Part VIII. Confidential persons there is not a single native who could be used

Part VIII. Confidential persons: there is not a single native who could be used as confidential because the majority of them are clearly pro-Bulgarian (84)

Part X. Miscellaneous. It was to my great surprise to hear the children of the refugees speak Bulgarian (85). This forced me to take the following measures:

1. Being shocked and increasingly concerned, I struck the village mayor when I heard him speak Bulgarian, which he wishes to call Macedonian, and I recommended that in the future he should always and everywhere speak only Greek, and that he should recommend that his villagers do the same.

2. In complete secrecy I summoned the refugees (86) and after I described to them the situation here, I recommended that they should avoid learning the Bulgarian language, explaining to them at some length the danger they expose themselves to if they do not pay enough attention to this matter.

3. The refugees informed me that Bulgarian is used in the municipal building during various sessions of the municipal council, which forces them to leave the sessions.

In short, an extreme anti-Greek spirit dominates among the natives of the villages, they hate everything Greek and do not miss any opportunity to express their hatred. It is my opinion that the most

efficient way to achieve assimilation would be if the hot heads could be expelled as undesirable to some other state.

Florina (Lerin), January 25, 1925. Dim. Kamburas, Infantry Lieutenant

AM. – F. Dimitar Vlahov, K. 21. A. E. 86.

(83) There is no record as to whom this report was submitted.

(84) The usual name given to the Macedonian people and their language by chauvinist circles and the Balkan bourgeoisies. By using this name, not only was the Macedonian individuality discriminated against, but also a policy was implemented to justify its quickest possible denationalization and assimilation.

(85) Underlined in the original.

(86) This refers to the Greek refugees from Turkey following the defeat of Greece in its war against Turkey, who were subsequently deposited as colonists in Aegean Macedonia.

(Page 63, The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the Struggle of the Macedonian People for Independence and a Nation-State, Volume II)

A REPORT ON THE SITUATION IN LERIN REGION

November 25, 1932

Report submitted by Lieutenant G. Sakelaropulos to the Second Army Corps in Larissa concerning the measures and actions taken both at Local and higher levels.

I. LOCAL LEVEL

It is necessary to ensure efficient and close contact and cooperation on the spot between the military authorities on the one hand and the administrative municipal police, as well as other civil authorities (church, educational, etc.) on the other; this could involve all authorities with headquarters in the regions of Lerin (Florina) and Kozani, for the purpose of coordinating their activities in respect of surveillance and the neutralization of foreign propaganda, as well as Komitaji (insurgency) actions, for the purpose of collecting information and data of all sorts, for coordination of measures for the development of sport activities, to spread and strengthen nationalistic organizations, the Scouts, as well as national feelings in different sections of economy, for the purpose of preparing statistical information and, finally, to coordinate activities in the collection of information and preparing of research analyses for the needs of the Army Corps.

II. HIGHER LEVEL

Activities of the PKP (Political Center of the Prime Minister) (87).

In order to perform its mission in the interior (of the country) particularly great efforts have been made towards the development of close cooperation with the educational and church authorities who command the most efficient means for a national re-education of the youth and the people, and hence for the assimilation of the population that uses foreign languages in its communication. At the beginning, this cooperation ran smoothly, thanks to the good will of the respective authorities or, what seems to be more likely, to the fear of the local authorities that a new independent service had appeared which - as it was then believed - would be empowered

with dictatorial authorization. However, with the revelation of the true authority of the P.K.P., this cooperation began to decrease and, in fact, was limited to the circle of the Regional Prefect, the Bishop, the inspector of the grammar school while the other authorities participate now in this cooperation only formally.

After the situation was thoroughly examined, with a view to the factors which influence the attitude of the “Bulgarophonic” population (those who speak Bulgarian) (86), it was unanimously decided that it would not be possible to attain our goal only through the limited activities of the local authorities but rather by undertaking comprehensive measures (which fall under the jurisdiction of the Administration).

It is quite understandable that the majority of the villages in this region were without priests while the church situation was as described above. In the villages where priests existed, the majority of them are in their souls and appearance Bulgarian, and almost without any education at all. The continuous use and observation of the Gregorian calendar is explained by these circumstances.

Civil servants usually consider Lerin and its vicinity as an area of confinement, and all of them are convinced that they were sent here only because they had fallen out of favour with their superiors, which explains why they began to work for their transfer back to the center of old Greece from the very moment they arrived.

The following are the measures we recommend:

1. Introduction of self-government in the districts of Lerin (Florina), Kostur (Kastoria) and Voden (Edessa).

2. Purging the teaching personnel, transfer of native teachers to the interior of the country, and improving the teaching staff.

3. Purging the clergy of pro-Bulgarian priests and bringing in a number of educated and nationalistic clergymen.

4. Purging the civil service personnel.

5. Removal of dangerous individuals (Bulgarophils).

6. Enforcement of the Greek language.

7. Allocation of land to landless veterans.

8. The transfer of the 28th Battalion.

9. Organizing an efficient intelligence service.

10. Strengthening and spreading nationalist organizations.

All of the above-mentioned measures were submitted for consideration to the Special Council which met in December last year under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister himself, and in which the Governor General of Macedonia and the Regional Prefect of Lerin also participated. All of these measures were approved by the Council, with the exception of the first one, because it appeared not to be in accordance with the Constitution.

Following these consultations, everyone began to believe that this time the entangled problem of the assimilation of the population in the three above mentioned districts (89) would be definitely solved.

The political factors which we mentioned above, as we could observe, played an important role in thwarting these measures; They were not motivated by personal and egotistical interests, because in this way, and primarily through the purge of the civil service, they would lose the ground under their feet and an end would be put to the shameful exploitation of the pro-Bulgarian inhabitants of this area, whom they serve as protectors, and for which they receive substantial rewards.

...More than 50 elementary school teachers in the region of Lerin are completely unsuitable and should be removed as soon as possible, either by discharge from the service or transfer to Old Greece.

Not a single teacher with a dubious national consciousness has been transferred so far from here to the interior, to an area where only Greek is spoken.

...The clergy is in a similarly deplorable situation. All the pro-Bulgarian priests remain in their parishes here, while not a single capable priest has been sent from Old Greece, although that was promised by the responsible authorities. The majority of villages where the Slav tongue is spoken remain without a priest. The matter of removal (confinement) of dangerous Bulgarophiles is a basic condition for the assimilation of the population, since this happens to be the connecting link between the Bulgarian Committee and the population which speaks the Slav tongue and represents the most serious obstacle to assimilation.

None of the fifty odd individuals sent to the Security Committee, all of them probably agents of the Bulgarian Committee, were removed which to a certain extent encouraged them to continue their anti-national activities. Nothing has been done to impose the Greek language either.

Merchandise is still advertised in Bulgarian, especially on market days; one has the impression that he is not on Greek land.

In the development and spreading of nationalist organizations, one is forced to fight not only the passive resistance of the Slav population of this area, but also the indifference of the intelligentsia, whose ranks include a large number of bitter enemies of these nationalist organizations... (In the Bulgarian village Ksinoreno-Eksisu, one of the leaders of the Papanastasi Party called the members of the EEE nationalist organization, monsters and shit.).

There is however, a point in the activities of this office which has borne good results. It is the compiling of statistics on the ethno-graphic composition of the population in the region of Lerin (Florina), which is detailed and perfect in every respect and which encloses special reports and records of dangerous individuals in the region. Clarifying these matters once and for all, these statistics certainly deserve to be studied and analyzed by the responsible authorities. Special attention was paid to the compilation of these statistics and therefore it is possible to say that the information they contain is very close to reality.

It was possible in some cases by intimidation, in others by persuasion to make the teachers in the elementary and grammar schools follow the proper course in all-round educational work with the Slavs. The rest of the civil servants are also intimidated, for the time being, and this situation produces many benefits.

This Report was submitted on November 25, 1935 by Infantry Lieutenant G. Sakelaropoulos to the Second Army Corps. P.K.B. No 562, Office No 2, Larissa.

AM. – F. Dimitar Vlahov, K. 21, A. E. 86.

(87) Political Center of the Prime Minister in Athens.

(88) The usual name given to the Macedonian people and their language by chauvinist circles and the Balkan bourgeoisies. By using this name, not only was the Macedonian individuality discriminated against, but also a policy was implemented to justify its quickest possible denationalization and assimilation.

(89) Underlined in the original.

(Pages 64-66, The University of “Cyril and Methodius”, Documents on the Struggle of the Macedonian People for Independence and a Nation-State, Volume II)