Closed Camps Archives - Harta e Kujteses

“Ylli i Kuq” Camp, Valias

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 27 Nov 2021 11:08:35 +0000

One of the most unknown barbed-wire fenced camps was that known as number 3. This camp mainly held Albanians from the south of the country and Greek minority members. The camp was opened in 1948 by the “Ylli i Kuq” Farm in Valias in tents and sheds, old houses. Internees and prisoners were held here for forced labour. In the beginning, the camp served as a site to hold “Greek monarchic-fascists”, as well as German POWs. Internees worked in agriculture. According to the report dated 13 August 1948, 89 internees went to work, including children, for three hours every day. In January – May 1950, around 200 German POWs worked here. Due to the harsh conditions in this camp, eight people died in 1949, of which four children.

According to the 1950 records, this was a yearly dynamic for the internees in Valias.

-Total: 475 – 820 people.

-70 – 152 men

-164 – 130 women

-500 – 800 children

In 1951, on average the camp had:

-Total: 741 (January) – 872 (September)

-161 – 193 men

-284 – 325 women

-296 – 350 children

In 1952, on average the camp had:

-In total: on average there were 400 internees.

-Around 120 men

-Around 190 women

-Around 90 children

In 1952 this camp was moved from Valias to Cërrik.

Internees

- Fetie Nurçe (-)
- Gjon Preloshi (-)

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Tepelena Camp

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:39:48 +0000

–Camp no. 4 (later 6), Tepelena, years 1949-1953

This camp started operating in May 1949. It was the internees of the Berat Camp who were transferred to Tepelena. The transfer was marked by a tragedy. During the road, a car fell down and spouses Fadil and Xhuma Petrela lost their lives. Their four minor children entered the camp as orphans – hundreds of mothers left it childless.

The internee caravan’s first stop was Turan village. Later, they were moved near the town, in the six former Italian army barracks, which were populated by 200 inhabitants each. Reports indicate a large concentration of people with bare skin from torn clothes, whereas roll call identified a large number of families of former generals, prime ministers and ministers. Men, women and children over 12 cut wood in the surrounding mountains and transported it on their backs for several kilometres. In August 1950, the number of internees reached 1400, of whom 550 were children. Epidemics, malnutrition, lack of medical aid, as well as mines left underground, took the lives of at least 300 children. Their bodies were moved manually several times and eventually end up by Bënçë River. This happened because the camp’s employees decided one day to remove the buried bodies from a field near the camp to the river. Therefore, the camp’s inhabitants, men and women, were forced to exhume whomever they had recently buried and rebury them at the new spot. This gave rise to a new epidemic and the camp’s death rate increased.

The Tepelena Camp was identified by two numbers, four and six. The camp was led by two commanders: Bektash Pogaçe (1949-1952) and Haki Ibrahimi (1952-1953), both with incomplete education. Internees lived isolated, whereas the enclosure was guarded by armed soldiers. The camp’s officials were ruthless in forcing internees face the work with no objection. The punishment for those who showed disobedience was cruel. The most common punishment was tying the individual with a strong wire tightly so as the wire could reach the bones, and then locking the person in a cell indefinitely. There was practically no healthcare provisions in the camp. Medicine was basically inexistent, a doctor would visit the camp quite rarely and the internees would not dare ask for medical treatment out of fear of retaliation. According to testimonies, those who were sent to the Gjirokastra Hospital would never return. They would simply vanish.

The high mortality of children in the Tepelena Camp, as well as the need to consolidate the institution of internment, brought about the closing of the last two barbed-wire camps by the end of 1953. As researcher Kastriot Dervishi highlights, the Tepelena Camp earned a negative reputation in the international arena, even being mentioned in a U.S. Government report submitted to the United Nations in February 1955.

Internees

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Brick Factory Camp, Tirana

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:06:09 +0000

At the end of 1952 and beginning of 1953, the barbed-wire Camp 3 (later Camp 5) of Cërrik was transferred to the brick factory in Tirana. This camp’s internees were exploited for the construction of the new town’s refinery, but didn’t stay there for long.

As the Tepelena Camp was not a forced labour camp (because no work was planned there), the most able-bodied people from this camp were firstly transferred to construction site no. 216, Vlora, later on to the camp that was built by the brick factory in Tirana. The new designated worksite, the brick factory, was by the Tirana River and some hundreds of metres from the Kamza Bridge.

Work was performed in shifts: each shift needed to fulfil a production rate of 20,000 bricks. In the report dated 02 February 1953 of the Camps and Prisons Branch, it is mentioned among others that: “All of the able-bodied were brought to work at the brick factory in Tirana, and whoever was incapacitated was collected in Camp no. 4, Tepelena.” Around 1,000 internees were estimated at that time.

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Porto-Palermo Camp

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 10:37:18 +0000

-Porto-Palermo, December 1949 – December 1950The Porto-Palermo Castle was constructed by Ali PashëTepelena and surrounded by the sea. It was selected due to its good isolation. It operated as an internment camp in the years 1949-1950.More than 200 internees from Lozhan and around 40 others from the Tepelena Camp were sent to the Porto-Palermo Castle. The internees who were taken to Porto-Palermo would have to live in total isolation with no medical aid. Several children were among them. Records about the camp start in January 1950, indicating 181 internees (82 men, 62 women and 37 children) at the time.
In addition to sleep, potable water was a problem. The little bread was baked within the castle. There was no form of communication with the mainland. Fate had it that the internees were saved from the horrors of this camp. An Italian ship that risked sinking dropped anchor near the camp site. Fearing that such an action would lead to an encouragement of internee escape attempts, authorities closed the camp in December 1950.

“The castle was full of cells, it was a torture site. They only gave us 200 grams of bread and marmalade which were like bricks, margarine that had gone bad (5 — 6 years old). There … we were 400 internees and had 5 kg of beans to cook in two or three cauldrons for all internees, basically a bowl with a lot of soup and a few beans. Where we stayed, water dripped from the concrete ceiling, the water trickled down and our sheets and clothes were wet. The water was brackish. A lot of old men were blinded due to the salty water” —Sabri Dërguti witnessed for this camp.” The internees were exploited for forced seasonal work in harvesting olives in Himara.

Paskal Andoni was camp commander.

The regime itself accepted that there was no health service here whatsoever. There were even cases such as that of 17 internees who needed medical intervention for their kidneys or appendicitis. The relevant report mentions nothing regarding any efforts to cure them, but only added that “they remain in the camp.” The so-called roof trickled regularly, windows wouldn’t bring any light in, and there was high humidity. Although the regime shied from drawing extreme conclusions, this camp’s situation was presented as severe.” It’s worth mentioning that when the internees were transferred away from the camp, all of them had gone blind because of having stayed in darkness for a long time. The last data on the camp are those of October 1950. After April 1950, there is no report on women and children there.

Internees

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Lozhan Camp

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 10:07:49 +0000

–Lozhan, April – December 1949

The internees were sent from Kamza and other sites to Lozhan, Korça in April 1949. The internees were moved from Kamza on foot, walking for 17 days and nights. This camp was a barbed-wire camp for internees, as well as a labour camp for prisoners. It operated as a temporary labour camp from April to December 1949. It is believed that around 250 internees must have been here. Manual work was performed here for the opening of the Gramsh – Lozhan Road. After the camp was closed, internees were largely moved to the Porto-Palermo Castle.

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29 Nëntori Farm Camp, Plug, Lushnja

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:47:51 +0000

The 29 Nëntori Farm Camp in Plug, Lushnja, was formed in 1950 as an enclosed camp.

In summer 1951, Greek immigrants were taken here. They were exploited for forced labour in agriculture. Plug had been chosen as an appropriate concentration site, where checks were performed more easily. Other prison convicts started to come here, gradually populating the camp with a large majority of Albanian prisoners, whereas the Greeks became a small minority.

In 1953, internees from barbed-wire camps, which were closed by law, were taken there, but the internees continued to be surrounded by barbed wire as prisoners worked at this camp too. Until 1955, it operated as an internment camp.

*During their stay in Plug, 2 Greek monarchic-fascists died without leaving any trace. They stayed at the first sector of the 29 Nëntori Farm. In a notification from the Lushnja Directorate of Internal Affairs dated 20 January 1956, it was said that there was no certain knowledge on their bodies or whereabouts.

As Albanian prisoners were joined with the Greeks ones, a group of 500 convicted labourers was created. Here, prisoners performed works such as cultivation and opening irrigation canals etc. At the Plug field, the camp operated until November 1953.

*Lieutenant Besnik Çomo was commissar. The camp’s operative worker called Mantho, according to a report dated 7 June 1952, tortured, robbed and stole from “monarchic-fascists”, whereas he had also tried to rape a woman.

Later on, the internment camp would eventually be called an internment site and continued so until the fall of the communist regime. The internees were not isoalted but appeared on roll call and had to get authorization to leave the locality.

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Çlirimi Farm Camp, Fier

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:34:19 +0000

–Çlirimi Farm Camp, Fier (1950)

Camp surrounded by barbed wire, which operated as a temporary labour camp. In June 1950, the Fier Camp named “Çlirimi” (Liberation) was established with around 50 people. The persons isolated in this camp did forced labour in agriculture. The camp also had Greek citizens collected there from the civil war. According to a notification from the beginning of 1954, 200 Greek immigrants were taken there, of whom 180 were able to work. In 1961, 82 Greek immigrants still stayed at the Greeks’ camp in Fier. Twenty of them were family men with Albanian wives and 17 with Greek wives.

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Shtyllas Camp, Fier

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:25:17 +0000

Labour camp for prisoners and internment site.

It operated as a labour camp for prisoners from 1953 to 1955, when Camp no. 2 convicts worked to open the Vjosë – Levan – Fier irrigation canal in Shtyllas. In 1953, internees from barbed-wire camps were sent there, as these camps were closed by law, but since there were prisoners working here, internees continued to be surrounded by barbed wire.

In 1954, 1011 convicts and 47 internees worked at the camp. The unit guard staff was made of 56 people. At the time, Camp 3 operated along with Camp 2.

The camp stayed in Shtyllas until 18 March 1955. In January 1955 there was a total of 715 political and 172 ordinary convicts, amounting to 887 prisoners overall.

A special story is told of this camp: the brave attempt of political convicts to escape the Shtyllas Camp. Around June 1954, they built a tunnel 25 metres underground, through which they would be able to escape. Using the fact that the sleeping areas were underground, they had the opportunity to dig out the soil. Three Greeks were included in the group, internees or prisoners. They would then lead the way to Greece. The brave attempt failed at the second metre, as convict Dhimitër Zonjatis was caught in action on 07 September 1954, digging in the beds of his two mates Syrja Zenelaj and Duke Gremi. The place chosen was a good spot, as it was opposite the camp gate. The canal had been dug by knives and pickaxes. The soil would be taken out with a wooden suitcase. For this brave act, the Gjirokastra Territorial Martial Court, which operated in Vlora, convicted on 23 November 1954 the following persons:

1-Nexhi Ago Nexha (born in 1930) from Nivica, convicted for escape in 1950. Sentenced to 21 years in prison.

2-Syrja Toto Zenelaj (1930) from Kuç, convicted for escape in 1949. Sentenced to 25 years in prison.

3-Maksut Mustafa Kalemaj (1921) from Kocul, Vlora, convicted for selling grain in 1951. Sentenced to 22 years in prison.

4-Muharrem Bektash Llanaj (1912) from Levan,Tepelena, convicted for agitation, former comrade of Vojo Kushi, the only person who came out alive from the Kodra e Kuqe Battle in Tirana. Sentenced to 25 years in prison.

5-Duke Ramadan Gremi(1933) from Belin, Fier, convicted for housing criminals in 1950. Sentenced to 12 years in prison.

6-Dhimitër Andrea Zanjoti (1925), born in Corfu, who came as a Greek immigrant in 1949, convicted for escape. Sentenced to 10 years in prison.

7-Kristo Jorgji Aleksi (1924), born in nëJaninë, Greek democrat (communist), convicted for an escape attempt. Sentenced to 8 years in prison.

8-Serafinos Kosta Safo (1917), born in Vollo, interned Greek. Declared as innocent.”

This camp remained an internment site until the collapse of the communist regime.

Prisoners:

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Savër Camp, Lushnja

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:14:11 +0000

One of the camps where a part of the internees of barbed-wire camps were transferred to in 1953, which were then all closed by law. At first, prisoners worked here as well, so internees continued to be surrounded by barbed wire. It remained one of the main internment sites until the end of the communist regime. The internees were not isolated anymore, but they had to appear for roll call and could not leave the internment site without authorization.

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Berat Camp

Indrit Dervishi — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 08:38:31 +0000

Berat Camp, March 1945 – May 1949 The camp was mainly in the town’s “Çelepias” neighbourhood. The camp operated in the years 1945 – 1949. A part of the internees were temporarily taken to Kuçova and at KatëRrugët e Shijakut (Four Roads of Shijak). According to a document dated 13 August 1948, the 65 internees of Berat worked at the Kuçova Farm. In March 1946, there were 1,275 internees at the Berat Camp, who were from Shkodra (270), Kukës (331), Peshkopi (178), Elbasan (173), Durrës (234) and Tirana. The internees of Berat were taken to Kuçova for work. It could be considered as a smaller camp dependent on the Berat Camp. Pandi Anastasi was the director. In 1946, there were 1275 internees from middle and northern Albania at the Berat Camp. They were from renowned families such as: Gjonmarkaj, Dema, Kupi, Dine, Pervizi etc. One of these families’ representatives was Marta Gjomarkaj, who was only 26 when she was interned in Berat due to her father and two brothers escaping. Her brother, former ministure of Culture Mark Gjomarkaj, had been killed. She was transferred to the “Murat Çelepia” neighbourhood of this town along with many other interned families. Along with other families, she “expressed dissatisfaction against the power.” Marta was arrested on 21 January 1947 in Berat. She was convicted by the Martial Court of the 1st division in Elbasan on 26 April 1947 and seven years in prison for her “acts against the people and state.” Fate had it that the decision was reviewed by the High Martial Court on 10 May 1947, shortening her sentence to three years of imprisonment and forced labour.”- September 1947 records mention that there were 586 internees in the camp. The Berat Camp commander in the years 1947 – 1949 was Bektash Pogaçe from Kardhiq, Gjirokastra, an agricultural labourer with elementary education. The internees of Berat were also used for exhumation. Men worked at the aviation field whereas women harvested olives. After the camp was closed, the internees were mainly moved to Tepelena and Porto-Palermo. On 9 May 1949, the camp was closed and the largest part of internees were mainly transferred to Tepelena, as this place was within the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Berat.Internees

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