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Decision for Freedom

Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall the door to freedom in Tirana opened. On 2. Juli 1990, would-be expatriates forcefully entered the German embassy compound. Vilma Filaj-Ballvora followed a little later.

Vilma Filaj-Ballvora
Image: DW/M.Müller

A quarter century after the end of the Cold War, Vilma Filja-Ballvora recalls her escape from formerly communist Albania. As one of 5,000 embassy refugees, she came to Germany through Italy in July 1990. Today she leads the Albanian program at DW.

Motivated by the looming reunification of Germany and inspired by protests in Poland, would-be expatriates rammed the German embassy wall on 2. July 1990 and entered the compound to take refuge. A couple of days earlier, the aftermath of the events in Berlin had encouraged people to move towards the western embassies, in spite of the threat of repression through the communist regime.

The Decisive Night before 7 July

Vilma Filaj-Ballvora (50) only stepped onto the premises of the German embassy with her mother five days later. That is why she labeled the night prior to that day “the decisive night”. The night was determined by little sleep and intense discussions about the pros and cons of the escape. Once in the embassy, around 3,000 other refugees endured tough circumstances for five days, until they were finally able to leave towards Germany. Their path led from Tirana to Durrës, over a waterway to Brindisi in Italy and then onwards by train to Germany. She did not speak German then. Her only conception about Germany was created by short-wave radio and illegally smuggled newspapers.

Filaj-Ballvora was a journalist at Albania’s public station Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) until she left. Programs on culture and youth issues gave her some leeway to find creative alternatives, unlike the news programs, which were controlled by the regime. Looking back at the events, Filaj-Ballvora stresses how important keeping her job was for the transition to Germany. She values being able to exercise her job freely, “unrestricted by the close-minded communist jail”.

„Small, but nice“

Filaj-Ballvora has many different jobs as team leader of the Albanian program. These range from the development of the journalistic program to management of the office. The DW program in Albanian offers a daily and weekly TV magazine. There is also a TV correspondence with partners in Albania and Kosovo three times a week. “Assessments regarding the situation in Europe and Germany, bilateral topics between Germans and Albanians as well as expert interviews are especially sought after”, explains the team leader of eleven.

The program is relatively small as a “window to Europe”, but important and a “treasure” for Albanian speakers, says Filay-Ballvora. “Small, but nice”, that means concentrating on international highlights which are not covered in the Albanian speaking target area, which still has limited and inward-looking reporting. “DW has accompanied the development and opening of Albania, and is indispensible as a western voice there”, says Filay-Ballvora. One of the goals is to bring Europe closer to the people in the target areas.

Besides personal belongings, Filay-Ballvora also had to leave behind loved ones in Tirana. She still visits them regularly these days, but her home is somewhere else. “I spent half of my life in Germany. I feel very well when I visit friends and family in Albania,” Filay-Ballvora explains, and then smilingly adds: “but my home is here”.