TIRANA, Dec. 7 – Albania has changed drastically since the death of the country’s communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, 31 years ago. But Hoxha, the leader of a brutal communist regime that murdered thousands of innocent Albanians, crushed all opposition and left the country in dire poverty in the late 1980s, is now seen in a positive light by a surprising large number of Albanians, a poll released this week has found.
According to a survey report on the Understanding and Perception of Citizens of the Communist Past in Albania, almost half of the population of Albania sees Enver Hoxha’s role in the history of the country as positive.
The study found that 55 percent of citizens in the regions of southern and southwestern Albania that were interviewed, had the most positive view of Albania’s former communist dictator.
The survey report On Citizens’ Understanding and Perceptions of the Communist Past in Albania, supported by OSCE Presence to Albania aimed to shed light on the perception of citizens about past crimes dealing with them, and achieving reconciliation at both collective and individual levels.
Representatives of the OSCE Presence said that the survey has been driven by a built in momentum in the last two years, from opening of Hoxha’s bunker, or the House of Leaves, to the law that will allow for the opening of the Sigurimi files.
According to the OSCE Presence releasing such documents without an inclusive dialogue “could cause tensions within Albania’s close-knit society.” Supporters of the bill hope that opening records will help establish a better dialogue on Albania’s recent history.
The survey found out that there is general support for the opening of the Sigurimi files although the bill does not provide a lustration mechanism.
Sigurimi, the brutal communist secret police, is considered as one the grimmest institutions that ever existed in Albania.
Respondents in the survey generally felt that the files opening process would be beneficial for the country at large.
Almost half of the people surveyed think that Communism in Albania was “a good idea, poorly implemented.” Over a third of respondents think that Communism was simply “a bad idea.”
By region, results show that the central region (Tirana and Durrà«s) had the highest proportion of respondents thinking that Communism in Albania was “a bad idea.”
The highest percentage of people saying Communism in the country was “a good idea, properly implemented” was in southeastern Albania.
The survey was designed in collaboration with the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) and aimed to gather information about the perception of Albanian citizens about their communist past and what they want and need from attempts to deal with its legacy.
Furthermore, according to the survey, perception and opinion diversity among respondents, confirmed the “importance of opening a dialogue about the past to help ensure Albania’s democratic future.”
Last year, the parliament approved the law on opening up communist-era secret police files but the implementation has not taken place yet.
According to the law, people who were persecuted under the communist system and their families were allowed to see their files and find out the names of the people who spied on them.
The law provided the basis for the establishment of a special institution to perform a background check on political party officials and civil servants.
Nevertheless, the law does not restrict former police collaborators from holding public office.
The Council of Ministers is supposed to nominate one of the members of the authority that is supposed to administer the old police files. Two of the other members are supposed to be nominated by parliament and two others by associations of victims of the communist regime.
