DESCRIBES LIFE OF SOVIETS IN ALBANIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060525-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 525
• Publication Date: May 28, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060525-1
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
FOREIGN DOCUMENI
OUNTRY Albania
UBJECT Sociological; Fclitical
[low
JUN
PUBLISHED Irregular newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
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REPORT
CD NO.
DATE OF
DATE DIST. Ay May 1952
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
D.SCRIBES LIFE OF SOVIETS IN ALBANIA
Contrary to general belie-f, there are not many Soviet citizens in Albaniaut these few -cc py high administrative posts and enjoy special privileges so'
that a stay jr Albania is considered a reward for protegds of the Moscow Polit-
buro or the Ministry of Defense. Supposedly, they come as instructors or ad-
visors, but their true function is supervision and control.
A former Albanian officer who escaped from Albania recently said that
there are only about 100 Soviet field officers there. They arrive by plane
from Bulgaria, dressed in poorly made clothes of cheap cloth, and are whisked
away secretly to a hotel where they are outfitted. They are allowed to bring
their families and receive living quarters and a car immediately.
The beautiful city of New Tirana is entirely occupied by Soviet families.
They enjoy the same ration earls as the diplomatic corps and the top Albanian
officials and are supplied by Cooperative A, which, as everyone knows, handles
the beat foreign and domestic produce. In the meantime, the Albanian people
are starving, and infant mortality has reached frightening proportions.
The pay of the Soviets, charged to the Albanian government, greatly ex-
ceeds that of Albanians of the same rank. A Soviet .:olonel, for example, re-
ceives 60,000 leka a month (1,200 American dollars); an Albanian Lolonel,
12,000 leks. The average Albanian state official receives about 3,000 leks
per month.
After a few months in Tirana or some other principal city, Soviet officers
or officials who arrived emaciated and in rags can be seen promenading in well-
tailored clothes (there are plenty of good tailors in Tirana) of English cloth,
their faces flushed from copious libations and good food, accompasiad by ele-
gant women and children whose rosy complexions contrast sharply with the pallor
of Albanian children.
Soviet families, installed in the comfortable, often luxurious villas of
New Tirana, employ as domestics women who belonged to Albanian aristocracy or
the upper bourgeoisie. These unfortunates, whose husbands are usually either
STATE
ARMY
INFORMATION FROM
NSRB
STAT
12190
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060525-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060525-1
dead or in prison, and who are not allowed ration cards, feel themselves lucky
if they can find employment as governesses, maids, or cooks in a Soviet family.
Most of them have been educated abroad and, hence, are able to teach the boys
various languages and show the women and girls how to dress and how to act in
society. For their part, the Soviets are not stingy and pay better for services
than members of the upper Albanian hierarchy.
Soviet officers and officials obtain through these Albanian women jewels,
clothing richly embroidered in gold, old weapons, and other valuable items.
They also learn where to buy marengos fapoleonic Italian gold coin], the sale
of which is prohibited. At Shkoder, an Albanian, Kil Abati, was shot for try-
ing to buy two marengos, but if the police find that a Soviet is the purchaser,
the matter is simply dropped.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060525-1