1939 - 1949
Part 1 - Introduction
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
Very little has been written about the Macedonians in Greece and their involvement in World War II and in the Greek Civil War. Macedonians who live in Greece to this day are afraid to speak of their terrible ordeals for fear of repercussions from the Greek authorities or because it is simply too painful for them to remember. To this day it is taboo in Greece to speak of the Greek Civil War.
The Macedonians in Greece it seems have been ignored by all sides. Yugoslavia has ignored them because it did not want to ruin its good relations with Greece. Greece on the other hand, to this day claims that Macedonians simply do not exist and wants no part of them. Bulgaria, even though it has a large Macedonian immigrant population from Greece, has yet to recognize the Macedonian people as a distinct ethnic group. So in reality no one really cares about the Macedonians in Greece and as a result very little to nothing has been written about them. "Indeed, the Macedonians in Greece are hardly ever mentioned in scholarly literature and have been virtually forgotten as a people and as a national minority." (Andrew Rossos)
This is most unfortunate not only because the Macedonian contribution to the struggle against Fascism and Nazism has been completely omitted, but because the Macedonian people themselves living in Greece despite their contributions, have been completely ignored as if they didn't exist.
In the chapters that follow we will make an attempt to tell the Macedonian story as it unfolded from a Macedonian point of view.
The story begins with an overview of events starting with Macedonia's invasion, occupation and partition by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria in 1912, 1913 to events leading up to the start of World War II.
A more detailed approach will then be taken to explain the Macedonian involvement in World War II and in the Greek Civil War.
This is not a story about battles fought and strategies applied but rather a story about the human factor and about struggles for equality and human rights. It is a story that will reveal, perhaps for the first time to English speakers, of how the Macedonians in Greece were treated by Greek authorities and by the Great Powers during the war years from 1939 to 1949.
Greece has accused the Macedonian people living in Greece of being autonomists, separatists, communists and even of being foreign agents. But as we will see, none of these accusations are true; the only things Macedonians are guilty of are struggling for equality and human rights.
In spite of all assurances made by the Macedonian leadership during World War II and during the Greek Civil War that it had no intention of leading an autonomist or separatist movement, the Greek leadership always remained suspicious and used every opportunity to stifle the Macedonian struggle.
All through the war years the Greek leadership was divided into two dominant factions; one leaning to the left and the other leaning to the right. Even though there were many political parties in Greece, each tended to lean to the left or to the right. So, to avoid confusion and for the sake of simplicity in telling this story, we will assume that there were only two sides; the Right and the Left. While the Left was lead by the Communist Party of Greece (CPG), a significant player in World War II and in the Greek Civil War, the Right was lead by a number and variation of parties to which, for the purpose of this write-up, we will refer as the Monarcho-Fascist Parties (MFP).
After Greece's occupation by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, the CPG was the first organization to successfully organize a resistance movement against the occupiers. The Macedonian people joined this movement because historically the CPG, at least in theory, supported the idea of equality and human rights for the Macedonian people. But as it turned out, this support was only a ploy to get the Macedonian population involved in the struggle. "It (CPG) was the only political party in Greece to recognize the Macedonian national identity and to have a public policy on the Macedonian national question.
Against considerable opposition, the Third Extraordinary Congress of the KKE (GCP), meeting from November 26 to December 3, 1924, endorsed the Comintern line: support for a united Macedonian state in a future Balkan communist federation. This position was in basic accord with the demands of Macedonian activists and patriots, but it was extremely unpopular among the Greeks. The inauguration of the Popular Front line by the Comintern gave the Greek Communist Party the opportunity to replace it. Its Sixth Congress, in December 1935, adopted a new policy supporting equality for all national minorities in Greece, including the Macedonian; this remained its official stand until early l949." (Andrew Rossos)
As mentioned earlier, Macedonia was invaded, occupied and partitioned into three parts in 1913 and a small part was later given to Albania. To avoid confusion as to which part of Macedonia we are referring, in the subsequent chapters we will use the following:
- To the part of Macedonia annexed by Greece, commonly known as "Aegean Macedonia", we will refer to as "Greek occupied Macedonia".
- To the part of Macedonia annexed by Serbia, commonly known as "Vardar Macedonia" we will refer to as the "Republic of Macedonia".
- To the part of Macedonia annexed by Bulgaria, commonly known as "Pirin Macedonia, we will refer to as "Bulgarian occupied Macedonia".
- To the part of Macedonia that was annexed by Albania, commonly known as "Mala Prespa" we will refer to as "Albanian occupied Macedonia".
- The word "Macedonia" used on its own will mean the entire region of Macedonia.
Also, to avoid confusion between the various National Liberation Fronts that sprung up during the occupation years in the states that occupied Macedonian territories, we will refer to as follows:
- To what is commonly known as the EAM (Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo) in Greek we will refer to by its English equivalent the "Greek National Liberation Front" or GNLF.
- To what is commonly known as NOF (Naroden Osloboditelen Front) in Macedonian we will refer to by its English equivalent the "Macedonian National Liberation Front (Greece)", or MNLF(G). This was the Macedonian organization in Greece formed by the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia.
- To what is commonly known as NOF (Naroden Osloboditelen Front) in Macedonian we will refer to as the "Macedonian National Liberation Front (Yugoslavia)" or MNLF(Y). This was the Macedonian organization in Yugoslavia formed by the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia.
During the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia, the CPG-GNLF had an armed organization or military wing called ELAS (Ellinikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos). This organization will be referred to as the "National Liberation Army of Greece" (NLAG).
During the Greek Civil War the CPG formed a different armed organization known as the DSE (Dimokratikos Stratos tis Elladas). This organization will be referred to as the "Democratic Army of Greece" (DAG).
As this write-up is intended for a wide audience, we chose to use acronyms based on the English name equivalents for easier understanding.
Since the Macedonian people are of one ethnic group and recognize themselves as one ethnic Macedonian identity regardless of where they live, the term "Macedonians" will refer to all Macedonian people worldwide. References like "Macedonians in Greece" or "Macedonians in Canada" will mean "ethnic Macedonians living in Greece" or "ethnic Macedonians living in Canada".
It is also important to emphasize at this point that the Macedonians living in Canada, Australia, the USA and other places outside of Macedonia are Macedonian migrants who over the years immigrated to those places, whereas the Macedonian people living in Macedonia are indigenous to Macedonia and have lived in Macedonia for many millennia. The Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian and Albanian people, who now live in Macedonia, are colonists who immigrated to Macedonia or were placed there by their respective states over the years, mostly after Macedonia's occupation in 1912.
We decided to use "Greek occupied Macedonia" and "Bulgarian occupied Macedonia" to refer to those regions in order to bring attention to the plight of the Macedonian people living there. Even though Macedonians are indigenous to Macedonia and feel they are its original landowners and caretakers, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania by act of war occupied, partitioned and annexed Macedonia for themselves in 1912, 1913. Besides losing their lands, these Macedonians, especially those living in Greece and Bulgaria, since then have been economically and culturally oppressed.
They have been stripped of the right to call themselves Macedonian, practice their Macedonian culture and speak their Macedonian language. Since 1912 many have also been evicted from their homes, stripped from their lands, forcibly assimilated into foreign nations, tortured, jailed, murdered and denied their ethnic identity, language and culture simply because they are Macedonian. It is also evident that Macedonians have been denied economic opportunities like well paid jobs, positions of authority in government, positions in educational institutions, high positions in the military, etc.
The reasons for this are obvious. By denying the Macedonians their ethnic identity Greece and Bulgaria can claim that Macedonians don't exist and if Macedonians don't exist there will be no claims laid to the lands they acquired illegally by war. Above that, both Bulgaria and Greece have adopted parts of the Macedonian heritage and thus have claimed parts of Macedonia's history as their own. To acknowledge the existence of a Macedonian identity would then mean admission of cultural theft. Therefore from a Macedonian point of view to call those regions of Macedonia "occupied" is more than justifiable.
Yet, in spite of all this, the Macedonian people in Greece fought against Fascism and Nazism in World War II in order to help preserve Greece. They did this because they wanted to live in peace as equals to the Greeks, a concept the Greek mind cannot accept to this day.
Be it in World War II or in the Greek Civil War, the Macedonian people, proportionally speaking, bore the brunt of the wars. The heaviest battles during the Greek Civil War including the decisive ones, took part in Western Greek occupied Macedonia in the area bordering Yugoslavia and Albania. Greek occupied Macedonia served as a base for the political and military operations of the "democratic movement" and as the headquarters of both the CPG and its military wing the DAG. Greek occupied Macedonia was also of strategic importance to the CPG because its allies Yugoslavia, Albania and Soviet Russia were located to the north and access to them could only be gained through the cooperation of the Macedonian people in Greece. "As one participant and close observer put it: '[They] were turned into military workshops for the DSE (DAG), where everyone, young and old, male and female, served the needs of the DSE (DAG).'" (Andrew Rossos)
Besides civilian cooperation, a proportionally large number of fighters had also joined the ranks of the left. "Reliable statistics do not exist, but Macedonians seem to have constituted only around a twentieth of the total population of about seven million. Their estimated representation in the DSE (DAG) ranged from more than a quarter in April 1947 to more than two-thirds in mid-1949. Risto Kirjazovski maintains that they numbered 5,250 out of 20,000 in April 1947; and Lieutenant Colonel Pando Vajnas claimed that in January 1948 there were about 11,000 Macedonian partisans in the DSE (DAG). According to C. M. Woodhouse, 'they numbered 11,000 out of 25,000 in 1948, but 14,000 out of less than 20,000 by mid-1949.'" (Andrew Rossos)
Even though there was a proportionally large Macedonian contribution to both World War II and to the Greek Civil War there is very little to none attributed to the Macedonian people and to their sacrifices.
Besides addressing the Macedonian contribution, in the chapters that follow, we will also address the violence and scare tactics the Greek State employed to counter the Macedonian struggle and the atrocities it committed in the process.
In doing research for this book we encountered the term "Slavo-Macedonians" used by authors, mostly by Greeks, to refer to ethnic Macedonians. The use of this term implies that there is more than one "variety" of Macedonian but outside of "Slavo-Macedonians" no "other type" of Macedonian was identified. So for the purpose of this write-up, as mentioned earlier, the term "Macedonians" will be used to refer to the ethnic Macedonians no matter where they live. Further, we consider the term "Slavo-Macedonian" to be derogatory to the Macedonian people who self-identify as "Macedonians".
The term "Slavo-Macedonians" is intentionally employed by Greek authors to isolate and segregate Macedonians making them feel inferior, like foreigners on their own ancestral lands. The development of the modern Macedonian nation is no different than the development of any other modern nation but we don't see the same authors use terms like "Slavo-Greek", "Slavo-Bulgarian", "Slavo-Serbian", "Slavo-Albanian", etc., to refer to other ethnicities even though elements of what make up the modern Macedonian nation are present in the Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian and Albanian nations. Therefore we justifiably feel that the use of the term "Slavo-Macedonians" is intentional and unnecessary and we recommend that it not be used in any context to refer to ethnic Macedonians.
To be continued...
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 2 - Macedonia's Annexationby Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria
March 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
When we speak of the Balkan Wars of 1912, 1913 we often speak of the invasion, occupation and partition of Macedonia with intent of liberating the region from the Ottoman occupier but we seldom speak of the aftermath; the subjugation and oppression of the Macedonian people.
Some may call it liberation but what took place after the Balkan wars the Macedonian people would call genocide and cultural obliteration.
The only thing Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria liberated during the Balkan Wars were Macedonian lands which they quickly occupied and annexed for themselves.
While the world was congratulating Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria for their good deeds of kicking the sick man out of Macedonia, the Macedonian people were facing new horrors never before experienced.
After almost six centuries of Ottoman occupation the Macedonian people, instead of being liberated like their neighbours had promised, were now about to face new and more lethal ordeals more damaging than ever before.
After they failed to free themselves in 1903, the Macedonian people welcomed the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian armies as saviours when they invaded and attacked the Ottomans. The entire Macedonian population, including the armed rebels who fought in the 1903 uprising joined the frenzied fight to get rid of the Ottomans. The vast majority of Macedonians believed their neighbours' propaganda when they were told the armies were here to liberate them. Why shouldn't they have believed them? After all, they were all Christian brothers who had suffered immensely under Ottoman rule. The Macedonians were more than willing to lend a helping hand when Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria were being liberated. Now it was Macedonia's turn and it was only fair that their neighbours return the favour.
"Brothers:-your sufferings and your pains have touched the heart of your kindred. Moved by the sacred duty of fraternal compassion, they come to your aid to free you from the Turkish yoke. In return for their sacrifice they desire nothing but to reestablish peace and order in the land of our birth. Come to meet these brave knights of freedom therefore with triumphal crowns. Cover the way before their feet with flowers and glory. And be magnanimous to those who yesterday were your masters. As true Christians, give them not evil for evil. Long live liberty! Long live the brave army of liberation!" (George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993. Page 50).
Unfortunately there were very few people who saw the dangers of this invasion and their voices were drowned out in the chorus of the frenzy. Many leading Macedonians, including Krste Misirkov, warned against such false hopes, but most Macedonians, fed up with their intolerable living conditions could not see the danger. Mesmerized by slick propaganda, they were more than ready to welcome their liberators.
"The notion that our Christian brothers are here to occupy us and turn us into Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians is so ridiculous that it is downright funny. If a horse can be turned into a donkey; or if a sheep can be turned into a goat then we will believe that a Macedonian can be turned into a Greek, a Serbian, or a Bulgarian" were the attitudes of the Macedonian masses as the foreign armies marched into Macedonia unabated.
Then as the so called "war of liberation" ended and the Ottomans were driven out, and the three wolves turned on each other for a bigger share of the carcass, it became apparent to most that what seemed ridiculous less that a year before was now turning into a living nightmare.
The Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians, it seems, had their own way of determining who was a friend and who was a foe after Macedonians were butchered for their alleged sympathies with the "other side" or because they were affiliated with the wrong Christian Orthodox Church.
"Praying to the same God by different tongues can change a man's identity as much as words alone can change one's own blood into someone else's." Well spoken words of wisdom but unfortunately rational thinking and common sense was not the motto of the invaders whose armies were poisoned to see Greeks, Serbians, or Bulgarians in the Macedonians and to massacre everything on sight that was alien to them.
The Greek soldiers in the territories of Macedonia which they occupied saw everyone who could not speak Greek or who was not affiliated with the Greek Patriarchic Christian Orthodox Church as the enemy, be it man, woman, or child of any age.
"The Servian soldier, like the Greek, was firmly persuaded that in Macedonia he would find compatriots, men who could speak his language and address him with jivio or zito. He found men speaking a language different from his, who cried hourrah! He misunderstood or did not understand at all. The theory he had learned from youth of the existence of a Servian Macedonia and a Greek Macedonia naturally suffered; but his patriotic conviction that Macedonia must become Greek or Servian, if not so already, remained unaffected. Doubtless Macedonia had been what he wanted it to become in those times of Douchan the Strong or the Byzantine Emperors. It was only agitators and propagandist Bulgarians who instilled into the population the idea of being Bulgarian. The agitators must be driven out of the country, and it would again become what it had always been, Servian or Greek. Accordingly they acted on this basis. Who were these agitators who had made the people forget the Greek and Servian tongues?
First, they were the priests; then the schoolmasters; lastly the revolutionary elements who, under the ancient regime, had formed an 'organization'; heads of bands and their members, peasants who had supplied them with money or food, -in a word the whole of the male population." (George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993. Page 50-51)
In other words, to a Greek, Bulgarian or Serbian soldier, if a person was not of their kind as he had been taught about back home, then this person was the enemy and in Macedonia, the entire Macedonian population was the enemy.
No sooner had the invading armies consolidated their hold on Macedonia, than they arrested and punished all Macedonians regarded as leaders and venerated as heroes by the population, while the dregs, the very men who caused much suffering, were raised to greatness.
Progressive disintegration of social and national life in Macedonia began with the entry of the occupying Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian armies and has not ceased to this day (in Greece and Bulgaria).
As attested by the 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry Commission and the lost mailbag of letters captured from the Greek soldiers from the nineteenth regiment of the Greek seventh division fighting in Macedonia, all three States, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia committed atrocities against the Macedonian people during the 1912 and 1913 Balkan wars. However, for the purpose of this write-up, the focus of investigation will be on the Greeks about whom more detailed information can be found in the six part series at the following link: http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html
When war broke out in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913, the Carnegie Endowment dispatched a commission on a fact finding mission. The mission consisted of seven prominent members from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. Among them was the distinguished journalist Henry N. Brailsford, author of the book "Macedonia its Races and their Future".
The commission was dispatched from Paris on August 2nd, 1913 shortly before the end of the second Balkan war and returned to Paris nearly eight weeks later, on September 28th. In spite of opposition from the Greek government, the commission arrived in time to witness much of the war's aftermath and record most accounts while they were still fresh in people's minds. The results drawn from this investigation were printed in Washington DC in 1914 under the title "Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Cause and the Conduct of the Balkan Wars". Unfortunately because of the flare-up of World War I, no action was taken and the report itself ended up being shelved.
Still in the midst of excitement, the first Balkan war was accepted by European opinion as a war of Liberation. In the European mind, its conclusion meant the downfall of the Ottoman regime in Europe and the end of all oppression. Unfortunately, European understanding of the Macedonian situation was far from reality as one tyrant was being replaced by three. While the Ottoman regime tolerated the various religions, languages and traditions of all races in their Empire, the new tyrants did not. As soon as they consolidated their hold on Macedonia, they began to act on its population.
First came the evictions and the first ones to be thrown out were the Muslim Macedonians. Even though they spoke the Macedonian language and insisted that they were Macedonians, not Turks, their captors relentlessly cast them out. For no reason other than being Muslim, they were evicted from their homes and forced out from their ancestral lands.
After the Turkish authorities vacated Macedonia, all that was left were civilians. No Turk dared remain behind knowing what awaited him. So the Turkish villages that the Carnegie report was referring to were in fact Macedonian villages inhabited by Muslim Macedonians.
When they were finished with the Turks, the Greek soldiers turned on the Macedonian civilian population and uncontrollably, with the blessing of the Greek State and the Greek King himself, pillaged, tortured, raped and murdered defenseless people. Atrocities committed against the civilian population in Macedonia, including the burning of villages, were simply cold acts of genocide perpetrated to eradicate the Macedonian population in order to make room for Greek colonization.
The Carnegie Relief Commission reported that in Macedonia alone 160 villages were razed leaving 16,000 homeless. Several thousand civilians had been murdered and over 100,000 were forced to emigrate as refugees. (Michael A. Radin. "IMRO and the Macedonian Question". Skopje: Kultura, 1993. Page 149).
Macedonian families known to attend the Exarchate Church were ordered by force to "take with them what they could carry and get out". "This is Greece now and there is no place for Bulgarians here." Those who remained were forced to swear loyalty to the Greek State. Anyone refusing to take the loyalty oath was either executed, as an example of what would happen to those disloyal, or evicted from the country. To explain the mass evacuations, Greek officials claimed that the inhabitants of Macedonia left by choice or became Greek by choice. The truth is no one was given any choice at all.
The triple occupation worsened living conditions in Macedonia but the fighting spirit of the Macedonian people continued to live underground and abroad. Three generations of fighting for liberty, freedom and an independent Macedonia came to a close. The Ilinden generation and the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization were defeated, not by the Ottomans or Muslim oppression but by Christian cruelty and deception.
Soon after the occupation, underground societies sprang up everywhere urging the Macedonian people to refuse their new fate and oppose the partition. Accordingly, many Macedonians did so by refusing to obey the new officialdom and by not participating in the new institutions. This, however, did not stop the military regimes occupying Macedonia from exposing the population to systematic denationalization and violent assimilation.
Macedonians again saw hope after the Great War that maybe while a new world order was being created, the Great Powers would see to it to reverse the dreaded 1913 Treaty of Bucharest that divided their country, but those hopes too were dashed in 1919 at the Versailles conference when the Great Powers ratified the Treaty of Bucharest, making Macedonia's division permanent.
The end of the Great War brought peace to the world but not to the subjugated Macedonian population which, as was done in 1878 when Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans, was again done in 1919 when Macedonia and its people were given back to their tormentors the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians.
One good thing for the Macedonians that came out of Versailles was Article 51, the League of Nations' code to "protect national minorities". Article 51 of the Treaty of Versailles espouses equality of civil rights, education, language and religion for all national minorities. Unfortunately, article 51 was never implemented by the Balkan States or enforced by the League of Nations which Greece and Bulgaria, to this day, violate and ignore. Why is this? Because to this day, Greece and Bulgaria claim that "the Macedonian identity" does not exist and has never existed.
Greece was immensely rewarded for its participation in the Great War. At the conclusion of the Treaty, Greece got back what it had previously annexed and, additionally, received a large portion of Epirus, western Thrace, Crete and the Aegean Islands. It is important to mention here that when Albania's affirmation for independence was signed, at the London Conference in February 1920, more of Macedonia's territory was partitioned. A narrow strip of land running through Lake Ohrid and southward along Macedonia's western boundary was awarded to Albania.
Soon after arriving victorious in Greece, the Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, in a speech in Solun, announced his plans for the creation of a "Greater Greece", the so called "Megali Idea" which was to bring together all the so called "Greek peoples" under a single Greater Greek State.
Sources:
Chris Stefou. "History of the Macedonian People from Ancient times to the Present". Toronto: Risto Stefov Publications, 2005.
George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993.
Michael A. Radin. "IMRO and the Macedonian Question". Skopje: Kultura, 1993.
To be continued...
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 2 - Macedonia's Annexationby Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria
March 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
When we speak of the Balkan Wars of 1912, 1913 we often speak of the invasion, occupation and partition of Macedonia with intent of liberating the region from the Ottoman occupier but we seldom speak of the aftermath; the subjugation and oppression of the Macedonian people.
Some may call it liberation but what took place after the Balkan wars the Macedonian people would call genocide and cultural obliteration.
The only thing Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria liberated during the Balkan Wars were Macedonian lands which they quickly occupied and annexed for themselves.
While the world was congratulating Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria for their good deeds of kicking the sick man out of Macedonia, the Macedonian people were facing new horrors never before experienced.
After almost six centuries of Ottoman occupation the Macedonian people, instead of being liberated like their neighbours had promised, were now about to face new and more lethal ordeals more damaging than ever before.
After they failed to free themselves in 1903, the Macedonian people welcomed the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian armies as saviours when they invaded and attacked the Ottomans. The entire Macedonian population, including the armed rebels who fought in the 1903 uprising joined the frenzied fight to get rid of the Ottomans. The vast majority of Macedonians believed their neighbours' propaganda when they were told the armies were here to liberate them. Why shouldn't they have believed them? After all, they were all Christian brothers who had suffered immensely under Ottoman rule. The Macedonians were more than willing to lend a helping hand when Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria were being liberated. Now it was Macedonia's turn and it was only fair that their neighbours return the favour.
"Brothers:-your sufferings and your pains have touched the heart of your kindred. Moved by the sacred duty of fraternal compassion, they come to your aid to free you from the Turkish yoke. In return for their sacrifice they desire nothing but to reestablish peace and order in the land of our birth. Come to meet these brave knights of freedom therefore with triumphal crowns. Cover the way before their feet with flowers and glory. And be magnanimous to those who yesterday were your masters. As true Christians, give them not evil for evil. Long live liberty! Long live the brave army of liberation!" (George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993. Page 50).
Unfortunately there were very few people who saw the dangers of this invasion and their voices were drowned out in the chorus of the frenzy. Many leading Macedonians, including Krste Misirkov, warned against such false hopes, but most Macedonians, fed up with their intolerable living conditions could not see the danger. Mesmerized by slick propaganda, they were more than ready to welcome their liberators.
"The notion that our Christian brothers are here to occupy us and turn us into Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians is so ridiculous that it is downright funny. If a horse can be turned into a donkey; or if a sheep can be turned into a goat then we will believe that a Macedonian can be turned into a Greek, a Serbian, or a Bulgarian" were the attitudes of the Macedonian masses as the foreign armies marched into Macedonia unabated.
Then as the so called "war of liberation" ended and the Ottomans were driven out, and the three wolves turned on each other for a bigger share of the carcass, it became apparent to most that what seemed ridiculous less that a year before was now turning into a living nightmare.
The Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians, it seems, had their own way of determining who was a friend and who was a foe after Macedonians were butchered for their alleged sympathies with the "other side" or because they were affiliated with the wrong Christian Orthodox Church.
"Praying to the same God by different tongues can change a man's identity as much as words alone can change one's own blood into someone else's." Well spoken words of wisdom but unfortunately rational thinking and common sense was not the motto of the invaders whose armies were poisoned to see Greeks, Serbians, or Bulgarians in the Macedonians and to massacre everything on sight that was alien to them.
The Greek soldiers in the territories of Macedonia which they occupied saw everyone who could not speak Greek or who was not affiliated with the Greek Patriarchic Christian Orthodox Church as the enemy, be it man, woman, or child of any age.
"The Servian soldier, like the Greek, was firmly persuaded that in Macedonia he would find compatriots, men who could speak his language and address him with jivio or zito. He found men speaking a language different from his, who cried hourrah! He misunderstood or did not understand at all. The theory he had learned from youth of the existence of a Servian Macedonia and a Greek Macedonia naturally suffered; but his patriotic conviction that Macedonia must become Greek or Servian, if not so already, remained unaffected. Doubtless Macedonia had been what he wanted it to become in those times of Douchan the Strong or the Byzantine Emperors. It was only agitators and propagandist Bulgarians who instilled into the population the idea of being Bulgarian. The agitators must be driven out of the country, and it would again become what it had always been, Servian or Greek. Accordingly they acted on this basis. Who were these agitators who had made the people forget the Greek and Servian tongues?
First, they were the priests; then the schoolmasters; lastly the revolutionary elements who, under the ancient regime, had formed an 'organization'; heads of bands and their members, peasants who had supplied them with money or food, -in a word the whole of the male population." (George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993. Page 50-51)
In other words, to a Greek, Bulgarian or Serbian soldier, if a person was not of their kind as he had been taught about back home, then this person was the enemy and in Macedonia, the entire Macedonian population was the enemy.
No sooner had the invading armies consolidated their hold on Macedonia, than they arrested and punished all Macedonians regarded as leaders and venerated as heroes by the population, while the dregs, the very men who caused much suffering, were raised to greatness.
Progressive disintegration of social and national life in Macedonia began with the entry of the occupying Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian armies and has not ceased to this day (in Greece and Bulgaria).
As attested by the 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry Commission and the lost mailbag of letters captured from the Greek soldiers from the nineteenth regiment of the Greek seventh division fighting in Macedonia, all three States, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia committed atrocities against the Macedonian people during the 1912 and 1913 Balkan wars. However, for the purpose of this write-up, the focus of investigation will be on the Greeks about whom more detailed information can be found in the six part series at the following link: http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html
When war broke out in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913, the Carnegie Endowment dispatched a commission on a fact finding mission. The mission consisted of seven prominent members from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. Among them was the distinguished journalist Henry N. Brailsford, author of the book "Macedonia its Races and their Future".
The commission was dispatched from Paris on August 2nd, 1913 shortly before the end of the second Balkan war and returned to Paris nearly eight weeks later, on September 28th. In spite of opposition from the Greek government, the commission arrived in time to witness much of the war's aftermath and record most accounts while they were still fresh in people's minds. The results drawn from this investigation were printed in Washington DC in 1914 under the title "Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Cause and the Conduct of the Balkan Wars". Unfortunately because of the flare-up of World War I, no action was taken and the report itself ended up being shelved.
Still in the midst of excitement, the first Balkan war was accepted by European opinion as a war of Liberation. In the European mind, its conclusion meant the downfall of the Ottoman regime in Europe and the end of all oppression. Unfortunately, European understanding of the Macedonian situation was far from reality as one tyrant was being replaced by three. While the Ottoman regime tolerated the various religions, languages and traditions of all races in their Empire, the new tyrants did not. As soon as they consolidated their hold on Macedonia, they began to act on its population.
First came the evictions and the first ones to be thrown out were the Muslim Macedonians. Even though they spoke the Macedonian language and insisted that they were Macedonians, not Turks, their captors relentlessly cast them out. For no reason other than being Muslim, they were evicted from their homes and forced out from their ancestral lands.
After the Turkish authorities vacated Macedonia, all that was left were civilians. No Turk dared remain behind knowing what awaited him. So the Turkish villages that the Carnegie report was referring to were in fact Macedonian villages inhabited by Muslim Macedonians.
When they were finished with the Turks, the Greek soldiers turned on the Macedonian civilian population and uncontrollably, with the blessing of the Greek State and the Greek King himself, pillaged, tortured, raped and murdered defenseless people. Atrocities committed against the civilian population in Macedonia, including the burning of villages, were simply cold acts of genocide perpetrated to eradicate the Macedonian population in order to make room for Greek colonization.
The Carnegie Relief Commission reported that in Macedonia alone 160 villages were razed leaving 16,000 homeless. Several thousand civilians had been murdered and over 100,000 were forced to emigrate as refugees. (Michael A. Radin. "IMRO and the Macedonian Question". Skopje: Kultura, 1993. Page 149).
Macedonian families known to attend the Exarchate Church were ordered by force to "take with them what they could carry and get out". "This is Greece now and there is no place for Bulgarians here." Those who remained were forced to swear loyalty to the Greek State. Anyone refusing to take the loyalty oath was either executed, as an example of what would happen to those disloyal, or evicted from the country. To explain the mass evacuations, Greek officials claimed that the inhabitants of Macedonia left by choice or became Greek by choice. The truth is no one was given any choice at all.
The triple occupation worsened living conditions in Macedonia but the fighting spirit of the Macedonian people continued to live underground and abroad. Three generations of fighting for liberty, freedom and an independent Macedonia came to a close. The Ilinden generation and the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization were defeated, not by the Ottomans or Muslim oppression but by Christian cruelty and deception.
Soon after the occupation, underground societies sprang up everywhere urging the Macedonian people to refuse their new fate and oppose the partition. Accordingly, many Macedonians did so by refusing to obey the new officialdom and by not participating in the new institutions. This, however, did not stop the military regimes occupying Macedonia from exposing the population to systematic denationalization and violent assimilation.
Macedonians again saw hope after the Great War that maybe while a new world order was being created, the Great Powers would see to it to reverse the dreaded 1913 Treaty of Bucharest that divided their country, but those hopes too were dashed in 1919 at the Versailles conference when the Great Powers ratified the Treaty of Bucharest, making Macedonia's division permanent.
The end of the Great War brought peace to the world but not to the subjugated Macedonian population which, as was done in 1878 when Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans, was again done in 1919 when Macedonia and its people were given back to their tormentors the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians.
One good thing for the Macedonians that came out of Versailles was Article 51, the League of Nations' code to "protect national minorities". Article 51 of the Treaty of Versailles espouses equality of civil rights, education, language and religion for all national minorities. Unfortunately, article 51 was never implemented by the Balkan States or enforced by the League of Nations which Greece and Bulgaria, to this day, violate and ignore. Why is this? Because to this day, Greece and Bulgaria claim that "the Macedonian identity" does not exist and has never existed.
Greece was immensely rewarded for its participation in the Great War. At the conclusion of the Treaty, Greece got back what it had previously annexed and, additionally, received a large portion of Epirus, western Thrace, Crete and the Aegean Islands. It is important to mention here that when Albania's affirmation for independence was signed, at the London Conference in February 1920, more of Macedonia's territory was partitioned. A narrow strip of land running through Lake Ohrid and southward along Macedonia's western boundary was awarded to Albania.
Soon after arriving victorious in Greece, the Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, in a speech in Solun, announced his plans for the creation of a "Greater Greece", the so called "Megali Idea" which was to bring together all the so called "Greek peoples" under a single Greater Greek State.
Sources:
Chris Stefou. "History of the Macedonian People from Ancient times to the Present". Toronto: Risto Stefov Publications, 2005.
George F. Kennan. "The Other Balkan Wars" A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect with a New Introduction and Reflections on the Present Conflict. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 1993.
Michael A. Radin. "IMRO and the Macedonian Question". Skopje: Kultura, 1993.
To be continued...
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 3 - From a Majority to a Minority
April 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
With the stroke of a pen, in 1919 at the Treaty of Versailles (Paris), England and France sealed Macedonia's fate by ratifying the principles of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and officially endorsed Macedonia's partition. This gave Greece the signal to pursue forced expulsion and denationalization of Macedonians and to begin a mass colonization by transplanting "potential Greeks" into the occupied territories of Macedonia. The Neuilly Treaty signed between Bulgaria and the Allied powers allowed for forced exchanges of populations. Greece as a partner of the victorious allies was able to impose on defeated Bulgaria a condition in the Treaty allowing for an exchange of populations between the two states. Greece took the opportunity to unload Macedonians in a seemingly legal manner.
Subsequently 66,180 Macedonians largely from Eastern Greek occupied Macedonia but also from the districts of Kukush, Enidzhe Vardar and Solun were forced to leave for Bulgaria but were not permitted to settle among the Macedonians in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia. Bulgaria on the other hand, sent 22,800 so called "Greeks" which the Greek government settled in Greek occupied Macedonia.
After returning from France, one of Venizelos's objectives was to promote the "Megaly Idea" of a Greater Greece where all so called "historic Greeks" could be united. His first step was to convince the world that the Christians living in Asia Minor were actually Greek and needed Greece's protection.
Under the protection of allied warships, on May 15, 1919, Greek troops began their landing in Smyrna. But instead of staying put and protect the Christians as per prior agreements, they began to occupy western Asia Minor. Then in March 1921 the Greek government ordered a full-scale offensive against the Turks. "Once again Greece had failed to learn the lesson that in large matters she was impotent without the support of the great powers or at least of one of them, and even Britain was lukewarm to this Anatolian venture." (Kenneth Young. "The Greek Passion". London: J.M. Dent & Sons LTD. 1969. Page 193)
Unable to continue the offensive without great power assistance, by early autumn the Greeks were pushed back beyond the halfway point between Smyrna and Ankara, reaching an uneasy military stalemate with the Turks. Realizing that they couldn't possibly win militarily or politically, the Greeks turned to the Paris Conference of March 1922 looking for a compromise. The compromise called for the withdrawal of the Greek armies and for placing the Christian population under the protection of the League of Nations. Sensing a victory, Turkey insisted on an unconditional evacuation of the Greek forces, a demand unacceptable to the Greeks. Still counting on British help, in July 1922 the Greeks unsuccessfully attempted to get permission from their allies to enter Constantinople.
Turkey launched a full-scale offensive on August 26, 1922 and forced the Greeks into a hasty retreat back to Smyrna. On September 8 the Greek army was evacuated and the next day the Turkish army invaded Smyrna. On the evening of the 9th outbreaks of killing and looting began, followed by a massacre of the Christian population in which 30,000 Christians, mostly Armenians, perished. As a result of the violence 250,000 people fled to the waterfront to escape the catastrophic disaster.
The Asia Minor campaign was over along with the "Megali Idea" of a Greater Greece. Worse yet, as a result of this catastrophic Greek fiasco, over one million Turkish Christians were displaced, most of them into Macedonia. Their settlement affected the demography of the Macedonian landscape as well as the morale of the Macedonian population.
By the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923, the Greco-Turkish war came to an end. Greece and Turkey signed a population exchange agreement using "religion as the basic criterion for nationality." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 120)
The November 1925 issue of National Geographic Magazine best illustrates the magnitude of the human wave, the audacity of the Greek and Turkish authorities and the total disregard for human life. "History's Greatest Trek, Tragedy Stalks the Near East as Greece and Turkey Exchange Two Million of their People. ...1922 began in what may fairly be called history's greatest, most spectacular trek-the compulsory intermigration of two million Christians and Muslims across the Aegean Sea." " ...the initial episodes of the exchange drama were enacted to the accompaniment of the boom of cannon and the rattle of machine gun and with the settings pointed by the flames of the Smyrna holocaust." (Melville Chater, National Geographic, November 1925. Page 533)
"Stroke of the Pen Exiles 3,000,000 People. It is safe to say that history does not contain a more extraordinary document. Never before in the world's long pageant of folk-wanderings have 2,000,000 people-and certainly no less than 3,000,000 if the retroactive clause is possible of complete application-been exiled and re-adopted by the stroke of the pen" (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 569)
"Even if regarded as a voluntary trek instead of a compulsory exchange, the movement would be without parallel in the history of emigration." "One might just add that history has never produced a document more difficult of execution. It was to lessen these difficulties that exchangeability was based in religion and not race. Due to five centuries of Turkish domination in Greece, the complexities in determining an individual's racial status are often such as would make a census taker weep." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 570)
"Greece with one-fifth Turkey's area has 1,5000,000 more people. Turkey with a population of 5,000,000 and naturally rich territory contains only 15 people to the square mile...Greece, with less than one fifth of Turkey's area, emerges with a population exceeding the latter's for the fist time by 1,500,000 people averaging 123 to the square mile." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 584)
"History's Greatest Trek has cost 300,000 lives. Conservative estimates place it at 300,000 lives lost by disease and exposure." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 584)
"The actual exchange was weighted very heavily in Turkey's favour, for some 380,000 Muslims were exchanged for something like 1,100,000 Christians."
"The total population in Greece rose between 1907 and 1928 from 2,600,000 to 6,200,000." "After the Greek advances of 1912, for instance, the Greek elements in Greek Macedonia had constituted 43 percent of the population. By 1926, with the resettlement of the refugees, the Greek element has risen to 89 percent." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 121)
After all this, surprisingly (and shamefully) Greece still claims that its population is homogeneous; direct descendents of the peoples of the ancient City States.
"If Greece exists today as a homogeneous ethnos, she owes this to [the Asia Minor Catastrophe]. If the hundreds of thousands of refugees had not come to Greece, Greek Macedonia would not exist today. The refugees created the national homogeneity of our country. (Antonios Kandiotis, Metrpolite of Florina, in Anastasia Karakasidou's book "Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood". Page 141)
According to Karakasidou, almost half of the refugees were settled in urban centers and rural areas in Macedonia. "Searching for locations in which to settle this mass of humanity, the Greek government looked north to the newly incorporated land in Macedonia..." "...by 1930, 90 percent of the 578,844 refugees settled in rural Greece were concentrated in the regions of Macedonia and western Thrace. Thus Macedonia, Greece's newly acquired second 'breadbasket' (after Thessaly), became the depository for East Thracian, Pontic, and Asia Minor refugees." (Anastasia Karakasidou. "Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood". Page 145)
By the 1923 Lausanne Agreement Greece expelled 394,108 Turkish Moslems to Turkey. Included in this number were more than 40,000 Moslem Macedonians. Turkey on the other hand transferred 1,221,849 Christian refugees to Greece of which 538,595 were settled in Greek occupied Macedonia.
When we speak of "confiscated Macedonian lands" by the Greek state we often speak of the lands of those Macedonians who were killed, evicted or fled their homeland but rarely do we speak of the land confiscations due to the Land Redistribution Program that the Greek state introduced in 1928-1929 in Greek occupied Macedonia.
Faced with a huge influx of settlers during the early 1920's Greece was running out of space and as Karakasidou rightly pointed out, a large number of these settlers were concentrated in Macedonia. In addition to taking the vacant lands of those Macedonians who had been driven out, the Greek state used the Land Redistribution Program to also take the lands of those Macedonians who were still living in Greek occupied Macedonia. Families suffered land expropriations despite their claims to legal titles of ownership.
Even before the Land Redistribution Program was put into place, many Macedonian families were experiencing economic hardships and male family members were forced to seek work outside of their communities as far away as Canada, the USA and Australia.
The following is an excerpt from the book "Children of the Bird Goddess" by Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska which eloquently illustrates the Macedonian peoples' plight both at home and abroad.
"Pechalba [migrant work] was definitely not for the weak at heart. It was the ultimate test for the Macedonian man. These are the unsung heroes, without whose toil this great country [Australia] would not have prospered so. They gave their youth, their energy, bloodied sweat and lives in the development of Australia's fledgling heavy industries and pastoral wealth, only to be called 'dagos' and treated like second class citizens by the Anglo- Australians who had little tolerance for these newcomers.
The work in the bush camp ground to a halt and my father had to find other forms of employment, however by now this was the time of increasing depression in Australia and work was not always so easy to come by. Even though work in the bush camps was very hard, the workers were paid a mere pittance and it was so difficult to save enough to pay for one's fare back home, much less save enough to send to family back home. The 1920s were a period of economic growth for Australia with incentives for immigration. The Wall Street crash in 1929 and the Great Depression had its effect in Australia with the basic wage being more severely cut.
At one stage Spase managed to find some work on a sheep station where he did all sorts of manual labour including making fences and handling the sheep. The boss was a cruel man who treated his workers, particularly the Aborigines, with contempt. My father used to recount the time when he was verbally abused and forbidden to even fill his billy with water from the garden tap. And he would say that you would not even contemplate knocking on the back door, much less entering the homestead. He was abused by the boss and told to get water from the sheep's trough, as that water was good enough. This reflected the horrendous attitude towards the newcomers who were considered to be little better than animals. Spase used to say that the boss' dog lived better than he did. 'I wish I was born a dog in Australia, like Rusty. He ate more meat than I did and was certainly treated a lot better.' This was the way they treated itinerant 'dago' workers like Spase, which was nothing compared to the treatment received by the indigenous people whose land they possessed.
After unsuccessfully searching for work, Spase decided to become a fruit vendor. He bought a basket and some oranges and began selling them from house to house in Perth, in order to survive. By now he had managed to pick up some English. When he had a good day selling, he could afford to buy himself a loaf of bread and milk for a meal, on a poor day with few sales he would eat his oranges for breakfast, lunch and dinner and think about the smell of the cooked meat given to Rusty.
After this unsuccessful venture he went into business with a friend from Rakovo from the Panovski clan. This man had enough money to open a small fish and chips shop, but because of the depression their venture was not successful. At the same time the banks crashed and many wealthy people went broke. This is why Spase's advice to us and our children was to be wary of debt, because he had known only too well what Australia was like in economic crisis. There were no unemployment benefits and welfare services for immigrants or workers. The lower echelons of society were very much on their own in terms of day to day survival. He would speak vividly of the soup kitchens and the lines of destitute people queuing for their daily meal. Because of the very bad economic situation, it was clear that Spase could not make a living much less a fortune and his father sent him money to pay for his fare back to [Greek occupied] Macedonia.
This was a very demoralizing situation as it was shameful for a man to return home without any money. This is why some pechalbari failed to return home even after ten, fifteen or even twenty years. It took them such a long time to save any real amount of money because of their very small wages. It was thought to be proof of their laziness or ineptitude as a provider or 'domakin'. As a man of integrity and a very hard worker, this shame was very difficult for Spase to bear, but upon returning to the village, when he learnt that all their property had been confiscated by the Greek government and reallocated to incoming refugees, this was a doubled edged grief that was almost intolerable for Spase.
Upon his return, he found all the women about the house. Nobody was out in the fields. This he found to be quite strange, especially in the middle of summer when there were any number of jobs that needed to be done in the fields. But when his mother could no longer evade his questions and told him that the family no longer had any land, he screamed in a furious rage, asking them why they had not told him as it would have been better for him to stay in Australia. One would have to wonder why it would have been better to stay in depression ridden Australia, eating oranges and drinking water from sheep troughs, rather than coming home. Could this have been more appealing or tolerable for Spase than a life as a dispossessed landholder and second class citizen in his own land? It is difficult to understand the effect of the repressive environment on the men. Their inability to provide for their families as they watched helplessly whilst strangers worked their land was absolutely intolerable for them.
The dispossession left its mark on all of us especially as the men folk became increasingly angry and frustrated. Because they did not wail, their grief for the land did not become fossilized in the folklore. Rather they tried to lose themselves in another world created with the help of the strong spirit drink, 'rakija'. The only way to appease their own inner turmoil and sense of failure was to leave. This is what my father did.
When my father left [again for Australia] in 1936, my grandmother asked him to complete the ritual for a safe journey and safe return as he was leaving. This entailed knocking over an earthen pot of water at the threshold of the house. This signified an easy journey and easy trip. My grandmother asked him to knock over the water and he refused, saying 'When that rock is able to roll uphill, that is when I will return to this land.' My grandmother was devastated by this reaction and took this event as a premonition that her son would not return to this threshold again, which was correct. My father and mother spent a further ten years apart. My father doing an assortment of labouring jobs in Australia and my mother trying to raise a family by herself.
I don't fully understand why my father insisted on coming to Australia the second time. Life was difficult but it was more than that. The dispossession of land affected the men folk in a different way. The untold devastation as they would walk past their fields being worked by others took its toll in the form of blind anger and sheer frustration which was often then vented on the womenfolk. My grandfather became a recluse away from the village and my father left. Family life was changed forever. They were no longer proud landholders and their standing in the village as well as standard of living fell. They could no longer farm their land and feed their families from the produce, rather they had to do jobs for others as well as shepherding, which was considered the lowliest job. By going on work migration my father thought he could salvage his self esteem and bring better life chances for his family." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 67-69 and 74-75)
The following segment was taken from John S. Koliopouls's book "Plundered Loyalties" and represents the Greek point of view on the situation.
"In Eordaea, where large numbers of refugees had been settled in the houses and lands abandoned by the Muslims, officials struggled to squeeze out more land, especially in or around Slav-speaking villages like Emporion and Komanos. In the village of Karyochori in the same district more than 200 families were given the land which had previously sustained less than half that number of Muslim families. About 3.25 hectares for each family were allotted, of which only one-third was fertile; or so they maintained ten years later, when 122 inhabitants petitioned the authorities to resettle them elsewhere, preferably in the plain of Central Macedonia. It should finally be mentioned that ever since 1913 a steady trickle of Christian families from the newly-founded independent Albanian state settled mostly in villages in the districts of Kastoria and Kozani and, almost as a rule, with relatives. This kind of settlement went on more or less unnoticed by the authorities, but by contrast everyone appeared to take an interest in the refugees from European and Asiatic Turkey, who became an instrument of national policy. The opposite would have been surprising. A few hundred Anatolian refugee families were even settled in the brigand preserve of Servia to strengthen communities against the swift-footed and predatory pastoralists of Mt Chassia. Above all, refugees were sent north to settle around and amidst Slav Macedonians in the hope that such settlement would facilitate their 'Hellenisation', in speech no less than in sentiment.
However, the need to unburden the country's port cities of several hundred thousand destitute refugees as quickly as possible did not allow time to send north 'suitable' refugees or take proper account of the capacity of the receiving places to secure a tolerable existence for the newcomers. Thus almost half the refugees settled in the district of Florina spoke Turkish and little or no Greek. Many Pontians spoke Turkish, and the Caucasians spoke a form of Greek unintelligible to most Greek-speakers, let alone to the Slav Macedonians whom the refugees were expected to Hellenize in speech. Hordes of destitute humanity went north determined to take root in lands claimed or already occupied by the indigenous peasants. The newcomers brought with them, along with the determination of the survivors of a great disaster, the support of the authorities who were eager to secure the contested region in the way their counterparts across the border were trying to secure their own lands, namely by strengthening the dominant linguistic and cultural element of the national state against all other groups. The influx of refugees in villages where the available land was insufficient to satisfy their needs created unbearable pressures on the Slav Macedonians to leave their homes for less inhospitable lands than those they were obliged to share with newcomers whom they despised. Those who chose to remain did so for all the reasons why peasants everywhere have always chosen to live next to unwelcome newcomers and under unfriendly rulers.
As a result of this type of settlement, old cleavages and conflicts, dating from the Greek-Bulgarian conflict at the beginning of the century, already described, were intensified, especially in mixed villages and towns. One reason for the intensification of conflict concerned land. Indigenous peasants, Greek- and Slav-speaking, resented the distribution of Muslim and communal land to the refugees. Cultural differences between these people and the refugees kept the two communities further apart. And administrators from southern Greece, bearers of an ideology and policy aiming to obliterate linguistic traces other than Greek, put Slav Macedonians at a disadvantage compared to other Greeks and turned the existing gap into a dangerous chasm.
Many villages, particularly mixed ones, quarreled over disputed land, and were torn apart and bled white as the result of costly lawsuits. It took more than ten years to draw village boundaries on pastureland, while many disputes over arable land were settled only after the Second World War. Officials of the Commission for the Settlement of Refugees, who were themselves refugees or associated with refugee interests, were expected to favour the newcomers in their disputes with the indigenous peasants over lands." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Pages 42-43)
Besides colonizing Macedonia with foreign refugees and usurping Macedonian lands the Greek state in the 1920's also initiated a Helenization program to turn Macedonians into Greeks.
To be continued...
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 3 - From a Majority to a Minority
April 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
With the stroke of a pen, in 1919 at the Treaty of Versailles (Paris), England and France sealed Macedonia's fate by ratifying the principles of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest and officially endorsed Macedonia's partition. This gave Greece the signal to pursue forced expulsion and denationalization of Macedonians and to begin a mass colonization by transplanting "potential Greeks" into the occupied territories of Macedonia. The Neuilly Treaty signed between Bulgaria and the Allied powers allowed for forced exchanges of populations. Greece as a partner of the victorious allies was able to impose on defeated Bulgaria a condition in the Treaty allowing for an exchange of populations between the two states. Greece took the opportunity to unload Macedonians in a seemingly legal manner.
Subsequently 66,180 Macedonians largely from Eastern Greek occupied Macedonia but also from the districts of Kukush, Enidzhe Vardar and Solun were forced to leave for Bulgaria but were not permitted to settle among the Macedonians in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia. Bulgaria on the other hand, sent 22,800 so called "Greeks" which the Greek government settled in Greek occupied Macedonia.
After returning from France, one of Venizelos's objectives was to promote the "Megaly Idea" of a Greater Greece where all so called "historic Greeks" could be united. His first step was to convince the world that the Christians living in Asia Minor were actually Greek and needed Greece's protection.
Under the protection of allied warships, on May 15, 1919, Greek troops began their landing in Smyrna. But instead of staying put and protect the Christians as per prior agreements, they began to occupy western Asia Minor. Then in March 1921 the Greek government ordered a full-scale offensive against the Turks. "Once again Greece had failed to learn the lesson that in large matters she was impotent without the support of the great powers or at least of one of them, and even Britain was lukewarm to this Anatolian venture." (Kenneth Young. "The Greek Passion". London: J.M. Dent & Sons LTD. 1969. Page 193)
Unable to continue the offensive without great power assistance, by early autumn the Greeks were pushed back beyond the halfway point between Smyrna and Ankara, reaching an uneasy military stalemate with the Turks. Realizing that they couldn't possibly win militarily or politically, the Greeks turned to the Paris Conference of March 1922 looking for a compromise. The compromise called for the withdrawal of the Greek armies and for placing the Christian population under the protection of the League of Nations. Sensing a victory, Turkey insisted on an unconditional evacuation of the Greek forces, a demand unacceptable to the Greeks. Still counting on British help, in July 1922 the Greeks unsuccessfully attempted to get permission from their allies to enter Constantinople.
Turkey launched a full-scale offensive on August 26, 1922 and forced the Greeks into a hasty retreat back to Smyrna. On September 8 the Greek army was evacuated and the next day the Turkish army invaded Smyrna. On the evening of the 9th outbreaks of killing and looting began, followed by a massacre of the Christian population in which 30,000 Christians, mostly Armenians, perished. As a result of the violence 250,000 people fled to the waterfront to escape the catastrophic disaster.
The Asia Minor campaign was over along with the "Megali Idea" of a Greater Greece. Worse yet, as a result of this catastrophic Greek fiasco, over one million Turkish Christians were displaced, most of them into Macedonia. Their settlement affected the demography of the Macedonian landscape as well as the morale of the Macedonian population.
By the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923, the Greco-Turkish war came to an end. Greece and Turkey signed a population exchange agreement using "religion as the basic criterion for nationality." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 120)
The November 1925 issue of National Geographic Magazine best illustrates the magnitude of the human wave, the audacity of the Greek and Turkish authorities and the total disregard for human life. "History's Greatest Trek, Tragedy Stalks the Near East as Greece and Turkey Exchange Two Million of their People. ...1922 began in what may fairly be called history's greatest, most spectacular trek-the compulsory intermigration of two million Christians and Muslims across the Aegean Sea." " ...the initial episodes of the exchange drama were enacted to the accompaniment of the boom of cannon and the rattle of machine gun and with the settings pointed by the flames of the Smyrna holocaust." (Melville Chater, National Geographic, November 1925. Page 533)
"Stroke of the Pen Exiles 3,000,000 People. It is safe to say that history does not contain a more extraordinary document. Never before in the world's long pageant of folk-wanderings have 2,000,000 people-and certainly no less than 3,000,000 if the retroactive clause is possible of complete application-been exiled and re-adopted by the stroke of the pen" (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 569)
"Even if regarded as a voluntary trek instead of a compulsory exchange, the movement would be without parallel in the history of emigration." "One might just add that history has never produced a document more difficult of execution. It was to lessen these difficulties that exchangeability was based in religion and not race. Due to five centuries of Turkish domination in Greece, the complexities in determining an individual's racial status are often such as would make a census taker weep." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 570)
"Greece with one-fifth Turkey's area has 1,5000,000 more people. Turkey with a population of 5,000,000 and naturally rich territory contains only 15 people to the square mile...Greece, with less than one fifth of Turkey's area, emerges with a population exceeding the latter's for the fist time by 1,500,000 people averaging 123 to the square mile." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 584)
"History's Greatest Trek has cost 300,000 lives. Conservative estimates place it at 300,000 lives lost by disease and exposure." (National Geographic, November 1925. Page 584)
"The actual exchange was weighted very heavily in Turkey's favour, for some 380,000 Muslims were exchanged for something like 1,100,000 Christians."
"The total population in Greece rose between 1907 and 1928 from 2,600,000 to 6,200,000." "After the Greek advances of 1912, for instance, the Greek elements in Greek Macedonia had constituted 43 percent of the population. By 1926, with the resettlement of the refugees, the Greek element has risen to 89 percent." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 121)
After all this, surprisingly (and shamefully) Greece still claims that its population is homogeneous; direct descendents of the peoples of the ancient City States.
"If Greece exists today as a homogeneous ethnos, she owes this to [the Asia Minor Catastrophe]. If the hundreds of thousands of refugees had not come to Greece, Greek Macedonia would not exist today. The refugees created the national homogeneity of our country. (Antonios Kandiotis, Metrpolite of Florina, in Anastasia Karakasidou's book "Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood". Page 141)
According to Karakasidou, almost half of the refugees were settled in urban centers and rural areas in Macedonia. "Searching for locations in which to settle this mass of humanity, the Greek government looked north to the newly incorporated land in Macedonia..." "...by 1930, 90 percent of the 578,844 refugees settled in rural Greece were concentrated in the regions of Macedonia and western Thrace. Thus Macedonia, Greece's newly acquired second 'breadbasket' (after Thessaly), became the depository for East Thracian, Pontic, and Asia Minor refugees." (Anastasia Karakasidou. "Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood". Page 145)
By the 1923 Lausanne Agreement Greece expelled 394,108 Turkish Moslems to Turkey. Included in this number were more than 40,000 Moslem Macedonians. Turkey on the other hand transferred 1,221,849 Christian refugees to Greece of which 538,595 were settled in Greek occupied Macedonia.
When we speak of "confiscated Macedonian lands" by the Greek state we often speak of the lands of those Macedonians who were killed, evicted or fled their homeland but rarely do we speak of the land confiscations due to the Land Redistribution Program that the Greek state introduced in 1928-1929 in Greek occupied Macedonia.
Faced with a huge influx of settlers during the early 1920's Greece was running out of space and as Karakasidou rightly pointed out, a large number of these settlers were concentrated in Macedonia. In addition to taking the vacant lands of those Macedonians who had been driven out, the Greek state used the Land Redistribution Program to also take the lands of those Macedonians who were still living in Greek occupied Macedonia. Families suffered land expropriations despite their claims to legal titles of ownership.
Even before the Land Redistribution Program was put into place, many Macedonian families were experiencing economic hardships and male family members were forced to seek work outside of their communities as far away as Canada, the USA and Australia.
The following is an excerpt from the book "Children of the Bird Goddess" by Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska which eloquently illustrates the Macedonian peoples' plight both at home and abroad.
"Pechalba [migrant work] was definitely not for the weak at heart. It was the ultimate test for the Macedonian man. These are the unsung heroes, without whose toil this great country [Australia] would not have prospered so. They gave their youth, their energy, bloodied sweat and lives in the development of Australia's fledgling heavy industries and pastoral wealth, only to be called 'dagos' and treated like second class citizens by the Anglo- Australians who had little tolerance for these newcomers.
The work in the bush camp ground to a halt and my father had to find other forms of employment, however by now this was the time of increasing depression in Australia and work was not always so easy to come by. Even though work in the bush camps was very hard, the workers were paid a mere pittance and it was so difficult to save enough to pay for one's fare back home, much less save enough to send to family back home. The 1920s were a period of economic growth for Australia with incentives for immigration. The Wall Street crash in 1929 and the Great Depression had its effect in Australia with the basic wage being more severely cut.
At one stage Spase managed to find some work on a sheep station where he did all sorts of manual labour including making fences and handling the sheep. The boss was a cruel man who treated his workers, particularly the Aborigines, with contempt. My father used to recount the time when he was verbally abused and forbidden to even fill his billy with water from the garden tap. And he would say that you would not even contemplate knocking on the back door, much less entering the homestead. He was abused by the boss and told to get water from the sheep's trough, as that water was good enough. This reflected the horrendous attitude towards the newcomers who were considered to be little better than animals. Spase used to say that the boss' dog lived better than he did. 'I wish I was born a dog in Australia, like Rusty. He ate more meat than I did and was certainly treated a lot better.' This was the way they treated itinerant 'dago' workers like Spase, which was nothing compared to the treatment received by the indigenous people whose land they possessed.
After unsuccessfully searching for work, Spase decided to become a fruit vendor. He bought a basket and some oranges and began selling them from house to house in Perth, in order to survive. By now he had managed to pick up some English. When he had a good day selling, he could afford to buy himself a loaf of bread and milk for a meal, on a poor day with few sales he would eat his oranges for breakfast, lunch and dinner and think about the smell of the cooked meat given to Rusty.
After this unsuccessful venture he went into business with a friend from Rakovo from the Panovski clan. This man had enough money to open a small fish and chips shop, but because of the depression their venture was not successful. At the same time the banks crashed and many wealthy people went broke. This is why Spase's advice to us and our children was to be wary of debt, because he had known only too well what Australia was like in economic crisis. There were no unemployment benefits and welfare services for immigrants or workers. The lower echelons of society were very much on their own in terms of day to day survival. He would speak vividly of the soup kitchens and the lines of destitute people queuing for their daily meal. Because of the very bad economic situation, it was clear that Spase could not make a living much less a fortune and his father sent him money to pay for his fare back to [Greek occupied] Macedonia.
This was a very demoralizing situation as it was shameful for a man to return home without any money. This is why some pechalbari failed to return home even after ten, fifteen or even twenty years. It took them such a long time to save any real amount of money because of their very small wages. It was thought to be proof of their laziness or ineptitude as a provider or 'domakin'. As a man of integrity and a very hard worker, this shame was very difficult for Spase to bear, but upon returning to the village, when he learnt that all their property had been confiscated by the Greek government and reallocated to incoming refugees, this was a doubled edged grief that was almost intolerable for Spase.
Upon his return, he found all the women about the house. Nobody was out in the fields. This he found to be quite strange, especially in the middle of summer when there were any number of jobs that needed to be done in the fields. But when his mother could no longer evade his questions and told him that the family no longer had any land, he screamed in a furious rage, asking them why they had not told him as it would have been better for him to stay in Australia. One would have to wonder why it would have been better to stay in depression ridden Australia, eating oranges and drinking water from sheep troughs, rather than coming home. Could this have been more appealing or tolerable for Spase than a life as a dispossessed landholder and second class citizen in his own land? It is difficult to understand the effect of the repressive environment on the men. Their inability to provide for their families as they watched helplessly whilst strangers worked their land was absolutely intolerable for them.
The dispossession left its mark on all of us especially as the men folk became increasingly angry and frustrated. Because they did not wail, their grief for the land did not become fossilized in the folklore. Rather they tried to lose themselves in another world created with the help of the strong spirit drink, 'rakija'. The only way to appease their own inner turmoil and sense of failure was to leave. This is what my father did.
When my father left [again for Australia] in 1936, my grandmother asked him to complete the ritual for a safe journey and safe return as he was leaving. This entailed knocking over an earthen pot of water at the threshold of the house. This signified an easy journey and easy trip. My grandmother asked him to knock over the water and he refused, saying 'When that rock is able to roll uphill, that is when I will return to this land.' My grandmother was devastated by this reaction and took this event as a premonition that her son would not return to this threshold again, which was correct. My father and mother spent a further ten years apart. My father doing an assortment of labouring jobs in Australia and my mother trying to raise a family by herself.
I don't fully understand why my father insisted on coming to Australia the second time. Life was difficult but it was more than that. The dispossession of land affected the men folk in a different way. The untold devastation as they would walk past their fields being worked by others took its toll in the form of blind anger and sheer frustration which was often then vented on the womenfolk. My grandfather became a recluse away from the village and my father left. Family life was changed forever. They were no longer proud landholders and their standing in the village as well as standard of living fell. They could no longer farm their land and feed their families from the produce, rather they had to do jobs for others as well as shepherding, which was considered the lowliest job. By going on work migration my father thought he could salvage his self esteem and bring better life chances for his family." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 67-69 and 74-75)
The following segment was taken from John S. Koliopouls's book "Plundered Loyalties" and represents the Greek point of view on the situation.
"In Eordaea, where large numbers of refugees had been settled in the houses and lands abandoned by the Muslims, officials struggled to squeeze out more land, especially in or around Slav-speaking villages like Emporion and Komanos. In the village of Karyochori in the same district more than 200 families were given the land which had previously sustained less than half that number of Muslim families. About 3.25 hectares for each family were allotted, of which only one-third was fertile; or so they maintained ten years later, when 122 inhabitants petitioned the authorities to resettle them elsewhere, preferably in the plain of Central Macedonia. It should finally be mentioned that ever since 1913 a steady trickle of Christian families from the newly-founded independent Albanian state settled mostly in villages in the districts of Kastoria and Kozani and, almost as a rule, with relatives. This kind of settlement went on more or less unnoticed by the authorities, but by contrast everyone appeared to take an interest in the refugees from European and Asiatic Turkey, who became an instrument of national policy. The opposite would have been surprising. A few hundred Anatolian refugee families were even settled in the brigand preserve of Servia to strengthen communities against the swift-footed and predatory pastoralists of Mt Chassia. Above all, refugees were sent north to settle around and amidst Slav Macedonians in the hope that such settlement would facilitate their 'Hellenisation', in speech no less than in sentiment.
However, the need to unburden the country's port cities of several hundred thousand destitute refugees as quickly as possible did not allow time to send north 'suitable' refugees or take proper account of the capacity of the receiving places to secure a tolerable existence for the newcomers. Thus almost half the refugees settled in the district of Florina spoke Turkish and little or no Greek. Many Pontians spoke Turkish, and the Caucasians spoke a form of Greek unintelligible to most Greek-speakers, let alone to the Slav Macedonians whom the refugees were expected to Hellenize in speech. Hordes of destitute humanity went north determined to take root in lands claimed or already occupied by the indigenous peasants. The newcomers brought with them, along with the determination of the survivors of a great disaster, the support of the authorities who were eager to secure the contested region in the way their counterparts across the border were trying to secure their own lands, namely by strengthening the dominant linguistic and cultural element of the national state against all other groups. The influx of refugees in villages where the available land was insufficient to satisfy their needs created unbearable pressures on the Slav Macedonians to leave their homes for less inhospitable lands than those they were obliged to share with newcomers whom they despised. Those who chose to remain did so for all the reasons why peasants everywhere have always chosen to live next to unwelcome newcomers and under unfriendly rulers.
As a result of this type of settlement, old cleavages and conflicts, dating from the Greek-Bulgarian conflict at the beginning of the century, already described, were intensified, especially in mixed villages and towns. One reason for the intensification of conflict concerned land. Indigenous peasants, Greek- and Slav-speaking, resented the distribution of Muslim and communal land to the refugees. Cultural differences between these people and the refugees kept the two communities further apart. And administrators from southern Greece, bearers of an ideology and policy aiming to obliterate linguistic traces other than Greek, put Slav Macedonians at a disadvantage compared to other Greeks and turned the existing gap into a dangerous chasm.
Many villages, particularly mixed ones, quarreled over disputed land, and were torn apart and bled white as the result of costly lawsuits. It took more than ten years to draw village boundaries on pastureland, while many disputes over arable land were settled only after the Second World War. Officials of the Commission for the Settlement of Refugees, who were themselves refugees or associated with refugee interests, were expected to favour the newcomers in their disputes with the indigenous peasants over lands." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Pages 42-43)
Besides colonizing Macedonia with foreign refugees and usurping Macedonian lands the Greek state in the 1920's also initiated a Helenization program to turn Macedonians into Greeks.
To be continued...
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 4 - Hellenizing Greek occupied Macedonia
May 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The Hellenization of the Macedonian people began way before Macedonia's invasion, occupation and partition by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. It began with the introduction of the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian Churches in Macedonia.
When in 1878 Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans by the Western Powers, its status became "undetermined" with implications that Macedonian territories were now up for grabs.
There were no Greeks, Serbians or Bulgarians living in Macedonia prior to the introduction of the foreign Churches there because these nations never existed before. Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria are 19th century artificially created nation-states, created from the same ethnic Christian composition but each nation was artificially designed to support the aims of the Great Power which created it.
Using the same principles of artificiality with which they themselves were created, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria through their respective churches began to spread propaganda in an attempt to convince the Macedonian population that only Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians existed in Macedonia. Their aims were designed not only to convince Macedonians but also to convince the outside world and pave the way for Macedonia's occupation.
The population exchanges that subsequently followed were nothing more than expelling those people who the three states felt would be a threat to their objectives.
Macedonians were not Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian that is why these states, particularly Greece, had to apply extreme measures to suppress them.
Soon after the Greek government established rule in Greek occupied Macedonia it opened Greek language schools to teach the entire Macedonian population to speak Greek. While children attended regular school, adults were expected to attend night school.
Besides Hellenizing the Macedonian population by teaching it to speak Greek, the Greek state also took measures to eliminate everything that was Macedonian.
By law promulgated on November 21, 1926, all place names (toponymia) in Greek occupied Macedonia were Hellenized. All Macedonian names of cities, towns, villages, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc., were changed to Greek ones. In a similar manner, Macedonian families were forced to change their Macedonian last names to Greek ones. Even individual given names were changed forcing alien names upon the Macedonian population. Since then to this day families lost continuity with their relatives especially those who had fled Greece before Hellenization policies were put in place.
For those who don't know what "Hellenization" is, it is a process of assimilating people from various ethnic groups such as Macedonians, Vlachs, Albanians, Turks, etc., and turning them into Greeks. To an outsider this may seem strange and even comical but to Macedonians who were born in Greek occupied Macedonia and who had lived through this process, it was a living nightmare.
Many Macedonians have relatives; brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc., who have been Hellenized by Greek propaganda and today are the staunchest Greeks. The so called Greeks who are indigenous to Greek occupied Macedonia are no more than an artificial construct of Greek propaganda. They say they are Greek because since the occupation of Greek occupied Macedonia the Greek educational system has been telling them that they are Greeks and punishing them for feeling Macedonian.
What follows is a true story exactly as told by Peter Minas who attended Greek school in 1950, the only schooling available to Macedonians:
"A Young Boy that was I no more than 10 years old, playing with friends in the neighbourhood yard, not aware that we had been watched by none other than the teacher of our class.
Unaware of the political situation, feeling joy in my heart I called out to my friend Done in my native Macedonian tongue to, 'Come and play with us'.
Next morning in class, I hear the loud voice of my teacher asking to know 'Who is the one who still speaks in his native tongue?'
All around fear I see, I'm told to get up and stand in front of the class. I find the courage to rise up. 'You are a traitor, he said to me. 'You don't belong here. Take your books and go. Bulgaria is the place for you.'
He takes me by my arms throws me on the floor, attacking me with his feet and the long stick that he holds.
I look up with tears streaming down my face and with courage that I had never felt before I say in a choking voice "Teacher I don't know what traitor means I haven't done anything Wrong. That's the language we speak at home.'
I'm humiliated; my knees are weak. O Lord why is this happening to me. I want to go home and hide from the world. In the days and months that follow I am isolated by all.
They are told not to play with me or else... I am so alone.
I could not have known then that the Greeks would use such tactics on old and young to achieve their goal. First they destroy your soul then take away your identity. That black autumn day in 1950 I was not alone Our Lord Jesus Christ was there. He raised me up and restored my soul.
I have been living in this wonderful country that is called Canada for the last 55 years. I had a successful career; I have a loving family and many close relatives and friends." (Peter Minas).
Here is another story from a young girl who was punished by her teacher for being Macedonian:
"My first visit to school did not last very long. No sooner had I been shown to my classroom, I was greeted by my teacher, who instead of showing me to my place proceeded to sarcastically ridicule me in front of the other students. I did not understand all that he was saying, but his problem was the fact that I was wearing traditional Macedonian clothes, those my mother had made for me, instead of the correct school uniform. He grabbed my braided hair with the ribbons and coins, whilst facing me, pulling my head backwards. I winced. The venom in his words stung as much as my hair which felt as if it was being ripped out by the roots.
'How dare you come dressed in these rags and get that rubbish out of your hair! You need a blue and white tunic and blue and white ribbons,' explained the other children who translated for me. 'Go home and change, I never want to see you dressed in village rags like this again!'
I remember stumbling out of the school grounds, tears streaming down my cheeks; by the time I ran home, I was sobbing incessantly and hyperventilating. My grandmother took fright when she saw me and grabbed me wanting to know what had happened. My mother came running out of the house when she heard my grandmother's commotion and became distressed herself when I could not stop sobbing long enough to tell them what my first five minutes of school had been like. At that moment I wanted my father to be home, more than anything else. I knew that had he been there he would have dealt with the teacher in no uncertain terms, as only a father could handle the situation.
They made me sit down and gave me a spoon full of sugar to settle me down and finally I could get the words out. I told them that my finest clothes were not good enough to wear to school, the teacher called them rags and my traditionally braided hair with red ribbons and coins was inappropriate for school also. I needed to wear the colours of Greece. When I had finally explained what had happened, I thought my grandmother would explode, she began cursing incessantly that the teacher and the Greek regime be struck down with a paralytic disease, that they burn in the devil's own domain, that pestilence and disaster mark their day and so forth.
Once she had regained her composure the question 'Where am I going to find you a blue and white tunic?' arose. I could hear my mother and grandmother talking and yelling and cursing as they rummaged through the chests and cupboards where they kept cloth and garments. They managed to find part of an old dress and put it over my finest clothes and I was forced, practically pulling and screaming back to school, though I never wanted to return. The old raggy dress over my clothes was a signal to the teacher that my grandmother and mother believed that the raggiest dress was good enough for their school uniform. When my grandfather and uncle returned home, they were furious and in no uncertain terms had their bit to say to the 'educators'.
To say that I hated school would be an understatement, not because I hated learning, on the contrary, I was intelligent and wanted to achieve. The fact that today I have four university educated daughters is indicative of that intelligence. But I hated the way the teachers made me feel.
Early on in the process, my first five minutes at school taught me that my mother's and grandmother's handiwork, culture and traditions were worthless, and inherent in that negative reinforcement was a feeling of my own worthlessness.
I suppose it wasn't until I went to school that I realized that the Greek language was the language of the colonizing power. Even though Macedonian was spoken in the village, at home and with relatives, the necessary form of communication at school and church was Greek. We spoke it with a thick accent because we were Macedonian bilinguals. We were taught that our Macedonian language was inconsequential, that it had no name, alphabet and could not be taught. That it was not a language of 'high' communication, that is, one could not stand up and present a lecture or a speech in Macedonian because it was just a nothing or mongrel language with no structure or words, just remnants of the languages of the passing warlords.
It wasn't until I was in Australia that I realized that this was totally incorrect. I learned that there was an education system, literature and newspapers. I attended meetings, concerts and church services and spoke with educated relatives from the Republic of Macedonia. My father learned the script in the intoxicating eucalyptus bush of Western Australia to the sounds of the lonely rain birds' song and many years later taught my husband. My children became literate in Macedonian in Australia, completing University qualifications in the language. There is a certain bitter irony that it was in Australia that I too, at the age of sixty, became literate in my grandmother's language. And the lies I had been taught, and the worthlessness I had felt, dissipated with the empowerment that comes with mother tongue literacy, especially for those who have been forced to live a lie during their childhood.
It was not enough that we were stripped of our land, but they tried to take our dignity as people. We were taught we did not exist, that there were no Macedonian people and if they really wanted to denigrate us they would call us Gypsies or Bulgaros, because they hated these peoples almost as much as they hated Macedonians. We were second class citizens in our own homeland and because we clearly did not have a Hellenic background, ensuring that we acquired one via the education system meant imbuing students with a feeling of self-hated towards their own background. Our humiliation continued as in the course of the lessons the teacher made sure that the negative reinforcement was given to the Macedonian children. I remember knowing the answers to questions and putting up my hand constantly, only to be told to sit down and shut up. I was never praised for knowing anything. It would not do to develop the intelligence and self-confidence of a Macedonian child, she might one day work out what was really going on, and have the strength of character to oppose it! All this had the effect of making me become quite disinterested in school. This and the persecution for speaking Macedonian.
I've neglected to say that at school speaking Macedonian was absolutely forbidden, but my friends and I ignored this and in the play ground would use the language that rolled naturally off our tongues. One day as we were playing "pupana", a game like knuckles, with my friend Vasilka, I caught a glimpse of the teacher talking to an older prosfigi [Pontic settler] student. Almost instantly, the boy came over to where we were playing and started to belt us, me in particular because I was by far the most vocal and rebellious. The teacher watched on as the boy boxed me about the head and ears, so hard that I became dizzy and had to sit down. We begged him to stop; when he finished he raised his head towards the teacher. I gathered this was punishment for breaking the rule and speaking Macedonian.
When I went home, whimpering and sobbing yet again, as was a seemingly regular occurrence, my grandmother would lose her electric temper and toss all the Greek text books in the fire. Her words still ring in my head 'Its not enough, they have taken our land, but now to mistreat our young, to take our language, this is too much!' She would curse and yell and I understand where the rebellious streak in me came from. This served to neutralize the effect of the Greek schooling process, as she reinforced our self-worth by rejecting any system that denigrated us for being ourselves. To be dispossessed in one's own land poses all types of problems. It became all too obvious to my grandmother that our dispossession would not be only of the materially visible things. As well as the land, our language and culture could also be confiscated, leaving us with nothing but an empty shell of the people we once were.
This was how the Greek national neurosis about the 'endopi' [indigenous] was incubated and perpetuated to oncoming generations. Intolerance for non- Hellenes was the stepping stone towards hatred for a people whose only fault was to live on land which now fell under Greek domination. This was how I learned first hand that my grandmother's words made sense 'Kaj shto ima sila nema pravina' -where there is power there is no justice. It seems that all songs sung and now words written are about challenging injustice of one form or another. Injustice provides the necessary ingredient for human tragedy.
I suppose one of the final insults to our family was a school performance which promoted the sense of 'mother Greece's' embracing power. The different traditional outfits of the prosfigi [Pontic settlers], Macedonian and Vlach students were swapped. I was dressed in a Prosfigi outfit and my Prosfigi friend in a Macedonian outfit. This was so hard for my family to bear seeing their child dressed in the traditional dress of those who had been allocated our land, those who had fought with my father and uncle. And the teachers knew this. This was a deliberate act to rub salt in the old wounds and to assert their power. I will never forget the disgust in my grandfather's eyes the night of that concert. Thankfully, during the war years this type of schooling was interrupted." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 84-88)
There is no Macedonian born in Greek occupied Macedonia that hasn't got a similar story or that has been spared from such a tragic experience.
News of the Greek acts promulgated on November 21, 1926 and the new, official Greek names were published in the Greek government daily newspaper "Efimeris tis Kiverniseos" numbers 322 and 324 published on November 21st and 23rd, 1926. These acts are binding to this day.
Following these acts the Greek government implemented a compulsory policy of removing all evidence of the Macedonian language from Churches, icons, monuments, tomb stones, cemeteries, archeological finds, etc. All Slavonic Church or secular literature was seized and burned. The use of the Macedonian language was forbidden also in personal communications between parents and children, among villagers, at weddings and work parties, and in burial rituals. (John Shea. "Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to define a new Balkan Nation". Page 109)
Failing to completely Hellenize the Macedonian population subsequent Greeks government introduced pre-kindergarten schools. The pretext for these schools was to free the parents so that they could go to work but their motive became clear when such schools became available only in Greek occupied Macedonia and nowhere else in Greece. The idea here was to separate young children not from their parents but from their grandparents who traditionally looked after them and taught them values and the Macedonian language while parents were out in the fields working.
The act of forbidding the use of the Macedonian language in Greece is best illustrated by an example of how it was implemented in the Township of Assarios (Giuvezna). Here is a quote from Karakasidou's book Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood.
"[We] listened to the president articulate to the council that in accordance with the decision [#122770] of Mr. Minister, General Governor of Macedonia, all municipal and township councils would forbid, through [administrative] decisions, the speaking of other idioms of obsolete languages within the area of their jurisdiction for the reconstitution of a universal language and our national glory. [The president] suggested that [the] speaking of different idioms, foreign [languages] and our language in an impure or obsolete manner in the area of the township of Assirios would be forbidden. Assirios Township Decision No. 134, 13 December 1936." (Page 162, Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)
By 1928 1,497 Macedonian place-names in the Greek occupied Macedonia were Hellenized (LAW 4096) and all Cyrillic inscriptions found in churches, on tombstones and icons were destroyed (or overwritten) prompting English Journalist V. Hild to say, "The Greeks do not only persecute living Slavs (Macedonians)..., but they even persecute dead ones. They do not leave them in peace even in the graves. They erase the Slavonic inscriptions on the headstones, remove the bones and burn them."
In the years following World War I, the Macedonian people underwent extensive measures of systematic denationalization. The applications of these "denationalization schemes" were so extensive and aggressively pursued that in the long term they eroded the will of the Macedonian people to resist.
In Greece, in 1929 during the rule of Elepterios Venizelos, a legal act was issued 'On the protection of public order'. In line with this Act each demand for nationality rights is regarded as high treason. This law is still in force.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 4 - Hellenizing Greek occupied Macedonia
May 2008
By Risto Stefov
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The Hellenization of the Macedonian people began way before Macedonia's invasion, occupation and partition by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. It began with the introduction of the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian Churches in Macedonia.
When in 1878 Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans by the Western Powers, its status became "undetermined" with implications that Macedonian territories were now up for grabs.
There were no Greeks, Serbians or Bulgarians living in Macedonia prior to the introduction of the foreign Churches there because these nations never existed before. Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria are 19th century artificially created nation-states, created from the same ethnic Christian composition but each nation was artificially designed to support the aims of the Great Power which created it.
Using the same principles of artificiality with which they themselves were created, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria through their respective churches began to spread propaganda in an attempt to convince the Macedonian population that only Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians existed in Macedonia. Their aims were designed not only to convince Macedonians but also to convince the outside world and pave the way for Macedonia's occupation.
The population exchanges that subsequently followed were nothing more than expelling those people who the three states felt would be a threat to their objectives.
Macedonians were not Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian that is why these states, particularly Greece, had to apply extreme measures to suppress them.
Soon after the Greek government established rule in Greek occupied Macedonia it opened Greek language schools to teach the entire Macedonian population to speak Greek. While children attended regular school, adults were expected to attend night school.
Besides Hellenizing the Macedonian population by teaching it to speak Greek, the Greek state also took measures to eliminate everything that was Macedonian.
By law promulgated on November 21, 1926, all place names (toponymia) in Greek occupied Macedonia were Hellenized. All Macedonian names of cities, towns, villages, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc., were changed to Greek ones. In a similar manner, Macedonian families were forced to change their Macedonian last names to Greek ones. Even individual given names were changed forcing alien names upon the Macedonian population. Since then to this day families lost continuity with their relatives especially those who had fled Greece before Hellenization policies were put in place.
For those who don't know what "Hellenization" is, it is a process of assimilating people from various ethnic groups such as Macedonians, Vlachs, Albanians, Turks, etc., and turning them into Greeks. To an outsider this may seem strange and even comical but to Macedonians who were born in Greek occupied Macedonia and who had lived through this process, it was a living nightmare.
Many Macedonians have relatives; brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc., who have been Hellenized by Greek propaganda and today are the staunchest Greeks. The so called Greeks who are indigenous to Greek occupied Macedonia are no more than an artificial construct of Greek propaganda. They say they are Greek because since the occupation of Greek occupied Macedonia the Greek educational system has been telling them that they are Greeks and punishing them for feeling Macedonian.
What follows is a true story exactly as told by Peter Minas who attended Greek school in 1950, the only schooling available to Macedonians:
"A Young Boy that was I no more than 10 years old, playing with friends in the neighbourhood yard, not aware that we had been watched by none other than the teacher of our class.
Unaware of the political situation, feeling joy in my heart I called out to my friend Done in my native Macedonian tongue to, 'Come and play with us'.
Next morning in class, I hear the loud voice of my teacher asking to know 'Who is the one who still speaks in his native tongue?'
All around fear I see, I'm told to get up and stand in front of the class. I find the courage to rise up. 'You are a traitor, he said to me. 'You don't belong here. Take your books and go. Bulgaria is the place for you.'
He takes me by my arms throws me on the floor, attacking me with his feet and the long stick that he holds.
I look up with tears streaming down my face and with courage that I had never felt before I say in a choking voice "Teacher I don't know what traitor means I haven't done anything Wrong. That's the language we speak at home.'
I'm humiliated; my knees are weak. O Lord why is this happening to me. I want to go home and hide from the world. In the days and months that follow I am isolated by all.
They are told not to play with me or else... I am so alone.
I could not have known then that the Greeks would use such tactics on old and young to achieve their goal. First they destroy your soul then take away your identity. That black autumn day in 1950 I was not alone Our Lord Jesus Christ was there. He raised me up and restored my soul.
I have been living in this wonderful country that is called Canada for the last 55 years. I had a successful career; I have a loving family and many close relatives and friends." (Peter Minas).
Here is another story from a young girl who was punished by her teacher for being Macedonian:
"My first visit to school did not last very long. No sooner had I been shown to my classroom, I was greeted by my teacher, who instead of showing me to my place proceeded to sarcastically ridicule me in front of the other students. I did not understand all that he was saying, but his problem was the fact that I was wearing traditional Macedonian clothes, those my mother had made for me, instead of the correct school uniform. He grabbed my braided hair with the ribbons and coins, whilst facing me, pulling my head backwards. I winced. The venom in his words stung as much as my hair which felt as if it was being ripped out by the roots.
'How dare you come dressed in these rags and get that rubbish out of your hair! You need a blue and white tunic and blue and white ribbons,' explained the other children who translated for me. 'Go home and change, I never want to see you dressed in village rags like this again!'
I remember stumbling out of the school grounds, tears streaming down my cheeks; by the time I ran home, I was sobbing incessantly and hyperventilating. My grandmother took fright when she saw me and grabbed me wanting to know what had happened. My mother came running out of the house when she heard my grandmother's commotion and became distressed herself when I could not stop sobbing long enough to tell them what my first five minutes of school had been like. At that moment I wanted my father to be home, more than anything else. I knew that had he been there he would have dealt with the teacher in no uncertain terms, as only a father could handle the situation.
They made me sit down and gave me a spoon full of sugar to settle me down and finally I could get the words out. I told them that my finest clothes were not good enough to wear to school, the teacher called them rags and my traditionally braided hair with red ribbons and coins was inappropriate for school also. I needed to wear the colours of Greece. When I had finally explained what had happened, I thought my grandmother would explode, she began cursing incessantly that the teacher and the Greek regime be struck down with a paralytic disease, that they burn in the devil's own domain, that pestilence and disaster mark their day and so forth.
Once she had regained her composure the question 'Where am I going to find you a blue and white tunic?' arose. I could hear my mother and grandmother talking and yelling and cursing as they rummaged through the chests and cupboards where they kept cloth and garments. They managed to find part of an old dress and put it over my finest clothes and I was forced, practically pulling and screaming back to school, though I never wanted to return. The old raggy dress over my clothes was a signal to the teacher that my grandmother and mother believed that the raggiest dress was good enough for their school uniform. When my grandfather and uncle returned home, they were furious and in no uncertain terms had their bit to say to the 'educators'.
To say that I hated school would be an understatement, not because I hated learning, on the contrary, I was intelligent and wanted to achieve. The fact that today I have four university educated daughters is indicative of that intelligence. But I hated the way the teachers made me feel.
Early on in the process, my first five minutes at school taught me that my mother's and grandmother's handiwork, culture and traditions were worthless, and inherent in that negative reinforcement was a feeling of my own worthlessness.
I suppose it wasn't until I went to school that I realized that the Greek language was the language of the colonizing power. Even though Macedonian was spoken in the village, at home and with relatives, the necessary form of communication at school and church was Greek. We spoke it with a thick accent because we were Macedonian bilinguals. We were taught that our Macedonian language was inconsequential, that it had no name, alphabet and could not be taught. That it was not a language of 'high' communication, that is, one could not stand up and present a lecture or a speech in Macedonian because it was just a nothing or mongrel language with no structure or words, just remnants of the languages of the passing warlords.
It wasn't until I was in Australia that I realized that this was totally incorrect. I learned that there was an education system, literature and newspapers. I attended meetings, concerts and church services and spoke with educated relatives from the Republic of Macedonia. My father learned the script in the intoxicating eucalyptus bush of Western Australia to the sounds of the lonely rain birds' song and many years later taught my husband. My children became literate in Macedonian in Australia, completing University qualifications in the language. There is a certain bitter irony that it was in Australia that I too, at the age of sixty, became literate in my grandmother's language. And the lies I had been taught, and the worthlessness I had felt, dissipated with the empowerment that comes with mother tongue literacy, especially for those who have been forced to live a lie during their childhood.
It was not enough that we were stripped of our land, but they tried to take our dignity as people. We were taught we did not exist, that there were no Macedonian people and if they really wanted to denigrate us they would call us Gypsies or Bulgaros, because they hated these peoples almost as much as they hated Macedonians. We were second class citizens in our own homeland and because we clearly did not have a Hellenic background, ensuring that we acquired one via the education system meant imbuing students with a feeling of self-hated towards their own background. Our humiliation continued as in the course of the lessons the teacher made sure that the negative reinforcement was given to the Macedonian children. I remember knowing the answers to questions and putting up my hand constantly, only to be told to sit down and shut up. I was never praised for knowing anything. It would not do to develop the intelligence and self-confidence of a Macedonian child, she might one day work out what was really going on, and have the strength of character to oppose it! All this had the effect of making me become quite disinterested in school. This and the persecution for speaking Macedonian.
I've neglected to say that at school speaking Macedonian was absolutely forbidden, but my friends and I ignored this and in the play ground would use the language that rolled naturally off our tongues. One day as we were playing "pupana", a game like knuckles, with my friend Vasilka, I caught a glimpse of the teacher talking to an older prosfigi [Pontic settler] student. Almost instantly, the boy came over to where we were playing and started to belt us, me in particular because I was by far the most vocal and rebellious. The teacher watched on as the boy boxed me about the head and ears, so hard that I became dizzy and had to sit down. We begged him to stop; when he finished he raised his head towards the teacher. I gathered this was punishment for breaking the rule and speaking Macedonian.
When I went home, whimpering and sobbing yet again, as was a seemingly regular occurrence, my grandmother would lose her electric temper and toss all the Greek text books in the fire. Her words still ring in my head 'Its not enough, they have taken our land, but now to mistreat our young, to take our language, this is too much!' She would curse and yell and I understand where the rebellious streak in me came from. This served to neutralize the effect of the Greek schooling process, as she reinforced our self-worth by rejecting any system that denigrated us for being ourselves. To be dispossessed in one's own land poses all types of problems. It became all too obvious to my grandmother that our dispossession would not be only of the materially visible things. As well as the land, our language and culture could also be confiscated, leaving us with nothing but an empty shell of the people we once were.
This was how the Greek national neurosis about the 'endopi' [indigenous] was incubated and perpetuated to oncoming generations. Intolerance for non- Hellenes was the stepping stone towards hatred for a people whose only fault was to live on land which now fell under Greek domination. This was how I learned first hand that my grandmother's words made sense 'Kaj shto ima sila nema pravina' -where there is power there is no justice. It seems that all songs sung and now words written are about challenging injustice of one form or another. Injustice provides the necessary ingredient for human tragedy.
I suppose one of the final insults to our family was a school performance which promoted the sense of 'mother Greece's' embracing power. The different traditional outfits of the prosfigi [Pontic settlers], Macedonian and Vlach students were swapped. I was dressed in a Prosfigi outfit and my Prosfigi friend in a Macedonian outfit. This was so hard for my family to bear seeing their child dressed in the traditional dress of those who had been allocated our land, those who had fought with my father and uncle. And the teachers knew this. This was a deliberate act to rub salt in the old wounds and to assert their power. I will never forget the disgust in my grandfather's eyes the night of that concert. Thankfully, during the war years this type of schooling was interrupted." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 84-88)
There is no Macedonian born in Greek occupied Macedonia that hasn't got a similar story or that has been spared from such a tragic experience.
News of the Greek acts promulgated on November 21, 1926 and the new, official Greek names were published in the Greek government daily newspaper "Efimeris tis Kiverniseos" numbers 322 and 324 published on November 21st and 23rd, 1926. These acts are binding to this day.
Following these acts the Greek government implemented a compulsory policy of removing all evidence of the Macedonian language from Churches, icons, monuments, tomb stones, cemeteries, archeological finds, etc. All Slavonic Church or secular literature was seized and burned. The use of the Macedonian language was forbidden also in personal communications between parents and children, among villagers, at weddings and work parties, and in burial rituals. (John Shea. "Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to define a new Balkan Nation". Page 109)
Failing to completely Hellenize the Macedonian population subsequent Greeks government introduced pre-kindergarten schools. The pretext for these schools was to free the parents so that they could go to work but their motive became clear when such schools became available only in Greek occupied Macedonia and nowhere else in Greece. The idea here was to separate young children not from their parents but from their grandparents who traditionally looked after them and taught them values and the Macedonian language while parents were out in the fields working.
The act of forbidding the use of the Macedonian language in Greece is best illustrated by an example of how it was implemented in the Township of Assarios (Giuvezna). Here is a quote from Karakasidou's book Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood.
"[We] listened to the president articulate to the council that in accordance with the decision [#122770] of Mr. Minister, General Governor of Macedonia, all municipal and township councils would forbid, through [administrative] decisions, the speaking of other idioms of obsolete languages within the area of their jurisdiction for the reconstitution of a universal language and our national glory. [The president] suggested that [the] speaking of different idioms, foreign [languages] and our language in an impure or obsolete manner in the area of the township of Assirios would be forbidden. Assirios Township Decision No. 134, 13 December 1936." (Page 162, Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood)
By 1928 1,497 Macedonian place-names in the Greek occupied Macedonia were Hellenized (LAW 4096) and all Cyrillic inscriptions found in churches, on tombstones and icons were destroyed (or overwritten) prompting English Journalist V. Hild to say, "The Greeks do not only persecute living Slavs (Macedonians)..., but they even persecute dead ones. They do not leave them in peace even in the graves. They erase the Slavonic inscriptions on the headstones, remove the bones and burn them."
In the years following World War I, the Macedonian people underwent extensive measures of systematic denationalization. The applications of these "denationalization schemes" were so extensive and aggressively pursued that in the long term they eroded the will of the Macedonian people to resist.
In Greece, in 1929 during the rule of Elepterios Venizelos, a legal act was issued 'On the protection of public order'. In line with this Act each demand for nationality rights is regarded as high treason. This law is still in force.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 5 - The Metaxa Dictatorship
June 2008
By Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
When the Macedonian people felt things couldn't get any worse in Greek occupied Macedonia, they did.
"Metaxas, having removed the last constraints on his authority, enjoying the active support of King George II, and able through him to count on the loyalty of the armed forces, now set about his long-cherished ambition of reshaping the Greek character and remoulding Greek society. Since his days as a young army officer at the Prussian military academy he had nurtured an admiration for ernst, 'the serious German spirit', which he contrasted with the Greeks' excessive individualism and lack of a sense of corporate loyalty. In pursuit of this basic objective of 'disciplining' the Greek people he aped many of the trappings of German Nazism and Italian Fascism. In conscious imitation of Hitler's Third Reich he evolved the concept of the Third Hellenic Civilization. The first was the pagan civilization of ancient Greece, the second the Christian civilization of Byzantium. The third, which would be fashioned under his aegis, would combine the virtues of both. In pursuit of his essentially paternalistic, authoritarian style of government he had himself proclaimed in 1937 'First Peasant' and 'First Worker', and also liked to be known as 'leader' or 'National Father'. He declared a moratorium on peasant debts and introduced labour legislation that sounded progressive on paper, but much of his populist, anti-plutocratic rhetoric was belied by his practice. Workers particularly resented his introduction of compulsory arbitration of labour disputes." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 133)
What Clogg is calling the "reshaping of Greek character and remoulding Greek society" which by the way he makes sound like it is a progressive thing, many today would call "cultural genocide". What Metaxas did in fact is enforce existing anti-Macedonian policies to the extreme and then enacted some more of his own.
The dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-1940) was especially brutal in its treatment of the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia, who by this time had increasingly begun to identify themselves as Macedonians.
"On December 18, 1936, the Metaxas dictatorship issued a legal act concerning 'Activity Against State Security.' This law punished claims of minority rights. On the basis of this act, thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned, or expelled from Greece. On September 7, 1938, the legal act 2366 was issued. This banned the use of the Macedonian language even in the domestic sphere. All Macedonian localities were flooded with posters that read, 'Speak Greek.' Evening schools were opened in which adult Macedonians were taught Greek. No Macedonian schools of any kind were permitted. Any public manifestation of Macedonian national feeling and its outward expression through language, song, or dance was forbidden and severely punished by the Metaxas regime. People who spoke Macedonian were beaten, fined and imprisoned. Punishments in some areas included piercing of the tongue with a needle and cutting off a part of the ear for every Macedonian word spoken. Almost 5,000 Macedonians were sent to jails and prison camps for violating this prohibition against the use of the Macedonian language. Mass exile of sections of Macedonians and other 'difficult' minorities took place. The trauma of persecution has left deep scars on the consciousness of the Macedonians in Greece, many of whom are even today convinced that their language 'cannot' be committed to writing.
Writing in 1938, Australian author Bert Birtles in his book Exiles in the Aegean said, 'If Greece has no Jewish problem, she has the Macedonians. In the name of 'Hellenization' these people are being persecuted continually and arrested for the most fantastic reasons. Metaxas's way of inculcating the proper nationalist spirit among them has been to change all the native place-names into Greek and to forbid use of the native language. For displaying the slightest resistance to this edict- for this too is a danger to the security of the State - peasants and villagers have been exiled without trial.'" (John Shea. "Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation". Pages 111 and 112)
"The racism which envelops the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia has primarily focused on the suppression of language and identity in order to maintain territorial acquisition. It has become an ideological means to assist exploitation and denationalization. This policy results in systemic discrimination and denial of basic human rights such as self- identification. The dehumanization is validated by the argument that: you are not Macedonian, you do not have a culture, language or a name, so in fact you do not exist and therefore there is no oppression. There is sad irony in the fact that by claiming a Macedonian heritage, language and name, the Macedonians are seen as the villains whose actions are somehow threatening to Greece. This is a classic condition of oppression culture, in that the oppressor claims to feel violated by the oppressed. By claiming the process is actually occurring to themselves, Greek Governments aim to validate the need for continuing the oppression.
This type of mind-set or social outlook is unfortunately reinforced within the school system and a social system which does not promote a sense of multiculturalism. The social system which evolved after the 1913 acquisition of Macedonian territory found it necessary to create a modern Greek identity for the masses who spoke other languages within the new borders. Hellenism is the absolute antithesis of multiculturalism, which presupposes the right to self-identification and self expression." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 162 and 163)
The Metaxas regime was particularly brutal against the rural Macedonian population where Hellenization in the past was less restrictive and most Macedonians especially the elderly and uneducated did not speak Greek. Here the Metaxas regime employed a particularly large police force where the policemen's salary was supplemented with the funds exacted by the policeman from fines. Each policeman was paid a percentage of the fine imposed on those caught speaking Macedonian. With this kind of incentive, policemen were not only doing their patriotic duty in apprehending the criminals but they were also rewarded for their vigilance. Unfortunately those who paid the heaviest fines were the elderly and poor, people who could least afford them.
The best places to stalk their unsuspecting victims were the crowded marketplaces where old women did their shopping totally oblivious of the prowling policemen's finely tuned ears, ever listening for the offending word of a criminal speaking in their native language, the only language they knew. One gentle old widowed woman who I know personally from my village was fined the equivalent of one month's salary for asking for the price of produce at the market. She had to sell her entire year's supply of feta cheese in order to pay the fine.
I was too young at that time to ask this poor woman how it felt to be fined for speaking the only language she knew. Being unable to speak Greek how did she manage to buy a ticket on the bus to go to market? How did she ask the grocer for her groceries? Did she point to them? How did she figure out how to pay if she didn't understand the grocer's language?
We often joke about this because it is so bizarre but people were also fined for giving commands to their animals or calling out to their pets in their native language.
Another place to stalk unsuspecting victims was at their home. Greek policemen often stood outside people's windows just to hear what language they were speaking and fined the entire family if they were caught speaking Macedonian.
"The Metaxas regime, haunted by the specter of Slavism and communism, initiated a policy of accelerated assimilation. Applied by incompetent and short-sighted civil servants, it antagonized even Slavophones of the Greek faction. To peasants of Bulgarian [ethnic Macedonian] orientation it served as proof that the Greek state could not offer them a national shelter. In 1941, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the entrance of Bulgarian troops in eastern Macedonia and Thrace offered the opportunity for accumulated bitterness to reach maturity." (Kofos. "Nationalism and Communism in Macedonia". Page 255)
After the realization set in that people would be fined and even physically punished and force fed castor oil for repeat offences, fear and suspicion began to set in, forcing people to keep silent. It was best to look down or to look the other way when passing your neighbours on the street because you never knew who might be listening. Keeping silent was preferable to speaking to someone you knew all your life in a foreign despicable tongue you despised.
"In the past, Macedonian life and events were preserved in the folksongs, thus enabling an articulation of feelings and grief as well as cultural self-expression. When the Macedonian language was proscribed in Northern Greece, the folksongs ceased." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Page 163)
"Metaxas placed great store by the country's youth, and to this end created the National Youth Organisation (EON), which was intended to be the standard bearer of his ideals after his death. Membership of EON was made mandatory and rival organizations such as the Boy Scouts were suppressed. EON, too, was seen by Metaxas as providing a substitute for the lack of any kind of mass party base for his power, the most obvious difference between the Metaxas regime and the fascist regimes that he so admired. He shared to the full, however, their hostility towards liberalism, communism and parliamentary government, and indeed their nationalism, although his nationalism was of the non-aggressive variety. Nor, moreover, was his ideology, such as it was, based on theories of racial superiority." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Pages 133 and 134)
The National Youth Organization (EON) may have been the "standard bearer for Metaxas's ideals" but it was a nightmare for the Macedonian population. Included in this organization were Macedonian youths who were poisoned by Greek propaganda and turned against their own people. Even their own parents and grandparents were seen as weak and vile and loathed for who they were. Such poisoned youths would not hesitate to turn in their own siblings or parents to the police for even the most minor offenses. While western authors ridicule Hitler for his promotion of "racial superiority" they remain silent for Metaxas's. Much of the arrogance in modern Greeks today is owed to the Metaxas indoctrination.
Much as he hated Macedonians, Metaxas also had distaste for communists who he persecuted at no end. Since officially Macedonians did not exist, his regime was quick to accuse Macedonians of being communists and sent them to prison in the most desolate Greek island concentration camps. A whole network of Greek fascists existed spying on the people and making lists of those that could not be trusted. When Metaxas exacted his dictatorship all these "marked" people were rounded up and sent to prison. And as we will later show, these same lists were used again and again to torment the population more so the Macedonian population than any other in Greek occupied Macedonia.
If World War II had not broken out and had Metaxas lived another five years, there would be no minorities living in Greece today, Greece would have been a truly homogenous state with "pure Greeks" all being direct descendants from the ancient Greeks. Although officially Greece claims to be 98% pure, those claims today are only wishful thinking.
Being persecuted to no end, during the Metaxa era people took measures to protect themselves and took their activities underground. There still existed communists and communist organizations but by now they were all clandestine. New and more secure communications were developed which in the long term served the communists well especially during the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation.
We cannot say that there was no relationship between the Macedonians and the communists as many Macedonians were loyal to the Communist Party of Greece but only because it was the sole party that ever gave Macedonians the time of day. Macedonians were made scapegoats for communist activities even though Macedonians had nothing to do with those activities.
Following is a segment from John S. Koliopouls's book "Plundered Loyalties" that deals with the subject of Macedonians and communists during the 1930's but represents the Greek point of view in this matter.
"In December 1929 the district governor of Florina reported that on visiting the Slav Macedonian villages of Ano Hydrousa, Sphika and Karyai he encountered not only resentment against state and communal taxation but also 'anti-state sentiments'. He discerned the same sentiments in the refusal of the inhabitants of five 'indigent' villages of Lake Prespa to cooperate in leasing the taxes on the lake fishery. Mikrolimni, Agios Achilleios, Bronteron, Kallithea and Pyksos apparently harboured 'anti-state' sentiments. Such an attitude and the inroads the communists were able to make in Slav Macedonian villages in the 1930s led to stringent legislative and administrative measures, especially by the right-wing dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-41). In addition to banning the speaking of Slav Macedonian in public, the dictatorship imprisoned or deported an unknown number of communist cadres of the region, many of them Slav Macedonians or simply sensitive to their grievances. Gendarmerie and administrative and appointed communal officials, in their effort to curry favour with the strong men of the day, were prepared to go out of their way to combat communist and 'anti-state' sentiments. Pastoralists of the region were obliged to provide evidence of their true Greek sentiments to be able to rent summer grazing land. Gendarmerie officers and appointed village headmen had to be satisfied that applicants for such transactions were 'God-fearing family men' and 'nationalists'. Neither Slav Macedonians nor refugees were considered to be above suspicion.
A Maniot gendarmerie officer named Periandros Poulakos was representative of state officials of the period in the region. As commanding officer of the Amygdala gendarmerie station, he made a name for himself in the district of Eordaea as a ruthless guardian of law and order as conceived by the Metaxas dictatorship. In December 1938, assisted by the village chief of the National Youth Organization (Ethniki Organosis Neon) (EON) and under orders from the district governor of Kozani, he arrested an inhabitant who was seen in the village cafe when he was expected to attend church like others. In March 1939 the same officer arrested, again with the assistance of the Youth chief and the president of the village of Koila, an inhabitant of that village who opened his coffee shop, which he also used as a barber's shop, on Independence Day (25 March) to shave two village men. Several inhabitants made statements under oath that from that and similar behaviour in the past they were convinced that the barber was a communist sympathizer. Several months later Poulakos arrested a Slav Macedonian in the village of Ermakia and other members of his family and kept them in custody, longer than was permitted in an effort to extract the depositions he was demanding. The Slav Macedonian with another man of the same village beat the village field guard, a refugee who had caught them stealing grapes from a vineyard.
Had it not been for the war and the ensuing foreign occupation of the region in the first half of the 1940s, the ruthless drive to transform the region in the ways described might possibly have succeeded. However those events put an end to this process of assimilating different linguistic and cultural groups into a homogeneous national community and initiated, instead, developments that further intensified existing cleavages." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Pages 44-46)
After war broke out in the Balkans, the first to fall to fascist aggression was Albania. By an ultimatum delivered to Albania on March 23, 1939, Italian troops landed in Albania and occupied its territory on April 7, encountering little resistance. Soon after consolidating control in Albania, on October 28th, 1940, Italy declared war on Greece. Greece however turned out to be tough to defeat and Metaxa's foresight in arming his state paid off.
Official history praises Greece and Greek soldiers for their bravery and fighting spirit but neglects to mention the contributions and sacrifices Macedonians made to keep Greece safe. Macedonians were the first to be dispatched to the front lines in Albania, taking the full brunt of the offensive as well as the winter cold. More Macedonian men suffered from gangrene than from Italian bullets and bombs. Unprepared for the frigid temperatures, many men lost their fingers, toes, limbs and even their lives to frostbite. Food too was in short supply as the brave Macedonian soldiers had to fight off starvation as well as the Italians. They did this to protect a country that refused and still refuses to recognize them.
"The first intimations of what was to come had been sensed before the Axis occupation, as early as the winter of 1940-1, even as Greece was fighting Italy people wondered about the attitude of the Slav Macedonians: would they fight with the rest of the Greeks? The great majority of them did fight the Italians even more tenaciously than most southern Greeks, if only because the fighting was taking place not far from their homes. The local army units were the first to repulse the Italian invaders in October and the first to march into Albania in November....
...A related warning was the deportation of a number of Slav Macedonians during the war for security reasons. They were mostly communists, or people whom the authorities did not trust to move freely in the zone of military operations." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Page 50)
All their sacrifices were in vain because six months later on April 6th, 1941 the German army marched into Greece.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 5 - The Metaxa Dictatorship
June 2008
By Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
When the Macedonian people felt things couldn't get any worse in Greek occupied Macedonia, they did.
"Metaxas, having removed the last constraints on his authority, enjoying the active support of King George II, and able through him to count on the loyalty of the armed forces, now set about his long-cherished ambition of reshaping the Greek character and remoulding Greek society. Since his days as a young army officer at the Prussian military academy he had nurtured an admiration for ernst, 'the serious German spirit', which he contrasted with the Greeks' excessive individualism and lack of a sense of corporate loyalty. In pursuit of this basic objective of 'disciplining' the Greek people he aped many of the trappings of German Nazism and Italian Fascism. In conscious imitation of Hitler's Third Reich he evolved the concept of the Third Hellenic Civilization. The first was the pagan civilization of ancient Greece, the second the Christian civilization of Byzantium. The third, which would be fashioned under his aegis, would combine the virtues of both. In pursuit of his essentially paternalistic, authoritarian style of government he had himself proclaimed in 1937 'First Peasant' and 'First Worker', and also liked to be known as 'leader' or 'National Father'. He declared a moratorium on peasant debts and introduced labour legislation that sounded progressive on paper, but much of his populist, anti-plutocratic rhetoric was belied by his practice. Workers particularly resented his introduction of compulsory arbitration of labour disputes." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Page 133)
What Clogg is calling the "reshaping of Greek character and remoulding Greek society" which by the way he makes sound like it is a progressive thing, many today would call "cultural genocide". What Metaxas did in fact is enforce existing anti-Macedonian policies to the extreme and then enacted some more of his own.
The dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-1940) was especially brutal in its treatment of the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia, who by this time had increasingly begun to identify themselves as Macedonians.
"On December 18, 1936, the Metaxas dictatorship issued a legal act concerning 'Activity Against State Security.' This law punished claims of minority rights. On the basis of this act, thousands of Macedonians were arrested, imprisoned, or expelled from Greece. On September 7, 1938, the legal act 2366 was issued. This banned the use of the Macedonian language even in the domestic sphere. All Macedonian localities were flooded with posters that read, 'Speak Greek.' Evening schools were opened in which adult Macedonians were taught Greek. No Macedonian schools of any kind were permitted. Any public manifestation of Macedonian national feeling and its outward expression through language, song, or dance was forbidden and severely punished by the Metaxas regime. People who spoke Macedonian were beaten, fined and imprisoned. Punishments in some areas included piercing of the tongue with a needle and cutting off a part of the ear for every Macedonian word spoken. Almost 5,000 Macedonians were sent to jails and prison camps for violating this prohibition against the use of the Macedonian language. Mass exile of sections of Macedonians and other 'difficult' minorities took place. The trauma of persecution has left deep scars on the consciousness of the Macedonians in Greece, many of whom are even today convinced that their language 'cannot' be committed to writing.
Writing in 1938, Australian author Bert Birtles in his book Exiles in the Aegean said, 'If Greece has no Jewish problem, she has the Macedonians. In the name of 'Hellenization' these people are being persecuted continually and arrested for the most fantastic reasons. Metaxas's way of inculcating the proper nationalist spirit among them has been to change all the native place-names into Greek and to forbid use of the native language. For displaying the slightest resistance to this edict- for this too is a danger to the security of the State - peasants and villagers have been exiled without trial.'" (John Shea. "Macedonia and Greece The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation". Pages 111 and 112)
"The racism which envelops the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia has primarily focused on the suppression of language and identity in order to maintain territorial acquisition. It has become an ideological means to assist exploitation and denationalization. This policy results in systemic discrimination and denial of basic human rights such as self- identification. The dehumanization is validated by the argument that: you are not Macedonian, you do not have a culture, language or a name, so in fact you do not exist and therefore there is no oppression. There is sad irony in the fact that by claiming a Macedonian heritage, language and name, the Macedonians are seen as the villains whose actions are somehow threatening to Greece. This is a classic condition of oppression culture, in that the oppressor claims to feel violated by the oppressed. By claiming the process is actually occurring to themselves, Greek Governments aim to validate the need for continuing the oppression.
This type of mind-set or social outlook is unfortunately reinforced within the school system and a social system which does not promote a sense of multiculturalism. The social system which evolved after the 1913 acquisition of Macedonian territory found it necessary to create a modern Greek identity for the masses who spoke other languages within the new borders. Hellenism is the absolute antithesis of multiculturalism, which presupposes the right to self-identification and self expression." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Pages 162 and 163)
The Metaxas regime was particularly brutal against the rural Macedonian population where Hellenization in the past was less restrictive and most Macedonians especially the elderly and uneducated did not speak Greek. Here the Metaxas regime employed a particularly large police force where the policemen's salary was supplemented with the funds exacted by the policeman from fines. Each policeman was paid a percentage of the fine imposed on those caught speaking Macedonian. With this kind of incentive, policemen were not only doing their patriotic duty in apprehending the criminals but they were also rewarded for their vigilance. Unfortunately those who paid the heaviest fines were the elderly and poor, people who could least afford them.
The best places to stalk their unsuspecting victims were the crowded marketplaces where old women did their shopping totally oblivious of the prowling policemen's finely tuned ears, ever listening for the offending word of a criminal speaking in their native language, the only language they knew. One gentle old widowed woman who I know personally from my village was fined the equivalent of one month's salary for asking for the price of produce at the market. She had to sell her entire year's supply of feta cheese in order to pay the fine.
I was too young at that time to ask this poor woman how it felt to be fined for speaking the only language she knew. Being unable to speak Greek how did she manage to buy a ticket on the bus to go to market? How did she ask the grocer for her groceries? Did she point to them? How did she figure out how to pay if she didn't understand the grocer's language?
We often joke about this because it is so bizarre but people were also fined for giving commands to their animals or calling out to their pets in their native language.
Another place to stalk unsuspecting victims was at their home. Greek policemen often stood outside people's windows just to hear what language they were speaking and fined the entire family if they were caught speaking Macedonian.
"The Metaxas regime, haunted by the specter of Slavism and communism, initiated a policy of accelerated assimilation. Applied by incompetent and short-sighted civil servants, it antagonized even Slavophones of the Greek faction. To peasants of Bulgarian [ethnic Macedonian] orientation it served as proof that the Greek state could not offer them a national shelter. In 1941, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the entrance of Bulgarian troops in eastern Macedonia and Thrace offered the opportunity for accumulated bitterness to reach maturity." (Kofos. "Nationalism and Communism in Macedonia". Page 255)
After the realization set in that people would be fined and even physically punished and force fed castor oil for repeat offences, fear and suspicion began to set in, forcing people to keep silent. It was best to look down or to look the other way when passing your neighbours on the street because you never knew who might be listening. Keeping silent was preferable to speaking to someone you knew all your life in a foreign despicable tongue you despised.
"In the past, Macedonian life and events were preserved in the folksongs, thus enabling an articulation of feelings and grief as well as cultural self-expression. When the Macedonian language was proscribed in Northern Greece, the folksongs ceased." (Kita Sapurma & Pandora Petrovska. "Children of the Bird Goddess". Pollitecon Publications. 1997. Page 163)
"Metaxas placed great store by the country's youth, and to this end created the National Youth Organisation (EON), which was intended to be the standard bearer of his ideals after his death. Membership of EON was made mandatory and rival organizations such as the Boy Scouts were suppressed. EON, too, was seen by Metaxas as providing a substitute for the lack of any kind of mass party base for his power, the most obvious difference between the Metaxas regime and the fascist regimes that he so admired. He shared to the full, however, their hostility towards liberalism, communism and parliamentary government, and indeed their nationalism, although his nationalism was of the non-aggressive variety. Nor, moreover, was his ideology, such as it was, based on theories of racial superiority." (Richard Clogg. "A Short History of Modern Greece". Pages 133 and 134)
The National Youth Organization (EON) may have been the "standard bearer for Metaxas's ideals" but it was a nightmare for the Macedonian population. Included in this organization were Macedonian youths who were poisoned by Greek propaganda and turned against their own people. Even their own parents and grandparents were seen as weak and vile and loathed for who they were. Such poisoned youths would not hesitate to turn in their own siblings or parents to the police for even the most minor offenses. While western authors ridicule Hitler for his promotion of "racial superiority" they remain silent for Metaxas's. Much of the arrogance in modern Greeks today is owed to the Metaxas indoctrination.
Much as he hated Macedonians, Metaxas also had distaste for communists who he persecuted at no end. Since officially Macedonians did not exist, his regime was quick to accuse Macedonians of being communists and sent them to prison in the most desolate Greek island concentration camps. A whole network of Greek fascists existed spying on the people and making lists of those that could not be trusted. When Metaxas exacted his dictatorship all these "marked" people were rounded up and sent to prison. And as we will later show, these same lists were used again and again to torment the population more so the Macedonian population than any other in Greek occupied Macedonia.
If World War II had not broken out and had Metaxas lived another five years, there would be no minorities living in Greece today, Greece would have been a truly homogenous state with "pure Greeks" all being direct descendants from the ancient Greeks. Although officially Greece claims to be 98% pure, those claims today are only wishful thinking.
Being persecuted to no end, during the Metaxa era people took measures to protect themselves and took their activities underground. There still existed communists and communist organizations but by now they were all clandestine. New and more secure communications were developed which in the long term served the communists well especially during the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation.
We cannot say that there was no relationship between the Macedonians and the communists as many Macedonians were loyal to the Communist Party of Greece but only because it was the sole party that ever gave Macedonians the time of day. Macedonians were made scapegoats for communist activities even though Macedonians had nothing to do with those activities.
Following is a segment from John S. Koliopouls's book "Plundered Loyalties" that deals with the subject of Macedonians and communists during the 1930's but represents the Greek point of view in this matter.
"In December 1929 the district governor of Florina reported that on visiting the Slav Macedonian villages of Ano Hydrousa, Sphika and Karyai he encountered not only resentment against state and communal taxation but also 'anti-state sentiments'. He discerned the same sentiments in the refusal of the inhabitants of five 'indigent' villages of Lake Prespa to cooperate in leasing the taxes on the lake fishery. Mikrolimni, Agios Achilleios, Bronteron, Kallithea and Pyksos apparently harboured 'anti-state' sentiments. Such an attitude and the inroads the communists were able to make in Slav Macedonian villages in the 1930s led to stringent legislative and administrative measures, especially by the right-wing dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas (1936-41). In addition to banning the speaking of Slav Macedonian in public, the dictatorship imprisoned or deported an unknown number of communist cadres of the region, many of them Slav Macedonians or simply sensitive to their grievances. Gendarmerie and administrative and appointed communal officials, in their effort to curry favour with the strong men of the day, were prepared to go out of their way to combat communist and 'anti-state' sentiments. Pastoralists of the region were obliged to provide evidence of their true Greek sentiments to be able to rent summer grazing land. Gendarmerie officers and appointed village headmen had to be satisfied that applicants for such transactions were 'God-fearing family men' and 'nationalists'. Neither Slav Macedonians nor refugees were considered to be above suspicion.
A Maniot gendarmerie officer named Periandros Poulakos was representative of state officials of the period in the region. As commanding officer of the Amygdala gendarmerie station, he made a name for himself in the district of Eordaea as a ruthless guardian of law and order as conceived by the Metaxas dictatorship. In December 1938, assisted by the village chief of the National Youth Organization (Ethniki Organosis Neon) (EON) and under orders from the district governor of Kozani, he arrested an inhabitant who was seen in the village cafe when he was expected to attend church like others. In March 1939 the same officer arrested, again with the assistance of the Youth chief and the president of the village of Koila, an inhabitant of that village who opened his coffee shop, which he also used as a barber's shop, on Independence Day (25 March) to shave two village men. Several inhabitants made statements under oath that from that and similar behaviour in the past they were convinced that the barber was a communist sympathizer. Several months later Poulakos arrested a Slav Macedonian in the village of Ermakia and other members of his family and kept them in custody, longer than was permitted in an effort to extract the depositions he was demanding. The Slav Macedonian with another man of the same village beat the village field guard, a refugee who had caught them stealing grapes from a vineyard.
Had it not been for the war and the ensuing foreign occupation of the region in the first half of the 1940s, the ruthless drive to transform the region in the ways described might possibly have succeeded. However those events put an end to this process of assimilating different linguistic and cultural groups into a homogeneous national community and initiated, instead, developments that further intensified existing cleavages." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Pages 44-46)
After war broke out in the Balkans, the first to fall to fascist aggression was Albania. By an ultimatum delivered to Albania on March 23, 1939, Italian troops landed in Albania and occupied its territory on April 7, encountering little resistance. Soon after consolidating control in Albania, on October 28th, 1940, Italy declared war on Greece. Greece however turned out to be tough to defeat and Metaxa's foresight in arming his state paid off.
Official history praises Greece and Greek soldiers for their bravery and fighting spirit but neglects to mention the contributions and sacrifices Macedonians made to keep Greece safe. Macedonians were the first to be dispatched to the front lines in Albania, taking the full brunt of the offensive as well as the winter cold. More Macedonian men suffered from gangrene than from Italian bullets and bombs. Unprepared for the frigid temperatures, many men lost their fingers, toes, limbs and even their lives to frostbite. Food too was in short supply as the brave Macedonian soldiers had to fight off starvation as well as the Italians. They did this to protect a country that refused and still refuses to recognize them.
"The first intimations of what was to come had been sensed before the Axis occupation, as early as the winter of 1940-1, even as Greece was fighting Italy people wondered about the attitude of the Slav Macedonians: would they fight with the rest of the Greeks? The great majority of them did fight the Italians even more tenaciously than most southern Greeks, if only because the fighting was taking place not far from their homes. The local army units were the first to repulse the Italian invaders in October and the first to march into Albania in November....
...A related warning was the deportation of a number of Slav Macedonians during the war for security reasons. They were mostly communists, or people whom the authorities did not trust to move freely in the zone of military operations." (John S. Koliopouls. "Plundered Loyalties". Page 50)
All their sacrifices were in vain because six months later on April 6th, 1941 the German army marched into Greece.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 6 - The Italian, German and Bulgarian occupation
July 2008
By Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The German invasion was a welcome relief for the soldiers from the Italian front, but at the same time it posed an uneasy uncertainty as to what was going to happen next. No one was certain how the new invaders were going to react. The Macedonian people, having ample experience with being occupied, were expecting the worst. As time would show however the new invaders were a mixed blessing for the Macedonian people.
After war broke out in Europe, Bulgaria allied itself with the axis powers and on March 1, 1941 joined the German led pact.
By the end of April, 1941 Greek occupied Macedonia was divided into three occupied zones: Eastern Macedonia east from the river Struma along with Thrace was held by Fascist Bulgaria, the southern part of Kostur Region, Kozheni Region and part of Lerin Region was held by the Italians and central Macedonia to Solun was occupied by the Germans. All territories from central and southern Greek occupied Macedonia, where a large segment of approximately 200,000 Macedonian people lived, was left under the jurisdiction of the Greek collaborationist government of general Cholakoglu the man who surrendered Greece to the axis powers.
It took about two months before law and order was re-established in Greek occupied Macedonia and this was done by restoring the old Greek fascist regime, the same regime that supported the Metaxas government. In other words the occupiers needed people to do their bidding so the people who served the Metaxas dictatorship were now the servants of the new masters.
Many Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia who had suffered under the Yugoslav regime welcomed the Bulgarian invaders as saviors and liberators. Their euphoria however was short-lived as the Bulgarians quickly began to oppress and forcibly Bulgarize the Macedonian population. If there had been any pro-Bulgarian sentiment before, it quickly disappeared after the occupation. Germany's violent entry into Yugoslavia, coupled with Bulgarian oppressive attitudes towards the Macedonian people, gave birth to an underground Macedonian resistance movement.
In Greek occupied Macedonia the new occupiers formed gendarmes from the local collaborators called "ekatondarhi" whose initial purpose was to recruit local individuals from the villages who would be willing to spy on their neighbours and inform on those working against the occupier. The gendarmes also acted as the new security forces by establishing gendarme stations in the villages to keep an eye on the people and to requisition food, labour and other supplies for the occupiers and for the Greek quisling government.
Individuals who worked for the occupiers were well paid but at the same time they were abusive and unruly and would not hesitate to use repressive measures against their own people. This attitude created resentment which led to the formation of resistance movements.
To counter the gendarme's oppressive tactics the old Komiti (Ilinden revolutionary guard) was rearmed by the Italians who took advantage of the situation. The "old timers" were angered by Greece's oppressive laws and were spurred back into action by Bulgarian propaganda which condemned the oppressive Greek tactics. The Bulgarians were well aware of the unfavourable conditions the Metaxas and later the Greek quisling Government had created in Greek occupied Macedonia and used the opportunity to agitate the Greeks. Komiti actions were limited at best and were restricted to the Italian zones, as the Germans would not tolerate armed actions in their zones.
Another group to quickly react to the repressive measures of the occupiers and their collaborators was the communist element which was active in the various towns and villages. Many communists, communist sympathizers and others accused of being communists that were jailed by the Metaxas government escaped or were freed by the Germans after Greece's capitulation. These people immediately went to work rebuilding their organizations in secret and agreed to form a unified front to struggle against the new occupiers. The communists were the first to approach the Macedonian people for help in their struggle while reminding them that between 1924 and 1935 the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was the only party which supported their rights as Macedonians. As we will later see this was only a ploy to (1) attract Macedonians into their struggle and (2) to counter the Bulgarian propaganda which offered similar benefits.
Although the CPG had suffered more than the non-communist politicians during the Metaxas dictatorship it was able to take advantage of its internal discipline and exploit its greater experience of clandestine activity to good effect during the occupation. The non-communist politicians, by contrast, were for the most part on the periphery of dramatic events during the war years.
The restoration of the old Greek Metaxas regime in central and south Greek occupied Macedonia (eastern Macedonia was occupied by Bulgaria) was accepted with much displeasure by the Macedonian people, especially by those villages which suffered the most under the Metaxas dictatorship, when around 5,000 Macedonians were charged with heavy fines and were jailed for speaking Macedonian, their mother tongue. Those people in the face of the new gendarmes, who came to the villages to establish the old gendarme stations, saw the return of the old dictatorial and discriminatory regime and the return of new terror and oppression.
In the fall of 1941 in the village Sarakinovo, Meglen Region, the villagers held the armed gendarmes at bay for three days and would not allow them to re-claim the old gendarme building. The impasse was only broken after the Sobotsko gendarme arrived with help. In the village Banitsa, Lerin Region, the villagers opened fire on the gendarme in an attempt to prevent it from occupying the gendarme station. The gendarme gained entry only after the Germans intervened, which unfortunately had negative consequences for the people of the surrounding region. The Germans jailed 60 people from Banitsa, Tsereovo and Gornichevo and killed one person from each village. The following people were taken to Lerin and executed: Dine Ljakov from Banitsa, Stavre (Kitse) Stangolev from Gornichevo and Mijale Tashonov from Tserevo.
Even though the Banitsa resistance was purely a defensive act strictly aimed at preventing former Metaxas elements from taking hold, it was not tolerated by the Germans. In other words, the occupier would only tolerate those who served his interests.
Resistance actions to gendarmes similar to those in Banitsa and Sarakinovo were also organized in the villages Nered, German, and Zelenich, in Lerin Region, Tresino in Meglen Region and Kolomnati in Kostur Region. This is only a small example of what really took place in the struggle against the installation of the former Metaxas dictatorial regime.
The Greek response to all this was typical and characteristic of Greek reactions. Instead of seeing these as defensive actions against an internal aggressor they saw them as a "Bulgarophil movement" which associated the Macedonian people with the enemy. If these actions were indeed the actions of a "Bulgarophil movement" how then do they explain what took place in the Greek village of Mesovuno in 1941?
The village Mesovuno in Kajlar Region, previously called Krmsko was repopulated with Christian Turk settlers from the Pont and the Caucasus in 1924 and renamed from Krmsko to Mesovuno in 1926 by the Greek state. This village was populated by pure and trusted Greeks, yet as we will see this village too rebelled against the Greeks in 1941.
The village Krmsko is located on the west side of Mount Karakamen and fell smack in the middle of the Greek army's second defensive line in the Albanian front which stretched from Mount Karakamen to Mount Kajmakchalan during the Greek-Italian war of 1940-41. After Greece's capitulation to the Axis powers, the Greek army retreated and abandoned storehouses of arms, ammunition and supplies. With no one to guard the warehouse near Krmsko, the villagers took the opportunity to arm themselves in preparation for an unknown future. Among those involved in organizing the warehouse raid included were the teacher Alekso Hadgi Tashkov from Katranitsa, Georgios Petridis and Neofitos Antopulos. Upon acquiring arms the villagers of Krmsko began to organize military formations and carried out war exercises
As the gendarmes formed teams of people from all walks of life, in the fall of 1941 they dispatched them to the villages to requisition food supplies such as wheat, corn and other goods which were to be surrendered to the occupiers and to the Greek quisling government. One such team supported by a gendarme was sent to Krmsko where upon its entry into the village, was stormed and disarmed by the villagers. No one was harmed but the villagers made it clear that if the team ever returned its members would all be killed.
Unable to squash the Krmsko uprising by force, the Regional Governor of Kozheni decided to replace Janis Mourena the Krmsko Municipality President with Pavlos Konstantinidis, one of his own people. That however did not go so well because the first act of the new president was to call on regional gendarmes and the Germans to help him occupy Krmsko. In view of this the villagers found the new president guilty of being an agent of the occupier and had him assassinated.
Upon finding this out, in the morning of October 11, 1941, a gendarme from Katranitsa was dispatched to Krmsko to capture those responsible for the assassination. Expecting retaliation, the villagers of Krmsko were prepared for an ambush and as soon as the gendarme arrived it was surrounded and disarmed.
Still unable to put down the revolt, the Greek quislings called on the Germans for assistance and on October 16, German soldiers arrived and a fire fight ensued. Still unable to suppress the revolt after a short skirmish, the Germans left for Kozheni only to return several days later with a larger force.
In the morning of October 23rd, the people of Krmsko woke up to find their village surrounded. For their courageous stand many paid with their lives. The entire male population from 15 to 60 years of age (146 people) was taken and executed in the village meadows.
Something similar happened to the Macedonian village of Ekshisu but for other reasons. In October 1941 Yannis Papaperos, a Greek officer and staunch Grkoman (a Macedonian who believes he is Greek and supports the Greek cause), made an agreement with other Greek officers of the surrounding Lerin Region gendarmes to attack his own village Ekshisu. The purpose of the attack, which was to be carried out in the dark of night, was to capture and kill the Macedonian leaders and make it look like the communists did it.
Ekshisu was indeed attacked in the night but the villagers who were armed retaliated and fought back repealing the attackers but not without a price. Among the village men who fought, killed were Kole Madzhov, Kiril Tsitskov, Romanov and Kitse Karov.
Even though clearly this clash was provoked by the Greek officers, the Germans held the village accountable and had the entire civilian population locked up in the village church for three days and three nights without food or water. Subsequently, 30 people were sent to jail to the Jedikule prison in Solun. One of the residents, Boris Kargov, was sentenced to death and executed.
At the time of the attack about 300 of those who took up arms against the Greek officers fled to Mount Radush and remained there until the danger was over. Twelve of them became Partisans and remained in the mountains permanently. They were Gjorgi and Iljo Turundzhiev, Kiro Piljaev, Trivko Popov, Mih Kargov, Ilija Popov, Minche Alipashov, Trajko Lisichev, Krume Ashelov, Jordan Shepardanov and two others. All twelve men were from Ekshisu and all later became organizers of a wider resistance movement and participated in a small armed detachment of resistance fighters.
At the end of June 1941, the sixth plenum of the central committee of the CPG met to formulate a plan to defend against the occupiers and to overthrow the foreign fascist yoke. To this end the people were invited to join in the formation of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF), which was founded in September 1941. Although the communists and the CPG were dominant in the GNLF from the beginning there were other small left wing coalition partners such as the agrarian parties and others. In its propaganda the GNLF took care not to scare off potential recruits, in what was fundamentally a conservative and traditional society, with wild talk of land collectivization or nationalization. It stressed instead its patriotic role as a focus for resistance to the Axis. It also demanded that, on liberation, a constituent assembly should be summoned so that the sovereign Greek people might decide on their future form of government.
In a secretly circulated pamphlet entitled "what is the GNLF and what are its aims?" the first aim was "to protect the people against hunger, illness and want". Other aims included the raising of morale, opposition to all forms of collaboration and the National Liberation Struggle". The GNLF endeavoured to have a representative in every village wherever possible.
The Partisan movement in Yugoslavia was more organized and more progressive than that in Greece. Led by Tito, the Communist partisans in Yugoslavia organized a war of national liberation in which the Macedonians fought on an equal footing. Macedonians formed their own section of resistance even before they were recognized and accepted by Tito. The first anti-fascist war of national liberation began in the Republic of Macedonia on October 11, 1941. The Macedonian people by their actions, loyalty and patriotism earned their place in the world. By hardship, determination and the spilling of blood the Macedonian people demonstrated their desire for freedom and the willingness to rule themselves. The Great Powers in 1829 (by the London Protocol) satisfied the Greeks by making Greece a country. Similarly in 1878 (by the congress of Berlin) Russia liberated the Bulgarians making Bulgaria a country. Unlike the Greeks and Bulgarians, however, the brave Macedonian people had to fight by themselves, for themselves, to earn their place in the world among the free nations.
In April 1942 the Macedonian people in the Republic of Macedonia rose up and demonstrated their displeasure against the Bulgarian yoke and Macedonian Partisans took up arms against the Bulgarian army but were massacred in a bloody battle. Unarmed Macedonians then took to the streets to protest the massacre and they too were cut to pieces.
To escape persecution, sections of the Macedonian Partisan force from the Republic of Macedonia fled into Greek occupied Macedonia. Some entered the Italian zones near the village Besfina and the rest penetrated the German zones in the region around the village Sveta Petka and quickly went underground. The Besfina force, before it had a chance to make contact with the local population, was spotted by the Komiti who quickly sprang into action. Seeing uniformed men on the Besfina hillside startled the old Komiti. Thinking that it was a Greek gendarme invasion, the Komiti appealed to the local Italian garrison and were given arms and permission to attack. When the Komiti started the offensive the Partisans backed off and sent representatives to negotiate. They went from village to village and spoke with the local chiefs. The strangers wore handsome uniforms and conducted themselves seriously, with charm and charisma. They spoke long and well about freedom, liberty and the treachery of the Bulgarian Fascists.
When the Komiti found out that the uniformed men were Macedonians they accepted them with open arms, gave them (surrendered) their weapons and many voluntarily joined their cause. The Partisans of Sveta Petka, because of a German presence, had to work under cover but they too succeeded in recruiting volunteers from the local population. After the Partisan penetration, the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia learned about the Bulgarian atrocities committed in the Republic of Macedonia and ceased to believe the Bulgarian propaganda. The old Ilinden guard was demobilized and replaced by a Partisan movement.
Partisan organizers took extraordinary measures to explain to the Macedonian people that they were fighting for the freedom and liberation of the Macedonian people from the tyranny of the oppressive states. The Macedonian involvement in this war, and later in the Greek civil war, was not about "Communist ideologies" or about alliances or obligations to the Great Powers. It was simply the next stage in the long struggle for "liberation from oppression" and to fulfill a longing for freedom, re-unification and self-rule. The Macedonian contribution in fighting against Fascism is not only under emphasized but also misinterpreted by historians. I will once again say that the Macedonian people, during the Second Great War (WWII), rose on the democratic side and fought against fascism for the liberation of the states in which they lived. The Macedonian people, like other people in the Balkans, fought to liberate their homeland and thus earn their place in the world. This cannot be ignored and must be recognized and recorded in the annals of history.
Word of a Macedonian Partisan movement in Greek occupied Macedonia spread like wildfire. People came out on the streets to freely speak their native Macedonian language, to sing songs and write Macedonian plays and poetry. The Partisans even set up Macedonian schools and taught children patriotic songs, poems and Macedonian history, using local Macedonian dialects. The younger generations, for the first time, saw written words in their beloved, sacred Macedonian language. The newfound freedom brought happiness to the lives of the oppressed Macedonian people who welcomed the Partisans into their villages as "our own boys and girls". The newfound confidence and strength projected by the Macedonians terrified the Greeks, especially the gendarmes and the collaborators. For a while they were no longer a threat.
The Germans and Italians did not care one way or another about Macedonian affairs as long as there was no trouble for them. Macedonian interest in Partisan activities continued to climb, bringing new recruits and volunteers to the cause. Youth organizations were created with young men and women recruited to be the eyes and ears of the community and to help defend the villages. Many young volunteers of military age were recruited and trained to perform policing and civic duties in the newly formed organizations. The organization Macedonian National Liberation Front in Greece (MNLF(G)) which was separate from that in the Republic of Macedonia (MNLF(Y) was formed and began recruiting fighters from the Kostur, Lerin and Voden regions.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 6 - The Italian, German and Bulgarian occupation
July 2008
By Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The German invasion was a welcome relief for the soldiers from the Italian front, but at the same time it posed an uneasy uncertainty as to what was going to happen next. No one was certain how the new invaders were going to react. The Macedonian people, having ample experience with being occupied, were expecting the worst. As time would show however the new invaders were a mixed blessing for the Macedonian people.
After war broke out in Europe, Bulgaria allied itself with the axis powers and on March 1, 1941 joined the German led pact.
By the end of April, 1941 Greek occupied Macedonia was divided into three occupied zones: Eastern Macedonia east from the river Struma along with Thrace was held by Fascist Bulgaria, the southern part of Kostur Region, Kozheni Region and part of Lerin Region was held by the Italians and central Macedonia to Solun was occupied by the Germans. All territories from central and southern Greek occupied Macedonia, where a large segment of approximately 200,000 Macedonian people lived, was left under the jurisdiction of the Greek collaborationist government of general Cholakoglu the man who surrendered Greece to the axis powers.
It took about two months before law and order was re-established in Greek occupied Macedonia and this was done by restoring the old Greek fascist regime, the same regime that supported the Metaxas government. In other words the occupiers needed people to do their bidding so the people who served the Metaxas dictatorship were now the servants of the new masters.
Many Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia who had suffered under the Yugoslav regime welcomed the Bulgarian invaders as saviors and liberators. Their euphoria however was short-lived as the Bulgarians quickly began to oppress and forcibly Bulgarize the Macedonian population. If there had been any pro-Bulgarian sentiment before, it quickly disappeared after the occupation. Germany's violent entry into Yugoslavia, coupled with Bulgarian oppressive attitudes towards the Macedonian people, gave birth to an underground Macedonian resistance movement.
In Greek occupied Macedonia the new occupiers formed gendarmes from the local collaborators called "ekatondarhi" whose initial purpose was to recruit local individuals from the villages who would be willing to spy on their neighbours and inform on those working against the occupier. The gendarmes also acted as the new security forces by establishing gendarme stations in the villages to keep an eye on the people and to requisition food, labour and other supplies for the occupiers and for the Greek quisling government.
Individuals who worked for the occupiers were well paid but at the same time they were abusive and unruly and would not hesitate to use repressive measures against their own people. This attitude created resentment which led to the formation of resistance movements.
To counter the gendarme's oppressive tactics the old Komiti (Ilinden revolutionary guard) was rearmed by the Italians who took advantage of the situation. The "old timers" were angered by Greece's oppressive laws and were spurred back into action by Bulgarian propaganda which condemned the oppressive Greek tactics. The Bulgarians were well aware of the unfavourable conditions the Metaxas and later the Greek quisling Government had created in Greek occupied Macedonia and used the opportunity to agitate the Greeks. Komiti actions were limited at best and were restricted to the Italian zones, as the Germans would not tolerate armed actions in their zones.
Another group to quickly react to the repressive measures of the occupiers and their collaborators was the communist element which was active in the various towns and villages. Many communists, communist sympathizers and others accused of being communists that were jailed by the Metaxas government escaped or were freed by the Germans after Greece's capitulation. These people immediately went to work rebuilding their organizations in secret and agreed to form a unified front to struggle against the new occupiers. The communists were the first to approach the Macedonian people for help in their struggle while reminding them that between 1924 and 1935 the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was the only party which supported their rights as Macedonians. As we will later see this was only a ploy to (1) attract Macedonians into their struggle and (2) to counter the Bulgarian propaganda which offered similar benefits.
Although the CPG had suffered more than the non-communist politicians during the Metaxas dictatorship it was able to take advantage of its internal discipline and exploit its greater experience of clandestine activity to good effect during the occupation. The non-communist politicians, by contrast, were for the most part on the periphery of dramatic events during the war years.
The restoration of the old Greek Metaxas regime in central and south Greek occupied Macedonia (eastern Macedonia was occupied by Bulgaria) was accepted with much displeasure by the Macedonian people, especially by those villages which suffered the most under the Metaxas dictatorship, when around 5,000 Macedonians were charged with heavy fines and were jailed for speaking Macedonian, their mother tongue. Those people in the face of the new gendarmes, who came to the villages to establish the old gendarme stations, saw the return of the old dictatorial and discriminatory regime and the return of new terror and oppression.
In the fall of 1941 in the village Sarakinovo, Meglen Region, the villagers held the armed gendarmes at bay for three days and would not allow them to re-claim the old gendarme building. The impasse was only broken after the Sobotsko gendarme arrived with help. In the village Banitsa, Lerin Region, the villagers opened fire on the gendarme in an attempt to prevent it from occupying the gendarme station. The gendarme gained entry only after the Germans intervened, which unfortunately had negative consequences for the people of the surrounding region. The Germans jailed 60 people from Banitsa, Tsereovo and Gornichevo and killed one person from each village. The following people were taken to Lerin and executed: Dine Ljakov from Banitsa, Stavre (Kitse) Stangolev from Gornichevo and Mijale Tashonov from Tserevo.
Even though the Banitsa resistance was purely a defensive act strictly aimed at preventing former Metaxas elements from taking hold, it was not tolerated by the Germans. In other words, the occupier would only tolerate those who served his interests.
Resistance actions to gendarmes similar to those in Banitsa and Sarakinovo were also organized in the villages Nered, German, and Zelenich, in Lerin Region, Tresino in Meglen Region and Kolomnati in Kostur Region. This is only a small example of what really took place in the struggle against the installation of the former Metaxas dictatorial regime.
The Greek response to all this was typical and characteristic of Greek reactions. Instead of seeing these as defensive actions against an internal aggressor they saw them as a "Bulgarophil movement" which associated the Macedonian people with the enemy. If these actions were indeed the actions of a "Bulgarophil movement" how then do they explain what took place in the Greek village of Mesovuno in 1941?
The village Mesovuno in Kajlar Region, previously called Krmsko was repopulated with Christian Turk settlers from the Pont and the Caucasus in 1924 and renamed from Krmsko to Mesovuno in 1926 by the Greek state. This village was populated by pure and trusted Greeks, yet as we will see this village too rebelled against the Greeks in 1941.
The village Krmsko is located on the west side of Mount Karakamen and fell smack in the middle of the Greek army's second defensive line in the Albanian front which stretched from Mount Karakamen to Mount Kajmakchalan during the Greek-Italian war of 1940-41. After Greece's capitulation to the Axis powers, the Greek army retreated and abandoned storehouses of arms, ammunition and supplies. With no one to guard the warehouse near Krmsko, the villagers took the opportunity to arm themselves in preparation for an unknown future. Among those involved in organizing the warehouse raid included were the teacher Alekso Hadgi Tashkov from Katranitsa, Georgios Petridis and Neofitos Antopulos. Upon acquiring arms the villagers of Krmsko began to organize military formations and carried out war exercises
As the gendarmes formed teams of people from all walks of life, in the fall of 1941 they dispatched them to the villages to requisition food supplies such as wheat, corn and other goods which were to be surrendered to the occupiers and to the Greek quisling government. One such team supported by a gendarme was sent to Krmsko where upon its entry into the village, was stormed and disarmed by the villagers. No one was harmed but the villagers made it clear that if the team ever returned its members would all be killed.
Unable to squash the Krmsko uprising by force, the Regional Governor of Kozheni decided to replace Janis Mourena the Krmsko Municipality President with Pavlos Konstantinidis, one of his own people. That however did not go so well because the first act of the new president was to call on regional gendarmes and the Germans to help him occupy Krmsko. In view of this the villagers found the new president guilty of being an agent of the occupier and had him assassinated.
Upon finding this out, in the morning of October 11, 1941, a gendarme from Katranitsa was dispatched to Krmsko to capture those responsible for the assassination. Expecting retaliation, the villagers of Krmsko were prepared for an ambush and as soon as the gendarme arrived it was surrounded and disarmed.
Still unable to put down the revolt, the Greek quislings called on the Germans for assistance and on October 16, German soldiers arrived and a fire fight ensued. Still unable to suppress the revolt after a short skirmish, the Germans left for Kozheni only to return several days later with a larger force.
In the morning of October 23rd, the people of Krmsko woke up to find their village surrounded. For their courageous stand many paid with their lives. The entire male population from 15 to 60 years of age (146 people) was taken and executed in the village meadows.
Something similar happened to the Macedonian village of Ekshisu but for other reasons. In October 1941 Yannis Papaperos, a Greek officer and staunch Grkoman (a Macedonian who believes he is Greek and supports the Greek cause), made an agreement with other Greek officers of the surrounding Lerin Region gendarmes to attack his own village Ekshisu. The purpose of the attack, which was to be carried out in the dark of night, was to capture and kill the Macedonian leaders and make it look like the communists did it.
Ekshisu was indeed attacked in the night but the villagers who were armed retaliated and fought back repealing the attackers but not without a price. Among the village men who fought, killed were Kole Madzhov, Kiril Tsitskov, Romanov and Kitse Karov.
Even though clearly this clash was provoked by the Greek officers, the Germans held the village accountable and had the entire civilian population locked up in the village church for three days and three nights without food or water. Subsequently, 30 people were sent to jail to the Jedikule prison in Solun. One of the residents, Boris Kargov, was sentenced to death and executed.
At the time of the attack about 300 of those who took up arms against the Greek officers fled to Mount Radush and remained there until the danger was over. Twelve of them became Partisans and remained in the mountains permanently. They were Gjorgi and Iljo Turundzhiev, Kiro Piljaev, Trivko Popov, Mih Kargov, Ilija Popov, Minche Alipashov, Trajko Lisichev, Krume Ashelov, Jordan Shepardanov and two others. All twelve men were from Ekshisu and all later became organizers of a wider resistance movement and participated in a small armed detachment of resistance fighters.
At the end of June 1941, the sixth plenum of the central committee of the CPG met to formulate a plan to defend against the occupiers and to overthrow the foreign fascist yoke. To this end the people were invited to join in the formation of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF), which was founded in September 1941. Although the communists and the CPG were dominant in the GNLF from the beginning there were other small left wing coalition partners such as the agrarian parties and others. In its propaganda the GNLF took care not to scare off potential recruits, in what was fundamentally a conservative and traditional society, with wild talk of land collectivization or nationalization. It stressed instead its patriotic role as a focus for resistance to the Axis. It also demanded that, on liberation, a constituent assembly should be summoned so that the sovereign Greek people might decide on their future form of government.
In a secretly circulated pamphlet entitled "what is the GNLF and what are its aims?" the first aim was "to protect the people against hunger, illness and want". Other aims included the raising of morale, opposition to all forms of collaboration and the National Liberation Struggle". The GNLF endeavoured to have a representative in every village wherever possible.
The Partisan movement in Yugoslavia was more organized and more progressive than that in Greece. Led by Tito, the Communist partisans in Yugoslavia organized a war of national liberation in which the Macedonians fought on an equal footing. Macedonians formed their own section of resistance even before they were recognized and accepted by Tito. The first anti-fascist war of national liberation began in the Republic of Macedonia on October 11, 1941. The Macedonian people by their actions, loyalty and patriotism earned their place in the world. By hardship, determination and the spilling of blood the Macedonian people demonstrated their desire for freedom and the willingness to rule themselves. The Great Powers in 1829 (by the London Protocol) satisfied the Greeks by making Greece a country. Similarly in 1878 (by the congress of Berlin) Russia liberated the Bulgarians making Bulgaria a country. Unlike the Greeks and Bulgarians, however, the brave Macedonian people had to fight by themselves, for themselves, to earn their place in the world among the free nations.
In April 1942 the Macedonian people in the Republic of Macedonia rose up and demonstrated their displeasure against the Bulgarian yoke and Macedonian Partisans took up arms against the Bulgarian army but were massacred in a bloody battle. Unarmed Macedonians then took to the streets to protest the massacre and they too were cut to pieces.
To escape persecution, sections of the Macedonian Partisan force from the Republic of Macedonia fled into Greek occupied Macedonia. Some entered the Italian zones near the village Besfina and the rest penetrated the German zones in the region around the village Sveta Petka and quickly went underground. The Besfina force, before it had a chance to make contact with the local population, was spotted by the Komiti who quickly sprang into action. Seeing uniformed men on the Besfina hillside startled the old Komiti. Thinking that it was a Greek gendarme invasion, the Komiti appealed to the local Italian garrison and were given arms and permission to attack. When the Komiti started the offensive the Partisans backed off and sent representatives to negotiate. They went from village to village and spoke with the local chiefs. The strangers wore handsome uniforms and conducted themselves seriously, with charm and charisma. They spoke long and well about freedom, liberty and the treachery of the Bulgarian Fascists.
When the Komiti found out that the uniformed men were Macedonians they accepted them with open arms, gave them (surrendered) their weapons and many voluntarily joined their cause. The Partisans of Sveta Petka, because of a German presence, had to work under cover but they too succeeded in recruiting volunteers from the local population. After the Partisan penetration, the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia learned about the Bulgarian atrocities committed in the Republic of Macedonia and ceased to believe the Bulgarian propaganda. The old Ilinden guard was demobilized and replaced by a Partisan movement.
Partisan organizers took extraordinary measures to explain to the Macedonian people that they were fighting for the freedom and liberation of the Macedonian people from the tyranny of the oppressive states. The Macedonian involvement in this war, and later in the Greek civil war, was not about "Communist ideologies" or about alliances or obligations to the Great Powers. It was simply the next stage in the long struggle for "liberation from oppression" and to fulfill a longing for freedom, re-unification and self-rule. The Macedonian contribution in fighting against Fascism is not only under emphasized but also misinterpreted by historians. I will once again say that the Macedonian people, during the Second Great War (WWII), rose on the democratic side and fought against fascism for the liberation of the states in which they lived. The Macedonian people, like other people in the Balkans, fought to liberate their homeland and thus earn their place in the world. This cannot be ignored and must be recognized and recorded in the annals of history.
Word of a Macedonian Partisan movement in Greek occupied Macedonia spread like wildfire. People came out on the streets to freely speak their native Macedonian language, to sing songs and write Macedonian plays and poetry. The Partisans even set up Macedonian schools and taught children patriotic songs, poems and Macedonian history, using local Macedonian dialects. The younger generations, for the first time, saw written words in their beloved, sacred Macedonian language. The newfound freedom brought happiness to the lives of the oppressed Macedonian people who welcomed the Partisans into their villages as "our own boys and girls". The newfound confidence and strength projected by the Macedonians terrified the Greeks, especially the gendarmes and the collaborators. For a while they were no longer a threat.
The Germans and Italians did not care one way or another about Macedonian affairs as long as there was no trouble for them. Macedonian interest in Partisan activities continued to climb, bringing new recruits and volunteers to the cause. Youth organizations were created with young men and women recruited to be the eyes and ears of the community and to help defend the villages. Many young volunteers of military age were recruited and trained to perform policing and civic duties in the newly formed organizations. The organization Macedonian National Liberation Front in Greece (MNLF(G)) which was separate from that in the Republic of Macedonia (MNLF(Y) was formed and began recruiting fighters from the Kostur, Lerin and Voden regions.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 7 - The National Liberation Front
August 2008
By Risto Stefovrstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
With the old Metaxas dictatorship state apparatus re-established in Greek occupied Macedonia under the protection of the German, Italian and Bulgarian Fascists, the Macedonian people again found themselves vulnerable and open to abuse. They had no other choice but to devise their own forms of defense for which they heavily depended on the communists. Most communists unfortunately were in jail but as luck would have it, with the capitulation of the Greek state, many were released.
Even before they were sent to jail, communists were regularly abused in Greece and in their defense had organized strategies to deal with the abusers. Then as they fled the jails they went back to reorganize those strategies and restore their party organizations and this time to prepare resistance against the new occupiers.
The main strength of the party came from a group of twenty-four leaders and communist sympathizers who were freed from Akranavlion, a Middle Ages prison, through the actions of Julia Shaider. Julia Shaider who was of German descent, was married to Nedelko Popnedelkov, a resident of Solun who during the Metaxas era was accused of being a communist and jailed in the Akranavlion prison. Speaking fluent German Julia Shaider took her husband's case directly to the German command. She managed to convince the Germans that her husband was in jail not because he was a communist but because he was a Macedonian. Under Julia Shaider's advisement other prisoners "who spoke Macedonian" were also released. Among the prisoners released were Lazo Trpovski, Andrea Chinov, Lazo Damovski, Rusalim Harizani, Gjorgji Peikov, Andrea Dzhuma, Atnas Zjogas, Lazo Bozhiniv, Lambro Moskov, Trpo Kalimanov, Ziso Kalimanov, Foti Urumov, Dimitar Leskov, Anastas Karadzha, Kiro Pilijev, Nedelko Popnedelkov, Teodoros Eftimijadis, Bahuevanov and others.
Julia Shaider's intervention was later used by the Greek press and Greek historians as "proof" of the Greek Communist Party's (CPG) "collaboration" with the occupiers in an attempt to "sell" Macedonia to the Bulgarians. The truth however paints a different picture. The reason the Greek Minister for Public Security Maniadakis, deliberately labeled these people Communists, had them jailed and surrendered to the occupier is so that they could be exterminated without putting blame on the Greeks. The minister was well aware of how the Fascists felt about communists and what better way to eliminate patriotic Macedonians than label them communist and let the occupier deal with them.
We will not get into detail here as to why the fascists hated communists and why Goebbels and the Gestapo fabricated information to slander the GCP but we will say that the moment someone was labeled communist they were quickly acquainted with the occupier's practices, i.e. automatic jail sentence to be served in one of the concentration camps and then to be executed in retaliation for Partisan interventions.
After Hitler began his attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the CPG in Greece and in Greek occupied Macedonia was placed on alert. All progressive organizations in major cities such as Solun, Voden, Negush, Kostur, Lerin, etc., were quickly re-established and rearmed with new arms. One of the strongest organizations, founded by the Macedonian Trifun Hadzhijanov in 1924, was reactivated in Voden on July 1st, 1941. In September of the same year this organization re-established connections with the CPG for Macedonia in Solun through Yannis Tifengopoulos, an old cadre of the CPG code named "The Turk", who had escaped from the Akronavlion prison. Hadzhjanov was one of Tifengopoulos's protégés and learned much from him while serving time in the concentration camps in the islands.
Most of the strength for the Voden branch of the party came from the farm worker syndicates, factories and cooperatives in the region. This organization was the prime motivator behind the organized demonstrations, strikes against rising prices, black markets and other activities.
Besides the Voden successes, similar activities were also taking place in Lerin and Kostur Regions including arms acquisitions and stockpiling ammunition and other war materials.
In the fall of 1941 Kostur Region was particularly active mainly due to the involvement of the people from the village Dmbeni; Lazo Trpovski's birth place.
The village Gabresh too played an active role in arming the resistance by raiding an abandoned storehouse full of ammunition. Among the arsenals recovered were bombs and other materials left over from the Greek army. The arsenal was distributed to various resistance groups with 300 cases of ammunition going to Dmbeni and some light arms and one anti-aircraft cannon going to the town of Rupishcha.
During the summer of 1941 another organization was formed in Gumendzhansko Region in the village Izvor. This particular organization was charged with the task of conducting missions against the railway line running between Gevgelija and Solun. For these missions the Partisans needed dynamite and other explosive materials which they acquired from a warehouse in Izvor hidden near Mount Kozhuv. As a result of such missions, the Gevgelija-Solun rail was mined three times in the course of 1941 alone. Unfortunately such actions were not without consequences. The first retaliatory act by the Germans and quisling Greeks took place in September 1941 when a gendarme from Gumendzhe was sent to surround the village Plagia in an effort to capture and jail those suspected of being communists. Among those included in the list were Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis (Nikos). During this mission three gendarmes broke into Kozakis's house and apprehended Kozakis. But before they could exit the yard, Kozakis produced a pistol and shot and killed one of the gendarmes. He shot the second but only wounded him. Fearing for his life the third dropped his weapon and gear and fled. Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis then fled to the Republic of Macedonia.
In spite of all efforts on the part of the small resistance groups, the Greek quisling government, supported by the occupiers Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, was still wreaking havoc in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was a matter of time before all resistance groups would be squashed, unless of course a more massive effort was organized.
This effort came in the form of a Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) on September 27, 1941. The GNLF's aim was to unite all people in Greece and coordinate a defensive effort with similar organizations in other Balkan states. The GNLF, although largely supported by the communists, was aimed to appeal to everyone.
At the outset the main role of the GNLF was to protect the population from exploitation and terror and to begin a struggle to drive out the occupiers.
As to what role the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia were to play in this organization and in the struggle in general, can be found in the Seventh plenum of the Central Committee of the Greek Communist Party of September 1941 and in the Eighth plenum of December 1942, where it was mentioned that: "The national minorities in Greece, especially the Macedonians need to unite their struggle with the national-liberation struggle of the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian people against the occupiers". ("The Ten Year Struggle", Athens 1935-1945, Pages 126-169).
As mentioned in the introduction of this write-up, the Third Congress of the CPG held between November 26 and December 3, 1924 supported a united Macedonian state in a future Balkan federation. Due to its unpopularity amongst the Greeks, this policy was replaced during the Sixth Congress in December 1935 with a new policy supporting equal rights for all national minorities in Greece, including the Macedonians. So one can hardly blame the Macedonians for being suspicious about joining Greek lead organizations especially after experiencing decades of anti-Macedonian conduct from the various regimes in Greece. Besides, even among the ranks of the so called "progressives of the day" there existed visible elements from yesterday's ranks of the former "dictatorial apparatus".
While Macedonians and progressive Greeks were trying to iron out their differences, the Greek quisling government and its spies and gendarmes were busy gathering information on the resistance movements. It did not take too long for the Germans to use that information and round up, jail and execute people without hearings. Among the people executed on August 29th, 1941 in Lerin Region were Kon. Lijakov, Stavros Stangulis and Mih. Tesijanos for allegedly possessing and concealing arms. On September 24th, 1941 Stefanos Hristoforidis and Kostas Klasidis were executed in Solun, no reason was given. On October 5th, 1941 Jeremijas Stefanidis, Kirjakos Chotilis and Kostas were killed in the village Gostoljubi, Meglen Region for allegedly moving arms. On October 30th, 1941 Panajotis Jalamas was executed in Enidzhe-Vardar for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 4th, 1941 Mihail Vojadzhopulos was hung in Nigirita for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 13th, 1941 Macedonian students Ilija Kapeshev and Sokrat Djariros in Solun were executed, no reason given. On December 27th, 1941 496 people were executed in the German zone (Solun Region, Kukush Region, Gumedzha Region, Voden Region and part of Lerin Region) for allegedly raising arms, alleged sabotage and alleged participation in acts against the occupier. More were killed in actions with the Nigrita Region detachment "Andrutsos" in the village Krmsko, Kaljar Region. (The stats above were reported in the newspaper "Makhethonia" in Solun on February 19, 1959).
Unfortunately even with all those people killed, the Germans were not satisfied and with help from the Greek police got hold of the old Metaxas lists of people that were sent to jail for allegedly being communists. Among the people captured and sent to the "Pavlos Melas" concentration camp in Solun included were Jani Takev, Dinko Delevski, Zisi Mesimercheto, Risto Petrlev, Foti Tipev, Gjorgji Dimovski, Jani Sheretov, Hristo Popov and Dimitar Leskov all from Voden Region. Similar actions were also undertaken by the Italians in Kostur Region. A special battalion under the command of Major De Prema circulated around Kostur Region looking for hidden arms. The Italian move was motivated by Dailakis's execution. Dailakis was a well known collaborator who was executed on October 5th, 1941by the resistance movement from the village Zhipanishta. Among those suspected of doing the killing were Micho Shishkov, Vangel Tankov, Ziko Kolijovski, Teohar Burinchkov and Atanas Popleksov.
Towards the end of October 1941 Atanas Nizamov from Bapchor, who worked with the Italians, secretly informed Kosta Trpchevski in Dmbeni that the Italians had a list with twenty-five names who belonged to the resistance organization in that village. Trpchevski immediately acted on the warning and saved many lives. The next day the Italians arrived, blockaded the village and began to round up those who remained. All the men were detained, jailed and tortured in Naso Kondov's house. The Italians lifted the blockade on October 28, 1941, when a large number of the detained were sent to various jails. Sixteen were taken to the "Averov" prison in Athens and in the spring of 1942 were transferred to the concentration camps in Karditsa, Thessaly and killed. Among them were Zhurkov Naum, Moskov Naum, Andriovski Hristo, Kenkov Zhivko, Skivinov Staso and Chekrov Nikola. In November 1942 Kosta Trpovski, the secretary of the Dmbeni resistance organization, was captured and sent to the Avarov prison. Another 8 men were taken to "Hajdari", a dreaded concentration camp outside Athens.
Nineteen people were also killed in Nastram including Paskal Liveradov, Niko Popjanov, Slave Todorov and Yane Chakurovski. Similar acts were also committed in Drenoveni, Rupishta and others villages.
The Greek police in Kostur had many lists with names of people suspected of belonging to the resistance. Those lists were given to the occupiers and used to round up and jail people.
The Italians closely cooperated with the gendarmes and on many occasions conducted joint search and destroy missions while looking for arms. In December 1942 the notorious Italian "search and destroy battalion" from the village Drenoveni attacked the city of Volos in Thessaly and killed Ljondo Popvasilev, Andon Bita and Atanas Lazarov.
The occupiers were determined to eradicate the resistance movement from the beginning and their persistence would have succeeded had it not been for the well established resistance organizations in Greek occupied Macedonia. Unfortunately being pursued by the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, the Greek police, the gendarmes and sometimes by the Communist Party of Greece definitely had an effect on the Macedonian people which lead them to pursue more drastic measures to defend themselves.
The first line of defense for the Macedonians was to arm themselves against collaborators responsible for sending people to prison and to their death. The first Partisan group to organize such as defense was in Kostur in the village Zhupanishta. This group, on October 5th, 1941, took action to eliminate Laki a well known collaborator. Then around mid-April 1942, against the wishes of the GCP, the first Partisan detachment was formed. The initiation ceremony took place in the Sveta Trojtsa monastery in the presence of Lazo Trpovski. Naum Pejov was appointed commander and Kosta Trpovski was named commissar. Unfortunately about a month later Kosta Trpovski was captured by the Italians and sentenced to life in hard labour and was sent to the Averov prison.
During the detachment's inaugural ceremonies the question of "what symbols should the fighters wear" came up. Lazo Trpovski put forward the idea that the men should wear the Macedonian flag on their sleeves, an idea that was wholeheartedly applauded by the Macedonians except for secretary Zhiogas, a Vlah from Kostur, who disagreed and persistently insisted that this struggle must be lead with a Greek flag as a Greek national liberation struggle. This naturally created friction between the Macedonians on one hand, who as a minority, were promised rights and on the other hand by the Greek communists who not only did not trust the Macedonians but did everything in their power to take away those rights. Unfortunately under such conditions the detachment could not function for more than a couple of months and was disbanded.
On a national level however, as more and more people were targeted by the occupier and by the Greek quisling government, many fled to the mountains for safety and were recruited by the struggle movement. With the Greek National Liberation Front being established in many regions, the struggle movement needed an armed wing to recruit, arm and train fighters and to conduct military campaigns.
In December 1941 by a joint decision between the central committee of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and the leadership of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF), the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG) was formed. Soon afterwards, in January 1942, the central committee of GNLF selected a central committee to lead the NLAG and in February of the same year NLAG was made public and began its recruitment of officers and fighters. Most of the NLAG fighters in Greek occupied Macedonia were Macedonian volunteers.
I just want to mention at this point that in the winter of 1941-2 a number of other (non-communist) resistance organizations also came into being in Greece. The National Republican Greek League (EDES) was the most important, but these organizations were of less significance and will not be included in our analysis.
The initial objectives of the NLAG were to take action against the occupier's tax services, disable bandit bands, subdue the gendarmes and burn the gendarme archives. NLAG's actions against the Greek quisling government quickly gained the sympathy and trust of the ordinary people.
During the summer of 1942 in the central part of Greek occupied Macedonia a detachment of NLAG subdued a band of robbers on Mount Pajak. This particular band, while pillaging the surrounding villages, was putting the blame on the resistance fighters.
On December 3, 1942 NLAG conducted its first military campaign against the occupier in the Gumendzha Region by successfully destroying the Greek gendarme post at Boemidzhki Bridge, killing all the German guards and capturing the gendarmes. The bridge was bombed and destroyed along with a German train. The train engineer and a German officer (a major) on board were both killed. One hundred and twenty regular partisans and 250 volunteers from the neighbouring Gumendzhe villages took part in this mission.
The importance of this mission was captured by historiographer Chrysochoou who wrote: "During the night of December 3rd, 1942 an armed group of EAM (GNLF) resistance fighters attacked and destroyed the railway station in Gumendzhe capturing one officer and five gendarmes and killing the German train engineer. Similarly the group destroyed the German bridge watchtower, wounding a German soldier and five Czech workers. The same Partisan group on the night of December 7th attacked the Mavrodendro mine near the village Fanos, and stole large amounts of dynamite and other items." (Chrysochoou , "The Occupation in Macedonia", Thessaloniki 1950, Vol. 1, Page 40)
In less than a week after the first Partisan attack, the Germans retaliated with a counter attack on December 9th, 1941. However, instead of pursuing the resistance group in Mounts Pajak and Kozhuv, the Germans rounded up a large number of people from the surrounding villages and sent them to the Pavlos Melas concentration camp in Solun. Twelve people from Ljumnitsa alone were jailed and one named Frints was immediately executed.
In their hunt for resistance fighters the Germans discovered a Partisan camp in the village Ite at Mount Kozhuv and immediately burned it down along with a warehouse full of food and ammunition.
As punishment for destroying a German train, bombing a bridge and attacking the watch tower, the Germans, on December 12, 1942, killed 25 innocent people in Solun. ("Makhethonia", February 20, 1959)
The Pajak and Kozhuv Partisan groups lead several battles with the German army but being unable to push the Germans back they decided to abandon their bases in Mount Kajmakchalan and moved to Mount Karakamen. Since then the resistance movement continued to gain strength throughout the whole of Voden Region. Among the first Macedonian Partisans from Voden Region to join the Kajmakchalan group were Kosta Simadi, Gito Salahorov, Kosta Tsironkov, Aleko Tsrvenkata, Vangel Kordalov, Hristo Pochepov, Kolokotron, Atanas Provata and others.
As the resistance movement continued to grow new detachments were formed. In 1943 another detachment was formed in Pajak which was joined by some of the most elite Macedonian fighters from the city of Gumendzhe. Among them were Aleko Zelenkov, Aleko Pishuta, Atanas Popstojanov, Tomo Sadrazanov, Vangel Karagjorgjev and Ivan Kovachev. Others known to have joined were Klearhos Dimchevski from Ljuminitsa, Apostol Simovski from Izvor and a number of young men from Tsrna Reka, Barovitsa, Kriva and other villages.
On February 28th, 1943 the first Lerin Region resistance detachment called "Vicho" was formed in the village Lagen. Among the first fighters to join this detachment were Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, Kocho Kalinov, Lambe Popovski, Miltiadi Popnikolov, Gijorgij Kalinov, Gijorgij Rusov, Jani Chochev, Hristo Sahidis-Pandelis Masiotis, Giogos Gavriilidis, Pashalis Papadopulos - Spartakos, Atanas Furtunas and Stojan from Lerin. A few days later more men enlisted including Risto Kolentsev from Lerin bringing the number to 35.
The first actions of the Vicho detachment were to disarm the gendarme located in the village Voshtareni (Ofchareni) in Lerin Region. Here 20 men were apprehended and disarmed and their arms, ammunition and food were apprehended. This was a moral victory for the struggle not only for the acquisition of materials but because it deprived the occupiers of their security and their resources.
The day after, it was announced that about 5,000 Partisans were active in the city's surrounding region which forced the German command in Lerin to barricade itself and to take strong counter measures.
On May 20th, 1943 the Partisans attacked and destroyed a train on the Lerin-Voden rail line in order to free the political prisoners being transported. Among those freed was Haralambos Haralambidis - Atanatos. Four Germans were killed and Papatanasiou, a well known collaborator, was wounded. All the prisoners were freed and in the process a large number of arms were acquired.
On several occasions the Vicho detachment combined forces with the Dame Gruev detachment from Bitola to perform joint missions. One of the more successful missions was the disarming of the Macedonian villages in Kostur Region.
Armed by the Italians and mislead by the Bulgarian fascist propaganda, Kostur Region villagers, thinking that the Partisans were Greek gendarmes, were ready to fight against them. But as soon as they found out the detachments were Macedonian, they not only surrendered their arms but most joined the Macedonian detachments. Four months after its formation the Vicho detachment had more than 80 fighters.
On July 20th, 1943 the leadership decided to split this detachment into four smaller ones. The newly created detachments were "Vicho", "Kajmakchalan" under the command of Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, "Bigla" under Mito Tupurkovski - Titan's command and "Dauli", each named after the mountain where they were to be active.
The vast majority of leaders and fighters in these detachments were Macedonians and this did not bode well with the Communist Party of Greece but in spite of its objections Macedonians continued to conduct business as usual and recruit Macedonian fighters from an overwhelming pool of volunteers.
Even in Kostur, after the initial failure to form a lasting all Macedonian resistance group in April 1942, a new detachment was born in September 1943. This detachment was named "Lazo Trpovski" after the influential Macedonian fighter and political leader from Dmbeni who had been killed in the village Imera, Kozheni Region on April 11, 1943 by a band of collaborators belonging to the racist Panhellenic Liberation Organization.
The Macedonian lead detachments were very popular with the Macedonian people and attracted massive numbers of recruits from the Macedonian population which unfortunately disturbed the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG who lead the struggle under a pre-determined national all Greek platform. Even though Macedonians continued their solidarity with the progressive Greeks in a unified struggle to expel the occupier, the Greeks did not trust them and began to plant seeds of discontent. The truth of their aims was never revealed but actions spoke truer than words. Besides attempting to infiltrate and replace the Macedonian leadership, the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG began a propaganda campaign labeling the Macedonians "autonomists". In the eyes of the Greek population this was supposed to mean that the Macedonians had a hidden agenda interpreted as anti-Greek. Besides being afraid that they may lose Macedonia, the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership knew very well that its source of NLAG recruits and supplies would dry up very quickly without the Macedonians. The real drive behind the resistance movement in Greece was in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was fuelled by the Macedonian people. The CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership was well aware of this and knew it had absolutely no chance of success without the protection of the Macedonian mountains and surrounding villages capable of supplying not only fighters but an inexhaustible source of food. Without Macedonian support the struggle would be starved in no time. So rather than making a big fuss the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership decided to allow the Kostur detachment to continue to recruit while new and more sinister strategies were planned.
But as mobilization into the Lazo Trpovski detachment became more massive than ever anticipated, especially from the village Koreshchata, the Greek side had to act quickly. Having no other course of friction to complain about, the Greek side started to show dissatisfaction with the symbols Macedonians, wore on their hats. Having chosen to wear a star on their hats was cause enough for the Greek leadership of NLAG to complain thus accusing the Macedonians of being more interested in nationalistic principles than in the struggle to free Greece from the occupier. Even though the Macedonians did have cause to rise up against the Greeks this was not their intention. The Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia firmly believed in the principles that after the conflict they would gain their rights as Macedonians inside Greece.
In spite of their disagreements with the Greek progressives, the Macedonians were instrumental in the resistance struggle, especially in rallying the people to strike against high prices and the black market. More that 10,000 workers participated in a strike in Voden, 8,000 in Edindzhe-Vardar and surrounding region and 5,000 in Gumendzhe. In August 1943 a massive rally was organized in Lerin Region where more than 15,000 demonstrators were in attendance. These were vast numbers for small cities and towns where the population was no more than 10 to 30 thousand. Strikes and demonstrations were also held in Kostur and Rupishta where a large part of the population attended. More than 20,000 attended a rally in the city square in Subotsko in November 1943 when residents from the entire surrounding region came together carrying black flags and banners demonstrating their discontent with the economic situation.
The most massive demonstrations however were conducted against the Bulgarians when their occupying army crossed south of the Struma River. Thirty thousand people gathered together in the city of Nigrita to show their displeasure. There were also demonstrations organized in Solun, Negush and Ber where people, mostly workers, attended in large numbers. These demonstrations were a clear message not only to the occupiers but also to the Greek authorities on both the right and left side that Macedonians were capable of defending themselves. Unfortunately this show of strength, instead of bringing improvement, brought more misery to the Macedonian people as all sides began to persecute the Macedonians, especially after Italy's capitulation on September 8th, 1943.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 7 - The National Liberation Front
August 2008
By Risto Stefovrstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
With the old Metaxas dictatorship state apparatus re-established in Greek occupied Macedonia under the protection of the German, Italian and Bulgarian Fascists, the Macedonian people again found themselves vulnerable and open to abuse. They had no other choice but to devise their own forms of defense for which they heavily depended on the communists. Most communists unfortunately were in jail but as luck would have it, with the capitulation of the Greek state, many were released.
Even before they were sent to jail, communists were regularly abused in Greece and in their defense had organized strategies to deal with the abusers. Then as they fled the jails they went back to reorganize those strategies and restore their party organizations and this time to prepare resistance against the new occupiers.
The main strength of the party came from a group of twenty-four leaders and communist sympathizers who were freed from Akranavlion, a Middle Ages prison, through the actions of Julia Shaider. Julia Shaider who was of German descent, was married to Nedelko Popnedelkov, a resident of Solun who during the Metaxas era was accused of being a communist and jailed in the Akranavlion prison. Speaking fluent German Julia Shaider took her husband's case directly to the German command. She managed to convince the Germans that her husband was in jail not because he was a communist but because he was a Macedonian. Under Julia Shaider's advisement other prisoners "who spoke Macedonian" were also released. Among the prisoners released were Lazo Trpovski, Andrea Chinov, Lazo Damovski, Rusalim Harizani, Gjorgji Peikov, Andrea Dzhuma, Atnas Zjogas, Lazo Bozhiniv, Lambro Moskov, Trpo Kalimanov, Ziso Kalimanov, Foti Urumov, Dimitar Leskov, Anastas Karadzha, Kiro Pilijev, Nedelko Popnedelkov, Teodoros Eftimijadis, Bahuevanov and others.
Julia Shaider's intervention was later used by the Greek press and Greek historians as "proof" of the Greek Communist Party's (CPG) "collaboration" with the occupiers in an attempt to "sell" Macedonia to the Bulgarians. The truth however paints a different picture. The reason the Greek Minister for Public Security Maniadakis, deliberately labeled these people Communists, had them jailed and surrendered to the occupier is so that they could be exterminated without putting blame on the Greeks. The minister was well aware of how the Fascists felt about communists and what better way to eliminate patriotic Macedonians than label them communist and let the occupier deal with them.
We will not get into detail here as to why the fascists hated communists and why Goebbels and the Gestapo fabricated information to slander the GCP but we will say that the moment someone was labeled communist they were quickly acquainted with the occupier's practices, i.e. automatic jail sentence to be served in one of the concentration camps and then to be executed in retaliation for Partisan interventions.
After Hitler began his attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the CPG in Greece and in Greek occupied Macedonia was placed on alert. All progressive organizations in major cities such as Solun, Voden, Negush, Kostur, Lerin, etc., were quickly re-established and rearmed with new arms. One of the strongest organizations, founded by the Macedonian Trifun Hadzhijanov in 1924, was reactivated in Voden on July 1st, 1941. In September of the same year this organization re-established connections with the CPG for Macedonia in Solun through Yannis Tifengopoulos, an old cadre of the CPG code named "The Turk", who had escaped from the Akronavlion prison. Hadzhjanov was one of Tifengopoulos's protégés and learned much from him while serving time in the concentration camps in the islands.
Most of the strength for the Voden branch of the party came from the farm worker syndicates, factories and cooperatives in the region. This organization was the prime motivator behind the organized demonstrations, strikes against rising prices, black markets and other activities.
Besides the Voden successes, similar activities were also taking place in Lerin and Kostur Regions including arms acquisitions and stockpiling ammunition and other war materials.
In the fall of 1941 Kostur Region was particularly active mainly due to the involvement of the people from the village Dmbeni; Lazo Trpovski's birth place.
The village Gabresh too played an active role in arming the resistance by raiding an abandoned storehouse full of ammunition. Among the arsenals recovered were bombs and other materials left over from the Greek army. The arsenal was distributed to various resistance groups with 300 cases of ammunition going to Dmbeni and some light arms and one anti-aircraft cannon going to the town of Rupishcha.
During the summer of 1941 another organization was formed in Gumendzhansko Region in the village Izvor. This particular organization was charged with the task of conducting missions against the railway line running between Gevgelija and Solun. For these missions the Partisans needed dynamite and other explosive materials which they acquired from a warehouse in Izvor hidden near Mount Kozhuv. As a result of such missions, the Gevgelija-Solun rail was mined three times in the course of 1941 alone. Unfortunately such actions were not without consequences. The first retaliatory act by the Germans and quisling Greeks took place in September 1941 when a gendarme from Gumendzhe was sent to surround the village Plagia in an effort to capture and jail those suspected of being communists. Among those included in the list were Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis (Nikos). During this mission three gendarmes broke into Kozakis's house and apprehended Kozakis. But before they could exit the yard, Kozakis produced a pistol and shot and killed one of the gendarmes. He shot the second but only wounded him. Fearing for his life the third dropped his weapon and gear and fled. Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis then fled to the Republic of Macedonia.
In spite of all efforts on the part of the small resistance groups, the Greek quisling government, supported by the occupiers Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, was still wreaking havoc in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was a matter of time before all resistance groups would be squashed, unless of course a more massive effort was organized.
This effort came in the form of a Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) on September 27, 1941. The GNLF's aim was to unite all people in Greece and coordinate a defensive effort with similar organizations in other Balkan states. The GNLF, although largely supported by the communists, was aimed to appeal to everyone.
At the outset the main role of the GNLF was to protect the population from exploitation and terror and to begin a struggle to drive out the occupiers.
As to what role the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia were to play in this organization and in the struggle in general, can be found in the Seventh plenum of the Central Committee of the Greek Communist Party of September 1941 and in the Eighth plenum of December 1942, where it was mentioned that: "The national minorities in Greece, especially the Macedonians need to unite their struggle with the national-liberation struggle of the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian people against the occupiers". ("The Ten Year Struggle", Athens 1935-1945, Pages 126-169).
As mentioned in the introduction of this write-up, the Third Congress of the CPG held between November 26 and December 3, 1924 supported a united Macedonian state in a future Balkan federation. Due to its unpopularity amongst the Greeks, this policy was replaced during the Sixth Congress in December 1935 with a new policy supporting equal rights for all national minorities in Greece, including the Macedonians. So one can hardly blame the Macedonians for being suspicious about joining Greek lead organizations especially after experiencing decades of anti-Macedonian conduct from the various regimes in Greece. Besides, even among the ranks of the so called "progressives of the day" there existed visible elements from yesterday's ranks of the former "dictatorial apparatus".
While Macedonians and progressive Greeks were trying to iron out their differences, the Greek quisling government and its spies and gendarmes were busy gathering information on the resistance movements. It did not take too long for the Germans to use that information and round up, jail and execute people without hearings. Among the people executed on August 29th, 1941 in Lerin Region were Kon. Lijakov, Stavros Stangulis and Mih. Tesijanos for allegedly possessing and concealing arms. On September 24th, 1941 Stefanos Hristoforidis and Kostas Klasidis were executed in Solun, no reason was given. On October 5th, 1941 Jeremijas Stefanidis, Kirjakos Chotilis and Kostas were killed in the village Gostoljubi, Meglen Region for allegedly moving arms. On October 30th, 1941 Panajotis Jalamas was executed in Enidzhe-Vardar for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 4th, 1941 Mihail Vojadzhopulos was hung in Nigirita for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 13th, 1941 Macedonian students Ilija Kapeshev and Sokrat Djariros in Solun were executed, no reason given. On December 27th, 1941 496 people were executed in the German zone (Solun Region, Kukush Region, Gumedzha Region, Voden Region and part of Lerin Region) for allegedly raising arms, alleged sabotage and alleged participation in acts against the occupier. More were killed in actions with the Nigrita Region detachment "Andrutsos" in the village Krmsko, Kaljar Region. (The stats above were reported in the newspaper "Makhethonia" in Solun on February 19, 1959).
Unfortunately even with all those people killed, the Germans were not satisfied and with help from the Greek police got hold of the old Metaxas lists of people that were sent to jail for allegedly being communists. Among the people captured and sent to the "Pavlos Melas" concentration camp in Solun included were Jani Takev, Dinko Delevski, Zisi Mesimercheto, Risto Petrlev, Foti Tipev, Gjorgji Dimovski, Jani Sheretov, Hristo Popov and Dimitar Leskov all from Voden Region. Similar actions were also undertaken by the Italians in Kostur Region. A special battalion under the command of Major De Prema circulated around Kostur Region looking for hidden arms. The Italian move was motivated by Dailakis's execution. Dailakis was a well known collaborator who was executed on October 5th, 1941by the resistance movement from the village Zhipanishta. Among those suspected of doing the killing were Micho Shishkov, Vangel Tankov, Ziko Kolijovski, Teohar Burinchkov and Atanas Popleksov.
Towards the end of October 1941 Atanas Nizamov from Bapchor, who worked with the Italians, secretly informed Kosta Trpchevski in Dmbeni that the Italians had a list with twenty-five names who belonged to the resistance organization in that village. Trpchevski immediately acted on the warning and saved many lives. The next day the Italians arrived, blockaded the village and began to round up those who remained. All the men were detained, jailed and tortured in Naso Kondov's house. The Italians lifted the blockade on October 28, 1941, when a large number of the detained were sent to various jails. Sixteen were taken to the "Averov" prison in Athens and in the spring of 1942 were transferred to the concentration camps in Karditsa, Thessaly and killed. Among them were Zhurkov Naum, Moskov Naum, Andriovski Hristo, Kenkov Zhivko, Skivinov Staso and Chekrov Nikola. In November 1942 Kosta Trpovski, the secretary of the Dmbeni resistance organization, was captured and sent to the Avarov prison. Another 8 men were taken to "Hajdari", a dreaded concentration camp outside Athens.
Nineteen people were also killed in Nastram including Paskal Liveradov, Niko Popjanov, Slave Todorov and Yane Chakurovski. Similar acts were also committed in Drenoveni, Rupishta and others villages.
The Greek police in Kostur had many lists with names of people suspected of belonging to the resistance. Those lists were given to the occupiers and used to round up and jail people.
The Italians closely cooperated with the gendarmes and on many occasions conducted joint search and destroy missions while looking for arms. In December 1942 the notorious Italian "search and destroy battalion" from the village Drenoveni attacked the city of Volos in Thessaly and killed Ljondo Popvasilev, Andon Bita and Atanas Lazarov.
The occupiers were determined to eradicate the resistance movement from the beginning and their persistence would have succeeded had it not been for the well established resistance organizations in Greek occupied Macedonia. Unfortunately being pursued by the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, the Greek police, the gendarmes and sometimes by the Communist Party of Greece definitely had an effect on the Macedonian people which lead them to pursue more drastic measures to defend themselves.
The first line of defense for the Macedonians was to arm themselves against collaborators responsible for sending people to prison and to their death. The first Partisan group to organize such as defense was in Kostur in the village Zhupanishta. This group, on October 5th, 1941, took action to eliminate Laki a well known collaborator. Then around mid-April 1942, against the wishes of the GCP, the first Partisan detachment was formed. The initiation ceremony took place in the Sveta Trojtsa monastery in the presence of Lazo Trpovski. Naum Pejov was appointed commander and Kosta Trpovski was named commissar. Unfortunately about a month later Kosta Trpovski was captured by the Italians and sentenced to life in hard labour and was sent to the Averov prison.
During the detachment's inaugural ceremonies the question of "what symbols should the fighters wear" came up. Lazo Trpovski put forward the idea that the men should wear the Macedonian flag on their sleeves, an idea that was wholeheartedly applauded by the Macedonians except for secretary Zhiogas, a Vlah from Kostur, who disagreed and persistently insisted that this struggle must be lead with a Greek flag as a Greek national liberation struggle. This naturally created friction between the Macedonians on one hand, who as a minority, were promised rights and on the other hand by the Greek communists who not only did not trust the Macedonians but did everything in their power to take away those rights. Unfortunately under such conditions the detachment could not function for more than a couple of months and was disbanded.
On a national level however, as more and more people were targeted by the occupier and by the Greek quisling government, many fled to the mountains for safety and were recruited by the struggle movement. With the Greek National Liberation Front being established in many regions, the struggle movement needed an armed wing to recruit, arm and train fighters and to conduct military campaigns.
In December 1941 by a joint decision between the central committee of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and the leadership of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF), the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG) was formed. Soon afterwards, in January 1942, the central committee of GNLF selected a central committee to lead the NLAG and in February of the same year NLAG was made public and began its recruitment of officers and fighters. Most of the NLAG fighters in Greek occupied Macedonia were Macedonian volunteers.
I just want to mention at this point that in the winter of 1941-2 a number of other (non-communist) resistance organizations also came into being in Greece. The National Republican Greek League (EDES) was the most important, but these organizations were of less significance and will not be included in our analysis.
The initial objectives of the NLAG were to take action against the occupier's tax services, disable bandit bands, subdue the gendarmes and burn the gendarme archives. NLAG's actions against the Greek quisling government quickly gained the sympathy and trust of the ordinary people.
During the summer of 1942 in the central part of Greek occupied Macedonia a detachment of NLAG subdued a band of robbers on Mount Pajak. This particular band, while pillaging the surrounding villages, was putting the blame on the resistance fighters.
On December 3, 1942 NLAG conducted its first military campaign against the occupier in the Gumendzha Region by successfully destroying the Greek gendarme post at Boemidzhki Bridge, killing all the German guards and capturing the gendarmes. The bridge was bombed and destroyed along with a German train. The train engineer and a German officer (a major) on board were both killed. One hundred and twenty regular partisans and 250 volunteers from the neighbouring Gumendzhe villages took part in this mission.
The importance of this mission was captured by historiographer Chrysochoou who wrote: "During the night of December 3rd, 1942 an armed group of EAM (GNLF) resistance fighters attacked and destroyed the railway station in Gumendzhe capturing one officer and five gendarmes and killing the German train engineer. Similarly the group destroyed the German bridge watchtower, wounding a German soldier and five Czech workers. The same Partisan group on the night of December 7th attacked the Mavrodendro mine near the village Fanos, and stole large amounts of dynamite and other items." (Chrysochoou , "The Occupation in Macedonia", Thessaloniki 1950, Vol. 1, Page 40)
In less than a week after the first Partisan attack, the Germans retaliated with a counter attack on December 9th, 1941. However, instead of pursuing the resistance group in Mounts Pajak and Kozhuv, the Germans rounded up a large number of people from the surrounding villages and sent them to the Pavlos Melas concentration camp in Solun. Twelve people from Ljumnitsa alone were jailed and one named Frints was immediately executed.
In their hunt for resistance fighters the Germans discovered a Partisan camp in the village Ite at Mount Kozhuv and immediately burned it down along with a warehouse full of food and ammunition.
As punishment for destroying a German train, bombing a bridge and attacking the watch tower, the Germans, on December 12, 1942, killed 25 innocent people in Solun. ("Makhethonia", February 20, 1959)
The Pajak and Kozhuv Partisan groups lead several battles with the German army but being unable to push the Germans back they decided to abandon their bases in Mount Kajmakchalan and moved to Mount Karakamen. Since then the resistance movement continued to gain strength throughout the whole of Voden Region. Among the first Macedonian Partisans from Voden Region to join the Kajmakchalan group were Kosta Simadi, Gito Salahorov, Kosta Tsironkov, Aleko Tsrvenkata, Vangel Kordalov, Hristo Pochepov, Kolokotron, Atanas Provata and others.
As the resistance movement continued to grow new detachments were formed. In 1943 another detachment was formed in Pajak which was joined by some of the most elite Macedonian fighters from the city of Gumendzhe. Among them were Aleko Zelenkov, Aleko Pishuta, Atanas Popstojanov, Tomo Sadrazanov, Vangel Karagjorgjev and Ivan Kovachev. Others known to have joined were Klearhos Dimchevski from Ljuminitsa, Apostol Simovski from Izvor and a number of young men from Tsrna Reka, Barovitsa, Kriva and other villages.
On February 28th, 1943 the first Lerin Region resistance detachment called "Vicho" was formed in the village Lagen. Among the first fighters to join this detachment were Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, Kocho Kalinov, Lambe Popovski, Miltiadi Popnikolov, Gijorgij Kalinov, Gijorgij Rusov, Jani Chochev, Hristo Sahidis-Pandelis Masiotis, Giogos Gavriilidis, Pashalis Papadopulos - Spartakos, Atanas Furtunas and Stojan from Lerin. A few days later more men enlisted including Risto Kolentsev from Lerin bringing the number to 35.
The first actions of the Vicho detachment were to disarm the gendarme located in the village Voshtareni (Ofchareni) in Lerin Region. Here 20 men were apprehended and disarmed and their arms, ammunition and food were apprehended. This was a moral victory for the struggle not only for the acquisition of materials but because it deprived the occupiers of their security and their resources.
The day after, it was announced that about 5,000 Partisans were active in the city's surrounding region which forced the German command in Lerin to barricade itself and to take strong counter measures.
On May 20th, 1943 the Partisans attacked and destroyed a train on the Lerin-Voden rail line in order to free the political prisoners being transported. Among those freed was Haralambos Haralambidis - Atanatos. Four Germans were killed and Papatanasiou, a well known collaborator, was wounded. All the prisoners were freed and in the process a large number of arms were acquired.
On several occasions the Vicho detachment combined forces with the Dame Gruev detachment from Bitola to perform joint missions. One of the more successful missions was the disarming of the Macedonian villages in Kostur Region.
Armed by the Italians and mislead by the Bulgarian fascist propaganda, Kostur Region villagers, thinking that the Partisans were Greek gendarmes, were ready to fight against them. But as soon as they found out the detachments were Macedonian, they not only surrendered their arms but most joined the Macedonian detachments. Four months after its formation the Vicho detachment had more than 80 fighters.
On July 20th, 1943 the leadership decided to split this detachment into four smaller ones. The newly created detachments were "Vicho", "Kajmakchalan" under the command of Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, "Bigla" under Mito Tupurkovski - Titan's command and "Dauli", each named after the mountain where they were to be active.
The vast majority of leaders and fighters in these detachments were Macedonians and this did not bode well with the Communist Party of Greece but in spite of its objections Macedonians continued to conduct business as usual and recruit Macedonian fighters from an overwhelming pool of volunteers.
Even in Kostur, after the initial failure to form a lasting all Macedonian resistance group in April 1942, a new detachment was born in September 1943. This detachment was named "Lazo Trpovski" after the influential Macedonian fighter and political leader from Dmbeni who had been killed in the village Imera, Kozheni Region on April 11, 1943 by a band of collaborators belonging to the racist Panhellenic Liberation Organization.
The Macedonian lead detachments were very popular with the Macedonian people and attracted massive numbers of recruits from the Macedonian population which unfortunately disturbed the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG who lead the struggle under a pre-determined national all Greek platform. Even though Macedonians continued their solidarity with the progressive Greeks in a unified struggle to expel the occupier, the Greeks did not trust them and began to plant seeds of discontent. The truth of their aims was never revealed but actions spoke truer than words. Besides attempting to infiltrate and replace the Macedonian leadership, the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG began a propaganda campaign labeling the Macedonians "autonomists". In the eyes of the Greek population this was supposed to mean that the Macedonians had a hidden agenda interpreted as anti-Greek. Besides being afraid that they may lose Macedonia, the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership knew very well that its source of NLAG recruits and supplies would dry up very quickly without the Macedonians. The real drive behind the resistance movement in Greece was in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was fuelled by the Macedonian people. The CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership was well aware of this and knew it had absolutely no chance of success without the protection of the Macedonian mountains and surrounding villages capable of supplying not only fighters but an inexhaustible source of food. Without Macedonian support the struggle would be starved in no time. So rather than making a big fuss the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership decided to allow the Kostur detachment to continue to recruit while new and more sinister strategies were planned.
But as mobilization into the Lazo Trpovski detachment became more massive than ever anticipated, especially from the village Koreshchata, the Greek side had to act quickly. Having no other course of friction to complain about, the Greek side started to show dissatisfaction with the symbols Macedonians, wore on their hats. Having chosen to wear a star on their hats was cause enough for the Greek leadership of NLAG to complain thus accusing the Macedonians of being more interested in nationalistic principles than in the struggle to free Greece from the occupier. Even though the Macedonians did have cause to rise up against the Greeks this was not their intention. The Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia firmly believed in the principles that after the conflict they would gain their rights as Macedonians inside Greece.
In spite of their disagreements with the Greek progressives, the Macedonians were instrumental in the resistance struggle, especially in rallying the people to strike against high prices and the black market. More that 10,000 workers participated in a strike in Voden, 8,000 in Edindzhe-Vardar and surrounding region and 5,000 in Gumendzhe. In August 1943 a massive rally was organized in Lerin Region where more than 15,000 demonstrators were in attendance. These were vast numbers for small cities and towns where the population was no more than 10 to 30 thousand. Strikes and demonstrations were also held in Kostur and Rupishta where a large part of the population attended. More than 20,000 attended a rally in the city square in Subotsko in November 1943 when residents from the entire surrounding region came together carrying black flags and banners demonstrating their discontent with the economic situation.
The most massive demonstrations however were conducted against the Bulgarians when their occupying army crossed south of the Struma River. Thirty thousand people gathered together in the city of Nigrita to show their displeasure. There were also demonstrations organized in Solun, Negush and Ber where people, mostly workers, attended in large numbers. These demonstrations were a clear message not only to the occupiers but also to the Greek authorities on both the right and left side that Macedonians were capable of defending themselves. Unfortunately this show of strength, instead of bringing improvement, brought more misery to the Macedonian people as all sides began to persecute the Macedonians, especially after Italy's capitulation on September 8th, 1943.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 - 1949
Part 8 - An all Macedonian National Liberation Front
September 2008
By Risto Stefovrstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The Macedonian national liberation movement in the Republic of Macedonia was carefully followed not only by the Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia but also by the leadership of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG), the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) and the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG). They were all impressed with its achievements not only as a National Liberation Movement but as a clearly all Macedonian national movement with its own general headquarters, Macedonian officers and an all Macedonian army of Partisans with their own flag and symbols and with the Macedonian language as the language of command. This was in sharp contrast to the practices of the Greeks where Macedonian units were mistrusted and always officered by Greeks. Macedonian fighters who put their lives on the line and fought for the liberation of Greece were treated no better than Macedonian civilians who were excluded from state posts, higher education, promotions in the army and so on.
There was however a need to draw the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia into the communist-led resistance movements in the Balkans which could only be achieved through offers of incentives like equal rights and self determination. Unfortunately the Greeks did not agree with such offers and on June 20, 1943 voiced their reluctance during a high-level meeting with the central committees of the Albanian, Greek and Yugoslav parties. Here the Greek delegate, Tilemachos Ververis, rejected all such proposals and argued that the mere raising of the Macedonian question in Greece would alienate Greeks from the CPG and GNLF-NLAG.
Since the Greeks were so mistrustful of the Macedonians and vice versa, their interests could not be easily reconciled and the CPG leadership continued to manipulate the Macedonians to further its own party interests. Whenever the CPG needed political or military support from the Macedonians it paid lip service to their demands and made some half-hearted concessions to them without giving up control over them or their movement. Then when the CPG no longer felt it needed their support it turned against them, canceled the concessions, and downplayed their demands and problems.
Influenced by their counterparts in the Republic of Macedonia and being mistrustful of the Greek GNLF-NLAG leadership, the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia started their own Macedonian National Liberation movement. As a result, the Macedonian National Liberation Front in Greece (MNLF(G)) was founded in the fall of 1943.
Mistrustful as they were the CPG and the GNLF-NLAG leadership had no choice but to sanction the MNLF(G) because in 1943 the GNLF-NLAG started having its own problems with the smaller nationalist resistance organizations in Greece (EDES and others) and needed the Macedonian people's help. The Greek communists were compelled to court the Macedonians in order to draw them away from Bulgarian influence and into the ranks of NLAG. Even though MNLF(G) was a Macedonian organization it was still placed under the direct authority of GNLF-NLAG.
The MNLF(G) came into being as a result of a three year Macedonian struggle not just against the occupiers (Germans, Italians and Bulgarians and their Greek quislings) but also against the Greek right and to some extent against the Greek left. I am including the Greek left because many Greek officers from the GNLF-NLAG were a product of the Greek educational system; especially Metaxas's indoctrinations where they were taught that Macedonians, or the "Vulgari" as they liked to call them, were dangerous and not be trusted and therefore should be hated.
In view of the terror due to the rise in power of the various right oriented anti-Macedonian groups, such as the IVE (Defense of Northern Greece), PAO (All Greek Liberation Organization), EKA (National and Social Revival) and others, which represented an open danger to the resistance movements, the Macedonian people had no choice but to organize and defend themselves. Some Greek rightists unfortunately could not stomach a Macedonian organization and immediately began to criticize it calling it autonomous and separatist and therefore anti-Greek. If anything at all, this Macedonian organization was an expression of the timeless Macedonian desire to achieve its national goals and national ideals in a mutual struggle with the Greek people. For better or for worse this was the view the Macedonian leadership had at the time. Nonetheless Macedonian loyalty to Greece was not enough to appease the Greek nationalists who wished the Macedonians ill will. But having no choice in the matter the best the rightists could do is criticize. The CPG too was criticized being called a sellout and a traitor to the Greek people for courting the Macedonians. The nationalist Greeks needed excuses to slander the resistance organizations to justify their own absence from the anti-fascist front and to validate their own collaboration with the occupiers. It was the right, not the left, that collaborated with the enemy as attested to by the Greek professor P. Enepekidis of the University of Vienna in his article "The secret archives of Vermaht" published by "To Vima" newspaper in 1963 where the professor stated that a pile of authentic documents were discovered testifying to the effect that various right oriented organizations and people collaborated with the occupier.
At the same time the Bulgarians were also in the thick of things promoting the illusion that a Bulgarian "liberation mission" was working under the slogan "Autonomy for Macedonia" in hopes of attracting Macedonians away from the resistance movement. Under these circumstances the regional committee for Macedonia had no alternative but to take the problem to the Macedonian people and organize its own Liberation Front, the MNLF(G).
There is a lot of talk, especially from the Greek side, that the MNLF(G) was heavily influenced by its Macedonian counterpart in Yugoslavia and as a result conclusions were drawn that there was some sort of "secret plan" for the two organizations to join forces and fight for the reunification of Macedonia. But sources on the ground like Naum Pejov and Hristo Andonovski did not support that idea and in fact went a step further accusing the mistrustful Greeks of starting such rumours in order to keep a tight leash on the MNLF(G).
The formation of the MNLF(G) in Kostur and Lerin Regions in October 1943 was done along the same lines of the formation of IMRO-United in 1936 and had an immediate and successful following. Among the leaders of the Lerin Region branch were Kiro Piljaev and Stavro Kochevski and among those in the Kostur Region were Paskal Mitrevski, Naum Pejov, Lazo Poplazarov and Lazo Damovski Osenski. The immediate aims of the organization were to disarm the villagers who had been armed by the occupier and to persuade them to join the MNLF(G). After a successful campaign 110 members from the village Eksisu alone joined the MNLF(G)and donated money to publish the necessary literature to advertise the MNLF(G)'s objectives.
In September 1943 Tanos, the CPG's political secretary for the Regional Committee of Lerin Region, called a meeting with the Macedonian leaders Kiro Piljaev, Gijorgij Turundzhov, Stavro Kochevski, Trifko Popovski and Vangel Kojchev. The meeting was held in the village Banitsa. Stavro Kochevski, Kiro Paljaev and Gijorgij Turundzhov were selected to jointly lead the MNLF(G) along with the GNLF regional committee. Kiro Paljaev was assigned the task of political secretary and Gijorgij Turundzhov was assigned the task of organizational secretary.
MNLF(G)'s first objective was to organize its first publication in the Macedonian language for which it needed a typewriter with Cyrillic characters. Unfortunately there was no such typewriter in Greek occupied Macedonia so Gijorgij Turundzhov with his brother Ilija and Gijorgij Bukchev took a trip to Bitola to look for one. There they made contact with Krum Hololchev who took them to the village Novatsi but were unable to find such a machine. The next day it had occurred to someone that banks use typewriters and with the help of their Bitola contacts the trio entered a bank, stole a typewriter and some paper and walked away. The next day Bulgarian authorities arrived and arrested and jailed seven bank employees. When they counted the money and found none was missing they took inventory of other items and found that a typewriter had disappeared. They realized that such a machine would be needed for propaganda purposes and concluded that it was communists who stole it, probably with help from the bank staff.
When the Macedonians returned to their headquarters with the typewriter they realized they had no ribbon and had to fashion one from homemade materials. Using their newly acquired typewriter they were able to produce the first edition of an all Macedonian publication called "Sloboda" (Freedom). Then by using these publications the Macedonians in Lerin Region were rallied behind the all Macedonian MNLF(G). Despite Greek attempts to downplay the strength of this organization, it managed to draw massive support especially during its regional conference in February 1944 held in the village Bapchor in Vicho Mountain. Many Macedonians attended this conference and gave the MNLF(G) their support by demonstrating their wish to fight for equality and for a common cause together shoulder to shoulder with the Greek democratic people.
Soon after the Lerin and Kostur branches of the MNLF(G) were established, another branch appeared in Voden Region. This branch it seemed had little objection from the CPG and at first was widely accepted.
The first objective of this branch of the MNLF(G) was to establish its presence inside the city of Voden and then quickly spread out to Voden and Meglen Regions. Soon after its consolidation, this branch too started its own newspaper called "Trvena Zsvezda" (Red Star) in the Macedonian language but using the Greek alphabet. Even though the publication was only used to rally the people in support of the resistance and sometimes to disseminate news from the military operations in the allied fronts, it was still disturbing the Greeks. According to Vangel Aljanov, one of the leaders in the MNLF(G), the Greeks were concerned about its content and how it might wrongly be interpreted by the Macedonian people. Both the CPG and GNLF leadership began to object not only to what was published but to the publication itself. Then when the Red Star began to run a series of important articles in support of Macedonian national rights, the CPG and GNLF regional committee ordered the publisher to stop publishing. According to their explanations, in their view this kind of information was deemed dangerous and would lead to the destruction of the Greek nation.
In the fall of 1943 another Macedonian language newspaper came into existence. Located in Meglen Region this newspaper was called "Iskra" (Spark) and was an offshoot of the CPG's newspaper called "Flora". Unfortunately after its third publication it too was ordered to shut down. The CPG regional committee decided it was unnecessary to have another paper while Flora was still in existence.
While the MNLF(G) was tormented by the CPG and GNLF from the inside, the CPG was telling different stories on the outside. The Greek newspaper "Laikon Vima", closely associated with the CPG, on January 10th, 1944, among other thing, heralded the birth of the MNLF(G) as a necessary step in the ripening political process and the MNLF(G) itself was seen as a "Liberation Front" for the Macedonians similar to the GNLF for the Greeks. The MNLF(G) was heralded as an instrument that would lead the Macedonians in a brotherly struggle together with the Greeks for the realization of combined aims.
Another newspaper, the "Efedrikos ELAS" closely associated with the divisional command of the NLAG reservists for Western Greek occupied Macedonia, on April 2nd, 1944 wrote something to the effect that the GNLF and the MNLF(G) are organizations dedicated to the struggle for the same aims, the same desires and aspirations. Greeks and Macedonians firmly united will take decisive steps for the realization of the people's needs. On the occasion of the Macedonian participation in the MNLF(G) in Lerin and Kostur Regions, "Efedrikos ELAS" emphasized the importance of the massive Macedonian contribution in the struggle against the occupier in spite of the dangers, terror and difficult conditions. In regards to the first NLAG reservist conference, the newspaper added that the Macedonians from Lerin and Kostur Regions are represented by a considerable number of delegates which clearly indicates that the Macedonians are convinced that their aims are just in this all national struggle.
Six months after the formation of the MNLF(G) its success and ability to mobilize the Macedonian people was echoed by the Macedonian newspaper "Makedonski Glas" (Macedonian Voice) on April 3rd, 1944. Among other things it wrote that the MNLF(G) is a united peoples' liberation organization which strives to fulfill the national needs of the Macedonian people. The MNLF(G) is the new IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) of the Macedonians which will bring to fruition the deeds of the Ilinden Revolutionaries. In response to the slanderous accusations that MNLF(G) is an autonomist organization "Macedonian Voice" fought back by saying that the true autonomists are the Fascists who want to enslave our people. The MNLF(G) is a continuation of IMRO born from the people's aspiration for freedom which will struggle to drive out the occupier and clean up the collaborators and traitors and all those whose aims are to bring tyranny to our people.
In the six months since its formation the MNLF(G) distinguished itself as a true leader of the Macedonian people. Since its appearance in the Kostur Region people came alive as they did during the old legendary Ilinden revolutionary days. All the villages armed by the occupiers one by one surrendered their arms and voluntarily joined the ranks of the MNLF(G). The Macedonian people trusted the MNLF(G) leaders because they spoke Macedonian, the mother language of the Macedonian people, which proved to be a great unifier for the MNLF(G). The Macedonian language was also the worst weapon against Fascism because it earnestly spoke to the Macedonian people on all sides of the conflict and warned them of the dangers to come. "Fascism is on its last leg, the Red Army is in Romania and Czechoslovakia and soon it will start its offensive to free the Balkans. This is your last chance to save yourselves by surrendering your arms and by joining us. We will guaranty your safety we give you our word. If you don't surrender now you will become victims of NLAG when it conducts its cleanup operations. If you don't give up your arms now we can't help you at all later because then you will be considered to be the enemy. We are your brothers and sisters and are concerned about the final outcome of the struggle. We are concerned for the good of the Macedonian people. We strive to achieve the aims of Ilinden and with your help we can write more pages for our celebrated history. Do not let the enemy extinguish it. Also do not listen to those who want to block you from taking a step in the right direction."
In the first six months alone the MNLF(G) drew support from over 6,000 people of whom 1834 were women. Naturally Macedonia has a long standing tradition of fighting women like Sirma, Irina, Gjurgja and others who picked up arms and courageously stood up to the Ottomans in the heat of the Ilinden Uprising. With rifles in hand some lead groups of men into battle while many toiled to support the revolution by gathering food, washing and mending clothes, smuggling and transporting guns and ammunition and most importantly nursing the wounded and burying the dead.
The Greeks were not the only ones alarmed by the MNLF(G)'s rapid success. To capitalize on the euphoria and slow down the growth of the Macedonian resistance movement, the Bulgarian Fascists, through Kalchev and other Vancho-Mihailovist agents, attempted to form their own base in Kostur. The MNLF(G) however with its publications and its own propaganda campaign was able to quickly and successfully disarm the Fascists. The MNLF(G) appealed to the Macedonian people who were under Greek and Bulgarian influence and helped them see beyond the assimilatory propaganda which obscured their national consciousness.
The MNLF(G) was a beacon of guiding light for the Macedonian people which not only showed them who they were but convinced them that there was a way they could live free and as equals to the other free people in the Balkans. The MNLF(G) reintroduced the Macedonian language to the people and again gave them their own voice which they proudly expressed in plays, newspaper articles, educational programs and schools for their children. For the first time inside Greek occupied Macedonia, the Macedonian people were free to celebrate their own holidays including Ilinden and other Macedonian national events.
The MNLF(G) was not just another political tool that lead the Macedonian people in the struggle against the occupier. It was also a caretaker and provider for the people striving to improve their lives. One of its objectives was to stamp out famine by providing food and other goods like sugar, oil, soap and other products to the needy. Depots were set up in the city of Kostur where villagers were invited to visit and pick up food and other items for their families. This by the way was nothing new for the Macedonian people. Macedonians have a tradition of helping each other especially in the worst of times. The success of the food drive was heralded on March 29th, 1944 in a letter from the regional council to Poptrajkov, the leader of the MNLF(G), in which among other things the council informed Poptrajkov that as a result of the massive protests organized by the MNLF(G) the villagers from Breshteni succeeded in receiving over a thousand kilos of beans and about fifty kilos of sugar while the people of Drenovo received over six-hundred kilos of beans and got back their personal identification cards which were earlier confiscated. The people of Dobrolishta too were given an undetermined amount of beans as well.
The MNLF(G) also rewarded its volunteer fighters with various incentives like providing their families with free labour to harvest the crops at the family farm, paying medical bills for family members and acting as an advocate and judge in village disputes.
The Macedonian people could see results in the MNLF(G)'s work so they gave it massive support not only by participating in demonstrations and protests but also by joining its military wing as volunteer fighters. Volunteer youths kept pouring in insisting that they join youth groups and be inducted in the NLAG reserves.
The MNLF(G)'s popularity unfortunately created some uneasiness among its Greek counterpart and as Macedonians tried to open new branches they found stiff resistance from the Greek leadership. "I tried to start an organization in the villages Chuka and Stena but Joannis Papadopoulos stopped me and asked me if I had permission to do this. I said I didn't so he suggested that I stop what I was doing or I would be punished. He suggested that I go to the CPG regional office and ask for permission from the committee by making a request in writing." This quote is part of a document found in Lazo Damovski's personal archives which demonstrates the kind of tactics the leftist Greeks employed to stifle the Macedonian movement.
The MNLF(G) harnessed its power from a small number of villages where it was established and drew more that 500 Macedonians in the ranks of NLAG and about twice as many in the ranks of the reservists. Proportionally Macedonian participation in MNLF(G) especially in Kostur Region compared to the Greeks was massive. Wherever MNLF(G) existed the enemy had difficulties penetrating as attested by an article written by a Kolcho, a regional MNLF(G) leader, on January 17th, 1944. "I have nine villages in my ward seven of which are under MNLF(G) jurisdiction. We have not yet penetrated Blatsa and Setoma because they are still enemy strongholds. The seven villages that are on our side have accepted MNLF(G) as their organization and 200 people have already joined us. There is however mistrust for the Greeks and many believe that they will again lie to us through their propaganda. With the exception of Blatsa, Setoma and Chereshnitsa, the Bulgarophil element here is very small." (The original document from which this quote was obtained can be found in Lazo Damovski's archives.)
The MNLF(G) demonstrated its popularity with the Macedonian people during its regional conference on April 12th, 1944 in the village Dmbeni when massive numbers of Macedonians showed up making it look more like a religious holiday than a conference. The conference was a smashing success and a milestone for the Macedonian peoples' movement in Kostur Region. Besides lifting the spirits of the Macedonian people this conference was instrumental in exposing the occupier and Greek right's intrigues and propaganda aimed against the MNLF(G). Clearly this propaganda was aimed to divide the Macedonian people by offering them to join a non existent "autonomous movement". This very same propaganda was later used by the Greeks to discredit the MNLF(G) and its leadership accusing them of harbouring hidden autonomous aims.
In addition to a crowd of onlookers, over 500 delegates from the various MNLF(G) regions attended the conference with guests from the CPG, GNLF and NLAG and even delegates from the British War mission in free Greece. Lazo Damovski, the MNLF(G)'s political secretary, presented an essay on regional issues and his recommendations for action. Paskal Mitovski, the MNLF(G)'s organizational secretary, presented his views on the organizational situation in the ward and Rigas (Kostas Sidiropulos), the GNLF representative for Western Macedonia, spoke about the GNLF-MNLF(G)'s joint military and political situation with regards to the overall resistance movement in Greece. A good portion of the conference was dedicated to sorting out the relationship between NLAG the joint military wing and the MNLF(G).
According to a copy of the conference minutes found in Lazo Damovski's archives, the following people belonged to the MNLF(G) in the newly formed ward: Lazo Damovski, Paskal Mitrevski, Andon Kalcho, Blagoj Panduli, Kokinos, Peev Naum, Boshko Hadzhiev, Evdokia Baleva, Shishkov, Gulev, Moskov, Poptrajkov, Vasilka Galeva, Hrisanta Chocheva, Risto Dimitriev, Karadzhov, Kalimanov, Pandeli and Ljuba Balsamova.
A special telegram was sent from the conference to its partners in the GNLF and the 9th division of NLAG expressing satisfaction with events that had transpired, re-enforcing the idea that it was a good decision to allow the formation of the MNLF(G) and temporarily quelling slanders from reactionary groups accusing the MNLF(G) of being some sort of "autonomist organization". Among other things the telegram also said: "We the five-hundred delegates of MNLF(G), Kostur Region, in our first historic conference are full of enthusiasm and from the bottom of our hearts salute our National Liberation political committee and stand shoulder to shoulder with all our forces in the formation of a government of national unity. We are convinced that in one peoples democratic Greece we Macedonians will find absolute social, political and economic equality together with the Greeks."
Unfortunately while the Macedonians in Kostur region were optimistic about their involvement with their Greek partners the same could not be said about the Macedonians in Voden Region who in April of 1944 were struggling to form a new MNLF(G) ward in Voden. When it came to discussing what symbols the Macedonian fighters should wear on their uniforms, the Greeks in the regional committee of the detachment insisted that they wear the "hammer and sickle" and be called the "Communist Army". The Macedonians on the other hand insisted that the fighters be called the "Macedonian Army" and use the Macedonian flag as their emblem.
By pushing these recommendations the Greeks were hoping to either slow down or completely suppress the growth of the MNLF(G). If Macedonians were to agree to Greek demands, Macedonian fighters would refuse to enlist in what to them would appear as a strange organization. If the Macedonians were to disagree with Greek demands then the Greeks would certainly be given an excuse to label the Macedonians "autonomists" and "separatists".
In spite of Greek objections the MNLF(G), a modest Macedonian version and satellite of the GNLF that the CPG conceded to recognize, won immediate acceptance and widespread support among the Macedonians. Paradoxically though it was this very success that sealed its fate. The CPG wanted an obedient and subservient, token Macedonian instrument to draw the Macedonians into the fold of GNLF-NLAG and thus away from the various "free" and "autonomous" Macedonian bands supported by the Bulgarians and Germans. The CPG was not willing to tolerate, let alone accept as a partner, an authentic Macedonian national liberation movement on the Left that enjoyed a popular mass following and thus an independent power base. Consequently, from the very outset, while the movement was still in its organizational stage, the CPG party leadership severely curtailed its independence, restricting and hindering its activities. And in the end, after existing for only seven months, the MNLF(G) was suppressed in May l944. Some of its leaders were arrested, but a group of partisans led by Naum Pejov fled across the border and joined the Macedonian army in the Republic of Macedonia.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
1939 - 1949
Part 8 - An all Macedonian National Liberation Front
September 2008
By Risto Stefovrstefov@hotmail.com
click here for the Macedonians in Greece series
The Macedonian national liberation movement in the Republic of Macedonia was carefully followed not only by the Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia but also by the leadership of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG), the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) and the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG). They were all impressed with its achievements not only as a National Liberation Movement but as a clearly all Macedonian national movement with its own general headquarters, Macedonian officers and an all Macedonian army of Partisans with their own flag and symbols and with the Macedonian language as the language of command. This was in sharp contrast to the practices of the Greeks where Macedonian units were mistrusted and always officered by Greeks. Macedonian fighters who put their lives on the line and fought for the liberation of Greece were treated no better than Macedonian civilians who were excluded from state posts, higher education, promotions in the army and so on.
There was however a need to draw the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia into the communist-led resistance movements in the Balkans which could only be achieved through offers of incentives like equal rights and self determination. Unfortunately the Greeks did not agree with such offers and on June 20, 1943 voiced their reluctance during a high-level meeting with the central committees of the Albanian, Greek and Yugoslav parties. Here the Greek delegate, Tilemachos Ververis, rejected all such proposals and argued that the mere raising of the Macedonian question in Greece would alienate Greeks from the CPG and GNLF-NLAG.
Since the Greeks were so mistrustful of the Macedonians and vice versa, their interests could not be easily reconciled and the CPG leadership continued to manipulate the Macedonians to further its own party interests. Whenever the CPG needed political or military support from the Macedonians it paid lip service to their demands and made some half-hearted concessions to them without giving up control over them or their movement. Then when the CPG no longer felt it needed their support it turned against them, canceled the concessions, and downplayed their demands and problems.
Influenced by their counterparts in the Republic of Macedonia and being mistrustful of the Greek GNLF-NLAG leadership, the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia started their own Macedonian National Liberation movement. As a result, the Macedonian National Liberation Front in Greece (MNLF(G)) was founded in the fall of 1943.
Mistrustful as they were the CPG and the GNLF-NLAG leadership had no choice but to sanction the MNLF(G) because in 1943 the GNLF-NLAG started having its own problems with the smaller nationalist resistance organizations in Greece (EDES and others) and needed the Macedonian people's help. The Greek communists were compelled to court the Macedonians in order to draw them away from Bulgarian influence and into the ranks of NLAG. Even though MNLF(G) was a Macedonian organization it was still placed under the direct authority of GNLF-NLAG.
The MNLF(G) came into being as a result of a three year Macedonian struggle not just against the occupiers (Germans, Italians and Bulgarians and their Greek quislings) but also against the Greek right and to some extent against the Greek left. I am including the Greek left because many Greek officers from the GNLF-NLAG were a product of the Greek educational system; especially Metaxas's indoctrinations where they were taught that Macedonians, or the "Vulgari" as they liked to call them, were dangerous and not be trusted and therefore should be hated.
In view of the terror due to the rise in power of the various right oriented anti-Macedonian groups, such as the IVE (Defense of Northern Greece), PAO (All Greek Liberation Organization), EKA (National and Social Revival) and others, which represented an open danger to the resistance movements, the Macedonian people had no choice but to organize and defend themselves. Some Greek rightists unfortunately could not stomach a Macedonian organization and immediately began to criticize it calling it autonomous and separatist and therefore anti-Greek. If anything at all, this Macedonian organization was an expression of the timeless Macedonian desire to achieve its national goals and national ideals in a mutual struggle with the Greek people. For better or for worse this was the view the Macedonian leadership had at the time. Nonetheless Macedonian loyalty to Greece was not enough to appease the Greek nationalists who wished the Macedonians ill will. But having no choice in the matter the best the rightists could do is criticize. The CPG too was criticized being called a sellout and a traitor to the Greek people for courting the Macedonians. The nationalist Greeks needed excuses to slander the resistance organizations to justify their own absence from the anti-fascist front and to validate their own collaboration with the occupiers. It was the right, not the left, that collaborated with the enemy as attested to by the Greek professor P. Enepekidis of the University of Vienna in his article "The secret archives of Vermaht" published by "To Vima" newspaper in 1963 where the professor stated that a pile of authentic documents were discovered testifying to the effect that various right oriented organizations and people collaborated with the occupier.
At the same time the Bulgarians were also in the thick of things promoting the illusion that a Bulgarian "liberation mission" was working under the slogan "Autonomy for Macedonia" in hopes of attracting Macedonians away from the resistance movement. Under these circumstances the regional committee for Macedonia had no alternative but to take the problem to the Macedonian people and organize its own Liberation Front, the MNLF(G).
There is a lot of talk, especially from the Greek side, that the MNLF(G) was heavily influenced by its Macedonian counterpart in Yugoslavia and as a result conclusions were drawn that there was some sort of "secret plan" for the two organizations to join forces and fight for the reunification of Macedonia. But sources on the ground like Naum Pejov and Hristo Andonovski did not support that idea and in fact went a step further accusing the mistrustful Greeks of starting such rumours in order to keep a tight leash on the MNLF(G).
The formation of the MNLF(G) in Kostur and Lerin Regions in October 1943 was done along the same lines of the formation of IMRO-United in 1936 and had an immediate and successful following. Among the leaders of the Lerin Region branch were Kiro Piljaev and Stavro Kochevski and among those in the Kostur Region were Paskal Mitrevski, Naum Pejov, Lazo Poplazarov and Lazo Damovski Osenski. The immediate aims of the organization were to disarm the villagers who had been armed by the occupier and to persuade them to join the MNLF(G). After a successful campaign 110 members from the village Eksisu alone joined the MNLF(G)and donated money to publish the necessary literature to advertise the MNLF(G)'s objectives.
In September 1943 Tanos, the CPG's political secretary for the Regional Committee of Lerin Region, called a meeting with the Macedonian leaders Kiro Piljaev, Gijorgij Turundzhov, Stavro Kochevski, Trifko Popovski and Vangel Kojchev. The meeting was held in the village Banitsa. Stavro Kochevski, Kiro Paljaev and Gijorgij Turundzhov were selected to jointly lead the MNLF(G) along with the GNLF regional committee. Kiro Paljaev was assigned the task of political secretary and Gijorgij Turundzhov was assigned the task of organizational secretary.
MNLF(G)'s first objective was to organize its first publication in the Macedonian language for which it needed a typewriter with Cyrillic characters. Unfortunately there was no such typewriter in Greek occupied Macedonia so Gijorgij Turundzhov with his brother Ilija and Gijorgij Bukchev took a trip to Bitola to look for one. There they made contact with Krum Hololchev who took them to the village Novatsi but were unable to find such a machine. The next day it had occurred to someone that banks use typewriters and with the help of their Bitola contacts the trio entered a bank, stole a typewriter and some paper and walked away. The next day Bulgarian authorities arrived and arrested and jailed seven bank employees. When they counted the money and found none was missing they took inventory of other items and found that a typewriter had disappeared. They realized that such a machine would be needed for propaganda purposes and concluded that it was communists who stole it, probably with help from the bank staff.
When the Macedonians returned to their headquarters with the typewriter they realized they had no ribbon and had to fashion one from homemade materials. Using their newly acquired typewriter they were able to produce the first edition of an all Macedonian publication called "Sloboda" (Freedom). Then by using these publications the Macedonians in Lerin Region were rallied behind the all Macedonian MNLF(G). Despite Greek attempts to downplay the strength of this organization, it managed to draw massive support especially during its regional conference in February 1944 held in the village Bapchor in Vicho Mountain. Many Macedonians attended this conference and gave the MNLF(G) their support by demonstrating their wish to fight for equality and for a common cause together shoulder to shoulder with the Greek democratic people.
Soon after the Lerin and Kostur branches of the MNLF(G) were established, another branch appeared in Voden Region. This branch it seemed had little objection from the CPG and at first was widely accepted.
The first objective of this branch of the MNLF(G) was to establish its presence inside the city of Voden and then quickly spread out to Voden and Meglen Regions. Soon after its consolidation, this branch too started its own newspaper called "Trvena Zsvezda" (Red Star) in the Macedonian language but using the Greek alphabet. Even though the publication was only used to rally the people in support of the resistance and sometimes to disseminate news from the military operations in the allied fronts, it was still disturbing the Greeks. According to Vangel Aljanov, one of the leaders in the MNLF(G), the Greeks were concerned about its content and how it might wrongly be interpreted by the Macedonian people. Both the CPG and GNLF leadership began to object not only to what was published but to the publication itself. Then when the Red Star began to run a series of important articles in support of Macedonian national rights, the CPG and GNLF regional committee ordered the publisher to stop publishing. According to their explanations, in their view this kind of information was deemed dangerous and would lead to the destruction of the Greek nation.
In the fall of 1943 another Macedonian language newspaper came into existence. Located in Meglen Region this newspaper was called "Iskra" (Spark) and was an offshoot of the CPG's newspaper called "Flora". Unfortunately after its third publication it too was ordered to shut down. The CPG regional committee decided it was unnecessary to have another paper while Flora was still in existence.
While the MNLF(G) was tormented by the CPG and GNLF from the inside, the CPG was telling different stories on the outside. The Greek newspaper "Laikon Vima", closely associated with the CPG, on January 10th, 1944, among other thing, heralded the birth of the MNLF(G) as a necessary step in the ripening political process and the MNLF(G) itself was seen as a "Liberation Front" for the Macedonians similar to the GNLF for the Greeks. The MNLF(G) was heralded as an instrument that would lead the Macedonians in a brotherly struggle together with the Greeks for the realization of combined aims.
Another newspaper, the "Efedrikos ELAS" closely associated with the divisional command of the NLAG reservists for Western Greek occupied Macedonia, on April 2nd, 1944 wrote something to the effect that the GNLF and the MNLF(G) are organizations dedicated to the struggle for the same aims, the same desires and aspirations. Greeks and Macedonians firmly united will take decisive steps for the realization of the people's needs. On the occasion of the Macedonian participation in the MNLF(G) in Lerin and Kostur Regions, "Efedrikos ELAS" emphasized the importance of the massive Macedonian contribution in the struggle against the occupier in spite of the dangers, terror and difficult conditions. In regards to the first NLAG reservist conference, the newspaper added that the Macedonians from Lerin and Kostur Regions are represented by a considerable number of delegates which clearly indicates that the Macedonians are convinced that their aims are just in this all national struggle.
Six months after the formation of the MNLF(G) its success and ability to mobilize the Macedonian people was echoed by the Macedonian newspaper "Makedonski Glas" (Macedonian Voice) on April 3rd, 1944. Among other things it wrote that the MNLF(G) is a united peoples' liberation organization which strives to fulfill the national needs of the Macedonian people. The MNLF(G) is the new IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) of the Macedonians which will bring to fruition the deeds of the Ilinden Revolutionaries. In response to the slanderous accusations that MNLF(G) is an autonomist organization "Macedonian Voice" fought back by saying that the true autonomists are the Fascists who want to enslave our people. The MNLF(G) is a continuation of IMRO born from the people's aspiration for freedom which will struggle to drive out the occupier and clean up the collaborators and traitors and all those whose aims are to bring tyranny to our people.
In the six months since its formation the MNLF(G) distinguished itself as a true leader of the Macedonian people. Since its appearance in the Kostur Region people came alive as they did during the old legendary Ilinden revolutionary days. All the villages armed by the occupiers one by one surrendered their arms and voluntarily joined the ranks of the MNLF(G). The Macedonian people trusted the MNLF(G) leaders because they spoke Macedonian, the mother language of the Macedonian people, which proved to be a great unifier for the MNLF(G). The Macedonian language was also the worst weapon against Fascism because it earnestly spoke to the Macedonian people on all sides of the conflict and warned them of the dangers to come. "Fascism is on its last leg, the Red Army is in Romania and Czechoslovakia and soon it will start its offensive to free the Balkans. This is your last chance to save yourselves by surrendering your arms and by joining us. We will guaranty your safety we give you our word. If you don't surrender now you will become victims of NLAG when it conducts its cleanup operations. If you don't give up your arms now we can't help you at all later because then you will be considered to be the enemy. We are your brothers and sisters and are concerned about the final outcome of the struggle. We are concerned for the good of the Macedonian people. We strive to achieve the aims of Ilinden and with your help we can write more pages for our celebrated history. Do not let the enemy extinguish it. Also do not listen to those who want to block you from taking a step in the right direction."
In the first six months alone the MNLF(G) drew support from over 6,000 people of whom 1834 were women. Naturally Macedonia has a long standing tradition of fighting women like Sirma, Irina, Gjurgja and others who picked up arms and courageously stood up to the Ottomans in the heat of the Ilinden Uprising. With rifles in hand some lead groups of men into battle while many toiled to support the revolution by gathering food, washing and mending clothes, smuggling and transporting guns and ammunition and most importantly nursing the wounded and burying the dead.
The Greeks were not the only ones alarmed by the MNLF(G)'s rapid success. To capitalize on the euphoria and slow down the growth of the Macedonian resistance movement, the Bulgarian Fascists, through Kalchev and other Vancho-Mihailovist agents, attempted to form their own base in Kostur. The MNLF(G) however with its publications and its own propaganda campaign was able to quickly and successfully disarm the Fascists. The MNLF(G) appealed to the Macedonian people who were under Greek and Bulgarian influence and helped them see beyond the assimilatory propaganda which obscured their national consciousness.
The MNLF(G) was a beacon of guiding light for the Macedonian people which not only showed them who they were but convinced them that there was a way they could live free and as equals to the other free people in the Balkans. The MNLF(G) reintroduced the Macedonian language to the people and again gave them their own voice which they proudly expressed in plays, newspaper articles, educational programs and schools for their children. For the first time inside Greek occupied Macedonia, the Macedonian people were free to celebrate their own holidays including Ilinden and other Macedonian national events.
The MNLF(G) was not just another political tool that lead the Macedonian people in the struggle against the occupier. It was also a caretaker and provider for the people striving to improve their lives. One of its objectives was to stamp out famine by providing food and other goods like sugar, oil, soap and other products to the needy. Depots were set up in the city of Kostur where villagers were invited to visit and pick up food and other items for their families. This by the way was nothing new for the Macedonian people. Macedonians have a tradition of helping each other especially in the worst of times. The success of the food drive was heralded on March 29th, 1944 in a letter from the regional council to Poptrajkov, the leader of the MNLF(G), in which among other things the council informed Poptrajkov that as a result of the massive protests organized by the MNLF(G) the villagers from Breshteni succeeded in receiving over a thousand kilos of beans and about fifty kilos of sugar while the people of Drenovo received over six-hundred kilos of beans and got back their personal identification cards which were earlier confiscated. The people of Dobrolishta too were given an undetermined amount of beans as well.
The MNLF(G) also rewarded its volunteer fighters with various incentives like providing their families with free labour to harvest the crops at the family farm, paying medical bills for family members and acting as an advocate and judge in village disputes.
The Macedonian people could see results in the MNLF(G)'s work so they gave it massive support not only by participating in demonstrations and protests but also by joining its military wing as volunteer fighters. Volunteer youths kept pouring in insisting that they join youth groups and be inducted in the NLAG reserves.
The MNLF(G)'s popularity unfortunately created some uneasiness among its Greek counterpart and as Macedonians tried to open new branches they found stiff resistance from the Greek leadership. "I tried to start an organization in the villages Chuka and Stena but Joannis Papadopoulos stopped me and asked me if I had permission to do this. I said I didn't so he suggested that I stop what I was doing or I would be punished. He suggested that I go to the CPG regional office and ask for permission from the committee by making a request in writing." This quote is part of a document found in Lazo Damovski's personal archives which demonstrates the kind of tactics the leftist Greeks employed to stifle the Macedonian movement.
The MNLF(G) harnessed its power from a small number of villages where it was established and drew more that 500 Macedonians in the ranks of NLAG and about twice as many in the ranks of the reservists. Proportionally Macedonian participation in MNLF(G) especially in Kostur Region compared to the Greeks was massive. Wherever MNLF(G) existed the enemy had difficulties penetrating as attested by an article written by a Kolcho, a regional MNLF(G) leader, on January 17th, 1944. "I have nine villages in my ward seven of which are under MNLF(G) jurisdiction. We have not yet penetrated Blatsa and Setoma because they are still enemy strongholds. The seven villages that are on our side have accepted MNLF(G) as their organization and 200 people have already joined us. There is however mistrust for the Greeks and many believe that they will again lie to us through their propaganda. With the exception of Blatsa, Setoma and Chereshnitsa, the Bulgarophil element here is very small." (The original document from which this quote was obtained can be found in Lazo Damovski's archives.)
The MNLF(G) demonstrated its popularity with the Macedonian people during its regional conference on April 12th, 1944 in the village Dmbeni when massive numbers of Macedonians showed up making it look more like a religious holiday than a conference. The conference was a smashing success and a milestone for the Macedonian peoples' movement in Kostur Region. Besides lifting the spirits of the Macedonian people this conference was instrumental in exposing the occupier and Greek right's intrigues and propaganda aimed against the MNLF(G). Clearly this propaganda was aimed to divide the Macedonian people by offering them to join a non existent "autonomous movement". This very same propaganda was later used by the Greeks to discredit the MNLF(G) and its leadership accusing them of harbouring hidden autonomous aims.
In addition to a crowd of onlookers, over 500 delegates from the various MNLF(G) regions attended the conference with guests from the CPG, GNLF and NLAG and even delegates from the British War mission in free Greece. Lazo Damovski, the MNLF(G)'s political secretary, presented an essay on regional issues and his recommendations for action. Paskal Mitovski, the MNLF(G)'s organizational secretary, presented his views on the organizational situation in the ward and Rigas (Kostas Sidiropulos), the GNLF representative for Western Macedonia, spoke about the GNLF-MNLF(G)'s joint military and political situation with regards to the overall resistance movement in Greece. A good portion of the conference was dedicated to sorting out the relationship between NLAG the joint military wing and the MNLF(G).
According to a copy of the conference minutes found in Lazo Damovski's archives, the following people belonged to the MNLF(G) in the newly formed ward: Lazo Damovski, Paskal Mitrevski, Andon Kalcho, Blagoj Panduli, Kokinos, Peev Naum, Boshko Hadzhiev, Evdokia Baleva, Shishkov, Gulev, Moskov, Poptrajkov, Vasilka Galeva, Hrisanta Chocheva, Risto Dimitriev, Karadzhov, Kalimanov, Pandeli and Ljuba Balsamova.
A special telegram was sent from the conference to its partners in the GNLF and the 9th division of NLAG expressing satisfaction with events that had transpired, re-enforcing the idea that it was a good decision to allow the formation of the MNLF(G) and temporarily quelling slanders from reactionary groups accusing the MNLF(G) of being some sort of "autonomist organization". Among other things the telegram also said: "We the five-hundred delegates of MNLF(G), Kostur Region, in our first historic conference are full of enthusiasm and from the bottom of our hearts salute our National Liberation political committee and stand shoulder to shoulder with all our forces in the formation of a government of national unity. We are convinced that in one peoples democratic Greece we Macedonians will find absolute social, political and economic equality together with the Greeks."
Unfortunately while the Macedonians in Kostur region were optimistic about their involvement with their Greek partners the same could not be said about the Macedonians in Voden Region who in April of 1944 were struggling to form a new MNLF(G) ward in Voden. When it came to discussing what symbols the Macedonian fighters should wear on their uniforms, the Greeks in the regional committee of the detachment insisted that they wear the "hammer and sickle" and be called the "Communist Army". The Macedonians on the other hand insisted that the fighters be called the "Macedonian Army" and use the Macedonian flag as their emblem.
By pushing these recommendations the Greeks were hoping to either slow down or completely suppress the growth of the MNLF(G). If Macedonians were to agree to Greek demands, Macedonian fighters would refuse to enlist in what to them would appear as a strange organization. If the Macedonians were to disagree with Greek demands then the Greeks would certainly be given an excuse to label the Macedonians "autonomists" and "separatists".
In spite of Greek objections the MNLF(G), a modest Macedonian version and satellite of the GNLF that the CPG conceded to recognize, won immediate acceptance and widespread support among the Macedonians. Paradoxically though it was this very success that sealed its fate. The CPG wanted an obedient and subservient, token Macedonian instrument to draw the Macedonians into the fold of GNLF-NLAG and thus away from the various "free" and "autonomous" Macedonian bands supported by the Bulgarians and Germans. The CPG was not willing to tolerate, let alone accept as a partner, an authentic Macedonian national liberation movement on the Left that enjoyed a popular mass following and thus an independent power base. Consequently, from the very outset, while the movement was still in its organizational stage, the CPG party leadership severely curtailed its independence, restricting and hindering its activities. And in the end, after existing for only seven months, the MNLF(G) was suppressed in May l944. Some of its leaders were arrested, but a group of partisans led by Naum Pejov fled across the border and joined the Macedonian army in the Republic of Macedonia.
To be continued.
----------You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
Macedonians in Greece
1939 – 1949
Part 9 – Break up of the Macedonian National Liberation Front
By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com
October 2008
By now it was obvious to every Macedonian that the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was not going to tolerate a strong all Macedonian organization inside Greece. The CPG had never approved of the MNLF(G) and now that the MNLF(G) was getting stronger and more popular with the Macedonian people, the CPG felt it had to do something. Although it needed the Macedonian people to fight on its side, the CPG at this time was also trying to warm up to the Greek bourgeois parties. Unfortunately none of the Greek bourgeois parties approved of the CPG’s recognition of the Macedonian ethnicity so the CPG was in a dilemma. It had two choices; placate the bourgeois parties by disassociating itself from the Macedonians or forget about creating unity and humour the Macedonians for as long as they were needed.
The CPG desperately and at all costs wanted “national unity” with the other Greek parties and was willing to do anything, even sacrifice the MNLF(G) if necessary.
The CPG chose “unity” over the Macedonians and did not only disassociate itself from them, it took action to dismantle the MNLF(G) and effectively took away all the rights the Macedonians had recently earned including the right to form their own organizations, the right to form peoples’ liberation councils and the right to have Macedonian schools.
During the MNLF(G) regional conference held on April 12, 1944 Greek representatives of the CPG and GNLF were very pleased with the MNLF(G)’s recent successes but a few days later the same Greeks suddenly and unexpectedly denounced the MNLF(G) calling it a redundant and useless organization demanding that it be dismantled and its fighters be merged with the GNLF. They argued that “two organizations with the same aims were not needed” and “national unity could not possibly be achieved by having redundant organizations”.
In the beginning of May 1944, during a CPG conference held in the village Mogila, Kostur Region, a final decision was made to break up the MNLF(G). A similar decision was also made during a conference held in the village Lagen, Lerin Region and another one in the Macedonian ward in Voden.
Naturally and justifiably the Macedonian people found it hard to accept this especially since Macedonians created this organization through struggle and personal sacrifice.
The fact that the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia were having their own organizations, their own army, their own general headquarters and their recognized right to separate as an ethnic Macedonian identity made the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia feel like they were taking steps backwards. Besides being stripped of their right to be recognized as an ethnic Macedonian identity in Greece, these Macedonians began to lose everything they had worked for, even the rights they had achieved thus far. This was not only unacceptable, it was incomprehensible.
In addition to breaking up the MNLF(G)’s political body, the CPG-GNLF leadership also disbanded its fighters and forced them to join NLAG. This was not what Macedonians wanted and naturally created negative feelings towards the Greeks which did not go unnoticed by the Fascists and directly fueled the autonomist propaganda which began to work hard to attract these disgruntled Macedonians who found themselves robbed not only of their rights but of also of their dignity.
The kind of politics the CPG was conducting was neither new nor unknown to the Macedonian leadership. As early as January 1944 Lazo Damovski, the secretary of the regional council of the MNLF(G) for Kostur Region, addressed the CPG council for Macedonia and warned of this. On January 24, 1944 Damovski wrote: “The conditions created by World War II for the liberation movements in all of occupied Europe including the Balkans have opened new roads for the self-determination of all people. Macedonians are no exception. Macedonians have spilled blood in the 1903 Ilinden Uprising and are now fighting, spilling blood and making sacrifices to gain their freedom from the Fascists. Our friends in Vardar Macedonia are going in the right direction…”
“The Macedonians in Lerin and Kostur Regions represent the majority of the population (70%) and are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Greek people. When they become liberated, will they, according to the Atlantic agreements, have the rights to self declare? Will they be granted the promised rights?”
“The CPG promised the Macedonian people equal rights within the framework of a Peoples Republic of Greece, the same way it promised the people of the Dodekanis and Cyprus. If the CPG is serious about delivering on those promises when will it then allow the Macedonian people to freely express their ethnic culture? When will it let the Macedonians fight for their own ideals and for composing something unique to show that they are truly Macedonians? Is the CPG really afraid of being criticized by the chauvinist elements? If so, how then does it propose to form “national unity” and not receive any criticism? Does the CPG truly understand the Macedonian question? Because if it doesn’t it better learn it fast and start facing reality and make the right decision…”
One by one the CPG ordered all regional MNLF(G) wards to close down and all fighters to disband and join the ranks of NLAG. This however was not what the Macedonians wanted and some began to show dissatisfaction.
In May 1944 a large group of Macedonian fighters and activists lead by Naum Pejov, separated themselves from NLAG in a symbolic protest against the dismantling of the MNLF(G). Ilija Dimovski – Gotse too was suspended from duty because he was in support of this separation. Similar events also took place in Lerin Region where a group of Macedonian fighters lead by Gjorgij Turundzhov fled NLAG. Another group from Voden Region also fled but their leader Vangel Ajanov, who insisted on forming Macedonian detachments, was caught, put in jail and taken away to Mount Pajak. Pursued by Greek communist forces most of these renegade groups crossed over the Yugoslav border and fled into the Republic of Macedonia.
These acts of protest demonstrated by the Macedonians were neither forgiven nor forgotten by the CPG-GNLF-NLAG leaderships. The Greek communists immediately issued orders to hunt down, capture and punish these renegades. Captured and jailed were Lazo Damovski, Paskal Mitrevski and Lazo Poplazov from Kostur region. In a disgraceful manner killed at Kajmakchalan were Macedonian ward leaders Pando Dzhikov, Dimitar Leskov from Ostrov Region, ten people from the village Chegan and three more from the village Rusilovo.
The CPG made no effort to explain why these people were killed or to justify its action or to take responsibility for its part in the destruction of the MNLF(G) which propagated these demonstrations in the first place. Instead it took the easy way out and accused these people of subversion and of creating “division” among the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia by allegedly spreading “autonomous ideas” to the population. In other words the CPG lied its way out by accusing the Macedonians of wanting to split away from Greece. Greeks have this inherent and primordial fear that the Macedonians one day will take away their precious part of Macedonia. I wonder why?
After the fleeing fighters from Greek occupied Macedonia crossed over to the Republic of Macedonia they joined the resistance movement there. The CPG however was not at all pleased with their action and demanded that they be immediately sent back to Greece. While the fighters explained their reasons for leaving, the CPG insisted that they were “deserters” and needed to be sent back so that “an example” could be made of them. Without bothering to explain the underlying reasons why these fighters fled Greece the CPG took their case to the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and adamantly insisted that the fighters be immediately returned. The CPY however did not give in to the CPG’s demands and used this opportunity to put pressure on the CPG to deliver on its promises to the Macedonian people. Further, the CPY recommended that if the CPG wanted its fighters back it would have to allow them to form their own Macedonian military units in Voden, Lerin and Kostur regions.
Here is what Koliopoulos had to say about this: “A contemporary Partisan view adds another side to the issue. 'The friction between our bands and the Greek Antartes in the region of Kastoria and Florina,' Tempo and Ortche wrote in one of their reports to the Partisan GHQ in August 1944, 'has been caused by the Greek Antartes, when they moved into the region and started pressing Macedonians into their units. The Macedonians, according to their leaders, maintained that they were prepared to fight the Germans, but that they waited for their own units to be formed so as to enlist in them. The Greeks did not approve [the formation of the units] and instead started oppressing the Macedonian people. The result was an exodus of the Macedonians in the direction of Monastir, where Michailov waited to press them into his own units and fight against the Greeks. Faced with this situation, our political commissars let the fugitives, after consulting Radosavljevich, form their own units in the Florina-Monastir area of operations. Some of our commissars then started spreading the idea that the Macedonians could enlist in our army and that service with us would be as if they were serving in the Greek army, since both we and the Greeks are fighting against the fascist conquerors. At this point the Macedonians started enlisting in our army en masse, and the Greeks intensified their pressure on the Macedonians. The commanders of the Antartes issued orders for the confiscation of the property of those who enlisted in our army, and this caused confusion. In the talks conducted by Radosavljevich, a member of the KKE (CPG) Macedonian Bureau said that it was preferable for the Macedonians to be on the side of the Germans than on our [the Yugoslav]. The Greeks in general appear to share this view. Our representatives pressed the Greeks to accept the formation of a Kastoria-Florina battalion, but they are opposed. We are convinced that the Greeks must somehow find a way to form such a battalion. If they don't, we'll have to form it ourselves, in which case we'll clash with the Greeks.'” (John S. Koliopouls. “Plundered Loyalties”. Pages 127-128)
Ortse Dobrivoje Radosavlejvich, mentioned above, wrote a letter to the Macedonian units from Greek occupied Macedonia, then serving in the Republic of Macedonia, which was read at a CPG regional conference. Among other things the letter said that time for discussions of whether or not to form Macedonian units or what symbols these units should be wearing, is over. The enemy is well aware of the situation with the Macedonian people and is using their dissatisfaction and mistrust to draw them into its ranks under the slogan “independent Macedonia”. The idea of an “independent Macedonia” was not a Macedonian creation but an enemy invention to draw the Macedonians on its side just like it is attempting to draw in the Romano-Vlachs from Pindos by promising them a Vlach state and the Shiptars with promises of creating a greater Albania.
The idea of creating a united and independent Macedonia was nothing new. It was contemplated by the Italians and supported by the Americans in 1919. Even Britain had agreed to create an independent Macedonian protectorate. Hitler too had toyed with the idea of an “independent Macedonia” with Solun as its capital. Here is what Walter Hagen had to say about that: “Hitler’s interest in Macedonia began in 1941. Then in 1943 he received a memo from his secret service drawing his attention to the benefits of forming an independent Macedonian state with Solun as its capital. Creating such a state would be loyal to Germany and through it Germany would have access to the Aegean waters. Such a state could have easily been created in 1943 but by 1944 it was too late. Germany worked through Vancho Mihailov who came to Macedonia to familiarize the people with this German idea but concluded that it was too late and by then very difficult to realize it.” (Hristo Andonovski “Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija”, Page 127)
Vancho Mihailov in his book “Macedonia - Switzerland of the Balkans” wrote that the Germans and the Bulgarians were considering creating an autonomous Macedonian state. Also from what we can gather from Kalchev’s and Dimchev’s propaganda Bulgaria, around the middle of June, also began to arm Macedonians bands in Voden Region for the purpose of creating an autonomous Macedonia. Again according to Bulgarian propaganda, the idea for the formation of the “Ohrana”, a Bulgarian sponsored military organization stationed in Voden and operating jointly with the Germans, was to arm Macedonian bands for the purpose of creating an “autonomous” Macedonian state. If the Macedonians truly wanted that, wouldn’t they have joined the Ohrana or cooperated with the Germans to achieve it?
Even after the Greek communists dismantled the MNLF(G) and upset the Macedonian population, the best the Ohrana could attract was 700 fighters. The majority of Macedonians judged the Ohrana by the unruly individuals it attracted who were viewed as no better than common criminals and who enjoyed terrorizing the population. One of the schools in Voden was converted to an Ohrana torture chamber to torture not the Fascist Greeks but the patriotic Macedonians and progressive Greeks. The following individuals were killed by the Ohrana in Voden; the pensioner major Atanasoglu, Siganidis, Georgios, Ipokratis, Aspalidis, the teacher Lazaros Vafiadis, Karavasilis, Vasilios, Nasko Pechinarov, Georgios Akritidis, Stavridis Kariofilis and others. The Ohrana didn’t just target individuals, it also targeted resistance organizations. Among the Macedonian organizations to successfully fight back against the Ohrana was the group of saboteurs from Voden. Members of that group included Hristo Kardalov, Aleko Tsrvenkata, Tushi Keramitchev, the brothers Gjasherev, Hristo Pochepov and Leonida Projov.
Whether coincidental or not, right after the Greek communists broke up the MNLF(G) some Macedonians did join the Ohrana but instead of offering them a diplomatic way out, the leadership of NLAG, proficient in well known Greek tactics, ordered the burning of the houses of those who had joined. This totally illogical act not only did not stop people from joining, it forced more people to arm themselves for their defense. Common sense however must have prevailed because the CPG decided that in order to stop the drift to the Ohrana the people needed a better alternative. The CPG did that by creating separate Macedonian units within the framework of NLAG. As a result, the regional council of the CPG for Macedonia ordered the formation of Macedonian units in Voden, Lerin and Kostur Regions. I just want to point out at this point that there may have been other reasons why the CPG decided to create Macedonian units. In its attempt to burn down the houses in the village Javorjani, NLAG was repelled several times by the armed group there and was unable to carry out its mission. This must have prompted the Greek communists to change tactics. It would have been disastrous for the communist Greeks to fight against the Macedonians so they no doubt reluctantly chose to again befriend them.
Even though the decision to form Macedonian units within NLAG appeared to be a done deal for the Macedonians there were disagreements among the Greek communists and the decision was not supported by everyone, especially after the Lebanon Conference.
The Greek resistance leadership signed an agreement on May 20th, 1944 in Lebanon to form a coalition government with other civilian parties from Greece which was unwelcome to the Macedonians. The agreement was viewed with suspicion because much of its content was insulting and demeaning to the Macedonian people. The agreement called for disarming the Macedonian people and was interpreted as a means to destroy the MNLF(G). The Lebanon agreement was the end result of the so called “national unity” with other Greek parties which the CPG so desperately desired to create.
In order to patch up relations with the Macedonians, a conference was held in the village Belkamen, Lerin Region on July 20th, 1944 which was attended by the Partisans active in Vicho and Western Kajmakchalan. One of the resolutions reached was the re-organization of the Partisan forces into three detachments. The first lead by Aetos was assigned to operate in Vicho, the second lead by Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was assigned to Bigla – Koreshtata and the third was ordered to go to Western Kajmakchalan. In August 1943 Hristo Kolentsev was appointed detachment commissar for Vicho, replacing Commissar Naum Shupurkovski – Leon who left for a new assignment.
The moment the Macedonians in Voden Region found out that the CPG had reached a decision to allow the formation of Macedonian detachments they began to work. Then on July 16, 1944 they announced the formation of the Macedonian Voden battalion at Kajmakchalan. The announcement was welcome news for the Macedonian youth who began to arrive in massive numbers to join as volunteers. The battalion was camped above the village Gorno Rodivo in Kajmakchalan and every day more than a dozen youths came from the local villages with a single desire, to be soldiers in the Macedonian army.
This kind of movement was unprecedented in the history of the region as youths poured in from the Meglen, Baovo and Pozhartsko Region villages. Besides arriving in large numbers most of them brought their own arms and ammunition.
As soon as the Macedonians in Voden organized they addressed the Macedonian people with the following proclamation written in the Macedonian language:
“Brothers, wake up and understand that this struggle in not a struggle between Greeks and Bulgarians, it is not a fight between Bulgarians and Serbians here in the Balkans, it is a fight everywhere between the people and Fascism. United with the Red army all the people everywhere are locked in a war of life and death against the tyrannical Fascists. As long as German Fascism is strong and until Italian Fascism is still alive, the forces of the people here in the Balkans will fight against them. Until the Fascist hordes are destroyed at the front, the German fascists here will continue to attract Macedonian youths to their camp through the lies of their servant Fascist dogs Kalchev, Dimchev and others like them.
Our Macedonian peoples’ army along with the Greek peoples’ army are now fighting together against a common foe the German and Greek fascists and against out boys who have been lied to.
The Greek fascists, the Greek royalists; we know what they are fighting for… And our boys who have been lied to by Kalchev, Dimchev and others, united with the Greek gendarmes under German fascism are fighting not for Macedonia but for the Fascists against the Macedonian peoples’ army, and against the Macedonian people.
Macedonia people!
Our way is not with the fascists. Only together with the Greek people here and with the other progressive people can we gain life fit for humans and lasting peace.
Know that Fascism will soon die…The Italian people rose against it. The Romanian people did the same. The Czechoslovakian, the French, the Fin and the Bulgarian people did the same…
Sons of Macedonia!
Come forth and join the ranks of the Macedonian army against fascism. Unite with the Macedonian peoples’ army; with the Greek people, against the tyrannical fascists against the Greek fascists and against all fascists.” (Hristo Andonovski “Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija”, Pages 129-130)
Within a few days of distributing this publication the first Cheta was created with Petar Tanirov as its commander and Parikli Jovchev as its commissar. As soon as the Cheta was put together it was dispatched on missions to battle German and Greek Fascist bands in Enidzhe Vardar, Kria Vrisi (Plasnichevo) in Solun Region and with other bands in Kukush Region. The Cheta proved itself in combat showing exemplary heroism and self reliance.
With the formation of the Macedonian Cheta in Voden Region, many Macedonians who had joined the Ohrana felt they had made a mistake. To rectify the problem, Dimchev, the Voden Ohrana commander, requested permission for his unit to join the Partisans. But before anything could be done, Dzhodzho, the Partisan Cheta commander, called for a meeting. In August 1944 a meeting was organized in the village Teovo, Voden Region, where Dimchev and Dzhodzho met and had discussions. While Dimchev insisted that his unit leave the city of Voden fully armed with light arms and remain intact under his leadership, Dzhodzho spelled out his demands as follows:
All Macedonians who had joined the Ohrana and felt they had made a mistake in joining were to quit the Ohrana and join the Partisan army fully armed. If they were willing to voluntarily fight against the occupier they would be pardoned. It was also clearly stressed that those who had committed crimes would be severely punished. Upon accepting these conditions, the Ohrana unit would be disarmed and the arms and ammunition would be given to the Macedonian battalion; this would weaken the enemy’s strength and create the right conditions to free the city.
Having heard Dzhodzho’s demands, Dimchev would agree only if his entire unit remained intact and separate but was willing to share joint command. This condition however was unacceptable to Dzhodzho. Dzhodzho argued that that would not only compromise his position with his Greek partners, but would place his own Partisans in a precarious position. The Partisan battalion had enough arms consisting of old and defective rifles to only arm a single Cheta while the Ohrana unit had new and modern arms. If there was any sort of disagreement the Macedonian battalion would have found itself in a critical situation.
This meeting unfortunately was monitored by the German Gestapo which took strong measures to stop further contact between the two groups and to liquidate this branch of the Ohrana. But in spite of all enemy efforts, many Macedonians fled the Ohrana and joined the Macedonian Partisans. Those who were guilty of having committed crimes were certainly punished but the rest who were simply victims of enemy propaganda fought against the occupied with honour and some even lost their lives.
On August 2nd, 1944 in the village Pozdivishcha, Kostur Region, the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian Battalion was formed. This was due to the persistent demands from the Macedonian people in Lerin and Kostur Regions to have their own army and their need to have more involvement in NLAG matters.
There were many preliminary and significant conditions imposed on the Battalion’s formation by the Greek side, mainly due to the Lebanon Agreement which needed to be ironed out.
In view of the announcement made that another all Macedonian battalion was going to be formed, some communist Greeks were nervous. Objections, especially in Kostur Region, became even more electrified by the attitude of Andonis Andonopoulos – Periklis, secretary of the regional committee of the CPG, during a party meeting in the village Dmbeni when he said: “The Macedonians as a minority will live in socialism, in northern Greece”. In other words Greece was not ready or not willing to discuss the Macedonian question and he was more that happy to promote the status quo but under a Socialist system. This was unacceptable to the Macedonians as voiced by one Macedonian present at that meeting who challenged the secretary: “We Macedonians want our national freedom now and we can get it…” In other words we want our full rights now and are fully capable of fighting for them.
Comments such as the above however only created mistrust between the CPG and the Macedonians. This mistrust manifested itself in significantly lowering the induction of Macedonian volunteers into the ranks of NLAG and other Greek political and military organizations. It also prompted many Macedonians already serving to desert. As mentioned earlier, Ilija Dimovski – Gotse at that time was in Gramos, suspended from duty and very much disappointed in what was happening.
In Greece, particularly in Greek occupied Macedonia, a mass movement was forming in protest against the Lebanon Agreement. Under pressure from the people, the central committee and leadership of the CPG took measures to defuse the situation by canceling the agreement and re-orienting itself towards the Macedonian Liberation Army in Yugoslavia.
Opting out of the Lebanon agreement was an indication, at least on the surface, that the Greek Communist leadership was ready to accept revolutionary ideals and tactics. In this endeavour the CPG leadership turned its attention to forming what appeared to be a meaningful and trusting relationship with the Macedonians. This however, was not done to give Macedonians more rights but to engage them in the Greek communist struggle and to fulfill Greek communist ambitions.
As a result of this new relationship, among other things, the Kostur Region Battalion at Karaorman was ordered to return to Kostur Region and continue its activities in its mobilization of new recruits from the ranks of the Macedonian people and to form new Macedonian detachments, battalions and brigades which were to be commanded by Macedonians under the leadership of NLAG.
As was decided and agreed upon, the all Macedonian Kostur Region Battalion, as mentioned earlier, arrived on August 2nd, 1944 at the village Pozdivishcha where its formation was finally formalized.
The task of forming the Macedonian battalion and commanding the NLAG division in the region was entrusted to Ilija Dimovski – Gotse, who at that time was in Gramos fighting the largest Germans offensive of 1944.
On August 2nd, 1944 Ilija Dimovski – Gotse along with 30 more Macedonian fighters arrived in Pozdivishcha and took command of the battalion as ordered.
August 2nd, the day of the Ilinden Uprising, a significant day for the Macedonian people was chosen to announce the creation of a Macedonian battalion, an all Macedonian battalion with all Macedonian national characteristics.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, a meeting was also held on August 2nd, in the village Pozdivishcha, where, according to the agenda, discussions between the Greek National Liberation Front’s (GNLF) representative Renos Mihaleas and the representative of Republic of Macedonia Petre Bogdanov – Kochko took place. Among the many who attended and spoke was Naum Pejov, who had returned from the Republic of Macedonia and was pressured to publicly admit that he was in error when he gave his support for the Macedonian separation from NLAG.
According to a Greek Party document here is what was said: “Renos sought to convince Kochko and Pejov, especially Pejov, to admit to having made an error but Pejov refused to and spoke against the CPG reaffirming his position for the need for self-government and the reunification of the Macedonian people.” Under this kind of pressure or for some other reasons Renos replied: “You are entitled to Macedonia up to Solun. We will take the Dodecanese and Cyprus. Form you own brigade, division and your Macedonian army. Appoint Ilija Dimovski – Gotse commander of the division…”
In another similar party document it says that during the gathering Lambro Pejov also spoke and was very critical of the GNLF-NLAG politics and asked that Lazo Damovski – Oshenski be released from prison who, as mentioned earlier, at the time was locked-up by NLAG being accused for participating in the above mentioned Macedonian separation.
According to statements made by Renos Mihaleas, it was possible to form a Macedonian brigade depending on the available number of fighters. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse, organized four Cheti (bands) from available fighters from the unit that returned from Karaorman, the fighters he acquired from Gramos, other fighters who joined the Karaorman unit after its return and from the inflow of new recruits which would have constituted the new battalions. Unfortunately the NLAG leadership would not allow it. The unit which was proposed to be formed, owing to the number of fighters, constituted the Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian battalion named “Gotse” after its commander Ilija Dimovski – Gotse.
Prior to the objections it was recommended that Ilija Dimovski – Gotse take command of the battalion and Hristo Kolentsev be made commissar. Afterwards everything changed. On September 10th, 1944 under orders from NLAG regiment 28, Kozmas Spatos – Amintas, a Greek of Albanian descent, was appointed commander of the battalion. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was reduced to captain and Hristo Kolentsiev was reduced to party secretary of the battalion.
Afraid that the Macedonians would develop their own military capabilities, and perhaps slip out of its control, the CPG leadership made every effort to prevent the renewed Macedonian movement from expanding but for the time the Greek communist tricks did not work.
Stringos, secretary of the CPG Macedonian bureau, questioned Renos’s rational for allowing the formation of a battalion when orders were given to only form one Cheta (unit) in Kostur Region and Karadzhova. Renos replied with a question: “And what will have been the damages if divisions were to be formed?” To which Stringos replied: “You are naïve. If the Macedonians had divisions, then they would not be found in Macedonia…” (Quote taken from a letter from Renos to Dobrivoje Radosavlejvich Ortse. The original text can be found in the Yugoslav military historical archives).
Orders, commands, reports and other communications in the battalion were carried out in the Macedonian language. A few days after the Battalion’s formation, Renos Mihaleos contacted Ilija Dimovski – Gotse and informed him that a GNLF non communist officer from the NLAG regiment 28 was going to be paying him a visit to do an inspection. Renos told Ilija that all communications in the battalion must be done in the Greek language.
Perturbed by such a request, Ilija replied: “We are not all communists either. We are patriotic Macedonians and like you and the GNLF who are fighting for your national rights, we too are fighting for ours and for our freedom.”
Immediately after the “Gotse” and the “Voden” battalions were formed a massive number of Macedonians began to join the ranks of the Partisans. With these kinds of numbers, it was possible to not only form brigades but divisions. When the Gotse battalion was formed it had 400 fighters. About a month later (September 16) it was numbering 650 and by October 10th, 1944 the number jumped to 1,500. This was unprecedented for the resistance movement in Greek occupied Macedonia especially since the CPG had entered into the unfavorable Lebanon agreement with the enemy the “right”.
For the sake of “national unity” a “right wing” government was appointed to lead Greece under the leadership of Georgios Papandreu. Papandreu’s “right wing” Greek government unfortunately did not recognize the existence of the Macedonian people in Greece. If a government did not even recognize the existence of Macedonians then how was it going to tolerate armed Macedonian units, Macedonian soldiers and Macedonian institutions? The CPG leadership, in order to placate the government, again began to suppress the Macedonian people by taking rigorous action to take away their rights and stop the expansion of their forces.
One of the measures undertaken was to stop Macedonians from joining the ranks of the Partisans. In a communiqués to the Central committee of the Macedonian Bureau on September 12, 1944, the CPG, among other things said: “Let it be noted that our side recons it’s time to stop recruiting fighters from the ranks of the Slavo-Macedonians”.
Even a reactionary historian was prompted to write: “The joining of the Slavophones in the army was massive and 300 of them traveled to Langa, the camp of the 28th brigade of ELAS [NLAG], to be armed. But the commander of the brigade Lazaridis Hr. by his own initiative armed only 50, who sent them to the units of the 28th foot brigade, and to the others he gave temporary dismissal…” (“Misteriata na Gotse”, odlumka 169 vo v. “Elinikos Vordas” od VII.1955).
Immediately after the battalion was formed it was sent on a mission to disarm the villages that were armed by the enemy.
In only a span of fifteen days the villages Prekopana, Chereshnitsa and others were disarmed collecting around 200 rifles, a few heavy machine guns and ammunition.
The attack on the city of Lerin too was successful. The Partisans torched a fuel depot, destroyed an ammunition depot and broke up an enemy tax collection ring. Bitter battles broke out through the streets in arm to arm combat killing eighty German soldiers.
Since its formation on August 2nd, 1944 the Macedonian battalion had destroyed ten German trucks, had taken fifteen German prisoners and freed one-hundred and ten Armenian captives. In its few missions in August 1944 the Macedonian battalion had taken out of action 220 Germans in total. The battalion relentlessly pursued the occupier near the Bigla Mount territory destroying his communications and damaging his transportation lines. Sixty German soldiers were killed in a single battle in Kamenik village on the Lerin-Bitola road. But with all its successes the Greek communists were never satisfied and found something to criticize the Macedonians about. This no doubt brought back old suspicions questioning whether the Greek communist “good intentions” towards the Macedonians were genuine or another ruse to use them to do their dirty work?
Sources:
Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971.
Pejov, Naum. Makedontsite i Gragjanskata vojna vo Grtsija. Skopje: Institut za Natsionalna Istorija, 1968.
1939 – 1949
Part 9 – Break up of the Macedonian National Liberation Front
By Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com
October 2008
By now it was obvious to every Macedonian that the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was not going to tolerate a strong all Macedonian organization inside Greece. The CPG had never approved of the MNLF(G) and now that the MNLF(G) was getting stronger and more popular with the Macedonian people, the CPG felt it had to do something. Although it needed the Macedonian people to fight on its side, the CPG at this time was also trying to warm up to the Greek bourgeois parties. Unfortunately none of the Greek bourgeois parties approved of the CPG’s recognition of the Macedonian ethnicity so the CPG was in a dilemma. It had two choices; placate the bourgeois parties by disassociating itself from the Macedonians or forget about creating unity and humour the Macedonians for as long as they were needed.
The CPG desperately and at all costs wanted “national unity” with the other Greek parties and was willing to do anything, even sacrifice the MNLF(G) if necessary.
The CPG chose “unity” over the Macedonians and did not only disassociate itself from them, it took action to dismantle the MNLF(G) and effectively took away all the rights the Macedonians had recently earned including the right to form their own organizations, the right to form peoples’ liberation councils and the right to have Macedonian schools.
During the MNLF(G) regional conference held on April 12, 1944 Greek representatives of the CPG and GNLF were very pleased with the MNLF(G)’s recent successes but a few days later the same Greeks suddenly and unexpectedly denounced the MNLF(G) calling it a redundant and useless organization demanding that it be dismantled and its fighters be merged with the GNLF. They argued that “two organizations with the same aims were not needed” and “national unity could not possibly be achieved by having redundant organizations”.
In the beginning of May 1944, during a CPG conference held in the village Mogila, Kostur Region, a final decision was made to break up the MNLF(G). A similar decision was also made during a conference held in the village Lagen, Lerin Region and another one in the Macedonian ward in Voden.
Naturally and justifiably the Macedonian people found it hard to accept this especially since Macedonians created this organization through struggle and personal sacrifice.
The fact that the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia were having their own organizations, their own army, their own general headquarters and their recognized right to separate as an ethnic Macedonian identity made the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia feel like they were taking steps backwards. Besides being stripped of their right to be recognized as an ethnic Macedonian identity in Greece, these Macedonians began to lose everything they had worked for, even the rights they had achieved thus far. This was not only unacceptable, it was incomprehensible.
In addition to breaking up the MNLF(G)’s political body, the CPG-GNLF leadership also disbanded its fighters and forced them to join NLAG. This was not what Macedonians wanted and naturally created negative feelings towards the Greeks which did not go unnoticed by the Fascists and directly fueled the autonomist propaganda which began to work hard to attract these disgruntled Macedonians who found themselves robbed not only of their rights but of also of their dignity.
The kind of politics the CPG was conducting was neither new nor unknown to the Macedonian leadership. As early as January 1944 Lazo Damovski, the secretary of the regional council of the MNLF(G) for Kostur Region, addressed the CPG council for Macedonia and warned of this. On January 24, 1944 Damovski wrote: “The conditions created by World War II for the liberation movements in all of occupied Europe including the Balkans have opened new roads for the self-determination of all people. Macedonians are no exception. Macedonians have spilled blood in the 1903 Ilinden Uprising and are now fighting, spilling blood and making sacrifices to gain their freedom from the Fascists. Our friends in Vardar Macedonia are going in the right direction…”
“The Macedonians in Lerin and Kostur Regions represent the majority of the population (70%) and are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Greek people. When they become liberated, will they, according to the Atlantic agreements, have the rights to self declare? Will they be granted the promised rights?”
“The CPG promised the Macedonian people equal rights within the framework of a Peoples Republic of Greece, the same way it promised the people of the Dodekanis and Cyprus. If the CPG is serious about delivering on those promises when will it then allow the Macedonian people to freely express their ethnic culture? When will it let the Macedonians fight for their own ideals and for composing something unique to show that they are truly Macedonians? Is the CPG really afraid of being criticized by the chauvinist elements? If so, how then does it propose to form “national unity” and not receive any criticism? Does the CPG truly understand the Macedonian question? Because if it doesn’t it better learn it fast and start facing reality and make the right decision…”
One by one the CPG ordered all regional MNLF(G) wards to close down and all fighters to disband and join the ranks of NLAG. This however was not what the Macedonians wanted and some began to show dissatisfaction.
In May 1944 a large group of Macedonian fighters and activists lead by Naum Pejov, separated themselves from NLAG in a symbolic protest against the dismantling of the MNLF(G). Ilija Dimovski – Gotse too was suspended from duty because he was in support of this separation. Similar events also took place in Lerin Region where a group of Macedonian fighters lead by Gjorgij Turundzhov fled NLAG. Another group from Voden Region also fled but their leader Vangel Ajanov, who insisted on forming Macedonian detachments, was caught, put in jail and taken away to Mount Pajak. Pursued by Greek communist forces most of these renegade groups crossed over the Yugoslav border and fled into the Republic of Macedonia.
These acts of protest demonstrated by the Macedonians were neither forgiven nor forgotten by the CPG-GNLF-NLAG leaderships. The Greek communists immediately issued orders to hunt down, capture and punish these renegades. Captured and jailed were Lazo Damovski, Paskal Mitrevski and Lazo Poplazov from Kostur region. In a disgraceful manner killed at Kajmakchalan were Macedonian ward leaders Pando Dzhikov, Dimitar Leskov from Ostrov Region, ten people from the village Chegan and three more from the village Rusilovo.
The CPG made no effort to explain why these people were killed or to justify its action or to take responsibility for its part in the destruction of the MNLF(G) which propagated these demonstrations in the first place. Instead it took the easy way out and accused these people of subversion and of creating “division” among the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia by allegedly spreading “autonomous ideas” to the population. In other words the CPG lied its way out by accusing the Macedonians of wanting to split away from Greece. Greeks have this inherent and primordial fear that the Macedonians one day will take away their precious part of Macedonia. I wonder why?
After the fleeing fighters from Greek occupied Macedonia crossed over to the Republic of Macedonia they joined the resistance movement there. The CPG however was not at all pleased with their action and demanded that they be immediately sent back to Greece. While the fighters explained their reasons for leaving, the CPG insisted that they were “deserters” and needed to be sent back so that “an example” could be made of them. Without bothering to explain the underlying reasons why these fighters fled Greece the CPG took their case to the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and adamantly insisted that the fighters be immediately returned. The CPY however did not give in to the CPG’s demands and used this opportunity to put pressure on the CPG to deliver on its promises to the Macedonian people. Further, the CPY recommended that if the CPG wanted its fighters back it would have to allow them to form their own Macedonian military units in Voden, Lerin and Kostur regions.
Here is what Koliopoulos had to say about this: “A contemporary Partisan view adds another side to the issue. 'The friction between our bands and the Greek Antartes in the region of Kastoria and Florina,' Tempo and Ortche wrote in one of their reports to the Partisan GHQ in August 1944, 'has been caused by the Greek Antartes, when they moved into the region and started pressing Macedonians into their units. The Macedonians, according to their leaders, maintained that they were prepared to fight the Germans, but that they waited for their own units to be formed so as to enlist in them. The Greeks did not approve [the formation of the units] and instead started oppressing the Macedonian people. The result was an exodus of the Macedonians in the direction of Monastir, where Michailov waited to press them into his own units and fight against the Greeks. Faced with this situation, our political commissars let the fugitives, after consulting Radosavljevich, form their own units in the Florina-Monastir area of operations. Some of our commissars then started spreading the idea that the Macedonians could enlist in our army and that service with us would be as if they were serving in the Greek army, since both we and the Greeks are fighting against the fascist conquerors. At this point the Macedonians started enlisting in our army en masse, and the Greeks intensified their pressure on the Macedonians. The commanders of the Antartes issued orders for the confiscation of the property of those who enlisted in our army, and this caused confusion. In the talks conducted by Radosavljevich, a member of the KKE (CPG) Macedonian Bureau said that it was preferable for the Macedonians to be on the side of the Germans than on our [the Yugoslav]. The Greeks in general appear to share this view. Our representatives pressed the Greeks to accept the formation of a Kastoria-Florina battalion, but they are opposed. We are convinced that the Greeks must somehow find a way to form such a battalion. If they don't, we'll have to form it ourselves, in which case we'll clash with the Greeks.'” (John S. Koliopouls. “Plundered Loyalties”. Pages 127-128)
Ortse Dobrivoje Radosavlejvich, mentioned above, wrote a letter to the Macedonian units from Greek occupied Macedonia, then serving in the Republic of Macedonia, which was read at a CPG regional conference. Among other things the letter said that time for discussions of whether or not to form Macedonian units or what symbols these units should be wearing, is over. The enemy is well aware of the situation with the Macedonian people and is using their dissatisfaction and mistrust to draw them into its ranks under the slogan “independent Macedonia”. The idea of an “independent Macedonia” was not a Macedonian creation but an enemy invention to draw the Macedonians on its side just like it is attempting to draw in the Romano-Vlachs from Pindos by promising them a Vlach state and the Shiptars with promises of creating a greater Albania.
The idea of creating a united and independent Macedonia was nothing new. It was contemplated by the Italians and supported by the Americans in 1919. Even Britain had agreed to create an independent Macedonian protectorate. Hitler too had toyed with the idea of an “independent Macedonia” with Solun as its capital. Here is what Walter Hagen had to say about that: “Hitler’s interest in Macedonia began in 1941. Then in 1943 he received a memo from his secret service drawing his attention to the benefits of forming an independent Macedonian state with Solun as its capital. Creating such a state would be loyal to Germany and through it Germany would have access to the Aegean waters. Such a state could have easily been created in 1943 but by 1944 it was too late. Germany worked through Vancho Mihailov who came to Macedonia to familiarize the people with this German idea but concluded that it was too late and by then very difficult to realize it.” (Hristo Andonovski “Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija”, Page 127)
Vancho Mihailov in his book “Macedonia - Switzerland of the Balkans” wrote that the Germans and the Bulgarians were considering creating an autonomous Macedonian state. Also from what we can gather from Kalchev’s and Dimchev’s propaganda Bulgaria, around the middle of June, also began to arm Macedonians bands in Voden Region for the purpose of creating an autonomous Macedonia. Again according to Bulgarian propaganda, the idea for the formation of the “Ohrana”, a Bulgarian sponsored military organization stationed in Voden and operating jointly with the Germans, was to arm Macedonian bands for the purpose of creating an “autonomous” Macedonian state. If the Macedonians truly wanted that, wouldn’t they have joined the Ohrana or cooperated with the Germans to achieve it?
Even after the Greek communists dismantled the MNLF(G) and upset the Macedonian population, the best the Ohrana could attract was 700 fighters. The majority of Macedonians judged the Ohrana by the unruly individuals it attracted who were viewed as no better than common criminals and who enjoyed terrorizing the population. One of the schools in Voden was converted to an Ohrana torture chamber to torture not the Fascist Greeks but the patriotic Macedonians and progressive Greeks. The following individuals were killed by the Ohrana in Voden; the pensioner major Atanasoglu, Siganidis, Georgios, Ipokratis, Aspalidis, the teacher Lazaros Vafiadis, Karavasilis, Vasilios, Nasko Pechinarov, Georgios Akritidis, Stavridis Kariofilis and others. The Ohrana didn’t just target individuals, it also targeted resistance organizations. Among the Macedonian organizations to successfully fight back against the Ohrana was the group of saboteurs from Voden. Members of that group included Hristo Kardalov, Aleko Tsrvenkata, Tushi Keramitchev, the brothers Gjasherev, Hristo Pochepov and Leonida Projov.
Whether coincidental or not, right after the Greek communists broke up the MNLF(G) some Macedonians did join the Ohrana but instead of offering them a diplomatic way out, the leadership of NLAG, proficient in well known Greek tactics, ordered the burning of the houses of those who had joined. This totally illogical act not only did not stop people from joining, it forced more people to arm themselves for their defense. Common sense however must have prevailed because the CPG decided that in order to stop the drift to the Ohrana the people needed a better alternative. The CPG did that by creating separate Macedonian units within the framework of NLAG. As a result, the regional council of the CPG for Macedonia ordered the formation of Macedonian units in Voden, Lerin and Kostur Regions. I just want to point out at this point that there may have been other reasons why the CPG decided to create Macedonian units. In its attempt to burn down the houses in the village Javorjani, NLAG was repelled several times by the armed group there and was unable to carry out its mission. This must have prompted the Greek communists to change tactics. It would have been disastrous for the communist Greeks to fight against the Macedonians so they no doubt reluctantly chose to again befriend them.
Even though the decision to form Macedonian units within NLAG appeared to be a done deal for the Macedonians there were disagreements among the Greek communists and the decision was not supported by everyone, especially after the Lebanon Conference.
The Greek resistance leadership signed an agreement on May 20th, 1944 in Lebanon to form a coalition government with other civilian parties from Greece which was unwelcome to the Macedonians. The agreement was viewed with suspicion because much of its content was insulting and demeaning to the Macedonian people. The agreement called for disarming the Macedonian people and was interpreted as a means to destroy the MNLF(G). The Lebanon agreement was the end result of the so called “national unity” with other Greek parties which the CPG so desperately desired to create.
In order to patch up relations with the Macedonians, a conference was held in the village Belkamen, Lerin Region on July 20th, 1944 which was attended by the Partisans active in Vicho and Western Kajmakchalan. One of the resolutions reached was the re-organization of the Partisan forces into three detachments. The first lead by Aetos was assigned to operate in Vicho, the second lead by Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was assigned to Bigla – Koreshtata and the third was ordered to go to Western Kajmakchalan. In August 1943 Hristo Kolentsev was appointed detachment commissar for Vicho, replacing Commissar Naum Shupurkovski – Leon who left for a new assignment.
The moment the Macedonians in Voden Region found out that the CPG had reached a decision to allow the formation of Macedonian detachments they began to work. Then on July 16, 1944 they announced the formation of the Macedonian Voden battalion at Kajmakchalan. The announcement was welcome news for the Macedonian youth who began to arrive in massive numbers to join as volunteers. The battalion was camped above the village Gorno Rodivo in Kajmakchalan and every day more than a dozen youths came from the local villages with a single desire, to be soldiers in the Macedonian army.
This kind of movement was unprecedented in the history of the region as youths poured in from the Meglen, Baovo and Pozhartsko Region villages. Besides arriving in large numbers most of them brought their own arms and ammunition.
As soon as the Macedonians in Voden organized they addressed the Macedonian people with the following proclamation written in the Macedonian language:
“Brothers, wake up and understand that this struggle in not a struggle between Greeks and Bulgarians, it is not a fight between Bulgarians and Serbians here in the Balkans, it is a fight everywhere between the people and Fascism. United with the Red army all the people everywhere are locked in a war of life and death against the tyrannical Fascists. As long as German Fascism is strong and until Italian Fascism is still alive, the forces of the people here in the Balkans will fight against them. Until the Fascist hordes are destroyed at the front, the German fascists here will continue to attract Macedonian youths to their camp through the lies of their servant Fascist dogs Kalchev, Dimchev and others like them.
Our Macedonian peoples’ army along with the Greek peoples’ army are now fighting together against a common foe the German and Greek fascists and against out boys who have been lied to.
The Greek fascists, the Greek royalists; we know what they are fighting for… And our boys who have been lied to by Kalchev, Dimchev and others, united with the Greek gendarmes under German fascism are fighting not for Macedonia but for the Fascists against the Macedonian peoples’ army, and against the Macedonian people.
Macedonia people!
Our way is not with the fascists. Only together with the Greek people here and with the other progressive people can we gain life fit for humans and lasting peace.
Know that Fascism will soon die…The Italian people rose against it. The Romanian people did the same. The Czechoslovakian, the French, the Fin and the Bulgarian people did the same…
Sons of Macedonia!
Come forth and join the ranks of the Macedonian army against fascism. Unite with the Macedonian peoples’ army; with the Greek people, against the tyrannical fascists against the Greek fascists and against all fascists.” (Hristo Andonovski “Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija”, Pages 129-130)
Within a few days of distributing this publication the first Cheta was created with Petar Tanirov as its commander and Parikli Jovchev as its commissar. As soon as the Cheta was put together it was dispatched on missions to battle German and Greek Fascist bands in Enidzhe Vardar, Kria Vrisi (Plasnichevo) in Solun Region and with other bands in Kukush Region. The Cheta proved itself in combat showing exemplary heroism and self reliance.
With the formation of the Macedonian Cheta in Voden Region, many Macedonians who had joined the Ohrana felt they had made a mistake. To rectify the problem, Dimchev, the Voden Ohrana commander, requested permission for his unit to join the Partisans. But before anything could be done, Dzhodzho, the Partisan Cheta commander, called for a meeting. In August 1944 a meeting was organized in the village Teovo, Voden Region, where Dimchev and Dzhodzho met and had discussions. While Dimchev insisted that his unit leave the city of Voden fully armed with light arms and remain intact under his leadership, Dzhodzho spelled out his demands as follows:
All Macedonians who had joined the Ohrana and felt they had made a mistake in joining were to quit the Ohrana and join the Partisan army fully armed. If they were willing to voluntarily fight against the occupier they would be pardoned. It was also clearly stressed that those who had committed crimes would be severely punished. Upon accepting these conditions, the Ohrana unit would be disarmed and the arms and ammunition would be given to the Macedonian battalion; this would weaken the enemy’s strength and create the right conditions to free the city.
Having heard Dzhodzho’s demands, Dimchev would agree only if his entire unit remained intact and separate but was willing to share joint command. This condition however was unacceptable to Dzhodzho. Dzhodzho argued that that would not only compromise his position with his Greek partners, but would place his own Partisans in a precarious position. The Partisan battalion had enough arms consisting of old and defective rifles to only arm a single Cheta while the Ohrana unit had new and modern arms. If there was any sort of disagreement the Macedonian battalion would have found itself in a critical situation.
This meeting unfortunately was monitored by the German Gestapo which took strong measures to stop further contact between the two groups and to liquidate this branch of the Ohrana. But in spite of all enemy efforts, many Macedonians fled the Ohrana and joined the Macedonian Partisans. Those who were guilty of having committed crimes were certainly punished but the rest who were simply victims of enemy propaganda fought against the occupied with honour and some even lost their lives.
On August 2nd, 1944 in the village Pozdivishcha, Kostur Region, the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian Battalion was formed. This was due to the persistent demands from the Macedonian people in Lerin and Kostur Regions to have their own army and their need to have more involvement in NLAG matters.
There were many preliminary and significant conditions imposed on the Battalion’s formation by the Greek side, mainly due to the Lebanon Agreement which needed to be ironed out.
In view of the announcement made that another all Macedonian battalion was going to be formed, some communist Greeks were nervous. Objections, especially in Kostur Region, became even more electrified by the attitude of Andonis Andonopoulos – Periklis, secretary of the regional committee of the CPG, during a party meeting in the village Dmbeni when he said: “The Macedonians as a minority will live in socialism, in northern Greece”. In other words Greece was not ready or not willing to discuss the Macedonian question and he was more that happy to promote the status quo but under a Socialist system. This was unacceptable to the Macedonians as voiced by one Macedonian present at that meeting who challenged the secretary: “We Macedonians want our national freedom now and we can get it…” In other words we want our full rights now and are fully capable of fighting for them.
Comments such as the above however only created mistrust between the CPG and the Macedonians. This mistrust manifested itself in significantly lowering the induction of Macedonian volunteers into the ranks of NLAG and other Greek political and military organizations. It also prompted many Macedonians already serving to desert. As mentioned earlier, Ilija Dimovski – Gotse at that time was in Gramos, suspended from duty and very much disappointed in what was happening.
In Greece, particularly in Greek occupied Macedonia, a mass movement was forming in protest against the Lebanon Agreement. Under pressure from the people, the central committee and leadership of the CPG took measures to defuse the situation by canceling the agreement and re-orienting itself towards the Macedonian Liberation Army in Yugoslavia.
Opting out of the Lebanon agreement was an indication, at least on the surface, that the Greek Communist leadership was ready to accept revolutionary ideals and tactics. In this endeavour the CPG leadership turned its attention to forming what appeared to be a meaningful and trusting relationship with the Macedonians. This however, was not done to give Macedonians more rights but to engage them in the Greek communist struggle and to fulfill Greek communist ambitions.
As a result of this new relationship, among other things, the Kostur Region Battalion at Karaorman was ordered to return to Kostur Region and continue its activities in its mobilization of new recruits from the ranks of the Macedonian people and to form new Macedonian detachments, battalions and brigades which were to be commanded by Macedonians under the leadership of NLAG.
As was decided and agreed upon, the all Macedonian Kostur Region Battalion, as mentioned earlier, arrived on August 2nd, 1944 at the village Pozdivishcha where its formation was finally formalized.
The task of forming the Macedonian battalion and commanding the NLAG division in the region was entrusted to Ilija Dimovski – Gotse, who at that time was in Gramos fighting the largest Germans offensive of 1944.
On August 2nd, 1944 Ilija Dimovski – Gotse along with 30 more Macedonian fighters arrived in Pozdivishcha and took command of the battalion as ordered.
August 2nd, the day of the Ilinden Uprising, a significant day for the Macedonian people was chosen to announce the creation of a Macedonian battalion, an all Macedonian battalion with all Macedonian national characteristics.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, a meeting was also held on August 2nd, in the village Pozdivishcha, where, according to the agenda, discussions between the Greek National Liberation Front’s (GNLF) representative Renos Mihaleas and the representative of Republic of Macedonia Petre Bogdanov – Kochko took place. Among the many who attended and spoke was Naum Pejov, who had returned from the Republic of Macedonia and was pressured to publicly admit that he was in error when he gave his support for the Macedonian separation from NLAG.
According to a Greek Party document here is what was said: “Renos sought to convince Kochko and Pejov, especially Pejov, to admit to having made an error but Pejov refused to and spoke against the CPG reaffirming his position for the need for self-government and the reunification of the Macedonian people.” Under this kind of pressure or for some other reasons Renos replied: “You are entitled to Macedonia up to Solun. We will take the Dodecanese and Cyprus. Form you own brigade, division and your Macedonian army. Appoint Ilija Dimovski – Gotse commander of the division…”
In another similar party document it says that during the gathering Lambro Pejov also spoke and was very critical of the GNLF-NLAG politics and asked that Lazo Damovski – Oshenski be released from prison who, as mentioned earlier, at the time was locked-up by NLAG being accused for participating in the above mentioned Macedonian separation.
According to statements made by Renos Mihaleas, it was possible to form a Macedonian brigade depending on the available number of fighters. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse, organized four Cheti (bands) from available fighters from the unit that returned from Karaorman, the fighters he acquired from Gramos, other fighters who joined the Karaorman unit after its return and from the inflow of new recruits which would have constituted the new battalions. Unfortunately the NLAG leadership would not allow it. The unit which was proposed to be formed, owing to the number of fighters, constituted the Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian battalion named “Gotse” after its commander Ilija Dimovski – Gotse.
Prior to the objections it was recommended that Ilija Dimovski – Gotse take command of the battalion and Hristo Kolentsev be made commissar. Afterwards everything changed. On September 10th, 1944 under orders from NLAG regiment 28, Kozmas Spatos – Amintas, a Greek of Albanian descent, was appointed commander of the battalion. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was reduced to captain and Hristo Kolentsiev was reduced to party secretary of the battalion.
Afraid that the Macedonians would develop their own military capabilities, and perhaps slip out of its control, the CPG leadership made every effort to prevent the renewed Macedonian movement from expanding but for the time the Greek communist tricks did not work.
Stringos, secretary of the CPG Macedonian bureau, questioned Renos’s rational for allowing the formation of a battalion when orders were given to only form one Cheta (unit) in Kostur Region and Karadzhova. Renos replied with a question: “And what will have been the damages if divisions were to be formed?” To which Stringos replied: “You are naïve. If the Macedonians had divisions, then they would not be found in Macedonia…” (Quote taken from a letter from Renos to Dobrivoje Radosavlejvich Ortse. The original text can be found in the Yugoslav military historical archives).
Orders, commands, reports and other communications in the battalion were carried out in the Macedonian language. A few days after the Battalion’s formation, Renos Mihaleos contacted Ilija Dimovski – Gotse and informed him that a GNLF non communist officer from the NLAG regiment 28 was going to be paying him a visit to do an inspection. Renos told Ilija that all communications in the battalion must be done in the Greek language.
Perturbed by such a request, Ilija replied: “We are not all communists either. We are patriotic Macedonians and like you and the GNLF who are fighting for your national rights, we too are fighting for ours and for our freedom.”
Immediately after the “Gotse” and the “Voden” battalions were formed a massive number of Macedonians began to join the ranks of the Partisans. With these kinds of numbers, it was possible to not only form brigades but divisions. When the Gotse battalion was formed it had 400 fighters. About a month later (September 16) it was numbering 650 and by October 10th, 1944 the number jumped to 1,500. This was unprecedented for the resistance movement in Greek occupied Macedonia especially since the CPG had entered into the unfavorable Lebanon agreement with the enemy the “right”.
For the sake of “national unity” a “right wing” government was appointed to lead Greece under the leadership of Georgios Papandreu. Papandreu’s “right wing” Greek government unfortunately did not recognize the existence of the Macedonian people in Greece. If a government did not even recognize the existence of Macedonians then how was it going to tolerate armed Macedonian units, Macedonian soldiers and Macedonian institutions? The CPG leadership, in order to placate the government, again began to suppress the Macedonian people by taking rigorous action to take away their rights and stop the expansion of their forces.
One of the measures undertaken was to stop Macedonians from joining the ranks of the Partisans. In a communiqués to the Central committee of the Macedonian Bureau on September 12, 1944, the CPG, among other things said: “Let it be noted that our side recons it’s time to stop recruiting fighters from the ranks of the Slavo-Macedonians”.
Even a reactionary historian was prompted to write: “The joining of the Slavophones in the army was massive and 300 of them traveled to Langa, the camp of the 28th brigade of ELAS [NLAG], to be armed. But the commander of the brigade Lazaridis Hr. by his own initiative armed only 50, who sent them to the units of the 28th foot brigade, and to the others he gave temporary dismissal…” (“Misteriata na Gotse”, odlumka 169 vo v. “Elinikos Vordas” od VII.1955).
Immediately after the battalion was formed it was sent on a mission to disarm the villages that were armed by the enemy.
In only a span of fifteen days the villages Prekopana, Chereshnitsa and others were disarmed collecting around 200 rifles, a few heavy machine guns and ammunition.
The attack on the city of Lerin too was successful. The Partisans torched a fuel depot, destroyed an ammunition depot and broke up an enemy tax collection ring. Bitter battles broke out through the streets in arm to arm combat killing eighty German soldiers.
Since its formation on August 2nd, 1944 the Macedonian battalion had destroyed ten German trucks, had taken fifteen German prisoners and freed one-hundred and ten Armenian captives. In its few missions in August 1944 the Macedonian battalion had taken out of action 220 Germans in total. The battalion relentlessly pursued the occupier near the Bigla Mount territory destroying his communications and damaging his transportation lines. Sixty German soldiers were killed in a single battle in Kamenik village on the Lerin-Bitola road. But with all its successes the Greek communists were never satisfied and found something to criticize the Macedonians about. This no doubt brought back old suspicions questioning whether the Greek communist “good intentions” towards the Macedonians were genuine or another ruse to use them to do their dirty work?
Sources:
Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971.
Pejov, Naum. Makedontsite i Gragjanskata vojna vo Grtsija. Skopje: Institut za Natsionalna Istorija, 1968.
1 comment:
These Macedonian American kids have a great YouTube Video.
Gangnum Style Basketball Trick Shots Remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACh0TOOZMrY&list=UUaWCv4AVv7we2Z2iBG9U7nw&index=1&feature=plcp
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