INTRODUCTION - Part 18

Nikola, the fifth child of Risto and Sofia, was born in the village Oshchima on September 20th, 1927 and currently lives in Toronto, Canada. Nikola started elementary school one year later than expected and also failed a grade for missing too many classes. Nikola was experiencing eye problems and required surgery which took him away from school for a prolonged period of time. The outbreak of the Greek-Italian war on October 28th, 1940 forced all schools to close thus ending Nikola’s elementary education at grade four. As a young boy Nikola was expected to work on the homestead sheep and cow herding and cutting shouma (oak branches with dried leaves) to feed the livestock in winter. When younger brother Alexander came of age, he took over the herding duties, promoting Nikola to other jobs such as plowing the fields, scything grass, harvesting grain, etc., and helping his older brothers Lazo and Vasil with farm chores. Lazo, Risto and Sofia’s second child, was born in 1921 in the village Oshchima, and died in 1943 from appendicitis at age twenty-two. For a brief period Lazo traveled on his own to Serres seeking work and built bunkers for the Greek army for a living. In 1942, Lazo met and married Mitra Trendovksa from the village Zhelevo. Their marriage was a grand affair that included music, drums, and a caravan of horses. Lazo’s bride was received and delivered to him on horseback in accordance with age-old customs. Lazo was one of the first from Oshchima, and the first from the Stefou family, to make contact with the Partisans. He and Mito Tupurkovski left the village under cover of darkness, found the Partisans, and signed up as volunteers. Tragically, very soon afterwards Lazo became very ill. There was no doctor to examine him and his condition was not taken seriously. He was told to put hot compresses on to ease his pain, which unfortunately, caused his condition to worsen. He was taken to Lerin to see a doctor but by then his appendix had burst and he died soon after. Lazo’s body was brought back to Oshchima, and buried in the Oshchima cemetery. His father planted a pine tree near his grave and until 1966 it was the only pine tree growing there. It is unfortunate that Lazo died young, leaving no descendants. From what we are told by those who knew him, Lazo was a proud and hard working individual. With the outbreak of the Greek–Italian war and later the German invasion (April 6th, 1941) Partisans became active in the region. Later (1943) as Partisan activities intensified they drew assistance from the local population. Like many boys and girls his age, Nikola too was drawn by the movement and joined voluntarily. Because of his young age his activities were confined to his village and the surrounding area. His main responsibilities were to courier messages and smuggle people through the German lines when required. Nikola recalls one occasion when, while walking through the fields near a German camp, he overheard two men speaking Greek. He immediately inquired and found out that they were prisoners and willing candidates to escape. After discussing the escape plan, Nikola gave them instructions to meet him at a specified time and place, after dark. To his amazement, when he arrived he met twenty-seven men waiting. Nikola smuggled them through the village and into the mountains where he surrendered them to the Partisans, who took them to safety. On another occasion, Nikola recalls being dispatched to warn the Macedonian Partisans of an enemy attack from the Greek Partisans. While on their way to work cutting shouma, Nikola and his friend, Lazo Raikovski, met Tsane Argirov, another Oshchimian, who had spotted the enemy forces advancing towards Prespa. Tsane immediately dispatched Nikola and Lazo to Rambi to warn the Partisans. With torbi (food sacks) over their shoulders and axes in their hands, Nikola and Lazo rushed to Rambi bypassing Puply to avoid the Greek police and met Voivoda Mito Tupurkovski, another Oshchimian, to whom they delivered the bad news.

On Mito’s command the brigade immediately assembled and left for Dupeni where it set up defensive positions. The next day the brigade split into two groups and left

Dupeni. Nikola and Lazo traveled with one group to Ljubojno. There, Mito asked Nikola and Lazo to take up arms and join his brigade to fight. They, however, declined and left for home after staying three days in Ljubojno. When the enemy patrols saw them with axes in hand and food bags over their shoulders they let them pass, thinking they were coming back from work and Nikola and Lazo arrived home safely. Nikola’s career as a Partisan ended on April 17th, 1947. On this day, a Greek army patrol arrived in Oshchima and assembled the village. The officer in charge read names from a list, ordering the individuals who had been called to immediately report to the main road for further instructions. Fourteen men answered the call and reported to the main road as ordered; Nikola was one of them. Once assembled they were ordered to lie face down. After a long wait they were loaded at gunpoint on trucks and sent to a lockup in Lerin. The men were told nothing about their detainment. While this was going on in Oshchima, men from other villages were also rounded up and marched to the Lerin prisons. In Lerin the men were kept in prison under armed guard for 105 days. As prisoners, they were forced to work without compensation or food, building bunkers and barbed wire fences for the Greek army. After a long stay, the prisoners, their families, and the community protested to the authorities demanding to know why these men were imprisoned. As a result of the protests, charges were laid accusing the men of being “a danger to the security of the Greek State”. No reason was disclosed as to how or why they were a danger. Without a trial, all fourteen men from Oshchima were sent to the arid Greek Island concentration camps, imprisoned for an undisclosed time. From Lerin they were sent to Solun where they spent two days in prison. They were then grouped with men from other regions and shipped to the various concentration camps. Nikola’s first destination was Aistrati (Agios Estratios) located in the center of the Aegean Sea. The Aistrati camp of 12,000 was a city of tents surrounded by barbed wire. It was overcrowded, lacked proper facilities, and the basic necessities for human survival. Living conditions were so bad that the prisoners demanded improvements and protested to the United Nations. Finally, the barbed wire was removed but not before 300 of them, Nikola included, were isolated and relocated to a nearby valley. The prisoners were left to fend for themselves and allowed to grow food in gardens within the camp. They were also allowed to work for pay in the local markets but only during the day. To survive, the captives organized themselves into work groups and pooled their resources to purchase provisions, carry out work projects, learn skills, cook food, etc. The camp was under guard at all times and mobility was restricted, even within the campgrounds. Captives were constantly harassed, beaten, tortured, and humiliated by the prison guards and camp authorities. In February 1949 all prisoners under the age of 32 were separated, from this and other camps, and shipped to a military camp in Makroniso. This was Nikola’s second destination. There he and about 600 other young men from his camp became part of the 1st battalion. The living conditions in Makroniso were far worse then in Aistrati. The captives were under constant control, agitated, abused, beaten, starved, and humiliated. Authorities had orders to break their spirit. Those who did break down were forced to sign declarations, renouncing their beliefs and socialist ideals, as well as pledge loyalty to the Greek authorities, the same authorities who imprisoned, beat them, and made their lives miserable. Those who survived occupied themselves by taking on jobs available in the local economy. The captives organized themselves by skill and offered their services in rotation as required. This carried on for a while until all the camps were almost empty. Nikola was last to leave his camp. In 1950 all remaining captives from Makroniso (about 50) were rounded up, tied in pairs under armed guard and shipped out to the port of Lavrion located on the mainland near Athens.

There the prisoners were left tied up for two days without food or water. After that they were driven to the port of Piraeus and shipped to Crete to a place called Souda near Khania. This was Nikola’s third destination. In Souda the captives were unloaded and taken to the local jail for the night and released the next day. After spending two days hungry roaming the streets, a passing woman inquired about them. It turned out that she was from Lerin and was sympathetic to their plight. Her husband happened to be one of the camp administrators and she prompted him to act immediately. As a result of the woman’s intervention the men

were given provisions, cooking utensils, and some freedom to fend for themselves. Also, the local population in the area took pity on them and occasionally made donations. For the most part the men occupied themselves by providing free or cheap labour to the local economy but this did not last too long and the group was split again sending 12 captives, including Nikola, to Iracleo, Crete. There the authorities split the individuals between the farmers to provide free labour for them. After a few weeks of hard labour, digging ditches, Nikola left the farm and joined four other men. Free from the farmers, the men took on odd jobs in the community and pooled their resources to purchase provisions and rented a rundown barn for living space. By this time Nikola was getting anxious to go home and began to vigourously inquire as to why he was still there. Unfortunately, all his inquiries, including those to the local and Lerin authorities, were ignored until he decided to petition the Ministry of the Interior. Unexpectedly the Ministry replied and asked him for letters of character reference, which he promptly provided. After that, in spite of protests by local and Lerin authorities, Nikola was released and immediately left for home. On January 17th, 1952, Nikola arrived in Oshchima penniless and without any material possessions. The meager possessions he had while in prison he donated to his friends left behind in Iracleo. At home he found nothing. His father’s house was empty, devoid of all possessions. His father’s carpentry tools were also gone. Luckily, Oshchima had good people and some of his neighbours, like Pasoitsa Toleichina, gave him what little they had to help him get by. Pasoitsa gave him a velentse (a heavy wool blanket) to keep him warm during the cold winter nights. For a while, Nikola took on odd jobs helping out here and there until he was able to build up some of life’s necessities. A year or so after coming home, Nikola met Sofia from Zhelevo. Sofia was born on August 4th, 1933 and remained in her village all throughout the Greek Civil War. Nikola and Sofia were married on June 15th, 1952. As a child Sofia completed grades 1,3, and 5, missing grades 2 and 4 due to the war situation prior to the permanent closing of schools. Being the only female child in the household, her duties included cooking, washing, making bread, feeding the livestock, gathering wood, etc. After the German invasion, Sofia’s mother became sick and bedridden until her death in 1948. Because Sofia had to take care of her mother she was unable to leave with the refugee children during the 1948 exodus. As for the rest of her family: her two older brothers joined the Partisans, her younger brother left with the refugee children, and her father was drafted by the Partisans for 11 months to work in Albania. Sofia was left at home alone to care for her ailing mother. Sofia was also poor and offered very little in terms of a dowry. After their marriage, both Nikola and Sofia worked at odd jobs to make ends meet. Nikola managed to buy back some of his father’s land and property and, with some help from his neighbours and friends, he was able to cultivate some of the fields. In time, with some money borrowed and some earned from selling crops, Nikola purchased his own pair of oxen and the equipment he needed to plow his fields. All that hard work, unfortunately, did not amount to much. Potatoes and beans yielded very little money and most of the earnings went to pay debts. To make things worse, at about this time, Nikola’s personal identification papers were confiscated by the Greek police which left him under house arrest and limited his mobility to a 30-kilometre radius from his home. He was still considered a “danger to society”. From the moment Nikola arrived in Oshchima, he was under surveillance and harassed by the police. He required permission to travel, even to see a doctor. Nikola recalls one time he needed medical attention and broke the rules by exceeding the 30-kilometre limit in order to go to the police station and obtain permission to travel.

The police chief was furious but Nikola asked him what choice he had, it was obvious he needed medical attention. The policeman told him he could have died instead and his problems would have been solved. In spite of all obstacles, Nikola and Sofia continued to work hard and improved their living conditions. Nikola traded one of his oxen and purchased 10 sheep. Later he purchased another 20, 10 with his own money and 10 with money he borrowed from Vasil Stilianov. By 1959, with the addition of the newborn lambs, Nikola increased the number of sheep to a moderate flock. Also in 1959, Nikola brought his mother Sofia home from Poland. Sofia left home during the refugee mass exodus in the fall of 1949.

With hard work and the sale of wool, milk, lambs, and crops, Nikola’s economic situation gradually improved. In time he rebuilt his home and tried his luck at running a butcher shop, once in Kostour and again in Lerin. Running a butcher shop was difficult and did not work out for Nikola so once again he returned to farming and sheep herding. Prosperity unfortunately did not improve living conditions and life in the village remained harsh. The political situation had somewhat improved but was far from ideal. With the birth of his son Risto on June 11, 1953, daughter Katina, August 14, 1957, and younger son Lazo, August 30, 1965, Nikola saw no future for his children in Oshchima. There was always the stigma of being Macedonian, with very little hope of being anything more than farmers in Greece. Education for most Macedonians ended at grade six regardless of academic abilities. In 1964, Alexander, Nikola’s youngest brother came to Oshchima from Toronto for a visit and witnessed his brother’s dismal situation first hand. Soon after Alexander’s visit, Nikola decided it was time to leave Oshchima and immigrate to Canada. His mother Sofia left first, followed by Nikola and then his family. Nikola, the last Stefou to live in Oshchima, left his ancestral home for the final time and arrived in Toronto on November 29, 1965. A year later, on October 2, 1966 his family arrived to join him.

Alexander (son of Risto and Sofia)

Alexander, the seventh child of Risto and Sofia was born in the village Oshchima on September 11th, 1935, and currently lives in Erin, Ontario, Canada. As a child, Alexander did not attend grade school due to the outbreak of the Greek–Italian war in October 1940. Since age five and for most of his childhood, Alexander worked at home, tending to the livestock, helping out with farm chores, and delivering food to other family members working in the fields. This lasted for about five years when, at age ten, with his father Risto not well, Lazo’s death, Vasil’s departure with the Partisans, and Nikola’s dispatch to the Greek concentration camps, Alexander, being the eldest capable male at home, became head of the household. Alexander recalls preparing the team of oxen and ploughing the fields, while Risto planted the seeds. This continued about three years when, as fate would have it, the Greek civil war broke out. In 1948, to save the children from the Greek bombs, mothers were asked to voluntarily send them to neighbouring countries away from the conflict. At age thirteen, Alexander joined the refugee children and departed for Yugoslavia. There, children were regrouped and separated again. Some, including Alexander, ended up in Romania. Alexander attended school there for a short time and among other things, learned the Macedonian alphabet. As the civil war intensified, the Partisans began to experience shortages of new recruits. Alexander recalls the camps in Romania being regrouped and young men and women being drafted. Prior to Alexander’s departure, two new groups of recruits were formed and sent for military training. Alexander volunteered and joined a third group, which left for Rudary, Prespa via Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Upon arrival, Alexander was sent to Shtrkovo, a nearby village in Prespa, for about a month of military training and preparation for combat. Alexander spent parts of March and April performing military exercises and learning to operate weapons. Word came that many young fighters from the earlier groups were killed in battle. It was a disaster. There was a loud outcry by the community with parents demonstrating, objecting to the draft. At the same time, Alexander requested permission to go home and visit his family. The plan for sending youth to battle was revoked and many were sent back to refugee camps. Alexander was granted permission to go home. From April to August 1949, Alexander resumed his duties at home looking after the household, the family farm, and tending the sheep. Then in August, as opposing forces in the civil war began to advance towards the villages, Alexander, along with his mother and father, joined the exodus of refugees and left for Albania. They left Oshchima and went to Drenovo, Prespa where they regrouped with others and were dispatched to Albania. In the Albanian camps, refugees were once again regrouped in accordance with requirements of the hosting countries and shipped out to places all over the Eastern Block. Luckily, Alexander was allowed to remain with his mother and father as they were shipped to Poland. The various

groups of refugees were transported to the Adriatic port of Durresi, loaded on cargo ships and smuggled out to their destinations. Alexander recalls, after an arduous trip, arriving at camp Mendigudje where the refugees were given clean clothes and treated for lice. There he spent several months in quarantine and for the first time met his future wife, Eva Ribarova from Vmbel. After quarantine, he and other refugees were sent to Zgorzelec for relocation. At this time, the adult refugees were given one year’s vacation to relax and recover from their ordeal before they joined the workforce. The youth were sent to school where Alexander, at age fourteen, began his schooling, learning Macedonian, Greek, and Polish. After completing his primary education, instead of joining the workforce, Alexander went to Legnitsa to pursue higher education. There he attended a technical school for two years and studied machine assembly and repair. After completing the program and graduating with honours, Alexander went to the city of Lodz to further his education. There he attended a four-year technical college program and studied measuring instrumentation. He graduated in the spring of 1956 and soon after, left Poland to join his sister Sevda in Toronto Canada. While in college, Alexander courted Eva and married her in May of 1955. Eva worked during her stay in Poland until her departure for Canada. Alexander arrived in Toronto on June 25th, 1956 without his wife and immediately began the immigration process to bring her to Canada. For most of their working lives both Eva and Alexander lived in Toronto and worked at Canada Packers. Alexander enjoys hobbies such as watch and clock repair and making quality furniture. Alexander and Eva have three daughters all born in Toronto, Sofia born on November 20th, 1958, Helen (Lena) born on July 15th, 1960, and Christina born November 3rd, 1963.

Leftera (daughter of Risto and Sofia)

Leftera, the sixth of seven children of Risto and Sofia, was born in the village Oshchima on October 15th, 1932, and currently lives in Bolton, Canada. As a child, Leftera attended school to the third grade, before war broke out between Greece and Italy in October of 1940. For most of her childhood, Leftera worked on the Oshchima homestead fetching water from the Oreshky spring, feeding and tending to the livestock, and helping out with farm chores. After the outbreak of the Greek-Italian war and the buildup of the Partisan movement in the region, Leftera, along with other young girls her age, was recruited to perform courier and guard duties within the confines of her village. Then, in 1947 as the Greek Civil War began to gain momentum, Leftera, along with all the other Oshchimian girls of age, was drafted by the Partisans and sent to Bukoik for military training. Some of the younger girls, including Leftera, were assigned to care for the cavalry horses and other pack animals. Initially, they were dispatched to Kolumnady to acquire the best pack animals and then were sent to deliver feed from Psodery to Smrdesh. After about two weeks of this, Leftera was sent to Rula where she met Karathimio, one of the commanders, who thought that she was too young and frail for that kind of work and re-assigned her to courier duties. Her new assignment was to transport dispatches between the command posts at Posdivishcha and Kolumnady. About three weeks later, the command posts had to relocate to Senitchko due to advances made by enemy Greek forces. Leftera, in the meantime, was sent to Baptchor where she met German, Dafina’s husband, for the second and last time after he was drafted and before he was killed. The first time she met German was in Kolumnady when she was sent to acquire pack animals. Dafina, Risto and Sofia’s first child, was born in 1911 in the village Oshchima and died at age 78, in 1989. Dafina married German Filkov, also from Oshchima, in 1931 and had three sons, Ilo, Gotse, and Vasil, and two daughters, Florika and Lena. Like many other men from Oshchima, German was drafted by the Partisans and tragically, was killed in combat in 1948. As the war escalated, Dafina was chosen by the liberation movement to assist with the evacuation of refugee children. Dafina went to Bitola and lived for a while with her brother-in-law Kole. From there she

moved to Skopje where she was reunited with her children. For most of her life in Skopje, Dafina worked in Bilka, an herbal medicine laboratory. From Baptchor, Leftera was relocated to Breznitsa and then back to her training camp at Bukoik. There she met Odisea, a friend of the family. She asked him for and was granted a leave of absence to go home and look after the family homestead. Leftera spent a couple of the summer months in 1948 at home after which she was recalled for duty in Zhelevo. From there she was dispatched to Pupply for re-grouping. In the fall, an all girl battalion was formed and sent to the 103rd brigade for training. For her show of courage during training, Leftera was promoted to Sergeant and assigned trainer duties and dispatched to Oshchima to train new recruits at a camp located in Tourtska Polena. When that was over, Leftera was transferred to Kolumnadi where she, along with twenty-four other girls from the 18th brigade, prepared for battle. Her first battle was fought at Sourovitch. After Sourivitch Leftera saw much action. She recalls one episode in April of 1949 when she was returning from battle with blistered and swollen feet. She was confronted by an aerial attack but couldn’t run fast and became an easy target for aerial machinegun fire. She recalls running as the airplane circled around and falling as it came about. Two of her comrades were killed that day. Before the end of the war, Leftera was sent to Trnaa where she received a pleasant surprise. Her younger brother Alexander paid her a visit, and among other things, gave her a copy of the Macedonian alphabet and taught her how to read. From Trnaa, Leftera was transferred to Malimady where she celebrated Easter by enjoying half an Easter egg. Eggs are customary Easter treats for Eastern Orthodox Christians. However, during the civil war, food, especially eggs, was very scarce. It was in Malimady that Leftera met, for the first time, Tanas Chachanov (Tsatsos) her future husband. Tanas, also a Partisan, was a demolitions expert, specializing in laying mines, who at the time happened to be working with Vasil Gigerov from Oshchima. Vasil, during one of his visits, introduced Tanas to Leftera. Tanas was born on May 5th, 1932 in the village Tiolishcha and served with the Partisans during 1948 and 1949. Initially, Tanas was sent with the refugee children but along the way he and a friend decided that they would be better off if they joined the Partisans, their intention being to join a local brigade. As they escaped, however, they were captured near Rula by a patrol from Thessally that took them to Epiros were Tanas was trained for demolitions and was sent to Vitcho and Gramos to carry out operations. Leftera and Tanas met again at Malimady in a more casual atmosphere and got to know each other a little better. The third time was at Gramos when Tanas was sent on a risky assignment to plant mines. During this encounter Tanas gave Leftera his duffel coat for safekeeping and good luck, instructing her to keep it for herself if he did not return. Luckily, Tanas survived the assignment. In August 1949, orders were given to abandon camp and Leftera, along with the others at Malimady, was dispatched to Albania via Smrdesh and Vambel. In Albania they were disarmed and settled in camps, with tents made of folded blankets. After they regrouped, the Partisans were again armed and dispatched to Gramos to stop the Greek Army from advancing. Leftera recalls being assigned a dirty old rifle, all soaked in grease, emitting a very unpleasant odor. At Gramos, the Partisans endured many aerial attacks and cannon fire from approaching tanks. Many were killed during the ensuing battles. Leftera escaped by returning to Albania. On her return, she avoided going through the camps to minimize her chances of being captured. Separated from her brigade, deep in Albania, Leftera and her friend Ristana Bogleva found themselves all alone, cold, and hungry. In their search for food and shelter they came across a house with a woman and children whom they approached for some food and water.

Leftera had learned some Albanian words from her father Risto and along with some sign language, was able to convey her message. Even though she was poor, the Albanian woman was kind enough to give them what little she had. Leftera and Ristana were just as poor and themselves had very little to offer. So in exchange for the food and the woman’s kindness, they each gave her one of their sewing needles, a prized possession.

It was not too long after that, that Leftera and Ristana re-joined their brigade and prepared for departure abroad. Leftera recalls being shipped by train to the port of Durresi and by ship to Russia. It was a long and unpleasant trip spanning seven long days. To avoid capture by patrolling ships and by the authorities in Istanbul, the Partisans were transported in a cargo ship registered to carry planks of lumber. People were literally buried in the lumber and ordered to keep quiet, not even to cough, especially at critical places. After arriving in Russia Leftera and Tanas, both traveling on the same ship, were transported via train to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Upon their arrival, they were placed in quarantine where they spent a month and a half. On November 13th, 1949 Leftera married Tanas and later had two children. Dimitry (Jim) was born on July 27th, 1953 and Sofia was born on February 14th, 1959. Both Leftera and Tanas joined the workforce in Tashkent. Leftera had two months of training and was responsible for assembling the steering truss and control mechanisms for military aircraft. Initially, Tanas was in construction, building homes for the aircraft plant workers, but was re-assigned to a job assembling the outer casing of aircraft wings. Tanas also attended two years of school to upgrade his education and language skills. Due to lack of housing, Leftera and Tanas lived in a single room apartment, together with a Greek couple, for five years. Later, when more housing was available, they moved to a more spacious apartment. After fifteen years of life abroad, lonely for his homeland, Tanas decided it was time to go home. On October 27th, 1965 Tanas, with his family, arrived at his old home in Tiolishcha and reclaimed his ancestral place in the village. After three years of village life, Leftera took another leap of faith and on October 26th, 1968 she arrived in Toronto, Canada where she joined her sister Sevda and brothers Vasil, Nikola, and Alexander. Sevda, Risto and Sofia’s third child, was born February 23rd, 1923 in the village Oshchima and died in Toronto, Canada November 8th, 1998. At age seventeen, on December 23rd, 1940, Sevda married Alex Malkos, born September 20th, 1920, also from Oshchima. Alex and Sevda had two daughters, Maria born September 15th, 1941and Florika born January 31st, 1944 and a son Risto born June 29th, 1956. Maria and Florika were born in Oshchima while Risto (Chris) was born in Toronto, Canada. Sevda’s wedding was without the usual Macedonian festive celebrations. The outbreak of the Greek–Italian war made it, according to Macedonian tradition, inappropriate to have festivities while there was suffering. Sevda was drafted by the Partisans in 1948 and was given light duties because she was the mother of a young child (Florika). She served as an assistant to the medics on the Gramos and Vicho fronts. As a field nurse Sevda was responsible for patching wounds, transporting wounded to the field hospitals, and providing moral support to those suffering. Sevda’s first child Maria, along with her uncle Alexander, left Oshchima in April 1948 with the first wave of refugee children. Maria was sent to Brailovo, in the present day Republic of Macedonia, while Alexander was sent to Romania. Florika was taken by Sevda’s sister Dafina and lived in a different camp in the Republic of Macedonia. Unknown to them, the sisters lived in close proximity to one another. After losing the final battle in 1949, the Partisans disbanded. Sevda left for Albania (Elbasan camp) where she joined her father, mother, and brother, Alexander. From there Sevda was sent to Poland. Alex Malkos was mobilized with the Greek army after World War II ended and served to the end of the Greek Civil war, before leaving for Toronto. Alex’s family had departed for Canada sometime during the conflict and made arrangements for him to join them. He arrived in Toronto in 1950 and started making arrangements to unite his family. Maria and Florika, both living in Yugoslavia, but in separate camps, met at Bela Tsrkva and departed for Canada.

They arrived in Toronto on May 7th, 1952. Sevda remained in Poland where she worked in a restaurant until the spring of 1955 when she departed for Canada to be reunited with her family.

Ilo (son of Georgia and Lozana)

Ilo, son of Georgia and Lozana was born in the village Oshchima on May 20th, 1920. Completing grade six in the village public school, he then worked on the family lands. Ilo's father owned land but rented most of it, leaving very little for his son to do. At age fifteen, Ilo began working on roads in unskilled labour. He independently learned to read schematic diagrams, operate transit, curve bridges and work as a surveyor in construction. Promoted to foreman in 1940 through the office in Lerin, he was sent to Kosinech and Bilishcha to a new road, as a foreman, in aid of the war on the Greek front in Albania. In 1941 Ilo was drafted to Kalamata for training in the Greek army. After a couple of months Greece surrendered to Germany under Nazi occupation. Ilo resumed work rebuilding bombed roads and bridges, employed steadily though not officially a permanent employee. His job in construction took him to many towns and villages: Lerin, Corestia, Prespas and the surrounding vicinity. He was a young, vigorous man, committed to his work. As a result he was far too busy to settle down with a wife and watched many of his girlfriends become married with family. Finally financially secure at age 23, Ilo proposed marriage to Fania Kirovska, a young woman from Zhelevo, daughter of Petko and Ristana Kirou. Fania was born in Zhelevo on October 16th, 1923 and had completed grade six in public school as well. She helped in the family home and prepared her own dowry with the help of her mother. Ilo and Fania had a lovely traditional Macedonian wedding, a weeklong event with a live band. The ceremony took place on December 13th, 1943 - a frightening time, the harshest economic period in the region. Ilo was considered prosperous and was able to afford a lavish wedding that lasted until the large barrels of wine, and all foods were depleted. Only four months thereafter Ilo was forcibly drafted as a Partisan. It hurt him deeply to leave his new bride with the future uncertain. He was dispatched to Yugoslavia to chase the Germans. It was an intensely frightening 4 to 5 month period. Few young men chose to risk escaping from the Macedonian brigade back to their families, as Ilo did. One year later Ilo and Fania were blessed with their first daughter. Sofia was born at home on May 31st, 1945. Ilo continued to work repairing roads and bridges after the expulsion of the Germans and Italians. On February 6th, 1947 the family was blessed with a second daughter, Iana. Not long after, Ilo was drafted into the rebel war. Ilo confesses that he was very frightened of war and to this day detests guns. Ten months later he again ran, this time from the Antarte of Gramos (mountain). During this period Fania served time with the Antartes transporting the wounded and making bunkers. With baby Iana at home, Fania was not dispatched to the war front, as were women without children. Daughter Sofia was taken away to Poland at the age of 2 1/2 years. Ilo constantly thought of his family and in 1949 he was again drafted into the Greek army as a navigator (he has written his own memoirs recollecting the sorrowful history of human destruction in Koula Prespas). With the end of the Civil War, he was extremely disappointed and heartbroken upon returning to the destroyed village of Oshchima after a three- year absence. He shared a scant 10 hours with his wife and child when he was mobilized again for another 4 to 5 months at a time when his family needed him badly. Fania was evacuated from Oshchima to Zhelevo. In the spring of 1950 Ilo located his wife and second daughter, doing their best in what had become a gypsy lifestyle. Immediately resuming employment in road construction as a foreman, he used his earnings to rebuild their home in Oshchima; repairing barns, orchards, and vines. In Zhelevo, husband and wife celebrated the birth of their third daughter Mara, born January 16th, 1951. The family returned to Oshchima after a three-year period together in Zhelevo, however Ilo was still heavily disappointed with the ruin of Oshchima, realizing there was little opportunity to grow there.

He requested his employer hire him as a permanent employee so he would be able to move from the village and make a future elsewhere. After 15 years as a foreman and superintendent, his request was denied and he interpreted the answer as meaning there was no future for Slavs in Greece. He thought his daughters would have a brighter future if the family immigrated to Canada. With tears in his eyes he left his village and family, arriving solo in Toronto on November 28th, 1955. Upon his arrival in Canada he learned that Oshchimians had been settling in Canada since the 1890s. He was happy to learn of the Benefit Society of Oshchima, established in 1907, of which he became a

member. Upon arriving in Canada his first desire was to locate his eldest daughter, Sofia. Through the Red Cross they were reunited in Toronto on June 24th, 1956! Ilo worked very hard in the Toronto construction industry and after three years he managed to purchase a large, new home (so as not to disappoint his family who were living in a large home in Macedonia). On December 17th, 1958, the entire family was reunited in Toronto, including his 82 year-old mother. She happily lived another 22 years and passed away at 104 years of age. Ilo worked as a lead hand and foreman for the following 27 years for the City of York until he retired at 65 years of age. Fania and Ilo live happily, enjoying their time together. Their three daughters have been educated and married, raising families in blessed Canada. Ilo and Fania are happy with seven grandchildren. They have enjoyed travelling to various countries. Ilo enjoys the Seniors Club he attends. With time flying, their hearts still ache for Oshchima.