FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
There is never enough time to say it all. Even more so a book. Every time you look back, something will be left unsaid.
"Insufficient time", this is what Helena Kadare called her book of memories. A book of 730 pages, where the writer and wife of Ismail Kadare tells her memories, since when she was a maid in Elbasan, she memorized the poems of a young writer, who was studying in Moscow and who fate wanted to become her husband.
The life of Helena Gushi, later Kadare, was not like everyone else's. Fate had reserved another life for her, which she had always dreamed of. When she was a high school student, she received her first letter from Is, as she says, but she never thought it would be like this, filled with so many emotions. She was the wife of the man who would bring Albania out of isolation through his works, even when the dictatorship was at its peak. The personal feeling at the side of a not so simple man, from the first kiss, to jealousies, fights, to sleepless nights for a novel that was expected to be published.
"Being a writer herself, Ismail Kadare's wife, Helena, discovers the fate of an unusual couple. In this account full of events, which emerge and transcend the ordinary of a common life, the actuality of a half-century that has seen the apogee, and then the agony and the end of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe unfolds. In the circle of friendships, meetings, shared secrets, this couple finds energy and courage to overcome the anxiety that the dictatorship exerted on the inhabitants of the most closed and mysterious country in Europe", notes the French publishing house "Fayard".
Kadare has always been discussed as the writer who had a very delicate relationship with the dictatorship. In her memoirs, Helena tells about the meetings of the League of Writers, plenums, complaints, criticism, book bans... all that period of anxiety, when everyone thought the end had come for them too, when people were asked in the investigator about possible connections "agency" of the writer, his visits to France... The relations with the rulers shown directly or indirectly, with Enver and Nexhmije Hoxha, Ramiz Alina, the children of the prime minister who committed suicide, Mehmet Shehu... We have selected a few parts from this voluminous book from those difficult, anxious moments, when tomorrow was never certain.
From the book..
Accused of being an agent of Mehmet Shehu
A few days after returning from Frankfurt, Is was summoned to the Central Committee to remove the warning for the meeting with Martin Camaj. Is did not seek to make tail of what had happened. In Sofo Lazri's first question: "It is true that in Frankfurt you met Martin Camajn, an enemy writer, right?". I answered without hesitation: "It is true". His defense was simple: The meeting was accidental. Besides, I did not know that he was engaged in hostile activities.
This year's events would roll quickly. On December 17, the suicide or assassination of the prime minister took place. After 2-3 days he was declared a traitor. Immediately there began to be talk of a great conspiracy, the most dangerous ever discovered. All of Albania began to tremble from the llahtari. Everyone was thinking about the relatives who could be hit and the danger that came from that. We were in danger from two directions, from Union with Marietta, the son and daughter-in-law of the murdered prime minister, who were isolated and expected to be arrested every day, as well as Gim Mufti, whose father could suffer. And if the father suffered, it was known, the son would have the same fate.
The year 1982 entered with this black cloud. Meanwhile, Bashkimi and Marietta were arrested. But the evil would not end there. On January 28, in the evening, we had gathered with some friends for Is's birthday, when one of the windows of the living room window was broken by a stone. The stones were coming from the road and Is called the Regional Police. The police came immediately, they behaved very well, they did the expertise. A few days later, the incident happened again, this time with a bang on the apartment door. The same ritual was repeated: photography, measurements, records. This was the beginning of an ugly story that lasted a long time. We had heard so much about the tricks used by communist regimes to smear cultural personalities, but this sick soap opera crossed all the lines of immorality.
At the time when Tirana was buzzing from the meetings for the unmasking of "the greatest conspirator of all time, Mehmet Shehu", in front of our apartment, in the evening shots were fired and screams were heard: Ismail Kadare, Mehmet Shehu's agent! Or an agent of the bourgeoisie! And to think he was still a Member of Parliament, a fact his detractors would remember long after!
The punishment of the "Clerk of the palace of dreams"
The proverb: "When bad things come, open the door", took on a special meaning in countries like ours. At the time when the story of the conflict was at its peak, a bitter news came to us from the League of Writers. Soon the Plenum of Literature would be held, where the "Clerk of the palace of dreams" would be condemned. The first thought that came to us was: Was this related to the issue of "broken windows?"
Plenumi u bë në mars, në sallën e madhe të Pallatit të Kulturës. Mbledhjen e kryesonte zëvendësi zyrtar i Enver Hoxhës, Ramiz Alia. Në radhët e para, midis anëtarëve të Byrosë Politike dhe të qeverisë, ishte gruaja e vetë diktatorit, Nexhmije Hoxha. Is ishte në presidium dhe prej andej ai duhej të dëgjonte para gjithë auditorit kritikat më të ashpra. Ato po lexoheshin nga kryetari i Lidhjes. Unë isha me shoqet e mia të zyrës në sallë. Rrija krejt e mpirë, duke ndjekur me kujdes çdo lëvizje të fytyrës së vrenjtur të Is. Pas frazave të frikshme, herë pas here, ndieja në krah shtrëngimin e heshtur e plot kuptim të mikeshës sime, Nasta Haxhiu. Nga tribuna vinin fjalë të rënda. Romani akuzohej se bënte aluzione për “regjimin komunist”. Ishte frika më e rrezikshme që mund t’i bëhej një vepre në Shqipëri. Ndërkaq dëgjoja me habi citime të frazave të librit, fraza që unë i dija të gjitha përmendësh, por nuk e di se nga çfarë ndryshimi apo renditjeje të çuditshme të tyre, ngjanin edhe më të frikshme se ç’ishin. Të gjithë kujtuan se ky ishte fundi i Is. Atij vetë, për të dytën ditë i duhej të dëgjonte, me të njëjtën shprehje të ngrirë, ato që thuheshin për të…
Bashkim Shehu, një javë pyetje për Kadarenë
Fati i tij, domethënë fati ynë, nuk varej fare nga ato që thoshte kryetari i Lidhjes së Shkrimtarëve apo diskutuesit e zellshëm. As nga sytë zhbirues të Nexhmije Hoxhës, të cilët, që nga radha e parë ku kishte zënë vend, nuk i ndaheshin. Fati ynë vendosej në një tjetër vend, larg nga kjo sallë, në qelinë, apo në vendin e veçuar, ku po merreshin në pyetje Bashkim Shehu me të shoqen e tij të re, Marietën. Se ç’do thoshin ata për ne, ishte shumë më fatale se gabimet e “Pallatit të ëndrrave” që po numëroheshin aty…
Bashkim Shehu bashkë me të shoqen, në vende izolimi të ndryshme, po pyeteshin intensivisht për ne. Këtë lajm e solli djali i tezes sime, Kujtim Kito…
Më 1991, fill pas daljes nga burgu, në një letër të tij, Bashkim Shehu ka treguar atë që ka ndodhur. Ja teksti i letrës së tij, i botuar së pari në parathënien e librit të tij “Vjeshta e ankthit”, libër i botuar edhe në Francë, me titullin “L’automne de la peur”.
“Desha të të shkruaj në krye për atë pjesë të hetuesisë sime më 1982, kur më kanë pyetur për ty. Më kanë pyetur intensivisht për rreth një javë, madje një herë më erdhi në mes të natës zëvendësministri i Brendshëm, Rexhep Kolli. Të quanin “armik të vjetër të rrezikshëm”, që ishe munduar “t’ia hidhje partisë”, por “nuk ia hidhje dot”, se “partia” të kishte “njohur prej kohësh”, të kishte “dhënë dorën disa herë”, kurse tani “s’kishe ku të veje më” etj. Kërkonin të dinin çfarë mendimi kishe ti për regjimin, çfarë kishe thënë kundër Enver Hoxhës, madje të implikonin dhe në çështje agjenture, ngaqë më kanë pyetur nëse ti kishe shkuar ndonjëherë në Francë i dërguar nga Mehmeti dhe kë ke takuar atje. Për të më nxjerrë pohimet që u duheshin, ata u përpoqën të më futnin, më së pari, në një gjendje vetëfajësimi total, gjë që ia arritën.
Then, as savior-angels who would lessen the pain of such guilt, they had to make me admit that the cause of my guilt was, in fact, someone else, and this someone else could change as the case may be. who did they need me to testify for. So, at first they had it with you, and then, when the investigations passed the agency chapter, with my parents. So, I was required to affirm that my friendship with you "was the main factor that had helped me to enter the hostile path" and therefore this had to be concretized by depositions related to the questions I mentioned above…”
It appeared from the letter that the only thing they wanted to know about Is was what he thought of Enver Hoxha. This proved that the questions were asked according to the direct instructions of Hoxha himself. The rest they knew...
Saved by Enver Hoxha
...At the fireplace of the studio, just like before, without realizing whether he was defeated or victorious, Is was writing "Qorrfermani", the long novella, which described almost exactly the horror he had just experienced. The only difference was that the event was set in the Ottoman Empire... One day he told me something that surprised me. He said that he had no intention of publishing what he was writing. It was the first time I had heard such a statement. As he explained to me, his relationship as a writer, with what he was writing now, was different, completely different.
The other day he told me that what he had known for a long time had become clear once again: the clan against him was extremely strong, because it was headed by Enver Hoxha's wife. No one else would push with such tireless zeal for something the dictator didn't like. But this thing was not understood only by him. There were plenty of other relatives telling us this.
It was clear that this time too he had been saved by the dictator. Because, as it was already known, and as Is said afterwards, only Enver Hoxha could save you from Enver Hoxha./ Alma Mile
Lini një Përgjigje