BANITSA—AN ADMINISTRATIVE AND TRADE CENTRE

BANITSA—AN ADMINISTRATIVE AND TRADE CENTRE

A Free Standing and Political Centre

Banitsa, an ethnic Macedonian village, is an independent municipality and administrative centre in the Lerin District. At one time it resembled more a small town than a village. It is situated 21 kilometres from Lerin and eight kilometres from the town Sorovicho.

The villages of Gornichevo, Tserovo, Rosen, Zabrdeni and the railway hamlet of Banitsa Station are all within the municipality of Banitsa. During the Ottoman Empire Banitsa had been a kaza (district inTurkish) whichcontainedtheaforementionedvillages alongwithtwo others, Vrtalom and Negovan.

Figure 2: Old British Military map

3

BASIC STATISTICS ON THE VILLAGES WITHIN THE BANITSA AREA

Gornichevo (Keli)

The Macedonian village of Gornichevo is located seven kilometres east of Banitsa in the bosom of the mountain Nidze (also called Kajmakchalan) at 940 metres above sea level and near the Solun–Lerin motorway. According to the census in 1913 there were 1,103 Macedonians, in 1920 – 983 residents, in 1928 – 1,095 residents, and in 1940 – 1,577 residents. After the civil war of 1946–1949 about 220 residents escaped to Yugoslavia, ten families fled to Bulgaria, and around 30 soldiers went the East European countries, which led to a decline in the number of residents. According to the 1951 census, Gornichevo had 1,336 residents, 1,680 residents in 1961, and in 1971, due to massemigration overseas,only 1,069 residents.The main income is from agriculture.

Banitsa Station (Stathmos Vevi)

This is a small hamlet very close to Banitsa at the site of the old railway station, a kilometre distant from the village. It was established in 1920 by the Greek government. There are 48 two-storey apartment buildings and the same number of families was settled there from Asia Minor in 1923. The people of Banitsa did not allow them to settle in the village proper. According to the census, in 1923 there were 151 people, in 1940 – 203 people; in 1951 – 198 people; in 1961 – 134 people; and in 1971, only 110 people.

Zabrdeni (Lofi)

North of Banitsa at the foot of Kajmakchalan, on the slopes called Velibor there is the village of Zabrdeni. It has always been a Macedonian village and even today its ethnicity has not changed. These are the statistics according to the Greek Government census: in 1913 – 358 residents; in 1929 – 306 residents; in 1928 – 418 residents; 1949 – 516 residents; 1951 – 514 residents; 1961 – 541 residents; and 1971 – 443 residents. The decrease in population is due to overseas emigration.

Tserovo (Klidi)

Situated four kilometres southeast of Banitsa, on one of the slopes of Kajmakchalan and at 840 metres above sea level, is the village Tserovo. It has always been and remains an ethnic Macedonian village. According to the census in 1913 there were 402 dwellers, in 1920 – 399 dwellers, in 1928 – 492 dwellers, in 1940 – 620 dwellers, in 1951 – 636 dwellers, in 1961 – 468 dwellers, and in 1971 – 261 inhabitants.

Rosen (Sitaria)

To the west of the village of Banitsa, near the Lerin–Solun highway, is a main crossroad (Lerin–Kozhani–Atina) and the rail line Lerin–Solun. There the village of Rosen is situated on the Lerin Plain. The village is ethnically Macedonian to this day., In 1913 according to the census there were 552 residents, in 1920 – 488 residents, in 1928 – 590 residents, in 1940 – 805 residents, in 1951 – 805 residents, in 1961 –847 residents, and in 1971 –714 residents. During the Civil War, eight families left the village and emigrated to Yugoslavia or today’s Republic of North Macedonia.

Banitsa—A Cultural and Educational Centre

Banitsa is famous for its many churches, St. Petka having been the oldest, the biggest, and the most beautiful cathedral in the Lerin District with its stunning icons and frescoes in Old Church Slavonic which were of great artistic value. It was located in the eastern part of the current primary school’s yard in the village. The Turkish Army raided and burned it down in the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1900 the people started collecting material help to rebuild the church for which initiative Izet Pasha [a local Ottoman administrator] gave full consent as well as material support on behalf of the council board. However, the members of the board united with the Greek Patriarchate and in 1905 had started rebuilding it and renaming it as a Greek Church. The vojvodas (leaders of revolutionary bands) Natse Katin and Dzole Gjergev demolished it in June 1907 right before it was consecrated.

St.NikolaChurchwasbuiltintheeleventhcenturyandwaslocated in the northern part of the village. It was a masterpiece of Old Slavonic style in its engravings, frescoes and icons. The building was burned down by the Greek andartes [Greek paramilitary forces] before the BalkanWars, andrebuilt intheperiodfrom1932to1935but withGreek icons and frescoes. The church of St. Ilija, which was built around fourteenth or fifteenth century, has also been burned down and rebuilt several times. However, the Old Slavic frescoes have been preserved and are highly valued today. St. Dimitrija Church was built around the fourteenth century in the centre of the village and has been burned and razed but rebuilt over and over. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was burned down and never rebuilt again. Today on this location there are community administrative offices as well as a monument dedicated to the fallen soldiers from Banitsa who died in Asia Minor (Turkey) during the Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922.

Just west of the village, at the site of the mound called “Tumbata,” there used to be a church, St. Gjorgi, which was raidedandburneddown by the Turks on their way to conquering the Balkans, never to be rebuilt. In honour and remembrance of this church, the villagers proclaimed “Gjurgjovden” (St. George’s Day) as the village Patron Saint Day to be

celebrated annually. Today’s St. Gjorgi Church was built in 1864 and represents one of the most beautiful churches in the Lerin District. Up until 1919 mass was conducted in Old Church Slavonic and the Macedonian language. The church was consecrated by the Greek Patriarch in 1920 and since then Greek has been used in the church.

In the nineteenth century Banitsa had its own representative in the Prespa–OhridMacedonianArchbishopric,thepriestRuseDineKochev, who, with support and respect from the people and as well from the Turkish regime, managed to preserve and protect the Macedonian Church and Christian faith, the local traditions and the unity of the people, not only in Banitsa but throughout the Lerin District. He managed to protect the Macedonian Church from the influence of the Greek Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate.

At the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, the monk, Brother Gerasim from the village of Trije, Lerin region, returned from Sveta Gora (Mount Athos) and began an extensive program of building churches and monasteries in the Lerin District as well as opening Macedonian schools in both the native and Old Church Slavonic languages. The people gave financial help as well as volunteer labour in the construction of the churches and the schools.

The first school in Banitsa was built in 1865 and opened in the autumn of the same year with classes given in the Old Church Slavonic language. It served both school-aged children and a large number of adults who wanted to become literate. The first teacher was Tipe Boglev, who had attended schools in Sofia, Saint Petersburg, and Istanbul. Another teacher was State Stojan Tashev, also well-educated and a people’s favourite. He was also the ‘kodzobashija’ (mayor) of the Banitsa district and a representative at the Lerin Episcopacy with the title of Archimandrite. People of the whole of the Lerin region put their trust in him. The Macedonian school continued until 1919 with few

interruptions and in 1920 was opened again as a regular and obligatory school. It even had a pre-school.2

During this period, the Greek Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate exerted great pressure to bring the school under their control and to introduce the Greek or Bulgarian language. Both had strong connections with the Turkish rulers and were given permission to open their own schools in Banitsa. After 1903 there were two parallel schools in Banitsa. Shortly after the Ilinden Uprising and with the increasing influence of the Bulgarian supremacists (‘vrhovisti’)3 within the ranks of the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) and among the people, there was a Macedonian school with Bulgarian influence which was well attended.

The entire village of Banitsa was burned to the ground during the Great Battle of 1912 which took place near the village when 30,000 Turkish soldiers, on their way from Bitola to Sorovich, were ambushed by the Allies (Greeks and Serbs in the First Balkan War). In the following years of 1912–1919, schooling took place in the churches or in private homes altered for that purpose. After 1920 when the school was re-opened there were 400–500 students in the school and approximately 60–80 students per grade.

During the Metaxas dictatorship from 1936 to 1940, the mother tongue (Macedonian) was banned from speech and study. Obligatory night schools were organized for the purpose of teaching Greek to adults, up to the age of 65, who had not finished six years of primary school during the period of 1920–1936.

PeoplewhoresistedattendingtheGreekschoolwereforciblytaken to school by the police (korofilatsi) and severely punished. At the police station many villagers were physically and mentally abused, after which they had to pay huge fines for opposing Greek school.

2There was a very brief period when the Greek government complied with promises to provide minority language education. 3People who believed that Macedonian liberation could be achieved only with help of Bulgaria and unity with Bulgaria as one.

The generation born between 1910and 1928 were able to finish the six years of primary school education, while those born between 1929 to 1933 had only a few years of primary education due to the onset of the Greco-Italian War in the autumn of 1940.

Duringthisperiodtherewerefew residentsofBanitsawhofinished Gymnasium (high school) or a training college, and even fewer finished university.

The people who completed high school included Blazhe Malinov, Kocho Hrisafov and Leko Hrisafov, Trifo Malinov. Tase-Atanas Babulovski graduated from Teachers’ College.4

Pandora Pavlova Kochevska, Kata Hrisafova Malinova, Lena Dzugomanova and Marina Dzugomanova completed Home Economics School.

Dimitar Kochevski completed Army Technical College. The following graduated from university: Stavre Kochev, Nakile Kolerov and Mitse Tashev in Law; Gligor Danev and Boris Dzugomanov in Economics; and Micho Velikin in Business.

The priests Father Filip and Father Stefo completed seminary school at Sveta Gora (Mount Athos). All generations born from 1916 onward would finish a six-yeareducation in primary school;high school comprised an additional four years.

The reason so few people continued on to high school can be attributed to the nationalistic character of the Greek regime. A university education was accessible only for children whose parents were loyal to the regime and to the few who had the economic means to afford enrolment.

4Blazhe Malinov went on to become a neurosurgeon in Ohrid, Yugoslavia, and Trifo Malinov became an engineer in Skopje.

After the occupation by the Greek Government, the Macedonians suffered under severe economic conditions, especially after the settlement of 650,000 Madzhiri5 from Asia Minor in the Macedonian territory. An expropriation of a great deal of especially fertile land around Banitsa was carried out by the government, with this land then given to these forty-eight families from Asia Minor who were settled in the newly built Railway Station hamlet. Discrimination against the participants in the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 had started and many Macedonians had to flee to neighbouring or overseas countries. During the World Economic Crisis (Great Depression) from 1929–1934 many emigrants lost their jobs and many could no longer send money to their families in Banitsa and this led to their even greater impoverishment.

Workers from the coalmine in Banitsa were also let go. Profit on local produce was very low and the people were in a state of abject poverty. Many children could not afford basic school items such as books and notebooks, and the government did not provide them any help.

Banitsa had two priests who had graduated from the Seminary at Sveta Gora and who played an enormous role in keeping and protecting Macedonian traditions, language and customs. These priests suffered along with the people.

The school had a school board led by the schoolmaster (dieftindis), two teachers and two people assigned by the town council. There were 12 teachers in the school of whom only two were Macedonians from the village itself: Atanas Babulovski and Lena Dzugomanova. The rest were Greeks.

Every year there were trips made by the more senior students, at their own expense, on a student exchange system. They were accepted by another school and stayed with friends for a few days and vice-versa. It is noteworthy that all those exchanges were with schools from Old Greece, so that Greek children were coming to Banitsa. Thus, the main

5Christian refugees from Turkey.

point of these excursions was assimilation: to reach the young innocent minds of the Macedonians.

A group of students stayed at a youth camp in Corinth in 1937 and this eventwasusedbythe‘fifthcolumnists’(peoplewhoundermine another larger group such as a whole nation) and Metaxas’ fascist army to train and politically indoctrinate those youth in the spirit of the fascist regime. However, the students returned from the trip utterly disappointed that they had been treated as second-class people, bullied and humiliated by the Greek students and the people overseeing the camp.

Banitsa’s school had a well-developed physical education program and many sports were played at the big stadium as well as two other smaller pitches. Banitsa also had a sports football club called “Pavle Melja” (Pavlos Melas) which was formed in 1924; several generations of young people participated in the club. The club played in the North Zone of Greece and placed high in the league. There were two other teams playing in the Lerin District League. The town’s young people were very interested in football and athletics in general which is why these clubs were very popular.

Allthesaints’days,holidaysand othercelebrationsin Banitsa were celebrated with music and traditional dance (oro) in the village square. During the holiday “Vasilitsa” the people, especially the young, would dress themselves in knightly and traditional Macedonian clothes as well as other carnival costumes and would gather and go around the village, accompanied by music and singing, collecting gifts. The group would visit every house and household, and were rewarded with many different gifts, such as pieces of pork, bacon or homemade sausage (lukanci), wheat, flour, beans and money. In return the group would dance an oro and sing a songintheyard. This traditionlasteduntil 1936, when it was banned. After that, the group would only play music and dance to it, the players being Krisho Podev and Krishe Janchev. This would end late in the evening after all the houses had been visited. A dinner was prepared for all the villagers.

On the holiday called “Pokladi”, the young people of the village would organize a big celebration. The girls could not participate by acting in the event, so a boy would dress as a bride and then, accompanied by two groomsmen, would go to church, where the “bride” would kiss everyone on the hand; in return for which, “she” was rewarded with as much money as the others could part with. After that they would continue to gather gifts, going from house to house.6

Small Businesses and Trades

As befits a large village, Banitsa had a number of tradespeople, small businesses, and services. To meet the everyday needs of the people, in 1940 there were the following trades and craftsmen:

• Tailors: Dore Janin, Pando Kujchev and Bogle Katin;

• Barbers: Gligor Popdimitrov and Tsile Hrisafov;

• Shoemakers: Risto Popalev, Koche Jovchev and Davido Janin;

• Baker: Janko Malinov;

• Blacksmiths: Risto Pedev, Atanas Harishi and Kole Veljanov;

• Retail stores: Kole Malinov, Boris Hrisafov, Mitse Malinov, Stamati Mihelis, Vasil Proskov, Kole Janin, Mitse Laev, Tole Mangov, Kiro Dzugomanov, Leko Pavlev, Vangel Vodenecot;

• Restaurants and taverns: Dore Malinov, Boris Babulov, Mihali Mihelis and Stavre Ralov;

• Photographic studio: Gligor Popdimitrov;

• Butchers: Kole Katin, Gele Vachkov, Kire Poprusev, Gire Babulov, Dine Pavlov and Kitse Pavlov;

• Taxi and/or truck-drivers: Mitse Vasev, Milanche Pavlev, Davido Janin, Kocho Babulov and Boris Sariev.

• Bus drivers: Milanche Pavlev, who operated a few lines

6For a thorough description of local culture please consult with Korolov’s book on the village of Drenoveni.

(Banitsa-Lerin, Banitsa-Sorovich, Banitsa-Kajlari and back) and organized tours when the need arose;

• Taxi: Milanche Pavlev and David Paparusev;

• Power-operated mills with two or three mill stones: Petse Vragov and the Hrisafovi Brothers (Petse, Boris and Tsile);

• Whitewash factories: Milanche Pavlev, Kitse Mangov, Leko Abov, Gligor Danev, Kocho Babulov, Pande Velikin, Stefo Sariev, Mitse Robev and sons, and others;

• Buying and selling grain: Petse Vragov-Tudzarot.

There were many other traders who could be found selling whitewash, grapes, wine, rakija (moonshine brandy), coal, melons as well as many livestock products in the markets in Lerin, Sorovich, Kajlari, Kozhani, Voden and even in Solun. Banitsa had a market day on Wednesdays. There was also a well-developed livestock market.

Banitsa had a functioning co-operative with many individual producers as members of the Sintirismos (agricultural producers’ union) through which they purchased the necessary materials, fertilizer, productive livestock, etc. Through this union, they could place their agriculturaland animalproductson the market,aswellasreceive advice in the field.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, trading in Banitsa changed drastically. New rail lines were built: in 1873 the rail lines Skopje– Solun and Solun–Istanbul; in 1894, the Skopje–Bitola line was finished; and in 1906, a Bitola–Solun line was built. This last railway line passed near Banitsa. With the advent of the railways, the camel and other animal caravans slowly but eventually disappeared. Banitsa, with its railway station, developed even further. Business with quicklime (var) and the discovery of large deposits of coal (lignite) enlivened commerce. Coal mining started in 1908 with production increasing after a mine cart rail was built from the mine to the shipping station at the railway intersection called “Barakta,” where each day several thousand tons of coal were shipped in all directions. At the beginning around one

hundred people were employed, and in time the number doubled, then tripled, representing an enormous economic boon for the village.

Real Estate Law in Banitsa after the Departure of Turks

After the Young Turk Revolution, “The Beys” or “Begs” (Turkish provincial lords), aware of their weakening power, started selling barren land while keeping the more fertile fields. They carried out these sales through certain representatives who all too often deceived the illiterate peasants. The land sales were often not documented on papers known as ‘tapii’ (deeds) that were valid at the time. This was done only for the more aware and insistent peasants. They were the only ones who received a tapija (deed), but with the many wars and fires, most of them were burned and people were unable to prove ownership, which often led to their property being confiscated and re-sold. The matter is relevant because there are still unsettled property issues betweenGreece and Turkey, and even today there is extortion and the selling of people’s already-purchased land.

The maelstrom of the Second World War and the Civil War destroyed many of those documents with which one could prove ownership. I will give an example of what happened to my family. We owned land of about 2,400 square metres (5/8 of an acre) at a place called “Baldunka,” which my family, ever since my great-grandfather’s time, used as a place for threshing wheat. In 1934 a representative of Banitsa’s Sinan Bey asked us to prove ownership of the place with ‘tapija’. According to their evidence and ‘tapija’ at the Land Registry, this land supposedly belonged to the Bey. My grandmother, 60 years of age at the time, earnestly tried to prove that the place had belonged to the late Natse Katin for more than 40 years, in support of which every villager could testify. Of course, that was all in vain since the family’s ‘tapija’ had burned in the great fire of 1912. The representative placed a price of 3,600 drachmas on the land, which, unless paid within a certain period, would result in the land being auctioned and sold to the highest bidder. Left with no other recourse, we sold all the livestock we had: 40 sheep, 2 oxen, one cow, one horse, and together with all the

savings that my father Lazo Katin had sent us from Canada, we acted. With 3,600 drachmas we again bought our own land and received a ‘tapija’.

The period of war that followed took its human toll, with many villages being raided or burned to the ground. The violence ensuing under the post-war monarchist-fascist Greek regime forced many to leavetheir birthplaceandemigratetoother countries. Myfamily,except me, emigrated to Canada since my father was already there. My grandmother died in 1942. What was left behind was a new two-storey house built in 1941/42. The old house was destroyed during the bombing.

In the early 1950’s, another representative of Sinan Bey appeared, again claiming that the property was his and asking us to prove ownership. At that time, my uncle, Risto Malinov (a brother of my mother),hadbeenusingthehouseforstoringlivestockfeed. Myparents in Canada could not prove their ownership since they had been exiled by the Greek authorities (together with many families who fought for the partisans), and all the documents and pictures found in their houses had been destroyed. My uncle bought the house at auction.

In 1970, when my father went to visit his birthplace, my uncle recounted the events that had taken place and offered to sell him the property. My father agreed, paid the same amount, and became the official owner once again. In a nutshell, the same land had been purchased twice, not counting the first purchase done during the Ottoman Empire.

There are numerous other such cases. Many households bought the same land several times from the representatives of Sinan Bey, all of this happening with the blessing of the Greek government. This was a part of their political aim to pressure the Macedonian population to voluntarily leave their houses and move overseas. There is no other explanation for this because the bureaucrats in charge of the real-estate registry had documents of ownership, but every time one would ask to see those documents, they would say that there was no proof of

ownership and most of the documents were destroyed during the war. Added to this was the fact that the Greek government issued a law under which all participants in the Civil War who immigrated to the socialist countries were stripped of both citizenship and their properties. Dozens of households from the village, whose members were outside the borders of Greece, were affected by the power of this law. The Greek authorities tried to settle colonists from Old Greece, but as soon as they found out about the properties and their owners, they immediately left the village, never to return. There were no other settlers.

Postal, Telephone, and Telegraph Services

Thepostalservice,upuntil1920,wasrunbypeopleormessengers, whose main occupation was delivering letters, messages or money from town to town and village to village. Even during the Ottoman Empire, there had been a person employed for this service.

The postal, telephone and telegraph office was set up in 1920 and located in the school building. From 1924, Kole Kolerov was employed and in charge of all postal matters. Every day he would send and receive mail and other shipments from the passing trains. He had plenty of work since more than 500 people had left to work overseas, and some 60 to 80 served in the army. As a government employee, he also did small favours for the police and the authorities, and he himself claimed to be Greek, although he was not.

Street Lights

Banitsa would eventually look more like a small town than a village, especially after the district authorities finally installed a street lighting system with the advent of electrical power. The owner of the coal mine, Mitrendjo, had organized a power plant project back in 1928, for which he was imprisoned and his property confiscated.

In 1933, the Banitsa town council reached a consensus to illuminatethevillagebyinstallingstreet lamps withbutanegas. In1934, after widespread participation, hard work and financial donations by the villagers, the project was completed. All the streets were illuminated by butane gas lamps placed on tall poles at certain distances. House interiors were lit by oil lamps and icon lamps. Coal miners made use of carbide miners’ lamps at home. In 1935, Milanche Pavlev powered his house lights by his own windmill-produced electricity.

Monuments and Memorials

Banitsa is home to many artistic features such as the frescoes that can be found in the churches of St. Gjorgija, St. Nikola, and St. Ilija. They are a masterpiece of Slavic culture and literacy. The other churches are newer.

On the hill northeast of the village stands a granite monument erected in honour of the fallen Serbian soldiers of the Balkan and First World Wars. The monument is hollow on the inside and the bones of soldiers from the Banitsa battlefield are placed therein. West of the village, around five kilometres from the Lerin-Solun and Lerin-Kozhani crossroad, there is a monument to the fallen Allied soldiers from the First World War. It is fenced with four concrete poles connected with chains, and was built by the Greek government together with the governments of the Allied powers.

In the centre of the village is the monument to the fallen soldiers from Banitsa who were lost during the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor of 1919–1922.

4