ALBANIA GETS WORD-AND MORE

By William F. Miller (NEW WORLDS)

Under the iron-fisted rule of the late dictator Enver Hoxha, an Albanian caught with a foreign book or magazine was arrested and sent to prison or executed. One can only imagine what the dictator would think if he were alive today to see a 300,000-book English-language library in his country, in the city of Pogradec, with more libraries planned. Much of the credit for the library, reported to be one of the largest public English-language book repositories in Eastern and Central Europe, goes to Peter C. Kole, a Cleveland industrialist of Albanian birth. Kole, 57, said his parents brought him to the United States when he was 1 year old. He spent his life becoming an American, until he went to Albania in 1990 and saw the terrible poverty and suffering there. "Then I knew I had to get involved in helping Albanians as an Albanian-American," he said. Kole has spent much of his free time in the last 4 ½ years helping to accumulate the books for shipment to Albania, one of the poorest and most oppressed countries in Europe. The books were stored in one of his warehouses in Cleveland until it was time for shipment. The U.S. Defense Department paid most of the shipping cost, but some private money also was raised. Kole also collected hospital and dental equipment to send to his former country. He said he really got lucky when the Cleveland Public Library was tearing down the Business and Science Annex at E. 6th St. and Superior Ave. to make way for a new building. He said library officials could not store all the books and gave him the discards. "We got 100,000 books from the Cleveland Public library, 100,000 from the Cuyahoga County Public Library and 50,000 books collected in Worcester, Mass.," Kole said. An additional 50,000 were collected from other sources. Some books in both Cleveland and Worcester were bought, but most were donated to the non-profit New England Albanian Relief Organization, of which Kole is a director and chairman of the book collection. To make sure the Pogradec library is properly established, the New England Albanian Relief organization hired Mary Hunter, 70, a retired librarian from Dallas, to catalog the books and run the library, Kole said. Hunter, of Albanian ancestry, was to stay a year, but she has become so involved that she plans to devote the rest of her life to helping Albania establish libraries, Kole said. The Pogradec library takes up three rooms in a government donated building of 15 rooms. Eventually the building will be filled with books that now wait in boxes to be cataloged and shelved. Kole said Albania, with a population of 3.3 million, is struggling to catch up with modern society. "Communism and dictator Hoxha kept Albania isolated from the rest of the world for 50 years," he said. Hoxha died in 1985. Hoxha crazily spent the country's finances on 1 million cement bunkers to defend the country. They have since been converted to public toilets. Now, Albanians are rushing to learn English so they can talk with Americans and use the new libraries, which also are being set up in Korce and Vlora and other cities as books become available. Many of the books from Cleveland are on business, science and medicine. Kole said these are the most important for Albanians because they need to start businesses and provide better health care. Kole, meanwhile, could serve as a prime example of industriousness. His office sits atop the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. factory at 1200 W. 58th St. where he operates the Paramount Stamping & Welding Co. The business employs 300 and makes seats for General Motors Corp. and stampings for other industries. His office overlooks Edgewater Park, where he played as a child. He grew up only a few blocks from the plant, where his father, Klime, and an uncle once worked. Kole started working at 13, bagging groceries in a supermarket. He graduated from West Technical High School and went off to study accounting at Idaho State University. He worked for the former Republic Steel Co. and other companies before striking out on his own to start his companies 17 years ago. He said he believes Albanians will follow the same capitalistic principles as he has, with a little financial boost from the United States.