Experiencing and Privately Remembering Late Albanian Socialism: A Study Based on Oral History Interviews in the Region of Shkodra

Abstract

Based on interviews with 35 contemporary witnesses, this paper examines how Albanian socialism’s late phase (second half of the 1970s and first half of the 1980s) was subjectively experienced and is individually remembered today. It argues that despite harsh state repression and considerable impoverishment in this period, the communist regime enjoyed the loyalty of large sections of the country’s population. Furthermore, the paper suggests that many contemporaries have yet to come to terms with their experiences of that time. Their recollection narratives are predominantly characterised by uncertainties and contradictions, of which both individuals and society still have to make sense.