Defying De-Stalinization: Albania’s 1956

Drawing on recently declassified Albanian, Soviet, East German, and Western archival sources, as well as a rich historiography on Nikita Khrushchev\u27s secret speech and the Hungarian revolution of 1956, this article investigates the little-known events of 1956 in Albania. Rejecting de-Stalinization, the Albanian Communist leader Enver Hoxha was able to vindicate his position against Yugoslavia\u27s brand of socialism abroad, fortify his rule at home, and claim more aid from Moscow, Beijing, and the Soviet bloc. This article discusses the Tirana Party Conference of April 1956, treating the Albanian Party of Labor (the Communist party) as an “information society.” The article assesses deliberations over security and ideology at the highest levels and demonstrates how tiny Albania came to embody, in exaggerated form, both the promises and the perils of socialist exchange, in addition to mirroring the profound inconsistencies of Khrushchev\u27s de-Stalinization campaign

The Monument as Ruin: Natality, Spectrality, and the History of the Image in the Tirana Independence Monument

This article examines the Tirana Independence Monument, first inaugurated in November of 2012 on the hundredth anniversary of Albanian independence from the Ottoman Empire. The monument, designed by Visar Obrija and Kai Roman Kiklas, swiftly fell into disrepair until it was recently renovated in November of 2015. The article analyzes the monument’s function in terms of its doubled existence as a sign of perpetual natality (the possibility of the rebirth of national consciousness) and as a ruin with a spectral pseudo-presence (as an object that continually reminds us of the disjunctures that divorce the present from its historicity). It considers the way the monument’s inauguration relates to the politics of monumentality in contemporary Albania, and argues that the monument’s gradual ruination between 2012 and 2015 can be read as a particular manifestation of the history of the image in late capitalist society.Keywords: spectrality, natality, monumentality, Albania, Tirana, independence, national identity, grid, public sculptur

Pjesë nga veprat për arkeologjinë /Extraits des oeuvres à propos de l'archéologie

Hoxha Enver. Pjesë nga veprat për arkeologjinë /Extraits des oeuvres à propos de l'archéologie. In: Iliria, vol. 15 n°1, 1985. pp. 27-61

Burns in Kosovo: Epidemiological and therapeutic aspects of burns treated in University Clinical Center of Kosovo during the period 2003–2012

Background: Burns in Kosovo are a major cause of injury and which demand very high economic and social costs. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological and terapeutical aspects of burn patients treated in the Department of Plastic Surgery and in the Intensive Care Unit in Pristina, Kosovo. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all patients treated in the Department of Plastic Surgery and in the Intensive Care Unit during the period 2003–2012. Results: Of the 1412 burn patients admitted from 2003 to 2012, 133 patients with a large burned surface area were treated in the ICU, and the other 1279 patients were treated in the Department of Plastic Surgery. Of all patients, 66.6% (941) were male and 33.4% (471) were female, with an average age of 41.5 years, ranging from 1 to 83 years old. According to age, we found that most cases were children, respectively, 52.9% (747) cases, while adults were 47.1% (665) cases. The present age-group was 0–5 in 41.8% of cases, while other age-groups rarely. Of all patients treated in our department, only 19.3% (272) were treated surgically, the rest, 76.3% (1077) were treated conservatively. During this ten-year study period, 2.6% (37) patients died (in the intensive care unit died 27.8%). From the analysis of the deceased patients, it was found that 64.9% (24) were male, and 35.1% (13) were female; 54% (20) were children, and 46% (17) were adults. Conclusions: In Kosovo, high-risk groups are children up to five (1–5) years and men. The data suggest that the incineration injuries are more frequent and they could be reduced by improving the socio-economic level of the population and creating preventive strategies. Keywords: Burns, Epidemiology, Treatment, Mortality, Kosov

Reconstruction of Degloving Fingers with Abdominal Tunnelsation Flap

Degloving injury is serious injuries that define as an extensive section of skin is completely torn off the underlying tissue, severing its blood supply. Their surgical treatment is very difficult and challenge for the reconstructive surgeon, and consist in covering with good quality, pliable and sensate skin. We present a case with degloving injury of fingers, of which repair with the abdominal tunnelsations flap. Various reconstructive procedures have been adopted in the past years, but still with poor results. The application of this flap, a 1-flap solution, is reliable and convenient in the treatment of degloving fingers

The 6th Albanian Congress of Trauma and Emergency Surgery

After a three-year quarantine from the deadliest global pandemic of the last century, ASTES is organizing to gather all health professionals in Tirana, The 6th Albanian Congress of Trauma and Emergency Surgery(ACTES 2022) on 11-12 November 2022, with the topic Trauma & Emergency Surgery and not only...with the aim of providing high quality, the best standards, and the best results, for our patients ...ACTES 2022 is the largest event that ASTES (Albanian Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery) has organized so far with 230 presentations, and 67 foreign lecturers with enviable geography, making it the largest national and wider scientific event.The scientific program is as strong as ever, thanks to the inclusiveness, where all the participants with a mix of foreign and local lecturers, select the best of the moment in medical science, innovation, and observation.The scientific committee has selected all the presentations so that the participants of each medical discipline will have something to learn, discuss, debate, and agree with updated methods, techniques, and protocols.I hope you will join us on Friday morning, and continue the journey of our two-day event together