Introduction - Part 02

reflection the Slav danger to Greece should work strongly against EAM and in favour of Greek unity” concluded the telegram. Also in January 1943, The CPG leadership, through its Central Committee 10th Plenum, made a request from the Allies (English) to support Greece’s “strategic security” on its northern borders. Then on February 24, 1944, the CPG signed the Plaka Agreement (see the section entitled “agreements” in this book) to end hostilities between ELAS and EDES.

On March 13, 1944, London Radio officially recognized that “The Greek Communists, in their eternal honour, were the first to cast themselves in the patriotic struggle against the occupiers in Greece.”

The CPG’s refusal to accept the existence of a “Macedonian Question” was made very clear by Leonidas Stringos, CPG Regional Committee Secretary for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace, during the District Plenary meeting held in May 1944, in the village Zhupan. Among other things Stringos said: “There is no Macedonian National Question for the CPG.” He proved his point by making reference to the demographic changes in Greek occupied Macedonia which now, he said, hold true that 90% of the population living in Greek occupied Macedonia is Greek. This of course resulted in the dissolution of SNOF and SNOV in the beginning of May 1944. The CPG disbanded SNOF and SNOV because, according to the CPG “these organizations had become an obstacle in the CPG’s negotiations with the Greek government in exile and with the other coalition government parties scheduled to meet in mid-May 1944”. The Greek communists suddenly and unexpectedly denounced the Macedonian organizations calling them redundant and useless and demanded that they be dismantled and the fighters be merged with the Greek Liberation Front (EAM). They argued that “duplicate organizations with the same aims were not needed” and that “national unity could not possibly be achieved by having redundant organizations”. In the beginning of May 1944, during a CPG conference held in the village Mogila, Kostur Region, a final decision was made to break up the Macedonian organizations. A similar decision was also made during a conference held in the village Lagen, Lerin Region, and another one in the Macedonian ward in Voden. Naturally and justifiably the Macedonian people found it hard to accept this, especially since Macedonians had built

these organizations through struggle and personal sacrifice. The fact that the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia were having their own organizations, their own army, their own general headquarters and their recognized right to separate as an ethnic Macedonian identity, made the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia feel like they were taking steps backwards. Besides being stripped of their right to be recognized as an ethnic Macedonian identity in Greece, these Macedonians began to lose everything they had worked for, even the rights they had achieved thus far. This was not only unacceptable, it was incomprehensible. In addition to breaking up the Macedonian National Liberation Front’s (SNOF’s) political body, the CPG leadership also disbanded its fighters (SNOV) and forced them to join ELAS. This was not what Macedonians wanted and naturally created negative feelings towards the communist Greeks, which did not go unnoticed by the Fascists and directly fueled the autonomist propaganda which began to work hard to attract these disgruntled Macedonians who found themselves robbed not only of their rights but also of their dignity. The kind of politics the CPG was conducting was neither new nor unknown to the Macedonian leadership. As early as January 1944 Lazo Damovski, the secretary of the regional council of the Macedonian National Liberation Front for Kostur Region, addressed the CPG council for Macedonia and warned of this. On January 24, 1944 Damovski wrote: “The conditions created by World War II for the liberation movements in all of occupied Europe including the Balkans have opened new roads for the self-determination of all people. Macedonians are no exception. Macedonians have spilled blood in the 1903 Ilinden Uprising and are now fighting, spilling blood and making sacrifices to gain their freedom from the Fascists. Our friends in Vardar (Republic) Macedonia are going in the right direction…” “The Macedonians in Lerin and Kostur Regions represent the majority of the population (70%) and are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Greek people. When they become liberated, will they, according to the Atlantic Charter, have the rights to self declare? Will they be granted the promised rights?” “The CPG promised the Macedonian people equal rights within the framework of a Peoples Republic of Greece, the same way it promised the people of the Dodekanis and Cyprus. If the CPG is serious about delivering on those promises when will it then allow the Macedonian people to freely express their ethnic culture? When

will it let the Macedonians fight for their own ideals and for composing something unique to show that they are truly Macedonians? Is the CPG really afraid of being criticized by the chauvinist elements? If so, how then does it propose to form ‘national unity’ and not receive any criticism? Does the CPG truly understand the Macedonian question? Because if it doesn’t it better learn it fast and start facing reality and make the right decision…” One by one the CPG ordered all regional Macedonian National Liberation Front (SNOF) wards to close down and all fighters to disband and join the ranks of ELAS. This however was not what the Macedonians wanted and some began to show dissatisfaction.

In its short life, which lasted only six months, SNOF in Kostur Region emerged as a strong leader for the Macedonian people from the early days of its formation to the last day when it was disbanded. Almost the entire population from the Koreshtata villages and other parts of Kostur Region was organized in SNOF. All the “Macedonian Committee” counter-bands in the villages that were armed by the occupying forces, one by one, surrendered their arms and joined SNOF. SNOF’s peaceful tactics of persuasion and its agitation through the Macedonian language press contributed a great deal to not only the surrender of arms but also in convincing members of the counter-bands to join the ranks of SNOF and ELAS. During one such call, for example, the SNOF District Board, addressing the armed counter-bandits, said: “Fascism is finding itself in its final minutes. The Red Army is already in Romania and Czechoslovakia and soon will begin a new offensive to liberate the Balkans. This is why we are giving you your last chance; Now is the time, as was said by ELAS Division Nine, for you to hand over your weapons to the ELAS political organizations or to the ELAS military units. The Organization SNOF will guarantee the safety of your life and property. SNOF gives you its word that no one of those of you who surrender your weapons, or joins the Organization, is going to be harmed. Be warned, however, that later, when ELAS starts cleaning up the region, if you have not surrendered we will not be able to help you because by then you shall be deemed an enemy of the people. We are your brothers and we care about you, and for the sake of our Slavo-Macedonian people who need to finish the Ilinden work, do not forsake our glorious history. Join us and help us write new glorious pages. Do not listen to those who want to

prevent you from embarking on the right path...” Unfortunately after SNOF promised all these things it was disbanded and all these promises turned out to be lies. No sooner had the Macedonian patriotic counter-bandits joined ELAS than, one by one, they began to disappear. Most of them left their bones in the fields and mountains believing they were fighting to free and preserve their homeland. Many were abducted, executed and buried in a mass grave in Strashilovo, located between the villages Turie and Bapchor. Many were thrown into the D’mbeni cavern after they were cornered, trapped and executed by the Greek communists. A great number were buried in the large cemetery in the village Aposkep. And even more left their skeletons scattered in the Mountains in Epirus, Vicho and Gramos.

The Macedonian partisans who were dispatched to pacify the Macedonian counter-bandits must have known that Macedonians were fighting against Macedonians, a conflict designed by the Greek communists to target the Macedonian national consciousness, to rip out the Macedonian people’s indigenous roots in order to save Greece which, according to its Greek strategy, wanted to remain a conventional state: “One Greek king, one Greek nation, one Greek church, one Greek language, one Greek state” in which there was no room for Macedonians or non Greek minorities! Even today there are people who don’t believe and don’t want to believe that there was a “Macedonian civil war”, that there were Macedonian partisans serving in the ranks of ELAS who participated in perpetrating “fratricide”, brother killing brother, in the destruction of the Macedonian freedom fighting counter-bandits in Kostur and other regions! The Macedonian freedom fighting bandits were a compact whole with more than 9,800 armed fighters, organized in 64 Kostur Region villages. They were all Macedonians and the majority fought honourably against Hellenism in order to preserve the Macedonian national identity. They bravely stood up to the Greeks and were unwilling to accept Hellenism, but instead of being valorized as national resistance heroes in our history, they have been vilified and called everything else except what they truly were – protectors of the Macedonian people, villages and homes – protectors of our national identity. What is bizarre about all this is that during the Greek Civil War, from 1945 to 1949, many Macedonians were massively enlisted by the CPG, some even by force, including

remnants of the surviving counter-bandits, and placed to serve under almost the same commanders the likes of Markos, Himaros, Arianos and others, who in fact were responsible for the destruction of the Macedonian counter-bands! The CPG violently destroyed the Macedonian counter-band movement and then forced the surviving counter-bandits, and later their sons, to fight for communism, for an anti-Macedonian ideological struggle. The appearance of the Macedonian freedom fighting counter-bandits was not only unique but an amazing moment in the Macedonian people’s history. They were a uniquely Macedonian grass roots movement sparked inside Macedonia by the Macedonian people exactly at the right moment when the Macedonian people were in danger and needed help to survive. The counter-bandits followed the Ilinden traditions and showed respect and dignity for the Macedonian people and culture, and appropriately dealt with those who were there to harm them. The counter-bandits loathed being called “Slavs” and were against the mutation “Slavo-Macedonians” being forced upon the Macedonian people by the Greek state and by the CPG Greek communists. The counter-bandits were truly a child born of necessity which fought for the safety, dignity and preservation of everything that was Macedonian, and thus it had to die… at the hands of its own people. SNOF was created by our enemies, for exactly that purpose; to destroy the Macedonian counter-bands, by deception and at the hands of Macedonians… to commit “fratricide”! SNOF lasted only a short time, until it had served its secret purpose.

The Macedonian partisans who fought to pacify the counter-bands and the counter-bandits who survived the Greek communist onslaught were not happy with the way they were treated by the Greek communists so, in May 1944, many left ELAS and crossed over into the Republic of Macedonia. A large group of Macedonian fighters and activists led by Naum Peiov separated themselves from ELAS in a symbolic protest against the dismantling of SNOF and fled Greek occupied Macedonia. Ilia Dimovski – Gotse, whom I mentioned earlier, was suspended from duty because he was in support of this separation. Similar events also took place in Lerin Region where a group of Macedonian fighters led by Giorgi Turundzhov fled ELAS. Another group from Voden Region also fled but their leader who insisted on forming Macedonian units, was

caught, put in jail and taken away to Mount Paiak. Pursued by ELAS Greek communist forces most of these Macedonian renegade groups crossed over the Yugoslav border and fled into the Republic of Macedonia. These acts of protest demonstrated by the Macedonian partisans were neither forgiven nor forgotten by the CPG-ELAS leaderships. The Greek communists immediately issued orders to hunt down, capture and punish these renegades. Many were captured, accused of subversion and of creating “division” among the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia by allegedly spreading “autonomous ideas” to the population, and killed. In other words the CPG lied its way out by accusing the Macedonians of wanting to split away from Greece instead of admitting that their discontentment was caused by the CPG dismantling SNOF. After the fleeing partisans crossed over into the Republic of Macedonia they joined the resistance movement there. The CPG however was not at all pleased and demanded that they be immediately sent back to Greece. While the partisans explained their reasons for leaving, the CPG insisted that they were “deserters” and needed to be sent back so that “an example” could be made of them. Without bothering to explain the underlying reasons why these fighters fled Greece, the CPG took its case to the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and adamantly insisted that they immediately be returned. The CPY however did not give in and used this opportunity to put pressure on the CPG to deliver on its promises to the Macedonian people. Further, the CPY recommended that if the CPG wanted its fighters back then it would have to allow them to form their own Macedonian military units in Voden, Lerin and Kostur Regions. And, from events that followed, the CPG, it appears, took that advice… but for other more sinister reasons.

On May 20, 1944, the CPG and EAM leaderships signed an agreement in Lebanon to form a coalition government with other Greek civilian parties, an act unwelcome by the Macedonians. The Macedonian people viewed the agreement with suspicion because much of its content was insulting and demeaning to them. The agreement called for disarming the Macedonian people and was interpreted as a means to destroy SNOF and the Macedonian national liberation movement in general. The Lebanon Agreement was the end result of the so-called “national unity” with other Greek parties which the CPG so desperately desired to create. The Lebanon

Agreement for forming a “National Unity Government” was signed by the CPG and EAM on one side and by the Georgios Papandreou’s Greek government in exile on the other.

In a complete turnaround, on June 16, 1944, the CPG instigated the formation of the Voden Macedonian ELAS battalion in Kaimakchalan. The announcement was welcome news to the Macedonian youth who began to arrive in massive numbers to join as volunteers. The battalion was camped above the village Gorno Rodivo in Kaimakchalan and every day more than a dozen youths came from the local villages with a single desire, to be soldiers in the Macedonian army. And then there was another surprise, on July 20, 1944, the CPG also instigated the formation of the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian ELAS Battalion. This was done during a meeting held in the village Pozdivishta, Kostur Region. It was formed by combining existing Macedonian armed partisans from the “Trpovski”, “Karaorman” and fighters from SNOV groups.

After these Macedonian battalions were formed, it seems at the suggestion of the CPY, and growing by leaps and bounds with each passing day, the Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia held their first session of the Antifascist Council for the National Liberation of the Republic of Macedonia (ASNOM) on August 2, 1944, at the monastery Sveti Prohor Pchinski. An ASNOM presidium was formed and Metodia Andonov Chento was appointed its first President. A decision was reached to constitute a modern Macedonian Republic that would become part of the new Federal Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, on August 15, 1944, EAM decided to participate in the Georgios Papandreou government as a result of having signed the “Lebanon Agreement” (see the section entitled “agreements” in this book).

On August 21, 1944, the Lerin-Kostur battalion attacked several armed counter-band villages and managed to disarm a number of counter-bandits. At the end of August about 300 counter-bandits from Kostur Region joined the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian battalion which, at the time, belonged to ELAS under the command of Captain Markos Vafiadis. But Captain Markos Vafiadis did not want the Macedonian battalions in Macedonia and demanded that they be transferred to Epirus with new orders. The Greek communists also

showed their discontentment towards the Macedonians on September 3, 1944 when a Macedonian unit entered the city Kostur just as the German military units were withdrawing. After that other ELAS units belonging to the ELAS XXVIII Regiment entered and assumed control of the city. In other words, ELAS refused to allow the Macedonian unit to take over the city, even though it was there first. In fact the Macedonian unit was sharply criticized by Headquarters for taking action without prior authorization and therefore was ordered to withdraw from the city. But that was not all. After Bulgaria capitulated on September 9, 1944, it withdrew its army units. Also with the withdrawal of German forces from Greece, a new situation was created in Greek occupied Macedonia. At this point the CPG saw to it to make it a priority, in the interests of Greece, to restore Greece to its prewar Versailles borders. The Party leadership took action to make sure no separate Macedonian units existed in ELAS. Instead of recognizing the Macedonian contribution, the CPG and EAM did a complete reversal and dropped its recognition of the Macedonian nation in Greek occupied Macedonia, and consequently the Macedonian national liberation movement.

Afraid that the Macedonians would develop their own military capabilities, and perhaps slip out of Greek control, the CPG leadership, on September 10, 1944, made a decision to stop the renewed Macedonian movement (after SNOF) from expanding. The CPG began by first demoting the Macedonian battalion commanders and replacing them with Greeks. For example Ilia Dimovski – Gotse was reduced to captain while Kozmas Spatos – Amintas, a Greek of Albanian descent, was appointed commander of the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian battalion. The CPG then ordered the recruitment to slow down but old communist tricks no longer worked so recruitment continued prompting Stringos, secretary of the CPG Macedonian bureau, to question Renos’s rationale for allowing the formation of a battalion when he was ordered to only create one unit in Kostur Region. Renos replied with a question: “And what would have been the damage if divisions were to be created?” To which Stringos replied: “You are so naïve. If the Macedonians had divisions, then we Greeks would not be in Macedonia…” Two days later, on September 12, 1944, the CPG sent orders to put an end to Macedonians recruiting new fighters. In a communiqué to the

Central committee of the Macedonian Bureau, the Communist Party of Greece, among other things, said: “Let it be noted that our side reckons it’s time to stop recruiting fighters from the ranks of the Slavo-Macedonians.” Then it was left up to Markos Vafiadis, then Commissar of the Greek division of the National Liberation Army of Greece for Macedonia, to stop the recruitments. But those orders too were ignored by the Macedonian leadership. The Macedonian battalions continued to accept volunteer Macedonian recruits prompting Markos Vafiadis to send further orders by telegraph to cease the recruitment.

About twelve days later, on September 26, 1944, the Caserta Agreement was signed (see the section entitled “agreements” in this book) Under the Caserta agreement all the resistance forces in Greece were placed under the command of the British. The Caserta Agreement was signed by General Wilson, Commander of Allied Middle East Command, Georgios Papandreou, President of the Greek government, General S. Sarafis, representative of ELAS (the political left) and General N. Zervas, representative of EDES (the political right). ELAS was then immediately placed under the command of Georgios Papandreou’s government. This brought into the forefront the question as to what to do with the Macedonian battalions. The political right, being in direct command of ELAS, did not want to allow the Macedonian battalions to exist because that would provide undeniable proof that a Macedonian population existed in Greece. Also, they posed a danger to Greece’s integrity.

At about the same time, from October 5 to 20, 1944 on the international scene Stalin and Churchill were discussing the Balkan division of spheres of influence in Yalta. The Yalta Agreement that resulted guaranteed that no socialist system would be implemented in Greece. Here is what Churchill wrote in his memoirs about the Balkans: “We arrived in Moscow in the late hours of October 9, 1944. We had our first significant meeting and counseling in the Kremlin the next day. Attending the meeting were Stalin, Molotov, Eden and myself. The Majors Boris and Popov performed the translations…” An agreement was reached on the division of spheres of influence. Under this Agreement, Greece was to fall under the English sphere of influence with rights, if necessary, at any time for England to intervene with all possible means. The

degree of influence agreed to was England 90% Russia 10%. Stalin’s attitude towards Greece and the CPG during the war was unclear, even suspicious. From the available evidence we have there is a general indication that Stalin’s attitude towards Greece was negative. Stalin thought Greece was a small country and perhaps not a good place for conducting micro-strategic practices for the political interests of the Soviet Union. In the period from April to October 1944, while attending meetings with the British and Americans, Stalin did not bring up any substantial objections to British plans on how Greece was going to be governed.

In the meantime, by October 10, 1944, the Lerin-Kostur Macedonian battalion surpassed 1500 fighters. Immediately after the Macedonian battalions were formed massive numbers of Macedonians began to join their ranks. With these kinds of numbers, it was possible to not only form battalions but brigades and even divisions. When the Lerin-Kostur battalion was formed it had 400 fighters. About a month later, on September 16, 1944, it numbered 650 and by October 10, 1944 the number jumped to 1,500. This was unprecedented for the resistance movement in Greek occupied Macedonia especially since the CPG had entered into the unfavorable Lebanon agreement with its enemy the “political right”. This unprecedented growth created panic in the top Greek communist leadership which, on October 10, 1944, prompted ELAS 28th Regiment Headquarters to issue a special proclamation to the fighters of the Lerin-Kostur battalion spelling out their orders to immediately relocate to a new location. It also warned that those who refused would be charged with treason. This ELAS 28th Regiment order literally suggested that individual Macedonian fighters abandon the Lerin-Kostur battalion, weapons and all, move to a new location or be prepared to be declared deserters and traitors to the struggle. Among other things the proclamation said: “...We urge all fighters of the former battalion (Lerin-Kostur) to immediately obey this order and take your arms and ammunition and go to places from where you will be picked up and delivered to the new regiment that is forming in the village Negovan... This is your last warning. Anyone who does not comply with this order will be declared a traitor...” Naturally, Lerin-Kostur Battalion Headquarters energetically rejected the ELAS 28th Regiment order calling it unacceptable and making it clear to the ELAS 28th

Regiment that it reserved the right, in future, to refuse its orders and those of higher ELAS command.

Knowing that it would eventually be attacked on Macedonian soil, in order to avoid bloodshed the Macedonian Lerin-Kostur battalion, on October 13, 1944, crossed over the Greek-Yugoslav border in Prespa and entered the Republic of Macedonia where it was put to good use fighting against the Germans who had entered Bitola-Prilep from Lerin. The Lerin-Kostur Macedonian Battalion managed to survive in the field barely two months, from July 20, 1944 when Renos created it until October 13, 1944. To no one’s surprise, the Voden Macedonian battalion did the same on October 16, 1944. Facing prospects of being disarmed and destroyed the Voden Macedonian battalion left Kozhuf Mountain and crossed over the Greek-Yugoslav border in Kavadartsi Region where it entered the Republic of Macedonia. The Voden Macedonian Battalion lasted from June 16, 1944 to October 16, 1944. At about the same time, mid-October 1944, the CPG and ELAS leaderships sent a delegation to visit with the CPM leadership in the Republic of Macedonia in order to discuss options for eliminating the crisis that had occurred in bilateral relations and other issues regarding the Macedonian National Question.

On October 18, 1944, a couple of days after the Macedonian battalions left Greek occupied Macedonia, Georgios Papandreou’s government in exile arrived in Athens from Cairo. A couple of weeks later, on October 31, 1944, a large group of English soldiers in armoured vehicles entered Solun supposedly beating ELAS to the punch. Three days later the BBC in London announced that British troops had liberated Solun. In less than a month later, on November 14, 1944, a damning British diplomatic report sent from Leeper to Eden, dated Athens November, 14, 1944, surfaced. Among other things the report revealed secret plans to get rid of the Macedonian population from Greek occupied Macedonia. British Ambassador to Athens Mr. R.A. Leeper, in November 1944, toyed with the idea of displacing 120,000 Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia and moving them north of the Greek border. Mr. Leeper suggested this to Mr. Eden, then UK Foreign Minister, in a letter dated November 24, 1944 in which, among other things, he wrote “…and since the amputation of the Slav areas in Western Macedonia and

their annexation to a Slav Federation is a practical impossibility and would also be economically disastrous for Greece. It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek frontiers of 1941.” For more information on British diplomatic reports of this sort and for what happened to the Lerin-Kostur and Voden Macedonian battalions in the Republic of Macedonia see the chronology in this book from “1944 – November 4” to “1944 – November 29”.

In Greece in the meantime, after two reorganizations, that took place on October 24 and November 2, 1944, Papandreou’s government fell apart. Yet, EAM which joined the Papandreou coalition government in August 1944, had difficulties convincing the government to implement the full Lebanon Agreement which required all armed groups to be disarmed. So, on November 29, 1944, in order to avoid a conflict the EAM government coalition Ministers made every effort to submit a proposal for the full implementation of the Lebanon Agreement, but unfortunately Papandreou refused to accept it. At the same time EAM was a hugely massive organization and ELAS was a many times larger armed force than the other groups combined, numbering around 70,000 fighters, yet EAM still was unable to convince the other parties that it should lead the “government of national unity”. As a result and to avoid an armed conflict in Athens, EAM agreed to capitulate and disarm the resistance movement after which, on December 1, 1944, British Commander Scobey issued an order demanding that all members of ELAS surrender their weapons. At the same time Papandreou declared that: “He could not accept the proposal put forth by EAM Ministers for the simultaneous disarmament of all volunteer units and for the formation of a unique grouping.” That same evening on December 1, 1944, late at night, all EAM ministers resigned which then opened the doors for further conflict. And as I mentioned earlier, the Papandreou government fell apart on December 2, 1944, just one month after its last re-organization.

The new government, headed by Nikolaos Plastiras, lasted less than two months before it too fell apart.

In the meantime, on December 3, 1944, the English began a military intervention against ELAS in Athens. Given the situation the fighters and officers of the Macedonian brigade in the Republic of Macedonia, formed from the Lerin-Kostur and Voden battalions, could not remain indifferent about what was happening in Greece, being aware that defeat of the democratic forces in Greece would worsen the situation for the Macedonian people. The Macedonian leaders were all in agreement that there was a need to explore all means to help ELAS, which meant first-hand involvement in the conflict. This meant that the Macedonian brigade created in the Republic of Macedonia from the battalions that fled earlier, needed to cross the border and re-enter Greece. At this point the Macedonian leadership contemplated this question searching for conditions under which to become involved. One suggestion was: “Leave immediately for down there (Greek occupied Macedonia). Get agreement from the Greek Communist Party and fight like democrats under its leadership without pretensions…” Another suggestion was: “You need not wait to be pacified by the parties. Take your own initiative and go down there without asking for anything from the Communist Party of Greece. As long as you stay here you tolerate liability. Down there (Greece) it is not only Greece’s and Macedonia’s fate that is decided, but that of all the Balkan nations…” Four or five days later a joint meeting was held between the brigade’s headquarters and the political committee. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss circumstances under which it would be appropriate for the brigade and all the Macedonian fighters from Greek occupied Macedonia who were presently in Yugoslavia to return to Greece. There was also the question of how to engage in the struggle on the side of ELAS and how to communicate their circumstances to the Communist Party of Greece. Some of the leaders insisted on going to Greece as a distinct people; they insisted that the brigade should have its own headquarters, its own flag with the five ray star and be recognized as a Macedonian army. Contrary to that, others suggested that such conditions were not necessary. Yet others suggested that Macedonians should have a political committee situated inside the city Lerin.

In the meantime EAM organized a countrywide rally on the same day, December 3, 1944, during which the Greek police shot at demonstrators, killing several people and wounding many others.

What followed after that was thirty-three days of bloodshed in Athens dubbed the “1944 December events”. The demonstrators in Athens began to march towards Constitutional Square where they were shot at by the police. Fighting at the time was isolated to Athens and continued until January 1945 when both sides agreed to talk. Meetings were held at Varkiza, a seaside resort near Athens, and a treaty was signed on February 12, 1945 by the Right, Left and the British. Among other things, the Varkiza Treaty called for (a) EAM to disband ELAS, (b) legalize the CPG and (c) hold a referendum on the return of the monarchy. ELAS troops were to be given political amnesty for the return of their weapons, people were to be guaranteed free speech, martial law was to be lifted and people were to be given amnesty for all political crimes.

A few days later, on December 14, 1944, CPG and ELAS representatives in Yugoslavia went to Bitola and asked for the brigade to be disbanded and for its fighters to enlist in ELAS units, or at least surrender their arms to ELAS. The brigade’s leadership did not agree and both parties went to Skopje to discuss the situation with the Republic of Macedonia’s leadership. In the meantime orders came from Tito prohibiting the brigade from going to Greece because the brigade now was part of the Yugoslav army.

At the same time the December events in Greece were rekindled with the arrival of Churchill in Athens, accompanied by British Foreign Minister Eden, Commander of the Middle East forces Alexander and by Minister for the Middle East McMillan. Under the protection of British tanks the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on December 26 and 27, 1944, held a conference attended by representatives of the various political parties, the president of the Greek government Georgios Papandreou, the regent candidate Archbishop of Athens Damaskinos and Nikolaos Plastiras (candidate for President of the Greek government). Attending from the CPG and EAM side were EAM Secretary and member of the CPG Central Committee Politburo Dimitrios Partsalidis. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the two allied Great Powers: US ambassador to Athens McCabe and representative of the Soviet Union Colonel Popov.

In the meantime, this was what the internationals were thinking about the situation in Greece around this time based on the following classified telegram issued on January 31, 1945, from the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to the Secretary of State for External Affairs Canada. CIRCULAR D. 182. My telegram circular D. 159 of January 26th. Macedonia: In light of the information regarding Bulgarian Government readiness to cede Bulgarian Macedonia to Yugoslavia, contained in my telegram under reference, we instructed Brigadier MacLean to speak to Tito and convey to him our views on questions of Macedonia and Yugoslav-Bulgarian Federation as set out in my telegram Circular D. 1 of January 1st. At the same time, Brigadier MacLean was to inform Tito that we have noted with satisfaction the assurance he has already given (see my telegram Circular D. 1796 of December 12th, paragraph 3). That he has no aggressive intention against Macedonia and that any Yugoslav claims will be raised in an orderly fashion at the Peace Conference. Brigadier MacLean spoke to Tito as instructed on January 26th. Tito reported that he was convinced that this was not the time to try to establish a federation with Bulgaria or any other neighbours of Yugoslavia and that he had no intention of attempting to do so in present circumstances. He also indicated once again that he had no intention of trying to annex territory from Greece or Bulgaria before the Peace Conference when he would put forward any claim he might have in the proper way. Acting on instructions, British Political Representative at Sofia has also informed Bulgarian Government of our views as follows; while we should welcome a confederation between all Balkan States both Allied and enemy, and including possibly Turkey, we could not approve an exclusive union or federation between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Moreover, while we are prepared to agree to the creation of a Macedonian State in the future Federal Yugoslavia, we should be strongly opposed to the creation of a greater Macedonian State involving claims on Greek territory. We, therefore, look with disfavour on the activities of Macedonian propagandists in Bulgaria which the Bulgarian Government appear to have condoned and we do not recognize the rights of the Bulgarian Government to transfer, without the consent of the United Nations, any part of Bulgarian territory to the Yugoslav Federal State of Macedonia. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS.

After the Varkiza Agreement was signed on February 12, 1945, requiring all bands in Greece to demobilize and surrender their weapons (see the section entitled “agreements” in this book), the British, once again, confirmed their allegiance to the Greek Government by giving Athens full political and military support, committing their willingness to fight to prevent a communist victory. The biggest losers of the Varkiza agreement were the Macedonians. As soon as the agreement was signed, all anti-Macedonian laws were back in force and the Macedonian people lost all that they had gained during the fascist occupation, including the right to form their own state as per the Atlantic Charter.

In other words, the Communist Party of Greece made absolutely no effort to safeguard the safety or the rights it had offered the Macedonian people when it signed the agreements with England. This was not only a betrayal, but left the Macedonian people vulnerable to persecution from the Greek fascists.

The Varkiza Agreement was signed by the resistance movement leadership, i.e. the CPG and EAM on one side and the Plastiras government and British General Scobey on the other. With that Agreement EAM and ELAS practically handed power to the political right. After the monarchist regime was established in Greece, the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia found themselves in a worse situation than before the war. It was as if they were thrown back to the Metaxas dictatorship and systematically terrorized but this terror was tougher, more horrifying and more violent and was committed by the Greek paramilitary and by Greek armed terrorist gangs. These gangs were composed of fascist and destructive elements which, until yesterday, had cooperated with the occupiers. It was a truly evil campaign but a skillful maneuver on the part of the Greek bourgeoisie to create much hatred between the Greek and Macedonian people in order for the Greek element to take a foothold in Greek occupied Macedonia.

Here is some information that shows how the United States of America saw the situation in Greece during this time. According to a classified telegram dated February 27, 1945, from Washington to Foreign Office: The United States Government holds the view that the pre-war frontiers of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece in the

Macedonian area must be considered as the legal boundaries, and that revision of any of them should be permitted only if it conforms to the freely expressed will of the populations directly concerned and has international sanctions as a part of the general peace settlement. If in the reconstitution of Yugoslavia, the government and the people of that country desire to set up a regional and de-centralized administration under which the area of South-eastern Yugoslavia would have a certain autonomous character there would of course be no grounds for objection on the part of the United States Government. This Government concurs however in the view of the British Government that there is no legitimate basis for any claim made on behalf of “Macedonia” whether as an independent State or as a part of Yugoslavia, or of a larger South Slav federation to territory within the boundaries of Greece on the ground that such territory is “Macedonian”. With regard to the frontier between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, the United States Government favour the retention of the present boundary but would not be inclined to object to any settlement calculated to contribute to the peace, stability and general welfare of the region if reached through free negotiations on the part of those two states at such time as it may become clear that their respective governments are in a position to represent the real desire of the people involved, including also those inhabitants of parts of Yugoslavia still under enemy occupation. It is in the view of this government that changes in territorial boundaries of Bulgaria should not be made during the period proceeding the general settlement with Bulgaria as an enemy state. The United States Government believe that union of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to constitute a single unit or a federation would under present circumstances be a disturbing rather than a stabilizing factor in south-eastern Europe since the neighbouring non-Slavic States, including Turkey, would consider it a threat to their security. In the opinion of the Government such a union in any case should not be permitted before the conclusion of peace between Bulgaria and the United Nations. This Government would be willing however to give consideration to a plan for regional understandings to include all States of southeastern Europe rather than an exclusively Slavic bloc, should all these States decide, with the concurrence of the principal Allied Governments that such a grouping represent a contribution to the welfare and progress of that area. Foreign office please pass to

Belgrade and Sofia as my telegrams Nos. 18 and 13 respectively. OTP.

Beginning in March 1945, in addition to supporting the former collaborators and placing them in control to terrorize the democratic people, the English began to escalate their own involvement in Greek occupied Macedonia. For example they took control of the Ber prison and conducted raids and personally committed torture in the Macedonian villages alongside armed Greeks.

In addition to the English and fascist Greeks abusing the Macedonian people, the Greek press also began to take shots at them. For example “Elinikos Voras” was so obsessed with the so-called “Macedonian autonomous movement” phantom and the so-called “Slav threat from the north” that it made it its most endearing theme to vilify the Macedonians by continuously publishing adventure stories and hypothetical scenarios of a non-existent enemy attempting to “grab” their Macedonia. In one of its columns on March 24, 1945 “Elinikos Voras” wrote: “We have information from a reliable source that Captain Amintas Avgerinos of the 28th ELAS brigade, in larger part composed of Slavo-Macedonians, does not recognize the Varkiza agreement, and has formed an armed group which now roams around the villages Pesoshintsa, Leskoves, Popozhani, Vrbenik, Kamenik and Voshtareni, where he is terrorizing the residents and forcing them to cross over to Bitola and to join the ranks of the Bulgarian units commanded by Ilia Dimovski - Gotse, who is fighting for Macedonia’s autonomy…” “Elinikos Voras” did not care to know or report the facts. All it cared was to propagate hatred against the Macedonian people by continuously publishing fantasies. Contrary to “Elinikos Voras’s” allegations, Amintas Avgerinos did not send Macedonian fighters to join Ilia Dimovski – Gotse’s Macedonian brigade in the Republic of Macedonia. In fact Amintas Avgerinos was a disciplined ELAS officer and trusted member of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) who obediently followed the party line when the CPG itself was taking a stand against the Macedonian Liberation Movement Organization, the same organization that fought side by side with the Greeks to liberate Greece from the Germans and Bulgarians. “Elinikos Voras” took it upon itself to label the Macedonian units as “having autonomous tendencies” knowing full well that the very