What is the original source of this Sigurimi logo? - History Stack Exchange

What is the original source of this Sigurimi logo?

2024-06-28T04:16:29Z

Wikipedia uses this image on every language page for Sigurimi, the Albanian Directorate of State Security from 1944 to 1991.

The image description asserts that this is a "Digital recreation of the Sigurimi logo, originally designed by Safo Marko" - however image searches for these keywords don't display any logo remotely resembling this image (except for what are clearly modern remixes of the vector logo taken from Wikipedia).

What is the original logo designed by Safo Marko on which that image is based?

Answer by Dan M for What is the original source of this Sigurimi logo?

2024-06-28T09:20:54Z

I've found two sources:

FIRST SOURCE:

is a photo from an excerpt of a master thesys of a student from Padua University (Italy) discussed in 2021.

The photo has been taken by the student herself in a museum in Tirana

I've looked on the museum site, but haven't found the same picture. Given that this is a quite new museum, may not be the original.

SECOND SOURCE:

The second one is a site that sell vintage poster(here the specific one), that has this one:

This one seems to me more "original" than the first one (note the picture on top in blue)

Specially if you search for the title of the magazine "Ne sherbim te popullit" on google images, you'll see it is used on many issues.

Upon other research, found on an Albanian site what may be the original one (here the specific page):

the used in the magazine. Unluckily, the image is without context or description.

Answer by ccprog for What is the original source of this Sigurimi logo?

2024-06-28T16:07:01Z

It at least seems plausible it is based on the original. In 2011, Maks Velo, an Albanian painter and journalist, who was imprisoned in 1978 for "agitation and propaganda" against the Hoxha regime, gave an interview, where he commented on the role of Safo Marko as well as his own as witnesses in the prosecution of a Hysenil Dume. About Marko, he says:

E kam njohur Safo Markon qysh në vitin ’60. Shpesh uleshim e pinim kafe te klubi i shkrimtarëve dhe artistëve. Ishte një grua e respektuar gruaja e Petro Markos, e bukur, e mençur, e aftë. Ishte një nga ilustratoret më të mira të kohës, realizonte pllakate shumë të mira, madje ajo ka realizuar edhe pllakatin e Sigurimit të Shtetit me krahët e shqiponjës dhe syrin. Me pak fjalë, ishte një kolege e nderuar dhe e respektuar.

I have known Safo Marko since 1960. We often sat and drank coffee at the club of writers and artists. The wife of Petro Markos was a respected woman, beautiful, wise, capable. She was one of the best illustrators of the time, she created very good posters, and she even created the placard of Sigurimi with eagle wings and an eye. In short, she was an honored and respected colleague.

This would be a confirmation that Safo Marko was the author of the Sigurimi Logo, and the description roughly fits the picture.

That said, the description page on Wikimedia Commons says it is a "digital recreation" of the version shown at the BunkArt Museum, so it has certainly gone through multiple stages of re-drawing.

This page says Safo Marko received a Republic's Award ("Çmimi i Republikës") for an exposition poster for the 20th anniversary of the Armed Forces of the Security of State, ("Pllakat e ekspozitës me rastin e XX vjetorit të Armës së Sigurimit të Shtetit", hopefully I got the translation right). The only picture in connection with that anniversary I found is this, which at least tells that the anniversary was in 1963.

The poster itself I could not locate. But in 1983, the PPSH published a booklet for the 40th anniversary, and its cover shows this motive: