Pjetër Arbnori

Pjetër Arbnori, the Albanian statesman dubbed "the Mandela of the Balkans" for the length of his internment – over 28 years – in an Albanian gulag, was born in Durrës, on the Adriatic coast, on January 18th, 1935.

Biography

Orphaned at the age of seven, when his father was killed while fighting Enver Hoxha's partisans during the civil war that underlay World War II, Pjetër underwent much hardship during his childhood, and often went hungry. Nonetheless, he managed to graduate from high school with a gold medal, which, however, was not enough to earn him the right to go on to college. This was due to his early early affiliation, while still a boy, with the resistance fighters struggling against the communist regime, together with his mother and two older sisters.

When he was 18, after graduating from high school, Arbnori found a job as a teacher. In a matter of a year, however, he was fired for political reasons. His sister Antoinette also got into trouble at this time, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for distributing information opposing the regime. Once having completed his military service, young Pjetër roamed the mountains in search of a living, and started to labour in the fields as a farm hand. Although this took up 10 hours a day, six days a week, he succeeded in finding a way of enrolling in the Philology Department of the University of Tirana, under fake documents, and actually finished a five-year correspondence course in half the time. Thus, in 1960 he was ready to become a Literature teacher, and began to work at a school in the city of Kavajë. Again this was not to be for long, as Pjetër Arbnori soon gathered together with other intellectuals to form a Social-Democratic movement in the hopes of edging forward towards pluralistic society. The Sigurimi (secret police) got wind of this and arrested seven of them. Here came the beginning of Arbnori's ordeal, due to last over 28 years. It started with two years of a trial, interrogation and torture, ending with his being sentenced to death. This verdict was subsequently converted to 25 years' imprisonment, as the authorities hoped Arbnori would eventually lead them to catching other ringleaders.

In prison Pjetër Arbnori continued his struggle, organizing the inmates' protests and resistance and ever watchful of maintaining his reason intact over the years. One of the ways he preserved his sanity was to write, every chance he got. He would write in the tiniest possible lettering along the margins of the newspapers allotted to the prisoners to read. In this painstaking way he managed to put together a novel and many short stories, some of which have since been published.

When his time was almost over, his jailers added ten more years to it. The detention eventually ended in 1989. He was 26 when they arrested him. He now found himself free to begin life all over again, but at the age of 54. His first job on being released was as an apprentice to a carpenter. It was in this last portion of his life that he married and had two children.

Still unsubdued, Pjetër Arbnori soon took part in the grassroots movement that was defying the regime, participating, less than five months after his release, in the anti-communist demonstration in Shkodër that overturned the statue of Stalin.

With the first free ballot, Arbnori was elected to Parliament, and was later re-elected three more times. He was elected twice to the position of Chairman of the Parliament of Albania from April 6, 1992 to July 24 1997 and is also listed among the acting Presidents of Albania, with reference to April 1992.

In 1997, his party lost the elections to the Socialist Party led by Fatos Nano, following the turmoil caused by reckless schemes that had caused the financial ruin of thousands. From the benches of the opposition, it soon became clear to Arbnori that there was a risk that the censorship that was customary under the old regime might be reinstated. Thus, when the State-owned television station refused to broadcast the statements and initiatives of the opposition party, he did not hesitate to go on a hunger strike. It was here that the fame of "the Mandela of the Balkans" claimed the attention of many governments of the Western world, whose support forced the majority coalition in Parliament to review its stance and approve a formal guarantee of the independence of the press from State interference. This became known as "the Arbnori Amendment".

Pjetër Arbnori died of a brain hemorrhage in 2006. The man who had survived internment at Burrel prison, sacrificing his entire youth to his principles, left two orphaned children, still in their teens. The government of Albania, which has since reverted back to the Democratic Party, saluted its legendary freedom fighter with an official ceremony of State.

Published Works

*"Nga jeta në burgjet komuniste" (in Leben in den kommunistischen Gefängnissen, Erlebnisbericht, and in Deutsch erschienen 1992)
*"Kur dynden vikingët" (Tales, 1993)
*"Mugujt e mesjetës" (Novel, 1993)
*"Bukuroshja me hijen" (Tales,1994)
*"Lettre de prison" (1995)
*"E bardha dhe e zeza" (Novel, 1995)
*"E panjohura – Vdekja e Gebelsit" (Tales, 1996)
*"Shtëpia e mbetur përgjysmë" (Novel, published in 1997, written during 10 years in prison)
*"Vorbulla" (Novel, 1997)
*"Brajtoni, një vetëtimë e largët" (Novel, 2000)
*"Martiret e rinj në Shqiperi. 10300 ditë e net në burgjet komuniste" (2004)

Sources:

- P. Arbnori, "Testimonianza cristiana e nuovi martiri in Europa", in Tempi di Unità No.7 - 8, Ottobre 2006 - Maggio 2007.- R. Fidanzia, "Relazione sull'Assemblea Generale dei Comitati per le Libertà. Roma 1-2-3 marzo 2003" in Storiadelmondo n. 8, May 5th, 2003; http://www.storiadelmondo.com/8/fidanzia.comitati.pdf