HIstorical review, pros and cons

06/07/2012 00:00

The Albanian Prime Minister repeated the idea of changing the history of
Albania, and that many figures of the antifascist war are overrated,
while many others were left in oblivion. But history is written by
historians, and scholars have different opinions about this declaration
of the Prime Minister. Professors Beqir Meta and Pellumb Xhufi give
their views:

“History is written by a group of history experts. We have collected more than 700.000 pages from foreign archives, which will help rewriting the history”, declared Beqir Meta.

“Berisha recognized the value of the antifascist war for the first time, after trying for 20 years to remove the Liberation Day from the history, as an effort to place this part of the history in a lower level”, declared Pellumb Xhufi.

“The Prime Minister’s declaration is just an opinion, because history is not created by politics anymore. In democracy we have to respect the academic freedom and the historians’ point of views are free. These views suggest the researching methods, the historical sources, etc”, Meta declared.

“It is not right that the Prime Minister mentions the role of the British government during Albania’s Second World War, but not completely. The British, with the declaration of Churchill in 1942, when they recognized the antifascist war of the Albanians, they said something that concerned everyone: nationalists, communists and every Albanian. He said that the Albanian borders would be reviewed after the war, which warned a division of the Albanian territories. This is also mentioned by Mithat Frasheri, who wrote about this problem”, Xhufi declared.

“I have analyzed the British policy towards Albania during the WWII and after it, and its impact in politics. There have been positive developments, but also negative one. This policy has negatively affected many areas, since it was supporting the Greek nationalism. They had a positive role in a given time, but this doesn’t mean that it was always positive. We don’t say that we are the criteria of truth, but we must continue with more serious researches, and take lessons from the past”.
But does the Albania history need to review the role of many important historical figures, and have they been reviewed?

“If he is really against the name of Qemal Stafa, I would say to the Prime Minister that he is wrong. If he wants, he can try and find a figure from the Balli and Legaliteti, who can be compared with a character like Qemal Stafa, who was a 20-year-old man, very educated and very idealist, and who also fought in battles. I am convinced that he is trying to give political credit to the forces that played a different role from what is presented, rather than making history. The Balli and the Legaliteti Movement were not nationalists or patriotic, but they have made compromises”, Xhufi declared.

The debate for reviewing history has been mentioned several times by the Albanian Prime Minister.

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