TIRANA, Nov. 18 – The Albanian Institute for International Studies organized a lecture with Dr. Krzysztof Persak, a historian and senior expert at the Public Education Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.
The event was organized in the fram
ework of the series of reflections “Dealing with the past” and was supported by the Polish Embassy in Tirana. The lecture was attended by several diplomats, MPs, academics, civil society representatives and students interested in the topic.
Polish Ambassador Marek Jeziorski said in his opening remarks that the aim of the lecture was not to assess or to advise Albania on how to deal with the communist past, but to present the Polish experience. Every society should take into account the concrete historical context that serves the better understanding of the past, he said.
Mr. Jeziorski emphasized that considering other experiences from different countries in the topic is very positive.
Dr. Persak held a thorough presentation on the Polish context of rise of communism and how Poland dealt with it afterwards.
According to Dr. Persak, in the case of Poland it is important to distinguish two periods of communism. The first one is the end of World War Second, when the Soviets managed to push out Nazis from Poland. The communist system in Poland was specific since it was installed from the outside. This decade is considered to be the Stalinist decade, characterized by high level of political repression. The number of victims estimated during this period reaches 50,000 victims.
After Stalin’s death the system became milder, but after the protests and the enforcement of the Martial Law in 80s, the situation became worse again. This is the moment when the Solidarity movement operated underground and gained popularity. This context is important to understand how the transition in Poland had a negotiated nature and started with round talks.
Dr. Persak emphasized the multidimensional feature of coming to terms with the communist past. It is important to apply this process through public debates, by revealing the past to the public. Secondly, the political and institutional dimension is related to the opening of the archives and establishing necessary institutions. Lastly, the legal framework needs to address both the perpetrators and the victims.
Another important aspect that still affects the Polish society is the restitution of confiscated property. All these dimensions, according to Dr. Persak depend on the nature of the previous system, path of transition and political culture of the given country. Therefore, he once again restated the ambassador’s statement that there can be no suggestions or formula given to Albania. However, there are two universal rules in this process. Those are the principles of truth and justice, which should be always prevailing in such cases.
Dr. Persak then continued with the specifics of the Polish transition and initiatives on the topic. He first listed the weak points such as not taking serious initiatives to deprive political figures of communism from the post communist public life. Secondly, the public debate shifted from the people who order the crimes of communism to the people who executed those. The last point, which is similar to the Albanian case, the property restitutions was not solved.
On the other hand, Poland managed to pass a bill in 1991, though which enabled financial compensation and amnesty to all the people who had been sentenced via unjust judicial processes during communism. Poland managed to open party archives right after the fall of communism and later on the archives of the secret service police. The opening of the archives showed that several fears of possible disintegration of the society and potential threats to the national security were futile.
One of the successful stories of Poland is the Institute of National Remembrance. The Institute deals with several projects and it is constituted by 4 offices, namely: The Office for Preservation and Dissemination of Archival records, The Public Education Office, Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and the Vetting Office. The archive office of the Institute can be accessed both by polish and foreign citizens and it is the biggest single archive in the country.
Discussions followed the presentation of Dr. Persak, mainly regarding the candidacy in elections of persons involved in the communist system. Participants pointed out the weakness of the process, since the voluntary declaration that a candidate was part of the secret service, is not published. This practice harms the transparency. Following the question of MP Aldo Bumà§i on legacies of the past, Dr. Persak pointed out the ineffective judiciary system. Dr. Persak also pointed out that the crimes committed during communism were considered as any other criminal case, thus no political arguments were raised during the process in courts.
This report was prepared by the Albanian Institute for International Studies, a Tirana Times partner organization.
