Albania-Travel to a country that was closed for 40years

Albania is a beautiful country that for 40 years was ruled by one of the world’s most paranoid dictators, which has the most repressive and bloodiest regimes of contemprorary history.

Thousands of microphones were hidden across the country in order to detect any activities viewed as unlawful traces of this dark period are everywhere. Under strict communist rule for over 40 years and completely shut of from the rest of the world, this country’s ruthless dictator Enver Hoja built over 173000 bunkers in preparation for a massive war that never came. In just the past 30 years after Hoja’s death and the fall of communism, it has quickly been rebuilding itself into a vibrant eager new country. And for the youth, the story of bunkers will be diving into nothing, but a distant past.

Albania is probably the most paranoid country in Europe, when it comes to a north Korean style of past, the bunkers are the symbol of it. Their first construction started when Enver Hoja decided to break with the USSR, he thought he needed a good amount of defense. In the end of the 70s, Albania used to spend 30% of its GDP on defense. All people was work for the bunkers. At that time, people was oppressed, and lost freedom and prosperity. The dictators cut people from any kind of communication, they lied to people that they were living in a prosperous economy and they were building socialism. Luckily this has become history and people can learn from that. Local people is trying to convert this bunkers into rooms or hotels.

These bunkers are only the most recent trace of Albania’s heavy history, the castles haven’t been conquered by the Romans and then the Ottomans is now standing as the representation of what Albania has gone through for thousands of years that despite continuous war and oppression the albanian people have held each other together through traditions and cultures that have outlived it all.

After a few decades of struggling to recover from it, the country is growing day by day as a youngand ambitious nation ready to share its beautiful culture with the rest of the world.

Written by Sybil on the 20th of May, 2022

阿尔巴尼亚——去一个封闭40年的国家

阿尔巴尼亚是一个美丽的国家，40 年来一直由世界上最偏执的独裁者之一统治，该独裁者拥有当代历史上最压制和最血腥的政权。

成千上万的地堡被隐藏在全国各地，以检测任何被视为这段黑暗时期非法痕迹的活动。在 40 多年的严格共产主义统治下，与世界其他地区完全隔绝，这个国家无情的独裁者 Enver Hoja 建造了 173000 多个地堡，为一场从未发生的大规模战争做准备。在Hoja去世和共产主义垮台后的短短 30 年里，它迅速将自己重建为一个充满活力的新国家。而对于年轻人来说，地堡的故事将是一个遥远的过去。

阿尔巴尼亚可能是欧洲最偏执的国家，当谈到过去的朝鲜风格时，地堡就是它的象征。第一个地堡建设开始于当 Enver Hoja 决定与苏联决裂时，他认为他需要大量的防御。上世纪 70 年代末，阿尔巴尼亚曾经将其 GDP 的 30% 用于国防。所有人都在为地堡工作。那时，人们受到压迫，失去了自由和繁荣。独裁者切断了人们的任何交流方式，他们向人们撒谎说他们生活在繁荣的经济中，他们正在建设社会主义。幸运的是，这已成为历史，人们可以从中吸取教训。当地人正试图将这些地堡改造成客房或旅馆。

这些地堡只是阿尔巴尼亚沉重历史的最新痕迹，这些城堡甚至没有被罗马人和奥斯曼帝国征服，然后现在代表着阿尔巴尼亚几千年来所经历的一切，尽管持续的战争和压迫阿尔巴尼亚人民通过历久弥新的传统和文化将彼此联系在一起。

经过几十年的努力从中恢复过来，这个国家正日益成长为一个年轻而雄心勃勃的国家，准备与世界其他地方分享他美丽的文化。

作者：Sybil，2022 年 5 月 20 日