National Museum of Armaments, Gjirokastra

Muzeu Kombëtar i Armëve Gjirokastër

A museum in the south-Albanian Gjirokastra fortress presents an extensive exhibition on the partisan struggle against the Italian and German occupying forces between 1939 and 1944. It also contains memorial rooms to executed political prisoners and resistance fighters.

History

In 1932, the country's largest prison was established in the Gjirokastra fortress (alternative name in Albanian: Gjirokastër), which is located in the south of Albania, about 36 kilometres from the border to Greece. The »Agyrokastron« fort (meaning Silver Castle) was built in ancient times by the Illyrians and extended in the 19th century to a complex of fortifications including seven watchtowers. The fortress continued to serve as a prison during World War II. In April 1939, Albania was annexed by fascist Italy and occupied by the German Wehrmacht in September 1943, after Italy had severed its alliance with Germany and surrendered to the Allies. The German authorities incarcerated numerous political opponents and partisans in Gjirokastra castle. Moreover, executions were carried out in the fortress. Two women from Gjirokastra, Bule Naipi and Persefoni Kokëdhima, were among the victims - after 1945, a memorial was dedicated to them in the town. Ismail Kadare, a native of Gjirokastra, was an important chronicler of the time; his novel »Chronicle in Stone« (»Kronikë në gurë«) was published in English in 1971.

Gjirokastra, undated, Italian tanks in the town, Muzeu Historik Kombëtar

Gjirkokastra, 2008, Open-air exhibition of military objects, shot down American spy plance from the Cold War in the background, Richard Schofield

Victims

Memorial rooms in the Gjirokastra fortress are dedicated to the political prisoners and other opponents of the German occupying regime who were incarcerated and executed there between 1943 and 1944.

In April 1939 the Kingdom of Albania became a »Protectorate« of Italy, which had been a dictatorship under Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) and his fascist party since 1922. Although Mussolini did implement »racial laws« in Albania, he refused to hand Jews over to the Third Reich. Albania had a small Jewish community. In 1930, there were 204 persons of Jewish faith registered as living in Albania. After the events of 1933 and 1938 a small number of refugees from Germany and Austria added to this figure, as did an unknown number of refugees who came to Albania from occupied Yugoslavia and Greece in 1941. After Italy had broken its alliance with Germany in 1943 and concluded a ceasefire with the Allies, Albania – like all Italian territories – was occupied by the Wehrmacht and SS. Once it became apparent that the Albanians were unwilling to cooperate with the Germans, in spring 1944 the SS deported more than 300 Jews from the hitherto Serbian province of Kosovo - annexed to Albania since 1941 - to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In addition, 500 non-Jewish Albanians were deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz in Austria. Only 23 of them survived. The German occupation forces were assisted in these deportations by the SS »Skanderbeg« division, which consisted of Kosovan and Albanian volunteers along with forced recruits and was also deployed in the anti-partisan campaign. The division was named after a national hero, Prince Georg Kastriota (1405–1468), also known as Skanderbeg. He is celebrated for defending Albania against the Ottoman Empire. Yet most Christian and Muslim Albanians endeavoured to protect Albanian Jews. Faced with increasing Albanian resistance, the German occupying forces withdrew from the country in autumn 1944. The minimal research carried out into the Holocaust in Albania thus far has yielded contradictory results. The estimated number of victims ranges from under one hundred to over 200. A total of around 30,000 Albanians lost their lives in World War Two. Under the dictator Enver Hoxha (1908–1985), the communist resistance was the dominant feature of post-war remembrance. Decades after his death, this limited perspective was still apparent in a room in the monumental National History Museum in Tirana, as well as in the national military museum in the southern Albanian town of Gjirokastra, the birthplace of Hoxha and a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are only few memorials to the victims of the Holocaust, though in recent years, the history of the Albanian rescue operations is increasingly being addressed. A new Holocaust memorial was inaugurated in Tirana in 2020. Moreover, a museum is to be built in Tirana in the near future that will tell the story of the Jews in Albania and also focus on the rescue operations during the Holocaust.

Remembrance

Albania was liberated in 1944. In the following years, the new authorities continued to use the prison in Gjirokastra, home town of dictator Enver Hoxha (1908-1985), to incarcerate opponents of the regime. Today, the castle of Gjirokastra is state property and under the joint administration of the Institute for Cultural Monuments and the municipality of Gjirokastra. Since 1971, the National Museum of Armaments has been housed in a part of the former prison. It primarily deals with Albanian history since independence in 1912 until the end of World War II. Most of the exhibition is dedicated to the partisan struggle against the Italian and German occupying forces between 1939 and 1944. Many traces in the accessible part of the former prison recall the communists who were held here under the German occupation. At the end of the cell block is a copy of the memorial to the two executed women, which stands in the town centre. Located in a part not accessible to visitors are the torture cells. Already during the communist era, in 1961, the town was declared Albania's »museum city« and placed under landmark protection due to its unique Ottoman architecture. In 2005, Gjirokastra became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gjirkokastra, 2008, Memorial to Bule Naipi and Persefoni Kokëdhima, Richard Schofield

Gjirkokastra, 2008, Partisan memorial and Italian tankette, Richard Schofield

Open

From April until September Mondays to Saturdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
From October until March Mondays to Fridays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Contact

http://gjirokastra.org/gjirokastra/?p=2728

Gjirokastra, 1994, Exhibition on the partisan struggle, Galen R. Frysinger

Gjirkokastra, 2008, View of the fortress, Richard Schofield

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