TINKA DUMKOVA (1926-1949) - Part 03

Young Gera worked in her parents’ blacksmith worshop until the fascist occupiers were expelled from the country. When the reactionary authorities in Greece and Aegean Macedonia came to power, as a result of the Varkiza Agreement, and began to escalate their terror tactics, Gera, although still young, became involved in the movement. During meetings, organized by prominent villagers,

465 According to the recollections of Stoian Paikovski, Germania’s father. Stoian was a participant in the National Liberation War and in DAG. 466 Metodia Paikovski from the village German - his revolutionary activities in the period 1941-1949. Kept in INI 186 Gera learned a lot about the horrific atrocities Greek gangs were committing against the innocent Macedonian population in the area. Later, under her father’s personal responsibility, she began to work as a courier. She often carried secret correspondence from the city Lerin to various places in Prespa Region. Gera also carried correspondence from the rural areas and immediately delivered it to the mountains in German and the Prespa villages. Secret correspondence from Lerin was given to her by Done Arnautov, Iani Shoferov, Stoian and Simo Kolachkov... 467

At the end of August 1946, Gera, through Nikola Langov who picked up the ballots from Lerin, distributed those ballots to the homes in the village German and agitated the villagers to vote for “Democracy”.

In September 1946, thanks to her hard work for the struggle, Gera was recruited into EPON, the youth organization, where she continued to work hard.

The skills Gera learned at her family’s workshop also served the struggle. DAG leaders entrusted her with difficult and responsible tasks. She was to continue working in the family workshop repairing equipment and manufacturing implements to serve the struggle. Day and night, even under the most difficult conditions, Gera and her cousin Menka Paikovska manufactured 500 nails a day to nail horseshoes on DAG owned horses. 468 Appreciating her noble work in her family’s workshop, poet Paskal Paskalevski 469 wrote the following: “...With her tough hands she held the hammer firmly and hit the red iron with force, like her comrades hit the enemy at the front. Fatigue she did not know. Her eyes shone brightly and every blow was a knife in the heart of the enemy...” 470

467 According to the recollections of Stoian and Metodia Paikovski... 468 According to Menka Paikovska from the village German, participant of DAG. 469 Paskal Paskalevski was born in the village Doleni, Kostur Region. During the Greek Civil War Paskal was a member of NOF agitation and propaganda and a poet whose poems were published in the newspaper “Nepokoren” and the magazine “Nova Makedonka”, organs of the NOF Main Board and of AFZH for Aegean Macedonia. 470 Quoted by Paskal Paskalevski, Paikova Germania. “For the Holy People’s Freedom”..., p. 183. 187 Gera worked at her family’s workshop until the end of September 1947.

In October 1946, while doing her daily work, Gera contracted jaundice at which point the movement leadership ordered her to scale down and only make 200 nails a day. But Gera continued making 500 nails a day.

In March 1948 Gera joined the cooperative in the DAG free territory. Because of her strong work ethic she was often praised by the NOF press.

In October 1948, Gera, with rifle in hand, voluntarily joined DAG. Because she was still too young to carry weapons, her family advised her to go to school in the Republic of Macedonia. However, Gera flatly refused suggesting that: “First we need to get rid of the Greek Monarcho-Fascists and then we will go to school...”

On February 12, 1949, as a fighter in the DAG 14th Brigade, Gera took part in the battles for the capture of the Agricultural School in the city Lerin. They faced fierce and bloody battles. DAG suffered a catastrophic defeat. Gera was severely wounded in the face. When the fighters left the city they took the wounded with them but left Gera behind because they thought she was dead. After she regained consciousness the Greek soldiers captured her and temporarily placed her in a hospital in Lerin. The next day, her fellow villager Petre Muchkarov came to the hospital with doctor Spiropoulos to advise her on what to say to the military court so she could be saved. But she categorically refused and didn’t agree to speak out against the struggle of her people. A short time later, without any trial, Gera and a number of other prisoners were shot and killed in Lerin. 471

Germania Paikova died in her prime but the people didn’t forget her or her courage. Folk poet Paskal Paskalevski dedicated the following poem to her:

471 According to Petre Muchkarov from the village German. 188 BLACKSMITH

Out of misery and innovation, she worked as a blacksmith She entered the working world as a little girl Immature in youth, early in the morning The same heavy human oppression.

She held the hammer firmly in her hand, And waved it with the force of a sweaty devil When the fire sparked her hatred, With a hammer she defended her father’s doorstep!

In her eyes her flames shone, And grief gathered in the chests of the young From class hatred and class awareness To deliver the people from the fascists.

The sixteen-year-old girl, Germania knows what black labour means, At her age the girls in town Play with dolls and look like flowers.

In Germania’s hands, the hammer sings, Sparks fly in a miraculous rain, At every blow freedom shines, And a knife is angrily thrust in a fascist’s heart. 472

472 Quote taken from the Monograph with a memorial album - the village German - Prespa Region. Skopje, 1979, p. 75. 189 IANI PIROVSKI (1923-1949)

Iani Pirovski’s name is associated with the heroic deaths of hundreds of Macedonian DAG fighters who fought in the bloody battle to capture the city Lerin in February 1949.

Iani Pirovski was born in 1923 in the village Kosinets. 473 After finishing primary school in his native village, Iani continued his education at the Kostur High School. Along with a high school education, Iani also received lessons in music. As a high school student, Iani had the opportunity to personally experience the brutal exploitation of the Greek ruling circles. That is why in 1938 he joined OKNE, the youth organization, and as an active member spread and propagated revolutionary ideas to the working class. 474

In 1941, well-informed about exploitation, especially about the working class, Iani was one of the first activists in Kostur Region to join the struggle against the German-Italian and Bulgarian occupiers. Thanks to his efforts in organizing anti-fascist resistance cells in Kosinets and surrounding villages, Iani was appointed OKNE secretary in his native village. 475 Shortly afterwards, in 1942, he was appointed member of the OKNE Regional Committee in the Smrdesh-Kosinets area. 476 In 1943, Iani was appointed secretary of the EPON Regional Committee for Recreation and after a short time he was appointed secretary of EPON in three regions.

In the fall of 1943, Iani was appointed member of the EPON District Committee for Kostur Region. In this capacity Iani was in charge of agitation and propaganda in which he fought tirelessly against the Bulgarian and other propagandists in Kostur Region, whose goal

473 Kosinets is located at the foot of Mount Malimadi which in Macedonian history symbolizes two bright and bloody dates from the Macedonian people’s revolutionary past in this area: the heroism of the Macedonian insurgents who fought against Ottoman tyranny and the decisive battle that took place in the summer of 1948, in which DAG units inflicted heavy blows and defeated the Greek government army. 474 According to the recollections of Urania Iurukova from the village Izglibe, Kostur Region. Urania was Iani Pirovski’s wife... 475 Ibid. 476 According to the recollections of Lambro Cholakov from the village Smrdesh... 190 was to prevent the development of a Macedonian national liberation movement in this area. 477

Iani demonstrated a special effort in agitating the young people in Kostur to join ELAS en masse. As an experienced revolutionary and activist, Iani was able to convince the Macedonian youth of the necessity to join the armed struggle and to do it with love and patriotic feelings. In his opinion, in these fateful moments for the Macedonian people, mass Macedonian participation was a decisive factor in gaining freedom and national and social rights.

Iani was very happy to see the formation of SNOF, the Macedonian National Liberation Organization in Kostur Region. This event was a turning point in the development of the Macedonian national liberation movement and because of that Iani became even more engaged in organizing and amassing Macedonian youth in the struggle against the occupiers.

Iani’s love to see the Macedonian people liberated came into full expression in August 1944 when, with rifle in hand, he joined the ranks of the Macedonian battalion “Gotse” and continued to fight for the final push to evict the occupiers. 478 Later, with the formation of the First Aegean Strike Brigade in the Republic of Macedonians, Iani was placed in charge of leading a battalion in the Brigade where he continued his anti-fascist struggle until the Brigade was disbanded.

Thanks to his tireless effort in the liberation movement, Iani and a group of young activists from the First Aegean Strike Brigade, including Micho Karadzha, Vasko Karadzha, Evdokia Baliova-Vera, Steriana Vangelova-Slavianka and Hrisanti Tsangranovska, participated in the Second NOMS Congress held in Skopje on January 6, 1945. 479

Immediately after the Varkiza Agreement was signed, the Greek reactionary authorities, with help from the Anglo-American

477 Lambro Cholakov, Iani Pirovski. Nova Makedonija, Skopje, 1971, February 12, p. 10. 478 According to the recollections of Urania Iurukova and Lambro Cholakov... 479 According to the recollections of Evdokia Baliova-Nikolova (Vera)... interventionists, began to terrorize the Macedonian population to force as many Macedonians as possible to leave their ancestral lands. Realizing that this amounted to genocide, Iani Pirovski, by decision of the NOF Main Board leadership for Aegean Macedonia, at his own request was sent back to his homeland in May 1945 and immediately joined the struggle against the Greek reactionaries. 480 As an experienced organizer and leader in the Macedonian liberation movement, Iani was immediately appointed member of the NOF District Board for Kostur 481 and Secretary of the District Board of NOMS for Kostur Region. 482 In that capacity Iani immediately became involved in the struggle against the reactionaries. He constantly moved around from village to village getting acquainted with the details of the difficult situation in which his people were involved. In a letter he sent to the NOF leadership on August 24, 1945, among other things, he wrote:

“On August 22, 1945, Greek reactionary soldiers caught three of our comrades outside the village German. Two of them were activists from the Prespa District Board. According to the information we have, these comrades surrendered to the reactionaries at 12 midnight after they were surrounded. The soldiers took them inside the village and beat them mercilessly...” 483

Another report, dated January 10, 1946, sent by NOF activists and leaders Iani Pirovski, Kole Panov, Urania Iurukova and Traiche Tsafarov, from Kostur Region, to the NOF Main Board regarding the terror in Kostur Region, among other things, said:

“...The terror throughout the district continues. Reactionary units regularly move and block villages…

From December 18 to 20, 1945, the reactionaries beat Taki Belchev and Pandeli Vlahov in the village Ianoveni. Taki is CPG regional secretary.

480 According to the recollections of Lambro Cholakov and Mincho Fotev... 481 Aegean Macedonia in the National Liberation War, 1946”, Vol. III, doc. 9, p. 23. 482 Ibid. 483 “Aegean Macedonia in the National Liberation War, 1945”, Vol. II, doc. 129, p. 245 In Kostur, a court consisting of Ahilis Alvano, Ioani Voitsi, Rusili the doctor and Andrea Papadopoulos continues to judge armed individuals, black marketers who got rich during the war, members of SNOF, etc., without interruption. The usual verdicts are death, life imprisonment, ten years in jail and confiscation of personal property...”484

In his long struggle for freedom, democratic and social rights for the Macedonian people, Iani Pirovski demonstrated extraordinary abilities and qualities. And because of that, in the second half of 1946, he was appointed member of the CPG District Committee for Kostur Region. 485Later, on December 22, 1946, Iani joined the EAM Executive Committee for Kostur Region. 486

In December 1947, after a year of intense fighting, Iani became seriously ill. The CPG leadership sent him for treatment to Tirana, Albania. After he recovered Iani was sent to Camp Suk near Tirana where the DAG hospital and DAG food warehouses for the partisans were located. Here Iani was responsible for receiving and distributing food to DAG units. He also often held meetings with the wounded fighters and gave them lectures on field combat.

In October 1948, Iani Pirovski and a group of DAG fighters left Albania and returned home where they immediately joined the ranks of the DAG IX Division. A short time later DAG headquarters sent Iani to the DAG 107th Brigade where he was tasked with managing Macedonian affairs.

While serving in the ranks of the DAG 107th Brigade, Iani fought valiantly until his heroic death in the battle for the capture of the city Lerin on February 12, 1949. His comrades managed to pull Iani’s dead body out of Lerin and took it to the village Buf, in Lerin Region, where he was buried.

484 “Aegean Macedonia in the National Liberation War, 1946 “, Vol. III, doc. 6, pp. 17-18. 485 “Aegean Macedonia in the National Liberation War, 1947”, Vol. IV, doc. 3, p. 17. 486 Ibid. From what we know we can conclude that Iani Pirovski was a valiant fighter and earned the right to be remembered for his contributions to the liberation movement. He was always distinguished for his courage, principles, modesty and for consistently performing his assigned tasks.