By Daria Alexandrova
When I tell elderly Albanians that I’m Russian, there are usually two things I hear from them right away:
1) a couple of phrases in Russian reminiscent of the Soviet past, like “my father works at a plant”, “how are you, comrade?”, and “we’re building communism in this country”.
2) the fact that in the past many Albanians had Russian wives.
Every time I’m very surprised to hear a new random phrase in Russian, but the 2nd thing here doesn’t amaze me at all. There is a secret unexplainable connection between people of our two countries that forces Russian women and Albanian men to tie the knot.
This was especially true in the 1950s. That decade was a period of love not only between our two countries, but between our two nations. Was it happening due to the common ideology, political orientation or something else? It doesn’t really matter. The facts spoke louder than any words – Russians and Albanians were drawn right into each other’s arms. About 400 interethnic marriages had been registered from 1947 to 1961. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single wedlock between an Albanian woman and a Russian man. This was all very gender specific: Russian girls from one side and Albanian men from the other. Many Soviet experts, technicians, and engineers were sent to Albania to help implement Soviet technology at the factories and fabrics there. Cultural and student exchange was also thriving. Although Albanian students did acquire some knowledge of literature, mechanics, and medicine at Russian universities, the real revelation for them was the beauty of Russian women. Long story short, newlywed Russian girls moved to Albania. And who back then wouldn’t? The sun, the sea, super-nice Soviet-oriented people, and mandatory Russian language at schools. For Russian women it indeed was like a heaven on earth.
In the 60s everything started to fall apart. Enver Hoxha and Nikita Krushchev “broke up”, our countries declared each other enemies, and diplomatic relations were severed. Russian government tried to bring all fellow citizens back to the motherland, leaving behind everything else (e.g. submarines, airplanes, tons of arms). But for different reasons about 50 Russian women stayed in Albania with their husbands. Many of them were put in jail for 15 or 20 years. Those who were “luckier” got sent to some distant areas of the country. Some were deported and lived the rest of their lives without a single chance to see their kids. Among those who stayed was Taisia Uzllova. She opened an eye surgery center (Klinika e Syve “Uzllova”). Another one is Nina Mula, a mother of a famous opera artist Inva Mula.
Human mind is an amazing thing for it can forget even the most terrible things. Now the stories of the past seem to fade away as easily as a bad dream. In the recent years the number of marriages between Albanians and Russians has grown again.
What is interesting is that Russian girls meet Albanian men outside of Albania – in Italy, Greece, Turkey, even in the UK. Fearless and decisive, they make a tough choice to marry the guy without even knowing a single fact about Albania. Irina, a Russian girl who married an Albanian in the 2000s, says “I didn’t know anything about the country, except for the scandals with drug and human trafficking. I tried to prevent my parents from figuring this whole thing out. Fortunately, they rarely watch the news and are not very good with the Internet”. The sun, the sea, and mountains are still as attractive as they used to be in the 50s. Many girls come to Albania and expect to see some C
