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&amp;amp;lt;a href=’https://www.cincopa.com/video-portal’&amp;amp;gt;Video Portal&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt; Powered by Cincopa.com&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;House of Leaves museum in Tirana&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;House of Leaves museum in Tirana. Photo: Ministry of Culture &amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;originaldate&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AM&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;width&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 2048&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;height&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1365&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;The house is surrounded by nature. 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Photo: Ministry of Culture&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;originaldate&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AM&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;width&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 2000&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;height&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1333&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;An engineer in the Sigurimi Operative Technical department showing a bug produced in Albania in 1975. 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Photo: BIRN&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;originaldate&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AM&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;width&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 960&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;height&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 720&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;Inside the House of Leaves. Photo. BIRN&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;originaldate&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AM&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;width&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 960&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt;height&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span&amp;amp;gt; 720&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;

Situated in the heart of Tirana, the two-storey villa still evokes a mixture of curiosity and fear.

The large trees in the courtyard and the surrounding walls conceal it from most by passersby – but for those who know about it, its reputation sends a chill down their spines.

For almost half-a-century the so-called “House of Leaves” was home to Albania’s infamous Communist-era secret service, the Sigurimi.

Built in 1931 to house the first private obstetrics clinic in Albania, the communists took it over after they seized power in Albania in the 1940s and turned in a headquarters of terror.

On Wednesday, it opened its doors for the first time to the public, now known as the Museum of Secret Surveillance.

In 31 rooms, visitors can now inspect the tools and techniques used by the Sigurimi to spy and obtain information about suspects, and they can judge for themselves how the lives of Albanians were affected by these grim activities.

“This museum is dedicated to those innocent people who were spied on, arrested, prosecuted, convicted and executed during the communist regime,” a sign reads at the entrance.

Each of the rooms presents a different aspect of the secret service’s work. The core of the exhibition is the spying tools. Hundreds of them are displayed on tables, revealing a surprising array of equipment for such a small, poor and isolated country as Albania.

Ylli Pata, a journalist visiting the museum, told BIRN that he had been looking forward to seeing if the rumours about the Sigurimi’s first-class equipment were true or not.

“I’m amazed. Now I understand that all the rumours about the efficiency of Sigurimi were true. They had the most modern technology of that time at their disposal,” he said.

Besides imported spy and surveillance equipment from Germany, Russia, Japan and China, what stands in the middle of the exhibits are the self-made Sigurimi bugs.

Nesti Vako, now 74, came to see the museum from a very different point of view – he helped to design these bugs.

From 1969 to 1991, he was the lead engineer of the Operative Technical Department of the Sigurimi.

“I’m proud to say that in 1975 we developed our own bugs. I made them with my own hands and they were really light with good quality,” he told BIRN, viewing his old bugs behind glass.

Rooms for wiretapping telephones, a darkroom for developing film and labs to test the presence of weaponised biological and radioactive chemicals are displayed in the museum.

The Sigurimi did not only have good technology to pursue its work but a large network of collaborators as well.

According to data in the museum, by 1949 the service already had 11,033 collaborators, 439 of whom were secret agents and 9,141 informants in the field.

In 1965, the number of total collaborators reached a peak of 16,178, with 1,088 agents and 12,332 informants.

In the last year of its existence, in 1990, the Sigurimi boasted 15,000 collaborators, among them 1,000 agents and 11,000 informants.

Not much remorse

The “House of Leaves” museum makes no bones about emphasising the terrifying impact of the secret service on the nation.

People’s lives were completely unprotected and spying was often activated even where there was no sign or proof that illicit activity had occurred.

“A word, a song, a casual meeting could quite well be considered hostile activity,” it reads on the walls of the museum.

Some Sigurimi collaborators’ files are also on show, at a time when, after many years of foot-dragging, the files have finally started opening up.

The exhibition becomes more emotional when it comes to the almost endless lists of those who were prosecuted, jailed and even executed. Many of these hapless victims were initially spied on and investigated by the Sigurimi.

But Nesti Vako told BIRN that he has no remorse about his former job in the service’s headquarters.

“We served the state and the nation to save order. In some cases, we begged people’s pardon after realising, through spying, that they had been wrongly accused,” he insisted.

However, he admits that some people in the Sigurimi abused their powers. “Abuses were present and mistakes were made,” he said.

The leaves in the courtyard of the building form a natural carpet, while their rustling seem to evoke whispers from Albania’s past, some of them decidedly creepy ones.

“Perhaps I did not think so at that time, but later I thought that these people who did not apologise might have had an insolent courage,” a quote from author Amik Kasoruho, on the wall of the museum’s exit, reads.