German media experts share experience for the process of file openings

By Alba Cela
TIRANA, Nov.10 – Catharsis or witch-hunt? This is a question which is troubling the minds and mouths of Albanians all over the world since they first heard about the recent legislative initiative regarding the potential opening and publication of files from the archive of the Secret Service of the Communist regime. It is a question which was posed once again at an intellectual gathering organized by the Center for Political and Media Education and Participation (CEAPAL) last week on Friday. Participants included scholars of history, media researchers, students of social sciences as well as a panel of lecturers. The discussion brought opinions from Albanian and German media experts: Pandeli Pani from Deutsche Welle, and Stephani Steloke from WDR and Heiko von Debschitz from ZDF. At the beginning of the event, historian Artan Puto gave a concise and analytical summary of the history of secret files legislation in Albania. Puto spoke about the politicization of this issue starting from the first attempts to put together a set of rules and regulations as afar as the process would be organized. Puto then gave a list of reasons why he did not believe that the opening of the files was a positive idea in the context of the Albanian reality. Among other reasons, he stressed the lack of political consensus from the two major parties, lack of independent institutions in Albania, the incapacity of the judicial system to deal with a potential crisis and lack of commensurate economic compensation schemes for the victims.
German lecturers brought their valuable experience from East Germany which underwent the same process when the communist regime collapsed there upon the fall of the famous wall. The Ministerium f