BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

First book review

With a keen sense of selectivity about certain events, people and processes, Stoian Kochov, author of the novel “Wanderers”, openly and boldly speaks of the ideals and illusions of our Macedonian fighters, who were led by other governments and by foreign commanders during the Greek Civil War. The pages of this exciting book on display show the supremacy of a Macedonian over a Macedonian, and in that context it culminates with national waste.

Pavle Rakovski’s personality is embodied in the name Dobrin Suvogorski who is the central character in the book. His life story is reflected faithfully, starting with his youthful ideals expressed in the whirlwind of war, to his experiences of trauma in the dungeons in Russia, but also in his homeland “free” Macedonia. Together with his family, he went through many trials and tribulations, waiting for death with the goal of being rehabilitated by the government. Ironically his rehabilitation, especially from his “faithful” comrades and friends, did arrive but after he died.

The book “Wonderers” is a moving story about love and enthusiasm towards the holy ideals about our fatherland and ancestral home.

Rade Silian.

Second book review

The novel “Wonderers” is a remarkable blend of historical events and personal destinies, a blend that the respected author and virtuoso, Stoian Kochov, succeeded in putting together in a style of his own. Stoian Kochov is one of the few chroniclers and interpreters of events that took place in Greek occupied Macedonia during the Greek Civil War and the consequences that followed. It is a virtue to emphasize that Kochov is a hero of our time because he, through the written word, has repeatedly defied oblivion and false testimony. I am writing this, given the fact that when many were silent, Kochov and his works were the vanguard in revealing the truth, no matter what form it took.

His characters and events, through which these characters pass, simultaneously are raw and realistic. The author, with his ability to travel through history, in a style that characterizes him and is constantly present in his works, allows us to go back in time and space and face the perils of the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia.

In this place there are false advocates pretending to struggle for the fundamental rights of the Macedonian people, as well as those hidden advocates who have been promoting compromises. There were only few people who saw the danger of compromising and the result of this scenario. History has taught us that any compromise which requires the participation of the Macedonian people is as insatiable beast that drinks Macedonian blood. We need to learn the truth about this, about our past and what better place than to study the works of this honourable man, Stoian Kochov. Whenever the Macedonian people wanted to be equal with others, to be on our own, the Macedonian people became victims and were never allowed to be in peace. They were always robbed of their glory and of dignity, alive or dead.

When it comes to Stoin Kochov’s work, there is no compromise as is the case with the novel “Wonderers”, a remarkable piece of work. It has no compromises because the author is bravely facing our past burdens and is translating them for us.

Only a few people have done this but it is done for the many, known and unknown, for those unnamed and for those who call each other comrades. And for the fighters who were friends and then suddenly became comrade investigators, comrades who doubted their more recent comrades. The main objective of this book is to contribute to the transmission of truth from generation to generation, to constitute a roadmap for current and future generations to move into the future, for those people who will carry the covenant with them an not forget the past.

With much respect, Professor Dr. Teon Dzhingo December 15, 2016

ACRONYMS

AFZH - Women’s Anti-Fascist Front ASNOM – Anti-Fascist Assembly of National Liberation of Macedonia BRP(k) – Communist Party of Bulgaria CPG - Communist Party of Greece CPM - Communist Party of Macedonia CPY - Communist Party of Yugoslavia CVG - Greek Civil War DAG – Democratic Army of Greece EAM – National Liberation Front ELAS – National Liberation Army of Greece EON – National Youth Organization EPON – All Greek National Youth Organization KOEM – Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia KOS - Counter-intelligence Sector of JAN NKVD – People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs NOBG - Peoples Liberation Struggle in Greece NOBM - Peoples Liberation Struggle in Macedonia NOF - Peoples’ Liberation Front NOMS - Peoples’ Liberation Youth Organization OKNE - Communist Youth Organization of Greece ONOO – Local People’s Liberation Council OZNA – People’s Defense Division PAO - Pan-Hellenic Liberation Organization PDEG – Pan-Greek Democratic Union of Women PDOG – International Federation of Democratic Women POJ - Partisan Units of Yugoslavia SID - Information Services of the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs SNOF - Slavo-Macedonian National Liberation Front SKP(b) – Communist Party of the Soviet Union UDBA - Directorate of State Security USSR – United Soviet Socialist Republics