UNDER THE CARE OF NOF AND AFZH

UNDER THE CARE OF NOF AND AFZH

One of the participants in the save the children program was Evdokia Foteva Vera. Vera was an AFZH veteran, a direct participant in the DAG divisions and a Party worker during the most dramatic war years up to the end of the Greek Civil War. Her authentic testimony, as dramatic as it was, praises the heroism of the Macedonian women, mothers and sisters of Aegean Macedonia, who contributed a great deal in the battlefield, and because they loved their roots, their lineage and wanted them to continue into the

future they let their children go outside their homes and outside their ancestral lands. Allowing their children to be uprooted from their chests was another sublime act of courage and heroism for these women. Here is what Vera had to say:

“No war has ever spared lives not even of the most innocent lives, those of the children. It was the same during the Greek Civil War which lasted from 1945 to 1949.

The Greek Civil War was imposed on Greece on December 4, 1944 by our longtime allies with the English intervention in Athens. Then in 1947 the US imperialists rushed in to ‘protect Greece from its own people’.

Since the beginning of the Greek Civil War, the Macedonian population found itself on the frontlines. It was organized and led by the People’s Liberation Front (NOF) for Aegean Macedonia which was formed on April 23, 1945. Constituents of NOF were the organizations NOMS and AFZH.

The modest, quiet, brave and courageous Macedonian women fighters in NOB-G showed the enemy and the whole world that they were capable of fighting on the battlefield and in the political field, and were willing to fight for their survival. They already had experienced the Ilinden uprising and were particularly encouraged by the successes achieved by the women in Yugoslavia after the victory over fascism, and especially from the blessings they received from the Macedonian women in the newly created People’s Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonian women from the Aegean part of Macedonia were organized and acted through their AFZH organization.

The Macedonian women in Greece, over the years, were subjected to many injustices, humiliations and abuses. They had to endure draconian measures of being forbidden to speak their native language and raise their children in Macedonian ways. But now, for the first time in a long time, they can join their own Macedonian woman’s organization and in full light, reveal themselves for who they are. They are determined, at any price, to preserve their national identity. And now I can say with confidence that AFZH was a

powerful factor during the Greek Civil War, recognized by the CPG, DAG and by the interim democratic government of Greece.

During the disastrous days in 1948 the Macedonian women of AFZH took it upon themselves to care for the children. Every day the children were exposed to danger from Monarcho-Fascist bombardments and other atrocities. There was no life or education for them under such conditions and because of the war they were even subjected to various diseases and hunger. Because of all this the interim democratic government of Greece, the CPG, NOF and other antifascist-democratic organizations decided to call on the free socialist countries to help them save these children. They decided to appeal to them to take all the children under 14 years of age and save them. Among the first countries to respond to these appeals were Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and later East Germany.

An evacuation program was then organized covering the hot spots where the Civil War was most active and most children were of Macedonian nationality. These were mainly children from Central and Western Macedonia, Epirus and the hot spots in the Belasitsa, Paiak, Kaimakchalan, Vermio, Siniak, Vicho and Gramos Regions.

There were numerous mass protests and appeals, like the appeals from the interim government of Greece to the Athens regime and to the United Nations through the Balkan Commission to spare the civilian population and the children from the daily bombings, but nothing bore fruit. They remained deaf to the appeals. So the only salvation was the interim government’s decision to evacuate the children. There were many events that took place that justified this decision.

The Monarcho-Fascist governments in Athens, one after another, kept folding under pressure from the people in the large cities like Solun and Athens. On a daily basis the Monarcho-Fascist army ‘cleansed’ all democratic-minded soldiers from its ranks and sent them to concentration camps in Makronisos and Dura. Their defeat on the battlefields of Vicho and Gramos in 1947 and 1948 pushed the Monarcho-Fascist army to thrust itself upon the civilian population, including against the children. Queen Frederica

introduced the child collection program which the people aptly named the “horror show” when, instead of showing compassion and care, she ordered the kidnapping and forceful confiscation of children from their mothers arms in order to turn them into “Janissaries” by brainwashing them to hate their own people.

When the Monarcho-Fascists arrived at the village Zagorichani in Kostur Region, they forcibly tried to gather all the children. Many Macedonian mothers were forced to hide their children in the ovens and take them to the free territory in the dark of night. Unable to find all the children the Monarcho-Fascists were enraged and slaughtered 17 women and threw their dead bodies into Lake Kostur.

These mothers did everything in their power to stop their children from being taken by the Monarcho-Fascists. But because they did that, they were killed, flogged, tortured and imprisoned.

Evidence of the women from the village Zhupanitsa, Kostur Region, wanting their children taken by queen Frederica to be returned to them can be found in an article published on November 16, 1948, in the PDEG newspaper “Mahitria”.

Even expectant Macedonian mothers were not immune from Frederica’s grasp. Many expectant mothers were taken and many newborns came into the world in Frederica’s grasp. These women stoically endured all the horrors of war but did not depart from their national ideals.

Given the brutality of the Greek Civil War and seeing what awaited the children in the hands of the Monarcho-Fascists and under the American airplanes, the mothers looked to the interim democratic government of Greece for the salvation of their children. The interim government, along with many anti-fascist and democratic organizations, gave the mothers the opportunity to willingly give up their children to be evacuated to the free countries, confident that the children would be safe and happy there. Their maternal pain was immeasurable being separated from their little ones but the mothers did the right thing and chose the path shown to them by this organization (AFZH).

United Nations representatives held meetings in every village to explain to the people that the measures the interim democratic government of Greece and the other organizations had taken were for the safety of the children. The lists of children who qualified to be evacuated were compiled by NOF and by AFZH. One caregiver was assigned to every 10 children and one teacher to every 20-25 children. We paid careful attention to make sure the caregivers and teachers were from the partisan families which lost a family member or members or had a family member or members who were disabled during the war. Everyone unanimously agreed with this approach. We had selected comrades who undertook the obligation to speak to the parents and to assure them that we (the organization) would take care of them like they were our own. There were some cases, for example, like Malina Raleva from the village D’mbeni who had 4 young children who needed to be evacuated. I suggested to her that she leave with them, to which she replied: ‘No, I will not leave my husband, my sister and my brother alone to fight here… I can’t go with the children. I know they will be safe; I have full confidence in the caregivers and teachers you selected… I will stay here and contribute to the struggle’.

When AFZH regional secretary Alexandra Panovska completed her placement of the children in the village Zhelevo, Lerin Region, where they were to stay in the houses overnight and continue on their way to their destination the next day, Commander Iani Lukrov from the village V’mbel, Kostur Region, arrived. When he addressed Alexandra he asked: ‘In which house is my son Pando located? Please take me to see him now because I am leaving immediately to join my unit.’ Together they toured all the houses that accommodated children calling ‘Pando! Pando!’ but got no response because Pando and the rest of the children were very tired and quickly found themselves in a deep sleep. The brave and poor commander unfortunately did not see his son… he was later killed fighting bravely for the freedom of his people.

There are many examples like this one. Every child and every parent has their own heartbreaking story from that period.”

The campaign to send the children to the socialist republics was well-organized and conducted voluntarily. There was at least one member from NOF and one from AFZH assigned to accompany and care for the children in each socialist state. Each member was connected to the NOF and AFZH Central Board. NOF put Done Sikavitsa in charge of all the Macedonian children in all the socialist republics. A Greek person was put in charge of the Greek children. These two people worked together to care for both Macedonian and Greek children.

Mothers were happy that their children were living in the people’s republics, far away from the horrors of the cruel war. They demanded only one thing: that their children continue to live and study until they return when we are free.

Letters from the children were sent to their parents. Their delivery was organized through AFZH.

The following was written in a fragment of a diary belonging to a woman and member of AFZH, published in September 1948 in “Nova Makedonija”: “Today everyone is in tears. We were moving like never before. We sat in the shade under a poplar tree. Some of us were still sleeping. It was getting dark and we had to go to work (they worked at night). And here was comrade Tsveta from AFZH… she just arrived. We rejoiced at her arrival. I don’t know why but we were not afraid when she was with us, not even from the cannons.

This time she brought letters from our children who were in people’s republics. We read the letters and shook our hands in the air. Our hearts were beating hard but our dear ones were away. Oh, how nice it would have been to kiss them a bit!

But the airplanes come here. Our villages are being bombed by artillery shells, how nice that our government sent our children to be saved.

Now our eyes are filled with tears. They are writing to tell us that they live well. They say: ‘We think of you, our mothers, in the war...’

Our poor children. When will we see them again?

We will see them again when we free ourselves. How nice that would be... But in order for that to happen we must defeat fascism. And to make this happen sooner we need to fight harder, and fight we will...

7.IX. Last night we built three bunkers, more than usual.

We do this so that our children can return home sooner… So that we and our husbands can return home sooner...”

And this is what the Macedonian women, wives, mothers and fighters were thinking about in those difficult and fateful days... On top of that the Macedonian women, led by AFZH, also showed the world that they were a rare example of educator and teacher. The Macedonian women were captivated by the first Macedonian elementary textbooks introduced in the already established People’s Republic of Macedonia within the Yugoslav community, where the Macedonian language was freely spoken.

The Macedonian people from the Aegean (Greek occupied) part of Macedonia, who were able to read and write in the Macedonian language, took responsibility for educating the evacuated Macedonian children. They acted in a direct way, modestly and quietly in the countries unknown to them. They tried hard, persistently keeping a watchful eye around the clock over the children’s lives. They looked after the children and raised them in the People’s Republics, constantly urging them to: ‘Learn, dear children. You are Macedonians. You need to learn, to become doctors, engineers, professors... because when we go back to Macedonia you need to be exemplary, to help rebuild our devastated Macedonia. Those Greek reactionary regimes refuse to educate us… even in Greek.’

Those feelings were instilled in the evacuated children. They, in addition to studying in the language of the host country, also studied in Macedonian and Greek.

Cultural life for the evacuated Macedonian children in all the socialist countries was a requirement. The children studied and sang Macedonian songs, performed plays... The textbooks and other educational materials were provided by the People’s Republic of Macedonia and by the NOF publishing board.

The Macedonian teachers received their first Macedonian language courses in the liberated territory in Prespa, in the People’s Republic of Macedonia and in the People’s Republic of Romania.

In 1948, I (Vera) visited the homes (boarding schools) in Bela Tsrkva and Vrshats. Our children from Aegean Macedonia and those from Greece had all the necessary conditions for normal life and for good upbringing in these homes.

In March 1949 the interim democratic government of Greece made a decision to send a five member panel of mothers to visit the schools and homes accommodating our children. Three women in the panel were members of AFZH. They were Donka Kalkova, AFZH Secretary from the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region, and member of the Regional Board, Sofia Chuleva from the village Zagorichani, Kostur Region, and Sofia Danova from the village Oshchima, Lerin Region. The other two women were mothers of Greek nationality and members of the interim democratic government of Greece.

Professor Petros Kokalis, Minister of Education in the interim democratic government of Greece, on June 19, 1949 sent an open letter to all the socialist countries looking after our children and thanked them. Among other things he wrote:

‘Our children are living happily in the People’s Republics. By seamlessly respecting the rights of everyone; their native language, national feelings and folk customs, in addition to Greek schools there are also Slavo-Macedonian schools operating. But regardless of how the schools are divided, our children are together and are strengthening their unity, like their fathers and older brothers who are engaged in the armed struggle.’

Petros Kokalis also made this same statement on March 25, 1949 during his speech on the occasion of Teresa Moroz’s visit. Ms.

Moroz was the United Nations representative of scientific and educational programs. The speech was carried on the radio.

On December 18, 1948 the Wall Street Telegraph in New York wrote: “There are hundreds of children dying due to lack of food, shelter and clothing. There are 25,000 children without care so we beg you to please immediately send everything you have, because for each day that passes more children die.” Yet no one said a word about how many children died from being bombed!?

The evacuated children who were cared for outside their homeland are now academics and qualified experts. The education they received was in the language of the host country. In time, not being allowed to return home, most of them went to the Republic of Macedonia. Some, under various circumstances, found themselves in overseas countries like Canada, Australia and the USA.

We are grateful to the people and to the countries for not only caring for our children, but also for giving them the opportunity to be educated and to become mature and capable professionals… and good patriots. At that time they were evacuated to escape the horrors of the Greek Civil War, but later, after the infamous Informburo Resolution in 1948, they found themselves between the hammer and the anvil. For them this was a second war, an unknown war of special character, from which no inexperienced person could cope and survive. However, although they were minors, they fought against injustice, against defamatory attacks on their homeland, against attacks on NOF, NOMS and AFZH and survived… and even thrived.

We should never forget the contribution and merit of the people who did their best to rescue the children and help educate and bring them up. Hundreds of NOF and AFZH members, mothers and teachers, took up this task and stayed with the children around the clock. Included among the many people deserving to be mentioned are Done Sikavitsa, Paskal Paskalevski, Risto Poptraianov, Olga Popova and Alekso Dukovski.

Today, 55 years later, after having left their native homes and homeland, after the children were evacuated and expelled from

Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia and from Greece, they have gathered here from around the world to meet. The gathering of these children, now grown and well-educated, are scientists, artists of every rank, academics… This shows that these people exist. Their presence here tells the world and the Greek government that they exist and are now all over the world… that they are decent peaceful people and enjoy the peace and cooperation between nations and peoples… that what happened to them should never be allowed to happen to other children… to suffer their fate… the fate of the children from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia and Greece. Let it be known that these children and we the fighters from the Greek Civil War want to go back and visit the ruins of what once were our homes… the house that we were born in… we want to raise a monument to our fallen parents who struggled for justice and national freedom… we want to lay wreaths on the graves of our loved ones... What an irony of time this is! A long time ago, 55 years ago, the Athens government demanded that these children be returned to Greece, and now it does not want them at all… and will not let them back into Greece… not even for a short visit...”

This is what Evdokia Foteva Vera had to say having lived through the ordeal and having been a direct participant in the Greek Civil War.