The old boss’ home

The city of Tirana is a bit strange to me. They are having a concept where the political leaders will live in secluded areas with the army protecting them from the general public. This idea of the leadership of a country living isolated from the public is so far from what I am used to at home - but in this country it is only a continuation of the old times. During the communist reign a huge part of the city was just off limits for the general public - this part of the section is only a short walk from the very centre of Tirana. Today the secluded area has moved a bit to the south of the city.

 

The government people live a bit south of a park. You would imagine this park would just be sort of a recreational area but it got other uses as well. Walking past I see a man with herding his two cows back to where he live.  As I go a bit further down the road I see a nice deal - a nice old Mercedes 2.

2 diesel for sale. It got left side steering and it comes with the original British number plates. The market for stolen cars might have diminished a bit in Albania but I got a feeling it is still going on. At least for me the price of 8.999€ for a car this age in pristine condition seems like a cheap deal - but then again cars are so heavily taxed in Denmark so the prices is prohibitly expensive.

 

I walk into the city and on a street in the Blluko district is the house of the man himself - Enver Hoxha. Like so many other leaders of revolutionary movements around the world Enver actually came from an upper class family and he was educated at the best schools in Albania - which incidentally was the American school in Tirana.  Later he moved to France to study and there he was introduced to the French communist movement and he joined up with the communist.

 

Hoxha were one of the founding members of the Albanian communist party and the first general secretary. He held that post from the founding of the party in 1941unill his death in 1985. During this period his power just grew and grew. So did his official title - in the end he had the short and very precise title of something like: Comrade Chairman, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of War and Commander in Chief of People’s Army. While his people lived in poverty he could live in the luxury you would expect the supreme comrade of the country would have. He had a nice big house in three floors. You can see the house from the street but it is not possible to go in and visit the house. The garden could use a few more hours from the hands of a gardener and the old fountain in the garden has been disconnected. Hence you can’t really see how Hoxha lived inside but by the size of the house it is clear he had a lot better life than the normal people of the country - like you would expect.