A Cold War childhood in Albania (211)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity, of political executions and secret police. To Lea, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. There was community and hope. Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed. The statues of Stalin and Hoxha were toppled. Almost overnight, people could vote freely, wear what they liked and worship as they wished. There was no longer anything to fear from prying ears. But factories shut, jobs disappeared and thousands fled to Italy on crowded ships, only to be sent back. Predatory pyramid schemes eventually bankrupted the country, leading to violent conflict. As one generation's aspirations became another's disillusionment, and as her own family's secrets were revealed, Lea found herself questioning what freedom really meant. Free is an engrossing memoir of coming of age amid political upheaval. With acute insight and wit, Lea Ypi traces the limits of progress and the burden of the past, illuminating the spaces between ideals and reality, and the hopes and fears of people pulled up by the sweep of history. Buy the book and support the podcast UK buyers https://amzn.to/2ZVgRx4 US buyers https://amzn.to/3psOkr8 Now time doesn’t come free and I’m asking listeners to support my work recording these incredible stories via a small (or large)l donation. If you become a monthly supporter via Patreon, you will get the sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If you can’t wait for next week’s episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook. Schattenberg I am delighted to welcome Lea Ypi to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode210/ Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated – goodbye. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations 0:00 Introduction 1:01 Life in Albania during the Cold War: Lea Ypi's Background 3:08 Lea Ypi's Family History and the Impact of Politics 7:15 Tourism and International Influence in Cold War Albania 15:46 Decoding Family Secrets: The Coded Language of Dissidence 19:25 The Delayed Fall of Communism in Albania and its Aftermath 26:35 Lea Ypi's Exposure to the Outside World and Cultural Shifts 34:39 Childhood Memories: The Tourist Area and Italian Television 42:13 Political Transition in Albania: From Communism to Liberalism 51:48 Rise and Fall of Pyramid Schemes in Transitioning Albania 54:18 Lea Ypi's Journey into Studying and Teaching Marx and Marxism Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.9	And I only discovered again in 1990 that this building used to belong to my mother's family
0:12.2	and that this building was where her grandfather had jumped out of during a torture session
0:19.3	to escape, basically torture.
0:21.0	And so he'd killed himself by jumping off this building.
0:25.9	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:30.6	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:36.6	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app
0:39.4	so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
0:43.2	Leia Ipe grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth,
0:47.3	a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion.
0:51.5	Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe was almost impossible to visit,
0:57.3	almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity of political executions and secret police.
1:04.6	To Leia, it was home. People were equal. Neighbors helped each other and children were expected
1:10.0	to build a better world. There was a
1:12.2	community and hope. Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed.
1:20.9	Almost overnight, people could vote freely, wear what they wanted and worship as they wished.
1:27.4	There was no longer anything to fear from prying ears, but factory shut, jobs disappeared and
1:32.9	thousands fled to Italy on crowded ships, only to be sent back. Predatory pyramid schemes
1:39.4	eventually bankrupted the country leading to violent conflict. As one generation's aspirations became another's
1:46.3	disillusionment and as her own family secrets were revealed, Leia found herself questioning what
1:52.7	freedom really meant. Leia has written an engrossing memoir called Free, Coming of Age at the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ian Sanders, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ian Sanders and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.