Dictators’ Hideouts

Hoxha’s Bunker Madness

Following the cutting of ties of Albania from its allies, Enver Hoxha drives his country into geopolitical isolation, further fueling his paranoid notions of an imminent invasion and threat to his rule. His first plan, Bunkerization, involves the mass construction of hundreds of thousands of bunkers throughout the country, allowing his citizenry to wage guerilla warfare against the enemy he was sure would come. The plan quickly turns to folly, as the country is driven to financial ruin due to the mass expenditures required for the project. Still left yearning for more security, Hoxha establishes the megabunkers BUNK'ART 1 and BUNK'ART 2, before setting his sights on Corovoda, his mountain bunker also known as The Capital of War.