Liberation Day a time to honor anti-fascist resistance, but also communism’s victims

TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
As Albania celebrates the 70th anniversary of its Liberation Day at the end of World War II, it stands proud of having fought side by side with the Allies in the wide anti-fascist front that defeated the evil that Hitler and Mussolini represented.
Albanian anti-fascist guerrillas — which were primarily communists, but were joined in resistance by some royalists and nationalists as well — fought occupying forces from 1939 to 1944, and the country was one of the few in Eastern Europe to be liberated with no direct help from the Soviet Red Army.
However, at the end of the war, Albania’s history took a turn to the dark side, as a communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha took over, locked the country up for 45 years, turning it into a massive prison and Stalinist experiment that left it traumatized and the poorest, least developed country in Europe by the time communism collapsed in 1991.
Albanians are proud of their anti-fascist resistance during the war, however, for many, Liberation Day, celebrated this weekend on Nov. 29, brings mixed feelings because of the communist nightmare that followed.
As the tiny group of communism nostalgics have increasingly appeared in several left-wing rallies waving photos of Hoxha, a hated figure for most Albanians, there have been concerns of attempts to soften his role in history, focusing on the resistance during the war rather than the brutality that followed.
Despite coming under attack from the opposition for coddling or even supporting Hoxha sympathizers, the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Edi Rama appears sober enough not to indulge the desires of these fringe nostalgic communists, focusing instead on what Albanians can learn from their history — with particular focus on the crimes the communists perpetrated during the Hoxha regime.
With the Pope’s recent visit, the government focused again on the crimes communists perpetrated on the clergy in the process of making Albania the only official atheist country in the world. With the opening of a new museum and art space in a former communistera nuclear bunker, they are trying to educate young Albanians about a long-gone era that brought the country great misery.
That is not to say that there are no Hoxha nostalgics among Albania’s leftists. It is clear that there are some supporters of the governing coalition who would like to see the regime in a softer light. These are largely those who enjoyed the privileges of the regime of those naive enough to focus solely on the few positive elements that the communist dictatorship brought to Albania.
Many in Albania took notice of the recent strong reaction of U.S. Ambassador Alexander Arvizu on the issue. Calling Hoxha “a monster” he said that it a recent event commemorating
Tirana’s liberation was marred a small group of communists that displayed the late dictator’s photos. Perhaps such strong reaction was needed from the top representative of Albania’s key ally to prevent any potential official action to rehabilitate Hoxha.
There are many things are gray in Albania — but certain things are black and white: Hoxha lost the right to any positive mention for his role in the war due the crimes he and his regime committed later.