WALKING ON ICE AND SNOW IN THE NIGHT

WALKING ON ICE AND SNOW IN THE NIGHT

Around 500 children from Kostur Region along with their designated “mothers” leading them fled their homes as Greek Government planes attacked them. Four children were killed

“On March 26th, 1948, forty children accompanied by two women, designated as ‘mothers’ responsible for looking after them fled their village the moment Greek government soldiers entered the village and took 13 children that belonged to parents who had joined DAG (Democratic Army of Greece). Many women and children hid to avoid being abducted or bombed by the Greek forces. It was winter, and the children and mothers had to travel in snow at night and hide during the day,” said Lena Suleva.

When they were passing by the village Trnovo two government planes fired at them from above with their machine guns but lucky for them no one was hurt. Later they joined another group of around 400 children also lead by a few mothers. They were all from Kostur Region. According to the mothers of the second group, the children were attacked several times by Greek government airplanes and during the attacks four children were killed. More fleeing children led by mothers, connected with this group near the village Mavrohori. Eventually the mothers and children from the four villages (Dolno Kotori, Legem, Turija and Tren) came together in a single group.

The above information was dramatically narrated by Lena Sulevska from the village Gorno Kotori, located in Lerin Region. According to Sulevska, it took eight days and nights for the children to travel from their respective villages to reach the villages Dolno Dupeni and Liuboino, located in Prespa Region on the other side of the Greek border in Yugoslavia. Their dreadful story, and that of the 28,000 children exiled from Aegean Macedonia in 1948 has been captured and told by Misho Kitanovski and Georgi Donevski in their book “Refugee Children from Aegean Macedonia in Yugoslavia”.

According to Sulevska there were around 20 women (designated mothers) and 500 children who traveled north on foot and only at night. Sulevska said, “We were carrying three children each the entire way, one in each arm and one on our back. We were blown by a strong wind and pelted by snow all the way from the village Konomladi (Kolomnati). We had to massage the children’s feet so that they didn’t freeze.” Sulevska was responsible for looking after 25 children.

When they arrived at the village Shtrkovo they decided to rest. Unfortunately they were spotted by the Greek government aviation and the entire village was attacked by airplanes. All the children and the entire village population had to flee to the mountains where they spent the rest of the day. “The children were crying from fear and from being cold. We were forced to start fires. But when the airplanes came back we had to quickly put them out. We threw our clothes and the children threw rocks on it until it was out,” said Sulevska.

After that they didn’t dare light any more fires for fear that the airplanes would come back and attack them again. During the night they continued to travel and two days later they arrived in the village German where they spent the next day. The next night, without their knowledge, they crossed the Greek-Yugoslav border and ended up in Yugoslavia. At sunrise they were met by a number of women from the Yugoslavian Red Cross. When these women saw the condition these children were in; starving and without warm clothes, they all began to cry. After the children were fed they were taken to Bitola.

According to Sulevska, “The ordeal during our travel in cold weather left visible marks on the children. Even after arriving in Bitola they kept crying aloud, the same as they did during the trip. Most were also vomiting. The mothers were no better. In addition to the usual pains they also had to endure sore arms, chests and backs. Our arms and backs were black and blue with bruises. The children were dirty and had not been washed during the entire trip. Their journey was more than 100 kilometers long and lasted eight days. The children’s eyes were bloodshot and their clothes were torn to pieces.”

Elena Eftova from the village Turie, Lerin Region, told a similar story. She and the other mothers left their village with 114 children. This is what Eftova said, “The monarcho- fascists bombed the village with cannons. Six houses were completely ruined and 34 badly damaged. The monarcho-fascists then invaded the village and robbed it. They also took about 500 sheep. We watched all this from above. We were hidden in the mountains. And because they didn’t find any partisans in the village the monarcho-fascists took their anger out on the civilian population. They beat everyone they came across. During the bombing before we left, Lefteria Doneva, a ten year old child, was wounded on the chest and stomach. She was badly injured so we took her to the basement of her home were it was safer. After the bombing ended we went back and took the girl with us, unfortunately she died on the way. We buried her near the village Rula. The girl’s mother came with us, and after her daughter died she stayed with us. Later we lost contact and now I don’t know where she is…”

Vasilka Delova together with two other women and a girl from the village Lagen took 71 children and left. This is what Delova said, “We hid in the ditches outside our village when the Greek government army attacked. We then went back to the village, took provisions and left. When we arrived near the village Konomladi, we connected with another big group and together we left for Yugoslavia. Five months later, while living in children’s homes, I remember the children still being in fear from what they had experienced during the attack of our village. They still remembered the difficulties and the suffering they experienced when we left. In other words they still felt the hell of that war…”

After her husband was killed, Jordana Jantsova, from the village Trsie, Lerin Region, was left alone with her five children. Worrying that she might also be killed she took her children and fled across the border to Yugoslavia. This is what Jantsova said, “The moment I said I was leaving for Yugoslavia many of the mothers in the village gave me their children and asked me to save them from the terrifying bombardment that was being carried out by American, English and Greek airplanes…”

This is what Stoja Jankovska, another mother responsible for looking after children, had to say, “March 24, 1948 was a dark day for all of us. The separation drama started in the evening of that day. We gathered around 100 children in the schoolyard of my village Rudari and separated them in four groups of 25. I was responsible for one group. Among the children were my two younger brothers Vasil and Goche. We loaded them into oxen pulled carts and left. The children’s mothers ran after us yelling their final goodbyes. One mother yelled ‘dearest Sandra, remember me, don’t forget your mother…’ Another yelled ‘...my dearest Hrisula don’t cry. You will be back soon…’ Yet another yelled ‘Kosta my son, take care of yourself’…” This was the first evacuation during which around 500 children were moved to Yugoslavia.

This is what Jankovska also said, “We arrived in the village German around midnight on March 25th. The next morning we were escorted to the Bela Voda Greek-Yugoslav border. There we met other groups of children from the villages German, Medovo, Rabin, Shtrkovo and other villages. The children were hiding from Greek airplanes. During our stay three people from the resistance movement leadership came and brought us bread and cheese. This also was the furthest that mothers who accompanied their children on this trip were allowed to go. After sunset when there were no more ‘black birds’ (airplanes) in the sky trying to find us, we started walking towards the border, towards our freedom. When we came to a wide open space, we gathered all the children in one place and allowed them to sleep. We covered them with what we had and put branches on top of them. After that I and a number of other leaders from the group went looking for our contacts responsible for escorting us across the border…

After all the groups crossed the Greek-Yugoslav border we arrived in Dolno Dupeni and Liuboino. From there we were transported to Brailovo by trucks and loaded on train cars destined for Skopje. In Skopje the authorities organized a warm and pleasant welcome for us on the platform of the old train station. Here they welcomed the children from Aegean Macedonia. Women from the Red Cross wearing white uniforms and women from the AFZ (anti-fascist women association) leadership gave out candies. Some children had never tasted candy before. What a joy it was! My little ones didn’t

know that the candy needed to be unwrapped before it was eaten… But, even though living and working conditions were great for the children, and despite the best care the children received, when they grew up a bit they still cried for their families, constantly asking for their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

Later, when it was decided that families should be reunited, we looked for the children’s parents, through embassies and consular offices, through the Red Cross and by asking around. We wrote many letters and received some replies. Finally the children started making contact with their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters…”