TIRANA, Oct. 26 – Albanian President Bujar Nishani has faced criticism over the decoration of 67 Albanians killed by communist partisans under the command of Mehmet Shehu 73 years ago over their alleged affiliation with the National Front Party, better known as Ballists.
The killings took place on Oct. 21, 1943, as part of the civil war between nationalists and communists in the country, and, historians say, before the Ballists’ decision to collaborate with the Nazi occupation forces, a decision that placed the movement on the wrong side of history.
Shehu, who later became the country’s prime minister was criticized by his own leaders at the time for the massacre, which had not taken place against combatants but rather peasants working their fields, according to some historical accounts.
Historians are divided on the real accounts of what happened.
Communist veterans of the war and leftist Albanians see the victims as “traitors” and “collaborators with the fascists,” however, the center-right Democratic Party and others on the right have always demanded that the 67 Albanian men should be honored for their service to the nation.
Nishani, who is a former high official of the Democratic Party, awarded the Martyrs of Democracy Medal to the fallen men.
Critics say the ceremony of the decoration was kept secret by the president’s office although it was attended by Democratic Party officials, representatives of the former persecuted people, relatives of the victims and others.
The decoration has sparked debate among war veterans and even members of the modern National Front Party, a fringe party with little influence in Albania. The chairman of NPL, Adriatik Alimadhi, said that he welcomes the state decoration but accused President Nishani of trying to disrupt the party.
“The president should have awarded the leaders of National Front Party and collaborate more with us. He should be the one to unite the nation,” Alimadhi said.
The leaders of the movement, however, have been widely recognized as Nazi collaborators and are unlikely to receive state honors.
The Ballists were a nationalist movement that fought against the Italian Fascist occupation and tried to work together with communists to liberate Albania, but negotiations fell apart. In the autumn of 1943, Nazi Germany occupied all of Albania after Italy was defeated. Fearing reprisals from larger communist forces, the Ballists made a deal with the Germans and formed a collaborationist government in Tirana which continued its war with the communists.
