"Memory Alive in arts and multimedia" in Tirana

As part of the project series Memory Alive through Art and Multimedia that launched last year, IDMC organized a meeting with pupils and teachers of "Sami Frashëri" high school in Tirana, entitled "Dialogue about the Past".

The screening of the documentary "Memory of a Country that Forgot to Forget" aimed to encourage the youth to reflect on the communist past because it could help them to better project their future. The pupils had the chance to learn about the nature of totalitarian communism and its consequences by the people who personally or as a family experienced the painful ways of communism.

The guests of this event were Mr. Gëzim Peshkëpia, a former political persecutee, and Mrs. Rozi Kostani, whose family was persecuted family during communism. Her family's store brought a panorama of Albania's foreign politics at the time and the former Albanian-Yugoslav relations. The young group who made the documentary was also among the guests to share their experience and the challenges of shooting the documentary with tragicomic tones.

During discussions, the pupils shared their perception of the Albanian communism with each other, the teachers and the guests, as well as family stories about subjects exposed to severe punishments. The discussions were joined by the principal and the teaching staff of "Sami Frashëri" high school, who described their experience during dictatorship.

The event was supported by the Ministry of Education and Sports, Tirana Regional Education Authority, the Principal's Office and the Teaching Staff of "Sami Frashëri" high school.

About the Guests

• Gëzim Peshkëpia, born in Tirana in 1940, is a former political persecutee sentenced to 8 years for "agitation and propaganda in arts and culture". His father, Manush Peshkëpia, was shot without trial together with 21 other intellectuals in 1951 due to the bombing incident at the Soviet Embassy. In 1990, he escaped with his family in Soest, Germany. He is a supervising board member at the Institute for Studies of Communist Crimes and Consequences in Albania (ISKK).
• Rozi Kostani is an Albanian actress, film director, and professor at the Arts Academy in Tirana. Her family was persecuted in the communist times. She learned that her had been sentenced and suffered the consequences of Albanian dictatorship only after the fall of communism. Rozi's father was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the young age of 17. He only did 10 years because of an amnesty.