Congress of Përmet Memorial

In May 1944, with the German occupation still in force and partisan brigades operating in the mountains, the Albanian Anti-Fascist National Liberation Congress convened in Përmet. It was a founding moment in Albanian history: the congress established the political structures that Enver Hoxha's communist movement would use to seize power after liberation, and it banned the return of the pre-war monarchy. Përmet was chosen partly because of the partisan strength in the surrounding Vjosa valley.

The Congress memorial in the town centre commemorates this event with an exhibit on the wartime resistance and the political decisions made here. It's a small but historically significant site — one of the places where the map of postwar Albania was drawn. The communist era has left it somewhat faded, but the building and the documents it houses give real context to the town's unusual importance for such a small place.

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A story
On 24 May 1944, the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Congress assembled in Përmet and voted to prohibit the return of King Zog — effectively deciding Albania's postwar political fate before the war had ended. The congress also formed the Anti-Fascist Committee of National Liberation, the political body that became the communist government by year's end. The town had been burnt by the Germans just months before.