The Insane Regime of Enver Hoxha
40 Years of Hell in Albania (The “Other North Korea”)
A little known country in south-eastern Europe, which lies across the Adriatic sea from Italy, is the charming yet enigmatic nation of Albania, now 3 million strong.
This small, mountainous region of the world, with stunning landscapes, antiquated, little villages and rugged coastlines, has played host to one of the craziest dictators of all time. What this nation lacks in size, it truly makes up for with its long, turbulent history — bloody, violent, and utterly bizarre as it is.
Once a part of the Ottoman empire, the poor Balkan country has been invaded by a plethora of rival countries throughout the centuries and has mostly struggled to maintain a grasp on its own culture, language and heritage.
After the fascist Italian invasion (1939–1943), Albania was left in dire straits with widespread starvation, collapsing infrastructure and a chaotic socio-political scene.
In 1944, a communist revolutionary from the Labour Party of Albania assumed office, taking position as the 22nd prime minister and head of state — that man was Enver Hoxha.
Thus began 40 years of crushing totalitarianism, espionage, paranoia, complete isolation and untold misery in the nation that was viewed as so politically extreme, it quickly…
