University of Shkodra signs agreement with the Records Authority/ Sula: We are ready to serve the academic agenda

2025-06-26 15:11:00, Qyteti im CNA

University of Shkodra signs agreement with the Records Authority/ Sula: We are

The University of Shkodra "Luigj Gurakuqi" signed a cooperation agreement with the Authority of the Files of the Former State Security. This agreement, according to the rector Tonin Gjuraj, will have the main focus on collective memory, as well as the review of the activities of the former state security, but also of well-known public figures at that time.

"This agreement between the University and the Archives Authority has 4 main goals. The first is that we will promote and encourage scientific research. There is information there where researchers who are clearly oriented in this direction have endless work to do there. The second is a matter of civic education because we will face the past to illuminate it properly in a scientific way, but so that it is in the service of the new generations. The third is that we will promote the communist past to illuminate it properly and we will shed light on it scientifically, linking this so that we can also come up with joint conferences. This agreement serves the public to inform it properly and the main attention will be on the field of collective memory and we really need this. We will have to review the activity of the State Security and we will also have to review the activity of well-known figures of that time. We will have the opportunity to have photocopies of many files that are important for our studies. It is an interesting field for second and third cycle studies and students who are interested can focus here because there are studies but they are not enough. We can also organize tours to the File Authority with our students”, said Gjuraj.

University of Shkodra signs agreement with the Records Authority/ Sula: We are

Director of the Archives Authority Gentiana Sula said that the agreement takes collective memory to another level through the academic form it will take, to make it more credible and to close the divides.

"We are very enthusiastic about this agreement with the University of Shkodra. It is not enough for the documents to be accessible or declassified because if they are not read by the right minds, they then do not have much value and remain that way. Not that there has not been a memory because since the system ended in Shkodra, there have been many interested citizens, there is the association, there is the Museum of Testimony, the municipality has been interested, but now with this agreement it takes an academic form to make it balanced, credible, to remove stereotypes, to stop divisions and to create a better future. With local stories, events become more intimate and everyone who lived at that time has an event that puts a face on it, it is the neighbor, it is the aunt, it is the grandfather and here in Shkodra this is very alive and I have touched it myself. Shkodra for the sake of truth has had a lot of resistance and the citizens of Shkodra are very active when they come. We are very ready to welcome you and serve Shkodra, "your academic agenda, but also our professional work," said Sula.

University of Shkodra signs agreement with the Records Authority/ Sula: We are

Members of the Files Authority expressed that many important files for our history have been covered by the dust of oblivion and this agreement with the University of Shkodra could bring them to light.

"When those files are seen, that is where the importance lies, because the dust of oblivion has left them hidden there. The skill of those who know how to use them will remain in the memory, especially of the young, and will refresh history," said Gjergj Marku, Member of the Authority for the Files of the Former State Security.

"This enthusiasm and this desire of both parties to serve the most professional, most academic clarification of that entire period of the past, and of course, by clarifying it and finding ways to publish it, is the best service provided to the public and is the right way to ensure that history does not repeat itself," said Altin Hoxha, Member of the Authority for the Files of the Former State Security.

The agreement between the University of Shkodra and the Dossier Authority will serve to inform the public, shed light on the past and raise awareness among younger generations, within the framework of the work and activity to discover historical truths and to promote scientific research, civic education and media promotion of the communist past in Albania. /CNA