My Family’s Story
Explore this site to find out about the experience of one family’s journey and diaspora
The Stories
Experience tales of the Albanian diaspora and inside the decades long communist regime to the birth of democracy in Albania as told through the lived experiences of my family members
The Journey
The History
Albania has a long and complicated history. Scroll below to learn more about the events of the 20th century which drove my family to immigrate and become apart of the diaspora.
The timeline is also intermixed with familial milestones
1912: Albania gains independence from the Ottoman Empire.
January 1920: Albania is almost partitioned into three: one third to Italy, one third to Greece and one third to Yugoslavia, at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I where the country was denied sending a delegate to.
March 1920: Woodrow Wilson intervenes on Albania’s behalf and recognizes it as a country.
1924: King Zog is comes into power.
1939: Italy invades Albania and seizes control, overthrows King Zog.
1944: The Communist partisans beat back the Nazis in Albania and seize power
1964: Koli is born.
1967: Enver Hoxha, orders all churches and mosques demolished or converted into sports arenas, warehouses or other secular facilities. He shut the borders. And until communism collapses in 1990, public expressions of faith are banned.
1968: Mom is born.
1971: Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare in 1971.
April 11, 1985: The death of Enver Hoxha is announced.
My dad turns 21.
Ramiz Alia assumes power.
1990: Student protests serve as the catalyst for the communist party to finally allow other parties to partake in elections, effectively ending communism
1992: Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party is elected president.
1993: Silvester is born.
1997: Albania is in a state of anarchy due to the president’s refusal to resign after the collapse a nationwide Ponzi scheme which was viewed to be government sponsored. Civilian opposition forces in the south are armed.
1997: Albania is in a state of anarchy due to the president’s refusal to resign after the collapse of a nationwide Ponzi scheme which was viewed to be government sponsored. Civilian opposition forces in the south are armed.
My mom obtains a visa and leaves for America while pregnant with me, planning to send for my dad brother as soon as she can.
1998: My mom wins her asylum case.
1999: Silvester and Koli come to America and join the Albanian Diaspora.
The story does not end here, but as an immigrant, you leave everything behind and have to start over. The story continues on a new timeline.
Timelines diverge and converge.
They do not follow a straight line.
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