So I want you to start by just putting a very
specific mental image in your head. Okay, I'm
ready. It is the summer of 1949, July to be exact,
and we are in Paris. Right. And, you know, the
Second World War has been over for about four
years at this point, but Europe is still just,
it's a mess. Oh, absolutely. Still rebuilding,
millions of refugees. Exactly. And in a room
right in the center of the city, a group of men
in exile are gathering. Now, usually when we
start talking about exile committees, it sounds
maybe a little dry. Yeah, you picture older guys
sitting around drinking coffee complaining about
the old country. Right, but this wasn't a coffee
club. We are doing a deep dive today into the
Free Albanian National Committee, or the NCFA.
And the atmosphere in that room in Paris would
have been incredibly tense. Because these weren't
just politicians. No, not at all. A lot of the
men sitting around that table had literally been
shooting at each other just a few years prior.
Which is wild to think about. On paper, if you
just look at their official mission, it sounds
very unified and straightforward. Organize the
diaspora. Yep. Cooperate with Western powers
and overthrow the communist regime of Enver Haqsa
back in Albania. A simple, noble goal for an
exile group. But when you actually peel back
the layers, and especially when you look at the
documents that were only released to the public
in 2013. This story is just chaotic. It really
is. We're talking about deep CIA involvement,
secret military units training in Germany, complex
Cold War politics. It is honestly the perfect
pace study for how the early Cold War was actually
fought. How so? Well, you know, we tend to think
of the Cold War as nuclear standoffs. Berlin
Wall. The Cuban Missile Crisis. The big flashy
moments. Exactly. But in 1949, it was much grittier.
It was fought through shadow committees, strange
alliances. And for the Albanian diaspora, it
was about a really desperate, fractured group
of people trying to reclaim their homeland. So
let's get into that fractured group because the
cast of characters here is fascinating. It's
quite the lineup. The formation story really
starts in Rome in 1948, but they officially launch
in Paris on July 1st, 1949. And the sources we're
looking at call the members heterogeneous. A
very polite diplomatic way of saying these guys
hated each other. Yeah. Heterogeneous is doing
a lot of heavy lifting in those documents. Break
down the factions for us. Who is actually in
this room? Okay. So on one side, you have the
bully comitar, the national front. Right. These
are your Republicans, your nationalists. They're
led by a man named Mithat Freshari, who actually
becomes the committee chairman. He's an intellectual
writer, very respected figure. So you've got
the Republicans, but then sitting across from
them, you have the monarchists. Right. The legal
-a -teddy, led by Abbas Kupi. And Kupi is a totally
different kind of leader, right? Completely.
Kupi isn't a writer. He's a military man, a guerrilla
fighter. And he is fiercely loyal to the... former
king of Albania, King Zog. So you have Republicans
and monarchists. And independent guerrilla fighters,
like said Bekraisiu, anti -fascist, anti -communist
fighters. But the tension wasn't just political
disagreement. No, during World War II, the National
Front and the monarchists were basically fighting
a civil war against each other. While also fighting
the Italians. And the Germans. And the communists.
So telling them to sit down and form a joint
committee in 1949 is like asking oil and water
to mix. But the oil and water are heavily armed
and have a lot of bad blood. And yet they did
it. Or at least they've managed to fake it for
the cameras. But there was one group that was
explicitly left out. The Boloku Independent.
Right. And this is where the U .S. State Department
steps in. Why were they the odd ones out? This
is a really interesting look at Western pragmatism
at the time. The Bloco Independent was a group
made up of pro -Italian and pro -German collaborationists.
People who had worked with the Axis powers during
the occupation. Exactly. And you have to remember,
this is 1949. The U .S. is definitely shifting
its focus to fight communism. But the ink on
the World War II treaties is barely dry. Yes.
The memories are too fresh. The U .S. State Department
could not be seen backing a liberation committee
that included guys who had just been working
with Mussolini or Hitler. It would have been
a PR nightmare. A massive propaganda victory
for the Soviets. They'd just point and say, look,
the Americans are rebuilding the Axis powers.
So even though the Blocu members were anti -communist,
the U .S. just flat out rejected them. They told
them to stay out. They allowed some unaffiliated
guerrillas in. But the collaborators were banned.
Which, according to the sources, caused huge
confrontations. Shouting matches. It was not
a happy family. It was a forced alliance dictated
by whoever was holding the purse strings. Which
was the West. So they have their curated team.
For Shiri is the chairman. Kupi is the head of
the military junta. Right. Now they just need
legitimacy. And for a huge chunk of the Albanian
diaspora, legitimacy meant... getting the blessing
of King Zog. Ah, King Zog. He is such a wild
card in this whole story. He's living in exile
in Alexandria, Egypt at this point. And he very
much still considers himself the sole legitimate
ruler of Aldania. The British intelligence officers,
guys like Billy McLean and Alan Hare, actually
fly out to Egypt to meet with him. They want
his endorsement. Right. I just love picturing
this. These British spies in linen suits, sweating
in the Egyptian summer, trying to pitch this
committee to an exiled king. And Zog just, he
refuses. Flat out refuses. Because for Zog, recognizing
the committee would be admitting he wasn't the
sole authority. He felt like he was the state.
Exactly. If he joins a committee, he's just another
guy at the table. He argued that he was the only
legal representative of Albania. Which is so
deeply ironic when you think about it. Because
of Abbas Koupi. Yes. Kupi, one of the main founders
of this committee, is a diehard Zog supporter.
He's the head of the monarchist faction. And
his own monarch won't even acknowledge the group
exists. That has to completely undermine Kupi's
position. It made the whole thing look incredibly
shaky from the start, but they pushed forward
anyway. They did. September 6, 1949, they go
public. The BBC transmission. Right. They get
on the BBC, which was huge. They announce the
Free Albania National Committee to the world.
For the people listening inside Albania, that
must have been a massive moment of hope. But
then, almost immediately, they run into another
wall. And this one really shows the tightrope
they were walking with their Western sponsors.
You're talking about the press conference? Yeah.
Mithit Frasheri holds a press conference after
the announcement. And he brings up Kosovo. Which
was a massive blunder in the eyes of the British.
And if you're listening to this and you know
the region, an Albanian nationalist bringing
up Kosovo makes total sense. So why were the
British so annoyed? Okay, so look at the geopolitical
map in 1949. Kosovo is part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia
is run by Tito. Tito is a communist dictator.
But, and this is the crucial part, he had just
famously split from Stalin. Tito -Stalin split.
So Tito is a communist. But he's not aligned
with Moscow anymore. Exactly. So London and Washington
are falling all over themselves trying to court
Tito. They want to keep him away from the Soviet
bloc. So when Farshiri stands up in Paris and
starts talking about Kosovo. He is basically
threatening to take territory away from Yugoslavia.
Threatening the guy the West is trying to make
friends with. Yes. The British authorities clamp
down hard. They insisted Freshiri could only
speak about territories currently within the
recognized Albanian state borders. It's a stark
reminder of who was actually in charge. Exactly.
As impartial observers, when we look at these
documents, it's clear the West didn't necessarily
share the committee's nationalist goals. They
were just using them as a tool in the broader
Cold War strategy. Keep Tito happy. Contain the
Soviets. everything else is secondary right okay
so that's the political drama in paris and london
but let's get into the twist the part that reads
like a spy thriller the 2013 document release
yes Those documents confirmed that the CIA wasn't
just casually supportive. They were deeply involved
in sponsoring this committee. They were bankrolling
it. And it wasn't just for propaganda. They were
building a military unit. Company 4000. Company
4000. It sounds like something out of a movie.
It really does. What was it? In 1950, the committee
helped the CIA form this secret paramilitary
unit. They were stationed in Hohenbrunn, Bavaria.
In West Germany. So they're taking these exiles,
these refugees, and training them as a secret
army. Exactly. Training them to parachute back
into Albania, link up with local resistance,
and violently topple the Hoxha regime. And did
it work? No. The historical verdict on Company
4000 is incredibly blunt. It was, quote, never
effective. Never effective. That's a brutal assessment.
It was a disaster. The men they sent in were
quickly compromised. The Hoxha regime was just
too entrenched. The security apparatus was too
strong. The whole paramilitary ambition just
completely fell apart. So the invasion fails.
What happens to the committee? Well, they have
to pivot. And they physically relocate. They
move their base of operations from Europe to
New York City. And there's a big shift in leadership
around this time, too. Yeah. Mintha Frasheri
actually died very shortly after the committee
was formed, in October of 1949. Just a few months
in. Right. Hassan Dosti took over briefly after
that. But the guy who became the long -term chairman
was Recep Kresniki. A Kosovar Albanian. Yes.
And he was supported by Exhafer Diva. They became
the core leadership as the committee settled
into its new life in America. And their tactics
had to change, right? Because the world was changing.
Drastically. In 1955, Albania officially joined
the United Nations. Which completely changes
the diplomatic landscape. You can't just sponsor
a secret guerrilla army to invade a recognized
UN member state, not without causing a massive
international incident. So the military dream
is dead. It's over. The committee shifts away
from trying to invade and focuses on trying to
influence. They became part of the ACNA, right?
The Assembly of Captive European Nations. What
was that? It was basically an umbrella organization
used by the U .S. State Department. It brought
together national bodies from nine different
Eastern Bloc countries. So they're organizing
political gatherings. Conferences, seminars,
lobbying. They became the political voice for
a country that couldn't speak for itself. But
the thing that really stands out to me, and I
think this is the most incredible part of their
story, is their humanitarian work. Oh, without
a doubt. It's a massive contrast to the military
failure of Company 4000. Right, because they
couldn't save the country militarily. But the
sources show they managed to resettle 15 ,000
Albanian refugees in the United States. 15 ,000.
It's an astounding number when you think about
the logistics of that in the 1950s and 60s. These
were people stuck in camps in Italy and Greece.
With nowhere to go. And the committee worked
the system, vouched for them and brought them
over. They basically built the foundation of
the Albanian -American diaspora. They absolutely
did. And they kept the culture alive, too. They
ran publications, a paper called Biperia, which
just means Albania. And later on, The Free Albanian.
Right, which ran all the way until 1970. They
were publishing news, preserving the language,
pushing back against the regime's propaganda.
So they transitioned from this. CIA -backed paramilitary
group into essentially a refugee aid and cultural
preservation organization. A very successful
one at that. So how does it all end? We know
Hawks' regime eventually falls. Right. Communism
collapses in Eastern Europe. And in 1992, the
committee officially disbands. Because they won.
Because, as they put it, their functions would
no longer be needed. The Cold War was over. Albania
was opening up. The reason for their existence
in exile was gone. Wow. From a secret meeting
in Paris plotting an invasion to a quiet disbandment
in New York 43 years later. It's quite the journey.
It really makes you think about the complexity
of liberation. You know, the West backed this
committee of former enemies hoping they'd spark
a revolution. And that completely failed. But
the regime eventually fell anyway just from internal
collapse. Right. Which leaves us with a really
provocative final thought to mull over. What's
that? Well, you look at their original goal.
overthrow the government. They failed. But you
look at the 15 ,000 lives they saved through
resettlement, the communities they built, the
culture they preserved in exile. Yeah. It makes
you wonder, was the committee's true legacy the
government they didn't overthrow or the 15 ,000
lives they saved? That is a very good question
to leave it on. Thanks for diving into this with
me. Anytime. And to you listening, thanks for
joining us on this deep dive. We will catch you
next time.