Introduction - Part 08

When the terrorized Macedonian people living in Greek occupied Macedonia thought that things could not possibly get any worse, they did. With the involvement of the Greek press in the vilification of the Macedonians, terror in Greek occupied Macedonia was reaching a new dimension and all this with Great Britain’s blessing. To hide the peoples’ discontentment with the new situation and to justify the terror perpetrated against them, the Greek government invented the “Slav Threat”. The propaganda machine and press were quick to pick up on this and place the blame for internal problems “outside” to the north. The Slav threat from the north became the rallying cry of the right to further punish the Macedonian people for wanting to be Macedonian and live as equals with the democratic Greeks. The “Slav threat from the North” was further exacerbated by a provocative speech Winston Churchill gave in the United States in 1946 and reinforced the idea in the frightened minds of the Greek people that indeed such a thread did exist. This manifestation of the rightist Greek imagination is today used as Greece’s official history. Greeks today use this as an example of how Tito aspired to annex their so-called precious “Greek-Macedonia” to Yugoslavia. The manifestation of the so-called “Slav threat” had two aims; (1) to frighten the Greek people and instill in them the thought that Greece will be attacked and destroyed by the Slavs from the north and (2) create an atmosphere of mistrust between the Macedonian and Greek people in order to destroy the close relationship they had formed during the struggle against the occupiers which was forged by the spilling of blood on both sides to free Greece. The Greek media further vilified the Macedonian people by linking them to the “Slav threat from the North” as being the agents who were to aid the Slavs from the north in the destruction of Greece. This no doubt was another “Greek policy of genocide” to root out and exterminate the remaining Macedonian presence in Greece. By falsely accusing the Macedonian population of acts of treachery the Greek government was hoping to turn the tide not only on eliminating communism in Greece but to also once and for all get rid of the Macedonian menace from Greece. The Greek rightists had no moral or ethical problem with calling Macedonians “turncoats” and “collaborators” when they were not. The Greek rightists saw the Macedonians as vermin that needed to be exterminated so that Greece could be purified and they could bask in the glory of Hellenism. Here is what the rightist Greek newspaper “Elinikos Voras” # 114 had to say on June 13th, 1945: “If they [Macedonians] are that much interested in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria we will not oppose them; we will give them to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria as a gift. They can take them away and relocate them in their rich fields and let our side be cleansed. There are no more that 30,000 of them. Good riddance, they can go and leave us in peace. They are the weeds and stones of our society”. (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 169) “Elinikos Voras” did not bother to hide or mask its wishes when it called on the Greek people to rise against the Macedonians and drive them out of their ancestral lands without delay. “Elinikos Voras” did not bother with legal and moral issues or with international rights afforded to the Macedonians when it called for genocide against the Macedonian population which had lived on those lands for many centuries. “Elinikos Voras” in fact was so obsessed with the so-called phantom “Macedonian autonomous movement” and the so-called “Slav threat” from the north that it made it its most endearing theme to vilify the Macedonians by continuously publishing adventure stories and hypothetical scenarios of a non-existent enemy attempting to “grab” their Macedonia. In one of its columns on March 24th, 1945 “Elinikos Voras” wrote: “We have information from a reliable source that Captain Amintas Avgerinos (I.

Papadopoulos from the village Pesoshintsa) of the 28th ELAS (National Liberation Army of Greece or NLAG) brigade, in larger part composed of Slavo-Macedonians, does not recognize the Varkiza agreement, and has formed an armed group which now roams around the villages Pesoshintsa, Leskoves, Popozhani, Vrbenik, Kamenik and Voshtareni, where he is terrorizing the residents and forcing them to cross over to Bitola and to join the ranks of the Bulgarian detachments commanded by Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, who is fighting for Macedonia’s autonomy…” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 169) “Elinikos Voras” did not care to know or report the facts. All it cared about was to propagate hatred against the Macedonian people by continuously publishing fantasies. Contrary to “Elinikos Voras’s” allegations, Amintas Avgerinos, did not send Macedonian fighters to join Ilija Dimovski – Gotse’s Macedonian brigade in the Republic of Macedonia. In fact Amintas Avgerinos was a disciplined NLAG officer and trusted member of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) who obediently followed the party line when the CPG itself was taking a stand against the Macedonian Liberation Movement Organization, the same organization that fought side by side with the Greeks to liberate Greece from the Germans and Bulgarians. “Elinikos Voras” took it upon itself to label the Macedonian detachments as “having autonomous tendencies” knowing full well that the very same Macedonian detachments fought bloody battles against the autonomist counter-bands in Kostur and Lerin Regions and against the Bulgarian sponsored “Ohrana” in Voden Region. By fighting against Greece’s enemies, including the foreign sponsored autonomist organizations like the Ohrana, side by side with the democratic citizens of Greece, the Macedonian people clearly demonstrated their desire to live as equals with the Greeks, as Greek citizens and as recognized ethnic Macedonians. Anything outside of that is Greek propaganda, the same propaganda which today is offered as Greek history. I also want to mention here that if anyone should be accused of having “autonomist ideas” it should be the British. It was no secret, at least not to the Macedonians, that during 1945-1946 the British government and Greek security forces through the political officer Bafas and through various collaborators of the occupiers were interested in creating an autonomous movement in Lerin Region. If anyone should be accused of irregularities it should be the British Vice-Consul Hill who was the one weaving conspiracies. This information was made available to the UN Inquiry Commission by Dr. Janidis, a Lerin Region doctor, in March 1947. It took a lot of courage on the part of Dr. Janidis to divulge this information and as a result of this he lost his life. Another Greek nationalist newspaper that also fed the flames of hatred against this phantom “Slav threat” from the north was “Nea Alithia” which on August 8th, 1945 wrote: “Greece fought, suffered, sacrificed and today is victorious but it cannot ignore threats from the north…” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 170) Yet another rightist Greek newspaper the “Ethniki Floga”, an organ of Napoleon Zervas, a former occupier collaborator now under British influence, on December 23rd, 1946 waved another “Slav threat” flag giving Greek nationalists the signal to start terrorizing the anti-Fascist democratic citizens of Greece by printing the following: “The danger is patient and is always there. As long as Soviet Russia is not contained within its own borders the danger will lurk and make us uneasy threatening our lives and our country. As long as Russian watchtowers are closer than 30 km from the Aegean Sea they will continue to attack. With burning heat provided by their branches Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania the communists will burn our state because it is in their nature. There is only one way to escape this –full destruction of this banditry which breaks the law of justice and makes this treachery possible.

The lozenge is war without hesitation or mercy. War until the enemy is transformed into food for vultures and wild beasts or it is in chains in the prisons from which there is no escape.” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, pages 169, 170) Attacks against the Macedonian people living in Greece from Athenian newspapers were just as vicious engaging in brutal anti-Macedonian campaigns through the newspapers “Elefteria” and “Elenikos Kirix”. On January 28th, 1946 “Elefteria” published an open letter demanding the expulsion of all Macedonians from their native homeland. “The Slavo-

Macedonians can leave our Macedonia. They can go wherever they want. They need to disappear from here; they need to emigrate immediately and compulsorily. There is no place for them here.” (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, pages 171, 172) In a similar tone the nationalist paper “Ethnikos Kirix” paved the way for conflict and for persecuting the Macedonians when it proposed, “that there is a need to get rid of 180,000 Slavo-Macedonians as soon as possible”. Even stronger criticism against the Macedonians came from the newspapers “Foni tis Kastorias” and “Ethnos” when they published quotes from Periklis Ilijadis, a former Nazi collaborator, insisting that, “there is no place for Greeks and Macedonians in Greek-Macedonia”. (Andonovski, Hristo. Vistinata za Egejska Makedonija. Skopje: Misla, 1971, page 172) In spite of the sacrifices the Macedonian people made to safeguard the security and integrity of Greece, the rightist elements of Greece were bent on destroying them. When they thought their situation could not get any worse, it did. If terrorizing and threatening them with death was not enough, the Greeks were now bent on exterminating the Macedonian people to the last one. The Macedonian people were now faced with a dilemma: remain at home and accept fate in the hands of the blood thirsty Nazi collaborators or forever leave their homes and ancestral lands and cross over the border? Out of the two evils, the Macedonians chose to remain at home and together with the democratic people of Greece, resumed their struggle for their freedom, equality and human rights for all. The people had had enough of the lawlessness and brutality committed by the Greek nationalists and their armed wings the National Guard, armed bands and police. The very same sentiment was echoed by the world public which vehemently disapproved of how the Greek government and the British handled the situation. The problems between the Greek government and the democratic people of Greece began with defeat of the Papandreou government in December 1944 and the signing of the Varkiza agreement on February 12th, 1945 which basically robbed the left of its power. This is also the time when the British took advantage of the situation and stepped up their influence in supporting only those governments that supported the British agenda in Greece, which was to get rid of the communist menace. British Ambassador Leaper made sure governments that strayed were short lived. The government of General Plastiras, which inherited the Papandreou government was quickly toppled by the nationalists who had more influence in Greek affairs than the highest ranking politicians in the government. The reason for toppling the Plastiras government was because Plastiras during the Varkiza talks showed tolerance for the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) and for the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) which was contrary to British policy at the time. Also the Plastiras government did not insist on the total disarming of the NLAG forces, but asked that only 42,000 rifles be surrendered. Another and perhaps a more important reason for ousting Plastiras, a veteran of the Greek bourgeoisie, was British fear that he may postpone the time of the plebiscite for the return of the King in Greece which the British desperately wanted to bring back. The leftists too, including the GNLF, were in some ways responsible for Plastiras’s fall from power because of their harsh criticism regarding his inability to stop the regime’s terror. Ultimately however, it was the right which called for his resignation after accusing him of being a quitter, a Hitler-o-phil, etc., all because of a letter Plastiras had written earlier which spoke in favour of an agreement between Germany and the Metaxas regime. This information was made public by the newspaper “Ethnikos Kirix” on November 2, 1952. The next government to take power in Greece, no doubt an obedient marionette of the British, was that of Admiral Vulgaris which cared less for Greek interests than it did to satisfy its national aims at any cost.

This government was right oriented to the extreme and openly supported the extreme right royalists and chauvinistic elements. Instead of protecting the people from the extremists and chauvinists, this government reinforced the terror against the resistance fighters, the very same group of people which spilled blood to liberate Greece from the occupiers. This government was so chauvinistic it was accused by the democratic center of inciting white terror. This accusation received a rebuttal from General Damaskinos, under whose patronage the Vulgaris government was in power, who stepped in, in defense of the government on July 9, 1945 proclaiming: “There is no country in the world today that has a greater democracy than Greece. The printing press has all the privileges and freedom it needs and great effort is made to stop the country from breaking into a civil war.” Unfortunately the people on the receiving end of this terror did not see it the same way the Greek General Damaskinos saw it. It was during the time of the Vulgaris government that Greece experienced the greatest brand of terror ever witnessed in Greece which prompted Sofulis, another rightist Greek politician, to accuse this government of total disregard for security and for allowing the armed terrorist bands to exist and commit terror. Sofulis’s solution to the political crisis was to form a coalition national government in accordance with the conditions and criteria set in the 1938 Greek Parliament which called for excluding the Communist Party of Greece from achieving political power. Sofulis proposed this when the democratic left was asking for a proportionally representative government which was to include the CPG and its allies. The idea to exclude the CPG from parliament was fully supported by the nationalists on the far right which were also calling for a commitment to a referendum date to return the King to Greece. In this the rightists saw the Vulgaris government as a vehicle capable of fulfilling their desire. The far right also saw the Vulgaris government as a means of achieving its aims in liquidating its opposition through violence and terror. Being a major power at the time, the left did not take the proposal to be excluded from Parliament too kindly and by letters complained to the Greek government and to the Great Powers (Great Britain, USA, the Soviet Union and France) about the treatment it was receiving. As if it was not bad enough that the government was breaking and abusing the Varkiza agreement to achieve its aims, it was now aiming to exclude the CPG and its allies from achieving their democratic rights. It absolutely made no sense to persecute NLAG fighters, the very same people who fought to liberate Greece and at the same time reward the former collaborators the very same people who were helping Greece’s enemies to enslave it. This was unacceptable to the left and for that reason the GNLF asked the Great Powers to form a joint commission to investigate the situation and recommended the formation of a representative government, according to the principles of the Yalta agreement. The Vulgaris government however did not last long enough to survive an investigation and collapsed on October 10th, 1945 mainly due to pressure from the left and from the democratic center. The Bulgaris government was succeeded by the Konelopoulos government which only lasted a short time to be succeeded by the formation of a government with “wide coalitional principles” and entrusted to none other than Temistocles Sofulis. Unfortunately no middle ground could be found even in this government and the gap between right and left kept widening. The Sofulis government faced its first serious setback over the question of amnesty for those who had committed killings. During the time the Sofulis government was in power there were over 80,000 prisoners locked up in Greek jails. The government passed law 730/45 to stop arresting people for crimes committed from April 27th, 1941 to February 12th, 1946 except for those who had killed people.

Unfortunately the various parties could not agree on the details. As a result only 5,535 prisoners were freed. Unfortunately while those few were released from the prisons many more were being arrested filling the prisons and swelling the concentration camps. It didn’t matter how the law (730/45) was structured it was quickly circumvented by the rightists (including the police) who mobilized professional witnesses to falsely accuse those whom they wanted out of the way. Killings were fabricated, false witnesses were found and innocent people were fingered and sent to prison. Naturally this was done to eliminate the opposition and prevent a communist government from being elected. The rightists knew they had no hope in hell of ever coming to power by legitimate means through fair and free elections so they had to offset the balance by frightening people not to vote for the communists. Unfortunately at the time the vast majority of the people (80%) would have voted for the CPG and for the people who not only assisted their survival during the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation but who eventually liberated them. They were certainly not going to vote for the parties that put the occupier collaborates in power, the very same perpetrators who committed crimes against them. In a private letter to Stalin in April 1945, Winston Churchill among other things wrote: “From Greece we ask nothing more than its friendship, independence and integrity. We have no inclination or a pressing need to install a monarchy or democracy. The political unity there consists of the normalization of things as soon as possible and to introduce decent and free elections in the next 4 to 5 months. These elections will decide which regime gains power and later what constitution will be drafted. The will of the people by peaceful means will decide the future of Greece, which is also our desire….” (K. Ziljakis) This is what Churchill told Stalin but the British were doing exactly the opposite because that was the only way they could achieved their aims. Britain was prepared to do anything at any cost to hang on to Greece. But in hindsight no matter what the letter said, it was Stalin and Roosevelt in December 1943 at a conference in Texas, USA who gave Greece to Churchill. All three leaders agreed that Greece would remain under the British Sphere of Influence. The Lebanon protocol, which by the way was signed by representatives of the resistance movement (leftists) and by a delegation of the Greek government in exile, in May 1944, knew very well that Greece was going to be under British influence. If that was not obvious then it should have become obvious when the Kazerta agreement was signed giving Churchill the right to intervene in Greece even if the Greeks were against it. This leads one to wonder “was the left sleeping” when all these agreements were signed? It was easier to call what happened “a result of many mistakes” or “incompetence on the part of the CPG, GNLF and NLAG top leadership than to accept the idea that perhaps there was another and more sinister motive. The fact is Greece was handed back to the British while more than 80% of its population supported the Communist Party of Greece. Britain wanted Greece back because it asked for it but Britain did not want the communists. So what was Britain to do? Well looking at the situation in hindsight the answer is easy. Destroy the communists! How, especially in view of powerful Russia, can one destroy the communists? The solution as we have witnessed was simple! Create the right conditions for a civil war and destroy the communists in battle. I can surmise here that Britain wanted to destroy communism because it did not want problems in the future but to destroy communism it had to destroy the desire of the people that would support communism in free and democratic elections. This is why the British supported the brutalities and measures of terror undertaken by the gendarmes, the National Guard and the nationalist armed groups in Greece.

Instead of offering people a free choice to choose a government through democratic principles Britain chose the path of violence. This entire effort was supported to accomplish one thing; break the peoples’ free will and frighten them into voting for a government that would serve British interests. Earnest Bevin the British minister of foreign affairs, who after the Greek elections of 1945 lead the British Foreign Office, during a Labour party conference in December 1944 complimented Churchill’s policy on Greece by saying: “Britain cannot abandon its position in the Mediterranean”. While the British and the Greek press continued to speak of free elections in Greece, the nationalist and chauvinistic elements continued to rain terror on the civilian population arresting and imprisoning people uncontrollably. By the time of the elections (March 31st, 1946) almost all of the former resistance fighters were either missing or serving jail sentences under trumped up charges. Terror and persecution escalated before the elections and peaked on the day of the elections, prompting even Sofulis himself to say; “It is impossible to hold impartial elections under these conditions”. Not only were people terrorized to vote for whom their tormentors wanted but there were also all sorts of other irregularities which were being ignored by the state apparatus. Interestingly some of these irregularities were confirmed by British colonel Shepard who was quoted by the newspaper “New Democracy” on December 8th, 1947 as saying: “During the election a Greek officer was watching a British officer and finally got enough nerve to speak to him. The Greek officer boasted to the British officer how his regime was capable of creating conditions where 100% of the people would vote for the royalists. ‘Even if not 100% then at least 95% and for those 5% who vote differently we will call them the enemies of the regime and invent reasons as needed to bring them in’ explained the Greek officer.” The March 31st, 1946 Greek elections were a total farce not only because of the coercion by the rightist regime forcing voters to vote for them but also because of the perpetrated election fraud. In most European countries like France, Italy and others the population had naturally shrunk because of the war but not in Greece. In spite of the half million deaths due to starvation and war, Greece, according to the number of people that voted in 1946, showed a massive population increase much greater than that which voted in 1936. For example 1,753,000 voters participated in the 1936 elections and 2,200,000 voters participated in the 1946 elections (voting in Greece was mandatory). Above that another 250,000 voters,

known democrats were intentionally left out from the lists so they could not vote. It is true that these elections were monitored by international observers but all of the observers were from the west. There were no observers from the East or from the Soviet Union. Most of the western observers could not follow what was going on and those who did kept quiet about the irregularities. How could the observers have known that the dead had risen to vote in Greece and that the voting lists were much longer than the number of voters in the voting districts? In spite of all the cover-ups some stories did manage to leak like the one about Frances Becker, son of British Minister Noel Becker whose name was on the voter’s list even though he had no legal right to vote in Greece. A French reporter named Utrilo was also curious whether he could vote in the Greek election. He was not only granted his wish but according to his own admission he was also allowed to vote twice. Given the terror conditions under which the elections were planned, the GNLF coalition decided to abstain from taking part in the March elections and when the ballots were counted only 9.5% of the total vote was cast for the left. Unfortunately such a decision not only cost the GNLF and its coalition partners parliamentary representation but at the same time they were accused of abandoning the legal and parliamentary path to power in favour of gaining power by illegal armed acts and subversive activities. Abstaining from the elections also contributed to the return of King George II to Greece.

Macedonians and the start of the Greek Civil War

Most historians would argue that the Greek Civil War began on December 3rd, 1944 with the bloody demonstrations in Athens when the police opened fire and killed a number of demonstrators. But it would be more appropriate to attribute the beginning of the Greek Civil War to March 31st, 1946 the day of the elections, the day when, instead of voting, many Partisans re-armed and rebelled against the Greek Government. The rebellion manifested itself as an attack on the Greek right which began in the village "Lithohorion", situated in Thessaly east of Mount Olympus directly south of Katerini. Other attacks soon followed and in no time the conflict escalated into a full scale war, engulfing not only Greece but also Greek occupied Macedonia. In a bizarre turn of events, the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG), which less than a year before had turned their guns on Macedonian fighters, now regrouped as the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) and extended its hand in friendship. It seems that all was forgiven and forgotten when the former NLAG leadership asked the Macedonians for their help. This time they came with offers of "equal rights", "recognition" and even possibilities of "re-unification with the Republic of Macedonia". Many Partisan fighters from Greek occupied Macedonia who had crossed over into the Republic of Macedonia the year before got their chance to return home. On their return they organized themselves under a new organization bearing the name the Macedonian National Liberation Front (MNLF). Many Macedonians were well aware of the saying "beware of Greeks bearing gifts" and knew that the Greek offer was too good to be true. But there was always that small ray of hope that perhaps this time the outcome for Macedonia might be different. Besides, their families, homes and lives were in Greek occupied Macedonia. What other choice did they really have? They returned because they were lonely, loved their families and because they had to live with the guilt of having to leave their loved ones in dire straits. Every Macedonian born in Macedonia, even in the most desolate places, knows the feeling of homesickness and yearns to return. The new alliance between DAG and MNLF opened many opportunities for the Partisans beyond the Greek borders. While the Greek government controlled the big cities and towns, Partisan strength was in the villages and mountains. Most of the Partisan recruits came from the peasant population and showed themselves to be idealistic, hopeful and determined to fight. Camps were set up in mountainous seclusion where new recruits were given combat training. There were also training camps and supply depots set up outside of Greece, in Albania and Yugoslavia. One such camp was the town of Bulkes located in northern Yugoslavia. Bulkes was a beautiful town with neat rows of lovely houses and fertile lands that could feed an army. The Germans had built Bulkes to house German families. After the German armies retreated, some residents of Bulkes were kicked out while others left voluntarily. The empty town was loaned to the Partisans to use as a supply depot for warehousing food, medical supplies, uniforms and weapons. Bulkes was also a training center for officers and an administrative center for propaganda. During the Partisan days the town of Bulkes was administered in the true spirit of democracy. The introduction of the new MNLF in April 1945 in Greek occupied Macedonia naturally did not go unnoticed. Greek Royalists, Republicans and even members of the Greek democratic movement immediately began their attacks calling it a reactionary and military organization and accusing it of having aims to break away Greek occupied Macedonia from Greece. The extreme rightists wasted no time in connecting the MNLF with the “Slav Threat” from the north. In fact in view of this they called for more abuse of the Macedonian people. Now more than ever rightists felt justified in their abuses of the Macedonian people. If there is anything to be said about any threats it should be said that, as mentioned earlier, it was the British consulate in Lerin, Vice-Consul Hill, Captain Evans and the Greek Colonel Bafas who were responsible for inspiring intrigues resulting in the torture of many Macedonians in Lerin Region.

But that was not all. Besides their irresponsible conduct in Greek occupied Macedonia these particular individuals, no doubt with British support, were also attempting to destabilize the Republic of Macedonia by interfering in its affairs. What really makes no sense however is how the very top resistance leaders in Greece reacted to all this, particularly after the signing of the Varkiza agreement. This was a critical time, a time for clear thinking yet the very top resistance leaders, particularly Nikos Zahariadis, made questionable decisions. In retrospect I can’t help but feel that there was more to it than meets the eye and I can’t help but feel that there was a sinister plan brewing behind Zahariadis. Was Zahariadis a Greek hero or a Greek traitor, a question that has yet to be answered? In retrospect I can say with certainty that Zahariadis was definitely a Greek hero for the victors, the Royalists and Republicans, because he accomplished two things for them; (1) he destroyed the communists and (2) he exterminated the Macedonians. To the Macedonians however Zahariadis was a traitor. It cannot be a coincidence but a deliberate plan when both the British and rightists Greeks got exactly what they wanted and all this was accomplished by Zahariadis and his personally appointed incompetent followers.