CHAPTER SEVEN - Finally at home

CHAPTER SEVEN - Finally at home...

Even though Strogov was trained to have the inherent manners of an interrogator, he looked a little confused when their eyes met. Dobrin looked relaxed and stood there like an experienced “guilty” person and closely followed Strogov’s movements.

“Finally at home…” said Strogov, looked away, smiled with an ironic smile and added: “After that Pyrrhic victory of yours…”

“Yes!” confirmed Dobrin with a slight feeling of revolt.

“Well here we are Dobrin, everything is in order…” said Strogov and at that very moment the monitor walked in. He was an officer who could walk in without permission. He secretly broke the news that Rumena had had a nervous breakdown.

Excited, Strogov came out and apologetically interrupted Dobrin for a moment. Various people were walking in the hallway and the doctor with two nurses just came out of room number thirteen in Pavilion four. The doctor immediately spoke and said Rumena is now “at peace”.

“We gave her a double dose of sedatives. It’s political hysteria and it’s not dangerous.” concluded the doctor and then smiled at and exchanged glances with Strogov. After that Strogov turned to Dobrin with military rigour. Dobrin noticed his ears were red as he slowly started to speak.

“Well Dobrin, allow me to welcome you home. You, as you know, are coming from the Siberian camps - LTL (Ispravitelinie trudovie lagaria (Labour camps for re-education)). “Nu, kak, dumaete tovarish Surogovski previlino ias skazal? (But, what do you think Comrade Suvogorski, do I speak properly?)

Suvogorski was surprised by his correct pronunciation of Russian and dared to say: “Vi harasho govorite Ruski, Tavarish Strogov” (You speak Russian well, Comrade Strogov).

Strogov, with his high military rank, felt he did not need to allow familiarity to develop between him and Dobrin and sharply said:

“My job requires me to ask you some questions!” Strogov then informed Dobrin that he should start talking, answering all his questions, as it is customary, and not ask questions of his own or make idle comments.

Dobrin looked at him and with a serious tone of voice began to tell his story: “Well, we, a group of Macedonians, as you know, were accused of having ties to international reactionaries and of having organized activities in its favour, and according to Article 58, paragraph 4 and 11 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code (Osoboe Soveshtanie – pri Vrhovniot sud na SSSR) it was decided that I be sentenced to ten years in prison with deprivation of personal freedom and put to work in the Labour camps for re-education. I was a fighter in the Democratic Army of Greece and fought for the national liberation of the Macedonian people. And even then I wondered how could I have broken the Russian Code while fighting in Macedonia under Greece? But justice was on the side of the stronger and as Krilov once said: ‘Silnii svegda pobezhdaet bez silinogo’ (The strong always wins over the weaker).

Strogov then asked Dobrin to tell him more about the camp structure and about the regime in the camps. Strogov had been familiar with them from a long time ago but was interested in knowing more.

“Dobrin, tell me more about the Russian regime…” Strogov said.

“Well, the regimes in all the socialist camp are the same,” replied Dobrin.

“How do you know what they are like here?” asked Strogov in a stern tone of voice.

Dobrin was a bit startled but quickly recovered and said:

“I think the entire Eastern Bloc regime is the same… You know that the prisons and the camps in the socialist countries are worse than those in the capitalist countries.”

“And how can you be so sure?” asked Strogov.

“Well, I have enough experience…” replied Dobrin.

“Sit down then and write down all those experiences in detail for me. Everything that happened to you there,” requested Strogov.

Dobrin thought about it for a moment and looked at Strogov as if wanting to ask him why he needed all this information. Was it so that he, God forbid, could build such prisons in Macedonia? Do I have to be the one that brings this technology to Macedonia? I fought for freedom and not for building things that the interrogators can use to torture people… And which people will they be torturing? Us?! He is looking for something impossible…” Dobrin thought to himself and put both hands on his face.

Strogov frowned at him and stood behind the desk looking grim and only sometimes smiling mischievously.

“It is time that we recognize our own history and place less importance on things. People protect documents more than the truth, because the truth is always relative,” answered Suvogorski.

“What kind of thinking is that?! It is well known that it is most likely due to remorse,” replied Strogov abruptly, who usually used terms like “probable” and “possible”.

“I only say what I know and always am good-willed to tell about what made us prisoners,” said Dobrin.

“And what is that?” asked Strogov curiously.

“I think that the brain plays a major role in a man’s balance. This is what my white-haired Armenian friend Kandikian once told me. He was a specialist in parapsychology and said: ‘Stress is a basis for diseases’. He had learned to interpret the vibrations of certain body organs…” replied Dobrin.

“How?” yelled Strogov.

“Well, if your gallbladder vibrates it gives pleasure to your soul. Or if a woman’s uterus vibrates on the left side then she would get an easier job in the camp...”

After listening to Dobrin speak, Strogov, with a dignified look, interrupted and said: “What?! What?!”

“Well, it’s like this… If your neck vibrates because you received bad news, you will feel sick but soon you will rejoice,” added Dobrin.

“If this is some sort of science then tell me what does it mean when my right hand vibrates?!” asked Strogov.

Without hesitation Dobrin said: “The right hand brings profit, but if your right arch vibrates then you will come into conflict with a persistent person but you will soon resolve it.”

Strogov sat down, made himself comfortable on the reclining soft chair and, with much unnecessary courage, said:

“I have heard about dreams and that they represent something but I, as an officer and an atheist, don’t believe in such nonsense…” Dobrin said this fondly but still he was overwhelmed by curiosity and wanted to know more about this Siberian prison school. He continued: “I recently dreamt about sitting on a balcony…” he said, fearing that he now may become open to interrogation.

“On the balcony?! Sitting on the balcony? My friend Kandikian would interpret that as if you were on a treasure hunt, but there is a risk in the short-term, you won’t have much chance of success, you don’t have much confidence in your current post, be on guard against the enemy,” replied Dobrin.

“And…? I am listening!” said Strogov.

“Well, if your navel were to vibrate that would indicate great honour and you would benefit from that. The other day Rumena dreamt of

an acacia plant, and that is a sign of some sort of accident with your sight, as I was told by the Armenian Kandikian,” replied Dobrin.

“So, you remember all these things from your Armenian friend and most likely it is a long list of such vibrations,” said Strogov.

“It is hard to forget some things if you are shoehorned in your own hideout. How can I forget what happened in 1947 in Gramos? As a representative of NOF (National Liberation Front) General Headquarters, I visited our fighters who, after the brotherhood and unity between us and the Greeks, were sent to fight in the depths of Greece. There I met a boy with an older looking exterior but physically and spiritually premature. But besides that he was a boy in the true sense of the word. His face was elongated and he in no way looked like a shepherd boy. He looked more like an old man who had gone through a hell of a number of tough experiences...

Whispering to me he said: ‘I did not come here to fight for the glory of Greece and for the Greeks, I came here to die for my mother Macedonia. I did not leave my flock of sheep, grab my rifle and backpack for Greece. I will not suffer for the glory of Greece, but only for Macedonia! Let the Lord be my judge if I am wrong... A few days ago when I was asked to take an oath for Greece, I declined,’ he said.

This is the oath the boy was expected to take: ‘I, son of the people of Greece and fighter of DAG (Democratic Army of Greece), swear that I will fight with a gun in my hand and will shed my blood, and if needed I will give my life to uphold our national freedom, our borders and the inviolability of my Hellas... And if I show distrust and behave badly then I accept my punishment from the unrelenting hand of my motherland Greece and let the punishment be strict,’...” concluded Dobrin.

“So you, the people of NOF, sent our people to fight down in Greece, not in Macedonia to defend their homes?!” asked Strogov surprised.

“Yes. But we will see about that. What else could I have done, except listen to the burning words of this boy? I was quite taken by his sincere love for Macedonia and for everything Macedonian.

The road to the truth is difficult, dangerous and uncertain...” replied Dobrin in a low tone of voice.

“And?! And what is the truth?” asked Strogov.

“The truth is that the ‘brotherhood and unity’ deal was agreed on in Belgrade in October 1946 by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Ivan Karaivanov) and the Communist Party of Greece (Yannis Ioanidis) and then we (NOF) were invited to see the CPM Central Committee Secretary who told us the following:

‘Now you will go down there. Your leader in the struggle will be the CPG. The CPG’s line is the correct line... Place your confidence in the CPG. Fight with all available means against chauvinism, separatism and local trends,’...” replied Dobrin.

“And you! I see you already have started to pick away at our state secrets!?” commented Strogov.

“No I am not…. But people do want to know the truth,” replied Dobrin.

“That’s not truth! Mere fabrications!” yelled Strogov, stood up, put his hands behind his back and nervously began to pace around the room.

“And what about the fate of all these people?” asked Dobrin.

“Those were your failures! I told you what I am interested in. You are the ones from NOF who campaigned and agitated the people and told them that this was a revolution and called on them to fight with the slogan ‘now or never’ and told them to fight in continuation of the famous Ilinden Uprising. And now, because of your own failure, you want to put the blame on others... I told you what I am interested in!” blasted Strogov.

“So our destiny is to blame ourselves and not to condemn those who actually pushed us into this war...” replied Dobrin.

Dobrin took a long sigh. It was hard to believe that he had just been asked to forget his past, to forget that he was in prison... and for all the others too to forget everything. This is his fate… to forget…