SPAC, Albania—Buried in the mountains of northern Albania are crumbling buildings and an old copper mine where political prisoners were once forced to work to exhaustion and even death.
The doors and window frames of the infamous Spac prison have rotted away and signs above the doorways have faded. But the nightmares never ended for former inmates who as young men were labeled enemies of Albania’s communist dictatorship and punished there with years of hard labor.
As the prison falls into ruin, some of them fear that the thousands who suffered there will be forgotten, and they are campaigning to have the site turned into a museum and to have May 21 declared a national day of remembrance for those who suffered under communism.
“This is a symbol of communist hell. It must not be lost and forgotten,” said Bilal Kola, the head of the prisoners’ institute which is leading the campaign.
