In part VIII of this essay on Albania in 1997, the anonymous 17-year old author continues to go further back in time to give us some background.
It is without doubts the part with most merits achieved by the regime. Within a short period, analphabetism was almost eradicated in all urban and rural areas of Albania. Universities, colleges, lyceums, elementary schools and gymnasiums were established within a brief time. Attendance to school was incredibly high. Many intellectuals were “produced” during this process of evolution. The system utilized the knowledge of west and east in order to fill the gaps that existed for many centuries. Many students from Albania were studying in the best universities of Moscow, Paris, London, Rome and in other countries. But anyway, there were plenty of gaps. Other taboos were not only deepening, but new ones were created. It was shameful to talk about sexuality, prohibited to talk about religion in an objective way, democracy was a misused word with a wrong meaning, war of classes was touching the elite of intellectualism, and secret services were acting everywhere. There were cases when the wife had revealed her husband for agitation and propaganda. One had to be careful with his family members because it was possible that the word might be spread all over. It was a dark time and nobody was safe unless always “on guard”.
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