Forward, Side by Side

In the first day of liberation, partisan Meke enters the palace where the king used to live.

The Albanian people mourn the death of Stalin.

This newsreel presents the one and only visit to Albania by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. But behind the bear hugs and airport kisses, Enver Hoxha bristled at Khrushchev’s suggestion that the Albanian leader attempt reforms and back off from the demigod status accorded to the Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Within a year, Albania would create shock waves in the communist universe after Hoxha denounced Khrushchev at a 1960 Moscow party congress.