"Topography of Terror" in Tirana and the North

1st Day, 20 September 2021

An early visit to the House of Leaves Museum

In the survey conducted by IDMC in 2020 with history teachers, the need was found for students and teachers themselves to get acquainted with the memories of the communist regime.

That is why IDMC on the first day of the project "Topography of Terror" visited the national House of Leaves Museum, which was used by the SIGURIMI during the Communist regime.

Young people had the opportunity to get acquainted with various forms of control of Albanian society by the communist regime such as wiretapping, persecution, torture and propaganda.

2nd Day, 21 September 2021

Visit to sites of memory in Thumana and "Literature as a Place of Memory" in Shkodra

During the second day of the study visit, students and teachers from different cities of Albania were accompanied by Mark Aliaj, a former political prisoner in Thumana, arrested at the age of 17 by the communist system. Mark Aliaj in a conversation with young people told about the difficult conditions of the Thumana camp with more than 800 prisoners.

Another aspect that the participants pointed out was the lack of a memorial because today the former Thumana camp has only a few ruins left and does not feel like a place of memory at all.

At the end of the study visit, the director of IDMC Dr. Jonila Godole stressed once again the need to include visits to memory sites in the pre-university system curriculum.

Alongside the visit, "Literature as a Place of Memory" was another event we organized in Shkodra with writer Fatbardha Saraçi Mulleti. This project is an initiative of IDMC since 2015.

3rd Day, 22 September 2021

Visit to "Site of Witness and Memory" in Shkodra and to former Lezha prison

During the third day, the participants of the project "Topography of Terror" conducted a study tour in the memory places of the city of Shkodra, under the guidance of the historian and at the same time director of the museum Site of Witness and Memory, Pjerin Mirdita.

The first stop was at the Site of Witness and Memory Museum, originally built in 1930 as an institution preparing new Franciscan candidates, then with the advent of communism and the first arrests in 1945, it returned to the Branch of Interior Affairs for the city of Shkodra, while today the building has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the persecution during the communist dictatorship.

The young people were also introduced to documents and objects brought by political prisoners or their families who testify about the first anti-communist uprisings in Albania, internments, difficult living conditions, escapes and even shootings.

The year 1967 marked the banning of all religious rituals for believers, the imprisonment and torture of clergy by the communist regime. The persecution of the clergy was also accompanied by the destruction of religious sites. For this reason, the cult objects in the city of Shkodra have been turned into places of remembrance.

Such is the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Shkodra, which was not destroyed in 1967, but was transformed into the Sports Palace of the city, losing part of its identity and history.

The students also visited the church museum to learn more about the history of the Catholic Church, the persecution of the Catholic clergy and the destruction of places of worship by the communist regime. Marie Tuci, one of the 40 martyrs of the Catholic Church who was imprisoned and tortured by the communist regime, was educated at the Stigmatine Sisters Church high school.

In this study visit, participants were welcomed by Sister Rexhina (90 years old) who recounted to young people early memories of Marie Tuci during her years of study together, of the Catholic Church's contribution to the education of girls but also the sufferings of Catholic girls after the banning of religion by the communist regime, but also for stopping the dreams of many young people during the dictatorship. Only after the fall of the dictatorship, Sister Rexhina became a nun at the age of 60 and managed to continue her mission that was stopped at the age of 16 by the communist regime.

Her story made young people reflect on how dictatorial regimes can stop and change anyone's life, but also on the strength of many people who despite the ordeal of suffering and hardship were not separated from their ideals.

At the end of the study tour in the city of Shkodra, in the guide of Pjerin Mirdita, the students visited the Franciscan Church, which like many other cult objects, in 1967, lost its primary function to become a cinema.

Today, part of the identity and history of this church is the persecution of the Catholic clergy under communism. The young people also learned that the persecution of the Franciscan friars had begun long before Albania was declared the first atheist country.

During the study visit, the students were introduced to some other reference points for the dictatorship period in Shkodra such as the prison street, the building of the former atheist museum, the Jesuit gymnasium.