Education Monument – Gjirokastra

Posted on 01/08/2015 by Michael

Education Monument – Gjirokaster

Education Monument – Gjirokastra

There’s a unique lapidar in Gjirokaster, in southern Albania, which was erected to commemorate the struggle for education in the Albanian language when the country was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. This monument to education is an obelisk in the shape of a stylised scroll, or a certificate rolled up, upon which are carved images depicting the struggles of the past as well as the intentions for the future. Its official name is ‘Obelisku kushtuar pionierëve të arsimit shqip’ (‘Obelisk dedicated to the pioneers of education in [the] Albanian [language]’.)

As with many of the Albanian lapidars this one is the result of the collaboration of three sculptors, Mumtaz Dhrami (Heroic Peze, Drashovice, Independence in Vlora, amongst others), Ksenofon Kostaqi (Dancers and Musicians, Gjirokaster) and Stefan Papamihali (Partisan, Gjirokaster). To the best of my knowledge this was inaugurated in 1983 (on the 40th anniversary of the liberation from the Italian Fascists – the Nazis came back for a while) when a number of other monuments were constructed throughout the town.

It’s worthwhile remembering that tiny Albania, because of its strategic position, was the object of desire for many imperialist powers, for a period of more than two thousand years. The last major imperialist power to hold sway in the country for any length of time was the Ottoman Empire based in Turkey. That empire wanted to impose total control and this included the language spoken and taught in schools. Therefore the struggle to maintain and develop the Albanian language was an anti-imperialist and progressive struggle which developed throughout the 19th and into the 29th century.

Education Monument – Zamir Mati

The obelisk is made from the local limestone and the story unravels as you look at it from the face in front of you at the top of the steps and then continues up and around in a clockwise direction.

The first carving is of disembodied hands, one holding a flaming torch, the other a book and an olive branch. These can mean slightly different things depending upon their context and location. The torch can symbolise liberty (as in the Statue in New York Harbour) or light. As this is an education monument it’s more likely representing the light that comes to an individual once they have access to education. The other hand holds both the book and the olive branch symbolising that through reading and education can come peace.

Education Symbol

Allegories are always complex. You have to take into account the situation in which Albania found itself in 1983. The break with the Chinese revisionists in the 70s had meant that the country was alone in a hostile, capitalist world. They might have wanted peace but that was going to be difficult to achieve in such circumstances.

(Allegories can also be ironic. On the back of the present US ‘dime’ (10 cent piece), you can also find a torch and olive branch depicted, supposedly representing peace and liberty. There’s been little of that for many of the US population and even less for the peoples in countries where the US considers its interests are at stake. The oak tree, which is supposed to symbolise strength, has become a club with which to beat people, both nationally and internationally.)

Above the image of the hands are the words:

‘Pionierëve të gjuhës shqipe që në vitet e errëta të robërisë mbajtën gjallë dashurinë për liri, arsim, kulturë.’

Which translates as:

‘To the Pioneers of the Albanian language who, in the dark years of captivity, kept alive the love for freedom, education and culture.’

Before continuing around the obelisk look to the building at your back and to the plaque on the wall. The top part reads:

‘Ne kete godine ne shtator te vitit 1908, pas perpjekjeve te shumta te mesonjesve e patrioteve gjirokastrite u cel e para shkolle shqipe per qytetin me emerin ‘Liria’.’

Which translates as:

‘In this building, in September 1908, after numerous attempts by the patriotic educators of Gjirokaster, the first Albanian school in the town was opened, it was called ‘Freedom’

At the bottom of the plaque it states that the building was restored in 2002 with money from the California-based Packard Humanities Institute.

On each occasion I have been to see the lapidar the building has been closed so I don’t know if it contains any more information about the event in 1908.

Back to the obelisk.

Moving clockwise we come across an image of a man and a young boy. The man is dressed in the traditional, countryside, clothing of the beginning of the 20th century, a soft cap (qylafë) on his head down to the tsarouchi shoes (with its woollen pompom to keep out the water). He is armed – no real progress for the people will come unless it is fought for – and he holds a rifle, pointing downwards, in his left hand. Around his waist he wears an ammunition belt. Across his chest are the straps of small satchels that he wears on either side.

The young boy is dressed in more modern, western style dress, more like a suit and his shoes are also from a later period. Across his shoulder is the strap for a school satchel. He represents the future. He is carrying on the legacy that the man has fought for. It’s not always the case that those who do the fighting get the benefit (the many graves in the Martyrs’ Cemeteries are witness to that) but without such sacrifices no society can move on.

The young boy is walking up steps, again an allusion to the future, going upwards and onwards. But he’s not doing this alone. The right hand of the man is resting on the boy’s shoulder, an indication of both support and encouragement, and that hand is connected, through the man’s body, to the rifle. What has been gained by arms will also have to be defended by arms. This is a motif that appears elsewhere in Albania, for example, the statue of the Partisan and Child in Borove and in the Martyrs’ Cemetery at Lushnje.

The Past and the Future

The stance of both of them is confident and they are looking up, into the distance. This is one aspect which appears a great deal in Albanian lapidars – there are few bowed heads in either despair or defeat.

But the boy isn’t just going nowhere – he’s walking into a cloud of positive words that come as a consequence of education. Words that are in a different font, of different sizes but all suggesting the results of a properly organised educational system. Here we are moving away from a strictly historical celebration of the events in 1908. A school might have been established in Gjirokaster (and other locations in the years afterwards) but it wasn’t until the liberation of the country from Fascism in 1944 that the journey along the road of free and universal education was begun. As in most countries in Eastern Europe at that time (apart from the Soviet Union) illiteracy rates were astronomical.

I’m not sure if I’ve got all the words carved into the limestone. As we move around the monument the face that takes all the bad weather, from the north, starts to show signs of wear. However. I’m fairly sure about the majority.

Shoqrite – friendship; undra – wonder; vëllezëria – brotherhood; studenti – students; lidhja – unity; puntoreve – workers; bastiljes – captivity; mesuesue – teachers; drita – light (which was also the name of the magazine of the Albanian Writers and Artists Union, with the same font); shpresa – hope; kandile – oil lamp, candle, light; bashkimi – union.

OK, some of them are not directly connected to education but these words establish the general principles and themes of a socialist state in construction, which is impossible with an uneducated population (and even difficult with) and is why the promise of universal education is a pledge by virtually all national liberation movements, wherever and whenever they might be.

These words are inscribed upon a banner which is being held by the three individuals higher up this part of the obelisk. On the right hand side of the group is what looks like an academic. He’s fairly smartly dressed, perhaps early 20th century sophisticated, but not in a western style, more a wealthy local style that is beginning to adapt to western influences. He is wearing a fez and a topcoat, is grabbing hold of the banner with his left hand and has a book clasped to his chest in his right hand (in the same way as the worker did on the mosaic of the national history museum in Tirana – before its vandalisation). I assume he represents one of those pioneers mentioned before or one of the teachers in the ‘Freedom’ school.

On the left of the group is another man. Again he’s dressed in the style of the early part of the 20th century, but he’s not an academic, he’s a fighter and has hold of the top of the barrel of a rifle in his left hand. His right hand is gripping hold of the banner with the inscribed words of the future. So what we have here are the two forces which achieved the establishment of the school in 1908.

In between is another man, but this time he’s a worker, wearing the type of protective head covering which was typical of an engineer, or someone working in a steel plant, during the socialist period. (We have to remember that, although not producing anything now, Gjirokaster was the Albanian ‘Sheffield’ during socialism, producing the cutlery needs of the country. The deserted buildings alongside the main road from the border towards Tepelene, below the old town, is all that remains of that industry.)

His right hand is stretched out and the tips of his fingers seem to be touching the barrel of the rifle and his thumb is only inches away from the banner. He’s a worker, but everyone in socialism needs to be prepared to take up arms to defend the revolution and be ready to take up the banner of the revolution’s achievements once those that have gone before leave the scene.

High above this group of three, and almost at the top of the column, the double-headed eagle is carved into the stone. There’s no star above the heads as this is a monument to an event before the establishment of the People’s Republic. Above the eagles, in large letters, is the word ‘Baskimi’, meaning union, unity. Below the birds is the word ‘Drita’, meaning light, which is in inverted commas. I’m not sure why. The magazine of that name didn’t exist until more than 50 years later, when using the inverted commas would have been valid. Below that, now fading, is the date 1908.

Continuing the clockwise trajectory there is a fighting group from the end of the 19th century. This is the part of the monument that is most exposed to the elements and some of the images are difficult to make out.

At the bottom of the group a man is kneeling, looking forward, with a rifle in his right hand, the butt resting on the ground.

Above him, at his left shoulder is a group of three, a woman and two young children. She is looking in the same direction as the man below – as I said before, there’s always this symbolism of looking forward, confidently, to the future. She wears a kapica, a long scarf wrapped loosely around her head. In her right hand she is holding the top of the barrel of a rifle. Again, as in many Albanian lapidars and friezes, the women are more often than not armed, for example the Peze War Memorial. Her left hand rests on the left shoulder of a young child. This is the older of the two children, or at least the biggest, looking at his sibling, who is looking at him/her. This is the only one in the group who isn’t looking forward. I can’t make out the gender of the children as weathering and staining are greatest at this point.

Woman and children

So here we have a woman armed yet still protective of children, whether they be hers or not. Women played an active role in Albania’s liberation struggle, to a much greater extent in the war against Fascism but also in the independence battles of the 19th and early 20th centuries. So this woman can either represent all those heroines and/or could represent the idea of Mother Albania, as seen at the Tirana Martyrs’ Cemetery or in expelling the priest and the military from the country in the Armaments Museum in Gjirokaster Castle.

In front of the woman, and slightly above her, is another independence fighter. He is depicted striding forward, always that forward motion, determined and prepared. He holds a flag pole in his right hand, the banner fluttering above his head. It’s impossible to make out if anything is inscribed on the banner, i.e., the double-headed eagle. His left arm is fully stretched out behind him and is holding a rifle at the mechanism end of the barrel, the butt of which is just behind the head of the woman. Often there will be a person in a lapidar who is looking backwards, urging others behind to come forward, as in the monument to the students and teachers just around the corner in Gjirokaster, but here he is using a gesture with his rifle to achieve the same effect.

On both the men so far mentioned you can see the Albanian version of the tsarouchi shoes, with the sheep’s wool pompom at the toe.

Above the banner, and now almost at the top of the obelisk, is a group of three men, one in the act of firing, one about to do so and the third in the process of getting his rifle to his shoulder. We only see their head and shoulders but what can be made out is the type of hat they are wearing. This is a round and flat cap, similar to that worn by Çerçiz Topulli on the statue in the square that bears his name in Old Gjirokaster.

We have now gone around the clock face and are now at the point were we started but now look up higher and see a large group of children with their teacher. Above the group, in large letters, is the word ‘Mëmëdhue’, meaning Motherland – the idea of nationalism being a strong motif, especially in monuments that commemorate those events prior to 1944, after which socialist elements tend to become more dominant.

Then we have the letters ABC, obviously representing literacy, both reading and writing. The only other monument where I have seen this, so far, is on a smaller lapidar to education in the small village of Proger, not far from Korça. (Albanian uses the Latin alphabet but there are 36 letters as opposed to 26 in English.)

Below that is a compressed scene from a school classroom. There are eight children, three girls and 5 boys. These are young children so this is a class where they are learning the basics of the Albanian language. From what I can make out they are wearing some sort of school uniform which indicates to me that the scene is from a country school after liberation as I can’t imagine matters being so organised way back in 1908 (and girls might not have had ready access to education at that time).

Three of them have writing tablets and pens whilst three have books, with the other two it’s not clear. There’s a mix of attention to the teacher being depicted. Four of them are looking at the teacher, one seems to be looking out the window to the mountains, one of the girls has her back to us, another girl is reading and one of the boys is looking straight at us as we view the scene. All but one of the children are bear-headed, and he wears a fez.

Immediately above the group of children we can make out the legs of a blackboard easel, the blackboard itself merging into the rest of the monument. The teacher, to the right of the children, is bare-headed, wears a tie and his dress would seem to fit into the idea that the scene is late rather than early 20th century. In his left hand he holds an open book and in his right hand he holds a ball of chalk as if just about to write something on the board. His index finger is pointing to the B of the letters in an obvious reference to literacy.

The final piece of decoration is a star carved into the stone at its highest point. This is immediately above the hands with the torch, book and olive branch.

Generally the monument is in a good condition and doesn’t look like it has suffered from any vandalism. Where there is some degradation it seems to have been caused by the weather, on the north facing parts of the lapidar.

An article, The problem of the origin of the Albanian People and their language, originally published in New Albania, No 4 1977, provides the background to the question of Albanian identity and the origins of the language.

Holiday in Gjirokaster – Zamir Mati

It’s also in a pleasant location. Whereas the streets of the old town can get busy, especially when large tour groups arrive in coaches for a day trip, I’ve never been to the monument when there have been more than a couple of people there. The fact that the approach is not obvious until you actually find it might be the reason for that. From the small balcony on which it stands you get a great view of both the old and the new town, as well as the mountains on either side of the River Drino valley, looking northwards in the direction of Tepelene. For a few years this would have been a good place to get a high view of the statue of Enver Hoxha that was located just a little lower down the hill (and where there are now a couple of expensive bars). Unfortunately Enver suffered a terminal attack in 1992.

Enver Hoxha, Gjirokaster

How to find it:

Go up hill from Çerçiz Topulli Square and at the junction at the top (about 100m) take the higher of the two roads on the right and then immediately the narrow road on the left. Within a few metres on the right there’s an always open door, as if going into a house. Go up these stairs and through the building – if you smell decay mixed with stale urine then you’re in the right place. Coming out into the open the steps become wider and they take you to the small plateau upon which the obelisk stands.

GPS

40.074572

20.13804104

DMS

40° 4′ 28.4592” N

20° 8′ 16.9477” E

Altitude:

318.4m

Socialist Realist Art in Albania

Posted on 20/07/2015 by Michael

Monument to the 15th Brigade, Elbasan

Socialist Realist Art in Albania

When I first visited Albania in November 2011 I hadn’t been there too long before I realised a number of things about the monuments that had been constructed during the socialist period (1944-1990). The first was that there were a lot of them – at that time I didn’t realise just how many. Secondly, that some of them were quite remarkable, and unique, examples of Socialist Realist Art and, thirdly, they were all in danger, whether it be through ignorance, simple neglect or vandalism – be it ‘official’ (as an expression of political hatred, as has already happened in a number of cases, such as the Five Heroes of Vig in Shkoder and more recently The Four Heroines in Mirdita) or ‘unofficial’ – some people destroy because they are themselves unable to create.

By the time I had come to the end of that first visit I had decided that I would embark on a ‘one man crusade’ to record these monuments before a unique art form was lost forever. On subsequent visits I slowly ‘collected’ more and more monuments but this was achieved on a very much ‘hit and miss’ approach. I might come across a snippet of information here or (more often or not) would just come across a location by chance as I travelled around the country. I soon realised that this approach was far too random and as I learnt that there were hundreds of monuments such a way of working would take more years than I have left on the planet.

When I started to do some research in a more systematic manner I came to the realisation that if the information was out there it wasn’t easy to find. The one place where one could have expected to find such data would have been in the archives of the Union of Writers and Artists but that archive, to the best of my knowledge, had been destroyed during the counter-revolution of the 1990s. (That very fact gives an indication of the importance of art in the building of a socialist society and the fear such art had instilled in the monarcho-fascists as they regained control of the country.)

Limited knowledge of the Albanian language didn’t help and when avenues seemed to open up they very often led to a dead-end or of limited practical use. If people had the information they sometimes wanted to keep it to themselves (a few perhaps thinking it had commercial potential, others that it might incur the wrath of their political paymasters). Whatever the reason the obstacles became greater the more I investigated the matter.

That all changed, immeasurably for the better, at the end of 2014 when, by mere chance, I came across the Department of Eagles website and learnt that earlier that very year they had been working on a project to quantify the ‘lapidars’ (as I came to realise these monuments were called in Albania) and that their report would be made available online at the beginning of 2015.

(The closest translation for lapidar in English is probably ‘monolith’. Many of the early monuments in the different Martyrs’ Cemeteries throughout the country had simple and uncomplicated pillars soaring towards the sky. The only ornamentation would have been a star towards the top. As time moved on, especially during the period of the Cultural Revolution, these simple monuments were added to or completely remodelled. Even though some of the later monuments didn’t have a monolith they were still, and are to this day, referred to as ‘lapidars’.)

There was a slight delay in publication but when they were available on the web they answered many (unfortunately not all) of my questions. Volume One consists of an introduction to the project, a number of articles (both contemporary and historic) about the ideology behind their construction and comments on some specific examples – ‘Mother Albania’ and ‘Comrades’ – as well as a list of all the identified lapidars, giving a GPS location, altitude, any inscriptions, further relevant information, such as sculptor or date of inauguration, and reference to images in one of the other volumes.

Volume Two and Volume Three contain, normally, two images of each lapidar recorded, irrespective of their artistic merit. One of the principles that underlay the project was to treat ALL the lapidars as of equal merit. Although not exclusively Volume Two contains images from north of Tirana, Volume Three from south of the capital. (Tirana is, more or less, at the half way point between the most northerly and southerly points of the country.) These three volumes are available as a pdf download.

The work of Vincent, Marco and Xheni (carried out over 50 days, travelling 7547 kilometres, recording 657 monuments and taking 53427 photos) cannot be praised enough. Whatever the ultimate fate of those hundreds of unique and (sometimes) remarkable pieces of history at least they have been recorded for posterity and will offer those – both Albanians and any others with an interest in Albania’s first effort to construct socialism – in the future an opportunity to study the past based upon real and ‘concrete’ material.

However extensive the Albanian Lapidar Survey (ALS) it had its limitations, established before they set out on their long road trip. Bas Reliefs on buildings, cultural statues (both often on or near Palaces of Culture), statues or busts of the hundreds of Peoples’ Heroes and Heroines, as well as wall plaques commemorating specific events or the participation of a family member in the Anti-Fascist War for National Liberation, were not included in the study. To have done so would have doubled the work but time and finance did not allow for such extra investigation.

Erseke Museum Bas-Relief

That means that although the ALS has accumulated a vast amount of invaluable information the task has not yet been completed.

As well as not covering all examples of public art and memorials (and not even considering registering the whereabouts and details of the hundreds of paintings produced in the period) the survey restricted itself to quantifying the lapidars and didn’t even touch upon the stories that these monuments represented.

The Socialist Realist idea that is seen in Albania cannot be taken out of context. The location, the year of inauguration, what was depicted, how it is depicted, the materials used, etc., are all part of the story of the construction of socialism.

Socialist Realist art, it all its forms, is openly propagandistic. It is considered to be part of the struggle against the old ideas of the past. By commemorating the self-sacrifice and heroism of those who fought for the liberation of their country, from first Italian and then German Fascism, the state had a dual aim.

First was to remember the bravery and the reasons why those communists (although not exclusively communists) had fought, not just against a foreign invader but also for the future in which they believed the country and its people could go forward in a different way from what had been the fate of working people and peasants in past centuries. Secondly, by remembering and commemorating those who had died in the past the aim was to instil in the young and those to be born that socialism is not easy to achieve, that capitalism/imperialism will do its utmost to destroy any attempt of the working class to liberate itself from the shackles of oppression and exploitation, and that further sacrifices would almost certainly be needed in the future.

It was due to the opposition to those ideas that, once given free rein, the reactionaries – that exist and will exist within all socialist societies for a long time after a revolution has taken place – destroyed (and are still trying to destroy) as many of the monuments as possible. Their very existence is a reminder to all that at one time the people of Albania tried to build something new and different.

Yes, some of the most impressive (as well as the simple inscribed stones) have been destroyed but many still exist. Yes, a number of them (if not all) are suffering due to neglect and are struggling against the ravages of time and the elements. Yes, many are scared by the activities of the graffiti morons – even the 1912 Independence Monument in Vlora, a date which the reactionaries (and Social-Democrats) cling to in order to have a past to celebrate which doesn’t include a self-proclaimed king, foreign dominance and then years of Fascist occupation. Yes, in general, the local population doesn’t always consider the structures worthy of respect, for example, the lapidar in Priske seems to be the climbing frame for the local children, and bits of it are gradually disappearing as the slipping feet rub off another tiny layer of plaster.

Priske Climbing Frame

On the other hand there seems to be a trend developing to recover, restore and respect the past. Having talked to Vincent from the ALS I know he has reservations about some of the efforts at ‘restoration’ – and at times I would agree with him. However, at the present time, I would accept a bad but good intentioned restoration to neglect and vandalism. Another aspect of this approach of the past (which I have seen develop and grow over the few years experience I have had of the country) is that the story continues and there’s a recognition and acceptance of the political power and influence of such examples of Socialist Realist Art. Added to this is a widespread realisation that so-called ‘democracy’ has not delivered what it promised and the past is being viewed in a different way.

Here it’s worthwhile mentioning, briefly, the monumental arch at Drashovice. This is monumental in many meanings of the word – and this seems to be accepted by the local population. There has obviously been a tacit agreement amongst the people of the locality that this piece of art is unique, something special and deserving of respect. On my couple of visits I haven’t noticed any damage to the many complex carvings and it hadn’t suffered any attacks by the spray cans.

Drashovice Arch

Even this ‘respect’ for the past is complicated. To just introduce another case here (I hope to go into more detail when discussing and describing the individual monuments) I’ll mention the simple artefact of the star – the Red Star that is an anathema to the reactionary. At times these stars on the sculptures are being highlighted at other times they are being painted out. Even the restoration is a battle and is making a political statement. For example, in the Saranda Martyrs’ Cemetery most of the red stars have been highlighted but not the star on flag and the one that would have been on the cap of the female partisan – the sign of being a Communist – has been obliterated.

Saranda Martyrs’ Cemetery

In the early 1990s the star was being removed from sculptures and buildings in the same way that it was removed from the national flag. (Some people may not be aware that the only difference between the flag of the Peoples’ Socialist Republic of Albania and that of the country now is the removal of the gold star above the heads of the double-headed, black eagle on a red background). I’m sure the reactionaries would have wanted to ditch that flag but then they would have had no past to cling on to as that banner was the standard under which the independence fighters of the 19th century marched and goes back even further to the time of the ‘national hero’, Skenderberg.

So some of the monuments look different every time I go to see them. They may have been cleaned, painted or repaired. Or the opposite, they might have been removed (as was the bas-relief to a 1940 tobacco workers strike in Durres), even more decayed and neglected (as is the statue at the entrance to the Agricultural University at Kamez, on the outskirts of Tirana) or going on walkabout (such as the Five Heroes of Vig statue that is now somewhere in Shkoder – something is different each time I see, or read about, it).

I don’t find that a problem. As stated above these works of art are part of a political battle and as in all battles there are casualties. And at the same time to be meaningful even Socialist Realist art has to develop. I’d prefer it to do so in a socialist society but if it happens in post-socialist societies it has to be accepted. The art was created for the people and if they don’t relate to it anymore than it is not serving its original function.

What I see happening now in Albania is a realisation that in the ‘heady’ days of the 1990s they might have thrown the baby out with the bath water. I’m sure many believed that even as events were unfolding at the time. Pyramid schemes that robbed people of their meagre savings, a near civil war, the destruction of the infrastructure, the looting and destruction of factories, the wholesale privatisation of everything that once belonged to all the people, the emigration of an unsustainable number of workers due to the foregoing, the dissatisfaction with politicians of whatever hue and the almost universal hatred (but passive acceptance) of corruption are indications of such a change of thinking.

But even in the period of socialist construction the fate of the works of art was not static, unchanging and there for all time. The aforementioned ‘Five Heroes of Vig’ statue was originally made of plaster, the one that exists now is larger, slightly different in what it depicts and is made of bronze. Quite a number of the Martyrs’ Cemeteries have changed their appearance over the years. The main one in Tirana also changed its location, moving from Tirana Park to a site overlooking the city on the Elbasan road. In some of those cemeteries the component parts have been re-arranged and now bear no resemblance to the original. One of the best examples of that is the Martyr’s Cemetery in Berove where truly radical changes have occurred (including separating the Partisan and Child from the original sculpture).

Partisan and Child, Borove

So change was part of the thinking in Albania when it came to Socialist Realist art as it was manifested in public sculpture. If the counter-revolution had not been successful it would have been necessary for the society to have had a look at the way the images were being depicted and questions asked if they could have been presented in a way that shows a true break from the old order.

Although a revolution can change who governs and is in control of any society that does not mean to say that the old society still doesn’t have an influence in the way that people think and act. Those aspects of the old society will tend to hold sway, even on those who seek to place the old society in the dustbin of history. They might want to but some aspects of the past will be so deeply ingrained that it will be impossible for individuals to do so, however revolutionary they might consider themselves.

Just to introduce the issue here (I hope to go into a more considered analysis in the future) I’ll make reference to the statue in the Martyrs’ Cemetery of Permet. This is the work of Odhise Paskali and is called ‘Shoket’ (Comrades) and depicts an image that is reminiscent of works in Christian art of the ‘Pieta’ (where the Virgin Mary is depicted with the body of Christ after it had just been taken off the cross). There’s an article centred around this statue in Volume One of the ALS publications (pages 61-66). This is by some bourgeois ‘expert’ who uses the religious imagery as a stick to ‘beat’ an example of Socialist Realist Art (a not untypical sneering approach by so-called ‘intellectuals’).

Shoket, Permet

Paskali was born in 1903 in the north of Albania where the Catholic Church held sway. However much he might have welcomed the new society he was still carrying the baggage of his past life. And what is even more important he was producing works of art where the desire was to pass on a message to the ordinary men and women of Albania. After liberation, and even in 1964 when ‘Comrades’ was created, such imagery would have had meaning to a huge mass of the Albanian population. So, in a sense, there were these two pressures working on him when he was commissioned to create the statue for the Permet Cemetery. (I don’t want to get involved here in the debate about what art should be after a revolution, as took place in the Soviet Union. It’s one I will like to address but here is not the time or the space.)

But if Albania had been able to maintain the Socialist Revolution for more than barely two generations it is very likely that such a debate would have to have been opened within the new society, with new ideas in a more sophisticated society devoid of superstition, ignorance and religious obscurantism. But this takes a long time. No Socialist society to date has had that time and luxury. To see how far things didn’t go in Albania in the 46 years of socialism you only have to look at the concept of the ‘dordolec’ and how that still has its pernicious grip on some people’s thinking.

It was in seeking to challenge such outmoded and reactionary ideas of the past that the Cultural Revolution was carried through in both China and Albania. (The Chinese Cultural Revolution is too vast a topic to do anything more than mention it here but there’s an extensive, and growing, resource in scanned material available by going to the Banned Thought web page.) In Albania the Cultural Revolution was fought on many battlegrounds, one of the most important and fundamental was in the construction of the lapidars.

As I continue to post material, both written and photographic, of these monumental sculptures, with their individual stories, I hope to explain what I see as an important advance in socialist culture represented by the work of many artists who had the chance to make a real contribution to the revolution. Often ‘intellectuals’ are a problem in a revolutionary movement (and even in Albania artists who had worked on some of the more impressive lapidars went their own individualistic way once they were free to peddle their petty bourgeois view of the world). A prime example of this is Agim Nebiu, one of the artists who created the vast mosaic on the façade of the National Historical Museum in Tirana, who vandalised his own work for the proverbial ‘thirty pieces of silver’ – see, that here, even I am victim of the past in which I have grown up and, unfortunately, the present in which I live. Perhaps in an age when capitalism and obscurantism is a thing of the past we will have a phrase that comes from the greedy and grubby parasites that were bought off by the privatisation of the assets of all for the benefit of a few? It will have to be a pithy phrase, though.

The majority of the works that I’ll describe were created in the period 1966-76, which mirrored the period of the Cultural Revolution in China. During this period one of the aims was to elevate women to an equal role in society and to recognise the role they had played in the liberation of the country. Amongst other things this meant that often women are portrayed on monuments in a greater percentage then they would have in the actual war. And an important aspect here is that they were almost always armed – this would have been, and is now in an increasingly patriarchal society, like a red rag to a bull to the ‘traditionalists’.

However, there was another period of construction in the early 1980s, at a time when little Socialist Albania was truly alone in a hostile world after the Chinese Revisionists had taken their country along the capitalist road.

It’s certain I’ll make mistakes, both factual and in my analysis, of some (if not many) of these lapidars. But what I post will be based on the information I might have had at the time of writing. If anyone has information about a particular monument, can point to a location where I might be able to find more information, can correct any errors I might have made or can, for any reason, fill in the gaps, then please make a comment on the relevant post.

I will be revising and correcting anything posted when new (or more accurate) information comes to light. As is Socialist Realist Art so will be my study of its Albanian manifestation – a living, changing and constantly developing project.

The ‘Hanged Women’ of Gjirokastra

Posted on 20/04/2015 by Michael

The Hanged Women – Gjirokastra

The ‘Hanged Women’ of Gjirokastra

Tucked away at the top end of Sheshi Çerçiz Topulli (Square) in the old part of Gjirokastra is a small statue which you could easily miss. Next to the potted plants in front of the Tourist Information Office is a white stone statue, of the upper body, of two women. This is a representation of Bule Naipi and Persefoni Kokëdhima who were executed by the German Nazis in 1944. From that time they became known as the Hanged Women of Gjirokastra.

Both of the women were in their early twenties when their country was invaded by the Fascists and, like 6,000 other women (out of a Partisan force of 70,000) they decided to take up arms to drive the invaders from their land.

bule

Bule was born in Gjirokastra town and apart from the statue in the main square she is referenced, as a ‘People’s Heroine’, on a monument in the Dunavat area of the town. She was a member of the youth group of which Qemal Stafa was the leader so it would seem that she had adopted the Communist ideology at an early age.

persefoni

I’m not sure where Persefoni came from but apart from the monument to her death in Gjirokastra she is mentioned on the monuments in Qeparo Fushë (which is on the Adriatic coast), Kardhiq (in the mountains to the north-west of Gjirokastra) and Përmet (in a couple of valleys over to the east of Gjirokastra). This would seem to indicate she had been a Partisan for some time and had been involved in quite extensive sorties against the Fascists.

The exact circumstances of their capture I’m not aware but it seems they were captured at more or less the same time, imprisoned and then the German Nazis decided to make an example of these young and courageous women in an effort to deter others from opposing their occupation. These terror tactics are common in the history of imperialism.

A favoured tactic by the Nazis throughout Eastern Europe was the public hanging of those who had been fighting against them on being captured and, according to the statistics, this was even more common when women were concerned. The intense military opposition to the Fascist invasion in countries such as Albania and the Soviet Union meant that there are no pictures of women walking arm in arm with the German invaders in Tirana and Moscow (as you do in Paris). What we do get, however, are hundreds of pictures of young women hanging from the gallows in public squares.

These were not the executions that might take place in those countries where capital punishment was, or still is, the case. Everything was done by the Fascists to turn the occasion of the killing of an individual into a lesson in politics. There would be no, or very limited, process of law. Many of the executions were carried out summarily and even if there was the pretence of a trial the outcome was known before it had begun. Almost always they would be public executions, carried out in a main square, with the rest of the population forced to watch. Here the aim was to both strip the victims of their dignity and give that added spice to the terror instilled into the onlookers.

Neither was the execution the clinical affair that was eventually meted out to those German Fascists found guilty at the Nuremberg Tribunals of 1945-9. Those who were dealt with by Albert Pierrepoint would die in seconds. This would have been in ‘ideal’ circumstances. However, on the streets of Gjirokastra on July 17th 1944 Bule and Persefoni would have been stood on a stool under a low and flimsy gallows, with a thin piece of rope around their necks tied in a crude slip knot and then strangled to death when the stool was kicked away. As in the case of most of these lynchings the two women faced their fate with dignity and a continued hatred of the enemy. It was the practice of the Nazis to leave the bodies hanging for as long as possible to hammer home the message but as they were murdered in the summer they would have been cut down quite quickly. (This is just one of the reasons I am opposed to the German War Cemetery in the park behind the University in Tirana.)

The two young women were murdered in the square where the statue now stands.

Now the statue in Gjirokastra’s main square is not one of my favourite examples of Socialist sculpture. In fact I can think of no other I find less pleasing. I don’t yet know who was the sculptor but I don’t think it’s one of the best, or most appropriate of monuments, to two brave, young women.

They appear thin and haggard. Their faces are gaunt and their eyes seem to be bulging out of the sockets. The facial expression says nothing, unsmiling but not telling us anything else about how they might have been thinking. Compare this lack of expression with, for example, the statue to the Partisan in the centre of Tirana. He’s angry (sometimes I think a little bitter – and that’s something coming from someone who harbours a lot of anger) and you know that immediately you look at his face. You don’t get any emotion from this statue, not even a sensation of dignity. Also, there’s a problem with the location. It’s pushed to the edge of a car park, close to a building, as if it’s only there on sufferance (which it probably is) and doesn’t permit the viewer to consider the monument for what it represents.

But in a study of Socialist Realism these two Communist martyrs allow an analysis which has not been possible to date. Not only is there a statue in the location of their deaths but their fate has been represented in a number of media which suggest a number of interesting ideas.

As far as I’m concerned a better sculpture is one created by Odhise Paskali in 1974. This is called ‘The Two Heroines’, which I think is a better title than ‘The Hanged Women’. (Since I first came across this story and related art works I’ve always considered that there’s something cold and almost impersonal in referring to such courageous women in such a way. It seems to say that their short lives are determined solely by the manner in which they died.)

The Two Heroines – Odhise Paskali

(The original of this statue is in the corridor of the old Gjirokaster Castle Prison. It was from this prison that the two women were led downhill to the main square of the old town for their public execution. It can be seen by going upstairs to the Armaments Museum – which has some interesting examples of Socialist realist Art (both paintings and sculptures). The entrance to the prison is off this part of the museum.)

This is more sympathetic to the situation. They look like young women and have determination etched on their faces. It’s a head a shoulders view of the two women and they are joined by their hair. By doing so it tends to go against reality as Persefoni was much taller than Bule but here they are on the same level. However much I consider this to be a better statue there is an important aspect which I think is bizarre. That is the addition of the noose around their necks.

Why? It again defines the women by their deaths. This is just crass Catholic Christian imagery and should have nothing to do with Socialist Realism. If you were to visit Catholic churches in Spain and Italy you would encounter countless paintings and images where the Christian martyr would be depicted alongside the cause of his/her death, normally with an enigmatic look on their face. I don’t understand why this should appear in the country to have declared itself an atheist state, as Albania did in Article 37 of the 1976 Constitution. This is why there’s always a need for a Cultural Revolution to monitor how the society and its history are being represented. ‘People’s Heroes/Heroines’ might be martyrs for the cause of independence and communism but there’s a fine line between that and the idea of Christian martyrs.

There’s another image that seems to follow the approach adopted by Paskali and that’s an engraving by Safo Marko.

Bule and Persefoni

This is a triptych. On the left is an image of Bule involved in a demonstration in her home town. As a member of the youth groups this is what she would have been doing before heading for the hills and joining the Partisans. On the right is an image of a female Partisan, armed and marching through the hills. This could represent either of the women. The problem comes with the central, bigger panel.

Here the two women are depicted, in chains, standing before a very large tree, two nooses hanging from one of the lower branches. This repeats the Christian idea of martyrs together with the instruments of their death but with the added problem of creating a ludicrous scenario. They were killed in the main square of an old fortress town built there because what was in abundance was a lot of stone. No way could such a tree exist in that environment. The scene suggests that the murder took place in the countryside.

Another engraving, this one more in the spirit of Socialist Realism, is by Lumturi Dhrami.

Heroinat Bule Naipi e Persefoni Kokëdhima

Here we know we are in Gjirokastra with the image of the castellated tower on the horizon and the cobbled streets along which the execution party is walking, downhill towards Sheshi Çerçiz Topulli. The two women are in the centre foreground, one in profile the other looking out of the picture. There’s determination on their faces. They know what is about to happen but there’s an impression of ‘so what?’.

They are surrounded by German soldiers but also in the picture are Albanian collaborators, these would have been members of the fascist-nationalist of Balli Kombëtar who allied with the ‘nation of Aryans’ as they shared similar racist and anti-progressive beliefs.

There are also two paintings I’ve seen depicting Persefoni and Bule. The first one I’ve yet to identify the painter and I’m sorry it’s such a fuzzy image.

The ‘Hanged Women’ of Gjirokastra

What’s interesting about this painting is that I’ve seen photographs where the image was being used in classrooms to tell children about the event in 1944. This is not an exceptional painting (although I’ve only seen a poor reproduction) but is simple in that we have four individuals, the two restrained women and two Nazi guards taking them to their execution. The castle walls form part of the background and in the foreground we can see the bayonet of one of the invaders, the greyness of the soldiers uniforms in contrast to the colours (muted but colours nonetheless) of the women’s clothing.

The final image I’ve come across is a painting by Pavllo Moçi simply called ‘Persefoni and Bule’ which is in the collection of the Duress Art Gallery.

Persefoni and Bule – Pavllo Moçi

This depicts the two women in a prison cell, holding hands as the door of the cell is opened by the Nazi guards to take them to their death. Persefoni is on the left and has her right arm in a sling. Bule is standing defiantly with her legs slightly apart as if ready to fight against all odds. Light coming through the door shines on them, highlighting them against the gloom of the cell itself, with the guard in shadow, all demonstrating where the future lies.

On the walls they have scratched the letters VFLP representing “Vdekje Fashizmit – Liri Popullit!” (“Death to Fascism – Freedom to the People!”) which can be seen on the Heroic Peze monument, at the junction of the Tirana-Duress road, and the Peze War Memorial in the Peze Conference Memorial Park, among others.

The two women defiant to the end!

‘The Hanged Women’ – Gjirokaster (Andrew Andison)

The ‘renovation’ or ‘restoration’ of Socialist lapidars in Albania is, at best, a hit and miss affair. Often it just takes the form of a quick coat of whitewash over a monument to hide the ravages of time and the weather. This seems to have been the approach in Gjirokastra during the early part of 2017 – and the result can be seen above (thanks to Andrew for sending through a copy of his picture).

If there was no proper cleaning of the mould before the coat of paint was applied the statue will revert to it’s previous state soon after an Albanian winter.

Update November 2021

Currently the Çerçiz Topulli Square in the old town of Gjirokaster is being dug up and an underground car park is being constructed. This work will go well into 2022. As part of this work the statue of the Two Hanged Women (pictured at the head of the post) has been removed. It is not known whether it will return once the construction work is complete. It probably will as the present local government in Gjirokaster does seem to have a sense of history. It can only be hoped that when the statue returns it comes with an explanation of what it represents. Most Gjirokastrians won’t know the history, even less any visitors from other parts of Albania or the rest of the world.

Also I am adding here another painting representing the day of execution of the two young Partisans. Paintings from the Socialist Period of Albania’s past may not be on permanent exhibition but they are still (at least some of them) in public hands and in storage – although not always stored in the best of conditions.

Persefoni and Bula – G Modhi 1966

This telling of the story is by the artist Guri Modhi (1921-1988) who also was the painter of ‘The Partisan Oath’ (1968) which has been part of the permanent exhibition of Socialist Realist Art in the National Art Gallery in Tirana for many years. (At present the gallery is displaying virtually everything from the store-rooms and it is not known what the permanent exhibition will be once this display comes to an end.) This was on display in the theatre in the centre of the new town on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of the city on 18th September 1944.

Lavdi Shqiperise – Gjirokastra

One positive aspect of the location is that the two women are looking over towards the wall which forms part of the local government building. On this, picked out in large letters in relief, are the words ‘Lavdi Shqiperise’ – ‘Glory to Albania’ or ‘Long Live Albania’. Even though I had looked at this carefully it didn’t register that there’s something wrong. There’s a lack of symmetry. Why are the words so far apart and what is the ‘scar’ between them? It has been brought to my attention that the space (where someone has worked hard to obliterate what was there before) almost certainly contained the words ‘Partise se Punes e (Shqiperise)’, PPSH or the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA).

This is just another example of the vandalism that swept the country after the counter-revolution of 1990. The reactionaries still try to present themselves as patriots but if it were not for the Communists in the National Liberation Front in the war against fascism then the country would have only the sort of independence it has at present, that is, one where millions have to work abroad; foreign NATO troops crawl over the country like flies; local industry and agriculture is at a pre-capitalist stage; young Albanian women populate the brothels of Europe; and the country begs to be let into the ‘big boys’ club of the EU.

I’ve not come across this type of inscription (whether in its original or vandalised form) in any other town in Albania. It is partly obscured by trees and any vehicle that might be parked on that side of the square can block the view so it can be easily missed.

Left side of the road

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Tag Archives: albania

Education Monument – Gjirokastra

Education Monument – Gjirokastra

Socialist Realist Art in Albania

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The ‘Hanged Women’ of Gjirokastra

The ‘Hanged Women’ of Gjirokastra

Update November 2021