Faces of the Dictatorship
The Albanian Parliament enshrined in its resolution "On Condemning Crimes Committed during the Communist Regime in Albania" (2006) that the communist regime in Albania (1944–1991) featured massive violations of human rights, assassinations, as well as individual and collective executions (with or without trial), deaths in concentration camps, famine deaths, tortures, evictions, slavery, physical and psychological terror, genocide on grounds of political origin or property inheritance, and violations of freedom of conscience, thought and expression, freedom of press, freedom of religion and freedom of political pluralism.
No crime investigation came afterwards the fall of the communist regime, and the perpetrators were never seriously brought to justice and no official public apology was extended to the victims of the communist genocide.
The Albanian Parliament, convinced that the denouncement of communist crimes and the review of history would eventually avoid relapse into similar crimes in the future, has been very particular (an ad-hoc law) about the identification of people that were part of the decision-making bodies or authorities, responsible for communist propaganda, administrative acts and decisions, which have led - directly or indirectly - to repressive social and cultural actions, including social class struggle, collectivism, fight against religion, isolation from the West, food supply constraints, denial of access to information, and artistic, cultural, and scientific censorship etc.
The decision-making bodies or authorities entail the Albanian Communist Party (renamed the Labor Party of Albania, LPA) and all the other supportive bodies.
On this wall-exhibition shows the photos of the people who are responsible for important decisions related to the violation of human rights and the repression exercised by the communist regime. Even after the fall of the regime, they did not face the law for the decisions they took, nor did they show remorse for their activity.
The categories included in this exhibition are:
- Members of the Politburo, as the highest LPA executive body, the steering body of the communist dictatorship. The Politburo was elected by the Party’s first plenum, shortly after the party congress. It was chaired by the first secretary and the secretariat. Any secret act, which would later become legal, was drafted, approved, and screened by the Politburo. The Politburo was the one to hand down death sentences and pardoning decisions. The First Secretary of the Politburo was Hoxha until 1985, and after his death he was replaced by Ramiz Alia.
- Directors of State Security Arm, renamed later on as the First Directorate of State Security. This directorate at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) was somehow a political police addressing anti-communist traits and actions labeled as "crimes against the state". In this exhibition are presented the leaders of this body that put in place all the mechanisms of persecution and eavesdropping on innocent individuals in complete violation of their rights and freedoms.
- Judges and prosecutors. This people legalized everything that the Security prepared with its own structures, for the execution of sentences for political reasons. The decisions taken by these persons, sent to prison or sentenced to death many innocent people who were unjustly considered enemies of the people and the Party.
- Investigators, heads of internal affair branches, and security officers in general. These were officials directly engaged or leading the political prosecution. Unusual terror and torture were carried out in the offices of investigation and branches of internal affairs to obtain evidence on the accused. Violence executed by the people who were in charge was completely illegitimate.
- Commanders and commissars of prisons and camps. This category includes those individuals who, using their function, committed themselves to making the lives of political prisoners even more difficult. The testimonies of the persecuted show how these persons exercised constant physical and psychological violence against them.
The exhibition "Faces of the Dictatorship" is a reflection that we must have on those individuals who bear direct responsibility for the installation and proper functioning of the mechanisms that kept this regime afloat using the repression, persecution, violence and terror that shaped the communist regime.
Impressum
This exhibition was made possible by the Institute for the Study of the Communist Crimes and Consequences in Albania (ISKK) and IDMC, the Institute for Democracy, Media and Culture, with the aim of raising awareness of young people and Albanian society about the dictatorship and its consequences.
The graphic design was made in collaboration with Iceberg Communication. All photos, documents, texts as well as the graphic presentation of this exhibition are copyright and can not be used without the permission of the authors.
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