CHAPTER SEVEN – For the love of Macedonia

CHAPTER SEVEN – For the love of Macedonia

Someone in the back piped up and said: “And don’t let us forget about the chest-beating and arguments between the Macedonians who quarrel about ‘who loves Macedonia more and who wanted it united’. Or those who boasted how they were going to solve the Macedonian Question...”

Suvogorski bent down and picked up a bunch of papers. He then began to read. Written on the top of the first page was: “Personal notes from the history of the Macedonians in the Greek Civil War (1945-1949).” Suvogorski then looked at the pictures of Tito and Zahariadis and, with a sober look on his face, said: “What do you think… Who wanted to break us Macedonians?”

There was silence. Suvogorski continued: “With every passing day the situation in Greece became even scarier because the top NOF and AFZH leaders were now getting their orders directly from the CPG. They were used to getting their orders handed down to them by the CPY leadership. But they should not have been surprised because what was happening to them now had been pre-arranged by the CPY and CPG, when Tito and Zahariadis met in Belgrade on April 2, 1946, without the presence of any Macedonians, and decided that the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia would be led by NOF but managed by the CPY/CPM. Then, when the time was right, NOF’s program would be modified and NOF would be put under the CPG. NOF’s new program shall then read as follows: ‘NOF and AFZH will fight in alliance with the Greek people in order to save the Macedonian people from physical extermination…’ And this is what happened…

I am telling you this so that you can understand it. When NOF was managed by the CPY we were fighting to re-unite our Macedonia… When NOF was passed on to the CPG we were fighting to ‘save ourselves…’ No explanation requested… No explanation given! NOF and AFZH were committed to their new task as much as they were committed to their old task… No questions asked! They did exactly what they were told! This tells me that it had been left up to Tito and Zahariadis to decide what would happen to the Macedonian

people in Greek occupied Macedonia and not to those Macedonians beating their chests! And we all know what happened!” concluded Suvogorski.