BIRN/ 'Installation': Statues of Stalin and Lenin are exhibited in the government villa

A bronze statue of Joseph Stalin looks out over a busy street in Tirana from inside the wall of a government villa - once the home of the former communist prime minister, Mehmet Shehu in the former Block neighborhood. The statue stands behind a ZIS, the car used by the infamous former Sigurimi, and behind it with a little effort you can also spot a statue of Lenin.

The dictatorial regime of Enver Hoxha in Albania was inspired by the former leaders of the Soviet Union. The statues were removed from the squares of Tirana after the anti-communist movements of 1990 and stood for years in the back yard of the Art Gallery.

But they have appeared again on display in the courtyard of the villa that is used for the official reception of the prime minister.

Endri Fuga, director of the Agency for Media and Communication, did not give an exhaustive answer to the reasons for displaying the statues of Stalin and Lenin in the premises of the government villa.

"It is part of an installation bigger than the statue of Stalin," Fuga told BIRN, without giving details on the artist or the title of the installation or its placement in a state building where foreign delegations come and go.

When asked if this exhibition could have sensitive consequences for the victims of communism, Fuga added that: "I don't believe that a work of art should be judged with the glasses of politics."

BIRN learned from the Ministry of Culture that the statues of Stalin and Lenin are part of a fund of 100 works of the Art Gallery, which were moved there due to the reconstruction of the building. A source told BIRN that the works were "taken for safekeeping", but it is unclear how the statues ended up on display.

People who suffered directly from Hoxha's regime consider the display of statues of Stalin and Lenin an "insult to their suffering".

Simon Mirakaj, whose life was marked as an 'enemy of the people' and spent 44 years in exile, considers the return of objects that glorify communism very sensitive.

“Ekspozimi i tyre është shumë sensitiv për ne dhe për të gjithë shqiptarët, pasi ata janë dy persona që kanë shkaktuar mjaft plagë në vendet e tyre dhe në vendet e tjera që kanë qenë në varësi të ish-Bashkimit Sovjetik,” tha Mirakaj për BIRN.

“Në Shqipëri, kampi famëkeq i Tepelenës që ka marrë shumë jetë njerëzish i përket pikërisht asaj periudhe të Stalinit,” shtoi ai.

Ekspozimin e statujave në një vend të dukshëm dhe pa shpjegimin e nevojshëm e sheh të gabuar edhe Çelo Hoxha, drejtor i Institutit të Studimeve të Komunizmit.

“Ka dy praktika për objekte të kësaj natyre; të shkatërrohen ose të ruhen dhe të ekspozohen në muze të posaçëm për komunizmin me sqarimet e caktuara ose galeri specifike, por nuk mund të ekspozohen në hapësira publike,” tha Hoxha për BIRN.

Hoxha emphasizes that this issue should be resolved with a decommunization law, which would ban communist symbols, representative objects and commemorative dates of communism.

Kastriot Dervishi, a researcher of the communist period also emphasized that there is no legal basis for what should be done with these objects.

Otherwise, Mirakaj believes that the statues should have been destroyed or at least stored in some warehouse as relics of the crime, but never exhibited.

"For me they should not exist," he concluded.