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Hey, Brainstuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here.

In the wake of World War II, Albanian dictator Enver Hoja began remaking his war-torn country in the image of Stalin's Soviet Union,

which is to say that he ruled with terrifying menace, stoking isolationism, and Cold War paranoia.

In the 1970s, with an ominous national mood firmly in place, he began building the bunkers.

Large bunkers and small ones, underground bunkers and bunkers scattered openly through the countryside,

obvious bunkers and secret ones. All made of reinforced concrete, most with a domed roof,

as though a strange spate of mushrooms had popped up all over

the Republic. The stated idea was that these bunkers would serve as defensive positions during

an enemy invasion, supposedly coming any day. Ordinary civilians were trained to rush to the bunkers

in case of emergency and conditioned by

propaganda to be ever vigilant against any and all foreign enemies. It was part of Hoja's

strategy of a People's War, which relied on guerrilla war tactics executed by non-soldiers.

He wanted his citizens always ready, and most were required to do at least a little

military training each year. Ultimately, though, what was really happening was that they were

being conditioned to obey the hardline regime. There's a story that says that after the first

prototype bunker was built in the 1950s,

Hoja asked the lead engineer how confident he was in his creation.

The engineer replied, very confident.

Hoja then ordered the engineer inside the bunker and instructed a tank attack to test the building's integrity.

The engineer walked out unharmed,

...