6.0 ATTACHMENTS

6.0 ATTACHMENTS

6.1 The following are sources of information that provide literary and critical analysis on the subject of “ideological activism”:

ПЕТРЕ М. АНДРЕЕВСКИ “НЕБЕСКА ТИМЈАНОВА”. ИЗДАВАЧ НАША КНИГА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1989 ГОДИНА.

ДИМИТАР ДИМИТРОВ “УМЕТНОСТ И ЧОВЕКУВАЊЕ”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАКЕДОНСКА КНИГА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1992 ГОДИНА.

СТОЈАН КИСЕЛИНОВСКИ “СТАТУТОТ НА МАКЕДОНСКИОТ ЈАЗИК” (1913-1987), ИЗДАВАЧ МИСЛА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1987 ГОДИНА.

ИВАН ЧАПОВСКИ “ВРАЌАЊЕ НА ПОЕТОТ ВО МЕГЛЕН”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАКЕДОНСКА КНИГА” СКОПЈЕ, 1994 ГОДИНА.

НИКОЛА КЉУСЕВ “КАМЕН ОСТРОВ”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАТИЦА МАКЕДОНСКА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1994 ГОДИНА.

ПАСКАЛ ГИЛЕВСКИ “АНГЕЛИ НА ПРОГОНСТВОТО”, ИЗДАВАЧ “ДЕТСКА РАДОСТ”, СКОПЈЕ, 1993 ГОДИНА.

ПЕТАР НАКОВСКИ “И КАМЕНОТ Е ЗЕМЈА”, ИЗДАВАЧ “ОГЛЕДАЛО”, СКОПЈЕ, 1988 ГОДИНА.

ЈАГНУЛА П. КУНОВСКА “ПЕСНИ”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАТИЦА МАКЕДОНСКА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1995 ГОДИНА.

ДИМИТАР ЈОНОВСКИ “ОДРАСТОК”, ИЗДАВАЧ “КУЛТУРА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1990 ГОДИНА.

КАТА МИСИРКОВА - РУМЕНОВА “КАТАРНИ ГОДИНИ”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МИСЛА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1992 ГОДИНА.

КОЛЕ МАНГОВ “ВИК”, ИЗДАВАЧ “КУЛТУРА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1979 ГОДИНА.

ВАСКО КАРАЏА “СО Д'МБЕНИ ВО СРЦЕТО”, НА ДВА ЈАЗИКА: МАКЕДОНСКИ И АНГЛИСКИ, САМОИЗДАТ, “НОВА МАКЕДОНИЈА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1993 ГОДИНА.

ДИМИТАР ДИМИТРОВ “МЕЃУ ТОТАЛИТАРИЗАМ И ДЕМОКРАТИЈА”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАКЕДОНСКА КНИГА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1994 ГОДИНА.

КОЛЕ МАНГОВ “ЗА МАКЕДОНСКИТЕ ЧОВЕЧКИ ПРАВА”, ИЗДАВАЧ МРТ-МАКЕДОНСКО РАДИО, СКОПЈЕ, 1995 ГОДИНА.

ФАНИ МАРТИНОВА-БУЦКОВА “МИТРЕ ПЕНЏАРОВ КОСТУРСКИ ВОЈВОДА”, САМОИЗДАТ, СКОПЈЕ, 1995.

ЛОРИНГ М.ДЕНФОРТ “МАКЕДОНСКИ КОНФЛИКТ”, ИЗДАВАЧ “МАКЕДОНСКА КНИГА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1996 ГОДИНА.

НИКОЛА КЉУСЕВ “ПРЕДИЗВИЦИ”, КНИГА “ВЕРБА И ИЗМАМА”, ИЗД. “МАТИЦА МАКЕДОНСКА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1997 ГОДИНА.

БУНТЕСКИ РИСТЕ-БУНТЕ”МЕТОДИЈА ШАТОРОВ-ШАРЛО (ПОЛИТИЧКИ СТАВОВИ), издавач” Друштвото за уметност Прилеп, Скопје, 1996.

ДОНЕВСКИ ЃОРЃИ, “БАПЧОР”, МОНОГРАФИЈА, ИЗДАВАЧ “ЗДРУЖЕЊЕ НА ДЕЦАТА БЕГАЛЦИ ОД ЕГЕЈСКИОТ ДЕЛ НА МАКЕДОНИЈА”, СКОПЈЕ, 1996

НИКОЛА КИЧЕВСКИ, “ТРСЈЕ И ТРСЈАНИ”, СКОПЈЕ, 1998

КОЛЕ РОШЕВ, “ВОЈВОДИТЕ НИЗ СОБИТИЈАТА И НАРОДНИТЕ ПЕСНИ”, СКОПЈЕ 1998.

6.2. The people of Kostur existed throughout many centuries up until the 20th century when the Greeks arrived and, after Macedonia was invaded, occupied and partitioned in 1913, they began to assimilate them and turn them into Greeks. The most disastrous and

catastrophic period for the people of Kostur was 1940 to 1949. It was a disaster of genocidal proportions and a phenomenon in the Balkans.

“Oh my God! There is no pen to write with to describe the horrors and atrocities committed against these people by those beasts armed from head to toe. They committed unheard of horrors never before seen in this world and in the history of mankind…” (Russian Embassy representative in Bitola about the village Zagoricheni massacre on March 25, 1905, during the so-called Greek Struggle for Macedonia.)

The reason for my introduction of several authors and their books is to give the reader a wider perspective on the subject and to clarify some of the reasons why the genocide took place in the absence of the Macedonian factor. At the same time I want to introduce the various interpretations offered by these authors in regards to the history of the people of Kostur Region in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Nine tough decades have passed and very little remains of what was witnessed of the genocide in Kostur Region. Kostur Region is located at the southern most part of ethnic Macedonia and located inside it is the Kostur Diocese. And now, as we enter a new century, many people are asking: “How is it possible that so many people were killed from each of the villages in Kostur Region during the Greek Civil War?”

Well, believe it or not, it is true. Proportionally, many more people were killed in the Kostur Region villages than anywhere else. Why? Isn’t it is about time that we start looking for answers? What brought this evil to Kostur Region and why? Kostur has been a sought out target for destruction since the day Hellenism made its way into Macedonia. Today Kustur Region, an iconic space, the centrr of Macedonian-ism, is a wasteland. Its people were either killed or given a one way ticket out to leave and never return. A centuries old nation existing in compact communities has been systematically ethnically cleansed over many years. And then, during the Greek Civil War, the Greeks perpetrated genocide against the people of Kostur.

The books offered here are source materials that identify us and our close ancestors and are meant to tell our story regardless of which ideological side we belonged to, which political side we sided with, and what kind of uniform we wore. The truth is that we ran towards our genocide following the lead of foreigners and strangers. There was not a single Macedonian leader to stop us from following the madness, to educate us, to warn us of the risks we were taking, to save us from losing our ancestral homeland, to spare us of our humiliating defeat!!!

1. Book: “ILINDENSKATA EPOPEJA” (development of the Macedonian liberation movement) Volume 1. By Angel Dinev.

Dinev speaks with piety about the Ilinden Uprising, about the magnitude of the Macedonian spirit, about the development of the Macedonian liberation movement from 1893 to 1903, and about the Macedonians struggle for liberation from Ottoman feudal slavery.

In the chapter about Kostur he talks about the pure revolutionary spirit carried deep in the souls of the Kostur revolutionary leaders Vasil Chakalarov, Lazar Poptraikov, Manol Pozov, Pando Kliashev, Misho Nikolev, Mitre Vlaot and many others. Kostur Region alone had an active insurgency in which more than 4,170 insurgents were involved. This shows that we Macedonians at that time not only had a desire to liberate ourselves but also an optimal strategic program with the ultimate goal of creating a Macedonian state that would cover the entire Macedonian ethnic space. Dinev talks about the strategic places like Klisura, Neveska and other towns that were occupied by the Ilinden insurgents. He also describes the mass movement of the population and how the first bomb foundry was created in the village Smrdesh.

This testimony about Ilinden was also confirmed by Greek historian Dimitris Lithoxou in the long article he wrote for the “Zora” newspaper in July 1995.

2. Book: МИТРЕ ПАНЏАРОВ - КОСТУРСКИТЕ ВОЈВОДИ”, 1994, self-published by Dr. Fani Martinova - Butskova.

This book takes us back to the temple of Macedonian history. Butskova has created a stratification of historical events which show that the Macedonian nation paid its dues in blood to create its own country.

She describes the heroism of our insurgency leaders and their devotion to the struggle against the Ottomans as well as their struggle against foreign propaganda. She makes it very clear that our ancestors, the Ilinden leaders, were against submission to anyone; submission for them was the lowest form of human behaviour.

In the spirit of objectivity Dr. Butskova has selected the most characteristic periods when she wrote about the village Konomladi (Kolomnati):

1. The Macedonians participated in the Ilinden Uprising en masse with heart and soul;

2. During the course of ELAS (1941-1944), the call to arms was weak due to mistrust of the Greek leadership; (See p. 228 Memorandum. It describes the actions the Greek ELAS fighters took against Macedonians.)

3. One of the most characteristic periods was the time of ideological activism (Greek Civil War from 1945 to 1949) during which Konomladi lost 68 fighters. It was estimated that more than 367 fighters were mobilized in the ranks of DAG from that village alone. After the war was lost none of those fighters were allowed to return to their homes. Greece made sure of that through a number of laws it passed.

3. Book: “Ο µακεδονικος αγων (Αποµνιµονευµατα) Αρχειον Μακεδονικον αγωνος Πινελοπι ∆ελτα, Θεσσαλονικη, 1959, ΓΕΡΜΑΝΟΣ ΚΑΡΑΒΑΝΓΓΕΛΗΣ”

In his memoirs Karavangelis proudly tells all about what he did to the Macedonian people, including about the task he was given to Hellenize the people of Kostur. He was known as Karavangelis the Bishop of Kostur.

Feeling satisfied about what Karavangelis did for his “patrida”, the first “tell all” edition turned out to be a great embracement for the Greek people, not because Karavangelis confessed to the atrocities he committed, including the human skulls he displayed of people whom he had murdered, like the trophies of animals, but for the pride he showed in doing it, especially from a religious person; a Bishop no less!

In a passage in his memoirs he wrote: “I told them you are all Greeks since the time of Alexander the Great, but then the Slavs came and turned you into Slavs. You look like Greeks and the soil you live on is Greek. After all, our church and dioceses were always at the forefront of freedom. The Bulgarians have proved themselves incapable of even liberating themselves; they depended on Russia to do that for them. Now you are waiting for Bulgaria to liberate Macedonia? And you live under the illusion that European diplomacy will say that Macedonia is Bulgarian? Lerin and Kostur are barely two days walk from the Greek border, while the Bulgarian border is a distance of at least seven days!

…Today I told him ‘you will be with us and you will be the first man I will send down to meet the Greek kings and your children will attend school in Greece’. Kote accepted my offer and I blessed him as a ‘soldier of Christ’ and he became Captain Kote... I paid Kote a monthly salary of ten liras. His children (heroes) today they are officers in the Greek army…

… In early 1901 I went on a long tour and visited all the Slavophone villages of Koreshta Region as well as the villages Rula, Trnaa, Trsie, Drenoveni, Gabresh and Chernovishta and returned them all to Orthodoxy.”

This is what Bishop Germanos Karavangelis confessed but our Kote went beyond that and reached new heights! On October 25, 1903, Kote delivered the head of our famous revolutionary and poet Lazar Pop Traikov to Bishop Karavangelis for a handful of coins. And this is how Macedonians were bought…

The propaganda to turn Macedonians into Greeks began to flourish a little over a century ago, when the Macedonian people lost their bid

to free themselves from the Ottoman occupation in 1903. The concept of making Greeks out of Macedonians was managed through the Patriarchate church headed by Germanos Karavangelis. Karavangelis did not spare us any details regarding the tactics he used to “make” Greeks out of Macedonians, as recorded in his memoirs. Karavangelis used extreme force and terror to accomplish his objectives, which in the long run proved to be very effective. He was one of the first practitioners with instinct to kill the term “Macedonian”. His model and experience proved useful to the Greek cause.

The most gruesome and most disgusting methods of Hellenizing Macedonians in Kostur Region arrived in Kostur in 1903 with the Greek Church, headed by Bishop Karavangelis. Karavangelis’s ultimate goal was to “make” as many Greeks as possible out of the Macedonian population so that when the time came to partition Macedonia, Greece would have proof that Greeks existed in Macedonia and Greece would receive a larger share of Macedonia’s territory. Argos Orestikon, or Rupishta as we Macedonians call it today, is located in Kostur and is the original home of the Ancient Macedonian Argive Dynasty, founded around 800 BC, so the people of Kostur had special significance for Greece even though Greece denies that Argos Orestikon was a significant place in Macedonian history. The people of Kostur were the best Macedonian sons and daughters and contributed a great deal to Macedonia’s history, so it was by no accident that Karavangelis was sent there to Hellenize them all by any means possible!

“Oh, my God! It is impossible to describe the horrors and atrocities committed against the people of Kostur without breaking down emotionally. Horrible men, monsters, armed from head to toe were hired and paid to commit atrocities unheard of before in the history of mankind.” These were the words of a Russian diplomat stationed in Bitola, attempting to describe what Karavangelis’s goons had done in Zagorichani.

But in spite of what Karavangelis and the Greeks had done to the people of Kostur before Macedonia’s 1913 partition, it was nothing in comparison to what the Greeks did in the terrible decade from 1940 to 1949 when Kostur experienced “total genocide”.

Note: The books referenced in this brief review do provide some justification as to why genocide was perpetrated against the “non-existent” Macedonian factor in Greek occupied Macedonia, particularly in Kostur Region.

After nine tough decades, only our blood has remained witness to the genocide perpetrated against the people of Kostur. Kostur Region is the southernmost part of ethnic Macedonia. At the same time the Kostur Diocese was based in Kostur. And now, at the end of the century, many people are asking the question: Why were so many people who were killed during the Greek Civil War from the Kostur Region villages? But that’s precisely what happened and we should be looking for the cause of this evil.

It is frightening, however, to realize that this was purposely done to us, not because of the ideology we supported, not because of the political party we belonged to, but because of who we are, Macedonians, something we cannot escape, something we cannot change! We were meant to experience genocide; we were meant to die; we were meant to be exiled; because of who we are, “Macedonians”!!! It is frightening indeed!

Germanos Karavangelis was born in 1866 in the village Stipsi, located on Lesbos Island. He successfully completed his education at Munich University, graduating as Professor of Theology. Then in 1900, at the request of the Greek government, he was appointed Metropolitan of the Kostur Diocese. Soon after that Karavangelis created a network of priests, teachers and others that he could bribe with gold, all through the Kostur Region villages. Much of what he did along with Pavlos Malas, including the harshest methods he applied; he recorded in his own memoirs. Pavlos Melas was the chief organizer of the Greek armed terror bands that appeared in Macedonia in 1901.

Pavlos Melas (his real name was Mikis Zezas) was born in Messalina on March 29, 1870. He was originally from Epirus. For his exploits and the role he played in fighting against the Macedonian rebels, he was appointed, in 1904, leader of the Greek struggle in western Macedonia with Kostur as its centre.

Many of the older villagers remembered the dark days of the Andartes; the slaughter, the looting, the frightening things that happened when the Greek Andartes, headed by Pavlos Melas and Germanos Karavangelis, came here in 1904 and began to torment the people. There were some really angry people amongst the Andartes, especially the Cretans. They tormented the people something awful even though they had done nothing to them and were still under Ottoman rule.

Melas’s obituary read: ‘He heroically died on October 18, 1904 in the village Statitsa, Kostur Region’. His last words were: ‘No Bulgarian shall be left alive!’ Unlike Karavitas who said: ‘We don’t need the Macedonians, we need Macedonia!”

4. Book: “АНДАРСКИОТ КОЛЕЖ ВО ЗАГОРИЧЕНИ-1905 ГОДИНА” by Dr. Aleksandar Traianovski.

Dr. Traianovski, in his characteristic way as a historian, strictly followed the facts in order to uncover the great tragedy committed by the cut-throat Greek Andarts in 1905 in the village Zagoricheni and against the entire Macedonian population in Kostur Region.

He used irrefutable facts to show the world the kind of brutality the Greeks employed to triumphantly Hellenize the Macedonian population in Kostur Region.

5. Book: “ГРЧКАТА КОЛОНИЗАЦИЈА ВО ЕГЕЈСКА МАКЕДОНИЈА (1913-1940)”, by Dr. Stoian Kiselinovski.

The Macedonian people experienced total assimilation after Macedonia’s invasion, occupation and division in 1913, a subject which Dr. Kiselinovski has covered well in his book “Greek colonization of Aegean Macedonia (1913-1940)”. Using exceptional arguments, Dr. Kiselinovski has covered the Greek assimilatory policies used and the problem they posed and continued to pose in the de-Macedonian-ization of Macedonia. He calls it an unprecedented genocide in Macedonian history. The terror unleashed on the Macedonian civilian population in the aftermath of the Balkan wars was unprecedented; the brutal way the Greek army

behaved made mothers not want to have children. Entire communities were destroyed just to realize the idea of one country, one nation, one language and one political will.

These are acts of non-recognition, discrimination and assimilation of Macedonians. Dr. Kiselinovski talks about the dangers in modern developments which occurred after the Greek Civil War and led to the shifting of demographics and to a new historical status for the Macedonian population. He argues that 30,000 Macedonians, including 8,000 children, were forced by the Greek authorities to leave their homeland and go to Eastern European countries in order to destroy the ethnic compactness of the last Macedonian oasis in Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions and to make room for a new colonization of Greek occupied Macedonia.

6. Book: “НАРОДНООСЛОБОДИТЕЛНИОТ ФРОНТ И ДРУГИТЕ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ НА МАКЕДОНЦИТЕ ОД ЕГЕЈСКА МАКЕДОНИЈА (1945-1949)”, by Dr. Risto Kiriazovski.

Historian Kiriazovski is recognized by the Macedonian public mostly for his famous book: “Народноослободителниот фронт (НОФ) и другите организации на Македонците од Егејска Македонија (1945-1949)” (“National Liberation Front (NOF) and other Aegean Macedonian Organizations (1945-1949)”.)

Here is what he said about his own book: “The most important point is oriented around NOF as the central leader of the Macedonian National Liberation Movement, which I insist is documented in my work authentically and brings out the most complex events and arguments.”

In the same book, on page 338, there is a quote taken from “Nova Makedonka” April 1, 1948 which says: “Today NOF and AFZH have historical importance and urge the Macedonian people to join the ranks of DAG en masse because their freedom and life can only be guaranteed by an armed struggle!”

According to Pavle Rakovski, a NOF Voden District Conference was held near Voden in Greek occupied Macedonia on June 20,

1945. The Conference was attended by 125 city and village delegates. Pavle Rakovski, member of the top NOF leadership, reported on the ideological content of the struggle and the forms it was expected to take. Vangel Aianovski – Oche, NOF Secretary of the District Trustee Committee, reported on NOF’s financial situation. Among other things, the delegates called for the liquidation of the rural village guards (Poljaks). (Nova Makedonija, 1994.)

7. Book: “ΟΙ ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ (1940−1949)” by G. Gkasis

Gkasis has dedicated his book “The immortal people of Kostur” to those who fought for their freedom, democracy and socialism for Greece with rifle in hand. He wrote that these people died with the words: “Long live freedom, long live socialism, long live the CPG, long live Greece!” And with that they paid tribute to all those who fought in the ranks of ELAS and DAG in the mountains Gramos and Vicho.

Gkasis made a list of casualties (with many inaccuracies) suffered by the Kostur Region villages. This is an important document because it shows the kind of disaster the people of Kostur experienced (see list that follows).

All through his book Gkasis pays tribute to the heroic armed struggle during which the CPG took the people like a storm and led them to fight for their freedom. Unfortunately Gkasis “forgets” to mention that many of those fighters were Macedonians and that the CPG abandoned them and their families in their hour of need; to be driven out of their ancestral lands and to this day not able to return to their homes. So the question Mr. Gkasis, that every well-intentioned Greek should be asking, is: “Why are these people condemned to perpetual injustice?!”

In his book Gkasis also talks about the founders of the CPG and the top party membership in Kostur and cites the following personalities as important:

1. Dzhimas Andreas – Samariotis, lawyer, CPG official, member of the CPG Central Committee, member of the ELAS General Staff. He was a member of the EAM, ELAS and CPG delegation during the talks in Cairo in August 1943. He was from Kostur, organizer of EAM and ELAS.

2. Andonopoulos Antonis - Pericles, worker, activist in the communist movement before the war. Since the beginning of 1943 up until the end of the war he was CPG District Committee Secretary for Kostur Region. He was commissar in a division of DAG during the Greek Civil War.

And this is how our communist comrade Gkasis has informed us Macedonians, historians and Balkan-ites of the “truth” about us Macedonians from Kostur Region.

His reviewers gave Gkasis much respect for his work, especially for mentioning the atrocities committed in Kostur Region, for showing respect for the fallen soldiers and for creating the following table of the fallen in the Kostur Region villages. Unfortunately he makes no distinction between Macedonians and Greeks and all the people he mentions, he mentions only by their Greek names.

The last column in the list of villages that follows shows the number of fallen during the Ilinden Uprising. This information was taken from the book: “Илинденска епопеја” (Развојот на македонското ослободително движење), Volume 1, by Angel Dinev.

People killed in the villages of Kostur Region

Village Name