Late dictator’s birthday sparks harsh debates

TIRANA, Oct 7 – Birthday next week of the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha has turned into a hot topic of daily debates in the country.
First it was his widow Nexhmije Hoxha who openly accused in an interview that the premier’s mother-in-law was a former Yugoslav secret agent.
Following that former persecuted association accused her of not feeling any blame or fault at all for the five decades of the communist regime when hundreds of thousands of people were killed, jailed or sent into internment camps for being against the communist party’s policy.
Then Prime Minister Sali Berisha compared Hoxha to Hitler and said that efforts to hold ceremonies for his 100th birthday try to legalize, justify his terror, slavery and isolation on Albania and Albanians.