The “Place of Testimony and Memory” is the first institution that commemorates the victims who served their sentence in the prisons of the communist regime. Conceived as a museum space since September 2014, today it is a memorial of the period of the communist dictatorship, where the most culminating part are the original detention cells of the former Interior Branch.
At the end of the cell space there is also a torture room where physical and moral torture was often practiced on the prisoners. The transition to the prison area is made through an exhibition gallery with elements that symbolize torture and pain, also commemorating the walk to suffering, the same long path (about 50m) that the arrested person described from the moment he got out of the GAZ car until he was locked in the cell .
In the objects exhibition hall, there are historical objects, evidence and materials used by the prisoners during the investigation and execution of imprisonment. They are brought for display by the prisoners themselves and their families. The exhibition also reflects original documents of the time that testify to the communist persecution in the city of Shkodra; the first anti-communist uprisings in Albania, military trials, persecution of the clergy, deportations, escapes and even executions by firing squad.
This museum reflects the past, but not only, it deals with aspects of imprisonment for political reasons and the mechanisms of the time, where a culture of historical memory has been created accompanied by facts and testimonies, addressing mainly the younger generation, to make them aware of the mistakes of of the past, and to be a pioneer in building a free and safe democratic society.
