About the State Security

To undertake an archival research, it is first necessary to become familiar with the history, organizational structure and procedural rules of the institution to which the document fund to be examined belongs. This takes on particular importance if this institution is a secret body and not open to the public, since during the research and interpretation of the documents, the context of their origin must first be understood.

What was the State Security?

The State Security Directorate, otherwise known as the “Security”, has its origins during the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War with the so-called “People’s Protection Sections” and officially began functioning on December 14, 1944. The Security was the national security, intelligence and secret police service of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. This body functioned during the period December 1944 - July 1991, which coincides with the totalitarian regime installed in Albania. De jure its duty was to protect Albania from dangers, but de facto the Security served to suppress political activity among the population and to preserve the longevity of the political system in power.

In August 1946, the Directorate of People's Protection was renamed the Directorate of State Security and became subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. With the territorial administrative division of 1947, the internal affairs directorates of the regions were organized, which were directly subordinate to the internal affairs branches in the regions. The region directorates had the same sectors as those of the Directorate of State Security: Counterintelligence; Fight against counter-revolutionary gangs, organizations and groups; Protection of the socialist economy; Operational evidence; Observation and control of diplomatic missions; Investigation, ciphers and secretariat.

In December 1948, the structure of the State Security was as follows: Branch I, Political Intelligence; State Security Directorate, with subdivisions: District Internal Affairs Branch, Anti-Gang War Sector, Counterintelligence Operational Branch, Army Security Branch and Leadership Protection Sector.

In the same year, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Albanian People's Party, after conducting an in-depth analysis of the work of the former Security bodies, approved the "Political and Organizational Platform of the State Security". The political platform of the State Security underwent changes in 1958, 1977 and 1985.

The Security structures were not only responsible for the creation and fabrication of files, but unfortunately also for their destruction. A large number of documents are destroyed, but this procedure in most cases is documented through destruction records which are part of the archival funds.