Symbol of Albanian Communist Detainees’ Suffering Dies

[TomSea]

Symbol of Albanian Communist Detainees’ Suffering Dies
Mrike Gjikola, a former prisoner whose long struggle to find her daughter’s grave highlighted the suffering of people interned in Communist-era detention camps, has died at the age of 97.
Gjergj Erebara   BIRN  Tirana

Mrike Gjikola, who spent years searching for the grave of her daughter who died in a Communist-era concentration camp, passed away in Fushe Mamurras in northern Albania on Monday. She was 97.

Gjikola became a symbol of efforts to remember the history of the Communist detention camp system in 2002 when, after 15 years of persistent research, she managed to find the unmarked grave of her seven-year-old daughter and rebury her remains in her home village.

On August 23 this year, Albanian President Ilir Meta awarded her a ‘Special Civic Merits’ honour during a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Tepelena concentration camp, where she was held by the Communist regime.

Read more at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/mrike-gjikola-a-symbol-of-efforts-to-not-forget-dies-at-97-09-04-2018