“Managing the communist heritage. Learning and working for the future of Europe” – this was the theme of the first international summer camp held on the fields where the former communist labour camp in Spac, Albania, once stood. Organised by the Maximilian Kolbe Foundation – established by the Polish and German Bishops to serve the reconciliation of peoples – in cooperation with the Spac Museum and Renovabis, the initiative is part of the efforts to transform the field into a memorial to the communist atrocities committed in Albania. The 30 participants (from Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Ukraine) “met former prisoners and had in-depth discussions on the topic of communist crimes and their consequences in Albania”, a statement issued today by the press office of the German Bishops’ Conference reads. Participants also included German Archbishop Ludwig Schick (Bamberg) and Albanian Archbishop Angelo Massafra (Shkodër). “The truth about the past is essential for the future”, Mgr. Schick remarked, “particularly the historical review of the 1944-1991 period”. This is why it is important to preserve the remains of the labour camps as a “memory of that time”, to help “comfort the survivors and their loved ones, to expose the facts of this sad history, and to create important places of reflection”. Participants also worked to remove weeds and pick up waste at the site as a concrete contribution to the preservation of the area.