As Albania Reckons With Its Communist Past, Critics Say It’s Too Late

Of the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, Albania had the harshest and most isolated regime. Enver Hoxha, a hard-line Stalinist, created a repressive apparatus that outlasted his death in 1985 and continued right up until the regime’s fall in 1991.

Even in a region where justice for Communist-era crimes remains elusive, Albania stands out as one of the few countries that have not created an institution to facilitate citizens’ access to their secret police files, as countries like Romania and the former East Germany have done.

That is about to change: A new commission has been charged with opening the files of the Sigurimi, Albania’s feared Communist-era state security police, and vetting candidates for public office to see if they collaborated with the repressive machinery of the former Communist regime.