European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 04, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Residents of the albanian coastal town of Dursa relax on a sunny sunday beside unmanned bunkers near the Beach. Albania moving slowly out of time Warp  Quot new York times i Mages pile up of and Donkey drawn carts Grimy steam powered factories tractors and threshers dating from the50s a towns and villages with few shops endless lines of people waiting for exit visas streams of labourers trudging  work or piling into rickety a buses and hardly a car on the streets but for. The gleaming limousines of the ruling communist elite. Amid it All dotting the Countryside thousands of steel and Cement pillboxes with gun turrets a reminder of the governments command that the Public maintain a constant state of readiness against the supposed threat of a foreign invasion. Known  its people As the land of the eagles Albania is Small but strategically placed tucked among Italy Greece and a Yugoslavia close  the heart of the european continent. It is also a country of gloom with Hope just beginning  Dawn. A. A a for the average european or american visitor  this nation of 3 3 million just now opening its doors  the outside world As it a begins a slow process of democratization Albania seems  be caught in a time Warp the people in the streets unkempt and poorly dressed rarely smile. Most gaze aimlessly expressionless. A a forty five years of stalinist Rule Quot first under Enver Hoxha who fed the communist party from 1943 until his death in 1985, and now. Under Ramiz Alia a have deadened their senses. 7"7 a a a a their main window  the West Are the broadcasts they see on italian and greek television. -but-more4hanthe-Sadhooking  re Rains most striking after a two Day tour of towns and villages is the Large number of Oval Concrete gun posts sprouting like mushrooms from Fields roadsides and beaches. /  most Are empty and unused but some still Harbor antiquated antiaircraft guns. The pillboxes were methodically planted by Hoxha  scare people into believing that a foreign invasion was imminent and  convince them that Solidarity with the ruling elite was a patriotic duty. To drum in the message still further slogans adorning Public buildings and Walls Laud the a albanian communist party and Alia. Soldiers patrol the streets machine gun or Rifle in giving the traditional fist  the Temple Salute when a functionary passes by. In the capital Tirana the military atmosphere is complemented by spartan rundown communist architecture. Minor exceptions Are some buildings on and we do nothing else but walk  our Fields cultivate them with our hands and then walk Home  watch television. _ n / Drutar Braya r albanian Farmer a near the Central Skander beg Square like part offices the Hall of culture and the. Museum of National history. 7 a Quot we do nothing else but walk  our Fields cultivate them with our handstand then walk. Home  watch television Quot said Rutan Braya a 46-year-old Farmer. A. His teen age daughter pkg Swandna whose Sun hardened features made her appear older said her ambition was  go abroad  the kind of schools she sees on television so Kelvim Kadar has More immediate demands. Pulling his Donkey  a halt and calling his family  descend from the cart  meet a stranger he said his main problem was food and clothing. Quot  wont Mere rights Toita Dejour Gasdo on the Market Quot he said. Quot for example i could give you cheese and apples you could give me your jacket Quot. Apart from a few Well preserved traditional buildings Tirana is a combination of drab apartment blocks and dismal shanties. The majesty and baroque style found in parts of other Balkan capitals Are noticeably absent a a the apartment blocks resemble the Eastern european style of the �?T50s. They Are crude Many unfinished displaying raw b ick and Concrete with Little or no heating and no a elevators. A a a a worse Are the shanty dwellings that House the majority of the population. The streets themselves have a chinese feel with bicycles the main Means of  has 10 traffic lights other towns have a none. A Quot battered buses or dilapidated chinese and russian trucks crammed  capacity cart people  work. But albanians Are inventive. To avoid Miles of daily walking people use donkeys and oxen  draw wooden carts. These Are no Ordinary carts. Some have plastic roofs and Are heated a by Wood Burnin it stoves. There Are sole vehicles that when the party limousines and cars belonging  foreign missions and visitors pass by Heads turn  a a gape. A the foreigner on foot is observed for clues  life in the outside world. Albanian children Are More daring approaching foreigners in quest of Money or Girts like pens and chewing gum. Albanian shops display their few wares. T behind Dusty broken windows. The biggest grocery in the Southern town of Guji roaster exhibits a handful of Jam jars Spaghetti a a 7. Packets and weary looking fruits and \ vegetables. _ there Are no restaurants or taverns not even a cafe. Quot a v Albania prides itself on being the Only country in the world without a foreign debt a. Not surprising considering its ban on foreign capital. Though recently rescinded it is one of. The main reasons for Albania s poor state of. Development. An ave Fege monthly salary is 600 leks or Quot $40, the Price of a pair of shoes or trousers. And yet the  from Aiu Ania is one of Hope the first Glimmer has been Given by the governments slackening of exit controls which has enabled thousands  flee across a the Borders in search of work and a better Standard of living. Then there is Hope that the democratization program and multiparty elections this month will bring a measure of free Enterprise and More consumer goods. 7 a a Farmer Alexei Borisov the flip Side of soviet food shortages by Alan Coop Ferman associated press food is scarce in soviet cities but Farmer Alexei Borisov has five tons of beets cabbages and potatoes under the log Cabin he built himself at Bara Chevo a. A on a recent frosty morning he filled a Large Wicker Basket with cabbages from his cellar put on his Best fur hat and went off  Market with supreme Confidence. Quot in a ready  compete Quot Borisov said with a lopsided a Gri that exposed two shiny steel Teeth and gaps left by  missing molars. Me 48-year-old Independent peasant Farmer goes  Market each week in the nearby City of Volonda knowing his plump cabbages will command at least three times the Price of worm eaten specimens from state farms. Borisov is allowed  farm a Small plot of land independently because he also holds a regular Job As a watchman in the official soviet Economy. Quot his vegetable cellar is the flip Side of shortages that have attracted International attention and humanitarian Aid . _ mottled apples and Dusty jars of sauerkraut often Are All residents of major cities can find in government a owned stores supplied by inefficient collective farms and corruption Ridden state warehouses. There is plenty  eat in Bara Chevo a Village of 16 families without running water or telephones in a frigid Region 325 Miles North of Moscow. Even in the cities Farmers markets where private a growers like Borisov sell their produce have Row upon Row of tables piled with Ripe pears melons tomatoes cucumbers nuts herbs berries meat eggs and a poultry. A a /. The successes frustrations and dreams of the 1 Borisovs a Alexei his wife Olga and their 20-year-old son Andrei a go a Long Way toward explaining the soviet food Supply problem. A. Life is primitive for them in Many ways. They lathe once a week at a Public Bathhouse and have no regular medical or dental care. They have no Telephone  a v summon help in Case of fire crime or disaster., they Are not poor however. They have a Colo television and a refrigerator. Hanging on the Walls of their Cabin along with Bunches of onions and garlic Are 38 icons some More than 200 years old and very valuable. Holding out a Palm Ful of Green fuzz Borisov described How he built the two room Cabin stuffing cracks Between the logs with swamp Moss a natural insulator that does not  made most of the furniture including two easy chairs and an  dug the cellar  hold the tons of produce. He also wired the Cabin for electricity which reached Bara Chevo in�?T1964. Borisov cannot afford an automobile or tractor but he paid a Mechanic  Rig a go cart that will pull a Small a a Wagon loaf of vegetables. What Borisov wants most is More land but that has proved elusive. A for five years he has been trying  Register As a full time private Farmer and rent or buy the Field behind his. Cabin. He has kept copies of All the appeals  and rejection letters from local government and communist party officials. The,11 acre Field belongs  the red Star state Fann. Which uses it occasionally As a cow pasture the has More than 2.500 acres including ample pasture but has refused  Deal with the Boh sons. A a if we begin giving our land up  private Farmers we won have any left Quot Albina Isayeva the Faim s chief economist said in an interview. A. Farmers on Small private plots View most of the Oviet unions food for a decade aft Euhe bolshevik revolution a Money is not my goal. My one and Only goal is simply  prove. That this land is plenty Rich. Alexei Borisov a russian Farmer of 1917. In the late 1920s and Early 1930s, dictator Josef Stalin confiscated their property and forced them onto collective farms executing those who resisted. Some reformers want  break up the collectives arguing that the nation cannot feed itself unless it scraps communist ideology and returns the land  family. Farmers motivated by profit and Pride. V lawmakers in Russia largest of the 15 soviet republics have voted  restore private farming but president Mikhail s. Gorbachev who was raised on a collective farm favors a National referendum As a result National Law still forbids private ownership of land except for Small Quot Garden  by Western a estimates such plots account for less than 5 percent of the land under cultivation but produce More than 60 percent of the fresh vegetables sold in major. Cities. A v a a a a a a a a Bossov has  of an acte but farms it so. To Osvel that in a Good \ Oai. It \ mods tons of cabbage potatoes car rot s. Onions and garlic. 1. Iii family Konopis enough Lor itself and takes the rest  a Aimers Market m Volonda a City of about 300.000 people 13 Miles away. A. A a cd Quot. A a 7. To meet the Legal requirement of holding a of a a a a foot Sov is a watchman at an at my food depot he works a 24-hour shift then get s three Days off  tend his crops  a a a ,.if tie could get a Lew across  farm Borisov  could easily grow 10 times As much and help Jake it unnecessary Tor his country  accept gifts of Lood from a abroad which he called a Quot National  a. He rises at 6 a.m., i inks a  Tea  Ward off colds and fever then listens  the radio news As he boils White beets in an  surplus cauldron  feed his sheep and pigs. / a Olga Borisov washes dishes with buckets of water from the Village Well. Between shifts at ins Job As a Railroad worker Andrei shovels manure out of the ice covered barn then Heads Tor the warmest seat in the Cabin next  the floor  coils a stove of whitewashed a Brick. A a a. A Andrei said he would gladly join his father As a a Farmer if they could obtain More land but the current plot is not Large enough for both. Borisov is discouraged by the failure of his petitions for the pasture but not  the Point of giving up Quot Money is not my goal Quot he said. Quot my one and Only goal is simply  prove a in a not sure  whom  Tell the truth a that this land is plenty Rich Quot it could produce an awful lot if  and. -. Collective farms did treat it so . Baltic rebel red  deserter comes Home by Matti Huhtanen _ associated press a Young estonian serving 5,000 Miles from the Baltic told his commanding officer he would t., take the soviet  oath walked out of his Barracks and headed Home. A a now 18 months and several escape a a a a a. Attempts later Twenty year old Tanel. Kapper has finally made it Back  the estonian capital of Tallinn from his base near the chinese Border and is ready  fight the red  for the republics.  mass refusal by. Draftees  join the. Army induced soviet defense minister Dmitri Yazoo on Jan. 7  order a Roundup of draft dodgers in the breakaway Baltic republics. A military crackdown on those republics has Cost a score of lives. Estonia lithuanian and Latvia Are _ seeking Independence from the soviet u n i o n-ln-1940rstalin-Foreiblyineorporatecl Quot the soviet  is one big concentration Camp a labor Camp where people Are exposed  extreme violence Quot said Anita Stankevicz director of the latvian women s league. The women a  originally formed  promote women a rights. In -1989, it started collecting data on abuse in the red . There Are instances of Young  recruits dying after Only a few months of service. No explanation for the deaths was Given but the corpses often showed signs of being beaten Stankevicz said Quot we just could accept any longer that our sons were coming Back in coffins from the  Quot she said _ in 1990, All three Baltic republics adopted Laws allowing draftees  do alternative service in hospitals schools and local government facilities. But after a bloody assault against the broadcast Center in the lithuanian capital of Vilnius recently left 14 dead Baltic 7 leaders advised All draft dodgers  leave their workplaces and hide from soviet. Troops. In neighbouring Latvia four people were killed Jan. 20 when elite Quot Black berets Quot of the soviet Interior ministry invaded the Republic s police a Headquarters. Two others have also died in similar latvian assaults last month. Miks auzins a 19-year-old latvian is Independence movement people of Tallinn Greet deputies of new estonian parliament on Balcony last March. A fila Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes the Baltic states which were Independent countries Between the two world wars into the Suvieri Union. A last year 7,500 estonians were called up for the draft  800 responded. A in neighbouring Latvia there Are an estimated 10,000 draft dodgers and thousands More lithuanians have a a declined  serve. _ _ _ a a there is absolutely nothing that would make me go Back  that hell. I will stay.  and fight,.&Quot said Kapper who lives in a Forest near Tallinn. Monday february Riga. He said he would never serve in the soviet  because it was the Quot wrong Auivy. A. Quot i think its not the  i m supposed  serve in. It s the occupation  and of course its not Safe Quot auzins said. Auzins relative who spoke on condition of anonymity said he was  heavy buckled leather belts when he served in the soviet . Quot one Day i just opened the front door and walked out. I had had enough Quot he said. 4. 1991 Kapper was caught and arrested but  get  Irkutsk a a City 625 Miles West of the base where he was stationed before being Appi Al ii la Ted again. He managed  escape handcuffed by jumping from a moving train. Cossack Hunters found Kapper nursed him gave him Money and clothes and he returned  Estonia. Five months later he was arrested in  spent several months in prisons across the soviet Union before being returned  his military unit in Chita a City 180 Miles North of the chinese Border. A a he mad Ehi a escape Agam with the help of a russian girl who gave Hirn a a a a civilian clothes and a Tram ticket  Riga ii  capital i Latvia from there Merriau e his Way Home  Estonia. A Kapper now lives in a Forest but comes into the City for regular guard duty in the Volunteer estonian Home guard which a numbers some 26,000. A i m not worried now. Things Are so _ messed up Here and in the other Baltic republics that there is no Way the soviet  can take Complete control again Quot Kapper said athe stars and stripes