The Greek minority school textbooks during the Enver Hoxha period

Abstract

This study examines exclusively the school textbooks used by the Greek
community and written in Greek. These texts were selected from three politically
distinct periods. The first group is composed of texts used in the mid
1950’s, when Albania was a fully integrated satellite of the Soviet Union. The
second group includes books published between 1970 and 1972, a period when
Albania had disassociated itself from the Soviet Union and had been drawn
into the Chinese orbit. The last group of books, which is also the largest, were
published in 1973-1975. This was the period when Albania gradually broke
away from China, and the ice between Albania and Greece began to melt.
The study, which has examined more than thirty school books, reveals
one positive and one negative signpost for the future of the Greek minority.
The positive element is that the danger of linguistic assimilation, at least in
areas where the minority was recognized and where its children had the right
to primary education within their own community, was neither great nor
immediate. The negative element is that implementation of the theory of a
distinct, self-existent ethnic group, using the Greek language but with no
connection with Greece and the Greek world, could eventually, especially
in conjuction with the proscription of religion, render problematical the
survival of the Greek minority in Albania. However, it is fortunate that political
developments since 1990 have halted the decline of the minority before
it could vanish. With the overthrow of the communist regime, the Greek community
was offered a renewed dynamic lease of life in the land where their
forefathers have dwelt for centuries.