How the Cham settled in the city of Durrës after the war and the difficulties they faced during the communist regime to survive.
The beach of Durrës is celebrating a century of existence, dating back to when the first villas of traders were built on the coast.
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| Hotel Adriatic on the beach of Durrës during the Communist Regime in Albania, source: reporter.al |
Meanwhile, 500 meters away, on the other side of the highway towards Kavajë, at the end of World War II, the Chams expelled from their homes in Northern Greece settled.
To this day, they remain direct witnesses of the development of the largest beach in the country, and at the same time representatives of the survival of the Cham community, which still lives only a few kilometers away from the ancient city.
"I was 12 years old when my family settled in this territory, a land of sand dunes, where the prickly pear dominated," said Professor Hajredin Isufi, who recently celebrated his 91st birthday.
"It was 1944, and part of my family, after the Greek genocide, fled from Çamëria to Saranda on the boats of Himara, while my father and some cattle arrived from the mountains through a thousand difficulties," he recalled.
In Professor Hajredin's account, there are memories of difficult times when his mother did not have bread to feed them or when his parents climbed the Shkëmbin of Kavajë to cut wood, which earned them a few more pennies.
According to him, without a status as residents of Albania, the Chams took care to settle in coastal areas in Vlorë, Fier, or Durrës, where they thought their new life would be easier.
Durrës beach was completely deserted, and around 100 Cham families initially occupied the abandoned villas on the coast, built during the monarchy.
"The state did not hinder us because we were still considered refugees due to the unexpected relations between Albania and Greece. The officially declared number of Chams expelled from Çamëria reached 23-25 thousand people, but it was never formalized," said the 91-year-old researcher.
"We called ourselves Albanians only in 1953 when the state issued us passports," recalls Hajredin Isufi.
In the conditions of continued and silent persecution by the state, the Chams of the beach became closely connected with each other.
"My mother and father met by chance in the hospital due to an accident. Within 24 hours, my grandparents decided to marry the young couple, more for survival reasons than for family happiness," says Hysen Hyseni, 75 years old.
"A few years later, my father was sentenced to 8 years in prison for attempted escape, and our life became even more difficult," he recalled.