WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 So I want you to start by just putting a very 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:05.120 specific mental image in your head. Okay, I'm 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.880 ready. It is the summer of 1949, July to be exact, 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:13.820 and we are in Paris. Right. And, you know, the 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:15.480 Second World War has been over for about four 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:17.960 years at this point, but Europe is still just, 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:20.780 it's a mess. Oh, absolutely. Still rebuilding, 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.780 millions of refugees. Exactly. And in a room 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:26.500 right in the center of the city, a group of men 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:29.440 in exile are gathering. Now, usually when we 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:31.280 start talking about exile committees, it sounds 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:34.640 maybe a little dry. Yeah, you picture older guys 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.420 sitting around drinking coffee complaining about 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:38.500 the old country. Right, but this wasn't a coffee 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:40.740 club. We are doing a deep dive today into the 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:44.219 Free Albanian National Committee, or the NCFA. 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:46.759 And the atmosphere in that room in Paris would 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:48.979 have been incredibly tense. Because these weren't 00:00:48.979 --> 00:00:51.920 just politicians. No, not at all. A lot of the 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.020 men sitting around that table had literally been 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:55.960 shooting at each other just a few years prior. 00:00:56.409 --> 00:00:58.590 Which is wild to think about. On paper, if you 00:00:58.590 --> 00:01:00.350 just look at their official mission, it sounds 00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:02.710 very unified and straightforward. Organize the 00:01:02.710 --> 00:01:05.890 diaspora. Yep. Cooperate with Western powers 00:01:05.890 --> 00:01:08.510 and overthrow the communist regime of Enver Haqsa 00:01:08.510 --> 00:01:11.989 back in Albania. A simple, noble goal for an 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:14.469 exile group. But when you actually peel back 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:16.290 the layers, and especially when you look at the 00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:18.150 documents that were only released to the public 00:01:18.150 --> 00:01:22.739 in 2013. This story is just chaotic. It really 00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:25.579 is. We're talking about deep CIA involvement, 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.299 secret military units training in Germany, complex 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:32.640 Cold War politics. It is honestly the perfect 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.260 pace study for how the early Cold War was actually 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:37.620 fought. How so? Well, you know, we tend to think 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:40.079 of the Cold War as nuclear standoffs. Berlin 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:43.159 Wall. The Cuban Missile Crisis. The big flashy 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:46.560 moments. Exactly. But in 1949, it was much grittier. 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:49.299 It was fought through shadow committees, strange 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:52.079 alliances. And for the Albanian diaspora, it 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:54.260 was about a really desperate, fractured group 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:56.299 of people trying to reclaim their homeland. So 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:58.219 let's get into that fractured group because the 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:00.000 cast of characters here is fascinating. It's 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:01.920 quite the lineup. The formation story really 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:04.519 starts in Rome in 1948, but they officially launch 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.280 in Paris on July 1st, 1949. And the sources we're 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:11.270 looking at call the members heterogeneous. A 00:02:11.270 --> 00:02:14.050 very polite diplomatic way of saying these guys 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:16.469 hated each other. Yeah. Heterogeneous is doing 00:02:16.469 --> 00:02:19.009 a lot of heavy lifting in those documents. Break 00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:20.930 down the factions for us. Who is actually in 00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:23.409 this room? Okay. So on one side, you have the 00:02:23.409 --> 00:02:26.250 bully comitar, the national front. Right. These 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:28.689 are your Republicans, your nationalists. They're 00:02:28.689 --> 00:02:31.330 led by a man named Mithat Freshari, who actually 00:02:31.330 --> 00:02:34.139 becomes the committee chairman. He's an intellectual 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:36.659 writer, very respected figure. So you've got 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:39.120 the Republicans, but then sitting across from 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.199 them, you have the monarchists. Right. The legal 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:45.960 -a -teddy, led by Abbas Kupi. And Kupi is a totally 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:47.400 different kind of leader, right? Completely. 00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:50.960 Kupi isn't a writer. He's a military man, a guerrilla 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:55.159 fighter. And he is fiercely loyal to the... former 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.139 king of Albania, King Zog. So you have Republicans 00:02:58.139 --> 00:03:01.020 and monarchists. And independent guerrilla fighters, 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:04.800 like said Bekraisiu, anti -fascist, anti -communist 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:06.699 fighters. But the tension wasn't just political 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:09.520 disagreement. No, during World War II, the National 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:11.759 Front and the monarchists were basically fighting 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.340 a civil war against each other. While also fighting 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:17.750 the Italians. And the Germans. And the communists. 00:03:17.830 --> 00:03:20.110 So telling them to sit down and form a joint 00:03:20.110 --> 00:03:23.770 committee in 1949 is like asking oil and water 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:26.490 to mix. But the oil and water are heavily armed 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:29.330 and have a lot of bad blood. And yet they did 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:31.090 it. Or at least they've managed to fake it for 00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:33.830 the cameras. But there was one group that was 00:03:33.830 --> 00:03:36.349 explicitly left out. The Boloku Independent. 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:38.830 Right. And this is where the U .S. State Department 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.639 steps in. Why were they the odd ones out? This 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:44.319 is a really interesting look at Western pragmatism 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:47.120 at the time. The Bloco Independent was a group 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.639 made up of pro -Italian and pro -German collaborationists. 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.000 People who had worked with the Axis powers during 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.979 the occupation. Exactly. And you have to remember, 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.180 this is 1949. The U .S. is definitely shifting 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:01.020 its focus to fight communism. But the ink on 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:03.659 the World War II treaties is barely dry. Yes. 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:06.639 The memories are too fresh. The U .S. State Department 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.919 could not be seen backing a liberation committee 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:10.960 that included guys who had just been working 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.039 with Mussolini or Hitler. It would have been 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:15.780 a PR nightmare. A massive propaganda victory 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:17.600 for the Soviets. They'd just point and say, look, 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:19.920 the Americans are rebuilding the Axis powers. 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:23.079 So even though the Blocu members were anti -communist, 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:25.639 the U .S. just flat out rejected them. They told 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.040 them to stay out. They allowed some unaffiliated 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.560 guerrillas in. But the collaborators were banned. 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:33.339 Which, according to the sources, caused huge 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:35.959 confrontations. Shouting matches. It was not 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:38.160 a happy family. It was a forced alliance dictated 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:39.980 by whoever was holding the purse strings. Which 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:42.819 was the West. So they have their curated team. 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:45.860 For Shiri is the chairman. Kupi is the head of 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:49.040 the military junta. Right. Now they just need 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.399 legitimacy. And for a huge chunk of the Albanian 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.350 diaspora, legitimacy meant... getting the blessing 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:59.089 of King Zog. Ah, King Zog. He is such a wild 00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:00.870 card in this whole story. He's living in exile 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:03.209 in Alexandria, Egypt at this point. And he very 00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:05.750 much still considers himself the sole legitimate 00:05:05.750 --> 00:05:09.050 ruler of Aldania. The British intelligence officers, 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:11.370 guys like Billy McLean and Alan Hare, actually 00:05:11.370 --> 00:05:13.629 fly out to Egypt to meet with him. They want 00:05:13.629 --> 00:05:16.089 his endorsement. Right. I just love picturing 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:19.009 this. These British spies in linen suits, sweating 00:05:19.009 --> 00:05:21.209 in the Egyptian summer, trying to pitch this 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:24.149 committee to an exiled king. And Zog just, he 00:05:24.149 --> 00:05:29.209 refuses. Flat out refuses. Because for Zog, recognizing 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.569 the committee would be admitting he wasn't the 00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:33.829 sole authority. He felt like he was the state. 00:05:33.990 --> 00:05:36.910 Exactly. If he joins a committee, he's just another 00:05:36.910 --> 00:05:39.930 guy at the table. He argued that he was the only 00:05:39.930 --> 00:05:42.990 legal representative of Albania. Which is so 00:05:42.990 --> 00:05:45.389 deeply ironic when you think about it. Because 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:48.899 of Abbas Koupi. Yes. Kupi, one of the main founders 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:52.060 of this committee, is a diehard Zog supporter. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.360 He's the head of the monarchist faction. And 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:56.800 his own monarch won't even acknowledge the group 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:00.180 exists. That has to completely undermine Kupi's 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:02.860 position. It made the whole thing look incredibly 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:05.120 shaky from the start, but they pushed forward 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.420 anyway. They did. September 6, 1949, they go 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:11.120 public. The BBC transmission. Right. They get 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.680 on the BBC, which was huge. They announce the 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.759 Free Albania National Committee to the world. 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:18.529 For the people listening inside Albania, that 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:20.689 must have been a massive moment of hope. But 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:23.129 then, almost immediately, they run into another 00:06:23.129 --> 00:06:26.170 wall. And this one really shows the tightrope 00:06:26.170 --> 00:06:28.069 they were walking with their Western sponsors. 00:06:28.470 --> 00:06:30.050 You're talking about the press conference? Yeah. 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:33.290 Mithit Frasheri holds a press conference after 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:36.540 the announcement. And he brings up Kosovo. Which 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:38.720 was a massive blunder in the eyes of the British. 00:06:38.819 --> 00:06:40.740 And if you're listening to this and you know 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:42.899 the region, an Albanian nationalist bringing 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:45.720 up Kosovo makes total sense. So why were the 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:48.779 British so annoyed? Okay, so look at the geopolitical 00:06:48.779 --> 00:06:53.060 map in 1949. Kosovo is part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia 00:06:53.060 --> 00:06:55.939 is run by Tito. Tito is a communist dictator. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.800 But, and this is the crucial part, he had just 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.439 famously split from Stalin. Tito -Stalin split. 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:04.519 So Tito is a communist. But he's not aligned 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:07.839 with Moscow anymore. Exactly. So London and Washington 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:10.040 are falling all over themselves trying to court 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:11.819 Tito. They want to keep him away from the Soviet 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:14.279 bloc. So when Farshiri stands up in Paris and 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:16.899 starts talking about Kosovo. He is basically 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:19.959 threatening to take territory away from Yugoslavia. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:21.800 Threatening the guy the West is trying to make 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.459 friends with. Yes. The British authorities clamp 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:27.410 down hard. They insisted Freshiri could only 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:29.689 speak about territories currently within the 00:07:29.689 --> 00:07:32.170 recognized Albanian state borders. It's a stark 00:07:32.170 --> 00:07:34.689 reminder of who was actually in charge. Exactly. 00:07:34.810 --> 00:07:37.410 As impartial observers, when we look at these 00:07:37.410 --> 00:07:39.750 documents, it's clear the West didn't necessarily 00:07:39.750 --> 00:07:42.629 share the committee's nationalist goals. They 00:07:42.629 --> 00:07:44.850 were just using them as a tool in the broader 00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:48.930 Cold War strategy. Keep Tito happy. Contain the 00:07:48.930 --> 00:07:51.980 Soviets. everything else is secondary right okay 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:54.379 so that's the political drama in paris and london 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:57.139 but let's get into the twist the part that reads 00:07:57.139 --> 00:08:00.259 like a spy thriller the 2013 document release 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:03.610 yes Those documents confirmed that the CIA wasn't 00:08:03.610 --> 00:08:06.490 just casually supportive. They were deeply involved 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:08.829 in sponsoring this committee. They were bankrolling 00:08:08.829 --> 00:08:11.310 it. And it wasn't just for propaganda. They were 00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:14.050 building a military unit. Company 4000. Company 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.589 4000. It sounds like something out of a movie. 00:08:16.709 --> 00:08:19.290 It really does. What was it? In 1950, the committee 00:08:19.290 --> 00:08:21.769 helped the CIA form this secret paramilitary 00:08:21.769 --> 00:08:24.730 unit. They were stationed in Hohenbrunn, Bavaria. 00:08:25.129 --> 00:08:27.490 In West Germany. So they're taking these exiles, 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:29.889 these refugees, and training them as a secret 00:08:29.889 --> 00:08:33.230 army. Exactly. Training them to parachute back 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:35.669 into Albania, link up with local resistance, 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:39.090 and violently topple the Hoxha regime. And did 00:08:39.090 --> 00:08:42.480 it work? No. The historical verdict on Company 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:46.399 4000 is incredibly blunt. It was, quote, never 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.620 effective. Never effective. That's a brutal assessment. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:52.320 It was a disaster. The men they sent in were 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.200 quickly compromised. The Hoxha regime was just 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:58.019 too entrenched. The security apparatus was too 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.080 strong. The whole paramilitary ambition just 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:03.240 completely fell apart. So the invasion fails. 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:05.460 What happens to the committee? Well, they have 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.809 to pivot. And they physically relocate. They 00:09:08.809 --> 00:09:11.409 move their base of operations from Europe to 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:13.429 New York City. And there's a big shift in leadership 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:15.490 around this time, too. Yeah. Mintha Frasheri 00:09:15.490 --> 00:09:17.610 actually died very shortly after the committee 00:09:17.610 --> 00:09:20.919 was formed, in October of 1949. Just a few months 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.879 in. Right. Hassan Dosti took over briefly after 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:26.259 that. But the guy who became the long -term chairman 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:29.600 was Recep Kresniki. A Kosovar Albanian. Yes. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.500 And he was supported by Exhafer Diva. They became 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:34.500 the core leadership as the committee settled 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:36.919 into its new life in America. And their tactics 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:38.720 had to change, right? Because the world was changing. 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:42.639 Drastically. In 1955, Albania officially joined 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.460 the United Nations. Which completely changes 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:48.049 the diplomatic landscape. You can't just sponsor 00:09:48.049 --> 00:09:50.590 a secret guerrilla army to invade a recognized 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:54.169 UN member state, not without causing a massive 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.610 international incident. So the military dream 00:09:56.610 --> 00:09:59.350 is dead. It's over. The committee shifts away 00:09:59.350 --> 00:10:02.370 from trying to invade and focuses on trying to 00:10:02.370 --> 00:10:04.490 influence. They became part of the ACNA, right? 00:10:04.549 --> 00:10:07.639 The Assembly of Captive European Nations. What 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:10.259 was that? It was basically an umbrella organization 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:13.220 used by the U .S. State Department. It brought 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:15.600 together national bodies from nine different 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.340 Eastern Bloc countries. So they're organizing 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:20.659 political gatherings. Conferences, seminars, 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:24.100 lobbying. They became the political voice for 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:26.179 a country that couldn't speak for itself. But 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:28.059 the thing that really stands out to me, and I 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:30.039 think this is the most incredible part of their 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.100 story, is their humanitarian work. Oh, without 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:36.419 a doubt. It's a massive contrast to the military 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:38.799 failure of Company 4000. Right, because they 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:40.740 couldn't save the country militarily. But the 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:43.799 sources show they managed to resettle 15 ,000 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:47.139 Albanian refugees in the United States. 15 ,000. 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:49.100 It's an astounding number when you think about 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:52.080 the logistics of that in the 1950s and 60s. These 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.059 were people stuck in camps in Italy and Greece. 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:56.600 With nowhere to go. And the committee worked 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:58.919 the system, vouched for them and brought them 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:02.070 over. They basically built the foundation of 00:11:02.070 --> 00:11:04.070 the Albanian -American diaspora. They absolutely 00:11:04.070 --> 00:11:05.909 did. And they kept the culture alive, too. They 00:11:05.909 --> 00:11:08.590 ran publications, a paper called Biperia, which 00:11:08.590 --> 00:11:11.730 just means Albania. And later on, The Free Albanian. 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:14.450 Right, which ran all the way until 1970. They 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:16.490 were publishing news, preserving the language, 00:11:16.629 --> 00:11:18.529 pushing back against the regime's propaganda. 00:11:18.570 --> 00:11:21.960 So they transitioned from this. CIA -backed paramilitary 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:25.379 group into essentially a refugee aid and cultural 00:11:25.379 --> 00:11:27.580 preservation organization. A very successful 00:11:27.580 --> 00:11:29.720 one at that. So how does it all end? We know 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:32.980 Hawks' regime eventually falls. Right. Communism 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:36.179 collapses in Eastern Europe. And in 1992, the 00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:38.460 committee officially disbands. Because they won. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:41.259 Because, as they put it, their functions would 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:44.679 no longer be needed. The Cold War was over. Albania 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.039 was opening up. The reason for their existence 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:51.019 in exile was gone. Wow. From a secret meeting 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:54.580 in Paris plotting an invasion to a quiet disbandment 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.539 in New York 43 years later. It's quite the journey. 00:11:57.820 --> 00:11:59.580 It really makes you think about the complexity 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:03.019 of liberation. You know, the West backed this 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.700 committee of former enemies hoping they'd spark 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:08.240 a revolution. And that completely failed. But 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.480 the regime eventually fell anyway just from internal 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.600 collapse. Right. Which leaves us with a really 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.200 provocative final thought to mull over. What's 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.440 that? Well, you look at their original goal. 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:22.539 overthrow the government. They failed. But you 00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:25.600 look at the 15 ,000 lives they saved through 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.539 resettlement, the communities they built, the 00:12:28.539 --> 00:12:30.960 culture they preserved in exile. Yeah. It makes 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.519 you wonder, was the committee's true legacy the 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:36.159 government they didn't overthrow or the 15 ,000 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:39.000 lives they saved? That is a very good question 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.600 to leave it on. Thanks for diving into this with 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.120 me. Anytime. And to you listening, thanks for 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.220 joining us on this deep dive. We will catch you 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:46.580 next time.