My Family's Experience in a Communist and Socialist Albania

Hi all, my name is Didjana Celkupa and am currently a sophomore at Mount Holyoke College. This webpage is a brief history of Albania and the experience of my family in a country that could have been described to be in nothing other than turmoil.

My entire family was born and raised in Albania for the exception of my brother and I because we came to America when I was a mere infant but I have heard countless stories about what Albania was like and what happened to my parents and grandparents throughout their lives. Albania was supposedly its own country throughout the 20th century, but in reality it was just an extension of the Soviet Union. Both of my parents had to know Russian because it was the second language taught in their school--english was not an option in a communist Albania. There would be salutes given to Enver Hoxha every day during school each time my parents or my grandparents talked about this the resentment in their voice was more than apparent. Everything that belonged to my family was taken away by the communist government for "equal distribution", things that here in America would normally be protected by the law. This was not the only thing that was regulated however, even the professions that people pursued would be chosen for you. My mom had this extreme interest in being a doctor, nothing fascinated her more than the heart, but she was never allowed to pursue this passion because it was controlled by the government what would she would do and that ended up being economics. It wasn't until the 90's where the government began to completely collapse after the death of Enver Hoxha. My parents took this opportunity to leave Albania through the lottery system that had been implemented for families to come to America because they wanted to provide both my brother and I with the opportunities that they would never be able to experience. Today Albania's government is still wavering, and my dad talks to me longingly about how he wishes that something would change about the current system (it is supposed to be democratic but remains to be a restrictive socialist state).