Chapter four – Painful memories - black chronicles - Part 03

Those former ELAS fighters then asked to be reinstated as fighters and, supported by Tempo, decided to leave ELAS and join Tito’s army. They justified their actions by saying that they were angry at ELAS and its attitude towards the Macedonian issue and for not allowing the Macedonians to become self-determined. I remember Aristotle saying: ‘Anger is required and nothing can be won without it. Anger is needed to burn our hearts and souls, but it should not be used as a guide, but as a soldier.’

At one point Velkovski said: ‘Dear Macedonian brothers! We know that you don’t want to join the ranks of ELAS, or the Andartes, as some Greeks call them, because they remind you of Ilinden and after Ilinden when the Andartes committed great deeds of evil against the Macedonian people. It was a time when even a child in the cradle was afraid to cry.

We the Macedonians in Tito’s army invite you to join our ranks and fight for the liberation and unification of Macedonia! I want to advise you, dear villagers, that yesterday a large number of villagers

from Trsie, Lerin Region, voluntarily joined our units and became Tito’s Partisans.’

But then something unpleasant happened when Anesti Popovski and myself, as translators from Macedonian to Greek, translated the above speech for the Greek officers in the 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment. No one from ELAS was happy!

In fact the Political Commissar of the ELAS regiment went as far to say as: ‘This is too much… for the National Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia to call upon the Slavo-Macedonians and citizens of Greece to join Tito’s army in Yugoslavia. This is dangerous! This is the policy of Svetozar Vukmanovik - Tempo, who, since 1943, has been sent to Greece by Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia.’

The Political Commissar’s words made me think. I knew that Tempo was accused of conducting a policy favouring a maximalist tendency towards Macedonian historical principles. We should also keep in mind that, behind this more recent propaganda about Tempo favouring Macedonian tendencies, the idea of ‘Macedonian political and national emancipation’ under communist rule died in 1941 when Metodia Shatorov – Sharlo was liquidated. As I mentioned earlier, Sharlo wanted to form a single communist party for all divided parts of Macedonia… in other words, a unified Macedonia. The CPY was against this… History has noted that the Greek communists were not the only ones who supported anti-Macedonian policies in the Balkans. Yugoslav emissary Tempo was also in support of anti-Macedonian policies.

I remember at the time an old man, all fueled with nationalistic sentiments, running up and hugging Giore Velkovski and saying: ‘We can only unite in this way and be as we were hundreds of years ago. No one should collect young Macedonians and force them to participate in ELAS, now is the time to go to a Macedonian army...’

Velkovski then said: ‘Yes, yes, you’re right, old man...’

At that time I thought to myself: well… here is how the wheel of fate has suddenly turned… like it was going crazy…

When the rally ended we stood there among members of the General Headquarters for the two armies; ELAS and Tito’s Partisans.

Moments later Naum Peiov - Chakalaro shyly approached Kiro Georgievski – Deian, a member of Tito’s Army General Staff and asked him a question. He said: ‘Comrade Deian, Comrade Giore Velkovski said that your position is to immediately include Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia in the ranks of NOV and PO of Yugoslavia. Does that apply to us active fighters who have been active in the ranks of ELAS for years?’

Deian looked at him and said: “This applies primarily to new fighters who have refused to fight in the ranks of ELAS because they did not trust the Greek resistance movement, which did not support the correct position on the Macedonian national question.’

Deian then went on to say: ‘Our specific goal is to use the anti-fascist situation among our Macedonian people here and to conduct a wide mobilization of new volunteer fighters. But if you and members from the ranks of EAM and ELAS voluntarily want to transition to our ranks, we will accept you and in time we will inform Tempo,’ concluded Krapov.

* * *

After pausing for a few moments, as if thinking what to say next, Krapov resumed speaking and said: “The Political Commissar of the Greek ELAS units then said: ‘Those who turn their backs on ELAS turn their backs on their own people. Until now they were harassed because they refused to enter the ranks of ELAS and for the same reason they were called Bugaromani. They don’t want to defend Greece’s sovereignty and integrity and they want to defend Yugoslavia’s? This is a very serious issue! But then they should know that there is a shameful end to every traitor, because one day they will be cast out by those who they serve today.’

After speaking to Deian, Chakalaro came over towards me and looking puzzled he said: ‘Am I thinking straight? This is no good, undeniably the news for going to Tito’s army will leave a mark on all of us… But at the same time quite naturally, along with a sense

of joy, will grow the grief in leaving our families, our homes and what our forefathers have earned and kept for us. We are happy with the open truth in that ‘fraternal’ statement... Those who are not afraid to tell the truth, no matter how bitter it is, are strong. Only the weak lie in such moments.’

‘Naum, Naum’, I said to him, ‘let us consider this soberly. We may disagree on a lot of things, but I truly don’t understand where our consciousness is. It seems to me like you’re in conflict with yourself. I don’t understand how those who want to go to Tito’s army can love this part of Macedonia more than the rest of us who want to stay here. I don’t understand how a person can fight more for the affirmation of Macedonia from the outside than a person in Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions, exactly where they were born. It is our primordial right to defend our fatherland and the hearth of our grandfathers. Only yesterday we called on the rebels to come to us and they believed and trusted us and joined our ranks, but don’t forget that we sinned against them, sins that our people will never forget.

I came to believe that we Macedonians had no understanding of what it meant to go to a foreign country. Worse than that was that we hoped and trusted that Tito, out of the goodness of his heart, was going to free us. Our actions truly defied logic. We came to believe that the Communists in Greece could do absolutely nothing to help us and at the same time we came to believe that the Yugoslav communists were invincible and that we should place our fate fully in their hands. I can tell you that no wise man would ever put himself in such a situation.

I came to believe that those who left their homeland would become different people and would never be able to return home, even if circumstances allowed them to return. I also often wondered if an outsider, a stranger can be a master or a leader of his own people? So, how were these people going to expand and fully implement Yugoslav policies here? Unfortunately we Macedonians in the ranks of the CPG did not do much thinking for ourselves. We did nothing to protect the Macedonian rebels because we did not want to offend our current ‘brothers’ and occupiers. Our current ‘brothers’ and occupiers did not raise a hand against the Macedonian rebels

because we were more than willing to do it for them. We were glad to fulfill their orders and to listen to the advice of ELAS and Tempo. And believe me, ever since then I have lived like a servant with much suppressed anger.

Every one of us should be asking ourselves: Why and from what do we suffer? We suffer because we continue to make the same mistakes. We seem to follow the same line which leads us to the same fatal conclusion. We trust strangers more than we trust ourselves. We place more faith in strangers than we place in our own people. We believed the Macedonian rebels were fighting for foreign interests because that is what the strangers told us. We never stopped, even for a moment, to ask ourselves; how can the rebels be fighting for ‘foreign interests’ when they were fighting to protect their own families and homes? They were Macedonians fighting for Macedonians, fighting for themselves! What more can I tell you?

There is one universal law that holds true every time: people, no matter who they are, fight for their own interests no matter what they tell you. No one would be willing to stick their neck out for your interests when you are fighting against theirs. The Greeks were fighting for their interests when they asked us to liquidate the rebels. To get us to do it they told us that the rebels were fighting for ‘Bulgarian interests’ and naturally we believed them. But not for a moment did we stop to think what we were doing and for whose interests we were fighting when we attacked the rebels; our own people. Now the Yugoslavs are taking advantage of our naïveté and they too are manipulating us.

No matter how we Macedonians view the world, internationally Yugoslavia is a different country than Greece. Our people going to Tito’s army means they are going to join the army of another country and to fight for another country’s interests. In Yugoslavia they will be sent to fight at the Srem front where Tito will decide where they are needed. Now think about this and tell me: how will this help the families of the fighters in Greek occupied Macedonia, leaving their homes? It won’t! Our struggle should take place here and should be about defending our families and homes. Our struggle should never be about ideologies, religion, etc., things that are controlled by outsiders and things that divide us. We are all

Macedonians and our common interest is Macedonia, we have a common origin and that’s what we should be fighting for. We alienate ourselves from ourselves when we listen to foreigners, especially to our current occupiers, telling us what’s good for us. Look what this has done to us. We have become willing hostages of the Greeks and the Yugoslavs who will turn us into enemies of one another just like they turned us against the rebels. This will be yet another historical divide of our people. Think about it,’ I said!

Chakalaro stood there looking confused and pensive. He listened to me with disbelief. He struggled to maintain a normal expression on his face when he said: ‘This present call for a lot of us Macedonians will have many unclear things. Perhaps the CPY and the CPG are deliberately doing this to keep our people afraid and obedient and this obedience is what is killing us as a nation. They work against the Macedonians through their ideologies and know how to defeat us without firing a single bullet. They know how to humiliate, disparage and intimidate us as a nation...

They call on the Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia for an all out general mobilization of the new fighters, and to us the first fighters and members of EAM and the CPG in the ranks of ELAS, they say if we want? Let me tell you that the views of the Greek communist movement are becoming increasingly unacceptable. We have seen how they subordinated us to the Unified English Army under Middle East Command. No one asked us Macedonians, SNOF, if we wanted to serve in the Unified English Army under English command. Especially since I know we are in favour of the Red Army.’

When he stopped talking I looked at Chakalaro and said: ‘It is time for us to stop kidding ourselves as to how this evil began. Let me ask you this: What do you think of Tempo’s idea of starting a Balkan Headquarters and do you think this has played an important ideological role in the timing and opening a new historical process in Macedonia, especially in Greek occupied Macedonia?’

Chakalaro looked at me strangely and said: ‘Tempo knew very well, just like the Greeks know very well, that we the authentic

Macedonians have a vision and a strategy for the historical processes for the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia.

As for the idea of creating a Balkan Headquarters, the Greeks estimate that it was a political move… similar to a move a man makes when running barefoot through thorns. Don’t you think Tempo knows that ELAS is already under English command in the Middle East Army?

By now we should all know that in May the EAM and ELAS leaderships signed an agreement with the Greek government in exile, located in Cairo, headed by Georgios Papandreou. The goal of the agreement was to form a joint government, to create national unity. But the worst part about this agreement was that it called for the liquidation of all Macedonian organizations including SNOF and for us Macedonians to join EAM. In other words the aim of creating SNOF was to destroy the Macedonian rebels and to start new hatred between us Macedonians. I remember having a meeting with Markos Vafiadis, Kapetanios in charge of a group of divisions in Macedonia (Northern Greece), who I personally begged for more than three hours to look at the problem of recruiting new Macedonian fighters and putting them in the Macedonian units because many villagers refused to fight for ELAS.

And do you know what Vafiadis said to me? He said that we were not allowed to have more units than allocated to us. Not a single unit more, not one and to correct the existing problem we now need to send you to the ranks of ELAS as soon as possible. You need to go to ELAS now as regular soldiers. We cannot have a separate Macedonian army and lie to the people here of Greece! I swear to you that’s what he said!’

Chakalaro then looked at me and said: ‘EAM sold us out and now they are out there agitating the Macedonian people with empty words and pure lies. Every Macedonian should be asking themselves: What will become of us if they restore the old Greek regime in Greece? For years we fought and spilled our blood to bring progress and to advance human relations in the Bakans, not to bring back old Greece. But as the years passed EAM and CPG policies changed to keep pace with current events. All they wanted

out of us Macedonians was to turn us into party mules and tie us up with two or three ropes whose lengths they controlled.

It should be clear to every Macedonian by now that the Greeks did exactly that by creating SNOF and the Macedonian units. Their aim was to have us destroy the Macedonian rebels and create a divide between our people. They didn’t want to dirty their hands so they had us do their dirty work, and we did. We did because we unquestionably trusted the communists. We believed that revolutions were started to bring change for the better and were convinced that we would not only break the fascist yoke but we would also release ourselves from the Greek yoke.

But the thing that’s most essential for us now, throughout the course of the negotiations between PEEA (Political Committee of National Liberation of Greece) and the Greek government in exile, is not even mentioned. There is no mention of Macedonians or the rights of the Macedonians or of any minorities living in Greece in any of the documents being signed. This says a lot about where the CPG and ELAS stand in regards to the Macedonians. In fact the CPG and ELAS work against us Macedonians on a daily basis by agitating for the Greek character of Macedonia.’

I looked at Chakalaro in the eye and said: ‘Those who joined the ranks of Tito’s army are not traitors. And neither are those who will leave the ranks of ELAS, but I do know that their actions will bring us great harm. A man abandoning fierce injustice is not treason, but at the same time we Macedonians need to be careful and act wisely. Both sides want to divide us and create a bitter situation between us. Also, we will never find justice outside of our birthplace among strangers.’

While responding to Chakalaro I was reminded of an old folk saying that went something like this: ‘The soil belongs to no one, but we belong to the soil’.

One would need to have much sense to understand the profound philosophical meaning of that saying. I know from many years of experience, if a person leaves his own soil then he no longer belongs to it.”

Krapov was smiling now and his smile was free, seeming like he had nothing to hide. During our conversation his facial features were in constant motion. The wrinkles on his forehead were moving up and down as his facial expressions changed from serious to jovial and back to serious again.

After pausing for a moment Krapov smiled and began to talk again. He said: “I unexpectedly believed that a miracle was going to take place. Only a few Macedonian ELAS fighters remained and most of those who remained secretly disappeared and went somewhere.

One morning one of those fighters who remained, and who at the time was in a bad mood, said to me: ‘I don’t want any of the Greeks to know what I am about to tell you because my throat may be cut. But, those from our side (the Macedonian fighters in ELAS who left) were whispering all night and then they were gone in the morning before dawn. They slithered their way out like shadows. They were led by Chakalaro and his friends Nikola Shalvarinov, Dimitar Shishkovski and Sotir Andonovski. I overheard they left so that they can inform the fighters in the Lazo Trpovski detachment of what was happening and then travel to the Vicho unit and prepare to join Tito’s army in Yugoslavia.’

Listening to the man speak I thought to myself: ‘It is difficult to manage things when you are impulsive’. I could see that in Paiov yesterday. Even though he gave the impression that he knew what he was doing and that he was in control of things, he went ahead and did this anyway. He couldn’t even manage his own impulses, how was he going to manage guiding and leading our people, especially in times like these?

Then I remembered what my grandfather Delian used to say: ‘People who are impulsive fantasize about being inspiring, but there is nothing strong underneath that, everything that is done is without foundation and quickly crumbles’. My grandfather was right. Look what we have done. We created nothing for ourselves but were more than anxious to join organizations created for us by others, outsiders

and our enemies no less. We voluntarily joined EAM, ELAS and the CPG and now we are full of anger, but anger does nothing. This shows that our actions have eluded our future, especially our inability to create something of ours.

The next day we learned that they arrived at SNOF Headquarters in Krchishta, Kostur Region and met with Lazo Dimovski - Oshenski, Lazo Pop Lazarov and Pascal Mitrevski. Almost everyone who managed SNOF and led the Lazo Trpovski detachment was there.

After entering the large classroom in the village school, they all sat down except for Chakalaro. Believing that he deserved to be more privileged than others and expecting special attention, he stood up straight like a soldier and said: ‘Comrades, yesterday we attended a meeting in the village Bapchor where we were told by a representative of Tito’s army that all Macedonians from this side of Macedonia (Greek occupied Macedonia) who have not yet joined ELAS, who want to fight for the liberation and unification of Macedonia, can do so now by joining the ranks of Tito’s army. Similarly, those who are now in the ranks of ELAS can also join Tito’s army’.

After hearing this, the first question that came to mind was: ‘How can we do that if we are currently in the ranks of ELAS and volunteered to be there?’ In any case, I thought about it for a while and decided that I was going to leave ELAS and join Tito’s army so that I could fight on the side of the Red Army. I was under the impression that ELAS could no longer dictate its its terms to us.

Back in Krchishta those in attendance were in disbelief and remained motionless. They were looking at each other wondering what was going on. There was total silence as if they were in a church during prayer.

The silence unfortunately did not last long before arguments erupted and lasted for three days. Three days of discussions and yelling at one another.

At one point Chakalaro was heard yelling: ‘Enough already, I am sick and tired of hearing the words now is not the time for that! I

don’t have any other time other than the time of my youth which I have lost. As a Macedonian I don’t want to fight in a unified army under English command!’

Another person in attendance was heard saying: ‘For an independent Macedonia… from a long time ago it has been a mistake…’ but then he abruptly stopped talking.

Chakalaro quickly jumped in and said: ‘So, you have given up on our revolutionary ideals?! If a nation is not and does not want to be independent, will there be anyone who would want to give their life for a foreign country? Let me also ask you this; Do we still want a Macedonia or not?!’

Those in attendance looked at each other somewhat condused as if they did not understand what Chakalaro was asking.

Impatiant to hear what they had to say Chakalaro yelled out: ‘Answer my question! What are your thoughts?’

Chakalaro’s performance, by most, was interpreted as a daring move with political connotations, root changing connotations that would completely change the root of the Macedonian people’s struggle. There was a pause as everyone kept quiet, but Mitrevski, having the need to be in the centre of attention, stepped up and said:

‘After all, the rationale is clear but we should not be igniting the fire. You Chakalaro are you sure of that? This suggests something else; not to exasperate ourselves with small and petty things. I see you’re sad; did someone use this situation to cause you grief? All of us here willingly fought for ELAS and accepted the minimum of the program, and now? This is something completely different. If we join Tito’s army we will be fighting for the maximum of the program and that is a united Macedonia. All these years we fought in the ranks of ELAS and this whole time we supported the Party Line. We fought the Party’s enemies and defended the Party’s authority and what did the CPG teach us? It taught us to fight each other by starting an internal partisan struggle.

Perhaps I should not be talking about things like this… secrets… everything we talked about here is secret, I think we should be very careful...’

Attempting to smile, Chakalaro’s face distorted and he blurted: ‘Are you confessing something?’

Anxiously Pop – Lazarov, opting not to repeat the same question, murmured something through his teeth and then asked: ‘… is this the reason why we are leaving our country?’ He wanted to say more, something else, but was silenced by Mitrevski.

‘You Pop – Lazarov, bite your tongue. I am president here and you should know that I alone am responsible for the revolution!’ said Mitrevski.

‘Okay then…!’ replied Pop – Lazarov.

Mitrevski tried to smile and, while still talking to Pop – Lazarov, said: ‘Well, if you can’t keep quiet then at least say something that we Macedonians should expect in the future in a united Macedonia? You, as the visionary that you are...’

‘Well, what do you want me to say… expect the worst?!’ said Pop – Lazarov. Mitrevski was known to be envious of those who had more insight than himself.

Mitrevski then turned to Oshenski and said: ‘And you Oshenski, as an old ideologue of the Party, what do you have to say?’

‘What to do? So far the situation has been very difficult,’ said Lazo Damovski - Oshenski with a sour look on his face and then continued: ‘We Macedonians entered the ranks of the EAM and the CPG, and now ELAS without thinking. We were led by blind faith in communist ideas. Now we are not in a good situation...’

Chakalaro jumped in and asked Oshenski: ‘Are you sure you are not hiding something from me? I’ve had enough of this endeavour to circumvent things.’

Oshenski looked at him sternly and said: ‘I am a socialist and a revolutionary and I always tell our Greek friends that our wish, the desire of the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia, is to have a United and Free Macedonia, according to the principles of the Atlantic Charter (5) and according to what Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill promised us... Our common Struggle, Macedonians and Greeks fighting together, will help pave the way to unite the Macedonian people in a free Macedonia, and the Greek people in achieving true democracy, eject the foreign yoke and pave the way for a better government in Greece.

But I also remember what a Greek communist, a friend of mine from the Akronaphplion Prison one time said to me. He said: Yes, yes I know that among you Macedonians there are talented people, who are not given what’s due to them. I am a true rebel and I believe that you Macedonians are justified in seeking as much as possible. But if you allow me, I will tell you something that you may not have thought of. You as Macedonian communists agreed to the idea of accepting the colonists from Asia Minor and as a result you have changed your ethnic composition and you Macedonians have become a minority in your own native lands. Those Asia Minor colonists have now entered senior Party functions. Is that not correct? Now, as Communists, you need to ask these people if they want to be in a united Macedonia. At this moment we are fighting to expel the Germans. Europe has not yet been rearranged, and here in Greece we have trouble with the nationalists, and now with the colonists, and, while I am all for equality and perhaps for social equality for you Macedonians, now is not the time for that. The time for that is somewhere in the future, as you can see now is not the right time. I hope you can see that? he said.

That’s all I wanted to tell you...’ concluded Oshenski.

After three days of yelling, arguing, discussing and criticizing the Greek Party’s policies, the exhaustive talks finally ended. Not completely sure of Peiov’s proposal, they asked for clarification from NOV and PO Yugoslav headquarters then located in the village Sulin, Prespa Region in Yugoslavia.

Mitrevski and Oshenski proposed that Chakalaro take a few of the men who had taken part in the discussions to accompany a courier and go to the Headquarters in the village Sulin. Their task was to obtain clarification on the issue of how to voluntarily switch sides while still being active in the armed ranks of Macedonians in ELAS. But, according to village tradition in Koreshtata, they were not allowed to leave for a journey before sunrise. Unfortunately they felt that tradition did not apply to them and decided to leave immediately. Included amongst those who left were Naum Peiov -Chakalaro, Nikola Shalvarinov, Spiro Lazevski, Risto Iankulovski, Blagoi Dimitrov and Kicha Baleva.

* * *

When they arrived at the Headquarters they met with Deian who told them: ‘In my opinion you acted entirely properly. If you want my opinion I can tell you that you acted very patriotically.’

Deian then went on to say: ‘We will take you into our ranks because your are unwilling to fight with us. But I also want you to let you know that there are people in the CPY that don’t share this view. The most important thing for us is our national feeling and, from what I see, you share the same feeling. But there are also those who place Internationalism over nationalism, and nationalism, they say, is inappropriate for real communists. Unfortunately none of the neighbouring communist parties are willing to accept us; not Yugoslavia, not Greece and not Bulgaria. The Macedonian people have many unresolved problems. We are a special people and not part of anyone else and therefore our unification, after Macedonia’s division following the Balkan Wars, will be difficult, but today we are here to fight against fascism and without a clear purpose as to what will happen to our people in the three parts of Macedonia in the future.

You know that the Communist Party of Macedonia, formed in 1941, did not achieve its aims because it was quickly decapitated and placed under the CPY’s strict control. After Macedonia’s partition a strange phenomenon took place in our country, our solidarity was taken away from us by our conquerors and we were forced to contribute more to their interests than to ours, except for the rebels

in Kostur (1943 – 1944) but then we liquidated them as ordered by ELAS.

If you understand what I am saying then do what you think is best for you…’ concluded Deian.

The next day, after meeting with Deian, Chakalaro felt like he was a special and unique person because he felt only a few people would even understand what Deian was saying. Chakalaro felt that what was about to happen would have historical significance. After that Chakalaro and the group returned to Koreshtata to prepare those Macedonians who wanted to join Tito’s army. But, as it turned out, things did not go the way they were expected.

No sooner had Chakalaro and the others left than the leadership of ELAS General Headquarters sent a stern letter to the Yugoslav Partisan General Headquarters demanding the return of all ELAS deserters led by Chakalaro.

When Markos found out he became furious, especially since he already hated Macedonians. He then immediately informed Headquarters to prepare elite units and hunt them down and capture the traitors.

At one point Markos said: ‘I chased after them and hunted them down in the same way I hunted down the Germans. It was a very serious issue. They could have risen against us within our ranks and we would have had large losses.’

To save himself and his unit Chakalaro fled and took shelter on Mount Vrba where he spent the rest of the short summer. Free from aggression and from ELAS persecution, Chakalaro and his partisans enjoyed the fresh mountain air and occasionally feasted on roasted lamb. Then one morning they heard news on the radio about their desertion. They were referred to as ELAS deserters led by Peiov who fled to Tito’s army. The worst part about this news was that it was repeated again and again every five or so minutes; the same hoarse monotonous voice saying the same thing over and over again, repeating:

‘We are asking all residents of the Kostur villages to be on the lookout for the deserters led by Paiov, if you happen to see them report them to the EAM or ELAS authorities!’

While repeating the message about the deserters, the radio program also broadcast a message from a Serbian political adviser named Dobrovoie Radosavlievich – Ortse working inside the federal government of Macedonia. In the radio message Ortse addressed the Yugoslav political workers and NOV units which had crossed into Greek territory and advised them that the EAM and ELAS had taken measures to eliminate all unhealthy measures that recently appeared in Kostur and Lerin Regions, mainly the desertion of ELAS fighter units, which he said were bound to inflict damage and harm to relations and to the common struggles between the People’s Liberation Army, ELAS and Yugoslavia. Ortse announced that measures had already been taken to correct the errors made on the Yugoslav side and on the side of ELAS.

The broadcaster also said that the authorities had to punish all offenders and those responsible for the offenses because they violated fraternal relations between Yugoslavia’s NOV and ELAS.

July 7th, 1944.

Spheres of influence were established in the Balkans. Great Britain gained supremacy over Greece and the Soviet Union over Romania.

On May 20th, 1944 in Lebanon, under pressure from the British, the CPG, EAM and ELAS signed an Agreement with the Royalist Government in Greece. After that the coalition government was dissolved.

The Communists in Macedonia held a conference on June 25, 1944 and unanimously agreed to cancel the Lebanon Agreement calling for NOD (People’s Liberation Movement) to switch to revolutionary tactics supported by its own forces and by NOV of Yugoslavia. The CPG leadership became split over the issue. One group wanted to accept the Agreement and the other to reject it.

The group which advocated for acceptance of the Agreement prevailed. After this the Soviet side dispatched a military Mission headed by Colonel Gregory Popov which arrived in the free territory on June 28, 1944. Popov was part of the Soviet establishment and was well aware of Stalin’s totalitarian system and the means by which it operated as a one party dictatorship in Russia and in all the communist countries all over the world, liquidating all other factions and leaving only those who were totally committed to follow the Comintern in Moscow. Stalin wanted Moscow to be the absolute centre of all communist parties.

And thus Soviet citizen Gregory Popov, now a high ranking plenipotentiary in the Soviet Party, had only this to say: ‘Here is the directive… This is what Stalin wants!’

On August 17, 1944 the CPG Central Committee decided to accept the Agreement and take part in the coalition government headed by Georgios Papandreou.

At the same meeting Stringos, a Politburo member and member of the CPG Central Committee, added: ‘The Central Committee is again warning Gotse and Peiov that no good will come out of the position they have taken and their behaviour. We want to ask the Slavo-Macedonians one more time to return to the Party ranks and by doing so to save their lives. If they don’t, then they can go to hell…’ Stringos’s remarks were followed with great applause.

August 2nd, 1944.

In early dawn the wind was wafting over the lake making vivid sounds. That year ELAS and all our enemies trampled over Kostur and Kostur Region…”

Krapov suddenly became quiet. His gaze became fixed on the top of Mount Vicho as if wanting to let me know that this was the place where the evil had started. Then, as quickly as he had stopped talking, he turned his head towards me, gave me a great big smile and began talking again… like all these had things happened yesterday.

He said: “That night all the people in every household spoke about the Greeks. Many of the older villagers remembered the dark days of the Andartes; the slaughter, the looting, the frightening things that happened when the Greek Andartes, headed by Pavlos Melas and Germanos Karavangelis, came here in 1904 and began to torment us. There were some really angry people amongst the Andartes, especially the Cretans. They tormented us something awful even though we had done nothing to them and were still under Ottoman rule.

Melas’s obituary read: ‘He heroically died on October 18, 1904 in the village Statitsa, Kostur Region’. His last words were: ‘No Bulgarian shall be left alive!’ Unlike Karavitas who said: ‘We don’t need the Macedonians, we need Macedonia!”

* * *

Krapov stopped talking again, but only for a moment. He then looked at me with a friendly look on his face and suddenly, in a loud voice, said: “Sometimes life can splash a story that is more exciting than a movie. I often go back to that painful period from half a century ago not only to remind myself of what happened but also to connect with those times, with that deeply anti-Macedonian era marked with blood and tears.

The situation in this part of our world was one vicious circle. Forty or so years later the Andartes were back. Forty years later the descendants of the Ilinden fighters met up with the descendents of the Greek Andartes. But now Macedonia was occupied by Greece and the population had changed. Now we had Turkish refugees and settlers from Asia Minor occupying our lands. They were brought here by the Greek state in the early 1920’s (1918-1924) and to please them they were given our most fertile lands, largest estates and best pastures and they were slowly turned into our masters.

This reminds me of what Johnny once said to me. He said: ‘Look, we Macedonians have so many different masters that we no longer know who they are. Whoever comes here we welcome them with open arms, smile at them and bow to them and say kalos oriste (welcome)’.

The Andartes and the newcomers are now involved with ELAS and have turned against us. We have been kind to them all these years and they have turned against us. Everywhere you look there are murders, torment and burned homes. These people are angry and have restless souls and all they want is to destroy us. The descendants of the Andartes and the newcomers are now the new evil that has befallen us and their greatest desire is to exterminate us.”

Krapov went silent again, but only for a moment, seeming like he wanted to get his thoughts in order. He then said: “When, during the German occupation, the Greek government left Greek occupied Macedonia and Greece and went to Cairo, we Macedonians thought that we were liberated from its cruelty. But it was not like that. Greek officers quickly began to collaborate with the Germans and remained in control. The Greek police also returned and began to again torment the Macedonian people by telling the Germans that they were communists. You could say that the Macedonian people lost complete confidence in everything Greek. The older Macedonians used to say: ‘After Macedonia was divided three types of patriotism came into the mix. We all bowed our heads down and replaced our Turkish slavery with a Greek one but at the same time we hoped that because the Greeks were Christians they would treat us better… But we were wrong…’ Then when we asked these old people why they tolerated Greek slavery they would say: ‘This is our homeland from time immemorial, this too will pass and the Greeks will leave like the Turks did!’

This again reminded me of what Johnny said to me one time. He said: ‘I remember my grandparents telling me about their life and struggle under the Turks and when I asked why they had to struggle my grandmother said: ‘We struggled to be Christian, to be alive… unfortunately we Macedonians have been cursed by God to suffer and to serve strangers, some of us becoming Turks, some becoming Greeks while others became Bulgarians’…”

When Krapov stopped talking I took the opportunity to say something that was on my mind. I said: “Krsto, I don’t know if you know this but those Macedonians in ELAS, the sheep from Kostur,

Lerin and Voden Regions, were frozen in fear. When a big uproar surfaced in the region not one of them was able to explain the atrocious disposition to the villagers. It was scary and word spread quickly when someone came face to face with the Andartes and recognized someone they knew and remembered from Metaxas’s time before the 1940’s. The small groups of Andartes were composed of former Greek army officers, Greek police chiefs and gendarmes from the overthrown Greek authorities. They now enjoyed a new way of punishing people by cutting off their head. It was called ‘death in seclusion’ (kill the plowman in the field and leave the oxen in the harness to wander around and drag the plowman’s body over the freshly plowed soil).

The Greek government justified this by saying: ‘From time to time fear is needed to help those who can’t be helped by reason to get the message that getting angry is not useful’.

One thing was true. These crimes were committed particularly against the Ilinden fighters. The rebels were freedom fighters who fought against Turkish slavery, and now in the forties they were fighting against Greek slavery.”

Krapov looked at me with a curious look on his face and said: “The attacks started small and gradually grew larger. The attackers were targeting prominent Macedonian families wanting to rob them of their dignity and to degrade them. They used words like ‘come out you Ilinden dogs’ when they were calling them to come out of their homes. As these attacks continued to escalate Macedonians were faced with a dilemma; give in to the CPG and EAM or stay home and fight alone to protect themselves and their rights.

We Macedonians are characterized by our deep local patriotism. The village is an entity just like the family whose existence had to be preserved and jealously guarded. This confidence and local loyalty was a natural consequence of our historic experience. We carry a deep innate sense, namely we are loyal to the spirit of Macedonia.

Meetings were organized in the cities Lerin and Voden where there too the descendants of the Ilinden Uprising decided to arm and

defend themselves against all kinds of criminals. We felt like ‘the days of slavery in Macedonia were over’.

At that time the majority of the people were joining the Macedonian rebel movement so ELAS was quick to react by labeling the Macedonian rebels ‘Fascists’, ‘traitors’, ‘Bulgarophils’ and everything negative and evil they could think of. ELAS then publicly organized rallies, gave political speeches and spoke to people to convince them not to join the rebel movement. Those who refused ELAS were beaten and their houses and shops were smashed. The rebels had no choice but to raise their arms up in disbelief and invite the people to join their movement in order to defend themselves. The rebels chanted through the streets yelling ‘Brothers let us unite! Brothers unite! Macedonian people how long are you going to suffer! It is our primordial right to defend our fatherland, our place of birth, the hearth of our people. Do not run away’. God knows we suffered for five hundred years under Ottoman rule and now the Greeks brought the colonists and settlers from Turkey who are a hundred times worse. God you gave us a soul but we have become soulless. Why must we suffer so much? Why must we bleed so much of our Macedonian blood!? And now that we are exhausted we can see for ourselves there is no justice. Only the prisons are filled with honest villagers from Kostur Region.

The old people used to say this can’t be good. Shortly afterwards the rebels were armed with Italian Maliheri and were able to defend the villages from outsiders. They also took care of some of the local troublemakers who felt it was their right to snatch a woman or a girl here and there. Slowly the rebels brought life and happiness back to the countryside. Unfortunately, as things progressed, the rebels also became a curse for the people as the struggle intensified and turned into a struggle for life or death. After that the Macedonian people who freely and proudly walked the streets began to gather in large guest rooms and continued to sing Macedonian songs and dance Macedonian dances.

There was talk about the Madzhiri (Turkish colonists and settlers from Asia Minor) envying our songs and dances, saying that they were jealous and that was one of the reasons why they were urging their leaders to form a large army and drive us all out of our

homeland. They truly wanted to rob us of everything…” concluded Krapov and suddenly went silent as he looked down at the ground.

* * *

“If you told someone that Macedonians were being used to divide themselves into two camps and that one camp hated the other and vise versa, they would have told you that’s impossible,” I said to Krapov.

I then said: “The divided Macedonians then called themselves communists and rebels. The rebels called the communists ‘Greek Andartes’ and the communists called the rebels ‘Bulgarophils’.