On this day 66 years ago, Albanian partisans liberated the country from German occupation. Albania is a small country bordering Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, directly opposite the “heel” of Italy. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th Century, and remained part of that empire until the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912, although a state of political instability existed until after the First World War, when defence of the country was entrusted to Italy by the League of Nations.
As the Second World War approached in 1939, Italy invaded Albania and seized control, as part of Mussolini’s vision of a new Italian empire. Mussolini then used Albania as a base for his unsuccessful attack on Greece. Albanian partisan resistance grew, and the Albanian Communist Party was formed in 1941, followed by the Albanian National Liberation Front in 1942. Germany took over occupation of Albania in 1943 following the collapse of Mussolini’s government, and the occupation ended when the Albanian partisans drove the Germans out.
Following the war, Albania was under communist rule for almost 50 years, as an ally of the Soviet Union until 1960 and then as an ally of China until 1978, before the communists were voted out of office in 1992. Under the communist government, Albania became the world’s first atheist state, with religious observance and institutions banned. Religious freedom has been restored since 1992.