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“TRIBUTE TO GREGORY AND DR. NIKOLAOS STAVROU” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1854-E1855 on Sept. 28, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO GREGORY AND DR. NIKOLAOS STAVROU
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HON. DONALD M. PAYNE
of new jersey
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, we all remember the heady days when the Communist bloc collapsed on its own weight and the peoples of Eastern Europe came out of the dark days of totalitarianism and into the light of freedom. The collapse was so abrupt and so spontaneous that few people had the luxury of taking stock of the heroic efforts made by so many people over a period of 70 years that proceeded the days of freedom; and there were heroes in every country of Eastern Europe throughout the dark days of communist terror.
From all countries of Eastern Europe none was so isolated and its people more oppressed than Albania. The Enver Hoxha regime was the last one to collapse, and just a few days after its demise, over one million Albanians crossed the borders of neighboring countries in search of food and freedom. This particular regime thrived in its splendid isolation and the knowledge that if no one was allowed to enter or leave the country, then no one would tell the true story of a suffering people. But there were idealists who never forgot the Albanian people and found ways to expose the regimes' sins. I rise today to pay tribute to two such idealists who have been ignored in our hastiness to absolve all former communists if they would just declare themselves democrats, no questions asked. I must refer to two such individuals with unbound idealism, one whom lives among us, the other made the ultimate sacrifice. They are the Stavrou brothers, Gregory and Nikolaos.
Gregory, at age 23 assumed risky intelligence missions into Albania for the Greek service. In his last mission, aimed at restoring a vital network that the British traitor Kim Philby betrayed he, too, was betrayed, captured, tortured, tried before a military tribunal and executed on September 3, 1953. It appears he was Philby's last victim in Albania. I am told that Gregory's last words to the military judges were, ``I will do it again, if I have another chance.'' His heroism gave hope to the Albanian people that they were not forgotten. For his bravery, Gregory was posthumously decorated by Decree of the Greek Government on September 19, 1991 with the Medal of Exceptional Deeds for his courage and unparallel heroism.''
Dr. Nikolaos A. Stavrou, his brother and prominent professor in International Affairs at Howard University continued his brother's work by other means. His testimony before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and his appearance before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights earned him the wrath of the Hoxha regime. Dr. Stavrou was among the few scholars in the West who regularly exposed Albanian atrocities and Hoxha's vast gulag. His articles appeared in the Washington Post. Outlook Section, the Manchester Guardian, To Vema (Greece), Borba
(Yugoslavia), The World and I, World Affairs, and many other journals. For 12 years, he was the analyst of Albanian Affairs for the Hoover Institution's Annual Review of World Communist Movement. He annoyed the Tirana regime so badly that it condemned him to death in absentia.
For 15 years since the collapse of the Albanian Communist regime, Dr. Stavrou sought quietly the help of the Albanian Govermnent to locate, exhume and retrieve Gregory's remains and give him a decent funeral. He approached this truly human tragedy quietly and away from public fanfare and nationalistic overtones until now. Two Albanian Prime Ministers and a Speaker of the Albanian parliament promised him to conduct an inquiry into his brother's death but ultimately nothing came of it. As an American citizen, Dr. Stavrou sought the help of the State Department and again was disappointed. Though he never gave up searching for his brother, he was stymied in every step of the way. The evidence is overwhelming yet the Albanian Government has been less than forthcoming in helping Professor Stavrou honor a hero of the Cold War who happened to be his brother. I have also called upon our Department of State to use its good offices with the Albanian Government and to solve a humanitarian issue but never received a satisfactory answer. The least we can do is honor this family for the sacrifice they made for freedom. I am among those who consistently supported the cause of the Albanian peoples to gain their freedom and develop their country. However, our support should not be taken for granted. I hope the government of Prime Minister Berisha would be more respectful of those who gave their lives for freedom.
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