FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
"I'm coming on May 1, on the 9 o'clock train, come out and meet me", this was the telegram that came to Bedra Kaba from the communist brigadier of Lukovë, in the spring of 1979, in Savër, Lushnje. He had fallen in love with Bedra and had decided to ask her for her hand in marriage from her family. They had met at the youth actions in Lukovë. What the charming boy, with the party card in his pocket, would face would be very disappointing for him, while for Bedra, it was quite normal.
Bedra was the daughter of Myslym Kaba from Dibra, who had been interned in Savër, Lushnje, because one of his sons had escaped and as a result the entire family had been interned. Bedra was one of seven children in the Kaba family.
She was a young girl of 18 years old when she came to the lightless barracks of Savëri, to spend most of her life there, in suffering and despair. The story with the communist brigadier of Lukovë would be one of these moments, which reinforced her bad fate designed by the communist system.
It is a touching story that follows the drama of young people during the communist era. A drama not only about Bedra, who represents the young people of the persecuted class, but also about the other side, the communists, who often set their eyes on these girls, the love for which was forbidden.
When two young people fell in love during communism, the first question that came from each person's parents was: "Is there a stain on their biography?" If this was overcome, everything else was very easy. This was the basic criterion that conditioned everyone's relationships at that time. It was precisely this question, this criterion that determined the fate of young people under communism.
Biography was the curse that followed the daughters of the politically persecuted class. There was no chance for them to connect their lives with an ordinary man, much less with one who belonged to communist families.
This curse followed Bedra Kaba and her friends in the Savëri camp in Lushnje. Many years have passed and Bedra recounts today, spicy moments of her life, but also of her friends in the internment camps. She recounts them simply and without pomp, on her profile on social networks. Some of Bedra Kaba's stories have been collected by researcher Jozef Radi and published on his website, "RadiandRadi". Below we publish one of these stories, and precisely the one that has to do with the story with the communist brigadier.
story
In the early 1970s, the class struggle had somewhat subsided! I had not even started working in agriculture for five months when a friend of mine, with a bad background, was assigned to the action in Lukovë, Saranda. Her parents did not allow her to go to the action, but she wanted to go so much that she begged me:
“If you come too, they'll let me”! “But now that I've started working – I told him – how can I tell my father, I'm going to go to action”! But deep down…, I also wanted to leave, because I was very upset that I couldn't continue my high school…!
I was really bad, almost every night I only saw the school in my dreams. Then I said: "I'm telling my father that they have assigned me to go to the action and I have to go, because you know, we are a little bit out of order with our biographies, and we are a little bit neglected..."! And so I did. He said to me: "Okay, my daughter, go". So on January 4, 1979, we left for the action in Lukovë.
Cold…! The road was very difficult…! The journey took us two days…! One night we slept with families in Memaliaj. When we arrived in Lukovë, the place was a true paradise…! Terraces full of lemons and oranges…! A volunteer job unseen by the youth!! There it seemed like you were in a completely different world… isolated from the country. The radio stations only picked up Greece…!
So we started working on opening new terraces in the hills of that place. A friend of mine, a girl from Savra, who had previously been there in action, had given a letter to a friend we were with, to give to a boy she had known there in Lukovë and after she found it, she gave him the message of the letter. He was a local and a brigadier of the volunteers of a district. He seemed like a kind boy.
After about fifteen days, he comes and says to my friend: “I like your friend, can you tell her something about me”?! –“Yes,” she says, – I tell her, but it’s a little difficult…”! One day she says to me…; “Come on, I tell her, you’re young and you don’t know that we’re like smugglers here…”! She was trying to convince me…!
I was so disappointed by my biography that they didn't give me a university degree, let alone that communist boy, me!!! However, I've always enjoyed challenges, even though I might suffer, I said I'll try what this man can do for me.
The next day we were leaving for home, after the action had come to an end…! I told my friend, tell her that I can meet her tonight…! I met her and said: “Okay, I agree, you can come and look for me at home…”? “Okay - she tells me, - as soon as I get the chance, I will come”.
The next day we left. After four months, one day before May Day, I received a telegram: “I'm coming on May Day, on the nine o'clock train, come out and wait for me”! Oh, how I felt…! How can I tell my father… how can I tell him about the biography, where to put it in these barracks!!!
I was at a loss, what should I do…?! My body was shaking with fear…, what my family might say to me, what if they accepted me as I was…! I had to go there to Lukovë, at the end of the world. With a lot of dilemma and fear, I approached my father and said…:
"Dad, I met a boy when I was in action, but don't be afraid, it's not that I love him, but he's coming tomorrow and I want you to tell him our story. Whatever happens, don't worry about me, because I know he won't take me, because he's a party member"!!
Eh… even now that I remember it, I say to myself, how bad that poor father must have felt…! The next day I went out and waited for him at the train station and together we set off for Savë. It was about four kilometers from Lushnja. Who knows how I made that journey…?! I was trying to tell him that something was stopping me in that relationship with him, but he didn't understand me…?!
Once he asked me: “Did my father have anything to do with 'Ballin'?” “No,” I said, but I couldn't explain anything to him before coming home. We came home, but it was good that my mother wasn't there, only my father…! After an introductory conversation, he started telling him about our story. At this point, he just turned pale and didn't say a word… he just got up to leave.
I went out and followed him to the main road and on the way, we didn't exchange a single word. I don't know... everything just got stuck in my throat...?! It was the second disappointment in my life...! I let that guy go, without saying a word to him or me...!
Such was our life between hell and light…! A neighbor had seen me with him, and had said to my mother; I saw your daughter with a boy… how good he was…?! He was… but he didn't ask, because behind us, biography followed us like a shadow…! Such was that time, which was called communism!!!
Meeting after 25 years in the place of suffering...!
A very special day, a reunion after 25 years! These are some ladies who lived for years in these barracks, built by the communist regime, for us, its "enemies".
We meet again, we see each other, we hug after so many years with emotion and longing, remembering the most painful, perhaps beautiful years for the love, respect and kindness that our families had with each other. We remember, we do not forget, we do not take revenge, but we say that we exist thanks to our strength and dignity./ Memorie.al
Lini një Përgjigje