“History should not be used as a political instrument”

By Arben LLALLA

On the occasion of the 83rd anniversary of the execution of 49 Greek citizens in Paramithi by German Nazis on September 27, 1943, the President of Greece, Mr. Tassulas, accused Albania and Albanians of being collaborators with German Nazis in carrying out Hitler’s project of Greater Albania. He said during his speech: “The neighboring country, Albania, with which we undoubtedly wish to have friendly relations, claims its entry into the European family.

However, the European family was created on the ashes of the Second World War. It was created on the indescribable misfortune that Nazism and fascism caused to millions of innocent people. They did not fall, as in other areas of Epirus and Greece, on the altar of freedom from the occupying Nazi troops, but they also fell on the altar of protecting the Greekness of Thesprotia, the wider region of Paramythia, from the clutches of the Muslim Chams, who, in good cooperation with the occupying Italian and German troops, aspired, in vain, to territorially realize, at the expense of Thesprotia, the idea of ​​Greater Albania, which Hitler had promised to Albania.”

The positions of the President of Greece, Konstantinos Tassulas, towards Albania and Albanians require serious analysis, especially when they relate to historical issues and claims that have influenced Greek-Albanian relations for decades.

During his speech, the Greek President made political statements and accusations against Albania and Albanians. Such rhetoric raises questions about the role that a president should play in relations with a neighboring country. The president of a state should be a factor of dialogue, stability and cooperation, especially when it comes to relations between two countries that have a complicated history and unresolved issues.

In this context, it is necessary to recall the political career of Konstantinos Tasoulas. For more than two decades he has been an important part of Greek politics, as a New Democracy MP and minister, also being involved in political debates related to the issue of the so-called “Vorio Epirus”. Therefore, his statements towards Albania cannot be completely separated from the historical and political context in which these positions were formed.

One of the issues that requires particular attention is the history of Paramythia and the tragic events of 1943. This issue has been used at various times as a political argument in the Greek discourse towards Albania and the Cham population. Precisely for this reason, it should be treated on the basis of documents and not on the basis of collective generalizations.

Paramythia and historical responsibility

We, as researchers and historians, consider it necessary that the events of Paramythia be examined impartially, through archival documents, contemporary evidence, and verifiable historical sources.

Regarding the murder of 49 Greeks in Paramithi in 1943, there are various documentary sources and testimonies that deserve critical analysis. These include American documents, intelligence materials, and contemporary testimonies. Comparing these sources is essential to building a more accurate picture of what happened.

From the documents and evidence cited in this debate, it cannot be automatically concluded that the Cham population, as a community, was responsible for the execution of 49 people. Responsibility for a historical crime must be determined on the basis of specific perpetrators, documents and evidence, and not be attributed collectively to a population on the basis of its ethnic or religious affiliation.

This is a fundamental issue of the historical method: an action committed by certain individuals or groups cannot be transformed into the collective responsibility of an entire community.

For this reason, it is unacceptable that the tragedies of the past be used to fuel new hostilities between Albanians and Greeks. History should serve to understand the past, not to produce new conflicts in the present.

For a history based on documents

Greek-Albanian relations need a new approach to history. The issues of “Vorio Epiri”, Chameria, Paramythia and the events of World War II cannot be addressed only through national narratives, but must be studied through documents and methods of modern historiography.

If a sustainable relationship between Greece and Albania is to be achieved, then both sides must have the courage to face the past honestly and critically. Good neighborliness cannot be built by selecting only those parts of history that serve a political narrative.

Historical truth cannot be determined by the statements of politicians. It must be sought in archives, documents, testimonies, and in a free academic debate.

This is precisely where the responsibility of historians lies: to separate fact from propaganda, individual responsibility from collective guilt, and history from its political use.

Only such an approach can serve historical truth and at the same time create the foundations for healthier, more equal, and more sustainable relations between Albanians and Greeks.

The shooting of 49 citizens in September 1943 in Paramithi

We, as scholars and historians, are reminding the Greek president and the Greeks of the truth about the execution of 49 Greeks in Paramithi in 1943. The truth based on undeniable facts accepted by Greek historians. The truth based on CIA documents, Greek intelligence and contemporary evidence concludes that the Chams had no hand in the execution of the 49 Greeks with left-wing communist ideology.

After Fascist Italy capitulated in September 1943, the areas it controlled were handed over to the Germans, who were supported by the Greek Security Battalions and SS troops. On September 24, six German soldiers were killed by resistance forces on the Paramithias Stairs. The German commander’s order was that for every German soldier wounded or killed, ten Greeks would be shot.

Over 4-5 days, the Germans arrested 52 Greeks to shoot them in revenge for the killing of their soldiers, and on September 29, they shot 49 citizens of Paramithias. According to the data, the Germans had information about the citizens of Paramithias some time ago about who had connections with the EAM ELAS partisans and belonged to the communist ideology.

Panagiotis Camatos, a professor at the University of Ioannina, on the occasion of the execution of 49 citizens of Paramithi, in September 2015 brought a document showing that the German command of Paramithi had data since August 1943 on who was helping EAM-ELAS and belonged to the communist ideology. If we look at the surnames of the 49 executed, 32 of them have surnames derived from the Albanian language and 17 Orthodox surnames.

From a CIA document published in 2000, provided by the Greek intelligence service received during 1944, which shows the official figures of war crimes committed by the German Nazis such as executions, murders and arson. In the paragraph on Nazi crimes in Epirus, data is given: INFORMATION BULLETIN “C” No. 43, February 1944 Pg.11. EPIR-From the data we have, the number of people shot in Paramithi is 60 and not 49.

The document provided by the CIA, which was provided by the Greek Information Service – HELLENIC INFORMATIOS SERVICE – IIa, headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, claims that 60 citizens were shot on September 30, 1943 in Paramithi and gives only 44 names of those shot, one name is repeated twice. While the memorial plaque in Paramithi where an activity is organized every year in their memory has only 49 names.

The document in question states that they were executed by a German platoon. In all Greek books that write about this event, it is stated that the Albanians of Chameria did not participate in the shooting, but that they were collaborators. An accusation that was never proven with facts whether the Chams were collaborators. Most of those shot were Albanian-speaking, Orthodox Albanians and supporters of the EAM-ELAS partisan army.

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