Albanian quandary: How to use old regime’s mountain hideouts
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LINZA — The metal doors in the mountainside are tough to open but once in, a tunnel sinks into the rock: The long-concealed hideout for the secret police of late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha, designed to withstand an atomic bomb.
“This is where the Interior Ministry and Sigurimi (Communist-era secret police) would have been based in case of war,” Interior Minister Abaz Hysa explained to AFP.
It is the first time authorities have opened up this site in the Dajti mountain town of Linza on the outskirts of the capital Tirana to the media.
Under the raw light of bare ceiling bulbs, its tunnels and corridors lead visitors to an underground world — 82 rooms for meetings or work along with other spaces reserved for transmissions or wire tapping.
Another set of metal doors open onto more endless-looking galleries. In all the network of mountain tunnels is nearly two kilometers (12 miles) long..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101103com4.html
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