Historical truths and testimonies of political prisoners during the communist era have been published for the first time.

“Letter from Hell” is the title of the multimedia exhibition opened in the surroundings of the Pyramid, which brings to the public one of the darkest periods of Albanian history, the violence and terror of political prisons during the communist regime.

Today’s exhibition is a special occasion. The main objective of the institute is to recognize the communist regime through the witnesses of its suffering. In the official documents, the most typical element, which was violence, is missing”, said Çelo Hoxha, director of the Institute for Crimes of Communism.

“Letters from Hell” is a historical-documentary exhibition, where selected authentic letters are presented, as well as original letters that are part of the fund of the Institute of Studies on Crimes and Consequences of Communism.

“A group of letters were taken from the archive which are letters complaining or denouncing the regime. They are protest letters. It talks about the suffering of people in prisons. The second is the papers that the institute has a part in its collection. Some address the family members where the emotional side of the prisoners is presented. This exhibition brings for the first time testimony during the serving of the sentence”, said Ergys Mërtiri, curator of the exhibition.

At the center of this exhibition are the words of the prisoners, written testimonies of a resistance that overcame torture and atrocities. Through audio-visual projection, visitors will experience the sounds of cell doors, chains, steps of torture guards, while the art of writing comes as a form of resistance.

The two original letters of Zef Zorba to his mother were exhibited for the first time. There are thousands of letters written by political convicts, exceeding the number of 3,000 archival pages.

Audio-visual projection with photographs of prisons, cells, as well as images of written letters placed on different surfaces of the walls in the space dedicated to the exhibition make the feeling of these prisoners more palpable.