Introduction - Part 01

Introduction

The Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia became involved in two conflicts during the “terrible decade” from 1939 to 1949. They first became entangled in World War II and later in the Greek Civil War hoping to gain their independence from the Greek yoke or at least gain their human rights as Macedonians inside Greece. In the end they gained nothing and lost everything.

Very little to nothing has been written in the international forum about the Macedonians in Greece and their involvement in these conflicts. Macedonians who lived and still live inside and outside of Greece, to this day, are afraid to speak of the terrible ordeals they went through during the “terrible decade” for fear of repercussions from the Greek authorities, for fear of being humiliated or just because it is too painful for them to remember. To this day it is taboo in Greece to speak of the dreaded so-called Greek Civil War.

The Macedonian people in Greece it seems have been ignored by all sides. Yugoslavia has ignored them because, we are told, it did not want to ruin its good relations with Greece and with the West. Greece on the other hand, to this day claims that Macedonians simply don’t exist and wants to erase them from history. Bulgaria, even though it has a large Macedonian immigrant population from Greece, has yet to admit that the Macedonian people are a distinct ethnic group. Bulgaria to this day still insists that the Macedonians are Bulgarians. Even outside of the Balkan territory, people have said nothing and are content with saying nothing about the Macedonians living in Greece. So in reality no one really cares about the Macedonians in Greece and as a result very little to nothing is known about them, especially in the international scene. “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 of the Macedonian contribution to the struggle against Fascism and Nazism, but also because as distinct people with their own language and culture, the Macedonians living in Greece deserve to be recognized.

This story is about events that took place during the terrible decade and the deception perpetrated by the Greek elite and by their patrons the English and Americans as well as the Russians who used every means possible to fool the Macedonian people to fight and die for their interests. This story is about the Macedonian human factor and what it endured and about its struggles for equality and human rights. It is a story that will reveal how the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia were treated by the Greek authorities and by the Great Powers, particularly by England, Russia and the United States during the terrible decade.

This book will take an extra step to include a chronology of events to show the actions taken over time by the various players and the effects they had on the Macedonian people. The information compiled in the chronology is derived from various sources that include the Macedonian point of view, the Greek point of view and the views of some high level English, American and Russian diplomats.

During these conflicts Greeks on the political right as well as on the political left have accused the Macedonian people 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 were guilty of was that they struggled for equality and human rights and for the right to create their own independent Macedonian state as promised by the Atlantic Charter and by other international conventions.

But despite all promises, both during World War II and during the Greek Civil War, that the Macedonians would get what they earned by fighting against the fascists… they got nothing. And as we will show, they lost everything… just because the Greeks and England wanted them out of Greek occupied Macedonia.

All through the war years the Greek leadership was divided into two camps; the Democrats leaning towards the political left and the Royalists and Republicans leaning towards the political right. Unfortunately both sides had the same idea for the Macedonians; get rid of them at any cost.

This book will analyze the ways and means by which this was done with assistance from the English and the Americans.

After Greece was occupied by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) was the first organization to 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 Macedonians involved in the struggle on their side.

“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 (CPG), 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)

Between 1912 when Macedonia was invaded, occupied, partitioned and annexed by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and 1939, when World War Two started, the Macedonian people had been separated by artificially imposed borders, exiled from their ancestral homes, robbed, humiliated, tortured, murdered, jailed, had their lands and properties confiscated, names changed, toponyms renamed, prohibited from speaking their language and made to feel like outsiders in their own ancestral homes.

In addition to exiling tens of thousands of Macedonians, including Muslim Macedonians, the Greek State, during the 1920’s imported over a million Christian Turkish colonists and settlers from Asia

Minor and other parts of Turkey, and settled over six-hundred thousand on Macedonian lands.

There are some people, especially the Greeks, who to this day believe that the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia were communists and fought either for communist ideology or for other foreign interests attempting to break up Greek territories and hand them over to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria or even the Soviet Union. None of this however is true. The Macedonians were not the architects of any of the conflicts that took place in Greek occupied Macedonia between 1912 and 1949. The only reason the Macedonians even paid attention to the communists, as we said earlier, was because the communists were the only group of people to offer them what they wanted the most, freedom, human rights, the right to call themselves Macedonian, the right to speak their Macedonian language and the right to unite their Macedonia.

The Macedonian people began to look towards the communists when the Communist International (Comintern) offered them concessions. After part of Macedonia was annexed by Greece the Comintern felt that it was obliged to consider concessions like offering the Macedonian people in Greece autonomy and the right to self-determination or at least recognize the Macedonian nation with full rights and privileges. The Comintern saw the Macedonian people as a potentially strong ally that could be persuaded to rally for the communist cause. This was opposite to earlier considerations made by the monarchist families in Europe and the Western Great Powers whose aims were to “partition” Macedonia and “assimilate” the Macedonian people into the nations which annexed Macedonian territories.

It is important to understand that the Macedonian territories and people were “divided” with the blessing of the European monarchies and the Great Powers. The annexation of territories was expected but the “total assimilation” of the Macedonian nation into three and later four different parts was not only unexpected but unprecedented. Not even Gotse Delchev predicted that. This was done to destroy the Macedonian nation and erase it from history. The Comintern, on the other hand, offered an alternative and the

Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia took it. Unfortunately the Greek communists had different ideas for them.

Also, under Comintern pressure the Greek communists admitted that Macedonians lived in Greek occupied Macedonia and agreed to give them rights. Unfortunately those rights never materialized because the Greek communists, as we shall see, had other plans for the Macedonians. Their aim was to get rid of them once and for all because they posed a threat to their country. We must remember that Macedonia rightfully belongs to the Macedonian people and not to the Greek people. Greece acquired Greek occupied Macedonia by act of war and against the wishes of the Macedonian people. Deep down every Greek, be it fascist, royalist, republican, capitalist or communist, knows that. As a result every Greek faction since Greece acquired Macedonian territories has made every effort to ensure that the Macedonia Greece stole is not taken back by the Macedonian people. The Greeks will do anything in the name of protecting Greek and western interests, even commit genocide. What is even more bizarre about this Greek obsession is that they found England to be a willing partner in this.

As history has shown, the vast majority of Greeks, including many Greek communists, have done nothing for the Macedonian people that did not fit with their own interests. Only when the Greeks needed Macedonian help did they offer the Macedonians “special consideration”. Then, when they no longer needed them the special considerations were taken away. When the anti-Macedonian Greek political right, royalists and republicans needed the Greek people to rally behind them against the Macedonians, the Greek communists made it possible by offering the Macedonian people anti-Greek concessions. They offered the Macedonian people education in the Macedonian language or the right to break away from Greece, which angered many Greeks thus prompting them to act against the Macedonians. In other words, even the good things the Greek communists did for the Macedonian people were done to hurt them. The Macedonian people were simply pawns in a long Greek game.

So the most important question to ask at this point is were the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia sacrificed for the sake of a “revolution” or because of some “perpetrated fraud”? Was

the so-called Greek Civil War a “spontaneous” or a “planned” war to eradicate the communists and to get rid of the Macedonians? Because, as we will show, the top Communist Party of Greece leadership made every effort to control this war so that the Macedonians could not win and so that the communists would lose. To make sure the Macedonians did not win, the CPG made sure no Macedonians entered top political or military positions. In fact the top CPG political and military positions were occupied by the likes of Nikos Zahariadis and Markos Vafiadis, both Turkish colonists from Asia Minor who had the most to lose if the Macedonians won. Also, every time the Macedonians tried to build and strengthen their own political or military forces, the CPG stepped in and stopped them. The only time the Macedonians were allowed to lift up their heads was when the Greek communists needed them to make more sacrifices.

There are many other questions that we will ask and attempt to answer. For example: Why were Macedonian organizations created in Yugoslavia and sent to Greek occupied Macedonia to prepare for war, at a point in time when all wars had ended and the world was divided into spheres of influence? Why were Macedonians told to go to Greek occupied Macedonia and fight to re-unite Macedonia at a time when the iron curtain was down and ran through Macedonia dividing Greek occupied Macedonia from the other parts of Macedonia?

The architects of the “Greek Civil War” were well-aware that re-uniting Macedonia at this point in time was impossible and very dangerous. The United States of America and England were against re-uniting Macedonia and such an attempt was suicidal. The United States of America and England were prepared to start World War III to keep Greece intact and under their influence. Both Tito, the leader of communist Yugoslavia, and Stalin, the leader of the communist Soviet Union, knew that! So why then did they push the Macedonian people into a suicidal war? Both Tito and Stalin knew that Stalin had given Greece to England at Yalta, so why push the Macedonian people into a war that they knew would destroy them?

To answer these questions we need to look at the outcome of this so-called Greek Civil War. England, the United States, the Western

world in general and the Greek political right wanted to destroy the communists in Greece while England and every Greek of every faction wanted to get rid of the Macedonians from Greece. The Macedonian people were standing in the way of Greek and Western interests in Greece so a situation needed to be created to remove them. In other words the Macedonian people were put in a situation where they had to fight and die or permanently leave their homeland. This is exactly what happened in the end and this falls exactly in line with England’s and Greece’s long-term objectives. Both England and Greece wanted to get rid of the Macedonians from Greece and have a Macedonia without Macedonians! In the end, the Greek communists made that possible.

Another hard question to ask is did the Macedonian leaders and people in general in Greek occupied Macedonia know what was happening to them during the terrible decade? Did they know that they were being played in order to serve foreign interests? Did they know that they were headed for genocide?

This basically was the situation that the Macedonian people found themselves in during WW II and the Greek Civil War.

The Macedonian people in World War Two

On March 23, 1939, Italian troops landed in Albania occupying its territory and initiating World War Two. Then, on October 28, 1940, soon after consolidating control in Albania, Italy declared war on Greece.

By the end of April, 1941, after Germany, Italy and Bulgaria occupied Greece, Greek occupied Macedonia was divided into three occupied zones: Eastern Macedonia east from the river Struma along with Thrace was occupied by Fascist Bulgaria, the southern part of Kostur Region, Kozheni Region and part of Lerin Region was occupied by Fascist Italy and central Macedonia to Solun was occupied by Fascist Germany.

The Germans and Italians did not care one way or another about Macedonian affairs as long as there was no trouble for them so the Macedonian people were not prohibited from expressing their Macedonian sentiments and from speaking their Macedonian language, like they were under Greek control. As a result, the Macedonian people felt culturally free.

The biggest trouble the Macedonian people faced during the occupation came from armed Greeks and Greek quislings who allied themselves with the new occupiers. The Greeks on all sides had an inherent hatred for Macedonians and abused them at every opportunity, even under foreign occupation. The occupiers allowed them because they served their purpose. That was until the Macedonian people had had enough and began to rebel, not against the occupiers but against the mistreatment they were receiving from the Greek armed gangs serving the occupiers. And since the Germans did not care to help them, many Macedonians began to flee to the mountains and became outlaws. This was not the case with the Italian occupiers however who understood the Macedonian problem with the Greeks, especially in areas where Macedonians were a majority and still abused, so the Italians decided to allow them (more on this later) to arm themselves.

After Fascist Italy capitulated on September 8, 1943, the Macedonian armed bands remained behind and most of them stood

guard protecting the Macedonian people. The Bulgarian Fascists tried to infiltrate them but with little success. The biggest problem they faced was the Greek propaganda which labeled them “autonomists” and “fascists” working for the Bulgarian cause.

There were, however, other armed bands such as the “Ohrana” which had succumbed to Bulgarian influence and turned against their own people but most bands consisted of patriotic Macedonians who fought for Macedonian interests. In this story and in my books I call these bands “counter-bands”.

The Macedonians who began to flee to the mountains in 1941 eventually formed their own Macedonian organizations. In this story and in my books I call them “partisans” or “resistance forces”. As their numbers increased they also began to form armed groups and defend themselves and their villages from the Greek armed bands serving the occupiers.

I should mention that these Macedonian armed groups rarely attacked the occupiers, especially the Germans because the Germans had strict rules about being engaged in armed conflicts and in ambushes. One of those rules was that if the partisans killed even a common German soldier the Germans would publicly execute more than a dozen, randomly selected innocent civilians from the local population. As a result the partisans stayed away from the Germans until much later, after the Greek liberation movement began to organize in February 1942.

After fascist Germany, Italy and Bulgaria consolidated their control in Greek occupied Macedonia, the Greek communists were the first to rebel. They formed a national liberation front (EAM) on September 27, 1941 in response to the new regimes taking power and called for the entire Greek population, including the Macedonians, to resist fascism.

After Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, the communists in Greece went on alert and began to accelerate their revolutionary activities.

I should mention at this point that it was by no accident that communists began to organize in Greece first during the triple occupation; not for ideological reasons, but to protect Greece from being “liberated” by the Slav communists from the north. Because the communists took charge of Greece during and after the occupation, the Comintern naturally assumed that Greece would join the communist block of countries and there would be no need for the Red Army to invade and liberate it. Also, because communists were in charge of Greece it was assumed that the Balkan communist countries would work together for their common interest. But when the Greek communists were invited to join the other Balkan communists and form a common communist Balkan liberation movement and headquarters, the Greek communists opted out.

Then, when the top Greek communist leaders were expected to look north to Moscow and to Stalin for their salvation, they abruptly turned west towards England, which at the time was viewed as their mortal enemy. Naturally one would want to know why?

Why would the Greek communists want England, a capitalist country, to be their “friend” instead of a communist superpower such as the USSR?

The answer is simple; England promised to give the Greeks what they wanted most and that was to keep Greece intact and out of Slavic hands, whereas the USSR offered them a Balkan federation without Greek Macedonia. Also, let us not forget that England created Greece and the Greek elite were loyal to it. England, as we know, created Greece in order to keep Russia out of Mediterranean waters. Therefore England was willing to do everything in its power to keep Greece intact and out of communist hands. That is why Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister, insisted that Greece remain under British influence in his meeting with Stalin in Yalta in October 1944, at the time when Churchill and Stalin were deciding how to divide the Balkans.

England even took further steps to ensure Greece remained intact and under its influence by entrusting it to people it could count on. England entrusted Greece to the CPG because it could count on its top leaders to safeguard it and keep it out of communist hands.

England made sure its own agents, Siantos and Zahariadis led the CPG at critical times. For more information on these two individuals see the section entitled “Personalities” in this book. Another benefit of having the CPG liberate Greece was because it had the power to rally the Macedonians and the Greek working class. And, as we know, the Macedonian people and the Greek working class did spill their blood and did liberate Greece but not for themselves. The Greek communists made sure Greece was handed back to the bourgeoisie.

I should also mention at this point that it was by no accident that the communists in Greece gave the Macedonian people a new name; “Slavo-Macedonians”. The Greeks from the entire political spectrum, including the communists, did not want to publicly admit that Macedonians existed in Greece so, after Greece acquired Macedonian territories, the Greeks began to refer to Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia as “endopii” (locals or indigenous). Then, when the Greek communists needed Macedonian assistance they, out of the blue, ambiguously began to refer to them as “Slavo-Macedonians” meaning “Slavic speaking Greeks who lived in Macedonia”.

The word “Macedonians” in the reference “Slavo-Macedonians” was strategically placed to fool the Macedonian people into believing that the communists had recognized them as “Macedonians”. For the rest of the world the word “Slav” was purposely place there to make the Macedonian people look like they were from a Slavic stock not indigenous to Macedonia and not related to the Ancient Macedonians. This became obvious when the Republic of Macedonia became independent in 1991, during which time Greece made it clear to the world that the Slavic speaking Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia had nothing to do with the Ancient Macedonians from 2,300 years ago. In fact, Greece went as far as calling the Turkish Christian colonists and settlers it deposited in Greek occupied Macedonia in the 1920’s “the real Macedonians and descendents of the Ancient Macedonians” while maintaining that the Slavic speaking Macedonians were a creation of Tito and were not Macedonians at all.

This should give you an idea of how far Greece is willing to go to keep the existence of Macedonians in Greece or anywhere in the world, a secret. The term “Slavophone” came into public use during the CPG Central Committee 8th Plenum, held in January 1942, when the CPG decided to treat the Macedonian people as a “Slavophone minority” so as not to let them fall under Bulgarian influence. The CPG did this to stop the minorities in Greece, especially the so-called “Slavophone” Macedonians, from being seduced by the current occupiers because of the oppression they suffered in the past under Greek rule. However, the name “Slavo-Macedonians” was introduced on an ethnic map of Macedonia in 1918 by Sotiriadis, a Greek by origin. Greek scientists at the time were charged with finding a new name for the Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia.

More Macedonians began to join the liberation movement in Greece after the Atlantic Charter was made public in August 1941. The Atlantic Charter gave the Macedonian people new hope and a chance to become independent of Greece; that is if they fought on the side of the allies, which they did. Even more Macedonians joined the partisans in Greek occupied Macedonia when they found out that the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia were rebelling against the occupiers and preparing to create their own independent Republic of Macedonia within a Yugoslav federation.

The first anti-fascist war for national liberation in the Republic of Macedonia began on October 11, 1941. Today October 11 is the “Second Ilinden” for all Macedonians everywhere in the world.

In February 1942, EAM (Greek national liberation movement) and the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) decided to create a new Greek army, appropriately named ELAS. The first ELAS unit in Greek occupied Macedonia was created in Kostur Region on December 7, 1942 and consisted of 10 Macedonians, 7 Greeks and 2 Vlachs.

After the CPG created ELAS it began to ban Macedonian armed groups and forcibly disband them. The Macedonian partisans were then inducted into ELAS units.

ELAS began its campaign against the occupiers in earnest on December 3, 1942 with its first attack on a Greek gendarme post guarding a bridge in Boemidzhki, Gumendzhe Region. ELAS units successfully destroyed the Greek gendarme killing all the German guards and capturing the gendarmes. ELAS bombed and destroyed the bridge along with a German train traveling over it. The train engineer and a German officer (a major) on the train were killed. One hundred and twenty regular partisans and two hundred and fifty volunteers from the neighbouring Gumendzhe villages took part in this operation.

On the night of December 7, 1942, the same ELAS units attacked the Mavrodendro mine near the village Fanos, and took large amounts of dynamite and other items.

On December 7, 1942, the first partisan ELAS unit was formed in Kostur Region which consisted mostly of Macedonian men and women. Of the total number of partisans in this unit 70% were Macedonian.

As punishment for destroying the German train, bombing the bridge and attacking the watch tower, the Germans, killed 25 innocent people in Solun. And this is how the uprising against the occupiers began in Greece.

After that ELAS units began to concentrate their actions against Greek gendarmes and armed groups.

The next turning point for ELAS, for the Macedonian partisan armed groups and for the counter-band groups, was the Red Army’s victory in the battle for Stalingrad which lasted from January 10 to February 2, 1943. After the Red Army gained strategic advantage it forced the Germans to retreat toward the Dnieper River. At the same time joint British and American forces took over Sicily and began preparations to land troops in Normandy and Italy.

In the meantime on February 18, 1943, the Italians and Bulgarians in Kostur Region decided to recruit and arm more Macedonian counter-bands and have them fight against the partisans and against the people’s liberation movement in general. While this was going

on, on February 24, 1943, another partisan unit was formed from the existing Macedonian armed groups in Kostur Region. The first Lerin Region Macedonian partisan unit called “Vicho” was formed in the village Lagen on February 28, 1943. Among the first fighters to join this unit was Ilia Dimovski – Gotse, who later became a key player in the resistance movement. A few days later more Macedonians enlisted bringing the number to thirty five. A little later the Germans began to create and dispatch more Greek armed quisling terror gangs and unleash them on the civilian population. One such armed gang was formed in Kailiari Region from the Turkish Christian settlers and colonists from Asia Minor who were deposited in Greek occupied Macedonia during the 1920s. Later the Germans created more such gangs including the one in Enidzhe-Vardar Region consisting of five hundred armed criminals, thugs and assassins. This gang was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Poulios, a Greek who collaborated with the Germans. These terror gangs were granted freedom of action and to act together with the quisling Greek police and gendarmerie. They were allowed to carry out blockades in the Macedonian villages and other populated areas and terrorize the people, especially those who were associated with and supported the partisans and the people’s liberation movement. These gangs were allowed to place curfews and control the people’s movements. Movement in and out of the controlled settlements was not possible without their special approval. In time, by acting independently, these German sponsored Greek armed gangs together with the Italian and Bulgarian sponsored counter-bands intensified their terror campaign against the Macedonian civilian population and against the partisans.

These same gangs were later deployed by the occupiers to provide security support for their bases and movements as well as to inform the occupiers of imminent partisan attacks. They were also deployed on the entire road network from the Yugoslav-Greek to the Greek-Albanian border in order to protect the bridges, telephone and telegraph lines, and to participate in arrest operations in clearing the ground of partisans. They were also required to join the occupying forces in combat operations against the partisan units in the liberated settlements.

When the Macedonian people in Kostur Region had had enough of these Greek belligerent bands they formed the “Macedonian Committee” for Kostur Region which appeared on March 5, 1943. A group of forty-eight villagers, representatives of the various villages in Kostur Region convened and decided to form the “Macedonian Committee” for Kostur Region whose aim was to defend the sixty villages in that region. The Italians, as I mentioned earlier, allowed them to arm themselves in order to protect themselves from the Greeks. The first Macedonian armed counter-band was formed in Kostur and consisted of 9,850 armed men. They called themselves fighters, defenders against the armed Greek nationalist gangs. But, the moment the “Macedonian Committee” was formed the Greek communists began a fierce propaganda campaign against it, labeling it “fascist”, “autonomist”, “Bulgarian”, etc., in order to discourage Macedonians from joining it and to make sure it looked like it was anti-liberation and anti-partisan.

As the liberation movement began to intensify the quislings also intensified their terror activities against the civilian population, prompting more Macedonians to join the Macedonian armed groups which, in spite of being prohibited by the Greek communists, continued to exist and grow resulting in the unit “Gotse Delchev” to be formed on May 22, 1943 in the village Prekopana, Lerin Region. This unit was formed by combining fighters from the “Dame Gruev” unit of the Republic of Macedonia and from newly recruited local fighters. By this time Macedonian armed partisan units from the Republic of Macedonia were crossing over the Greek-Yugoslav border and making contact not only with local Macedonian armed partisan units but also with the Macedonian population. My father told me a story one time which went something like this: One morning the entire village (Oshchima) was alarmed at the site of armed men in uniforms descending down the mountain from Besfina. The people thought they were Greeks coming down to destroy the village but were quickly reassured by the local partisans that they were Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia. According to my father this was the first time the people of Oshchima learned about what was going on across the border, about liberation plans and about forming an independent Republic of Macedonia. The Greeks did their best to keep the Macedonian people in the dark.

But, as much as the Greek communists did not want the Macedonian partisans to exist, at the time they had no power to stop them. Unfortunately it did not take long before the CPG began to exploit them. Towards the end of May 1943, the CPG decided to form a special Macedonian unit in Lerin Region composed exclusively of Macedonian fighters and appointed Paskal Mitrevski, who later became a key figure in the resistance movement, as its commander. In addition to performing combat duties, this unit was also responsible for spreading propaganda aimed against the “Macedonian Committee” in Kostur Region to convince the Macedonian counter-bandits not to support it. But despite its successes, the CPG disbanded the unit for “unknown reasons”.

As I mentioned earlier, representatives from the Greek, Yugoslav and Albanian communist parties met on June 20, 1943, and agreed to establish mutual co-operation between the national liberation forces in all the Balkan countries in order to liberate the Balkans. They agreed in principle that it was necessary to establish mutual cooperation and, above all, unity of action involving all the communist national liberation forces in the Balkans by creating a single command under one chief general staff. They were all aware that by forming a single Balkan general headquarters, they would be able to draw more support and amplify the people’s liberation struggle. Having one general staff would also make it possible to stamp out “chauvinistic tendencies”, contribute to strengthening the unity of the Balkan people and provide new forces in the struggle for a final and universal victory for democracy in the Balkans. They agreed that this would also eliminate or at least minimize all difficulties and, after the fascist occupiers were expelled, pave the way for creating a Balkan federation. But, even though the Greek representatives agreed and signed the agreement the top CPG leadership outright rejected it. On top of that the CPG initiated a new program to form a youth organization it called EPON (All Greek National Youth Organization) and charged it with implementing a cultural and artistic theatre as well as choral programs and activities. These Greek cultural events, Greek staged dramas, Greek revolutionary songs, Greek national poetry and Greek folk dances, were to be about the struggles of the Greek

people, and were to be aimed at the Macedonian settlements in Greek occupied Macedonia.

The Macedonian “Dame Gruev” unit from Bitola which participated with the “Vicho” and “Gotse Delchev” units in Greek occupied Macedonia in disarming counter-bands in the Kostur Region villages, on July 1, 1943, pulled out and left for Bitola. In the meantime during the four months after its formation the “Vicho” unit had grown to more than eighty fighters. On July 20, 1943 this unit was split into four smaller units. The “Vicho” unit, the “Kaimakchalan” unit commanded by Ilia Dimovski - Gotse, the “Bigla” unit commanded by Mito Tupurkovski – Titan and the “Dauli” unit. They were each named after the mountains where they operated. In September 1943, the “Lazo Trpovski” unit was formed in Kostur Region. This unit was appropriately named after Lazo Trpovski, a well-deserved fighter and political leader from this region, killed by a band of Greek collaborators.

On the international stage in the meantime, after Stalin dissolved the Comintern on May 15, 1943, under pressure from the USA and Great Britain to allow each communist party to decide on national matters on its own, the CPG on July 2, 1943, declared that: “While waiting for the ultimate goal - socialism, the party of the proletariat, the Communist Party of Greece - is today fighting for national liberation, and then, after the war is over, it will fight for a people’s democracy...” In other words the CPG decided to split its struggle in two parts, giving Greece’s liberation first priority and socialism second. At the same time, on July 5, 1943, the CPG drafted an agreement to put ELAS under the command of the British Military Mission at Allied Headquarters for the Middle East and to work with the forces of the National and Social Renaissance (EKKA) and the National Democratic Greek Alliance (EDES), that is, its former opponents. The CPG did this to unite all political forces in Greece and to create a coalition government. As I said before, instead of looking north to ally itself with the Balkan communist parties, the Communist Party of Greece turned west to ally itself with capitalist England. The agreement was signed on July 16, 1943, by ELAS Commander Sarafis and English Mission Military Chief Colonel Edie Mayers. By this agreement ELAS was recognized as an army and was subordinated to Middle East Command.

This was done without Macedonian consent even though out of the 70,000 ELAS fighters, 40,000 were Macedonians. Based on this Agreement, the EDES quisling forces, led by Colonel Napoleon Zervas, and those of EKKA, led by Colonel Psaros, were to also be placed under English command. EDES and EKKA were organized by the Greek bourgeoisie and the English to fight against EAM and ELAS. As a result English officers, mainly Intelligence Service agents, began to occupy posts in ELAS supreme headquarters as well as in all larger ELAS unit headquarters. The English, of course, lost no time in creating their own extended networks consisting of well paid domestic spies. They successfully did this with ease and with little to no resistance. According to information provided by Vasilis Bardzhotas, member of the CPG politburo: “All large units, divisions and groups of divisions were actually placed in the hands of the Intelligence Service...”

Around July 18 and 19, 1943, after a twenty day campaign in the Lerin and Kostur Regions, the “Gotse Delchev” unit broke away and crossed over into the Republic of Macedonia. Then, on July 20, 1943, Macedonian partisans active on Vicho and western Kaimakchalan met in the village Belkamen, Lerin Region, and decided to re-organize the Macedonian forces into three units. The first was to be led by Aetos and operate in Vicho. The second was to be led by Ilia Dimovski – Gotse and operate in Bigla – Koreshtata and the third was ordered to go to western Kaimakchalan. But because the majority of the leaders and fighters in these units were Macedonian it did not bode well with the Communist Party of Greece, which objected bitterly but the Macedonians continued to conduct business as usual and recruit more Macedonian fighters from an overwhelming pool of volunteers.

There was also the matter of the “Macedonian Committee” and other counter-bands and their armed units still active in Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions. These bands mistrusted all Greeks including the CPG, EAM and ELAS. Being “concerned” about their existence but unable to do something about it, the communist leadership sought outside help. The help came in the form of a suggestion, not from a Greek but from a Yugoslav, more precisely from a Montenegrin code named Tempo. Svetozar Vukmanovich-

Tempo was a CPY Central Committee delegate in Macedonia, who during a meeting with Siantos, CPG General Secretary, in August 1943, suggested that Siantos create a special Macedonian military unit in Greek occupied Macedonia for the purpose of leading, agitating and spreading propaganda in the Macedonian language.

In September 1943, the CPG leadership opened Greek elementary schools in the areas under ELAS control in the western part of Greek occupied Macedonia so that Macedonian children would be taught Greek which, of course, bitterly upset the Macedonian people, including the Macedonian fighters who were fighting in the liberation struggle.

On September 8, 1943, Fascist Italy capitulated leaving the counter-bands in Kostur Region on their own which prompted many Macedonian counter-bandits to join the partisans. During the same month , by orders from the 28th regiment of the National Liberation Army of Greece, Ilia Dimovski – Gotse’s unit was transferred to Gramos where it remained until December of the same year when it was again ordered to return to Vicho to help put down enemy activities in that region.

On October 3, 1943, about 250 counter-bandits joined up with a German unit of about 300 soldiers and attacked the partisan positions in the areas near the villages Nestram, Radigozha and Chuka, all populated by Macedonians. During the three days of fighting many houses were destroyed by fire and a large number of crimes were committed.

On October 10, 1943, as I mentioned earlier, the popular “Lazo Trpovski” unit was created by the CPG Regional Committee for Kostur Region which attracted a massive number of recruits from the Macedonian population. The CPG District Committee’s decision was made at ELAS XXVIII Regiment Headquarters and the unit was formed at the foot of Mount Malimadi near the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region. When it was formed the unit had 28 fighters. It was created from a local partisan group of fighters, mostly from the village Smrdesh, Kostur Region, who earlier acted in that area under ELAS, and from a group of Macedonians who had just returned from Bulgaria. The unit was part of the ELAS XXVIII

Regiment and acted under ELAS command. The “Lazo Trpovski” unit lasted only two months before it was disbanded in December 1943 and its fighters were absorbed into the ELAS XXVIII regiment units which acted in the area of Mount Vicho.

October 20, 1943, during a meeting in the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region, a separate Macedonian organization called SNOF (Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front) was created. SNOF was allowed to recruit fighters under its military wing called the Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Army (SNOV). We must remember however, that the people who created SNOF were Greeks who belonged to the CPG District Committee for Western Macedonia. SNOF was created for the purpose of disbanding the “Macedonian Committee” and its counter-bands. After the first month it was created SNOF membership rose to about 6,000 of whom 1,834 were women.

At the same time the English were working very hard to maintain Greece’s integrity. According to a British classified telegram, sent on January 2, 1944, the British Prime Minister said that the English were doing their utmost to preserve the Greek territory and to prevent any threat to Greek Macedonia from developing. “The news that we are taking such a strong line on Greece’s behalf”, said the telegram, “should please the Archbishop and other Greek politicians and might promote unity among them. On the other hand, we must realize that if this information is given to the Archbishop and if he is allowed to pass it on, it will immediately become public property. I am very doubtful that this would be advisable at least until we know whether the United States and Soviet Governments are in agreement with us. There have been innumerable reports about propaganda which is being conducted in favour of an independent Macedonia and of incursions by Yugoslav and Bulgarian partisans into Greek territory. Almost all reports state that EAM are in close touch with these Slav forces, and there is enough evidence that Bulgarian units are taking part on the attack on the Zervas (Greek political right). If EAM are in fact assisting or even supporting these pro-Macedonian activities, they will lose a great deal of support even amongst their own members. For the moment people in Athens and most other areas of Greece have so much to think about that they cannot pay attention to events in the north, but once they have time for