"Communism through archival documents" in Durres
The Institute for Democracy, Media and Culture organized a workshop from May 19–21, 2017, titled "Communism Through Archive Documents 2." This workshop was the second and final part of a series on this topic. Its purpose was to finalize the selection of relevant archive documents for a teaching resource aimed at history teachers and students.
The workshop was led by Idrit Idrizi, a researcher at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, who oversaw the archive materials for the participants.
Fatmiroshe Xhemalaj, EUROCLIO's ambassador to Albania, opened the workshop with the following statement:
"I believe that Idrit's idea, and the collaboration with IDMC, is a valuable one, as it focuses on a very interesting subject from the archive documents. These documents are essential for our work in education. Without them, we risk overlooking important aspects of history."
On the first day, participants discussed materials taken from Albanian newspapers, providing examples from the communist era. A key focus was on the ethical considerations surrounding these materials and how they could be used to convey historical information to students.
The second day was dedicated to analyzing the archive documents themselves. Teachers were divided into groups, each tasked with examining specific documents they believed were relevant for teaching students about the communist period.
Throughout the third day, each group presented their selections of archive documents, explaining why they had chosen them for use in classroom lessons.
The workshop concluded with suggestions on the structure of the new book. Gentjan Dedja, a teacher from Elbasan, commented:
"I believe that an explanatory glossary would be crucial. Using that glossary, a teacher could easily dedicate an entire lesson to a specific term or concept related to the communist system. I've always favored a format where the document itself is presented alongside all the relevant historical context, and a glossary is readily available."
Vojsava Goce, the director of the Association of History Teachers, also shared her thoughts:
"This book will be valuable not only for students but also for teachers, as it will provide them with new resources. These are archive documents that are not yet included in our textbooks. I hope that every school and teacher will have access to this book. I believe that libraries should maintain and distribute it, but I would be even more optimistic if it were available to every teacher, as sometimes these valuable resources get lost in the library."