By Agim Hamiti
Every passerby
who steps for the first time in Spaç occupies himself from a general apathy,
similar to what proves man when inadvertently becomes a witness of a life in
agony. Even if the passenger in question is not only, entering the pit of great
natural that makes this place, he will feel the need of a contemplative
silence, to deepen the world of his feelings surprised.
The site is
surrounded on all sides by a series of high hills. If you see them from the pit
of Spaç, they create the impression of two mountain ranges in semicircular
shape placed opposite of each other, because relief is extremely rugged. In two
symmetrical points where they meet, southeast of the northwest, the narrow deep
bed of a natural stream opens two windows of this large pool.
Shrubs, partially covering the slopes of the
surrounding hills, undergo a rigorous war with nature, to survive the cruelty
of the barren land in the process of dissolution. Their roots stemming half
gripped tightly by penetrated sideways on burned brown stones, or through
cracks in the stratified slabs. Their leaves can be viewed disclosed in the sun
for only a few hours since when it starts to heat, they shrink to slow water evaporation
achieved with lots of difficulty.
In general the
surface of the land is brown and gray in layers of slabs that brake. Sulfuric
acid, very present to the water flow to the area, is the main factor of the
process of disintegration of the normal surface of the earth. The eye can see
green grass very rarely, only in a flat place maybe that has a favored chance
to escape the destructive power of acid. Even the deep bed through steep
stream, which during the summer remains almost dry, keeps the color of acid
salts. These phenomena of a unstable structure of the earth's surface appears
more to the eye, due to the sharp slope of the surrounding hills. They create
the impression of a natural anomaly.
After observing
the surrounding land, appearing to be a victim of chemical reactions and
atmospheric agents, the newly arrived traveler in these parts, to somehow clear
his whirlpool of turbulent emotions, would express the disappointment his own
way, usually in accordance with the profession he exercises.
A shepherd would have said:
«Over here the sheep’s tooth could not find a
string of grass, let alone the tongue of a cow!"
A mason worker, after taking two stone pieces
and bashing them against each other, would see how it falls crushed like dust to
his feet, he would smile in disbelief murmuring:
« You could not lay two such stones one in top
of the other let alone making limestone liquid out of them."
As a geologist would declare enthusiastically:
« As dark as this land appears on the outside,
as rich it is in the Inside."
This intimation
he would make for copper there in the subsoil, which contains a lower
percentage of gold.
A police expert, as soon as he would see this
hole appearing as if it was prepared by giant excavators, without thinking,
would express himself briefly and clearly:
Coordination of
thoughts of the last two experts mentioned above brought to light the government
decision for the creation of a heavy forced work camp for political prisoners,
in the spring of 1968 on this dark gloomy pit. So the natural deception Spaç was
joined by and human deception: the political prison.
Once the national
land was full of sucking the sweat and blood of the Army of prisoners with
shaved heads sacrificed by the Communist regime as enemies of the party, it was
the turn of the underworld to seek revenge. To the long string of hard labor
camps and prisons present new addresses were added: the horrible mine of Spaçi
and her sister mines later on. All these life-sucking addresses were supplied
with contingents of political prisoners of the communist regime. With Spaç a
new era began, the underground exploitation of political victims, whose lives were
calculated by the Directorate of Camps and Prisons with numbers of ore mineral wagon
produced.
The uphill of
Sisyphus. That is the name the political prisoners of Spaç called the strong
mountain path, which led from the camp to the mine. Sisyphus remains a mythical
figure and his uphill imagined. The Sisyphus of Spaç were unjustly sacrificed
people from dictatorship and their ascent - land. The uphill was worked gradually
in a stairway shape, otherwise no one could walk in the heady slope. The steps
sustainability was secured by a concrete slab of a 110 cm long and 35 cm wide,
based on two iron rods stuck in the ground on each side. The steps during the
winter snow could barely be distinguished. Walking additionally difficult and every
Sisyphus from Spac had broken his hand, leg, knee, or was stuck by a iron rod
on ribs in the crash. A crippled enemy was less dangerous for those who were
convicted without cause.
Every beginning
is difficult, but forced labor in the mine for the conditions of political
prisoners contained within itself a whole system first, which created a
multitude of difficulties in progression. Henceforth they were forced to work
in the complete absence of sunlight and its curative effects for the body. The
prisoners sucked compressor air mixed with a real cocktail of gases, fumes,
vapor contaminated water and heavy smell of decomposition of dead rats and
stench of the mine without maintenance. During the shift work whole tons of
dynamite would burn continuously, releasing lots of poisonous gases in the primitive
mine, where the ventilation system did not exist. Continuous smoke of carbide
lamps will give its modest contribution to overall air pollution, which
prisoners would suck in labor fronts. Scent of the air was causing vomiting to convicts
who entered for the first time in medieval mine of Spaç. The lungs of
prisoners, absorbing this polluted air, gave one of their mucosa’s on their war
struggle for a grueling existence in the name of hope.
In labor fronts
pyrites, where temperatures ranged between 35-40 degrees Celsius, underground
water sources with high sulfuric acid leaked constantly on the bodies of the
prisoners with the clothes off due to not resisting the heat. By scorching
their skin, acid wounds were created, which made it a torture undressing and
dressing at work and in the dorm.
Overall, the
situation of working conditions corresponded to a medieval level. Required rate
very high, which was required daily or nightly from prisoners by unsparing the whip
of police, putting aside the technical security requirements which were
included only on paper, listed as a formality from free personnel. The prisoners never worked under conditions which
providing life security, there were cases when after only a few hours of work
in the mine fronts they were pulling out dead people.
The base
materials, which served to create normal working conditions (track, spools,
boards etc.) were send to other sectors to free workers on the outside world,
while major deficiencies deliberately created in Spaç were «fulfilled» by
police force instead. In such a horrible environment the only thing that was
priced the cheapest cost wise was the prisoner who was in this case the
defeated army paying the unbelievable war dues that the barbaric force was
taking on justice.
Police were chosen specifically for this
case. All persons in uniform were typical embodiment of virgin ignorance and
chronic hunger of that rural area. Having escaped from extreme misery
cooperatives, they had secured uniforms, annual food and clothing free salary
they had not dared to imagine before, the privilege of housing issues in the
nearest industrial town, and favorite jobs for women. In the near future, their
children will be offered state scholarship to be educated, because the father
was serving in a position "of special importance".
Happy beyond any expectations,
originally the guards lived as in a dream, after escaping from corn bread
rations and nothing else to eat. When they were told that the people with
shaved heads and brown uniforms are enemies of the government in power, this
claim in their empty mind was deciphered based on their self-interest code:
"They want
to take away from you the good life that the government in power provided and topple
the government then."
This made them so
aggressive, that intervention form command officer was definitely needed, to
somehow curb their volcanic patriotism. The lure of material interest had them
sucked spiritually in the Gears of a blind car repressive state.
Numerous factors
that affected the overall deterioration of the situation of the prisoners,
being intertwined with each other, empowered and become even more threatening.
Entries to mine, as gluttonous dragon mouth open, sucked in three working
24-hour shifts. Vapors coming outdoors out of their warm bellies created the
impression, that the living prey they had swallowed and was moving through
their viscera forced them to liberate the excess energy.
«Just make it out!".
This was the greeting exchanged between the Prisoners working on various
fronts, when seeing each other in intersections of the galleries. This greeting
implying that they could make it out on stretcher from there, or may not make
it out at all, as happened to the other fellow sufferers.
Crackling of a breaking
body in the structure of the gallery where they worked, the fall of a stone, or
landslides on their plastic helmets, was in the minds of the prisoners that at
any moment they could become prey to the wiles of death. Parallel to physical
torture and psychological war, permanent anxiety and insecurity in the
primitive mine was making everyday life horrible for these live corps.
The government in
power of red vampires aimed the prisoners’ health, while the death traps
underground threatened their lives. Caught between two fires permanent crushed
inmates physically and spiritually made a desperate choice; facing the threat
of police, they were forced to choose endangering of life in the mine instead.
Perhaps even death could be merciful to them, while ruthless camp police did
not make the ideological error of mercy to the enemies of the government in
power party.
The first results
of the tons of ore mineral brought the first victims, whose numbers were
increasing continuously. Although the men were convicted unjustly for doing
nothing with years in jail, no one responded to their death resentencing
without trial. Families of the victims were forbidden by law to take the bodies
of deceased relatives within the barbed wire. While they were convicted without
committing any crime, their punishment should have perpetuated.
In the documents
that accidental deaths motivated the same justifying expression had grown roots:
«It was an accident, did not follow safety
rules at work."
When a prisoner
dared to enforce the safety technical security rules in any job front with obvious
risk, frenetic police rushed on shouting:
"Really, you think that the peoples
government is that crazy, to secure the life of its own enemies? "
Many prisoners
were falling asleep in the wet mine due to extreme fatigue and exhausting hours
after midnight. They used to catch a cold which ended up in hopeless condition.
Others mutilated themselves in circumstances where health served as an
intensification of evil, in order to escape from the hard work required for
years and years.
This painful
story, written with the blood of its victims, became so threatening that even
subjected high brand Albanians could not withstand, without the explosion of a
massive revolt of political prisoners. It was the first time that a protest against
the oppressive and degrading regime was publicly expressed on May 21, 1973. The
price which was paid it was extremely expensive. Four shot and 86 resentenced
with a total of 1400 years in prison (14 centuries human life!).
A terror beyond
human conception came upon the prisoners who were forced to undergo an entire
system of multiple tortures. But, surely, The Revolt of Spaç '73 was unique in the history of humanity in terms of its
victims by the court sentenced to death. Besides the four executed by fire
squad, there was a hanging by rope.
A military court
sentenced to death by hanging on the rope the noble Snitch, loyal friend of
prisoners: the dog that they had grown themselves. The prisoners had found him
a tiny puppy in the Spaç newly established camp. They even named him themselves.
With a shared care, they raised the Snitch healthy and very communicative. But
over time this loyal dog who was well fed and spoiled, began to show an anti
class phenomenon. As showing nice and sociable with the brown uniforms the
Snitch became increasingly aggressive with green police uniforms in camp. The
latter had begun to worry seriously regarding the questionable behavior of the
dog.
Guards had
attempted twice to get rid of the Snitch, trying to poison him. But the prisoners,
and the convicted doctor in the camp, had done their utmost to save the live of
the faithful dog. Thanks to his strong body and openhanded attentions of
prisoners, the latter managed to escape death twice.
The third time
was the real deal. This time the police had a green light from the government and
could dispose without difficulty any prisoner (as it happened) let alone their own
dog. On May 30th 1973 the Snitch’s life was in the hands of a murderous guard group
from Spac who were eager to get rid of him. In the common behavior and
character of these officers together you could never find any nobility like a
gesture of pity toward the Snitch, just like in the most desperate barking of
the Snitch you could not find out so much ferocity as only on the call "in
formation now! from one of them.
Between the fire
squad execution and the hanging on the rope, this military court chose the
second version of the execution on the grounds:
«Our Political
Party did a favor to the people that caused the revolt by executing them by the
fire squad and not by hanging on the rope, as they deserved. Therefore they had
to definitely hang their dog ".
Just like they
said after the dog had no right to appeal their decision under a unstoppable
dictatorship where people are treated worse than animals. However the Snitch
paid back the green uniforms even in the last moments of his life. As he put
the rope on his neck, he bit in the hand corporal named Ndue, who thought of
himself as a dog specialist.
In the
fatal moments of his last breath, the struggling paws of the Snitch were moving
in the air, as if they wanted to restrain the police that he hated so much. To
the surprise of the just mentioned he did not scream, but opening his eyes wide,
emitted a grunt of drowned, which witnessed more threat of contempt, than fear.
Stunned by the strange behavior of the dog in this fatal minute, Sergeant Prenga
again voiced the suspicion that he had for the Snitch when he got along with
the brown uniforms and threatened the green ones:
«I have told you guys this dog was a spy agent,
brought in purpose to the camp." This time the cops did not laugh with
these words, because the Snitch surprised them on how he was dying, and were
not paying attention to his specific qualities in life. To these creatures raised
through the deepest abyss of Mirdita highlands, the instinct of communication
with the animal was more developed than the original habits of contemporary
civilization. Precisely for this reason they came to understand the Snitch, for
the first and last time at this sublime moment.
The behavior of the animal on the rope was a
demonstration of contempt message to the surrounding world that in which human
barbarity executes the animal nobility.
After the
establishment of the camp, Spaç visitors significantly intensified. Obviously,
they were not tourists curious about customs of rural Mirdita, but family
members or relatives of the prisoners, who were coming to see them.
The deep valley
edge weave dusty road was the only artery linking this open wound in the body
of contemporary Albanian society with its other parts. The pressure of sad
feelings that a casual visitor would feel before the rise of the camp was
compounded by the sharp spiritual pain of those who saw their family members
with bold heads and in brown uniforms, within a siege of very high triple
barbed wire. Teary eyes and broken hearts came and went through the winding
road edge deep valley, which slipped stealthily and quietly over its own bedplates
as if it was scared of the ruthless police in the camp.
And yet, the worst ongoing course of time
becomes commonplace. Even inflamed Spaçi visitors in some case joked with of
their detained relatives. So one day, during a meeting with his brother, one of
these visitors saw Sergeant Gjoka walking along proudly with a skinny rabbit he
had killed in his hands whose ribs could be numbered, the brother said:
- An uglier cop
and skinnier rabbit my eyes have never seen to this day
- Worthy of each
other – laughing the prisoner brother replied.
What about the own impressions of these hapless residents
Spaç camp, what were they?
Different opinions were shown and many
definitions were made, but, apparently, the most inhuman features of this
exterminator camp were stressed in the background of the third shift, or the
night shift. Perhaps for this reason, a poem written by Zef Jushi a prisoner who
once had graduated in the Italian Military Academy was unanimously acclaimed as
the anthem of Spaç. The author was inspired by the gruesome sight of the third
shift:
Strange dry wild things on a giant chump,
At a time when life sleeps so it can regenerate,
Tired, sleepy, we walk up the hill,
To the stark black mountain
Nothing from what’s left of life we have,
Except tired eyes watching in the heights,
And broken hearts with dried wishes,
Down dark earth, above a piece of sky we have left,
Where time flies and so do dreams, and cruel hopes
Sky scratched with barbed wire bar,
You musicians, artists and poets,
Why not leave humanity a memory;
Deep concerns to continue throughout life,
Dry wild things I said? ... And no larvae,
Waiting for wings to start flying,
The world to fill in those days white
Although the five
year measurement of extreme violence punishment of this camp Spaçi, awarded by
the government after the revolt of 1973, was completed a few months ago, the
situation continued to remain tense, due to revolutionary inertia. Terror is a
component of the dictatorship who does not know how to stop, as soon as it
takes momentum.
Savage violence
against detainees continued. Furthermore, most of the officers called it insufficient
physical punishment without the loss of feeling to repetitive inmates. At the
end of each work shift, camp police cuffed prisoners accused of insufficient
work. There they went through collective torture from all guards whose shift
was about to end, under the blazing eyes of the watch officer and commissioner
or the camp commander. Each of the police, to disclose to superiors present his
zeal in carrying out his immense duty, tried to devise a new method of torture.
Upon completion of the punishing ceremony, prisoners were ostracized for a
month in the dungeon.
Dungeons were
built with doors directly into nature. Upper side of Cells was at the height of
earth excavation for the leveling of the land where they were raised. Roofless corridors
of these dungeons were covered with a strong iron harrow, one side of which
entered deep into the earth, while the other side was cemented with the cells.
Heavy doors were left specially 20 cm above the cement floor. Rain or snow entered
freely up to human waist on these dungeons surrounded by concrete. While in
winter one could not sleep due to the cold, in summer the detainees could not breathe.
In the
residential quarters, room inspections were exercised twice a month. For hours,
soldiers and police officers made a mess and overthrew everything in the
bedrooms with collective beds shaped after bunk beds but three-story high made
of unfinished wood. In one sleeping room 7x6x3 meters 54 prisoners. Blankets,
sheets, mattresses and other personal items, such as pens, nail cutters,
envelopes, notebooks, etc. were thrown in the middle of the room and soldiers
and policemen with their watery and muddy boots stepped all over them. After search,
the prisoners barely found their belongings. Often soldiers and police took
things they liked, like pens, cigarette holders, belts, etc. If someone
complained about something missing he went through a severe physical
punishment, where accused of deliberately insulting military personnel in the
forced labor camp by hostile enemy intention of a political prisoner.
During room
inspection time, they read books of the Dictator volumes to prisoners for
reeducation. A devastating war of nerves in winter very difficult to withstand
from them standing on their feet for few hours and could not sit because the
ground was covered with snow.
Food, other than
the name, had nothing in common with human food: seven months leek soup (green
or dry) and five months stewed peppers boiled. Rarely in summer served vegetables.
Given by a ration once in a while rice pilaf, mixed with millet and sometimes a
little milk as antidote.
Meat planned for
prisoners, who worked in the mine, was consumed by officers, police, soldiers
and the camp inmates serving as (spies to command). In this abuse attended also
the migratory birds who was the nickname for the spy inmates specialized for dungeon
work, which were used by district investigators, to deceive the inexperienced
newly arrested during the investigation process. But the most absurd phenomenon
was the arrest within the camp and resentencing for "subversion" of
prisoner enemies!? How such action was legally justified from the distracted
dictatorship? The only plausible explanation was Mussolini's old quote:
Communist is a man without law.
During the days that the camp was hit by
arrest waves, investigators went there healthy with black bags inflated; these
were filled with evidence of hostile activity conducted within the political
prison! They were accompanied by operatives of the camp commander or commissar
and several other officers of the command. After the nearest siege guards were
doubled, the cat-mouse game began.
The signal given from
camp operative or any investigator, fifteen or twenty policemen who were on
alert behind the gate of the inner wall of the square where inmates lined up, the
aggressive running began directed toward several groups where the prisoners
lined up. Each group had responsible police officers, who were given the names
of prisoners who they would arrest in his group. Formation was based on work
brigades, while the unemployed were aside. This helped police to find their
prey in each group. However, under the guidelines, they had to develop a
spectacular game for the bloody eyes staring professionals with inflated black
bags.
The officers
pretended like they could not find the sacrificed. They pushed the
prisoners from one side to another, looked some in the face,
would restrained one and put handcuffs on him , then say "no, it’s not him!", proceed
further. Look at the list with names of prisoners to be arrested, gathered
together as if they would consult the fixed location of the person who had the
order to be arrested and, as directed on to any other team, suddenly changed
direction and ended with the person they were supposed to arrest. This
sickening game with the feelings and nerves of the prisoners went on for half
an hour. The arrested were taken by different policemen, who were brought in cuffs
to pre arrest.
Arrests of prisoners for hostile activities
within the prison stoped just after the suicide of Prime Minister M. Shehu. The
main objective of the old dictator had always been misleading the public
opinion. Once he got rid of the leading contender who would take the reins of power after the death of the sick
dictator, he organized a visit to the Gallery of Fine Arts. By doing this the dictator
Hoxha wanted to show that political policy problems were in check so now he had
plenty of time to enjoy art! But his mumbling mouth and that he could barely
stand on his feet proved that he lived in the hallucination fever that the ghost
of former Prime Minister was taking his spirit. What the dictator tried to cover
revealed it even more.
To convince the public opinion, that what the
old clown was saying were no jokes, the Dictator shortened the sentencing of innocent
prisoners, after 20 years...
Despite
demagogic purpose, reducing the sentencing gave some breathing room to the camp
abnormal situation. Even honest prisoners somehow got hope that they could get
out from prison one day. Such a thing was dismissed earlier from most
determined and the most honest of political prisoners. After each call, for
formation « for the department of prisoners to line up on the field!", All
the inmates of the above mentioned category dressed up as thick as possible and
filled the pockets with packs of cigarettes, before they lined up according to
the order. They left messages friend to friend for any personal or family
problems. It was not known which of them will be grabbed by the wave of the day
and which will be saved for another day in the future. Known only was that occasional
waves of arrests aimed at precisely that part of the prisoners, who camp
command had described as the troubled ones who would not rehabilitate. So, that
part which alternative life or morals, gave solutions in favor of the latter.
Did the Albanian
dictatorship's cruelty have any limits?
In reality it
was only fantasy capacity of the cynical evil servants of the dictatorship that
defined the limits of the cruelty, when the law was not prohibiting any crime
against the enemies of the party. Here are some examples from people who lived through.
In March of
1979, the camp command Spaç exposed some extraordinary photographs booth ground
floor of dormitories. They showed three former prisoners recently shot to death
in Spaç: Xhelal Komprencka, Vangel Lezho and Fadil Kokomani. No Albanian land
invader had ever allowed their self to show off with posting such images, each
executed with a bullet to the face and tied up by a pillar, his hands in
handcuffs. The blood had leaked onto a white sheet, with which they had covered
their prison rags before shooting them.
For what crime
were sentenced to death the three prisoners of Spaç?
For two letters
addressed to the central government in Tirana, where was denounced the antinationalistic activity of
the dictator Hoxha.
A long «wowww!"
drew the attention of Spaç prisoners moving in front of the sleeping
dormitories. One prisoner threw himself from the balcony of the second floor of
dormitories, attempting suicide. While falling, the brown-coat opened as a
parachute.
The date was
June 6 1979. Two resentencing were waiting inside the gate of great camp filled
with migratory birds. Camp-operative - Shyqyri Tosca from Tirana - was
compiling the list. Among other names, Philip”s name apeared, a former teacher newly
detained from the city of Lezha. During the investigation he signed due to torture,
a statement of cooperation with the State Security. However, he had decided not
to become a Dungeon spy. For this reason, Philip emphatically rejected operative’s
proposal in camp, to start snitching and hunting for enemies of the party.
Threatened by operative Shyqyri, that he would pay
dearly his refusal, Philip jumped from the second floor balcony. He did not
die, but suffered heavy damage: four fractures on his feet and hands and some
broken ribs. While they they were taking him in a stretcher to prisons emergency
room he was talking in agony:
"Let me die, let me die, I cannot do a
horrible thing and snitch."
Despite Philip’s serious health condition the
operative Shyqyriu refused to let him go in Tirana hospital for treatment. The prisoner
doctor tried his best to help him. When Philip gained his conciseness after the
trauma, his first visitor was operator Shyqyriu:
- So, Philip, you thought you could
get away from me, hee? Death did not accept you, because we have some scores to
settle together. You better get ready now, because when you get up in your feet
the real game with me begins.
Despite the prisoner’s doctor's
insistence that Philip should be send to the hospital in Tirana, Operative Shyqyriu
did not want to hear it. Only when he learned that the injureds legs had
gangrene, he approved the delayed admission in hospital.
*
In December of 1979, television was introduced for the first time in camp of Spaç.
Some people got involved to make it work. The prisoners could not wait anxiously
to see the small screen - most for the first time. Unfortunately, that day the investigators
with black bags raced back to the camp; arrests will be made.
Among those arrested was Muçua, a
villager from Vlora district, almost illiterate. Cursing addressed to the
dictator had turned into a irreplaceable serum for his mood. This sin he had
paid dearly. Skinny to the bone, without teeth, bodyweight of this former
shepherd without school did not reach the 50 kilograms. Despite the significant
decline health, Muçua was more resistant to torture. While police officers
tortured, he yelled continuously, until lost his consciousness. After a long
period of time, guards declared Muço psychotic
and generally did not deal with him
anymore. But investigators with black bags do not ever forget the name of the
prisoner, who dared to curse daily the glorious leader.
Since Mucua had never seen television,
was really curious to see it that night of December. For the first time he
allowed himself to request his unrelenting persecutors a demand:
- I know that my house will be
prison, as long as you are in power. In addition let me see the TV tonight and
then arrest me whenever you want; I’m here. I have 18 years in prison and have
not seen this beautiful invention of science.
The investigator made a sign to his two policemen and Muçua ended in the resentencing
cell together with his dream to see the TV. However, he had the opportunity to
see another invention of science: the cuffs they put on him day were the type
that tightened themselves in every movement the detainee made.
For lack of room, the TV set on a table on
the balcony of the second floor close to dormitories. About 1,400 prisoners set
in front him, on the terrace where they were counted three times a day. When
television was turned on, a drizzling rain started. But the ones who were
looking at TV for the first time did not go away due to rain. With a Plastic
cover in the head, though the water was going through their old clothes, they
were under hypnosis of the sights of the small screen, reminding them
nostalgically: There was once free life …
*
A special booth sticker demonstrated
in general the cultural level of some political prisoners of the dictatorship.
The top of the poster read: addresses must be writen as follows. In the center was
attached a stretched envelope showing where you should write the address of the
recipient and where it's sender. This was an argument that the dictatorship
introduced mine slaves in that camp, more than political opponents.
Translated from the Albanian by J.Luzaj
