!
Excursion companies have included it in the speal.
Probably go indpendant !
Thanks again
Colleen.
Getting your ticket from the office at the port in either Corfu or Saranda is so easy there’s no point in using an intermediary. If there is any sort of tax it will be included in the ticket price and will NEVER be asked for at any time en route. Enjoy your trip.
Congratulations on (yet again) bringing to our attention a work of art many of us would not have known. However, I have some reservations. While I agree with your main points (the standard behaviour of imperialists, the relative mediocrity of the statue), I feel you allow yourself to be sidetracked into routine anti-capitalist fulminations which detract from the thrust of your analysis. I suggest there is little need to attempt conversion of the bourgeois/metropolitan/Western imperialist strand of your readership, simply because I doubt they exist in significant numbers. However, judicious criticism of works of art is an important part of what you do on this website. Here I feel it is diluted, which is a pity.
Hello Ian, Glad to hear you find my blogs interesting and thanks for the time to make a comment on my last one.
I’m aware that I fall into the ‘trap’ of a rant from time to time. In my own defence I think I do that to stress that a ‘work of art’ is not divorced from the situation in society in general and hence feel I have to provide examples to back up that assertion.
However,, in future I will step back a little before I press the publish button to make sure I don’t go over the top.
Take care
Michael
Dear Michael,
I was the British Defence Attache based in Tirana between 2005-2008. Certainly while I was there Remembrance Services were annually held at the Memorial Park with good international attendance and representation from the senior most figures in Albania.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, a decision was made to greatly reduce the number of attaches worldwide and in the case of Albania after I left representation was made from the attache based in Italy. I will say no more. I am now out of touch but heard a rumour that this decision might have been changed from last year.
I continue to have a deep love and fascination for Albania. I have heard many comments about the rights and wrongs about what happened in Albania during WW2, from all sides, some expressed to me with great emotion and passion. The truth is that the complexities of the actions, from all sides, who did what and who didn’t, for what reasons, with short or long term objectives, are considerable and quite typically much easier for us to criticise in the comfort of our armchairs 70 years later. What is certainly true however is that, at an individual level, immense bravery and determination was shown by some, Albanians and British (and others), and I am full of admiration for them, if only we can strip away the politics.
Hello Mark,
‘If only we can strip away the politics’? Not something that can be done when we are talking about wars. I agree that many brave men and women fought (and too many died) in the fight against Fascism. The added complication with the Balkans was even though British service personnel were sent to those countries occupied by the Fascists to ‘help’ those local partisans fighting against the invaders they were also there with a sub-text (even if not known to themselves at the time). And that was to attempt to promote British imperial interests after the war – this especially so when the defeat of Fascism was only a matter of time after the Red Army went on the offensive and pushed the Nazi’s out of their country.
This is especially evident in the British support for the Greek Monarchists in the Civil War. British military personnel and equipment (which only a matter of months before were in action against the Nazis) were used against those partisans who had fought the Fascist in Greece and in support of those who had collaborated with the Fascists. The British supported victory of the Monarchists led to almost 30 years of on off fascist and military dictatorship of the country. The people fought a foreign fascist only to be dominated by a home grown version.
This, not surprisingly, had an effect upon the thinking of the Albanian people. I went into some of these issues in my blog on British interference in Albanian affairs and the so-called Corfu Channel Incident.
And recently, you might have heard if you are now back in the UK, their have been a number of programmes on Radio 4 telling the story of the British and American attempts at ‘regime change’ (before the term was coined) in Albania.
The stripping away of any independent military force in Albania and its replacement by a foreign, NATO force has only served to confirm the long term ambitions of the British, in concert with other western capitalist powers.
We’ll arrive Corfu at 04 am, and takes the ferry to Saranda at 09am. Is it smart to wait at the airport some hours or take a taxi to the harbour at 04 o’clock? I think we must be at the ferry 1 hour before, at 08 am? So we have 4 hours to wait somewhere…. What is your sugestion?
This is in late july, in the high season.. I will order tickets for the ferry, but I can’t buy before 3 months before we are leaving..
Hello John, can’t really give you much advice based upon personal experience. Airport’s are terrible places at the best of times but at least you’ll probably be able to find somewhere relatively quiet to rest before your journey to Saranda. At the same time you will be arriving when it’s going to be warm so watching the sun rise over the water might be attractive – if you’re not too tired. There’s a cafe attached to the docks (just opposite the Saranda ferry ticket office) but whether it will be open at that time of day I can’t say.
Thank you, it is a good thing to see the sun rise,so maybe we will try not to sleep at all
Hi john i think that at 4am in the morning i would split the difference i would head to harbour around 6 am as cannot see anything going to be open for you hope that helps, ian
Went from Corfu to Sarande last July, arrived 2am at airport, taxi to ferry port €15, bar was open all night but quite expensive
Another excellent presentation complete with great interpretations of the artworks. Thank you.
Glad you continue to enjoy reading my interpretations of the lapidars – now including mosaics and bas reliefs as well as the more major monuments.
Comrade Michael,
Do you have the following books:
1. The Ideas of Marxism-Leninism Will Triumph on Revisionism
English Edition, Tirana, 1962, pp 226.
2. Oppose Modern Revisionism and Uphold Marxism-Leninism and the Unity of the International Communist Movement
English Edition, pp.420
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
3. The Belgrade Revisionist Clique — Renegades from Marxism – Leninism and Agents of Imperialism
English Edition, pp.325
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
(The books contain thirteen articles originally published in Zeri i Popullit between Jan., 1962 and Sept., 1963. Articles are on the Belgrade Revisionist crusade against Marxism-Leninism and Tito’s policies and the many plots he hatched with Khrushchev).
4. The Dangerous Maneuvers of N. Khrushchev’s Group on the So-Called Fight Against the “Cult of the Individual” Should Be Stripped Bare of Their Mask.
English Edition, pp.123
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964.
( This books contains three articles reproduced from 1964 June 12, 13, 14 issues of Zeri-i-popullit Daily).
Please reply,
Manabhanjan
Hello Manabhanjan,
Of your list I only have ‘The Belgrade Revisionist Clique -….’. Give me a few days and I’ll try to get it scanned and posted on my blog. I’ll let you know when that happens.
Of the same period I also have ‘Marxist-Leninist Ideology will certainly overcome Revisionism II’, Naim Frasheri, Tirana, 1964. 462 pages. It contains 12 articles from Zeri i Popullit from May 17, 1962 to June 29, 1963.
Take care
Michael
A pdf of ‘The Belgrade Revisionist Clique’ is now available on the ‘Documents of the Party of Labour of Albania 41-50’ page of the blog.
Thanks for your information.
Hello
We travelling from Corfu to Albania by car.
My question is: can we take the car on the ferry?
Thank you
I have no information of how you can take a car direct to Albania from Corfu. The only way I know would be to take the normal ferry to Igoumenitsa and then drive to the Albanian border at Konispoll.
Oh dear; another left-wing rant.
“the so-called ‘Corfu Incident’).”? There was no ‘so-called’ about it. 44 Royal Navy men died – in peacetime – as a direct result of a minefield that had just been laid by the Albanians in international waters.
And not just in 1946. I was skippering a delivery of a yacht from Yugoslavia to Greece in 1976, and we had to cross right over to the Italian side of the Adriatic at Bari, to avoid the Albanian-laid and maintained minefields extending half way across from the port of Dürres.
So: let’s have a bit less of the “peace-loving Albanians”, and let’s remember the 750,000 pillboxes built on Enver Hoxha’s instructions, whilst he kept the entire population in impoverished slavery for over 40 years.
“Buried in a municipal graveyard” ? Too good for him; it should have been the rubbish dump; and for his even more vicious wife, Naxjimje.
If all you want to read is something that reinforces your own prejudices don’t waste your (and my) time reading my blog and stick to the right-wing, neo-fascist ideas presented in the likes of the Daily Mail. You’re not going to learn anything with such a closed mind.
However I will, this time only, respond to your lack of knowledge and understanding of the situation in 1946 and world politics in general.
I consider the events in 1946 a provocation by a failing imperialist power (with the support of the imperialist power that was to takes its place, i.e., the USA) against a small country, with a population at the time of a little over a million people and which had been invaded by two Fascist powers and had beaten them both. But at great sacrifice. The term ‘incident’ is merely a diplomatic device to avoid blame.
I state that 44 men were killed but unlike you, who merely spews out the same propaganda spoon-fed to the unthinking and unanalytical, I ask the question of who was really responsible for their deaths and why they were where they were. They were put in harms way by politicians in London who thought they could still use the ‘gunboat diplomacy’ of the 19th century. Atlee and Bevin were the guilty ones not the Albanians.
Peacetime? The war for Britain had finished in 1945 but not for many of the people in the Balkans. The reason that such a powerful naval force was in the region at all was because the British were in Greece, supporting the monarcho-fascist collaborators of the Nazis against the working people and peasants who had fought against the invaders of their country. Without such foreign support there’s no doubt the history of Greece would have been very different. (The victory of the fascists with British and US support in the 1940s led inevitably to the rule of the Junta from 1967-74.) This meant that a potentially hostile force was just over the hills from Albania on its southern border. It’s no wonder that when huge warships came close to the Albanian coastline the government in Tirana was wary.
In another post on my blog, ‘Reasons to be suspicious – Albanian-British Relationships in the 1940s’, published in January 2013, I speculated what would have been the response of the British if a Soviet flotilla had sailed along the English Channel at that time. We know now, from the fuss that was made when a Russian flotilla did exactly that (in ‘international waters’) in October of last year, of the level of paranoia and hypocrisy that permeates British thinking. There was no threat whatsoever to Britain last year, the same cannot be said about what happened close to Albania in 1946.
And that threat had not diminished by 1976.
I don’t think I’ve used the term ‘peace-loving Albanians’, not really my style. They wanted peace when they were attempting to build Socialism but the British and Americans (and their hangers-on) wouldn’t allow it. It’s a pity we can’t use the term ‘peace-loving British/Americans’ in the post 1945 context. Since 1945 the armed forces from those two countries have been involved in other people’s countries, killing under a variety of ‘reasons’, but fundamentally denying them the right to determine their own futures. It wasn’t until the slavish, capitalist government in Tirana brown nosed NATO that Albanian troops stood aggressively on foreign soil.
As for the bunkers, at least they were for the defence of the country against any foreign invader. The cost of those small concrete structures were only a tiny fraction of what has been spent by the British and the Americans to kill millions outside of their national boundaries – a list of countries too numerous to list here. With the renewal of Trident and Trump’s promise to increase military expenditure that figure will only carry on increasing. Get a perspective.
First i have to remind You that by thinking in terms like “German Guilt” You enter the realm of Nazi thinking. There is nothing like “guilty peoples” as the Nazis believed because guilt is individual and Germans behaved quite differently during Nazi rule. Some time ago there was a documentary about Jews in Germany during WW2.
A Jewish woman who then was on the run told she was desperate because she had no place for hiding anymore. She asked an unknown woman on the street whether she could help her. The woman gave her the key to her flat. So she survived. If she wouldn’t have been asked by the Jewish woman she would have remained an ordinary German later accused of not having helped Jews (like You do).
Are You really sure what You would have done?
Not “the Germans” murdered the Jews but the dictatorship that came into being 1933. And the governments of some of the nations most critical against “the Germans” weren’t innocent in regard of this.
My grand father complained about the new government a short time after Hitler was appointed chancellor. Being red and living in a mostly red district in a German industrial town didn’t help him. He was denunciated by one of the few Nazis there and was interned in one of the new concentration camps as ca. 100000 others. He lost 30 kg because of bad treatment but luckily was released 4 months later. Hitler had to do a coup d’etat to install a dictatorship because he failed to get a majority of votes (last free elections Nov. 1932 NSDAP 33,1%). The left parties never dropped under 40%. Because of the strong results of the Communists the Conservatives and big business panicked and Hitler’s defeat made him chancellor. The behavior of our enemies was an important factor in the destruction of democracy. They violated the agreed 14 points by dictating the Versailles Treaty. Instead of reparations as defined (compensation of private losses) they demanded compensation of all war costs. Because of that the German governments couldn’t do anything against the great depression unlike the US under Roosevelt. Germany had to pay or to be austere until death. That changed with Hitler. The war enemies obviously didn’t want to cooperate with Democrats instead they preferred Nazis. After war they treated the German civilian population and the German POWs ill by denying them enough food. Instead they destroyed the economic infrastructure. Their propaganda accused all Germans to have known of the Holocaust and to have supported the Nazis. These insane accusations and the bad role model of the Allies themselves proved to be very good for Nazis. Guilty people were helped by criminalizing not guilty people. Strangely the Allies preferred Nazis for most posts. No wonder it wasn’t possible to talk about Nazi crimes for a long time (including the Anti-Nazis who were thrown into the same bag as the Nazis only because they were Germans as my father told me). Great thing for the Nazis! They really had to thank the Allies.
My opinion of some peoples will forever be negative because of the role their governments had in the destruction of German democracy and the rise to power of the Nazis (and the hardships my grand father had to endure in KZ), their vile post war defamations against people who hadn’t done anything wrong, they behaving like Nazis by starving the population (my mother nearly perished) and ill treatment of POWs (Manfred my father’s brother survived live in a US camp near Liege in Belgium but many died every night. Every morning he had to put dead bodies into bags).
Sorry, but You are part of that because of Your arrogant and ignorant statements.
Hello Walter,
I’ve delayed in replying to your comments as I have had trouble in getting my head around what your point was substantially about.
It’s such a long time since I saw the film ‘Lore’ that I will have to address my reply to your comments and not to argue, again, what I might have written more than 4 years ago.
I have never said, written or believed that ALL Germans were guilty for the rise and existence of Nazism. As a Communist I praise the efforts of the German Communists in their street battles against the various fascist groups before Hitler’s election victory in 1933 – and we must also remember that the first victory of German fascism came in 1919 with the slaughter of the Spartacists by the state sponsored Freikorps. (Those murdering scum and dregs of humanity who relished the killing of the trenches were not just a German phenomenon, to the shame of the British we allowed the Black and Tans to murder with impunity in Ireland in the early 1920s, I mentioned their role in the political scene post-1914-19 war in my blog on Armistice Day.
I also accept that some people but themselves at great personal risk both in the early days of Nazi control from 1933 and well into the war to defend and protect those being persecuted by the Fascists. But they are the exception that prove the rule. Most people didn’t – whether for fear or because they actually agreed with Hitler. The argument about percentages in elections is spurious and is one of the principal weaknesses of bourgeois democracy – most parties win with a minority of the vote.
But you can’t just forget that a sizable proportion of the population of Germany supported the Fascists in the 1930s, 40s and beyond. Going across the Atlantic to Chile we saw in the referendum on the fascist Dictator Pinonchet’s desire to ‘rule’ for another 8 years that although the ‘No’ vote won still 44% of those who voted supported the Fascist (after the country had been under the military boot for 15 years).
I agree with your points about the western powers installing Fascist functionaries in positions of power after the defeat of Germasny and that the ‘ordinary’ German man and woman suffered. My question is ‘why do you seem surprised?’. What else did you thin they would do – give power to the people? Your naivete would be laughable if the circumstances were not so tragic.
And I never condemn Germany and the German people forgetting the history of my own country. Yes, tens of millions dies because of the rise of Nazism but many more have suffered and died over the centuries at the hands of British imperialism, from slavery, dominance of whole continents and the planned genocides of peoples in different parts of the globe. As a citizen of the UK I would also be ‘guilty’ of those crimes if I have not spent most of my adult life fighting against its present day manifestations.
Don’t try to re-write history. The German people, at all levels, knew what was happening in the extermination camps. Buchenwald concentration camp was only 8 kilometres from the city of Weimar, the ‘cradle of German culture’. Trains travelling across country full of people and returning empty should have pressed some buttons. The fact that the British and Americans also knew about the slaughter in the camps and did nothing about it is an important fact, often ignored, but that doesn’t absolve the Germans for what was happening in their soil, planned by the sons and daughters of the German people.
If the Germans were not guilty in the 1930s and 40s then they can prove that by making sure that such groups can never again gain such prominence and power. That is not guaranteed if we look at the present surge in support for right-wing parties.
Unfortunately history has been slanted once again. These 5 ‘heroes’ may well have been fighting against fascism but at the same time they were fighting for communism which turned out to be far worse for the country, just as the nationalists had predicted. Too bad history in Albania is always on the side of communism rather than praising the efforts of those who gave their life fighting to preserve a free Albania and rid it of the monster who ultimately ruled it with a vengeance for 50 years! Statues of the real heroes are never created. The truth of the fighters who fought and died in their fight against communism is never told!
First, apologies for the delay in replying.
When the Italian fascists invaded Durres in April 1939 patriots (like Mujo Ulqinaku) ran for their guns, the self proclaimed ‘king’ Zog ran away. Not just from the battle front but from the Second World War, living in luxury in a mansion in the countryside in England after London became too dangerous for him.
When the ‘nationalists’, that you so admire, sat down and collaborated with the German Nazis in Tirana those same Nazis were massacring the inhabitants of the village of Borove.
It wasn’t only the Communists that fought against the aggressors – that can be seen in all the martyrs’ cemeteries throughout Albania – but they were led by the Communists who were the driving force of the National Liberation Front. Without the Communists there would have been no organised and strategic military leadership, no National Liberation Front.
After Liberation in November 1944 the Albanian people had to decide whether to return to an almost feudal structure, welcome back the cowardly Zog or attempt to build a new society based on Communist principles.
Those Nationalist collaborators, traitors and cowards didn’t like losing their power base and – with the active help of the American and British states – set about undermining and attempting to destroy this new Socialist state by attempting to infiltrate hundreds of paid stooges into the country to carry out acts of sabotage. This is all documented and the imperialist nations were/are unapologetic in their illegal acts.
If you think there are nationalist ‘heroes’ that should be commemorated then there’s nothing stopping you from identifying them and placing that information out on the internet. However, whereas the biographies of the Communist heroes filled a number of volumes I would tend to think your effort would result in a very thin volume indeed.
And don’t complain. You’ve got the while of the capitalist world and its powerful media outlets fighting in your corner. You’re just a whinger who provides them with some sort of credibility, you represent the ‘common’ man.
I don’t mind, that’s how it goes.
none of the links work ….
Hello Dave
Thanks for taking the time to let me know of the broken links. I’ve had a look and they were all external links and therefore outside of my control. That’s not an excuse, just a reason why they now go nowhere. This was one of my earlier posts and I was in a learning process. I wanted to put in links but those I chose were virtually all links to the Segovia City Tourism site. They must have changed their address – not a particularly sensible thing to do for a city that depends so much on tourism, I would have thought.
I will look at my post over the weekend and see if I can get the information in a way that it is on my server and therefore much more under my control. If you need the information before I have the chance to update my post then I suggest you go to the new location of Segovia Tourism at http://visitsegovia.turismodesegovia.com/. I’ve had a quick look and it seems that all the information I was directing readers towards is on the new site.
I hope the broken links didn’t detract from the rest of the post and if you are going to visit Segovia at some time in the future you find it useful.
Thanks again for bothering to notify me of the non-existent links.
Take care
Michael
I take it that you are not a royalist then, Michael?
I wouldn’t say that.
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Cloud you post the articule: “The Marxist-Leninist Parties – the leading force of the revolutionary movement today – Agim Popa”?
Its look basic for reorganization of M-L movement…
Hello Comrades, I wish I could but I don’t have access to that issue at the moment. I plan to fill in the gaps in the late 1970s at some time in the future but don’t know exactly when that will be.
Dear Mr. Harrison,
We are publishing the almanac about ecumenical orthodoxy (http://lodka.sreda.org). Can we, please, use your photo of Tirana church dome in our printnig and web edition and on what conditions?
Hello Natasha, You’re quite welcome to use the picture – just give credit to the blog.
Great reply. Thanks!
Another wonderful posting. Thanks!
You wrote: “In many ways they capture a feeling of optimism and hope for the future which other art forms just can’t achieve”. So very true. I wonder whether they really achieved this aim. Has anyone written anything about the perception of this kind of art by the ‘common people’ during the Socialist era?
Not that I have been able to discover. The only material I have come across is that produced in Albania throughout the 1970s and 80s. This was more a documentation of what had been produced although there were articles in various issues of Albania Today discussing the relevance of art in a socialist society.
Yoy wrote: ” I also don’t really understand why the myth around Skenderbreu was perpetuated as much as it was during the Socialist period.”.
This also puzzles me somewhat. My simplistic feeling is that because Skanderbeg defied outside forces hostile to the Albanian people, he was appealed to Party ideology, which during the Hoxha era wanted to portray Albania as being defiantly against outside interference.
Skanderbeg like Hoxha defied forces far superior to those of the Albanians.
Hello Adam, I think your analysis is more one of hindsight than one which existed from the earliest days of the Revolution. Taking the national flag as that of Skenderbeu with the addition of the gold star was a decision made when Albania was playing a part in a rapidly changing world, with the defeat of fascism in Europe and the soon to be successful revolution in China. Paskali was making statues of Skenderbeu in the 1930s and the one he created for the centre of Tirana was inaugurated in 1968. At that time Albania was still in partnership with China and although there had been a split with the Soviet Union this was not seen, internationally, as a weakness, quite the opposite, this was seen as a necessary break for the future of the revolution. In many ways even before the fascist invasion in 1939 nationalism was part of the thinking of many Albanians. The problem was that some of them ditched that idea of independence to collaborate with the fascists as they saw the Communists as a bigger threat to their personal power and influence. I disagree with the analysis that Hoxha was isolationist. He sought alliances – but based on principles not force. And, anyway, the idea of self determination was a principle established by Marxist-Leninists at the beginning of the 20th century. That’s something which few countries presently maintain, following the dictats of the most powerful, and that includes the UK with it’s ‘special relationship’ with the USA. Blair as Bush’s poodle comes to mind.
There is a monument in Peqin with a constellation of small red stars above it.
When I started on my lapidar project everything was hit and miss. Fortunately, by the beginning of 2015 I had access to the information provided by the Albanian Lapidar Survey. Here most of the lapidars have been identified and photographed. So on my last couple of visits I have used that totally invaluable resource. If you click on ‘Albanan Lapidar Survey’ at the top of my home page you will be taken to a page with downloadable pdf’s of their work. I saw and photographed the one in Peqin earlier this year. However, the one in Saranda is the first where it looks like it might be based on a traditional constellation.
I have already downloaded them. Thanks
Fascinating. Thanks! Have you ever published an ‘analysis’ of the murals in the Hotel Cajupi in Gjirokastër?
Hello Adam, good to hear you found the post on the traditional wedding interesting. As for the Cajupi in Gjirokaster I didn’t know there were murals in that hotel as well. I went in there a number of times (didn’t stay in the rooms) for the rooftop bar on my last visit. Didn’t see any murals. Where are they? I’ll search them out on my next visit.
On the ground floor in a sort of bar. I could send you some pictures if you want.
Hello Adam, I think I know the bar you mean, it’s on the right as you come through the main door from Topulli Square, just before the stairs. When I was there I went to the first floor and roof top bars. Would appreciate a couple of pictures to know the subject and will make an effort to check it out myself when next in Gjirokaster.
Hi! Congratulations for your work…
We are a marxism-leninist blog of Spain, we call us “Bitácora Marxista-Leninista” or “Bitácora (M-L)”.
We are translated some editions of Albania Today from here, thanks to you.
We want to know the next information:
1) How can we know the next numbers that you will bring?
2) We are interested in translate some articles, for example:
‘Mao Tse-tung thought’ – an anti-Marxist, counter-revolutionary theory – Servet Pëllumbi
The Marxist-Leninist Parties – the leading force of the revolutionary movement today – Agim Popa
The Chinese Social-imperialists – supporting the reactionary and Fascist regimes – Zeri i Popullit
In China there is no Communist Party, but Clans and Factions Struggling with each other for Power – Zëri i Popullit
Victory of the Nicaraguan people in their struggle for freedom and independence – Zeri i Popullit
etc.
Thanks!!
Hello Comrades. Glad that you are finding the magazines interesting. My ultimate aim is to post all the Albania Today issues published. I have a number of gaps in the early years but have most through the 1980s’. It’s a matter of finding the time, with wanting to work on my Albanian lapidar project. They will get there eventually.
To translate the articles you wish would be a truly monumental task. In parallel to Albania Today there was a Spanish edition, Albania Hoy. It might be worthwhile trying to see if they are available in your country before embarking on the translation task. Unfortunately the only place where I know the Spanish version exists is in the National Library in Tirana
Thank you for this information. I note that Qybra Sokoli is featured on an Albanian stamp of 1983, in a series issued each year between 1979 and 1986, depicting a total more than seventy martyrs and partisans.
Dear Mr. Harrison. I enjoy this blog very, very much. Thank you for your time and effort to enthuse us with your tales.
I wanted to know if you would give me permission to use the photo of Mao addressing the Chinese people on the 1st October, 1949, for my own blog -website
I am currently in China and a filmmaker, however, it is not easy to get the permission and entails going to the central archives in Beijing.
I would give full credit to you for this usage…With thanks…
Jeanne
Hello Jeanne, you’re more than welcome to use that picture on my blog. If you are in China (or even when back home) I don’t see why you should have problems about using pictures from the Mao era. China did not sign the Berne Convention – which deals with copyright – until 1979 so material published before that date shouldn’t be covered by any such regulations.
Hi
I was in Tirana this week and had à Nice chat with the security guard in front of hotel Dajti…
Was able to take Nice shots of Stalin and Lenin…still Thére !
Yes, they are still there, hidden away from general view. Good to hear you found a friendly security guard – I always seem to encounter one who sees his job to ‘protect’ the statues. But the location is dirty and I don’t understand why they are not displayed in a proper manner. Or just destroy them and make a political point. Why this ‘half-way house’?
Thank you for all of the great information about Albania. I am wondering if you have any information about the history or Plazhi Gjeneralit?
Thank you
I’d never even heard about Plazhi Gjeneralit before this post – not really a beach person, more interested in the hills. Let me know if it’s worth going there.
You say, “On a banner is the famous phrase from Karl Marx – ‘religion is the opium of the people’.” That’s a misquote. It should be “opiate”, meaning anything which acts to subdue or suppress action, create passivity, etc. Also, I think it’s important to point out that all the people in the foreground are among “the faithful”. The unbelievers are all facing the other way, toward the works of man/ buildings in the background. I’m interested in the very traditional dress of the older people. The old woman appears to be wearing Turkish-style trousers and yet there is something in her hand that may be a rosary – impossible to see due to poor picture quality. I lived among Albanians in Skopje, Macedonia years ago and saw many men dressed like those with the hairy waistcoats, white skull caps and striped trousers. Some Albanians are Catholics, some are Muslim. One aspect of culture your articles does not mention are the blood feuds or vendettas that rage between families for centuries.
Do you also have discussions about how many angels can dance on a pin head? Marx used opium/opiate as a metaphor. My dictionary gives opiate = something that soothes, deadens or induces sleep and opium = something having a tranquillizing or stupefying effect. Taking Marx in context opium would seem to be the better word.
You don’t seem to have read the words of my post. I draw the distinction between those in the foreground – there because the painter wants to give them precedence even though they are in the minority – and the rest of the people in the square.
Yes the old woman is holding a rosary, I mention that in the post, in the third paragraph below the picture. Sorry about the ‘poor quality’ of the photo.
The post is about the paintings, not the cultural history of Albania. I might write about blood feuds in the future but didn’t see it as relevant when writing about paintings in a Franciscan church.
Please let me know who I may contact to arrange a visit to The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth in late September early October 2016. Thanks.
Have a look at one of the previous comments from the people at the Chapel. That provides a local telephone number for out of hours access.
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Les américains sont des porcs qui ne savent que semer la mort et le désastre partout où ils passent. Ce sont eux qui ont encore mis le monde à feu et à sang avec leurs interventions en afghanistan,irak,libye…Il est normal qu’ils paient leurs crimes avec leur propre sang.
Tout comme la France en Algérie.
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There’s a contradiction that in those societies (in the 20th century) that attempted the most revolutionary and radical transformation of their societies in terms of economics and politics did not extend such an approach to relationships and sexuality. Quite the reverse, in many cases, as the leaders of those societies took an almost extreme bourgeois approach towards morality.
All of us brought up in a bourgeois, capitalist society carry with us the baggage of that society and even the most revolutionary of us can get it wrong at times.
However, in preparation for the future round of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist led revolutions we will have to address this issue as part of our analysis of what went wrong in the past.
Thank you for helping uncover the mystery! Yes, this seems very prominent in the south. In Himare, where half the buildings are stalled-out and now abandoned half building constructions we saw so many stuffed animals hanging. I especially love the ones – many around Sarande- where the doll hangs from within the grape vines. These two things have now become the major symbols of Albania for me. Working title for my Broadway musical: Grapes and Dolls.
I very much enjoyed your careful analysis. I’d like to add, that it is misleading to think of Albanians as a single ethnicity, or mono culture. The people that fought against invaders and built Albania after WW2 are different from those that destroyed it after the 90. It’s not the same people that “changed their mind”.
This is an election map:
https://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/wp-content/gallery/albania2013/PARTI%20EN%20TETE%202013.jpg
As you can see, it more of less corresponds with division Tosk / Gheg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Albanian_dialects.svg/2000px-Albanian_dialects.svg.png
The difference is not merely ideological and linguistic, genetic tests show that they are two completely unrelated people:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7218/images/nature07331-f1.2.jpg
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/files/2011/05/sobpc.jpg
The Ghegs are actually descendants of slaves brought from north-east Africa in antiquity and they gave Albania in these quarter century the typical history of a nation of ex-slaves: plunder and destruction, criminality, high corruption.
http://britam.org/Haplogroup-E1b1b.jpg
http://cdn.eupedia.com/images/content/Haplogroup-E1b1b.jpg
So, even in rapport with women, it’s not meaningful to speak about “Albanian women”. Which one? The ones that had the right to vote decades before (1920) those in Italy (1945) or those in Greece (1952)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women%27s_suffrage
Or those that were married covered as in Africa in the 60′?
http://www.forumishqiptar.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5972&stc=1&d=1036435522
You seem to damn with faint praise. All those ‘facts’ that you present in your comment go completely what I have argued in my posts which include ideas about the role of women both in the National Liberation War and in the construction of Socialism.
I won’t comment on the voting maps, parliamentary cretinism means you can prove anything with the selective use of statistics.
However, I find your racist comments about the Ghegs quite disturbing. Many people, when confronted with difficulties, either take on the victim status or blame others – as you do.
It’s difficult to deal with all the issues you raise by that couple of lines about ‘ex-slaves’ but suffice it to say that the destruction of the infrastructure in the 1990s and the continuing lack of respect or concern for anything public in Albania is encountered the length and breadth of the country.
As all Albanians can be proud of expelling the fascists from their country prior to 1944 all Albanians have to look at the destruction, chaos and corruption around them and try to answer the question, why?
I believe that to understand a subject, means to be able to make predictions. This should be obvious, the past can’t be changed so the only use of knowledge is to make predictions about the future. Explaining is similar to predicting, except that the things that you’re predicting have already happened. If you can’t explain something, you wouldn’t be able to predict it, and the reverse.
If you believe you’ve understood what has happened here during the period you’re interested in, go back (with imagination) at the beginning of that period, and start predicting everything that would happen later. You wouldn’t be able to, and your politically correct position that “everyone is the same” wouldn’t be of any help.
People generally manifest consistent behaviors. Even in those rare cases when behaviors are inconsistent, they still can be grouped in such a way, that within each group they are consistent. Such groups of consistent behaviors are called personalities, and the person in question is said to suffer from a multiple personality syndrome. The usefulness of thinking of someone as animated by multiple personalities is that once you know which personality is in charge you can start to make predictions.
This area of the globe has been the epicenter of civilization that lasted for many centuries and gave birth to multiple empires, and empires leave behind two kinds of people, the descendants of those that founded them, and the descendants of their slaves. Albanian speakers are a mix of these two diametrically opposite people / cultures and the history of Albania has reliably oscillated from one extreme to the other reflecting the culture of the group that has been in power. Ghegs have been in power only two times, in both cases with help from outside, and in both cases have given Albania the history of a nation of slaves. Until before the Ottoman invasion, they weren’t even considered Albanians, while Albania included even what now is Greece.
http://www.helmink.com/Antique_Map_Porcacchi_World/Scans/Porcacchi%20World%202.jpg
What happened during the last century can’t be understood (in the sense that it can be considered predictable) without knowing from where Albanians come from.
If you’re open minded and interested to go deeper I’m willing to provide all arguments and evidences to challenge your beliefs.
Lastly, since you’re interested in visual arts, what do you think of the following two pictures? They both show a scene from crucifixion and in both paintings the soldiers hold a red flag with a two headed black eagle, the flag that now identifies Albanians.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Pieter_Coecke_van_Aelst_-_Christ_Carrying_the_Cross.jpg
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/brera-gallery-milan-crucifixion-michele-da-verona-1501-picture-id629535093
I don’t really understand what you mean in most of your comment. I have never written anything about being able to predict the future – something which is an impossibility and the domain of charlatans. A study of the past is, however, useful in order to learn from what has gone before – both the negative as well as the positive examples. This is so as to not make the same mistakes. Unfortunately too many people ignore the past and fall into the same traps which they might have avoided if they had respected the mistakes of those before. As for the double-headed eagle I don’t know what point you are trying to make. That symbol has been around for around for just under 4000 years, stretching from India in the east to Wimbledon in the UK. The presence of a black eagle on a red flag in a depiction of the mythical crucifixion in Palestine a couple of thousands of years ago has absolutely nothing to do with what occurred in Albania in the 20th century. I don’t know why but you seem to be desperate to find someone to blame for the past in Albania. My point that it was the same people (that is, the Albanian workers, peasants and ‘intellectuals’) who made the revolution were the ones that saw things collapse in the early 1990s still stands. People are responsible for their actions and can’t always look outside of their own society for the culprit to take all the blame. External factors were/are important but ultimately it is the people themselves who ultimately determine the sort of society in which they live.
Thank you….
2014 date….anything for this year ? 2016 ?
Joyce Eastwood
Liverpool L18 8AR
You can see what’s planned for this year by following the link: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/advanced-search/results/eyJyZXN1bHRfcGFnZSI6IlwvdmlzaXRpbmdcL2FkdmFuY2VkLXNlYXJjaFwvcmVzdWx0cyIsInNlYXJjaDpjZl9ldmVudF90b3duIjoiTGl2ZXJwb29sIiwic2VhcmNoOmNmX2V2ZW50X29wZW5pbmdfdGltZXMiOiJUaHVyc2RheXxGcmlkYXl8U2F0dXJkYXl8U3VuZGF5In0
Hi this is a great article we are going to Segovia in September do you know a guide who can take us around your Jewish tour.
Thanks
Hello Frank
Glad you found the post useful. It’s been some time since I was in Segovia and can’t help you when it comes to a guide. However, the area covered by my suggested walk is very small really and making sure you have a good (free) city map plus (perhaps) the booklet on the history of the Jewish community in the city – mentioned at the end of the post – should be more than adequate. You can’t get lost as you are never more than a few hundred meters from the castle wall – something which can’t be confused with anything else.
Dear Michael Harrison
In course of rather belatedly writing up my notes of a visit to Northern Italy in 2014 I have been trying to identify a painting of The Last Supper which I saw in Santa Maria Maggiore. I was struck by its composition. It had an angled aspect from below rather than front on or from above. The dominant feature was a white tablecloth with angled folds. The left hand lower part of the picture had a child dispensing water (?) into flagons. The right hand lower frame depicted an animal waiting for discarded bones. Does this description jog your memory perhaps?
Thank you for what you wrote about your visit to that city. As always there are regrets about what one has failed to notice or not had time to visit, and I enjoyed your unique insights into this most fascinating part of the world.
Hello Elizabeth
The painting you mention is just inside the South Portal, on the right hand side of the alter. I mention it in this posting. What struck me was the depiction of Judas. He is the principal figure on the right hand side, with his back to the viewer. He is trying to hide his bag of silver but the young servant boy to his right sees what is going on. I attempted a couple of times to get a half decent picture but failed and that’s why I didn’t use it in the post – wrong angle, too little light, no tripod, etc. I’ll send you a couple of photos to remind you of what you saw on your visit to Bergamo. I have no idea of the painter or it’s date.
I need to get on to a customs officials at Trinidad airport can some one help me it’s important
I really like this post. Highly recommend to everyone. Thank you.
Traghetti saranda
Is there ever any need to book the Corfu-Saranda ferry in advance (for foot passengers)? Hoping to just turn up and buy the ticket on the day, and wouldn’t want to find all tickets sold out!
Many thanks.
It all depends upon the time of year. In the low season there should be no problem – in the high season I don’t know for sure. See the previous reply to a comment.
Hi!
Do you think it’s necessary to book the ferry ticket in advance (before flying over there) during high season or is it fine to just show up the same day / day before?
Thanks!
I’ve only done the trip out of the high season. The trip over, as a day excursion, is becoming more and more popular so at the height of the season there may be many tour groups organised by the big travel companies. Whether they organise their own boat or not I don’t know. It won’t do any harm, if you know exactly what day you will be travelling, to reserve in advance. It would give you peace at mind, especially if you have an itinerary to follow. Outside of the high season I don’t think there’s a problem.
Hi
I’m currently traveling around Albania, and happened across your article when, believe it or not, I was googling courgettes and evil eye.
I’ve seen dolls, and ram horns, but there was one item which I was unable to identify which was grey, curved, and about 2 feet long hanging from a construction site bill board in Berat. One of the work men indicated it was a courgette, and I’m not convinced he wasn’t just making fun of the foreigner.
Interesting article too.
Thanks
In can’t remember seeing what you describe but at the same time I don’t think the superstition really cares what is placed where. You can invest virtually anything with ‘magical’ powers. If a bunch or garlic why not a courgette? I’ll be on the look out nonetheless.
Did you get a photo of the baptismal font itself? Would love to see it.
There’s a picture of the font in the slideshow at the bottom of the post.
Once in Bergamo, do not forget to visit Lake Endine, only 18 km away.
A little hidden gem just outside Bergamo.
To sleep at Lake Endine: B&B MarcoLaura . We have been there a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic!
Hi Michael,
I will be coming to Albania via Corfu in August, but my flight arrival at 12:20 probably means I will have to wait until 18:30 for the ferry to Saranda. I’m hoping to get to Himara that evening, but will have missed all buses. Will taxis at the port take me this far?
Thanks,
Tony
Hello Tony,
Taxi drivers in Albania are no different from taxi drivers all over the world – they will do anything, it all depends on how much silver you will cross over their palms It might be expensive though I wouldn’t have any idea of the cost. It might be cheaper to find a place to stay overnight in Saranda and then catch the early morning bus heading for Vlora – but if you choose to do that book in advance as the place will be busy at that time of year.
Minibus timetable:
http://www.matinic.us/albania/furgon.php
Use this timetable as a guide only and don’t just turn up at the place and time suggested without double checking first. For example, things are more organised in Tirana and there are now separate ‘bus stations’ for buses and furgons going north or south of the city.You can see by the dates on the right hand side that some of the information has not been confirmed for years. Later this summer I hope to post information that was accurate as of the middle of 2016.
The official website for ferry and boat
http://www.komanilakeferry.com http://www.komanilake-explore.com
Thank you
Hello, is it easy (and safe) to rent a car in Albania? Also, I would like to know if the there is highway just parallel to the coast as Croatia?
Then, any interesting beach in Albania?
Thanks a lot
I haven’t rented a car myself, using public transport on my travels. I have, however, met a couple of people who have done so and they seemed quite pleased with the experience. If you’re arriving in Saranda that might be problematic unless you intend to also leave the country from there. Honestly I can’t remember seeing car hire there but then I wasn’t looking. Once out of the cities, especially Tirana, the roads are fairly quiet so shouldn’t cause too many problems. In the cities the car rules and they drive like crap – but that’s no different from any other city I visited. Don’t know where you’re from so don’t know how that might effect you.
The coastal route from Saranda to Vlora is impressive and well worth the effort, although you climb high through a number of hairpin bends.
Both Saranda and Vlora sell themselves as beach destinations but I’m not a beach person so really can’t give any recommendations.
My idea is to come from the north, Montenegro, cross all Albania and to leave the rented car in Saranda but if there isn´t rent a car office, then I have to changes plans.
What about the services bus between locations? any web page interesting with timetables?
Thanks a lot
Don’t have any up to date websites with all country bus timetables. Plenty of buses or mini-buses (furgons) going from all major towns on a regular basis. Often starting early and sometimes finishing mid afternoon. As long as you only want to go to the major towns you shouldn’t have a real problems once you’ve arrived in Shkoder. Public transport cheap.
As you leave the port, turn left there are a couple of rent a cars there. Starting at 30 Euro per day.
As always interesting and passionate, Michael! The ideas expressed using the art forms created by talented artists are very attractive and moving. The fact that these art forms are abandoned and vandalized is a direct evidence that the gap between what was said and what was actually done by the ruling party was intolerable.
The “war” agains the symbols of the communist past is actually a war against the Pharisees, which communists turned out to be. The gap between words and actions of the political powers always creates disappointment, disbelieve and anger. The new power has come. It also needed art to support it. The first and easy action to use art in its support was to erase the symbols of the previous discredited power as a promise to erase from real life all that the previous power did wrong. To my mind the war with the past in this way destroys the respect to the real heroes of the past, who are the simple people, as they are shown on all the monuments, doing their best to have a better life for their children in the future. Yet, all the monuments of the communist origin that you have been describing, are still there, in their places. They have not been distracted, they still can be cleaned and repaired. It all depends on how the thinking people of Albania will choose to deal with Albania’s resent past.
Hello Natasha
Your comments address an issue I’ve been trying to get my head around for many years.
If I said that Uncle Joe defeated the Hitlerites you would say I was crazy, that it was the Soviet people who defeated the Fascist beast. I would agree with that, as did Joe. But when things fall apart it’s the leaders who are blamed, what they did caused the failure of the Socialist experiment. But this doesn’t make sense. If the working class and peasants are those who will take humanity to a new future free from exploitation and oppression then they cannot, at the same time, be victims. They are not able to take the credit for successes but pass the blame to others in the event of ‘failure’. It’s just an excuse for their unwillingness to get involved in a consistent and determined manner in the building of a new society.
I accept that mistakes have been made in the past in the leadership but the rest of society did nothing to correct those mistakes. Those ‘persecuted’, in the main, were anti-socialist and not those looking to find a more efficient road to the future.
This is a hugely complex issue and cannot just be dismissed as the responsibility of a few. This matter is as valid in the erstwhile Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam as well as Albania.
Hello!
I can’t seem to find the address of Finikas Lines Company’s office in Corfu.
Can you tell me where you found it ? Thank you!
I haven’t been to Corfu for some time but as far as I’m aware the office has not moved. Finikas Lines is the name used in Saranda, in Corfu the office that I know goes under the name of Ionian Cruises – Petrakis Lines. You should be able to get to their website via my post on the ferry.
Hi – I am looking at travelling to Corfu via Greece – I will be in Athens and would like to travel north by land a bit then ferry to Corfu and from there to Albania – any idea where I can get a ferry to do this
I’m not an expert on Greece but I know there’s a very regular ferry from Igoumenitsa to Corfu.
Hello Michael,
thanks for your answer. Do you have adresses of hostels in Kerkyra?
Kind regards
Ulisses
Hello Ulisses, The only hostel I’ve stayed is the Pink Palace. It’s on the other side of the island to Corfu town but they are good at either picking you up from or taking you back to Corfu port/airport. Put their name into the Hostelworld website. Take care, Michael
Hi Michael
Can you take dogs on the ferry?
Sarah
Hello Sarah, I honestly don’t know. I don’t see any reason why not but it would be better to get in touch with the shipping company in Corfu direct via email. Also I suggest you check what the situation would be with Albanian customs and immigration.
Hello Michel,
We ´ve got a flight from KERKYRA, GR (IOANNIS KAPODISTRIAS) at 10:40 on a Tuesday in July. Do you think we arrive on time there, when leaving from Saranda on that day (9 o´clock am)?
Kind regards
Ulisses
Hello Ulisses, You’ll be cutting it fine. You would need a taxi from the port in Corfu – make sure you’re the first one off the boat to make sure there’s a taxi free – as the airport is the other side of the town from the port. July will be busy. I’ve never been to Corfu in the high season and would imagine the airport security would be chaotic. And then you have to check what time your airline will close it’s gates. It’s a risk and, for peace of mind, it might be better to arrive the previous day and have a quiet night in Corfu.
Michael, this is superbly written review! I’m in the process of strongly recommending it to many other people.
Hello Scott, Thanks for your affirmation. I consider I’ve got it right when someone with your background, viewpoint and knowledge agrees with my points. Take care, Michael
I recommend Harvey’s Guesthouse in Saranda.
Hi wonder if you could advise me, I’m flying to Corfu 29/07/16 and arrive 2am 30/07/16, I’m thinking of staying in airport to daybreak then getting ferry to Sarande and staying 3 nights, I hope to stay in Ohrid for 3 nights ( 7/08 to 9/08 ) so I have 5 days travel, where would you recommend, many thanks Carl
Hello Carll, Gjirokaster would be the next place after Saranda. There are regular buses that leave throughout the day from Saranda (heading to Tirana). They leave you at the bottom of the town. The places of interest are all in the old town, which is dominated by the Castle. If you go there try the Babameto Hostel, it’s close to the centre of the old town, between that and the Castle. As you only have 5 days you can’t go to too many other places but Tirana would be the best bet. Try the Propaganda Hostel there. From Tirana you can catch a bus to Pogradec, where I assume you are planning to stay for Lake Ochrid. I stayed at the Chill out Hostel when I was there last year but it seems to have disappeared off the Hostel Worldwide site. You might like to read some of my other posts which relate to some places of interest on those cities. Have a good time in Albania, take care, Michael
Very interesting, Michael. Your investigation sounds like a detective story. Sometime all the photos and materials you have collected will be used by Albanians to research their own art of Communist time. It wasn’t any better, or worth than any other art. Realistic art is never quite realistic, it is always charged to express particular ideas. As long as it is art, it has to be preserved. I believe this is what you are doing as much as you can.
Hello Natasha, yes, every time I write something about the lapidars or another example of Socialist art I find there are more questions than answers. I put them in the article to remind myself of what is lacking and also in the hope that someone else might be able to offer and answer or, at least, an educated guess. The next time I’m in Albania I’ll come with a list of these questions in the hope of finding a local answer.
Hi,
Thank you for these interesting informations.
I have a question about the second theory : it is difficult to imagine an importation from Greece because I never saw any dordolec in Greece. In which places in Greece did you see some of them ?
Best regards,
Catherine.
Hello Catherine, As I say in my blog post I’m not an expert on Greece myself. When I started to travel around Albania and noticed the toys and other effigies outside of buildings I did a bit of internet research when I got back home. In that search I came upon an academic paper that addressed the issue. A little bit dense and the information I took from it was very much simplified (and my understanding of what was written). You can read that article on-line by going to this link http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137641?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Take care
Michael
Thank you very much. I read this article which is very interesting.
Catherine.
Hoxha was amazing
Thank you. Very clear and thorough, and not information it’d be at all easy for a non-Albanian to find anywhere else.
I wonder whether the cleaning-up of these monuments has something to do with the Socialist victory in the elections a year or two ago. When I was last there Sali Berisha was still in power.
Near the end, you seem to suggest that the Catholic Church was responsible for the huge cross on the mountain. (“It seems that the Catholic Church is still at it in Albania.”) In Korce I’d have thought the Orthodox church was a more likely culprit.
Hello David
I’m sure that some of the renovations that have taken place in the country were as a response to the Socialist Party election victory. However, I know that there is now, and never was, a coordinated national policy on renovation. If there have been political changes at a local level I think they have had more influence in this field. This local effect was evident when Berisha was still in place nationally. I first saw a change in attitude to the lapidars in Manastir, just outside Saranda, in 2012. (You can read what I said about that monument at http://michaelharrison.org.uk/2012/11/five-fallen-stars-rise-again-dema-monument/.)
When it comes to the cross I was drawing a parallel in Albania with what the Catholic Church had done in Latin America but I think you are correct in saying it was probably the Orthodox Church, in Korca, that was responsible for the cross high above the town. In reality I think it’s a joint effort by the Christian churches in Albania to plant these crosses in prominent locations as I have seen them the length and breadth of the country. Some parts the Orthodox is the dominant Christian presence, in others the Catholic, especially in the area around Shkoder. I’ll try and investigate further when I’m next in the country.
Glad you find the posts interesting and thanks for your comments.
Take care
Michael
Hi Michael,
I am planning on flying to Corfu this August from the US with a layover in London. The flight arrives at 16:45 and I am only bringing carry on luggage. Do you think I will have enough time to make it through customs/immigration and catch the 18:30 ferry to Sarande?
Thanks,
Anja
Hello Anja,
My experience of Corfu airport is that you get through very quickly – but then I’ve only been there during the off season. You will be arriving smack bang in the middle of the busiest summer season. However, having only carry on luggage will obviously help. Assuming there are no flight delays you should have plenty of time. If you take a taxi from the airport you’ll be at the ferry port within 15 minutes.
Remember you have to get your ticket at the office BEFORE going to the boat. If, for any reason, you are tight for time, perhaps the best bet would be to get the taxi to wait as you buy your ticket and then let it take you the few hundred metres to the departure point of the hydrofoil.
Have a good time in Albania.
Take care,
Michael
Hello Anja
I’ve just remembered. In the busy season there’s a ticket office near to the boat. Sorry if I have caused any confusion.
Take care
Michael
Hi Michael – I have heard [ I live in Corfu] that they won’t be doing the ticket office this year and you have to go to the main office – which means Anja is really going to have to get a move on as the airport in August is pretty crazy – she may make it if she does as you said and get the taxi driver to wait for her and she arrives on time….
Michael and Sarah Jane-
Thank you both for your comments! I already booked my ticket so hopefully I can sprint and make it in time. I am arriving on the 27th so I’m not sure if its still the peak season or if it will be a bit slower. Sarah Jane- do you have suggestions of places to stay or “must see” things in Corfu? I will also be there for about 5 days. I will definitely spend some time in Corfu Town and then would like to go a few days to a village or smaller town in Corfu that might be less touristy but still accessible by bus (if such a place exists). I was thinking Pelekas might be nice.
Thanks again!
Anja
Hello again Anja,
We actually have rooms in a village just south of town called Benitses – there is a very good blue bus service which stops outside our gate to get to town and all the great things you ought to see …. have a look if you like –
http://www.kerkyrarooms.com/en#
any other help just email me – Kind regards SJ
Hi Michael, Just hit on your helpful information – we are planning a return trip to Albania, and there are reasonable flights from Dublin to Corfu with Aer Lingus. (Considered Turkish Airlines to Tirana, but the stop in Istanbul makes the journey over-long) Last time we flew to Bari and took the Adria ferry (ok but a bit grotty) to Durres, then bus north to Bajram Currie and Valbona. Came back to Tirana, collected a hired a car (autocar – good value, good service) to cover some of the South (Lake Ohrid wonderful, Gjirokaster welcoming and a handy size for sight-seeing), returning the car to the airport, and back by bus to the ferry. Perhaps not the best use of our time, but we learned lot.
Thanks to your blog, we plan to pick up a car and visit interesting places in the South from Saranda. Probably need to pick your brains again!
Have to say we were very impressed by the kindness and hospitality of all the Albanians we met.
Best wishes, Douglas.
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This is a great collection of PDFs, thank you for hosting it. Gilmore’s pamphlet on the Congress is particularly difficult to find today sadly. Readers might be interested to know that another recollection of the Congress, by Patrick Byrne, is easily available online and also worth reading.
You may be interested to know that I recently scanned this: https://archive.org/details/ATangledWeb
Thanks for the link Thomas. I’ve been looking for this book since you mentioned it last year. I’ll put a link into my post about the so-called ‘Corfu Incident’ – for people who might want to investigate the matter further.
Actually, close to the end of the interview, he does talk about the work in the Varreza in Fier (although some of his details conflicts since he says the sculpture was complete in 1973, I believe, whereas elsewhere, like you seem to have, I’ve seen the completion date as 72). He says he worked for a year and half on the project, with Qiraku [?] Dono, and that the varreza were created with according to a special order from the central government–apparently they wanted them completed in a hurry. He also says they were the ninth such project (I’m assuming he means a figural centerpiece in a martyrs’ cemetery) realized at the time. This is facinating to me; I’ve never heard anyone talk about what order their work came in, and of course he could be off about that number, but it still gives some idea of the early stage things were still at in the beginning of the 70s decade with memorialization…Finally, he says that he sent photos of the completed sculptural centerpiece to the central committee in Tirana for approval (since there was no commission approval group in Fier), and it was very well received and–he says–the photos were reproduced and put up around the Ministry of Culture and so forth in Tirana
Hello Raino, thanks for the link to the video and the added information. I’ve incorporated the new details in the post.
Here’s a link to an interview with Gjergji Toska, sone recently (in 2012) (in Albanian)–I don’t think he says much of interest in the interview; the interviewer asks him much more about his time spent in America. He does however, talk about how important it is/was to him as a sculptor to be from the region of Myzeqeja, and how his work sought to emphasize those aspects and motifs he felt to be typical of the region. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntfDx_WcoAU
I too was fed up of seeing different wars piggy-backed onto Armistice Day – a day I could never support from its origin in a land grabbing war of no interest to our class. I had arguments with people who cited the second world war as a reason why we should support our armed forces and buy a poppy. The second world war, with its anti fascist nature, provided the means to attempt to morally legitimise ‘the poppy’ and fudge over its origins. Latterly, involvement in wars in the Middle East has made some people think again about support for Armistice Day. Thank you for filling in the gaps on the ‘timeline’ since ‘The Great War’ ended; and for drawing attention to the almost ceaseless wars waged by Britain with such a cost in lives lost to our own class.
The whole issue about what Armistice Day means for our class should be more poignant for the horrific loss of life in Paris, as the consequences of Imperialist wars get close to home. In condemning the act of terrorism in Paris we will doubtless be encouraged to rally round the flag, there will be more obfuscation of acts of terrorism conducted by Britain that you aptly described. If we rightfully condemn terrorism it must mean all terrorism. We cannot cherry pick which acts of terrorism we condemn and which we ignore. Is not a drone strike itself an act of terror? Dress it up as a tool to help in the ‘war against terror’ and its true nature, terrorising the civilian population underneath is clouded. They may be “smarter” weapons than a world war two ‘doodle bug’ but their purpose is the same.
The Celebration of Armistice Day is like any other historical record – it is spun to reflect the interests of the ruling class. Thanks again for removing the spin and reminding us just how much our class suffers in the many conflicts it is called upon to fight; that’s what a poppy really symbolises, who would still wear one?
Armistice Day is a day of their making. Our day is May Day!
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Hi Michael (and anyone else who needs it),
Here’s a link to the pdf of Dhrami’s book; as I said, if you’re in Tirana, I’m sure if you drop by his studio you can get a copy!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h9bw64y2h3cn59a/Mumtas%20Dhrami_Skulptura%20e%20viteve%201956-2011.pdf?dl=0
Thanks for that Raino. I do hope to meet up with Mumtaz Dhrami the next time I’m in Tirana.
I just checked, and the work appears in Dhrami’s short book documenting his own works. It still might have been executed collectively (though there’s no mention of this), but I suspect that it is i fact Dhrami’s sole work.
You mention a small booklet of Dhrami’s works. Do you have a digital version or can you direct me to where I might be able to download a pdf? This is the sort of material that would be useful, not just for Dhrami but any other of the Socialist period artists, to get details and facts correct in the first place.
Just thought. Do you have any idea who might have been the sculptor of the 68 Partisan Girls monument?
Hi Michael,
First, thank you for writing this ongoing series on socialist monuments in Albania–it’s wonderful to have a site out there to send (English-speaking) people to when they are curious about these works. I’m curious where you got the attribution to Hektor Dule from…I’ve always thought (and I’m still relatively certain) that the sculpture is by Muntaz Dhrami…but it’s also possible the two of them worked together on it? (see, for evidence, p. 64 of Llambi Blido’s essay on Dhrami, published [in the collected book of essay] 1987), available here: https://afterart.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/lirizmi-qe-merr-jete-llambi-blidos-shenime-per-pikturen-dhe-skulpturen/; also p.100 of Blut und Honig: Zukunft ist am Balkan (Essl Collection, 2004), where the work is also attributed to Dhrami.
VFLP
Hello Raino, thanks for keeping me on my toes. I can’t remember exactly but think I got the idea that Dule was the creator of the Tirana Liri from someone who worked in the National Art Gallery. I probably got myself mixed up. I tried to verify the information and was surprised when there was no mention on the web page where other Socialist period monuments by Dule were listed. That should have rung bells. I’ll update with the correct information later this afternoon.
I attempt to verify the information before posting on the blog but sometimes it takes a long time as material is hard to access. I’m building up a collection (and I see on your blog you have made other periodicals available – thanks for that) but there are still many gaps.
I’ll try to get things right in the beginning but if I err from time to time please continue to put me right. My aim is to be as accurate and faithful to the monuments, statues, etc, as possible but I know that (hopefully not too often) I will sometimes get things wrong.
Hi Michael,
As far as I can tell the information in your posts is usually very accurate! Even having spent a few years now studying socialist art in Albania, I know it can be hard to actually verify things, and oftentimes I too just rely on what someone tells me, which is sometimes accurate and sometimes turns out not to be (especially when it comes to attribution but also in terms of dates).
Unfortunately, I don’t know the creator of the 68 Partisan Girls monument–I wish I did; it’s a very interesting use of the figure-flag transformation motif…
I’ll try to scan the book of Dhrami’s works that I have this week and I’ll post a link to the file here. (I’ve tried to limit my blog to posting documents from the socialist period, just for historical consistency). It was printed around 2011, I believe; Dhrami just published it independently. I can’t say that it is much help from a scholarly point of view–it rarely includes the dates works were completed. And it doesn’t come close to showing all the public monuments he realized together with other artists–it has Peze and the major ones with K. Rama and Sh. Haderi, but is still far from exhaustive. But as you say, you might find it helpful and so might others. (Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in Tirana around the old studios of the sculptors near Komuna e Parisit, Dhrami is still often working their, and I’m sure he’d be happy to give you a copy of the book. He doesn’t speak English, but there are several younger sculptors often working on projects there that could translate, I’m sure.)
Once again, thanks for doing this documentation of so many of the monuments in Albania!
An excellent exhibition, well laid out and plenty to see. Give yourself plenty of time for this one, at least an hour
Thanks a lot for the interesting article. I am travelling around Albania and want to read more about that scarecrow hung on the houses. Your article is very useful.
I believe Auron Tare is responsible for the maintenance of the Albanian coast line. I am quite sure that this also includes the demolition of illegal constructions.
I spent a month in the Tirana region last November and there was a lot of clearing away of illegal constructions. To the best of my knowledge this was nationwide so even if a local matter in Ksamil in 2011 it is now reached national proportions.
Hello Jim Hogan
The reason that there is a flag of the USA flying at this lapidarë is that the man who owns the land on which this monument stands lives in the USA.
And Albania still considers itself an ‘independent’ country! People’s land held by an absentee landlord! And putting up two fingers (English style) to neighbours and visitors alike.
The road is actually quite good bit of forward planning. Sauk has very quickly become populated. When I first visited Albania in 2001 the only building the other side of the lake as the zoo. Now it is a mass of high rise buildings and houses that have progressed up the hills. Soon land on the other side of the hill will be populated and become a suburb of Tirana. Like all development, I am sure that those in the know of this road development have acted ahead and are in a position to capitalise on the expansion of Tiranë. The expansion of the city over the last ten years has been incredible but expected. Just look at Mullet today, it is no longer a separate village. This road over the hill from Sauk will soon be jammed with traffic like the rest of Tiranë.
As I said in my blog, this new road is in contrast to the roads in the village of Sauk itself. yes, development might increase in this part of the capital but at the moment it is only for the rich. And that doesn’t answer why the road has a small, but vital, section, missing. The only vehicle using it on my visit was a large lorry illegally dumping rubble from one of the demolished (illegally built) buildings down at the bottom end of Sauk.
Dear Comrades,
Thanks for putting these books on your side. It has helped the people to learn about Albania and its contributions in the International Communist Movement. There are certain important books which has never been uploaded in the internet and these books are essential to overcome about the illusionf of the so-called “GREAT DEBATE” between USSR and China. The struggle against Titoite-Khrushchevite by the Party of Labour of Albania led by Enver Hoxha was little known to the lager world. On the other hand the Chinese perspectives were well circulated and projected as an alternative to Khrushchevite revisionism.
I have mentioned the the following books published in between 1961-1964 which exposes the Titoite-Khrushchevite revisionism and also provide an alternative to Chinese perspective:
1. The Ideas of MarxismLeninism Will Triumph on Revisionism
English Edition, Tirana, 1962, pp 226.
2. Oppose Modern Revisionism and Uphold MarxismLeninism and the Unity of the International Communist Movement
English Edition, pp.420
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
3. The Belgrade Revisionist Clique — Renegades from Marxism – Leninism and Agents of Imperialism
English Edition, pp.325
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964
(The books contain thirteen articles originally published in Zeri i Popullit between Jan., 1962 and Sept., 1963. Articles are on the Belgrade Revisionist crusade against Marxism-Leninism and Tito’s policies and the many plots he hatched with Khrushchev).
4. The Dangerous Maneuvers of N. Khrushchev’s Group on the So-Called Fight Against the “Cult of the Individual” Should Be Stripped Bare of Their Mask.
English Edition, pp.123
Published by- “Naim Frasheri” State Publishing Enterprise, Tirana, 1964.
( This books contains three articles reproduced from 1964 June 12, 13, 14 issues of Zeri-i-popullit Daily).
If any one has the above books, kindly upload in the internet so to expose the Chinese perspective and provide the real Marxist-Leninist position on Modern Revisionism.
Thanks
MANABHANJAN
for
GEORGI DOMITROV MEMORIAL COMMITTEE, INDIA
http://www.photoalbania.com
Enjoy your blog. Thought you may appreciate this email link. There are still many images still to add to the website, like the one at Drashovicë. The month of August I had a month long exhibition of my Lapidar project at the National Gallery in Tirana. The opening night Dhrami turned up. Very embarrassing not to have had his famous arch in the printed collection. However, I did manage to loosely organise a meeting with him on my return to Albania. Will most certainly ask him about the the ‘faded’ figures on the top left arch. All the best, Robert.
Sorry I wasn’t in Tirana to have seen your exhibition. Any light you can shine on my many questions about the lapidars, including the what appears to be the missing figures on the Drashovice arch would be appreciated.
Hi, Michael! Very interesting article! I have nothing to add to it, but I have some people, who will forward it. There is a Women Museum in Tirana, run by Elsa Ballauri. She will be interested in the information you collected about women in the fights.
When do you plan to came to Tirana again?
Best regards,
Natasha
Did you ever discover the name of the artist of these murals? I would love to look up more of his or her work.
Hello Tracie, No, not so far. Will try and find out when next in Tirana.
Hi,
The author of the murals is the albanian artist Shpend Bengu
Thanks for the update. More information about Bengu can be found at https://www.shpendbengu.com/en/.
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It’s quite silly how many quislings have been rehabilitated after 1991. It’s even sillier because most of those who were executed are portrayed as staunch defenders of Albania’s national culture, implying that the Communists were nothing more than brutish thugs recruited from the dregs of society and were also nothing other than agents of a “Slav” ideology.
Hello Thomas, The situation gets worse every time I return to Albania. Apart from the fascists now being ‘honoured’ in the different Martyrs’ Cemeteries the most bizarre and the biggest insult to those who fought and died in the National Liberation War is the attitude to Zog. Not only was a main boulevard named after him, his remains were brought from Paris to Tirana, there is now a statue of the despot, usurper and dictator at the junction where the Tirana railway station used to be. This ‘rehabilitation’ of fascists from the past seems to take place whatever party is in power.
Can u let me no does it open to the public and when please
The Chapel has been open during the ‘Heritage Open Days’ in recent years. This year that will take place between 10th and 13th September, 2015. I’ve looked on the website (http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory) but there’s nothing for the Toxteth Chapel this year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will not be open in September. Some places put their name down late but I slightly surprised that with only just over a month to go the Chapel isn’t on the list. All I can suggest is that you keep on checking the website and see if it gets added in the future. The problem is that, in the past, the information is not always as accurate as it really should be. If I come across any information I’ll let you know.
ANCIENT CHAPEL does not appear in HODS
(Heritage Open Days) List for Liverpool this Year
2015 as REPAIR WORKS ARE ONGOING IN CHAPEL
and will NOT be completed until at least the end of
November 2015. Hence we are NOT Open for this
coming special weekend – Chapel is in potentially
dangerous state (uneven floor, furnishings blocking
entrance etc.) However, we Keyholders (2) are always
willing to open at other times by Appointment. Caretaker’s
home no is 728 8028 (resident very close to Chapel).
Please PASS this info. on to enquirer/s. Many thanks:.
Mrs. A. BUTLER
Hello – Lionel ?? was churchwarden ? some years ago when I used to visit
Can you let me know if he is still working ion the chapel.
Thank you
Joan
I have nothing to do with the chapel but if you want to speak to someone who might be able to answer your question phone 0151 728 8028
You should be commended for your efforts. Socialist realism is completely denigrated in the West and I would imagine its Albanian variant would come under particularly strong criticism considering that the bourgeois and revisionist countries constantly inveighed against the “dogmatism,” “fanaticism” and whatnot of the Party of Labour.
Wow, what a piece of shit distorted bit of history written here, even the Vietnamese tour guide page does better job of presenting history more accurately and unbiased. Communism sucks, always has and always will, it’s a complete failure.
It’s good to see that the deep political analysis provided by Reagan and Bush is still alive and well.
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I have studied the amazing Albanian response to the Holocaust of European Jewry. It is something Albanians can be so proud of because Albanians as one saved every single Jew in Albania from the Nazis in that dark period of time between 1939 and 1945 when the Germans and their collaborators murdered over 6 million Jews and nearly destroyed the world. Albania remained a lone light in a dark world and even tried to bring in more Jews in order to save lives! This was unprecedented anywhere in the world! There were other brave and special individuals the world over but nowhere other than Albania did every single family and person protect their fellow human beings because of “besa”, honour. There are articles on the internet and documentaries on YouTube about this moving and wonderful act of goodness. I do hope that pupils in Albania schools learn about this.
Thanks for this. Thanks for the description of the statue in the castle too. When the time comes there’ll be plenty of material for an exhibition of socialist art in Albania.
Did you see the tekke just south of Gjirokastra, with a tomb of a bektashi holy man ? (On the net, it’s called the Asim Baba tekke.) And if you did, did you see the rows of what look like chicken hutches on the mountainside just to the south. I was told that Enver Hoxha had them built as houses for roma people, who he detested. I wonder whether it was true. The person who told me wasn’t gloating.
One of the common aspects of all those socialist societies that collapsed in the final years of the 20th century is that they all get blamed for all the ills of capitalism (as well as for the mistakes made under the time of socialism). I’m not surprised at that. After all this is just part of the propaganda war against any society that seeks to create a life where the majority, and not the minority, benefit. Therefore all lies and calumnies are heaped on the shoulders of socialism. The problem is that too many people are gullible and believe any garbage they are fed.
This is the case with the idea that Enver Hoxha ‘detested’ the Roma. Where’s the proof? Just some hearsay. In the years when the country was attempting to construct socialism I can’t remember substantiated claims being about racism because I don’t believe it was a problem.
The internet allows, nowadays, anyone with a critical function to investigate this. I did and will bring two reports to your attention.
To quote from the first one:
‘Before the 1990s the situation of Roma was quite similar to the rest of the Albanian population. They worked in different state sectors and incomes of their families were on the same level as incomes of the majority of the population. After the 1990s, however, the situation of Roma people in Albania grew critical; most of the Roma people lost their jobs because of the privatisation of the state industry. The democratization process that developed in Albania and the period of transition caused an economic catastrophe for Roma families. Some factors influenced the conditions of Roma in this period in particular, for example, the competition on the free trade market and labour market and migration.’
http://www.politeia.net/Newsletter/politeia_newsletter_45_may_2007/quarterly_theme_roma_in_europe/the_situation_of_the_roma_minority_in_albania/
Even the UN agrees:
‘During the socialist period, improvements in housing, education, health care and social services of the Roma were evident. In the rural areas, they found employment in agriculture and farming. In the cities they worked in construction, public services and handicraft sectors (Taho 2002). Their status relative to the Albanian majority improved.’
and
‘With the collapse and closure of state enterprises, and due to the lack of skills, low educational levels, and discrimination, Roma moved from a state of a relative well being to extreme poverty during the post-socialist transition period. They are currently the poorest and the most marginalized ethnic group in Albania (De Soto and others 2002). Studies have shown that their level of poverty is two times higher than among ethnic Albanians, while this condition is further deteriorating (De Soto and others 2005). The decline of Roma living standards during the post-communist transition has affected this group in a more significant way than it has for other groups of the population. This downfall has created a vicious circle of poverty, which produces illiteracy and low educational levels among Roma that further intensifies their marginalization in the society.’
http://ccs.dogpile.com/ClickHandler.ashx?ld=20150501&app=1&c=info.dogpl&s=Dogpile&rc=info.dogpl&dc=&euip=79.76.243.195&pvaid=b34cf29505ee46c1a469e1a9c1c29326&dt=Desktop&sid=1830193568.999174835772.1430500761&vid=1830193568.999174835772.1402909476.330&fcoi=417&fcop=topnav&fct.uid=dd3d3d58dbe24d7aba4f4da1c2db054d&fpid=27&en=0WEFU%2fZhSoTF%2fFm%2bpLeuVl4UPZzISdzyg%2baGYj7N8ISb7M1aTnzzgA%3d%3d&du=europeandcis.undp.org%2f…%2fFile%2frbec_web%2fvgr%2fAlbanian_Roma…&ru=http%3a%2f%2feuropeandcis.undp.org%2fuploads%2fpublic%2fFile%2frbec_web%2fvgr%2fAlbanian_Roma_Report_english_reduced.pdf&ap=4&coi=771&cop=main-title&npp=4&p=0&pp=0&ep=4&mid=9&hash=EAFE525B2E2E31C5BAE2FE54D31160F2
(That’s a ludicrous address, isn’t it?)
So, in less than 5 minutes I was able to come across proof that during the time of socialism the life of the Roma improved. Since the restoration of capitalism their conditions have spiralled downwards. Who, then, detests the Roma?
Hi, and thanks. There’s quite a lot more on the web, actually – on the roma in Albania under socialism generally (e.g. their resistance to the attempted ‘homogenisation’ of the Albanian people) and specifically on the roma in Gjirokastra (e.g. their difficulties after the end of socialism when landowners reclaimed the land that had been taken from them, where roma people had since settled), but it’s difficult to know how much to believe. Any or all of the writers might be consciously or unconsciously writing to conform to some extent with a pre-established narrative, they all seem to be viewing Albanian society as privileged outside observers, etc, etc. In any case, none of them have anything to say about those lines of hutches on the bare hillside you can see to the left of path as you approach that tekke.
I found it hard to believe what the person with me said about them, and I’m sure he didn’t mean it as a full account. He spoke some English, I spoke very little Albanian, and I imagine he was simplifying things for both of our sakes, maybe his perception had been affected by his close relationship to the tekke. Had it defended the roma ? Had it fed them ? Had it resented their presence ? Had the tekke been a centre for roma devotion ? As I said, he certainly didn’t seem to be gloating. Was he adapting the story to fit what he thought i thought ? Did the special status of Gjirokastra come into it ? The hutches had a strikingly ephemeral look (no gardens, no real streets, no square…), and it occurs to me that they might have been only meant as temporary. Maybe they’d wanted to clear some site outside the town for a few days for a fair or something ?
‘Homogenisation’ is a redo;ting-sounding word, but it isn’t hard to appreciate why something of the sort it should have been felt desirable. The far north east (Bajram Curri, Kukes..) still felt like a law unto itself when I was there in about 2002, and in Korce I saw a roma man and boy with a dancing bear.
If you go to Saranda, you could have a look at what I was told had been meant as a socialist model farm, about five miles out of the town on the left-hand (inland) side of the road.
Dear Michael thank you very much for collecting this part of our history and culture (and for not being one more voice in the defamation chorus about that period).
Just to show how ludicrous this propaganda can get, an American tourist in her blog about Albania explained the promenades Albanians do in the evening in most cities, as a custom born during communism by “people trying to exchange messages about the regime”.
I mean, why should a nation promenade for half century exchanging messages and never protest? Even once.
If you are interested about why Albanians did what they did during socialism, why they became the only Atheist country in the world and why they became the extreme opposite after the 90′, as well as a deeper background context, write me.
A better translation for Lavdi is “Glory.” Rrofte would be “long live”. Also, it appears to me that the big Lavdi Shqiperise in your last photo probably used to say Lavdi Partise se Punes e Shqiperise but the “workers party” part was removed.
Hello Xho, thanks for your comment. I’ve had a problem in how to translate ‘Lavdi’. I accept the best direct translation is ‘Glory’ but then that doesn’t sound right to me when placed in an English phrase. English isn’t a language where you find the sort of slogans used in the same way as many other languages. For example, in relation to war dead the phrase ‘In remembrance’ is used. That’s why, at times, I have chosen to use ‘Long Live’ which I consider more appropriate. But even that is a phrase taken from the Spanish and hasn’t really grown out of English itself.
I am sure you are correct about the missing words on the wall in Sheshi Cerciz Topulli. Looking at the picture again I see that the symmetry is all wrong and that long gash between the two existing words would have contained something else. I have come across photos of the square from the past but haven’t seen one which includes that slogan. Do you have any idea where I might come across such a picture? I could then put it on the blog to show how things have been changed.
In future I’ll have to look out for such anomalies.
Thanks again.
Totally agree! Korca is the best Albanian beer. Flowery and with a nice bitterness. Chech style, I would say.
Thank you for your interesting and thought provoking comments. With reference to where the statue was positioned at The Florrie. You are spot on with your comments. Our first thought was to place it hall in the middle of the hall, with lots of space around it so that people could do a 360 degrees and inter-act with the statue. Our second choice was to place it parallel to the windows. However, a number of user groups utilise the Grand Hall so the statue would have had to have been moved every night to accommodate them which was logistically difficult with the chance that the statue may have been damaged. We feel that overall the positioning of the statue did not detract from the visitor experience and the feedback we have received more than confirms this.
We will be in St Lucia next month. And we plan to be there for Pentecost on the 24th. Can you send us your service schedule please.
Thank you
Mark and Bonnie
I’ve nothing to do with the church. I only wrote about a visit I made a couple of years ago. You’ll have to find another way of getting the information you require.
Im sorry to say ,but the way you conducted wrighting this article makes this not worth my read… and truly a comment. AS a historian try to keep emotions outside of a topic please.
The problem with ‘impartiality’ is that it ends up accepting, justifying and excusing the status quo for its crimes. If I even ended up being ‘impartial’ about such crimes as My Lai then I would have become an as useless waste of space as most ‘commentators’ of such events. When I write something you think is worthwhile reading I will stop writing.
Mister Harrison,thank You very much for Your answer.
Have a nice day!
With kind regards and warm greetings from Ukraine.
Tamara
Good after noon dear mister Michael Harrison!
Thank You very much for the Blog and for interesting and usefull information You share with people.With interest and gratfulness I’ve read Your blog articles about Your trips to Albania from Corfu.I am planing a trip from Corfu to Albania this year and then I have a dream to travel through Albania to Montenegro.
If You have any information about how to get from Saranda to Tirana and furter to Montenegro,could You be so kind to share it.I haven’t been been in Albania so far that’s why I am a bit stressed about how to reach Tirana?is there any railway connection Saranda -Tirana how much does it cost to get from Saranda to Tirana etc.
Might be You have Your own experience in such trips?
I would be very grateful if You share any information concerning my questions.
WIth kind regards and warm greetings from Ukraine.
Tamara.
Hello Tamara, As far as I know the information about the boat from Corfu to Saranda is still true and up to date.
There are plenty of buses from Saranda to Tirana. The last info I have is that the cost is 1500 lek (1Euro + 137 lek). There is one bus that goes from Saranda to Tirana via the coastal route and Vlora. That leaves at 05.30 (so an early start). It’s a very beautiful and interesting route as you go over a high pass. The journey is 10 to 12 hours long. I can’t remember exactly.
The other buses go via Gjirokastra. They leave Saranda at 05.00, 06.30, 08.30. 09.30, 10.30, 14.00 and 22.00. That journey takes about 8 hours.
I’ve never travelled from Tirana to other countries in the Balkans so have no personal experience but have met a lot of people who have done so and they say that’s there’s no problem in getting an international bus from the centre of Tirana. Your hostel’hotel will be able to help, I’m sure (I never found the Tourist Information Office in Tirana very helpful). Have a good trip.
Michael
Thanks for “illuminating” me on the sad story of how people deal with their own history.
William Calley and Earnest Medina were pigs then and hopefully are dead now as their leadership was nothing more than a personal war and not leaders of men…….Personal Knowledge
Yes… indeed Redi, I just wanted to say “thanks” for your effort (and for your contribution to this article) by writing this comment – what I was “wondering” myself is how is “possible” that Michael “…couldn’t really see HOW that highway benefited the Albanians” – I just had to smile, of course 🙂
Sorry for the delay in commenting on your comment. It’s all a matter of priorities. Thousands of people travel each day on roads that are falling apart (as is the general infrastructure of the country – just look at the railways). Historically such infrastructural ‘improvements’, partly funded by international organisations, seem to benefit those other than the inhabitants of the country concerned. this is especially when we are talking about communication links in’out of the country. The reaction that began its work of destruction in the 1990s has meant that there is little that Albania will be exporting to other parts of the world. If anything they will be exporting raw products which are cheap and for which others will make the profit. Roads into the country might make imports cheaper and hence will mean that any attempts to rebuild Albanian industry will come up against almost insurmountable odds. Such projects are pretty and impressive, but are they really necessary. To cite other examples in Europe take the AVE (high speed train) in Spain where the rest of the railway system is creaking and the proposed high speed train in Britain. These projects are paid for by all but only really benefit a few. The argument about resultant jobs is also a fallacy as they are becoming more insecure, with no long term contracts, with lower pay and lower productivity. These are some of the reasons I don’t think the Albanians should be too happy about the major road construction. There are others but it will take to long to give them all.
There used to be a collection of socialist-realist statues in a room off the main gallery in Gjirokastra castle, including a splendid one of Albania, as a young, noble, idealistic partisan, booting out monarcho-fascism (represented as a tiny, snivelling character in a military hat and greatcoat) and religion (a tiny, snivelling character carrying a book). Get out, she’s obviously saying, and don’t come back. I wonder if they’re still there.
Hello David, It is still there but the museum isn’t always open, you have to ask for the door to be unlocked. For my take on the statue go to this link: http://michaelharrison.org.uk/2013/05/mother-albania-expelling-the-priest-and-the-monarchy/
As always so inspiring to see what you are writing about and so beautiful and unique in a way. I love mosaic art form and this one is very unusual. Thank you, Michael. Would be good to publish on facebook a fragment of your articles and give a link to your block.
Hello Natasha, I too like the mosaics but there aren’t too many in Albania. I’ve visited one in the hills at Bosch (just before the northern side of the high pass of Llogara on the Vlore-Sarande road) and there’s one near to Vlore which I’ve yet to visit. Hope to write about those after my next visit.
May he rest in hell. History has never seen such a disgusting leader, killing his own people, forbidding religion, blowing up churches. I hope someone blows up his tomb and erase him from history. Screw all of you crackhead supporters.
You anticommunist pig may be payed by the state and the NATO you imperialist peace of garbage. But you believing in lovely god, instead using your brain.
I think you will find that the red book symbolises both the official Party history ‘History of the Party of Labour of Albania’ and also the Veprat (Works) of Enver Hoxha, as much as education. You see the same book being held/read in paintings and artworks in the National Gallery and other museums. It is thus overtly political and no surprise at all that it was removed from the mosaic. In 2011 the scaffolding was for the awnings that it held, i think, rather than any restoration and indeed the Democrats proposed removing it entirely. I do not believe anything was done about it, though it is now an a very shoddy state, with bits missing.
I will accept the History of the Party of Labour but not the works of Enver Hoxha (none of the collected/selected works of the great Marxist-Leninists were published in red). But I will still hold to the idea of the book representing education in general. A worker with a book is dangerous. A worker with an empty sack is just taking home what he controls of society under capitalism – nothing (so, perhaps, an ironic statement by the vandal artist?). Capitalism wants workers to be constantly occupied watching seemingly endless games of football (or other sports) or reality TV shows – none of which encourage thinking about the situation in which they find themselves. If they spend their time reading about ideas they might actually get up off their knees and do something about the exploitation and oppression they face on a daily basis.
Dear Michael Harrison,
With pleasure I have been reading your posts on Albania since you started to write them, especially those concerning socialist realist monuments, which as you may know by now, is also one of my personal interests. I saw that you asked on the punctum books website for the release date of the Lapidari book, which indeed should be in the coming days. However, I can imagine that you would like to have a look already, so I would be happy to send you the links to the online PDF versions if you send me an email.
Our research was to get an overview of all monuments from that period in Albania, and therefore our analyses have been more quantitative than qualitative, and miss the narrative detail with which you describe the monuments in your posts, to my great pleasure. Nevertheless I hope the research will be useful to your own endeavors as well.
Best regards,
Vincent
Thanks so much for this great info! I am planning a day trip to Segovia from Madrid this weekend and now that I’ve found this I am going to take this exact walk! Really helpful!
I hope you have a god time in Segovia – but it could be cold this time of year! I would be interested to know how you think my description of the walk fitted in with what you experienced on the ground. Have a good weekend.
I went today and it was wonderful, not too cold at all, bright Spanish sun! I didn’t follow your route exactly but it helped me to find the cemetery and also just to have a background idea of the area helped me locate places much easier! Do you mind if I link to this page on my blog when I write about the Jewish quarter later this month? These are just great directions and would love to share them with my readers in case they are interested!
Hello Hannah. Glad you had a good time in Segovia. No problem about linking to my post. If it is useful then the more people who can make use of it the better. Also, if anyone can improve on what I’ve already written, things i might have missed, etc., those ideas would be welcome.
Your directions to this amazing piece of art proved to be priceless. The locals, including taxi drivers didn’t know where this was. I was gobsmacked by the lack of interest shown by Dutch people to such an important monument.
To begin with I couldn’t understand why the piece sits where it does, however once you visit it becomes clear that this is the prefect place for it.
Thank you, Michael. Interesting and simple as all your publications. I saw this monument many times and never paid attention… You are unveiling Albanian Social Realism monuments to me. Look at this sample of neoclassicism: http://wikimapia.org/18710871/Liri-Gero-Statue
It was just inaugurated and is dedicated to the same partisan that is abandoned behind the NGA, who we saw together….
Hello Natasha, just by chance I came across a similar picture of the new Leri Gero statue in Fier. This is a ludicrous depiction of a young woman born at the time she was and in the society that was pre-war Albania. In this new statue she looks like any of the young women who go partying at the weekend in the centre of Liverpool – not like someone who fought and was tortured to death by the German Fascists. Not only does it turn her into a sexual object it mocks her sacrifice and courage. I am trying to find out as much as I can about her and hope to write a blog of her achievements in the near future.
Visiting Shok Enver’s grave is on my bucket list. (For those of you for whom English isn’t your native language, one’s “bucket list” is slang for places one wishes to visit before s/he “kicks the bucket” (dies).
Rrofte Shoku Enver Hoxha!
The mistake that Hoxha made was that he hung-on too long. In the immediate post World War II period, a Hoxha was needed to secure Albania’s sovereignty as a number of surrounding countries had their territorial aims. However, once those threats faded and the internal infrastructures were solidified, Albania seemed to have got stuck in a time warp. It missed an opportunity to engage the best the world could offer while rejecting the worst. After Hoxha, Albania did not have the institutions in place for a modern late 20th century economy which created societal disorganization. This did not have to occur if Hoxha would have transitioned power much earlier.
Transition power to who? Albania hasn’t been able to give birth to a better leader yet.
I used to be subscribed to this magazine and it is fun to reread these issues once again. At that time, the magazine was about the only means for people outside Albania to get a glimpse into life there. How life and the world have changed.
Excellent analysis. You got this right. Today, China is an economic free-for-all or economic Wild West. While regulations exist, they are not enforced, or only selectively so. Nothing wrong with moving ahead with a progressive economy, but China had an opportunity to do so while preventing some of the downsides to it and failed (i.e. environmental problems, lack of business ethics, excessive gaps in wealth, lack of healthcare). I don’t think Mao envisioned beggars on urban streets and blatant prostitution in the 21st century. While the CPC is making renewed attempts to combat business and Party corruption, it seems to be selectively targeted and only token public relations efforts. China seems to be a ship without a captain.
Thank you for a very interesting article. I am from the Soviet Union and the Social Realism is the art I was brought up with. I love it, and looks like there are more and more people, who appreciate it for all different reasons.
I have been “paving” my Silk Road to Albania for the last 11 years. I make the artifacts of Albania’s culture into my designs for silk scarves and ties, and I tell my stories about these artifacts in the cards accompanying my Silk Gifts from Albania. It is my way of telling about the country, which I love. Here is my latest work, not yet printed, just finished and still in the process of my approvment https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205287765419410&set=a.1735847441753.2098930.1405608748&type=1&theater
I like your site and your desire to show the facts without commenting on them.
Best regards,
Natasha
The Ramsgate Tunnels are a 4.5 mile (7.25 km) network mainly built in 1939 for air raid protection, and are the largest network of air raid protection tunnels. It has been said that the Borough Engineer, Mr R Brimell, visited Spain prior to this but we have no documented evidence. The tunnels are similar in shape and also had toilet facilities, water cisterns and first aid points, and had a maximum capacity of 60,000 people although 12,000 to 20,000 was the usual occupancy during raids.
Due to lack of available accommodation over 364 families made the tunnels their home and lived there from several months to several years and even had their post delivered.
The tunnels form a semi-circular route passing beneath what were the most densely populated areas of the town, with fourteen entrances and eleven ventilation shafts so extended stays were not a problem. A connecting disused railway tunnel was far larger and housed the long stay residents who even brought down pianos and had regular entertainments, dances, and concerts to the extent that it became know as ‘Tunnel Town’.
The tunnels were sealed and neglected until much work by a volunteer group made reopening possible on their 75th anniversary 1st June 2014. Indeed the existence and extent of the tunnels even by Ramsgate residents was not realised until their opening.
There is still a lot of work to be done such as sound and light enhancements, opening up more of the network, exhibitions and interactive displays, etc, but so far over 7,000 people have enjoyed guided tours of about one mile (1.6km) into the network, complete with mockups of the dwellings people made in creating Tunnel Town.
The Tunnels are currently open Wednesday to Sunday with four tours each day although special groups can be accommodated by arrangement.
We certainly welcome any enquiries and look forward to seeing you there in the future.
Hey Michael,
Thank you for this article about the fashion issue of the moment. When you talk about Spain and the reasons it has for oposing “independence” in any other European state, I think it would be correct to add France, because it has the same two reasons North of the Pirinees: Basque Country and Catalonia.
And another thing: these two words at the end of the article ‘reach fruition’ may not be ‘rich fruition’ ?
Anyway, for the rest I agree completely with you.
Stay strong, no pasarán!
Dear Michael.
Firstly i would like say a big Thank You for your blog posts about Albania. It is my first time reading your blog and it will certainly not be my last.
With respect to your question/assumption on the newly build highway Durrës-Kukës. Quote “Again a road funded by foreign money but I couldn’t really see how it benefited the Albanians.”
Being originally from Kukës i have kept myself informed on the developments of this project.
1- It is true that a good portion of the money used to build the highway was a LOAN not free from (hope i am not mistaken ) the World Bank which the Albanian taxpayers are paying and have been paying in, for this project since the War in Kosova was over. There was a tax which was introduced around year ~2000 by Pandeli Majko the Albanian PM of that time, and it was intended to for this project only.
2- Why was this necessary and does it benefit the Albanian People?
Before the highway was complete travelling from Kukës to Tirana/Durrës took roughly 8 Hrs, while now its just 1:30 -2 Hrs.
As you have experience it yourself even people from the North part of Albania not just the North East are using it, as it is much faster and safer.
Add to that ~ 3 million Albanians in Kosova whom travel every year to the Albanian Coast for their holiday, additionally consider the ease and cost effective transportation links from Durrës port to other regional countries eg: Serbia, Macedonia etc.
I believe that the Albanian people are very much benefiting from this highway and it has made lives better for the Albanian Geordie’s :).
Let me conclude this comment by an Advert for a Flat in Prizren:
Albanian : Kemi në shitje një apartement vetëm 2 Orë larg Detit.
English : Apartment for sale only 2 Hours from the Sea.
Sincerely
Redi
We are travelling to Sarande from Corfu (via Ferry) next August. Would anyone know the timetable, cost and duration of journey for the bus from Sarande to Himare.
The timetable that I used in 2012 indicates that there are buses that pass through Himara leaving Saranda at 05.00, 13.00 and 14.30 every day. The journey is about 52 km and takes about 1.5 hours (I can’t remember exactly how long it took the bus on which I travelled). The cost was 400 lek (less than £2.50).
Thanks very much for your info
We waited for a bus in Ksamil to take us to Saranda and catch the bus there for Himara. It never appeared so we took a taxi, and was offered a ride all the way to Himara for 7000 lek. Surely more expensive than a bus, but still very acceptable. And a nice way to go, too.
Just in case anyone wants to stay a couple of days in Corfu before going or on return from Albania – we are outside of Corfu Town, [and therefore much cheaper] but have the Blue bus stop right outside – leaves at 7.20 am to Corfu Town and then a 15 min walk to the port for the first Albanian ferry …and runs until 22.45 from town to us ….. had a few people staying with us now that have done it…….
If interested please FB us – https://www.facebook.com/KERKYRAROOMS?ref_type=bookmark
Happy travels!! The KR team….
This is really a fine review/commentary about the police murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, and about many of the broader questions that this whole incident raises. There are many points of interest, but just to mention a couple:
As an American I was surprised to learn that on a per capita basis the level of murders by police in the U.K. is even higher than in the U.S.! This shows clearly that this problem is not just one in the “gun-crazy U.S.” but something that is worldwide in capitalist society. The ruling class everywhere agrees that the masses need to be kept in their place by the police, including by violence and death “when necessary”!
Then too, I thought the question raised “Why is it that whenever things go wrong in capitalist society the loudest cry seems to be ‘compensation’?” was also very thought-provoking and on-point, when clearly the main concerns should be for punishment of the murderers and for building mass efforts to fundamentally change society so that these murderous police crimes cannot continue indefinitely!
Please let us know what kind of tour do we need to be able to visit this camp. We are
coming from Amsterdam as a tourist.
thanks,
Jocelyn & Justine
If you’re asking for an organised tour I’m afraid I know of nothing. Without your own transport it’s difficult to get there. I’ve given some suggestions for those who depend upon public transport which is possible but it’s not easy. All I can suggest is that you contact the museum directly and see if they know of anything that might be organised from Amsterdam, such as from the Anne Frank House.
My wife and I just visited the monument at Derma in late June 2014 and it now has an Albanian flag on one side and an American flag on the other (2 flag poles). Flags are in good shape. Do you (or anyone) know why there is an American flag here? Monument also looks recently painted — I can share pictures …)
The first pictures I took of the monument in April 2012 it looked somewhat abandoned, the red Albanian flag hadn’t been repainted for a long time. At the end of the same year it was quite smart and had the red stars painted. So I got the impression that someone local was starting to take care of the location. I don’t really see the need for either of the flags on poles that you mention. The contemporary Albanian flag lacks the star which is the symbol used to represent the Communists who are commemorated on the monument. The inclusion of a US flag just seems to be rubbing salt into the wound of the Socialist state. Perhaps they’re trying to re-write history and claim that the liberation of the country from Fascism was the work of the American Imperialists?
I would be interested to see your recent pictures.
I took several very closeup pics of the inscriptions so I could research this monument. The following link has the only pic showing the full monument and flags.
https://jimvickistraveladventures.shutterfly.com/pictures/1083
I’ve been unable to find ANYTHING about this monument on-line through google searches (or about the 5 communists that it memorializes), Can you direct me to more info? Many thanks. Jim Hogan
I’ve recently been on a day trip to Albania from Corfu (date of trip was 1 July 2014).
In Corfu, you can get a ticket in a shop nearly opposite the entrance to the New Port. The very first shop on the corner only sells excursion packages and the unhelpful woman inside first told me that they were sold out for the day. I soon realised she was talking about their excursion packages and went in another shop a few doors down that advertises hydrofoil tickets to Albania. That’s where you want to be. You can only buy a Corfu to Albania ferry ticket there: you have to buy the return leg journey once you’re in Sarande.
The ferry leaves from the far end of the entire New Port – a 400m walk to the left if you’re looking from the port out to sea.
Once you’re in Sarande (remember your passports), the ticket office to buy return tickets to Corfu is on the main street above the dock, to the left as you come out. It’s the head office for the ferry company – you can pay in Lek or Euros.
If you get the 0930 ferry from Corfu, you arrive at about 0900 Albanian time (they’re one hour behind Greece). The bus to Butrint leaves at 0930. Go out of the dock and head to the right towards the roundabout with a tree in the middle of it. The bus leaves from the right-hand street, if you’re looking to the roundabout with the dock behind you. It’s more a coach than a bus, and there’s a sign in the window that says ‘Sarande-Ksamil-Butrint’ and the word ‘Henri’ in our case.
The timetable is as follows: From Sarande: 0700, 0930, 1130, 1330, 1530, 1730; and from Butrint: 0820, 1030, 1230, 1430, 1630, 1830.
It takes around 45 minutes. You get on the bus and pay during the journey. It only costs 100 lek each way, so 200 lek in total, which is next to nowt and MUCH cheaper than a taxi.
We only had the day in Albania, so we took the 0930 and arrived in Butrint at 1015. You can see Butrint quite leisurely in two hours and get the 1230 bus back to Sarande, but if you can afford more time there, another hour or two would be easily spent.
Butrint is an awe-inspiring place which you’re sure to love.
Hi Michael,
Im travelling to Albania via Corfu on July 16th, I will arrive late in the evening in Corfu so I have to take the ferry the next morning. Do you have a suggestion for a (cheap) hotel close to where the ferry takes off? And is the ferry close to the airport as well? Many thanks in advance and this blog is very helpfull!
Hello Judith
There’s a problem about accommodation in Corfu town – there’s no hostels if that was the kind you were looking for and therefore can be quite expensive. I’ve only arrived in the off season so have been able to get reasonable deals in fairly good hotels but that won’t be the case on the 16th July.
The airport is the other side of the old town to the port, about 3 kilometres away. At night there are no buses from the airport to the town.
I think your best bet would be to try the Pink Palace (bookable via Hostelworld.com). It’s on the other side of the island and would cost a fortune by taxi but they do offer a free airport pick-up. If you’re arriving on an Easyjet flight late evening there could well be a number of people going there so a hostel bus is very likely to be at the airport. Make sure you make it clear that you want a free airport pick-up when you book online.
There’s a local bus that leaves Agios Gordios quite regularly but I don’t know if it does so early enough to catch the 09.00 ferry to Saranda. The Pink Palace offers transport back to town for €5 but it might depend if others are wanting to travel at the same time. If you don’t want an early start you could always go for the afternoon (18.30) ferry to Saranda – less of a rush and a chance to enjoy the beach in the daytime.
If you are looking for a cheap hostel in Saranda the best bet (I think) is Tomi’s place (SR Backpackers). It’s only a matter of 50 metres from the ferry port. If you do go there please pass on my greetings.
Hi Michael,
Thank you so much for your answer! I will think about what to do, earlier flight would have been sooo much easier 😉 In Albania I already have places to stay in Dhermi and Vuno but thanks for the suggestion!
Hi! Me and my family are travelling from Sweden to Saranda 21th of july and we´re taking the ferry from Corfu late in the evening. The plane from Stockholm lands at 21:20 so there is a ferry going over quite late…. Maybe not late enough to match your flight Judith?!
Have to ask you Michael, are there any shopping in Saranda? We´re hoping to find leathershoes/bags, clothes och some “tingletangles” 🙂
//Jenny
I’m afraid you’ll have to stay overnight in Corfu Town, there’s no ferry that late, even int he high season.
I’m not really into shopping but one place you might like to try is the daily market. It must be the biggest secret in Saranda and you wouldn’t know it was there unless someone told you about it.
Go up Rruga Vangjel Pando (the street which has the archaeological ruins on one side and the park on the other – also many bus leave from here). Cross Rruga Onhezmi and then take a left into what looks like a car park after a fast food place. Head to an alley at the top left hand corner and that takes you to a maze of narrow streets with different types of stalls. Probably best to go in the morning as I’m not sure if it closes in the afternoon. There are also many shops on the Rrugas Onhezmi and Skanderbreu heading west from the central park.
Hi again! Thank you for the shoppingtips! 🙂 I’m a bit confused by your reply regarding the ferry… From the beginning we were told that we had to stay the night in Corfu town but a month ago we recieved an email from the travelagency that there is a ferry going over in the late evening. I will call the agency tomorrow for more information!
Jenny
The latest time for a departure from Corfu I’ve seen on the ferry company website is 18.30, and that’s only at the very height of the season.
Hi Michael!
I called the travelagency yesterday and she told me that they charter a private ferry for its travelers…. now I can feel at peace again 😉
So sorry Judith if I got your hopes up!
Hi!
In july we are going to Albania. It costs 19 € or 23.80 € for adults, is it 23.80 € in july? Is it the same cost for children? My son is 11 and my daughter is 14.
Thanks.
Hi,
Just back in sweden after 16 days in Corfu and Albania. We had to pay 19 Euro each and they say it is the same price all over the year if you buy in the office. Our children 14 and 16 also pay the same. They say children under 12 has a lower price but I dont know how much. markalarsson@telia.com
Thanks for reply!
Did you enjoy Albania? We are staying in Sarande for one week, do you have any recommendations or warnings?
I’ve only ever been to Saranda in the low season (either early spring or late autumn) when it’s quiet. I’m not that into beaches but taking the local bus to the likes of Himara and Gjirokastra are possible in a day – if you get up at the crack of dawn.
Hello. Sarande looked very pretty and it has a had supermarket. We stayed in Kasamil which was quieter. We took a bus over to Gjirokastra from Sarande. The walk up to the castle was fantastic. Maxine
Hello. My kids are 4 years old and 6 years old. I got an adult ferry ticket for 19 euros. Each of my kids cost 1 euro from Corfu to Albania. Maxine
Hello, we are planing a car trip to Corfu in june is there any chances to find a ferry where we can have our car? 🙁 We driving thrue Croatien og Albanien
Google dosn’t seems too so much help 🙁
The best suggestion I can make is to get in touch directly with Ionian Cruises Petrakis Lines on http://www.ionian-cruises.com/index.htm. Don’t email them, send a question via their online submission form. You may have to wait a while but they should get back to you. If the news is what you want to hear please let me know.
Thank you again, Michael for all this information, but it’s the first time I hear to talk about “Falangists” in Italy. I thought that only in Spain (and Lebanon) has existed a fascist political party called “Falange”. Are you sure there have been “Falangists” in Italy in 1942?
Hello Francesc. My mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking about. You are correct, the Falangists were the Spanish version of Fascism. I’ve corrected the error on the post. Thanks for pointing out my error.
No 1 (62) 1982’s picture just links to… its picture, not a PDF like the other issues of _Albania Today_ you have online.
Hello Thomas, thanks for bringing my mistake to my attention. Don’t know what happened. Probably thought I had done something when I hadn’t. Anyway, everything should be OK now. If you come across any other errors please don’t hesitate to bring them to my attention again.
We are flying to Corfu on Monday 26th May. Our flight arrives late so we will stay overnight in Corfu. At 9am we hope to take go off to Albania. It costs 19 Euros for adults. Is it the same cost for children? My son is 7 and my daughter is 4. Thanks. Are there taxis once in the port in Albania? Many thanks.
The cost for the children will be 9 Euro each. In Saranda the port is very close to the centre but taxis will be available if you are going further afield.
Thanks for this information. I am really looking forward to my family’s trip. We fly off to Corfu on Monday.
Best wishes, Maxine
Once again, Michael, thank you for all this interesting information about May Day.
Long Life to the Revolution!
Up with the Working Class!
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Thank you, Michael, for telling us so many things I didn’t know…
I completely agree with the reply of Michael Harrison to Mr. Rubin Mandija.
Thank you Michael for all this information about the real history of the people of Albania.
Surely Mr. Rubin is a neofascist and a living proof that Fascism is still alive and well and ready to attack, anywhere and anytime.
We must keep on alert.
Long life to the working class!
Down with Fascism!
No pasarán!
I am planing to travel from Saranda to Korfu,will arive with car to Saranda. Any info where and how much is costing per day,
to leave car on secure parking lot ?
I’m afraid I can’t really help you with this. I don’t know of any secure parking in Saranda as I’ve never needed such a place and never saw one in passing. Perhaps you might be able to come to some understanding with one of the bigger hotels.
Hi Michael,
An excellent article on the walk through Jewish Segovia.
Just wanted to mention that the Decree of Expulsion was signed in Granada not Segovia. It was signed after the 1492 conquest of Granada, the last bastion of Moors on the Iberian Peninsula, in the Ambassadors’ room of the Alhambra Palace and is therefore sometimes known as the Alhambra Decree.
Although it gave four months to when it would apply, the effective time was less than that as it was over a month before being promulgated and becoming public.
Best regards,
Jack
Hello Jack
Thanks for drawing attention to my error. I’m in no way an expert on this period of history, just a keen amateur. I’ve checked on why i made such a basic error and it comes from my misreading of the first paragraph on page 43, of the Guia de la Juderia de Segovia by Bonifacio Bartolome Herrero, Libros Certeza, 2006, – hopefully not an excuse but an explantion. I’ve changed the offending paragraph to reflect the true facts. Take care
Certainly: I will take the ferry myself on April 30, departure 9 o’clock.
Costs are 19 euro + 4 euro for the bike.
We want to go cycling in Albanie this summer, Is it possible to take cycles aon the ferry from Corfu to Saranda?
I refer you to Patrick’s comment below.
Thank you very much for all this chronicle. I agree, of course.
-Francesc (your Barcelonan friend)
I and my partner (in our 60’s) did the walk in 2009 . We however took a local with a horse to carry our backpacks. My partner has made a Presentation of the trip if you are interested I can be reach at nimrodjoh@yahoo.com
I’d heard about the possibility of getting a guide and a horse but thought that as I was there in November the opportunities would have been limited. Perhaps, on reflection, I should have made more enquiries. I would be interested in your presentation. If I get back there I might have a better idea of how much I really had to do.
When I look at this interior compare it to some of the other interiors you have written about, for example the modernist interiors, viewing this shopping structure seems to take on, seems to give me the experience you saythe usage shopping itself gives you. is a bIt **** likes poking myself in the eye to look up on this. c
There’s a quite large cache of scanned Albanian works that I found: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1ZP6ZurgOg-bTNNWmlzaWJTaTg&tid=0B1ZP6ZurgOg-REtjWmJoeVRJUlE
Thanks for the info Thomas. I checked out the site and will be filling in the gaps that exist on my Albanian pages in the not too distant future.
dear people. this is not a memorial dedicated to nazism. the word fascism or nazism does not appear at all anywhere on it. this is a memorial to fallen soldiers. there are memorials to fallen axis soldiers in every single country in europe. this is not an Albanian exception. please do not dramatize over a memorial which is dedicated exclusively to lost souls.
I’ve heard similar arguments defending the German Fascist monument in Tirana Park before.
I don’t know the level of your understanding of what happened in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. The rise of Fascism in Italy, Spain and Germany led to suffering on a scale that was unprecedented. I am one of those who believe that the only war that was ‘just’ for workers to fight was that against Fascism in what is now known as the Second World War. All wars previous to that and since have been wars between capitalist states and in which the workers have only been pawns and cannon fodder.
In such a circumstance the German people were not innocent. Yes many fought against the Fascists on the streets before Hitler came to power (voted in by the German electorate in 1933) and if they did not end up being the first occupants of the concentration camps many of them left their homeland and fought in the first real war against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. The Ernst Thalmann Brigade of the International Brigade was the biggest single contingent and fought bravely on the side of the legitimate Republican government.
Those are the Germans who fought in a war with dignity, with honour and for the interests of the working class. The other Germans, the vast majority from that very working class, fought against their own interests and for the benefit of capital and a particularly murderous form of racism and intolerance.
They invaded countries to the west and east of Germany and, at first, considered themselves invincible. And they were. At first all they had to face were armies that had as little understanding of what they were fighting for as these so called ‘lost souls’ of yours. Then they had to face the real patriots, the men and women who knew that the war was an opportunity for the working class to free itself from the chains that had bound working people for too long.
The glorious Soviet Red Army destroyed more than 90% of those ‘lost souls’ on the Eastern Front.
The patriotic partisans under the leadership of Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Communist Party played their heroic role in liberating their country of the Fascist invader – first the Italian and then the German. (I’m surprised you’re not calling for a monument to the Italian’s who invaded Albania. Perhaps that’s because the Zogite Monarcho-Fascists that still exist in Albania are still smarting under the fact that their collaboration and subservience to Mussolini throughout the 20s and the 30s wasn’t enough to maintain themselves in power.)
In fact the only three countries that threw out the Fascists without the direct involvement of the armies of other countries were the three forces in the world at the time that were led by parties flying the banner of Marxism-Leninism, that is in the Soviet Union, China and Albania.
Little Albania, with a population of much less than a million people, which suffered more than 30,000 dead and the almost total destruction of the infrastructure were able to defeat the might of the Thousand Year Reich.
But the destruction reeked by Fascism in those years was more extensive than little Albania, important as it obviously was to the Albanians. We will probably never know the exact number of people who died in that period from the mid 30s to the mid 40s but it was AT LEAST 60 million. This was all unleashed by the German people and their support of, or acquiescence to, the rise of Nazism. Encouraged by this development in Europe – unchecked by the so-called democratic powers of the UK, France and the USA (with other minnows swimming in their wake) the Japanese Militarist-Fascists created equal mayhem, death and destruction in Asia.
Those ‘lost souls’ you consider to be so important might have walked arm in arm along the Champs Elysee in Paris with French collaborating whores but when they moved east they killed with a frenzy that made Attila the Hun look like a conscientious objector.
Who rounded up Communists, Socialists, Jews, the Disabled, Homosexuals and the Roma to send them off to the concentration camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen and Auschwitz? Who maintained ‘order’ in those camps? Who forced people into the ‘showers’ and who threw the cans of deadly cyanide into those gas chambers? Who forced hundreds of thousands of Soviet villagers into the churches and town halls only to burn them alive and then leave thousands of those villages burning infernos as they left to kill more people and destroy more villages? Who hung Communists and other partisans on low gallows so that they strangled to death (not even giving them the slow, clinical, scientific hanging that a few (too few) of the leaders had after being convicted at the Nuremberg Trials?
Now I accept that not ALL German soldiers were guilty of ALL those crimes. But they were part of the infrastructure that allowed it to happen. Not ALL of the soldiers were members of the National Socialist Party but they allowed that Party to exist, take control of their country and then to attempt to expand its sphere of influence over a bigger part of Europe since the time of the Roman Empire almost 2,000 years before.
Perhaps some, even many of the soldiers who invaded Albania were becoming disillusioned with the Nazis but was that because of a real ideological difference or because their country was losing the war? An army always has a different attitude depending upon whether it is in advance or retreat.
Maybe there’s no Fascist/Nazi insignia on the staele with the names of the German dead who were killed by the Communists defending their country – but that’s beside the point.
They shouldn’t have been there. They were invaders and although there will always be those prepared to welcome invaders the real patriots know without having to think about it what is right and what is wrong.
If someone comes into your home with the aim of looting, raping and pillaging then you can accept it or fight against it. Many heroic Albanians chose to fight and many lost their lives doing so. Many cowards hid under rocks and came out only after the fighting had stopped, but then to claim that they had a right to the spoils of the war in which they had not taken part.
What became known as the Party of Labour of Albania, after independence and as part of the construction of socialism in their country, declared that those men and women who had fought for the freedom and dignity of their country should be honoured, in perpetuity. That was not to be the case.
Mistakes were made and reaction was able to retake control of the country and it fell again within the suffocating and parasitic clutch of capitalism. I don’t like it but it happened. We should learn from our mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen after the next time we attempt to build socialism towards Communism.
But what reason is there to attack and destroy those monuments, in all parts of Albania, celebrating the ultimate sacrifice of the Albanian patriots, partisans and Communists if not to make a declaration that they represent all that the present rulers of Albania detest, that is dignity, national independence and a hope that a better future can be constructed for ordinary people?
Because this is the context in which I wrote my original post about the German, and English, war memorials in Tirana Park. These are grand affairs. Marble or granite. Carved with precision. Expensive. Well maintained. The German memorial has a wall around it with a locked gate. The English a fence, with a locked gate. The English even ‘stole’ the red marble memorial stone that was placed over Enver Hoxha’s grave when he used to lie in the Martyr’s Cemetery. I assume this was done to emulate the early Christian Church when it took over buildings and structures previously occupied by the heathen Romans and later the Catholic Church in its murderous exploits in South America and the pursuit of the ‘extirpation of idolatry’.
I have no problem with that. At the moment they have won and to the victor the spoils.
If anyone, in this centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War, was to do to the war memorials in Britain and France what the Fascists have done to the monuments to the partisans in Albania there would be such an outcry that the noise would reach the moon. What most people don’t know or understand about the Albanian war memorials, as well as the statues erected, is that they look more substantial than they actually are. Most are made of concrete on a metal frame and most of the statues are hollow – nothing like the expense incurred to commemorate the ‘heroes’ who defended capitalism and imperialism.
Yet these simple, respectful monuments to Albanian patriots are either being vandalised or just left to decay. In the same park as the monuments to the German and English dead (less than a 100 metres away) a simple pillar commemorating the sacrifice (if I understand the Albanian correctly) of a group of students is dirty and attended by no-one. When I last went to the park a year or so ago the ‘private’ grass was being cut around the German stones and the English cemetery is under the auspices of the Commonwealth Graves Commission.
You say that there are ‘axis monuments in all countries of Europe’. To that I say bullshit. Yes in Albania where neo-Fascists have had a resurgence, yes (perhaps) in the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia where the grandsons and granddaughters of the Fascist collaborators have stayed under the stones just waiting their opportunity and yes in the future, probably, in the pro-West Ukraine if they are successful in their counter-revolution – but not elsewhere.
The only people who consider the German Nazi invader worthy of recognition as ‘lost souls’ are the Fascists, the stupid or the ignorant – probably all of the aforementioned.
Hi – planning a trip to Corfu Sept then would like to get to Kotor in Montenegro. Seems the ferry to Saranda is the best first step. Can I get a car rental in Saranda or better to look into trains or buses to head north? Thx much
I can’t give you information based on personal experience as I’ve never hired a car in Albania. However, if you went north to Shkoder you should be able to get to get a bus into Montenegro. From there I don’t know.
Oh and I forgot to add. HIS LAST TOUR??? That was his one and only tour!!
That’s if you’re not a Republican supporter and are to afraid to answer and will just delete this comment!
Is this the Michael Harrison who done the article on soldiers speak out in NI ? If so I would like to have my say! I’ve been waiting for years to have my say. I’ve tried to research Barzilay with no luck. You have a article by a Marine called Moran about abuse by Marines on the 76 tour. I was on that tour and in the same troop as ” Bugsy” Moran. At no time on that tour did we use snatch squads so we never ran into any crowds hitting people! No1 lie! Abuse was not rife on the streets No2 lie by Moran. He himself used to stop and search people and make them strip right Down. He tried to steal a Tricolor belonging to a Mrs Green. He had an obsession with Hitler. Am I painting a picture? The fact that someone watched him pack his bags on the night that he went AWOL when he was putting 24 hour ration packs into them and never thought that this was odd cause it was just Bugsy being Bugsy! Again am I painting a picture? This has angered me for years! Please answer me by email. Steve
No it’s not so I don’t really know to which article you are referring. Direct me to it and I’ll put it on the blog so people can take you comments into account in a meaningful context.
It’s on your blog michaelharrison.org.uk. Soldiers speak out on Ireland left side of the road. It’s your web address I’ve checked and double checked. If you have the contact for Barzilay I would love to put him straight to
I didn’t write the booklet, British Soldiers Speak Out on Ireland. I have merely posted a pamphlet that was produced in the 1980s. I’m not able to say whether what I have posted on the different pages of the blog is totally accurate or not. That’s something for the original writers to ensure before they publish. I have posted these documents to put the information out into the public domain. It’s then for others to decide whether they agree or not.
Any idea on how to contact Barzilay the author of The British Army in Ulster? He’s the one who published that story first and I would love to put the story straight. Are you going to put these messages beside that story?
No
Hi,
We are going to Saranda from Corfu during Easter 2014 for a couple of days. The departure at 12.45 from Saranda on the way back is planned to be friday April 18 – Good Friday – would it be risky business relying on that one..?
/Michele
If it’s scheduled to run then I see no reason (apart from weather) why it shouldn’t. Remember that Easter is the start of the holiday season in the Med and all days become the same. The season is so short, relatively, that if you want to spend your money then you will always find someone to take it.
Thank you for your answer, Michael. I understand it very well. It can happen everywhere: certain tourist places got crazy names…
Thanks so much for sharing this info and everyone’s subsequent updates. All very useful. We trying to plan a low season trip to the Ionian Islands and Albania and finding it rather like running around with a blindfold on! Also just stumbled across the http://www.gtp.gr/ website, which is a huge help on the ferry timetable front.
Hey Michael!
How are you?
The most interesting part, for me, is this story about the stable girl. A very good deduction of yours, just in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style.
And all these social considerations about so long working times nowadays people is forced to…
By the way, could you explain to me why this Bay is called precisely Robin Hood’s Bay?
Thank you very much and stay strong.
No pasarán!
Hello Francesc
There’s a problem about the reason why Robin Hood’s Bay is so called – nobody seems to know. It’s just speculation. Probably someone thought it useful to build upon the Robin Hood legend. There seems no logical reason why the character would have had any connection with the small fishing village on the North Sea.
hi will be travelling to corfu early april 2014 and have booked 3 nights at hotel in sarande. Any ferry advice and travel tips in albania please?? worried about the weather mainly.!!!
Information I have on the ferries is already on the blog. I suggest you try to get to Gjirokastra for a day trip. Plenty of buses but to make the most of the day leave very early. Then there’s Butrint archaeological site and Blue Eye, both accessible by local bus. Weather – who knows. It could be OK but who can say what’s ‘normal’ in the time of climate change. For what I know have a look at some of the links that appear at the bottom of the Corfu-Saranda ferry post.
Can i take my bicycle on the ferry? What would it cost?
What will the average temperature be in late March/early April?
I wouldn’t swear to it but think you could take your bike as luggage, people travel on this boat with a lot of luggage. On the coast it could be pleasant spring like weather (though I was there in April last year when the weather was atrocious). On the high mountains there could still be snow. All depends what the coming winter throws at us and how long it lingers. Global warming means that stability in the weather isn’t guaranteed anywhere.
Hi Micheal – and others who might want to go on a biking holiday to Albania,
I’ve mailed Ionian Cruises on taking the bike on the ferry, this is what they answered (29-12 2013):
“We would like to inform you that you can take with you the bicycle on the Hydrafoild. The price per person is 19,00ε and the price for the bicycle is 4,00ε.”
Thanks for the update Patrick. It’s interesting in a world of ever rising prices that the cost of the passenger ticket has now remained the same for at least 2 years now.
….. and worse
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/food-poverty-in-uk-has-reached-level-of-public-health-emergency-warn-experts-8981051.html?utm_source=indynewsletter&utm_medium=email04122013
Dear Comrdaes,
It is due to Scribd policy. several of your document is not downloadable. Can you please send me the scanned document or upload them on site where it is easily downloadable. May be a word-press site.
I have a book of cde Hoxha in Hindi that i will scan in next few months and upload it.
I have decided to upload any further Albanian works scanned by myself and some others (not the creator of this website, enverhoxha.ru, etc. though) onto my archive.org account, where they are freely downloadable. See: https://archive.org/search.php?query=uploader%3A%22kocotosi%40gmail.com%22&sort=-publicdate
I don’t understand why, when you mention the Somme, you say “but they were French so they don’t really count”.
From the standpoint of the British Establishment. In both the World Wars the attitude of the British – including, unfortunately, many ordinary people – was not particularly positive to the ally across the Channel. After the 1914-18 war the attitude of Churchill that Ypres should remain a ruin as a testament to the British ‘Empire’ dead is indicative of the superior attitude that pervaded the British ruling class. Whatever the loses incurred by other countries, in terms of material destruction or human fatalities, the British would always over estimate their role in the conflict. When reference is made to the defeat of Nazism, to this day, by commentators in Britain there will be scant (and if so only grudging) recognition of the human suffering of the Soviet people. British losses in the war against Hitlerism were in the region of 500,000, the Soviet people lost anything between 21 and 27 MILLION. To the British establishment those Soviets don’t count.
hello dear paolo .
The information about the other boats on the lake is not our bussines , like a privat bussines we are , me and my collegues give information only about our services , but NEVER false info .
For the privat trips 30/50 euro , does it sound horrible ?? nobody ever said sth like you about it .
Professional but not completely , your try on this forum (whoever you are) , it is so obvious that you are not a tourist at all , or maybe a really BAD informed tourist , you do not know how does it work with my trips , you just said that : Avoid this guy (me) , so you did it for sure , or not ?
And at the end , me and my collegues are workin very hard to devenlope the tourism in koman , and if you say that 5 euro (a caffe in european countrys) is too much to pay for a 3 hour trip on the lake (same for both boats) take a look here journeytovalbona.com , then this try is more than failed , much more .
like a 21 years old guy i did the first advertisment for that lake (flyers and posters) , i did register the 1st bussines registered on that area , and i am the ONLY one who pays taxes to the goverment everymonth , no other owner of boat , ferry or ship does .
Time will show itself if im a lier , or a fair guy !
Anyway thanks a lot for your support .
We will soon clean our land from this scum. Albanians are left oriented culturally. We losed the control of our land after the communist regime. There are a lot of reasons for this and I can’t explain all of them here. What’s for sure is that, soon we will remove this symbols legally and peacefully. The last twenty years were like a bad illness for the society. People didn’t become nazilovers but just indifferent. Now were getting better and soon this garbage will take the right place in history. Thank you for posting this facts.
Here’s an Alia pamphlet I just scanned: http://www.scribd.com/doc/179162436/The-Revolution-A-Question-Taken-Up-for-Solution-pdf
Thanks for that Thomas. I’ve tidied the scan up so that it looks more even, hope you don’t mind. I’ve just posted it on the Ramiz Alia page.
I’m planning an early holiday in Abania in June 2014 but thought I would split my time, (3 days there and 2 days in Corfu). Can I travel on the ferry to Corfu, stay a couple of days and return to Albania, or is the ferry crossings for day trips only.
No problem. People are going back and forth all the time.
Just one old fart offering support for another, Mike.
Okay, despite what I said before you left, I do read some of the blogs some of the time.
I hope you are still going strong, physically and mentally, albeit in my unhealthy state of hip you can appreciate that I am really concerned for your knees. I know you have determination in abundance, and some of your posts reflect the mental battles you have already overcome. The last week has been good weather here, and you are now out of the notorious lakes micro climate, so I hope you have left those grey days behind up there too.You must be over the most challenging bit of terrain now. Leonie and I wish you well for the remainder of the walk.
Coming back to the knees.from Leonie’s bad experience with prolonged use of anti inflammatory drugs don’t skimp on the food. I am sure you read the instructions but just in case you are tempted to get blaze about taking them, don’t. I have read from one of your earlier posts that you were eating very little after breakfast – they need to be taken with food or you are inviting stomach problems. That said, I have always carried these drugs with me, they are good in a crisis.
Anyway Mike, its good for me to share your experiences as its unlikely I’ll ever be able to do something as challenging as this. I enjoyed your photographs too.
Sorry to go on so about the drugs – it’s become a topic of conversation lately between Richard and myself, comparing notes and doses – how boring, how sad.
You’ll be on the home leg soon, take care and good luck.
See you for a pint in Liverpool.
I actually own this; it came in the form of two small books and ended in 1960. There were no additional small books to my knowledge, though, they simply re-released it as one single English-language “History of the Party of Labor of Albania” in 1971 which incorporated the earlier chapters while adding the rest of the 60’s to them. In 1982 a new edition (with “Labour” instead of “Labor”) was released which extended the history into the 70’s to cover the 7th Congress of the PLA, adoption of the new Constitution, and the Sino-Albanian split. There were no newer editions after that, in Albanian or otherwise.
I think the two small booklets were part of an abandoned project, and that they simply realized there was no need to divide the party’s history into multiple small books, so they went with a more attractive one-volume hardcover work incorporating all of it (which was also what they had in Albania, the English-language history being a translation of the “Historia e Partisë së Punës së Shqipërisë”) and adding a handy bound bookmark to it.
I, too, have the books you mention. I wasn’t sure if there were books covering later years that I had missed before the counter revolution. If we work together we can get all the available years on the net.
The Russian Hoxha website is already planning to upload the 1982 edition of the History in multiple languages in the future: http://www.enverhoxha.ru/history_of_the_party_of_labour_of_albania.htm
Publication of electronic books “History of the Party of Labor of Albania” (2nd edition) in website http://www.enverhoxha.ru in all major languages will begin in November 2013.
Hi Michael,
take care of your left knee…! No pasarán!
The Left we can never do without – the Right we have to confine to history!
It would be great if a former fisherman living near the shores of the Koman lake could make a living working with tourists, in this way supporting his family there. But this should be done honestly.
Sadly, I could observe that Mario Molla is not respecting tourists, but rather he gives them flase information in order to convince them to pick his boat. Over the time I was in Koman, he said that ferry service had been abolished altogether, despite the fact that ferries depart every day at 9am. This was to force people to take his private boat.
Moreover, he normally behaves in a quite impolite way with the other locals working there, since he insulted them when they quietly tried to tell tourist that, yes, ferries leave Koman every day at 9 am… in sum, he seemed a kind of a mafia boss…
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It’s good to read that others have found the dordolec of interest when travelling around Albania.
Hello, I am involved in efforts to scan Albanian materials of the 60’s-80’s. You can find some of them (mixed with a few unrelated PDFs) here: http://www.scribd.com/jhamelin_2/documents
It’s a shame that some of the links take you to a page where you have to pay in order to download the full document.
If that is the case then it is scribd, since I do not profit at all from uploading these works. I also just noticed that there are other pages on this website where you have various scanned works by Hoxha, documents of the PLA, etc. Good work!
If anyone is confronted with a document I uploaded that they are asked to spend money on to read in full, email me at koco tosi [at] gmail dot com (no spaces) and I will send you said document.
In December we plan on scanning some more works. Michael, if you email me I can give you a list of works we can get scanned, and help choose from among them.
Thanks for the clarification Thomas. I have other works I plan to add to the collection when I have time. Perhaps then we should co-ordinate to make sure there’s no duplication of effort.
Hi – we travelled in this region last week (Aug 2013) and have updated info which you could post to help others regarding the car ferry from Sarande to Corfu:
Service operated by Finikas Lines from Sarande
http://www.finikas-lines.com
info@finikas-lines.com
Tel. +355 852 26057
Mobile: +355 692 073711 – ask for Eranda – she speaks good English
There are 2 car ferry & foot passenger sailings per day: 10:30am/4:00pm
Each ferry only takes about 4 cars so you should book several days in advance. Crossing about 1.5 hours. I can’t remember the prices, but it was 140 Euro for a car + 3 adults + 1 child to travel from Igoumenitsa in Greece (around 1h 45m by car from Sarande) to Corfu on one of their large car ferries (about 350 vehicles, 5 crossings per day, no need to book in advance) and about 40-50 Euro more expensive to travel with Finikas directly from Sarande.
hello,
Can someone inform me about ferie tickrts per persond anfor car???
thax
No car ferry, only foot passengers from Corfu to Saranda. To go by car from Corfu your would have to go to Igoumenitsa and then cross the land border at Skala on the Greek side.
thx a lot!!!!
Hi all!
Have used Ionian Ferry’s to Corfu and back over 3 years now and I’ve been more than happy overall with their service.
Cheap tickets….
Friendly staff…..
Fun Journey……
2 country’s within a hour….
My flight arrives at 12.15 pm 23rd August. Shall I have to wait till 6.30 to catch evening ferry. When I arrive in Saranda I will only have Euros with me. Will I be able to get money changed when I get there late on? I will have to get bus or taxi to hotel so I will need their currency.
There are more ferries during the main summer season but a few hours is not too long to wait, just have a beer at the port. Euros will be accepted almost everywhere in Saranda, but don’t expect the best rates. If you want to change Euros or other currency wait till the next day for the banks to open, or use an ATM. Relax a little, its not that a difficult country to visit.
Thanks Michael
We had arranged a pick up with our hotel in Sarande and recommend you to ask for the same if it is possible. It was so convenient to have somebody meeting us at the port. But anyway there is an ATM close to the port.
What’s available in terms of transportation (bus, rental car, taxis?) once you land in Albania if you want to spend a few days and explore the southern coast beyond where the ferry lands? Is it possible?
Plenty of buses to different parts of Albania from Saranda. Plenty of taxis for closer destinations. Don’t know about car hire.
I think the success of trips like these depends to a large extent on preparation. The climb out of the valley is steep, which means you need to consider the weight of your luggage. Contours of a terrain can be determined beforehand on a map. The trailhead you were looking for is indeed reached by walking though the bed of the river, which is dry in summer. A local guide + horse for the luggage can be had for 50 euro, and you will be contributing to a shepherd’s household income.
I don’t know where you were staying, but if you had to walk 8 kilometres to get to the trail head you were in Dunishe at best, or, judging from the fact that you had to walk along a road, maybe even in Dragobia. Knowing where you are is the basis of knowing where to go. GPS-tracks describing the trek from Valbona to Thethi can be found on the internet (if you want to, I can send you mine) and, provided you have a GPS, finding the trail would be easy.
I realise the above may sound like coming from someone who knows it all, but whenever we got into unexpected trouble, with hindsight lack of preparation has always been the cause. You will enjoy your trip more if you prepare.
Hello Arno
Thanks for your comments. I agree that preparation is all, especially when you are going into an isolated area in the mountains.
The problem was (and still is) the difficulty in getting accurate information about much of Albania. I looked as hard as I could but still had huge gaps in my knowledge. This is still true (at least in English) as the guidebook available concerns itself too much on comments about Albania’s Socialist past and misses out what a guidebook should present, and that’s useful, up to date and accurate information that will allow a novice in the country to travel safely and be able to achieve (within reason) what they set out to achieve.
The reason for this particular post was to help fill that gap. I didn’t have enough information and had to hack it. I made a few mistakes. I hadn’t been able to get the sort of maps that I would usually use in other parts of the world (and am only now trying out a GPS). I did the best I could with what I had.
My hope is that my mistakes will be of use to any others who follow in my footsteps.
I plan to try and complete the trek from Valbona to Thethi later this year. When I start out I will know a great deal more than last year and although I might well make mistakes they won’t (hopefully) be the same ones.
Hi Michael,
Can I ask?
Did you make it?
Best wishes
Ralph
Hello Ralph
Not yet. The problem was not the walk, although I don’t think it’s easy and you need to be prepared both physically and with the gear if the weather should turn against you. the problem was my lack of knowledge of what was the other side of the pass and how much reserves I would need to get down to Thethi valley. This is a really isolated walk and if you’re not happy it’s foolish to carry on – perhaps I’m getting more careful/thoughtful in my old age. I’m intending to attempt the route (it’s become a personal challenge now) in the late spring this year – but that will all depend upon how quickly the snow disappears. There seems to have been a lot of snow in northern Europe so far but don’t know the situation further south. When I get there, hopefully in April/May, I’ll check on the local conditions. If I do manage it I’ll tell all on this blog. If you’re going yourself take care and let me know how it goes.
I would really recommend taking a guide. There are two highly trained and very helpful local young men, Bledar and Ardit Jubani, at Guesthouse Kol Gjoni in Valbona who would help you and make the experience pleasant and safe. We did the crossing the other way in July, and there are indeed some very hairy moments. Good luck!
We would love to reprint this for our show on the film.
No problem. Hope the showing goes well.
thanks for the answer!
Could anybody tell me from where the boat leaves? Is it from Kerkyra near the airport or is it far away? If its far from the airport – how can I reach the port from where the boat leaves? Are there any busses or do I need to take a Taxi? Thanks,
I would recommend a taxi, should cost about 12 – 15 €. It’s about 3 km away. I suppose you have to stop at Ionian Cruises office about 400 m before the port to buy the ticket which was 19 € in June 2013.
I actually took a bus from the airport, there is a schedule right outside the exit from the airport. It runs every 40 minutes or so, and costs 1.50 euro that you pay to the driver. It’s a comfortable ride of approximately 20 minutes, and drops you quite close to the terminal for the ferry. You have to walk back however towards the Ionian cruises office, about 400 meters.
Dear comrade,
in the name of our comrades we like to thank you for your great contribution to the defense of the Socialist Albania of comrade Enver Hoxha
with world communist greetings
Wolfgang Eggers
Happy to report that there is indeed a left luggage facility in the Nautica, the building almost straight across the Ionian cruises office. There is a 2 euro fee, a chatty caretaker, and a rather longish walk from there to the passenger terminal. According to Ionian cruises staff, the hydrofoil runs only in the morning. In the evenings (nominally 6.30, but mine was delayed by about 20 minutes) it’s a slower boat, making the crossing to Sarande in about 1 hour 15 minutes. I took that, and it’s a very pleasant, albeit slow trip.
Thanks for the update Corinna. It helps to keep the blog more relevant.
Hello Mario
Your comment and information is now on my blog. I hope you can return the favour by putting a link on your Facebook page to my blog.
Best of luck in your venture.
Michael
hello ,
i am a guy from Koman.
i started 4 years ago to do trip´s on the lake ,first i started with small fishing boats and later also with bigger boat .
from 1st june i have a new bigger boat (summer boat)and offer trip´s ,picnic on boat and launchs on the boat (like the request are ,depend) .
you can have a look on the pictures from the trip´s and boats in facebook : komani lake , boat tours ,mario molla .
i would aprecciate your help by doing an small (advertisment) of my job .
best regards .
Mario Molla
Thank you, Michael, for this interesting post and beautiful video about ‘Waalsdorpervlakte’ in The Hague. I didn’t know anything of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands and Anton Mussert. I shall try to learn more. Anyway I think it would be useful for everybody if you explain some more –inside your own post– about this historic political movement at the end of WWII. What do you tink?
No pasarán!
-Francesc
Hi Mike,
Congratulations on your venture. I enjoyed your many travel pieces very much. I’m intrigued that such an avowed atheist as your good self finds so much to admire in buildings dedicated to myth and superstition. Oh, and by the way, all genres of popular commercial music originated in “the red-neck states of the Confederacy.” And the particular reason why country music is so popular even in St Lucia? Well, I’ll leave it to Steinbeck to explain:
“And perhaps a man brought out his guitar to the front of his tent.And he sat on a box to play, and everyone in the camp moved slowly in toward him, drawn in toward him. many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker. There you have something – the deep chords beating, beating while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps. Heavy hard fingers marching on the frets. The man played and the people moved slowly in on him until the circle was closed and tight, and then he sang…and the circle sang softly with him. and he sang, “Why Do You Cut Your Hair, Girls?” And the circle sang….
And now the group was welded to one thing, one unit, so that in the dark the eyes of the people were inward, and their minds played in other times, and their sadness was like rest, like sleep. He sang the “McAlester Blues” and then, to make up for it to the older people, he sang “Jesus Calls Me to His Side.” The children drowsed with the music and went into the tents to sleep, and the singing came into their dreams.
And after a while the man with the guitar stood up and yawned. Good night, folks, he said.
And they murmured, Good night to you.
And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing.”
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
All power to your elbow.
Dear Mr Harrison,
I am currently compiling the latest edition of Oxford University’s prestigious and long-standing magazine, Isis. One of the articles is about modern Albanian culture and it would be fantastic to be able to include your photo of one of the collapsed, incomplete buildings in Saranda, found here http://michaelharrison.org.uk/tag/ksamil/. If you were to grant your permission for Isis’ rights to this image we will gladly send you a complimentary copy of the magazine once it has been printed!
Thank you for your time,
Kind regards,
Lucy Byford
St Catherine’s College, Oxford
Mike,
Very impressive. Quite an eye opener, with some really interesting pieces on art, film and travel. I liked the article on the Antony Gormley sculpture and I wouldn’t mind getting over there to see it in its naked, steel power.
This is simply a message to show solidarity and support for your enterprise and to wish you luck with it. I’m sure I’ll meet you in the Fly or another pub anyway where I can offer some further, off the record comment.
You might want to look at some of my photos from the 80s and otherwise on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankdownes/
See you soon
Frank
Any idea of whether there is some sort of left luggage in either the airport or the port? I was unable to find the information online, and I’ve got a few hours between my flight and the afternoon ferry to Sarande. Any insight would be appreciated.
I wouldn’t swear to it but I think there may be a left luggage at the port. Not where the Saranda ferry leaves but in the new building across the road from the Ionian Cruises-Pretrakis Lines office. The building is multi-function in that there’s a cafe, waiting room and offices etc. It’s from this area that the majority of ferries going to mainland Greece depart and it would make sense to have some sort of left luggage facility there.
Thank you!
great picture and post, looking forward to more.
Great website, what is happening in Albania is most extraordinary, it seems they have completely lost their minds to erect memorials to the fascists.
Dear Mr Harrison,
in October 2013 Berlin-based Christoph-Links-Verlag will publish a book on „The Cult of Personality in the 20th and 21st Centuries”, which I edit together with Thomas Vogel. I would like to introduce you to the publisher’s respective announcement at http://www.christoph-links-verlag.de/index.cfm?inhalt=detail&nav_id=1&titel_id=734.
I would be glad to publish in this book the photograph I retrieved from the following website:
http://michaelharrison.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/236-Hoxhas-Grave-08-11-12.jpg
Could you, being the author/operator of this website, give me the permission to reprint the respective photograph? Are there any conditions to this permission? It goes without saying that you will be sent a specimen copy as soon as the book will have been published.
Thank you very much,
Regards
Dr. Thomas Kunze
Editor
Between July 1999 & June 2001, I was part of a WEU Mission (Multi Advisory Police Element -MAPE) working in Albania. I am not sure whether it was November 1999 or November 2000 ( I was home on leave at the time ) but a number of British Police officers held a Remembrance Day service at the cemetery.
I visited the cemetery a couple of weeks ago and it was good to see that it was now being well looked after.
Hi Ray
Just having a nostalgia moment when I saw this entry.
They had a service both years. I attended both.
Intending having a revisit my self.
What changes have happened. Have the roads improved?
Trust you’re in good health.
Mike Wardell
The situation continues to get worse, as an article in The Independent of 30th May 2013 suggests, Hungry Britain: More than 500,000 people forced to use food banks, warns Oxfam
I was part of the Fleet Salvage crew on RFA Sea Salvor which arrived at Corfu harbour to help with the recovery of Saumarez,to remove her bow forward of B turret and tow her (astern) to Valletta where we were involved in diving operations to remove various vessels,cranes etc.and the three sections of floating dock from Grand Harbour.
It seems that Ionian Cruises are starting to get their act together. Any update on prices would be appreciated. Thanks.
Just reserved tickets online and even got a confirmation to my email. They also answered some questions I sent on email. Have to pay for the tickets when arriving to Corfu. So far worked perfectly.
hello! i also plan to go toCorfu from Saranda, on 1st August, but dont know where and how to book my ticket online. Can u help me please? thank you
You don’t really need to book in advance, just turn up at the ticket office on the day of travel.
Toilets yes, bar/snack no. But it’s only a very short journey, a little over 30 minutes.
Is there a toilet and a snack or beverage bar on the hydrofoil?
Thank you!
Dear Michael,
today, we celebrate the 28th anniversary of comrade Enver Hoxha’s death. Comrade Enver’s legacy is immortal. He, just like all other Classics, will live forever on the minds and hearts of every worker and of every communist.
Comrade Enver was, after the death of comrade Stalin, the greatest anti-revisionist of the world. He was engaged in a fierce battle against all kinds of revisionists, from Titoism to Maoism, and while Enver was alive, socialist Albania remained proudly victorious against all anti-communist enemies. After comrade Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s ascension to power, while other false “communist” countries were contesting among each other to see who would be the quickest to erase even the most superficial traces of Stalinist principles and to openly assume their character of bourgeois-revisionist class tyrannies, comrade Enver’s socialist Albania invariably refused to give up Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist principles. And in the end, it triumphed. Comrade Enver’s tiny socialist Albania, a country which in 1945 was totally destroyed by imperialist war, was able to transform itself into a completely independent and developed agro-industrial country and to defeat the almighty Soviet and Chinese social-imperialists on its own while being always ready to denounce the lies and trickeries of opportunists and anti-socialists of all hues. It also showed the world that socialism is not only a possibility, but moreover an inevitable historical necessity; that all the evils, oppression, exploitation, slavery, etc. that capitalism-imperialism brings upon world workers can be and will certainly be overcome.
Comrade Enver and the other Albanian Marxist-Leninists were true examples of proletarian strength, revolutionary temerity and communist fierceness. During almost 40 years, Albanian working class led by comrade Enver’s PLA confirmed again (after comrade Lenin’s and Stalin’s Soviet Union) that capitalism, imperialism and revisionism are not inevitable and that authentic proletarian dictatorship and authentic socialist and communist construction are unbeatable.
Today, the Comintern (SH) is the only true defender not only of comrade Enver, but also of all other Classics, as it is impossible to support one of the Classics without equally supporting also all others without exception. Based on the invincible teachings of the 5 Classics of Marxism-Leninism, we march resolutely towards world socialist revolution, towards world proletarian dictatorship, towards world socialism and world communism.
Long live comrade Enver Hoxha, the 5th Classic of Marxism-Leninism!
Long live the 5 Classics of Marxism-Leninism!
Long live comrade Enver’s socialist Albania!
Long live world socialist revolution and world proletarian dictatorship!
Long live world socialism and world communism!
Long live the Comintern (SH)!
“There is the ability to buy duty-free goods on arrival at the airport, before passing through immigration”—-
Actually, the duty free goods are purchased right AFTER passing through immigration, and just before Customs.
Thanks for the information. Great review and help 🙂
Grenada, 1983
Thank you, Michael, for remembering the infamous invasión of Grenada by the US Marines in 1983 (Operation Urgent Fury). This was a very important event for me at that time, which impressed very much at least a bunch of members of my generation .
The invasión was in October. I was in the city of Lleida that night, in a little hotel with other lawyers. Next day we had a Court Martial against some Basque and Catalan youth being accused of trying to take over an Spanish army barrack, back in 1980. I remember that, in spite of our worries about the difficult job awaiting us, we’ve had a conversation about this issue, before going to sleep, because somebody has seen a book about Grenada on my night table.
Actually, that ’83 Sommer I had been in Cuba, as a member of the International Brigade “José Martí” for solidarity with Cuban people and the Cubans had offered us much information about international politics. It happened that, among the books I had brought to Barcelona, there was precisely a paperback, just published in La Habana, where I had been able to read about this little Caribbean Island, totally unknown for me (before the invasión).
This book –which I still keep with special care in Barcelona—was a clear explanation about the people’s political progresses in Grenada during the times preceding the US invasión. If you have time to read it, I would be very pleased to know your opinión about. Now I’m writing from Balearic Islands and I haven’t in my memory neither the title nor the author or authors…
I also remember a very vicious and chovinistic US film (Heartbreak Ridge), released in 1986, produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, trying to glorify the Grenada invasión. This movie –which is even nowadays passed, from time to time, in the main Spanish TV channel—is a real sample of historical misrepresentation and bias, including the sacking of a Cuban dead soldier…
Go ahead, Michael, and don’t stop writing…
Dear comrade Michael!
Many thanks for your work! We give up hope of that, as further please us with new revolutionary materials. The Georgian section of Comintern (SH) will be always glad to co-operate with you in any questions which will help approach and a fulfilment of the World Socialist Revolution!
Activity of 5 Classics of Marxism, activity of the 5th Classic of Marxism – comrade Enver Hoxha – immortal!
With revolutionary regards,
The Georgian section of Comintern (SH)
Hello Michael !
Great photos ! Congratulation !
We placed your website here:
http://ciml.250x.com/archive/hoxha/onhoxha.html
thanking you for your contribution.
The legacy of Comrade Enver Hoxha is indelible !
with grateful greetings
Wolfgang Eggers
Comintern (SH)
6. 1. 2013
Hello Michael!
We thank you for photos of the grave of Enver Hoxha and your reportage.
Your photos and the link to your site are placed on site http://www.enverhoxha.ru here: http://www.enverhoxha.ru/enver_hoxha_questions_answers_2.htm
Enverhoxha. RU
Thanks for your ideas, Francesc.
Nationalism and Independence will always bring up many issues, here I would like to address just a couple of your points.
Your mention of the Financial Times, I assume, is to make reference to the question of whether an independent Catalonia would be able to just slot into the European Union (EU) as if nothing had changed. This is already becoming a bone of contention, more than 2 years before a referendum, on Scottish Independence, with the SNP (the Scottish Nationalist Party) being challenged to justify why they said that this transition would also automatically apply to them.
I don’t want to discuss here the merits or otherwise of EU membership, suffice it to say that many on the left (as unfortunately so do many on the right) are not in agreement with the UK being a member, as it is presently constituted, as they see this as a grouping of capitalists that doesn’t benefit the workers. In times of boom capitalism can throw down a few crumbs but in times of crisis even the crumbs are swept up by the rich and powerful and it’s ultimately the working class who have to pay. Just ask Greek workers about that.
My question in relation to Catalan Independence is, therefore, why after gaining independence from the imperialist Spain you want to be part of an organisation where even large countries are being told what to do? You will have even less independence than you do now. That seems to me to be a bit like ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’.
And in Catalonia (as in Scotland) the ‘independistas’ know that true independence (i.e. not with Spain (or Scotland) and also NOT with the EU) means that success in the referendum would be almost nil.
The second point is what you say about another possible referendum, some time in the future, to return to any future Spanish Workers’ Republic.
This is a new idea for me and truly an interesting one. However, it also introduces, at least another, previously unconsidered, question.
I have yet to come across any fully considered analysis of why Franco was able to win during the 1936-9 Civil War. All on the left seem to blame failure on whatever political grouping they are not, never considering that their political standpoint might have had something to do with it. I hope one day to be able to read such an analysis and discuss it with others so that we can actually learn from those mistakes.
As we know during the anti-Fascist struggle it was in the working class regions of Catalonia and Euskadi (as well as the city of Madrid) who held out the longest and therefore suffered the most at the hands of Fascist vengeance. If Catalonia separates itself from Spain (and then Euskadi does the same) where will be those centres of progress that would take the truncated nation state of Castille even close to a workers’ republic that an independent Catalonia would be happy to join?
And what would the EU think of a workers’ republic in its midst?
Hope your final (at least for this year) days in Albania worked out well.
Really interesting! Was nice to meet you in Tirana.
BUTRINT, SARANDA (ALBANIA)
Thank you, Michael, for your last post about Butrint, Saranda (Albania). It is very interesting for me because Albania is – since the very beginning of my understanding – an ignored place. I mean, in spite of it not being too far from Barcelona, it has always been a hidden place. I remember that my first Spanish passport, dated 1966, had a long list of countries from all over the world, which were strictly forbidden for us, Spaniards, second class European citizens at that time… and Albania was the first on that ominous list of so called communist countries, “satellites” of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
AN OLD AND NEW FOREIGN POLICY
I appreciate especially all the references to European History (of the Greeks and the Romans) and I think I can see some similarities between the Roman Empire’s foreign policy and the foreign policy of the USA Empire today:
…but their primary defence was the threat of total, complete and absolute destruction if anyone dared to attack a Roman settlement, something that was valid until the collapse of the Empire in the 5th century AD…
But they collapsed at least… anyhow… as any other past empire…
AND WOMEN GOING BACKWARDS… AS EVERYBODY ELSE
You say:
…It wasn’t until the liberation of the country from fascism in 1944 and subsequent years that women truly found a semblance of equality in Albania…
But I’m afraid since the fall of this country into the capitalist system, around 1989, everything has gone backwards in time… women and all… hasn’t it ?
Thanks for this comprehensive review Mike. I’m surprised you managed to sit through it. One to avoid, obviously.
Hello Pam, thanks for taking the time to comment. However, I must admit, I’m in a minority of one on this one – at least so far. All the other people I know who have seen this awful film (even people I normally consider to have some sort of taste) come away feeling good. Perhaps that says more about them than the film?
CHARITY AND THE SYSTEM
Yeah, Michael, Charity is the only answer to be expected from the System, by those who don’t dare to fight. This has been so for many years. I remember how shocked I was the first time (1997) I was able to see myself the huge numbers of people, queuing around churches in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (NYC), at breakfast, lunch or dinner time, just to get some warm food…
I was wondering, if I myself became ashamed of seeing these images, what’s the feeling of a US citizen, who still has a job and a place to stay, at least. What’s the feeling of President Obama? I don’t ask about the feelings of Republican candidate Romney, because he has very clearly explained them. The only thought Mitt Romney is able to have in front of the hungry crowds, wandering all over the USA, is that they are just parasites! And he is a millionaire! A real tycoon!
What a disgrace for the so called American way of life, for him, for them, for the churches, for the bishops, for the archbishops, for Obama, for us, for everybody…!
LA RAMBLA AND THE CIVIL WAR
Hey Michael, your deep and pertinent comments about La Rambla in Barcelona and the shame you can see at 1 am, during the night wandering the streets, reminded me of a conversation I had many years ago with a neighbour of mine in St. Adrià de Besòs (Barcelonès, Catalonia). He, Senyor Martínez, was an old man, close to his seventies and a veteran of the anarchist Durruti Column during the Spanish Civil War, in 1936-39.
He was complaining also about a certain shame in La Rambla, but in these terms:
You know, Francesc, what made me upset, when coming back from the Aragon front, after several weeks of fighting against the Fascists? This was the atmosphere in ‘Les Rambles’. You could always see many people, taking walks happily and wearing firearms, but you could easily guess that some of them actually had never been to the front. There was not a clue of real commitment in their faces and manners… How could we count on this kind of people to win a war…? To permit such an unjust situation was an enormous error… And because of that and other serious errors we’ve lost… of course…!
Walking Les Rambles by night, right now, we see reasons to fear about the future and the prospects facing our young people. Certainly we can also remember some reasons to complain about in our past defeats… and to try and avoid the same errors happening…
Thank you, as always, Michael. Plus some historical remarks here.
The Vila de Gràcia is one of the most popular and active neighbourhoods of the city of Barcelona. Nowadays it gives the name to the Gràcia district, which includes, furthermore, the neighbourhoods of Vallcarca and Penitents, el Coll, La Salut, El Camp d’en Grassot and Gràcia Nova. In 2005 the population of Gràcia was 120,087 inhabitants.
Its most significant monument is the Belfry (el Campanari), which rises in the very middle of the Town Hall Square, where the district authority now meets.
The Vila de Gràcia was the principal centre of the ancient independent town of Gràcia. That town was composed from this nucleus and the agrarian area – mainly farms (masies) – of the Camp d’en Grassot.
The most remembered accomplishment of Gràcia’s people was in 1870, during the riots against the military drafts (La revolta de les Quintes). The siege of the brave neighbourhoods lasted six long days and nights when the army was confronted by the people when they tried to enter the streets.
The story of The Bell of Gràcia (La Campana de Gràcia) is very well known because by this means everybody was called to the barricades, each time the army showed up, by the end with heavy cannon.
Even today, during the Festa Major, you can see young people protesting against the Catalan or Spanish Government – it doesn’t matter about what, or who – just any injustice
Hey, Michael, here I am with more historical remarks, this time about Montserrat.
I’m glad you emphasize that the Monastery of Montserrat has always been the place of many Catalan nationalist events, but we must also take into account that some of the political events, taking place in Montserrat, have aimed further than the Catalan nation.
For example, during 1969 the Spanish police arrested sixteen members of the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna – “Basque Country and Freedom”). General Franco’s regime planned to judge them in a military tribunal, under the accusation of having killed a policeman and committed other crimes. Not only in Spain but also internationally everybody was impressed by the number of defendants (sixteen) and the seriousness of the punishments: six death penalties and 752 years of imprisonment.
A vast anti-Franco campaign took place. Banned trade unions and parties (especially the well organised Partido Comunista de España – Communist Party of Spain) called for strikes in factories and universities and demonstrations throughout the country.
On the 1st of December 1970 the ETA kidnapped, in San Sebastián, a diplomat of the Federal Republic of Germany, Eugen Behil Schaeffer, threatening the Spanish Fascist Regime with killing him, if any of the death sentences against the Basque prisoners were executed.
In this context, on the 12th of December, three hundred Catalan artists and intellectuals decided to hold a meeting in the Monastery of Montserrat. They then published a manifesto demanding general political amnesty, democratic liberties and the right of self-determination, vowing to remain there until the issue was resolved.
Then, the West German authorities and big industrial bosses, who were at that time important suppliers, clients and investors in Spain, started to put pressure on Franco in order to avoid the carrying out of the death sentences. Otherwise it was clear that there would be economic sanctions. All this, plus the popular campaign, the international press and the final involvement of the Catholic Church in favour of the amnesty, succeeded in stopping the murderous intention of the Spanish Fascist Regime.
And the Monastery of Montserrat was a part of this historic circumstance.
Bàsicament estic d’acord amb les teves reflexions, però cal tenir en compte que, encara que a Catalunya el Modernisme va tenir una eclosió d’especial intensitat, també la va tenir a França (Art-decó) i a Alemanya (Bauhaus).
En realitat, tota l’arquitectura d’aquella época es pot qualificar de modernista, encara que en alguns casos fou més socialment reconeguda que en altres. Així, el propi Antoni Gaudí te obres a altres llocs de la península Ibèrica.
També m’interessa destacar la coincidència del modernisme amb la figura de l’indià i la casa indiana, pel que fa a la seva relació amb el Modernisme. Aquest és un fenomen que sí que es dona a tota la península.(Els indians són els qui varen marxar cap a Amèrica a fer fortuna, a “fer les Amèriques” i ho varen aconseguir; després varen tornar i varen fer ostentació dels seus diners, precisament construint-se aquestes torres modernistes.)
If it is true that “…Modernism was definitely a style of and for the rich…”, it is not less true that Modernism, precisely because “…it was a child of its time…” expanded into other human activities in addition to architecture. For example, literature. That’s why when we talk about Modernism here, in Catalonia, we find it very convenient to refer to one of the most respected Modernist Catalan poets , Joan Maragall (Barcelona, 10-10-1860 – 20-12-1911) and his “teoria de la paraula viva” (theory of the living word).
Many people here, in Barcelona and further afield, remember nowadays the events of the “Setmana Tràgica” in 1909 (the Tragic Week). At that time only very few people dared to oppose the death penalty, during the bloody and merciless repression that followed those events. Joan Maragall was one of them and he took a clear stance, far from the ‘snobism’ of certain intellectuals of that time who were just flirting with anarchist ideas. He wrote a very courageous article in October 1909, “La ciutat del perdó” (The city of forgiveness), which was strictly censored by the Spanish Government. Maragall tried, by these means, to defend the life of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (Alella, Maresme, 10-01-1859 – Barcelona, 13-10-1909), who was about to be executed. In this same article he also exposed the serious responsibility of the Catalan bourgeoisie in those events… being himself a bourgeois.
Ferrer i Guàrdia was a very important Catalan educationalist, creator of the “Escola Moderna” (Modern School), a practical project of libertarian pedagogy. He was accused of having promoted rebellion during the 1909 events and was executed by firing squad, in October of the same year, in Montjuïc Castle.
“The Times” of London, after this execution wrote: “… By negligence or stupidity, the Government has confounded the freedom of education and conscience, the human right to reason and express ideas, with the right of opposition, assimilating it to a criminal unrest…”
For more information about Modernism in Catalonia, refer to a book, in Spanish, “El primer Modernismo literario catalán y sus fundamentos ideológicos”, Editorial Ariel, Barcelona 1973, by Eduard Valentí i Fiol (Pals, Baix Empordà, 1910 – 1971, Barcelona).
I’m afraid right now there is not enough freedom of speech in this Southern European country of ours, to dare to explain openly our sincere opinion about this direct action, carried out by the Andalusian jornaleros. Anyway, let’s receive your article as a precious sample of international solidarity. And to all of you: stay strong, go ahead. Forwards! Until we can establish real social justice…
Thank you for talking about interesting historical sites which have been forbidden to us during a very long post war period. Even the fact that you come from a distant European country, makes it more laudatory at our Catalan eyes…
Only a few remarks. The fact that Spain did not take part in the “big” war of 1939-45, can be explained in detail. Actually, the Nazi-fascist regime of General Franco took clear sides from the very beginning of the Second World War. They even sent an entire unit of about 45.000-47.000 infantrymen, who served inside the Wehrmacht , during 1941-43 period and treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. These were the “250. Einheit spanische Freiwilliger (Blaue Division)”, known in Spain as ”250 Unidad de Voluntarios Españoles (División Azul)”. Franco put in charge of this Division two prominent generals of the Spanish Fascist army: Agustín Muñoz Grandes and Emilio Esteban Infantes.
In addition to this very clear aggression against the Soviet Union, the Spanish Fascist police never ceased collaborating effectively with the German Gestapo (Geheime Staats Polizei), the secret police of Adolf Hitler, especially after the occupation of France by the Nazis. Both police forces murdered hundreds – if not thousands – of war refugees, because they were Jews (Walter Benjamin) or were prominent Spanish Republican officials (Lluís Companys) or simply because they had served in the Spanish Loyalist army from 1936-39.
Walter Benedix Schönflies Benjamin (Berlin 1892-Port Bou 1940), an eminent philosopher, professor and writer, a member of the Frankfurt School, was cornered on the French-Spanish border, while he was trying to flee to the United States and died there.
Lluís Companys i Jover (Lleida 1882-Barcelona 1940), President of the Autonomous Catalan Government, during the Spanish Second Republic, was arrested in Bretagne (France) by the Gestapo and delivered to the Spanish police, who tortured and murdered him. He was the only European President, democratically elected, who was shot by the Nazi-fascists during this “big” war.
Moreover, after the war, General Franco allowed Spain to serve as a safe haven for former German war criminals. For example, Otto Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an SS (Schutzstaffel)- Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, from captivity.
But in spite of all that, at the end of the Second World War, the United States Government preferred to have a war criminal, like General Franco, as an unconditional ally than to fight against him to restore democracy in Spain.
Park Güell
It’s good you are talking about Antoni Gaudí and issues in common amongst complaining tourists and residents near the park.
I wish to make only a historical remark. The first time Socialists took over Barcelona City Hall was in 1979. The first democratic elections after the Civil War were on the 15th of June 1977, but those were for the Parliament in Madrid. The second were in April ‘79 and those were also for the Parliament. And the third were also in April 79 and those, yes, were local and the so called Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC-PSOE) won and governed the city until two years ago.
The reason the System prepared these political events following precisely this chronological order, is due to the fact that the post-Franco Regime – after General Franco’s death in 1975 – well remembered the grand father of King Juan Carlos, Alfonso XIII, who was thrown off his throne just because the Spanish people had voted massively and overwhelmingly for the Republican parties in local polls, on the 14th of April 1931 and then,the next day, the Second Spanish Republic was proclamed.