Beaches in Albania in the 70s and 80s. A different side of communism. Thoughts?

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dwartbg9@reddit

Looks very underdeveloped compared to the Bulgarian coastline back then.

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JRJenss@reddit

Same in Croatia - then in Yugoslavia. It was the same as today, full of western tourists, but looking more authentic ironically.

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Eh, still different. You said - "western tourists", Albania was super isolated and didn't have much tourists, and even as it looks from these pictures lacked the accomodation for them. Also Croatia has some big historic cities on the coastline, like Dubrovnik, unlike Albania. I wouldn't say it's the same.

As for us in Bulgaria - we were pretty popular back in the day too, it started around the late 1950s when the commies decided to boost the tourism and make proper coastline resorts. By the 80s, we already had resorts like Golden Sands and Sunny Beach, which even if visually different than today (like calmer, less built) still had the same accomodations, especially aimed for foreign tourists - nightclubs, casinos, large hotels, pools, aquaparks, go-karts all of that stuff.

Bulgaria was one of the few communist countries where we had casinos and strip clubs (albeit as I said, they were mainly accessible only to foreigners or rich people)

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holyrs90@reddit

Yep, you are right

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dicky1977@reddit

Ah, the overwhelmingly enlightened Enver Hoxha, A.K.A. “Xhaxhi,” as he was so euphorically and obediently called by the self-anointed, barely literate “party elite,” a charming collection of mediocrities who somehow found themselves entrusted with the modest responsibility of deciding who deserved to live and who was better off… not. All of this, of course, in the freshly constructed utopia, the pristine cradle of “pure socialism,” where reason was optional, loyalty was mandatory, and paranoia passed as governance.

Naturally, this enlightened order was upheld by individuals whose intellectual curiosity peaked somewhere between memorizing slogans and denouncing their neighbors. In this idyllic system, competence was suspicious, independent thought was dangerous, and blind devotion was the closest thing to a meritocratic achievement. The result? A society engineered to fear itself, where progress was rebranded as treason and misery was simply the cost of ideological purity.

And finally, how Xhaxhi single-handedly managed to destroy the very fabric of a nation in those 40 years something even the Ottomans couldn’t achieve in 500 years.

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odanwt99@reddit

I guess it wouldn't be a late twentieth century Albania compilation of pictures without a bunker somewhere.

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

Go to Livadhi beach in Himara and you will see bunkers hidden in the treelines at the beaches. Hoxha built 750,000 bunkers - one for each active service Albanian Army conscript in wartime.

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odanwt99@reddit

Why built one for each soldier and not bunkers that can fit a few soldiers.

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

The Albanian People's Army could raise 750,000 soldiers in wartime. The entire defence doctrine of Albania was to defend Albania from a Greek Army invasion in Northern Epirus AND a Yugoslav invasion from the North. So you create bunkers along multiple defence lines and if you take one bunker, you then have to take another etc. These were created to host what we in the Greek Army call elements - two to four dudes with machine guns plus sentries, and if something goes wrong you retreat to the next position. Albanian Army generals actually doubted this doctrine but think about it - Albania back then was armed like a lobster. We've had 220,000 soldiers in active service, over 95 Chinese fighter jets, 4 Whiskey-class submarines (which we stole from the Russians), 1,400 T-52 tanks and a ruthless domestic intelligence service (the Sigurimi) which was more brutal than the KGB or the Stasi. FYI, many of the Albanian mafia organoisations were set up by disgruntled veterans of the Albanian red army or the Sigurimi. And every city had a training brigade. In Himara we had a training brigade where every child was trained in firearms. My mum was trained and fired with SKS rifles and with a T-52 tank (oddly enough, when I served in the Hellenic Army I fired even fewer rounds than my mum did and I did not get the chance to fire live tank rounds).

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odanwt99@reddit

But if the goal was to host 2-4 people then they didn't have to create as many bunkers as the conscripts.

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

This is Enver Hoxha we are talking about. Albanian Army generals would agree with you. But they didn't call the shots.

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odanwt99@reddit

The rest of the plan seems reasonable though.

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Ujemegaz@reddit

They called it zbor. Every highschooler was sent to train. Estimation is that up to 5 million ak-47 were produced, so that we could arm Albanians outside borders as well. Hoxha lost his mind by the 80s and i think that the pill box bunkers were mostly constructed to inflict constant fear on population so that they did not demand better life conditions. Coming out of the house, a pill box bunker was our first sight. In the park in my neighbourhood were a dozen, and every school and kindergarden had a bigger underground structure with concrete door.

Our army was strong only in the 60s, because we had the latest weapons from both Soviets and Chinese, then deteroriated. But you have a point. The war in Kosovo, for instance, started as soon as our army was disbanded. Had the 1997 unrest not happened, maybe Serbia would have thought twice to launch an operation on Kosovo.

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AlbanianCatholic@reddit

Even under tyranny, life goes on.
Thank God those times are over now however.

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BGD_TDOT@reddit

Albania had it hard man. Hoxha was a bigger nutcase than even Ceausescu which says a lot.

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

I mean, even Stalin thought Hoxha was extreme. And FYI - Hoxha (as his name suggests) comes from a family of imams; this is indeed the first ever recorded case in history that a former Muslim tore down ALL religious buildings in a country. My mum is from the Greek minority of Albania (in Himara) and she would go with her sister to pray at derelict monasteries in the mountains which the communist regime destroyed. After the fall of communism the first divine liturgies at orthodox churches were in ruined churches. Some chrches, however, in my ancestral homeland are still standing since 1070-ish.

Χριστός ανέστη!

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

He prosecuted all religions equally. Muslims, catholic and orthodox churches. Albania was the first Atheist State in the world. So no it was not the case of a Muslim going against Christians, it was a case of an atheist going against religion.

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

I said *former* Muslim. He descends from a family of Imams, hence the name "Hoxha" (from 'Hoca', Turkish for 'Imam'). He literally enforced atheism on everyone. However his legacy was doomed to fail - more and more Albanians convert to Catholic Christianity and also this year 140,000 people celebrated Eid Mubarak in central Tirana. Religion has made a comeback in Albania.

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Competitive-Read1543@reddit

Atheist/agnostic as per the last census had Albanians at 33%, up by roughly 8% from the last census. How are u pulling this out of ur ass?

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

Yeah I know but my point is it was not an attack against a specific religion.

People turn to religion when their life conditions are not good and they feel like they have no power to change anything. The only way to endure the crapy life is to believe in the concept of paradise, that in an after life everything will be better. Can't blame them but this only shows failure of the current political and economic system.

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ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

Hoxha hated equally all the religions and Im sorry to tell you bro but there is no Greek minority in Himara

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Greek_Bodybuilder995@reddit

I disagree vehemently because, even though I was born and raised in Greece, my origins are from that minority. While my mum lived in Himara - and even nowadays, when we travel to Himara - we can speak Greek at shops and order coffee, souvlakia or bread in Greek. There are Greeks who raise Greek flags in Himara. Greeks from Himara speak Modern Greek like all other Greeks - the older generations speak it with Albanian accents and make mistakes Albanians make when speaking Greek, but Millennials and Gen Zers speak with the same accent as all other Greeks. Are there ethnic Albanians in Himara? Absolutely. Is Himara Albanian territory? Absolutely and I think it's better that way because taxes in Greece are worse than in Germany or France. But Albania does have minotities. I understand that the Albanian State considers me an Albanian only and does not care that I have other nationalities; it is a sign that Albania takes state unity seriously. But minorities do exist. It's wise to be cognisent of that.

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ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

Dude Im not saying there are no Greeks in Albania or that they are not a recognized minority or that you are not Greek,just the Greeks from Himara are not recgonized as minority as those in Dropull ,that is it.

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AlbanianCatholic@reddit

There is a Greek minority in Himarë, but they do not form minority zones like in Dropull. They are 6% of the population in the municipality.

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ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

That means they were never recognized as a minority

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AlbanianCatholic@reddit

If they are accepted in the population census, and their identity declared as Greek and offered minority rights, which they are, then they are recognized as a minority. What is not recognized is a minority zone, as minority zones can only be created in areas where a minority is majority, and Himarë is in its significant majority, Albanian.

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AlbanianCatholic@reddit

The Albanian state does recognize the Greek minority.
Our friend here was just confused since Himara is and has been majority Albanian, although having a Greek minority, while villages like Dropull are majority Greek and so are given minority zone status.

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

It had it hard because it had no allies. They cut ties with Yugoslavia which would have been the best ally. Then cut ties with USSR and the main ally was China which was much farther away. Then later on even cut ties with China.

So the problem was really they were very idealistically intense and forgot about the pragmatics of it which is you need to have allies to buy resources you need to produce basic stuff.

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BGD_TDOT@reddit

Wasn't Hoxha responsible for Albania having no allies? Always cutting countries off for not being "ideologically pure".

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

Yes. Dude was paranoid.

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Pink_Flying_Pig_@reddit

Not balkanic (but almost), a friend from Syria who's born on the sea, 50km from the Turkish border told me he went home last winter after 8y and people suddenly had access to a beatifull beach which was "off limits" before due a governement ban. Only government people could enjoy the place.

Awesome white pebble on the sea ground, a paradise finally open to everyone!

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Xitztlacayotl@reddit

A different side of communism?

What do you mean? It's not islamic theocracy.

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Endi_loshi@reddit

Honestly, these pictures surprise me. I was told by people that during the times of Enver, people did not dare to do beach vacations or even fish.

Enver Hoxha’s regime was so crazy, that I never doubted or fact checked this.

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

Yeah thats the problem you don't check and just swallow propaganda from one side

Hoxha became paranoid because there were actual attempts against the regime by foreign actors like the CIA. They even caught an american pilot and held him hostage, you can see the plane in Gjirokaster.

Ofc there should be limits to what you submit your people to, but a leader should also defend its country against foreign interference.

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Substratas@reddit

I was told by some that during the times of Enver, people did not dare to go to the beach for vacation or even fish.

Lol wut??? 😂😂😂

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Pellumbpilinci@reddit

There were some people that weren’t allowed to, but they were convicted (politically convicted) of crimes against the state and sent to a certain area of Albania, some remote village, to do hard labor. They were like on probation or something and need it to report every night to an officer and not allowed to leave the village without any permission.

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Pellumbpilinci@reddit

I lived under hoxha so I can tell you with certainty - there were many ridiculous restrictions for the population, fishing and going to the beach wasn’t one of them.

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ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit

They lied to you

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RedScarySpectre@reddit

Seems better than the amusement parks in Ksamil area nowadays.

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Puzzled_Pop_6845@reddit

My mother grew up in those years and she is very fond of them, she says they didn't have much but It was calmer, cleaner, production was high and infrastructure were more developed. But her family was well off; other kids in the neighborhood or lower income families didn't have luxuries like jam or meat and used to eat mostly cheese or beans with hard corn bread and have only a couple of set of clothes.

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frn8@reddit

Is the first one in Ksamil ?

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d2mensions@reddit (OP)

No, Dhërmi

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Ujemegaz@reddit

Someone whining thay can't afford going to the beach nowdays 🤣🤣🤣 typical communists think they can piss and shit in the sea for free 🤣🤣🤣🤣

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i_getitin@reddit

Free and affordable access to the beach is strictly communist ideology ?

god dang communists, always ruining a good time

/s

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Ujemegaz@reddit

There is affordable access. Can all the French afford San Tropez? Can all Americans afford Miami 🤔

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Loopbloc@reddit

They look like tourist photos. I see the lake of Tirana in the last photo

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True-Blacksmith4235@reddit

If you look at some photos of Yugoslavia from that period, you would think it was a modernised, free and fashionable country 😂

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BGD_TDOT@reddit

It was both fashionable & modernized, not so much free.

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True-Blacksmith4235@reddit

Was it though? Cherry picked photos i’ve seen of people in Belgrade, and Croatian coastal cities during summer, don’t reflect the entire country.

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BGD_TDOT@reddit

If you are comparing Ex-Yugoslavia to Western Europe then no it was not modernized but that has always been a ridiculous comparison, the real comparison that you should be making is is pre-war Yugoslavia to 70's/80's Yugoslavia. Pre-war Yugoslavia barely had any industry whatsoever, 60% of the population was illiterate, people regularly died of highly preventable diseases, there were 2 universities in the entire country (Belgrade & Zagreb), By the 70's/80's Yugoslavia was fully industrialized making its own cars, commercial planes, house appliances, heavy machinery, agricultural equipment, tanks, military aircraft.... these were not as high quality as western Europe but they were quality enough that they were being exported in large quantities to North Africa & the Middle East. The literacy rate in 1981 was 91%, there were 19 state universities (one in every big city), people stopped dying from easily preventable disease thanks to massive expansion of state healthcare facilities, Yugoslavia's vaccination program was on par with Western Europe.

So yes I will say on those metrics alone Yugoslavia was "modernized". As for fashionable, that's up to personal taste but I think in general people had much better taste in fashion those days, even in the villages.

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tomgatto2016@reddit

Yeah, many areas were almost still running with medieval technologies. One cannot deny that the regime helped bring a lot of the country to the modern age

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NikkS97@reddit

Compared to other communist/socialist countries it was, compared to Western Europe it wasn't

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medved76@reddit

I thought all Albanians had to spend 20 hours a day in those bunkers under Hoxha

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123provaa@reddit

What would they do in those bunkers?

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medved76@reddit

Prepare for the imperialist, capitalist invaders.

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Inevitable_Motor_685@reddit

Before the Islamic Revolution

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Fit-Dinner9421@reddit

wha??

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jaleach@reddit

I was into shortwave radio when I was a pre-teen, and I always enjoyed tuning in Radio Tirana. They had an hour or so of an English language service that came on at 7 or 8 at night. They had a problem with their signal, though. It sounded overmodulated, so the voices of the people talking echoed like they were talking into a bucket. Out of all of the communist countries I logged, Radio Tirana was the only one that used the phrase, "The running dogs of capitalism," when they were attacking America.

Enver Hoxha was a cruel, paranoid man (more paranoid than the Kims in North Korea and that's saying something). He modernized Albania and increased literacy up to near 100% by the 1980s, which is outstanding by any metric, but the Albanian people also got executions and gulag-style interment and labor camps. He also went after religion, and I know he killed Catholic clergy members.

Nice photos, though. I wonder if these people are high-ranking party members or related to high-ranking party members? The building in the background looks like a hotel. Could it be a resort for the upper crust? Did the average Albanian have access to something like this back then?

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tejanaqkilica@reddit

It was peak vacation on the beach. Glimpses of it carried in some spots until the early 2000s as well and it was amazing.

Nowadays, the place is a overpriced hole and it absolutely sucks. The industrialization of "the beach", really killed its vibe.

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