REVEALS DETAILS OF ALBANIAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050188-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 188
• Publication Date: March 14, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050188-7
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INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
Political - Concentration camps
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
27 Oct 1951
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INFORMATION 1951
PPLEMENT TO
PORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
ASVEAlS DEPAIL3 OF ALHAHIAN COHCENPRATION CAMPS
In addition to 18 prisons, there are 12 known concentration camps in Albania,
located in Tepelene, Beden Maliq, Herat, Vrma Suti, Tropoje, 11ruje, Vilijas,
Vile? Vilash?7, Shkoder, Himare, Korce, and Isul.
There are 3,600 internees in the Tepelene camp, which was established in
the beginning of 191+9 and is the oldest and largest in Albania, and 2,000 in the
Baden camp in KavaJe. About 70 percent of the internees in Tepelene are women
and children. The highest death rate is among the children. The following
children died in a .949: the less than one-year-old twins of Ljulje Nuo Djeydje
L xhe?7 from Koplik, the small child of Zef Mirasa from Baize, the -old
son of Fran Hasa from Baize, two children, of Prenash Djerdje Amerzhe?fom
Ljohe, and the three children of Djuste 7Chuste?7 Goraj, who were 10 years, 6
years, and 6 months old.
The camp commandant is Lt Dzafar AXhafar?7 Pegaci. He is an ignorant vil-
lain and tyrant who has forcibly raped young and pretty women who have refused to
become intimate with him. He loves to see children die. ees in beds. Theamiliesinternare notthe Tepelene camp sleep separated. The building in hafour s no r garret Job insulation n be-
tween the ceiling and roof 7. The camp provides a wooden bed and a small piece
of soap monthly. The daily food consists of tea for breakfast and warm broth
and 650 grams of bread for lunch and dinner. No bedding of any kind, clothing,
footwear, or other food is furnished. Nothing additional is given to even the
youngest children.
it is difficult to maintain cleanliness in the clomp, for internees are not
given brooms but must clean with branches. The camp is infested with vermin. An
excessive number of internees are ill because of poor food, filth, vermin. and
hard physical labor; tuberculosis is a very widespread disease. Many die be-
cause of illness; most deaths are among children and adult males. The children
die because of low resistance to disease and adult males because of exhaustion
from slave labor.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050188-7
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050188-7
The cas.p does not have a regular doctor. One doctor makes visits irregu-
larly, another comes once monthly cr once weekly and then only examines the
dead. Only those who are at the point of death dre sent to the hospital in
Giinokaster. There is no emergency medical service. More than 50 persons died
in the first half of 1951.
Both males and females in the camp work without pay throughout the year,
in all kinds of weather, even on Sundays. They work on the railroad at Elbasan
and on constructing the railroad in Vlore. They cut wood in the mountains near
Tepelenr and do various construction Jobe in the camp itself. Work quotas are
set. In forestry, the quota calls for the cutting and stacking of a cubic meter
of wood 5er work day1?7. A man's job is finished in].y when his quota is fulfilled,
which means that the weak must work longer hours, including at night.
The Albanian concentration camps in Isul, on the Fort' e ralermos peninsula,
and Cepi Panormos are old Turkish fortresses with very thick walls and small win-
dows. The interiors,. including the floors, are of stone.
In the semidarkness of the Isul fortress, internees are exposed to the
elements (walls are rain soaked and constantly damp), and many become sick, es-
pecially with eye trouble. Work lasts from 12 to 16 hours, and the guards carry
whips. The internees generally do not get fresh water but must drink from a
ditch, which is also used as a urinal and a footbath. Up to November 1950, there
were 200 Albanians, four Yugoslavs, two Italians, and one Greek in the camp. For
some unknown reason, they were all transferred to Tepelene. It is not known
what is in the fortress now.
There is considerable sickness in the Beden camp, located in a swamp in
Kavaje. Tuberculosis is the most prevalent disease. The camp commandant has
established special tuberculosis brigades of 80 men each, who are forced to
work, although many of them frequently die while at work. Iso Metot from Shko-
der died in this manner. This is all part of a deliberate plan, as was shown
in a lecture given by the camp commandant. He said internees were in the camp
as enemies of the government and must die there.
In Albania, arrests are made without warrants; jail sentences are given
without trial. Cam inmates are not separated into two categories ~riminal and
political prisoners7, for death is the ultimate end for all. Slightly more than
2 years ago, Jak Marko, a policeman, killed Zef Kolj PrenciJa, president of the
youth organization for the Burbullush region. The following day, Metus Bogo, a
state security officer from Shkoder, praised the killer at a people's meeting.
The reason given for the killing was the victim's sympathy toward Yugoslavia.
The authorities also killed Sokola Bajrama, member of the Albanian Commu-
nist Party, for saying at a party meeting that all of the clamor against Yugo-
slavia was untrue. -- Z. Z.
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050188-7