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7501), amend the Law on restitution and compensation of property (no. 9235) and implement
the consensus created by the population of Himarë/Himara area.
Kosta and Andrea: A Case Study
The late Kosta who was born in 1885 married within the village of Dhërmi/Drimades. His
wife Maria (born 1890) who after the wedding moved to his house had only one sister Sofia
(born 1875) and no brothers. Kosta and Maria had three children, two sons, Lambro (born
1909) and Mihailis (born 1911), and one daughter Eftihia (born1913). Maria got seriously
sick and Kosta spent a lot of money for her doctor. Kosta was forced to sell his house to a
local man and they moved to Maria’s father’s house. Since 1920 they lived there together
with Maria’s sister Sofia whose husband died in 1915. Then she also moved back to her
father’s house.
Eight years after Maria’s and Kosta’s re-settlement Maria died. Kosta’s first son Lambro
married a local girl Katerina (born 1943) who moved to Kosta’s house which was from then
on signed to Lambro and his future heirs. Lambro and his wife took care of Sofia and Kosta
until their death. Kosta’s second son Mihailis also married a local woman and built a house of
his own on the land that he inherited from Kosta which used to belong to Kosta’s father.
According to the local tradition Kosta’s only daughter Eftihia did not inherit anything and
after her wedding she moved to the house of her husband and her in-laws.
Besides Maria’s father’s house which was left to Lambro and the land that was given to
Mihailis, their father Kosta also owned 800 square metres of arable land, located in vicinity of
the house of his wife and 2000 square metres of non-arable land by the coast. The arable land
was assigned to Lambro whilst the land on the coast remained a common propriety of both
Lambro and Mihailis. By the end of the Second World War and at the beginning of
communism Lambro’s and Mihaili’s land became a part of the national property which later
in 1956 became managed by the agricultural cooperative. Both Lambro and Mihailis and their
wives became members of the cooperative and worked there until their death. Lambro died in
1970. Thirteen years later his brother Mihailis was also dead.
Lambro had eight children, five sons and three daughters. In the 1960s Lambro’s sons went to
study to Tirana. After completing their studies they began to work in different places in
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