Forsaken Albania

By Artan Lame
On the road again. As if I haven’t got enough troubles of my own without having to shoulder all the messages I receive in reply to what I write. I received an e-mail on the last edition, the essence of which is an allegation that I sling mud against my own people, raising aloft an invader and so on and so forth. Just as well I also receive messages saying that I do not belittle my own people and that I do not praise invaders because otherwise I would have abandoned this work. So, in view of the fact that I have apparently praised Italy, I will continue to present photographs on the same subject.
The larger photograph shows an Italian soldier working in a military workshop on the preparation of road signs. The signs appear to be somewhat primitive, but, in the final account, they are a great deal for Albania of those times. They were made of hardboard and painted blue with white lettering. Look closely and you can see that above the direction, for example, “TO TIRANA”, you can see the letters MdS in small print (Milizia della Strada). Later on after the Albanian Traffic Militia was set up, the letters “MSR” these signs had the letters “MSR.” Further along, there are several “NO GO” signs, and below this, for those who do not understand the symbols, (of whom I am sure there are not a few), there were explanatory tables in three lines, “Directory of Tourism/ Entry Prohibited.” The Directory of Tourism is mentioned because this was the institution charged with issuing licenses and caring for the road infrastructure, apart from tourism, hotel management etc.
The post card presented in the next photograph, is a promotional publication of the same Directory and helps the Albanians become acquainted with road signage. The majority of these signs, with a few minor alterations, remain almost the same today. There is also a sign for railway crossings. It is obvious that the signage copy the Italian models, because on the sign that reads, “Telephone service,” the telephone number has four digits. In fact, in 1940, the telephone exchange in the capital was still three digital. There is even a sign that indicates traffic must give way to buses on an incline. Who knows what the buses of Italy wanted on the mountainous roads of Albania. Naturally, we should review the image we have formed of that time, because the roads not only served as arteries of the country along which you could ambush a blood thirsty enemy, but also for vehicles to travel along and to respect road signage.
In a corner of the larger, coloured photograph there is the insignia of the Traffic Militia of the time. In the other corner there is a sign of a bus station of those years. In the centre you can see the name of the company that administers the Bus Line of Tirana: Societa Albanese Transporti Automobilistici,” SATA, initials which were impressed on the memories of the Albanians so firmly that even in the seventies the elderly still called the local buses “Sata.” The Italians were also careful to use black and white as the colours of bus station signs so that the nationalist sentiments of the Albanians were not offended, otherwise the Albanians may have gone back to using their mules if the signs were not black and red.