The party of November 29 for the first time in Shkodër, Benet Beci doesn't even trust her own father

For the first time in the last 33 years, November 29, a date so much debated especially in the political class, was a holiday in Shkodra.

 This is because the City Hall is run by socialists this year. The Mayor of the Municipality, Benet Beci, has decided that the key moments and figures of the nation's history, documented by the "Marubi" National Museum of Photography, will be projected in the building.

With this organization, Beci seems to have left aside the studies of his father, the academician and linguist Bahri Beci, and followed the instructions of the party. The latter recognizes November 29 as the day of liberation and not of occupation.

Journalist Kastriot Dervishi has published a fragment from Bahri Beci's studies for November 29, where the word liberation is not mentioned in any line.

Full post:

November 29, 1944 in Shkodra

The memoirs of academician and linguist Bahri Beci (1936-2023), published 10 years ago by the Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, are very interesting. Among other things, the author sadly brought up the moment when the communists entered Shkodër. In no line of his memoirs does he mention the word "liberation" because there was no such thing. The German army has fled without a fight and without obstacles, and the communists have treated the people as invaders.

Excerpts from memories:

It must have been the 28th of November that night when the Germans left our neighborhood, but also from Shkodra and left behind those two explosions that shook the city as if it were a seven- or eight-pronged earthquake... So November 29th found Shkodra without a German foot. . The partisans were stationed in the suburbs of the city and were waiting for the moment to enter the city. I don't know how and when, but I remember that one night the house was filled with partisans. They were poorly dressed and had sandals on their feet. I think dad agreed to let some of them sleep over there that night. They said they also had lice and this was worrying. It's hard for me to tell you how long they stay and when they leave. There is a possibility that they left the next day.

Those days, Shkodra was filled with partisans. To create the impression of a shattered battalion rather than an army. House searches and military operations soon began. Every day there were rumors about killing this or that "enemy" or "traitor".

(Bahri Beci, "A book that I would not like to write", ISKK publication, Tirana 2013, page 163)