TIRANA, May 4 – A quarter of a century after the fall of communism in Albania and Poland, the relations between the two countries are the best ever. Polish-Albanian contacts go back centuries, but they are not much known in the Albanian public.
Polish Professor Tadeusz Czekalski from the Jagellonian University of Krakow and the Albanian professor Gjergj Sinani, made two presentations on the historical aspects of Polish-Albanian relations in an event organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies and the Polish Embassy in Tirana.
The presentation of Professor Gjergj Sinani was focused on the similarities between the two peoples, Albanians and Poles, especially their desire and wars for freedom. “This spirit of freedom,” he said, “will continue to give life to the deeds of our two nations”. He cited Nietzsche saying that only those people who have suffered from the lack of freedom can understand each other. The Polish people have always chosen freedom and not despotic peace, he said. “The communist period and Albania’s closing from the outside world was the most tragic part of the Albanian-Polish relations”, said professor Sinani. He gave the case of a Polish geologist, Stanislav Zuber, who died in Albanian communist prisons.
The Polish professor Czekalski said that after the Second World War and until 1949, Albania was represented in Poland by Yugoslavia. In the decade after 1949 and until the beginning of the 60s, after Albania’s brake with the Soviet Union, the relations between the two countries were good and a lot of attempts and activities were made with the purpose of better knowing each other. In 1950 there was an Albanian-Polish friendship week with activities in both countries. The radio in Albania broadcast Polish music and talks about Poland.
The first Albanian novel published in Poland was “Ata nuk ishin vetà«m” by Sterjo Spasse, translated from Russian. Also it is estimated that during the 50s and 60s almost 100 Albanian students studied in Poland, in Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz. Professor Czekalski said that after the fall of communism there were these same students who resuscitated the relations between Albania and Poland, by establishing the Albanian-Polish Friendship Society.
The earliest contacts between Albanians and Poles were during the late Middle Ages, when Wladyslaw the Third, king of Poland sent a letter of friendship to Skanderbeg. During the following centuries, Skanderbeg was recognized by the Polish nobility as a Christian knight and thousands of books were published about him in Poland since the early 16th century. The first Pole to visit Albania in the modern period was Aleksander Sapieha, in 1802, in North Albania and there were also poles in the Austro-Hungarian army in Albania during the First World War.
Also the first telegraphic line from Istanbul to North Albania was constructed by a Polish as was the telegraphic line from North Albania to Manastir, nowadays in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Professor Czekalski said that during the first years of communist rule in Albania, several Polish pilots participated in the anti-communist activities organized by Albanian immigrants.
Last year, the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo visited Tirana where she participated along with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in the first ever economic forum between the two countries.
