HOUSE OF LEAVES
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This national museum dedicated to the communist dictatorship is housed in the former headquarters of the Sigurimi, the regime's state police.
Opened in 2017, this national museum dedicated to the Communist dictatorship is housed in the House of Leaves (Shtëpia me Gjethe). Built in 1931, this discreet brick building surrounded by trees served as a torture and listening center for the Sigurimi, the dreaded State Security Directorate. Originally conceived as a maternity hospital, the house became Gestapo headquarters in 1943, then Sigurimi headquarters a year later. For eleven years, the organization's 26 regional centers were run from here, as were the interrogations, tortures and liquidations of thousands of the regime's victims. In 1955, the site underwent a change of function. Because of its proximity to Tirana's main telecommunications center, it became the Sigurimi's technical antenna, with the task of controlling correspondence and telephone calls. Left behind by the Germans, the first devices used, stamped with the swastika, can still be seen. They were capable of listening in on 10 telephone lines simultaneously. It was also here that conversations recorded in the Tirana hotels where foreign visitors stayed were processed: 60 micro-spies were placed at the Dajti, 30 at the Tirana International and 30 at the Arbëria. Used by the intelligence services until 2003, the house now houses a well-designed museum, conceived in collaboration with the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial (former Stasi prison). But the upkeep of the facilities leaves much to be desired.
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Members' reviews on HOUSE OF LEAVES
Un passage par ce musée est indispensable pour se faire une toute petite idée de la chape de plomb sous laquelle la population tentait de vivre douloureusement.
Impossible donc de voir ce qui fait une bonne part de l'intéret de l'établissement.
Selon l'office du tourisme, je ne suis pas le seul à me plaindre, mais c'est privé et ils n'y peuvent rien.