[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO GREGORY AND DR. NIKOLAOS STAVROU

                                 ______
                                 

                          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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