Enver Hoxha hideout unveiled in historic of Gjirokastra

By Gajtis Bejleri
GJIROKASTRA – After 37 years of being hidden from the world, Albania’s largest underground bunkers have been opened. The 100-room underground fortress was to have housed Communist dictator Enver Hoxha and his most loyal comrades.
Located in the middle of historical Gjirokastra, this underground “citadel” of 100 rooms was reserved for the leaders of the then ruling Labor Party, in case of an attack on Albania by the world’s superpowers.
Though a few people knew about underground tunnels, none knew where they lead. Even those who had heard about this hideout were amazed by its size. No one in Gjirokastra had thought that such a vast structure had been lying beneath their feet for more than three decades. The project for unveiling this bunker has been taken over by the Gjirokastra municipality, the district councils and the local PAKARD branch.
The tunnel was opened to the public only a few days ago, and to the amusement of local people, visiting the bunker has caused shock and amazement to foreigner visitors.
Dust on each of the 100 doors covers the name of party officials and their families, as they would have found shelter from foreign attack. It was this same fear that made Hoxha also build his now infamous bunkers, at over 600 sites throughout the country.
All along the cobblestone roads of the bizarre hillside, the hideous tunnels stretch from the “ȥr誺 Topulli” square to the castle to the district council building, which used to be the Labor Party’s local committee building. Inside that building is one of the four entrances to the “citadel”, while another one has been discovered beneath the castle.
In total, the hideout consists of three branches, each one about 800 meters in length, with the rooms aligned on each side of the tunnels. The rooms consisted of two different types: four-by-four meters square-shaped for the smaller families, and the bigger ones, four-by-six meters, for party officials with slightly larger families.
Sadri Petrela, coordinator of PAKARD for Gjirokastra, says there has been a huge interest to visit the hideout from the local population and foreigners visiting the historical southern town, as well. PAKARD, along with the Gjirokastra municipality and district councils, already envisage a plan for restructuring the insides of the tunnels, in order to make them more hospitable for tourists.
A. Cicero will also be appointed to tell the story of the tunnel and of the man who built them. Enver Hoxha, a son of Gjirokastra, appears to have added to his hometown a new historical attraction, much younger than what the centuries old stones of houses have seen.