Part II - Part 06

AFZH, the Macedonian woman’s organization for the women in Greek occupied Macedonia, grew into a women’s national mass movement, actively involved in the armed liberation war. According to Fotev, there were more than 3,000 Macedonian women fighting in DAG’s units alone. Many were brave, able and proven fighters who not only distinguished themselves in the battlefield but climbed up the ranks to become DAG officers. Many Macedonian women

fighters and DAG officers gave their lives in the war for the freedom of their people. Included among them were Tsveta Andreeva, Theodora Shkornu-Paskalova, Evgenia Kiriakova, Teona Pachu, Afrodita Duvalevska, Evgenia Andreeva, Niki Dinka, Katina Dumkova, Pepi Kirtsova, Germania Paikova, Angelina Popova, Lenka Rizova, Lina Raleva and Arhonda Markovska. Many great Macedonian women fighters also participated in the Macedonian women’s auxiliary units. Over 500 Macedonian women involved in AFZH were imprisoned or interned in the Greek concentration camps. Some were sentenced to death and shot. The first Macedonian woman and also the first woman in Greece to be sentenced to death by a military court and executed was Mirka Ginova, AFZH District Board Secretary for Voden District, a hero of the Macedonian people. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 42.) The CPG leadership, apparently, had a little more tolerance for the AFZH.

(Katina Andreeva-Tsveta was from the village Mokreni, Kostur Region. She was a member of the NOMS Regional Board, a second lieutenant and a DAG platoon commander. She was killed in 1949.)

(Evgenia Kiriakova was from the village Nestram, Kostur Region. She was a fighter in ELAS in 1943, a member of the EPON District Board for Kostur Region, a member of the NOF District Board for Kostur Region and a DAG lieutenant. She was killed in 1949.)

(Afrodita Duvalevska was from the village Nestram, Kostur Region.)

(Katina Dumkova-Tinka was from the village Ekshisu.)

(Germania Paikova was from the village German, Prespa Region.)

(Angelina Popova was from the village Dolno Kleshtino, Lerin Region.)

(Arhonda Markovska was the daughter of Malina Markovska who was a member of the NOF District Board for Lerin Region. Arhonda was a participant in the PLM and was killed in combat as a DAG sergeant.)

On April 29, 1948 AFZH held a Congress near the village Besfina in Prespa, Greek occupied Macedonia, in an open space because of the threat of the Greek Monarcho-Fascist aviation bombing the villages. More than 420 delegates participated in the Congress from all the districts in Greek occupied Macedonia, including women DAG fighters and guests from all the organizations and parties participating in the Greek Civil War. (M. Fotev, development through NOF, p. 41-42.) The Congress chose a new AFZH Main Board. Evdokia Baleva-Vera was again elected AFZH Secretary. The main task of AFZH was to strengthen the organizations ability to act. According to Evdokia Baleva-Vera: “AFZH invited its sisters from AFZH in the People’s Republic of Macedonia to take part in the First AFZH Congress in Greek occupied Macedonia. Unfortunately the People’s Republic of Macedonia’s delegation, comprised of Mara Minaneva, Liliana Maneva and one more member, was stopped in Korcha, Albania, and because of that it was unable to attend the Congress. Afterwards, however, the women were familiarized with the events that took place in Greek occupied Macedonia.”

After the Convention was over, weaknesses began to appear in work done by AFZH, which were caused mainly by the appearance of a separatist group. (Ibid, p. 42.)

Factionalism and divisions in the NOF leadership

The CPG used every means possible to disorganize and marginalize the Macedonian people, including internal divisions and factionalism in NOF. According to Fotev: “It was within CPG aims to use Mihail Keramitchiev’s sycophant attitude who led a separatist group, in an organizational sense, that existed in NOF and who, at all costs, wanted to lead NOF himself”. (Ibid, p. 31.). It would appear that Mihail Keramitchiev was acquired for that purpose. According to Fotev, the CPG organized a change of leadership in Mihail Keramitchiev’s faction led by Paskal Mitrevski. But at the time Mitrevski was not there. He was held in isolation in the People’s Republic of Macedonia. So, without consulting the other NOF leaders, Mihail Keramitchiev, who probably organized Mitrevski’s removal, took it upon himself to go to the CPG and

obtain permission to schedule a meeting with the NOF leaders in Kaimakchalan, Voden Region, near the Greek-Yugoslav border. (Ibid.)

On May 12, 1947 the NOF Regional leadership in Kostur District was informed about the NOF meeting, when and where it was to take place and that delegates from the Kostur District were invited to attend. No agenda or materials were included to let the delegates know what the meeting was all about.

To attend the meeting, the NOF District Board appointed a delegation of four people that included Lambro Cholakov, Krsto Mangov, Iani Pirovski and Tpaiko Supelov. The delegation was instructed to go to a certain place in Voden Region no later than one day before the meeting. The delegates were to get acquainted with the agenda and with any other materials so that they could take a position on imminent issues that required discussion or decisions. Mincho Fotev, NOMS secretary for Kostur Region, decided to accompany the delegation. As a member of the NOF Main Board he had the right to participate in this meeting. Fotev strongly protested against Keramitchiev for holding such a meeting. (Ibid, p. 34.)

The Kostur delegation arrived in Kaimakchalan at the “Mishov barn” in Voden Region on May 18, 1947. This was the designated location where the meeting was to take place. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 33.) Unfortunately a number of important people were not present because they were not informed of the meeting taking place. Absent were NOF Main Board member Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho and DAG unit commanders Pando Shiperkov and Mihail Apostolov-Graniti, as well as other NOF founding fathers. When people challenged Keramitchiev for failing to invite these people, he arrogantly said: “All those NOF leaders serving DAG no longer work for this organization…” (Ibid, p. 33.)

Keramitchiev kept the meeting agenda a secret until all the delegates arrived. When Mincho Fotev asked him to reveal the agenda and accompanying material, Keramitchiev said: “I will tell you what the agenda is tomorrow during my presentation, when our NOF work begins… Each delegate has the right to participate in the discussion…” (Ibid, p. 33.) Before the meeting started each of the

Kostur District delegates wanted to know why Paskal Mitrevski, NOF Main Board Secretary, was not there and why they had not been informed of his absence. Instead of responding to their questions, Mihail Keramitchiev directed them to Georgios Eretriadis-Petris, CPG Regional Committee representative for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace. (Ibid, p. 34.) Many of the delegates requested that the meeting be postponed but Keramitchiev did not accept their requests, even after some complained that having a meeting under these conditions might be damaging to NOF, because the way it was convened was apparently without good intentions. But Keramitchiev kept diverting their requests and insisting that the meeting was called under a directive from the CPG leadership. Keramitchiev, at one point, said: “Rightly or wrongly, I cannot accept your requests because the CPG leadership, under whose directive I am performing this work, does not appreciate them…” (Ibid, p. 34.) The objection that the delegates voiced; that NOF had its own rules and that they should be respected, were ignored. Later Keramitchiev informed Georgios Eretriadis-Petris of basically every comment that was made by the delegates during the meeting. Immediately after that Eretriadis invited them all to his hut, where he was residing, to hear their compaints. The delegates made the same requests to Eretriadis who informed them that it was Keramitchiev’s idea to call this meeting and not the CPG’s. Georgios Eretriadis-Petris made this comment even though, according to Fotev, he was directly involved in the organizing and formulating of opinions and solutions to be adopted. According to Fotev: “What Eretriadis said was not true, Keramitchiev did not decide alone, he jointly decided with Eretriadis…” (Ibid, p. 34.) Regarding Paskal Mitrevski’s absence, Eretriadis informed the delegates that the CPG would not allow him to lead NOF. According to Fotev, Eretriadis, in a loud and high pitched tone of voice, said: “Paskal Mitrevski cannot lead NOF from Skopje. NOF is part of the CPG and does not belong to Paskal Mitrevski, which is why Mitrevski is not here. You should know that Mitrevski’s broom no longer sweeps here and that the CPG is now officially behind Mihail Keramitchiev…” (Ibid, p. 34.) This, unfortunately, created problems and a tense atmosphere between the various NOF members. To clear the air the delegates requested another meeting, with Paskal Mitrevski present. But this was not acceptable to the CPG representative or to Keramitchiev, who did not want

Mitrevski’s present anywhere. In fact the CPG leadership decided to remove Paskal Mitrevski, Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho, Pande Shiperkov, Lambro Cholakov, Mincho Fotev, Nikola Tanev, Ivan Nichev, Ivan Kovachev-Orfias, Iani Pirovski and all others, who were advocates for an independent NOF, from their positions. (M. Fotev, development through NOF, p. 35.) Mihail Keramitchiev had full support from the “NOF and PLM dissidents” the likes of Lazo Oshenski and others with whom he “maintained personal relations”, for replacing the current NOF leadership. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 35.)

NOF meeting

On May 20, 1947 NOF held another meeting during which 40 delegates participated. They were NOF, NOMS and AFZH leaders and representatives of the district administrations. Fifteen of them were guests and CPG, EAM, DAG, EPON and AKE representatives. The meeting was chaired by Mihail Keramitchiev who presented a report summarizing the military, political and economic situation in Greece, as well as the Macedonian people’s situation and the PLM situation in Greek occupied Macedonia which, according to Fotev, did not exactly match the realistic situation on the ground. According to Fotev: “The report presented data and assessments that were not the truth…” (Ibid.) According to Fotev, all those who did not agree with Keramitchiev’s assessment regarding the PLM situation were, in his view, Hellenophiles, traitors and cowards. According to Fotev: “All Macedonians who disagreed with Keramitchiev’s personal views and insights were treated as Hellenophiles and traitors, to the Macedonian people. And those Macedonians, who for objective or subjective reasons were not in NOF, Keramitchiev treated as cowards”. (Ibid, p. 35.) During the meeting, in the absence of the NOF Secretary and most of the NOF membership, including the NOF Main Board, Keramitchiev took it upon himself, without a vote, to abolish the main Board and elect a new NOF governing body which, at the request of the CPG Regional Committee Secretary for Greek Occupied Macedonia and Thrace, was named Coordinating Bureau. Five members were appointed to the Coordinating Bureau, among whom were Mihail Keramitchiev, Secretary, Vangel Aianovski, Organizational Coordinator, Evdokia Baleva-Vera, AFZH Secretary, Pavle

Rakovski, Agitation and Propaganda Coordinator and Lambro Cholakov, Treasurer. Appointed as the NOF Instructor for eastern Greek occupied Macedonia was Vangel Nichev. And Mincho Fotev, previous member of the NOF Main Board and member of the EPON Regional Committee Secretariat for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace, was elected a member of the coordinating body. Removed from the highest NOF governing body were Paskal Mitrevski, Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho and Mincho Fotev. (Ibid, p. 35-36.)

NOF crisis

After all the changes were implemented during the NOF meeting, the organizational governing body could no longer make policy decisions within the global CPG strategy and the Democratic Government of Greece. (Ibid, p. 36.) The CPG took over NOF’s decision making responsibility and NOF was converted to an executive body to implement Party decisions. According to Fotev: “The Coordinating Body was now only a political figure, a representative body. Its role and power was only formal. It had no legal power to raise issues. It could only propose issues to the CPG and rely on the CPG to resolve them. It could only act on CPG initiatives and do what the CPG requested.” (Ibid, p. 36.)

The NOF Coordinating Bureau began to act strictly on CPG orders. The CPG basically cut NOF off from its functions. All NOF leaders who served in the Democratic Army of Greece were ordered to break off their links with the Macedonian organization and with the thousands of Macedonian fighters and NOF members. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 36.) This was done despite the fact that, according to Fotev, the Macedonian National Organization (NOF) “was one of the main factors in DAG’s development”. According to Fotev: “The percentage of Macedonians serving in DAG was approximately 40%. DAG’s main body and the war were located in the territory of Greek occupied Macedonia mainly in Gramos, Vicho, Kaimakchalan and Paiak Mountains, and in the territory of Kostur, Lerin and Voden Regions, on grounds that were densely populated by Macedonians. Gramos and Vicho were the main fronts of the two warring sides and were the places where the hardest bloody battles were fought. DAG Headquarters and the seat of the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece were located

in Prespa, in Greek occupied Macedonia. This was the largest inhabited free territory with around 80% of the population being Macedonian…” (Ibid, p. 37.) Given all this, the CPG still disbanded NOF. With a single directive from the CPG, the NOF Coordinating Bureau also disbanded NOMS and ordered all the young Macedonians to join EPON, a Greek youth organization. With the dissolution of NOMS, the CPG’s aims were to isolate NOF from its most vital, most combative and most organized force; the young Macedonians. (Ibid, p. 37.) The CPG Greek operatives responsible for applying this policy were Georgios Eretriadis-Petris, Evripidis Kapetanos-Panos, Theodoros Evtimiadis, Thanassis Zogas-Spiros and others. (Ibid, p. 39.)

The CPG’s main aim was to completely isolate NOF from the Macedonian masses in all parts of Greek occupied Macedonia and to form rural Greek organizations in the Greek Agricultural party and have the Macedonian villagers join them. The CPG and EAM needed the organizations of the Greek Agricultural Party in order to directly exert political influence over the Macedonian peasant population which represented about 80% of the total NOF base. (Ibid.) The CPG also removed from office all authoritative Macedonian officials in the CPG, EPON and DAG organizations. Paskal Mitrevski was removed from his position in the CPG Political Committee for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace, Mincho Fotev was removed from his position in the EPON Political Committee, Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho was removed from his position in DAG Headquarters, and so on. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 38.) By the time the CPG was done with its expulsions, NOF was no longer a respectable political factor in the PLM. NOF’s coordinating body was turned into an instrument of implementing CPG policies and a gradual destructive force in the PLM for the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. The NOF main body that was purged included the NOF founders, who were dismissed from their positions “with fabricated charges” and, as punishment, were sent to serve in DAG’s ranks as common soldiers or exiled in the Greek refugee camps in Albania. Included among those who were exiled were Iani Pirovski, Ivan Kovachev-Orfias, Panaiote Karadzha, Blagoi Sholdov, Petre Georgievski, Petre Asprovski, Trpe Mihailovski, Lazo Kovachevski, Sotir Popovski (all founders and NOMS leaders), Vasil Chochov, Timo Ralev, Sotir

Hadzhidimitrovski, Trajko Tsafara, Foti Bochevski, Pando Giorgievski, Trifon Popov and Kiriako Tsalev. (Ibid, p. 38-39.) With this massive purge instigated by Mihail Keramitchiev’s “separatist group”, Mikhail Keramitchiev achieved internal unity in NOF. (Ibid, p. 39.)

(Petre Georgievski was from the village Oshchima, Lerin Region. He was a fighter for ELAS, secretary of the NOMS Regional Committee for Lerin Region and commander of a DAG platoon. He was killed in March 1947.)

(Trpe Mihailovski was from the village Krchishta, Kostur Region. He was a fighter for ELAS in the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade”, secretary of the NOMS Regional Committee for Kostur Region and political commissar of a DAG unit. He was killed in 1948.)

(Sotir Popovski was from the village Shkrapar, Kostur Region. He participated in the PLM, was NOMS Regional Secretary and a DAG unit political commissar. He was killed on Mount Gramos in 1948.)

(Vasil Chochov was from the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region. He was a revolutionary, a communist and participant in the PLM. In 1941 he was arrested and taken to a concentration camp in Germany. After the camp was liberated, he returned home and later joined NOF and was District Board Secretary. He was killed in battle fighting for DAG.)

First NOF Congress – January 13, 1948

With the purges and persecutions carried out by the NOF Coordinating Body, opposition between the two political NOF factions deepened. The supporters of an independent NOF strived to stop the “destructive activities of the separatists”, led by Keramitchiev who was striving to completely break down NOF. Towards the end of June 1947, Paskal Mitrevski was finally allowed to return to Greek occupied Macedonia. Given the crisis that had befallen the organization, he took the initiative to hold a NOF Congress. His initiative was supported by the majority of cadres and NOF members. The situation in NOF was also reflected in the

armed struggle and so the CPG realized that it had to make some concessions. The CPG Political Bureau consented to NOF holding its First Congress. Preparations for the congress started in early October 1947. District conferences were held in December and new leaders and delegates were elected for the Congress. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 39-40.)

The First NOF Congress was held on January 13, 1948 in the village V’mbel, Kostur Region, at the Sveti Dimitria Church. The introductory paper was submitted by Mihail Keramitchiev, Coordinating Bureau Secretary. Among other things, Keramitchiev emphasized that NOF, as was the case with SNOF, had the same aspirations and goals as EAM. This included the position on the Macedonian National Question which, according to Fotev, did not correspond to reality. According to Fotev: “Mihail Keramitchiev’s views were not correct because the objectives and aspirations of NOF were never the same as those of SNOF, never mind EAM’s goals and aspirations regarding the Macedonian National Question, which for EAM did not exist”. (Ibid, p. 40) The Congress elected a new NOF governing body that consisted of 35 NOF Central Council regular members and 15 candidates for regular members. Elected President of the Council was Mihail Keramitchiev and Secretary was Paskal Mitrevski. The Central Council then elected its executive bodies. The Executive Bureau and Secretariat was the highest NOF governing body. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 40.) Ianis Ioanidis, CPG Central Committee Secretary who was there to observe the work of the Congress, was against reinstating NOMS, the already disbanded Macedonian youth organization. According to Ioanidis, the CPG was in support of Keramitchiev who opposed renewing NOMS on the grounds that EPON, the Greek youth organization, was excellent for the Macedonian youth. (Ibid.)

In order to gain full and direct control of all of NOF, the CPG leadership adopted a special decision requiring NOF to form CPG party organizations within itself. The decision was supported by the NOF leadership, expecting that the Party organizations would contribute to the “ideological, political and moral unity” of the organization. The NOF Central Council Secretary then called for “re-establishing the violated democratic norms in the functioning of NOF and AFZH” as an important condition for raising the “ability”

of both of these organizations to achieve their objectives as set out during the Congress. (Ibid.)

After the Congress, NOF was committed to carry out two priority objectives: establish National Liberation Boards as organs of the local government and intensify its activities to mobilize people to support and participate in the armed struggle.

Auxiliary units and free armed groups in Kostur and Lerin Regions

About 90% of the population living in the free partisan territory in Kostur and Lerin Regions was Macedonian from which mixed auxiliary units were formed, consisting mostly of older people who had served in DAG. (Ibid.) The auxiliary detachments were organized in units and performed specific tasks: collecting and taking care of wounded fighters, transporting food and ammunition, and building trenches and bunkers. The entire Macedonian population was organized and participated en masse in the DAG auxiliary detachments and was led by NOF and AFZH activists. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 40.) Craft workshops were organized in the Prespa free area where all sorts of products were manufactured for DAG, for the war effort and for the needs of the population, this included clothes, shoes, bread, baked goods, blacksmith materials and other goods. According to Fotev: “During the major Greek Monarcho-Fascist government offensive against DAG, which lasted from July 14, to August 21, 1948, columns of loaded animals with food and ammunition were delivered to the Mount Vicho area.” (Ibid, p. 41.) Armed groups of Macedonian volunteers called “free shooters” acted behind enemy lines and performed ambushes and sabotage actions. They cooperated with the civilian population in their gathering of intelligence, spying on Monarcho-Fascists, uncovering spy networks, as well as capturing and punishing enemy spies. These groups also staged ambushes and attacks on enemy bases. (Ibid, p. 41.) Large groups of “free shooters” existed in most parts of Greek occupied Macedonia. One such group, led by Zhivko Shanev, operated in Kostur Region. Shanev was an experienced fighter and communist from the village Zhelin, Kostur, Region. Another group, led by Mati Bulev, operated in the area of Sorovich and Mount Radosh, Lerin Region. Bulev was

from the village Ekshisu, Lerin Region. He was an ELAS fighter, an activist in the NOF District Board in Sorovich Region, a commander of a Macedonian detachment and an officer in both NOF and DAG. He was killed in 1947. (Ibid, p. 41.)

Reactivating divisions in the NOF leadership

According to Fotev, after the changes to the NOF leadership were made during the NOF Congress, the advocates of separatism, including Mihail Keramitchiev and Ilia Dimovski-Goce, “took it upon themselves to think that they could return to the 1944 events when the Macedonian battalions, in an open conflict with ELAS, separated themselves and created the First Aegean Brigade”. (Ibid, p. 42-43.) Fotev has not given the names of the other “separatists in the group” or of the “NOF and NODEM dissidents”. They could not reconcile with the fact that they had lost their positions in the governing bodies. They could not accept the fact that they no longer had influence in the decision making process. They could not accept the decisions made by the Congress. They applied double standards in their tactics with bizarre behaviour. They also behaved hypocritically toward the CPG leadership on one hand, and in secret applied factionist tactics, on the other. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 43.) Obviously the CPG was responsible for this, not only for allowing such behaviour to take place but also for encouraging these people to pursue nationalist and separatist activities that, according to Fotev, were contrary to NOF. In other words, the CPG used the NOF separatists and dissenters to cause open conflict with the NOF Central Council in which they had lost their previous positions. According to Fotev, “They (Coordinating Bureau) had their own links and regularly met in secret…” (Ibid, p. 43.) Their aim was to slander and discredit many of the Macedonian fighters and founders of NOF with innuendo, calling them “anti-party elements” and labeling them “false Macedonians”, “Hellenophiles”, “adventurers” and so on. According to Fotev: “While they criticized those Macedonians who stood in their way of achieving their sick separatist ambitions and goals, they saw themselves as ‘the best sons of the Macedonian people, courageous and consistent defenders of Macedonia’…” (Ibid, p. 43.)

The CPG Regional Committee encouraged internal divisions in preparing the ground for the removal of all NOF management functions, particularly those of the leading figures in the NOF Central Council. The leading CPG figures encouraging the NOF division were Georgios Eretriadis-Petris, Leonidas Stringos and Theodoros Evtemiadis, with whom Keramitchiev had personal ties and who, with his supporters, demanded that a Plenum of the Central Council be convened as soon as possible with intentions of taking over NOF. The CPG Central Committee, no surprise there, gave Keramitchiev the right to convene his Plenum.

NOF Central Council Plenum

In June 1948 the Informburo resolution was announced which called for isolating the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which the CPG leadership used as an excuse to remove all NOF leading figures, because they were accused of creating internal problems, and to replace them with its own cronies.

The NOF Plenum was held on August 8, 1948 in the village Bukovo, Prespa Region. The proceedings were conducted by a high CPG Party delegation led by Ianis Ioanidis, CPG Central Committee Secretary. (Ibid, p. 45.) It took no time before a raging controversy developed between the two polarized factions in the NOF leadership. Mihail Keramitchiev accused the NOF leaders of being “anti-Party elements”. He personally and vehemently accused Paskal Mitrevski of being an anti-Party element. According to Fotev: “The entire Plenum was ignited with polemics, with the separatist group arrogantly and brazenly, in a manner similar to the style of the Bulgarian supremacists, attacking all the NOF leaders who Keramitchiev considered to be Hellenophiles and alleged anti-party elements.” Paskal Mitrevski was personally attacked by Mihail Keramitchiev. The CPG representatives used this situation to adopt a resolution to remove both Paskal Mitrevski and Mihail Keramitchiev from NOF because of the controversies they created. Mihail Keramitchiev was sacked as president and Paskal Mitrevski as secretary of the NOF Central Council and both were made available to DAG Headquarters. After their dismissal Stavro Kochev was appointed president of the NOF Central Council and Vangel Koichev was appointed Secretary. (Ibid, p. 45.) According to Fotev,

the NOF Central Council did not vote to confirm their appointments. (Ibid, p. 45.)

On August 10, 1948 the CPG Central Committee Politburo published a resolution regarding the faction-ism that had developed in NOF’s Central Council, as observed during its First Plenum. The CPG, according to its own accounts, had no choice but to suspend both Mitrevski and Keramitchiev from their NOF leadership functions in order to stop their “unprincipled factionist struggle”. (Ibid, p. 45.)

The CPG Central Committee Politburo decided to extricate and replace the NOF leadership during the period from June 14 to August 21, 1948, which coincided with the Monarcho-Fascist government’s major offensive against DAG in western and central Greek occupied Macedonia. (Ibid, p. 50.) This was also the time when the Macedonian people were still led by NOF and bore the entire burden of fighting at the front. These were the same Macedonian people who, in the past, had fought and demonstrated mass heroism and self-sacrifice that was recognized by the CPG. (Ibid.) This was made clear during the CPG Central Committee 4th Plenum held on July 28 and 29, 1948 during which, in a resolution of the Politburo, item 8, it was said: “The CPG Central Committee Plenum underlines the extraordinary contribution of the ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people for their struggle in our common cause for freedom.” (M. Fotev. developments through NOF, p. 45.) In other words, the “Slavo-Macedonian” participation in the liberation was nation-wide and wholeheartedly complete. With the blood of their sons and daughters, the Slavo-Macedonian nation in this struggle had earned its solid freedom and equality in Greec,e which was guaranteed in the future by the people’s liberation movement. (Ibid, p. 46.) The Macedonian people had massively fought in the armed struggle from the beginning of the Greek Civil War to earn their rights. They lived through the fiercest terror and persecution campaigns perpetrated by the Greek police, army special units and air force bombings by the Monarcho-Fascist regime. According to Fotev: “The Greek police and special Monacho-Fascist army units loaded truck loads of old men, women, babies and young children into military trucks and, through the village Visheni, drove them to the free territory on Mount Vicho. All the young people over the age

of 15, from the displaced families, were put in jail. Since over 90% of the expelled families were Macedonians, and the others Vlachs, their homes were completely looted and their properties usurped... The Monarcho-Fascist army, led by US officers headed by the notorious General Van Fleet, forcibly evicted around 50 villages in the Lerin and Kostur Regions and in the Anasel Region, and gathered them in the cities in ghettos under very difficult conditions. Many of the villagers who protested at being moved were accused of collaborating with the DAG partisans and sent to prison in the Aegean islands. The Monarcho-Fascist aviation, flown by US and English pilots, bombed and destroyed the free zones on a daily basis. Flying the British military aircraft “Spitfire” and the American aircraft “Dakota” they bombed everything including flocks of cattle and sheep in their pastures. They also bombed the crop fields with flammable liquids. The Monarcho-Fascist army led a totally destructive war not only against DAG but also against the people. The lives of the people were turned into real tragedies. Their physical existence was threatened by the bombardments and from disease and hunger. The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece called on the governments of the people’s republics to start taking refugees from this part of the population. Their calls were answered in the spring of 1948 when about 25,000 young children under the age of 13 were accepted. (Ibid, p. 44.)

After replacing the legitimate NOF leadership, the CPG Central Committee Politburo took over all NOF management functions.

After Paskal Mitrevski and Mihail Keramitchiev were removed from office as NOF leaders, Nikos Zahariadis, CPG Central Committee Secretary General, decided to remove them from all functions. According to Fotev: “A meeting was held in the village Rudari, Prespa Region, during which Nikos Zahariadis, while speaking to Paskal Mitrevski, said: “The CPG Central Committee Politburo has decided to send you to DAG’s ranks as an ordinary fighter to fight behind the lines in the free territory.” Mitrevski, without hesitation, said that he had no problem becoming a DAG partisan fighter and immediately assumed his role in the 107th Brigade. Keramitchiev, on the other hand, did not accept to be an ordinary DAG fighter, because he said he reportedly suffered from epilepsy and his nervous system could not stand the explosions of tank shells, and

particularly aerial bombardments, and asked to be allowed to go to Yugoslavia for treatment. To convince everyone that he suffered from epilepsy, Keramitchiev faked an epileptic seizure in the village Bukovo in front of some local villagers. He did the same in the village Breznitsa, Kostur Region. Then, together with his personal courier Mitre, without informing the NOF Central Council, Keramitchiev fled the struggle overnight and went to Skopje where his family was, presumably to get “treatment”. According to Krsto Mangov from the NOF Central Council, who gave a statement regarding NOF’s financial situation, before leaving for Skopje Mihail Keramitchiev took 813 gold coins from the strong box owned by NOF. Gold that did not belong to him. Many of his comrades also fled right after he did, including Vangel Aianovski-Oche. Mihail Keramitchiev was condemned by some of his closest friends for what he did. (Ibid, p. 47.)

According to Fotev: “The fault lies in the Yugoslav Communist Party and in the state officials who negotiated with the CPG to surrender the NOF Macedonian leadership to the CPG under the ‘unification of NOF and CPG’ ploy. This was not exactly a partnership but rather a CPG dominion over NOF. Regardless of what was negotiated; the CPG under Zahariadis abused the partnership to the end, turning NOF into its slave.” (Ibid, p. 47.) NOF was even turned into an anti-Yugoslav and anti-Macedonian instrument after the Informburo resolution was announced. (Ibid, p. 46.)

Origins of the divisions and rivalry in the political currents for supremacy in NOF and the PLM

The internal divisions within the PLM in the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia appeared back in 1943. According to Fotev: “This separatism, as a nationalist phenomenon and a negative situation in the PLM, namely in NOF, had a historical reason. It dates back a long time and resurfaced during the people’s liberation war in Greece and ELAS in 1943.” (Ibid, p. 48.) Unity was actually achieved following NOF’s establishment when Mihail Keramitchiev’s supporters accepted NOF’s political platform and fought under its flag, but would not accept the unity Agreement between NOF and the CPG. They called this “a second Varkiza

Agreement for the Macedonian people” and hampered its realization. They created their own political platform which, according to Fotev, had “extremely clear chauvinistic tendencies”. They pressured the NOF leadership not to merge with the CPG, but rather to “cooperate with the CPG, EAM and DAG”. They advocated for an independent PLM. They considered the sending of DAG Macedonian fighters to fight in the territory in Central and South Greece, to strengthen the armed struggle, an act “to destroy the Macedonian fighters”, and thus undermine the PLM. They sought to form Macedonian military units and fight only in Greek occupied Macedonia. According to Fotev, who was part of the current NOF leadership led by Paskal Mitrevski and who was a consistent supporter of the NOF-CPG unification Agreement considered their demands for independence and for having Macedonian units acting exclusively on Macedonian national territory in Greek occupied Macedonia, “adventurous at best” given the superiority of the Greek Monarcho-Fascist army. According to Fotev: “They did not care what would have happened if the Monarcho-Fascist army expelled the Macedonian units and where they would withdraw.” (Ibid, p. 48.) The opposing group, to which Fotev refers to as separatist, was only acting this way to secure the upper hand in the NOF leadership. According to Fotev: “Even before the NOF-CPG merger was conceived, the main bearers of these separatist ideas, in various ways, even with conspiracies, made attempts to take over NOF.” (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 48.) Their actions intensified with Lazo Damovski-Oshenski’s entry into the leadership. Oshenski was admitted into the NOF leadership after Atanas Koroveshovski died. Oshenski was a collaborator and close friend of Keramitchiev and was entrusted with the position of NOF Main Board Secretary in charge of the expelled refugees from Greek occupied Macedonia. Using his function Oshenski managed to discredit the NOF leadership in the eyes of the CPM Central Committee. According to Fotev: “Oshenski abused his position when he began to criticize the NOF leadership which led to creating friction between the Macedonian refugees, criticisms that reached all the way up to the CPM Central Committee.” (Ibid.) According to Fotev: “There were a number of dissidents involved in the PLM, mainly Bulgarian supremacist elements…” (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 48.)

The Macedonian Party (CPM) and state leadership did not obstruct the Agreement made between the NOF and CPG leaderships and did not call for an independent PLM position for the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. The CPM Central Committee requested that the NOF Main Board convene a meeting, which took place in March 1946. Among those who attended the meeting was Dimitar Aleksovski-Pekar, CPM Central Committee functionary connected to the NOF Main Board who, during the same meeting, voiced Kolishevski’s decision to remove Oshenski from the NOF leadership. According to Fotev, Pekar said: “The CPM Central Committee and Comrade Kolishevski, personally, have made a decision to have Lazo Damovski-Oshenski removed from the NOF leadership under the charges of being ‘a class enemy’…” (Ibid, p. 48.)

Oshenski’s removal, unfortunately, did not halt the destructive actions of the opposing group led by Keramitchiev. According to Fotev: “Keramitchiev still maintained ties with Oshenski and that is why he was criticized by the Party and by Dimitar Aleksievski-Pekar personally.” (Ibid, p. 48.) According to Fotev, in order for him to take over NOF, Keramitchiev placed himself in the service of the CPG Regional committee of Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace and, with its agreement, called an all-NOF meeting to be held on May 20, 1947. During the meeting, supported by CPG Regional Committee representatives, Keramitchiev reorganized the NOF Main Board, after which a new NOF Coordinating Bureau was appointed under his leadership. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 48-49.) After he took control of NOF, Keramitchiev began to persecute all previous NOF and PLM leaders who did not demonstrate their solidarity to him and “declared them traitors and enemies of the Macedonian people and, as such, persecuted them…” ( Ibid, p. 49 and 56.) The CPG leadership encouraged these acts because they caused division and internal turmoil in NOF and the PLM, which directly served the CPG’s interests.

The ratio of forces, however, changed during the First NOF Congress in January 1948, when the Coordinating Bureau was abolished and when a new NOF leadership was elected not supporting Keramitchiev’s supremacy. Keramitchiev’s group surfaced as a “typical factionist group” during the First NOF Central

Council Plenum held on August 8, 1948, when the group acted aggressively by removing many of the NOF leaders including Paskal Mitrevski as the most authoritative person in the organization. Here Keramitchiev discredited the leaders in front of the membership and in front of the CPG by manufacturing allegations that they were “Hellenophiles” and Yugoslav agents who worked against the CPG. According to Fotev: “Keramitchiev’s cronies were telling Ianis Ioanidis and Nikos Zahariadis, CPG Secretary General, that these NOF leaders were Yugoslav agents who had betrayed the CPG. On the other hand, the same Keramitchiev cronies were telling the Macedonian people that these same NOF leaders were Hellenophiles and anti-Yugoslav elements…” (Ibid, p. 49.) According to Fotev, they went so far as to physically attack the NOF leaders and were prepared to liquidate Paskal Mitrevski. According to Fotev: “There are reasons to believe that Mihail Keramitchiev and his NOF dissidents had approached Tane Nikolov to assassinate Paskal Mitrevski…” (Ibid, p. 49.) After they were defeated at the NOF Central Council Plenum, the leading figures in Keramitchiev’s bunch deserted NOF, the PLM and DAG, crossed over the border to the people’s Republic of Macedonia and continued to slander and discredit the NOF leaders, accusing them of being “Hellenophiles and unpaid CPG mercenaries, anti-Yugoslav elements and traitors to the Macedonian people...” (Ibid, p. 49.)

There were also other personnel changes made. Vangel Kochev was appointed Assistant Political Commissar in DAG General Staff. (M. Fotev, developments through NOF, p. 58.) On October 15, 1948 Evdokia Baleva-Vera was elected Secretary of the AFZH Main Board and first vice president of the All-Greek Central Council of the Democratic Union of women. Other members elected into the council included Marika Elkova, Mahi Pilaeva, Andonia Filipova and Afrodita Liaku-Gechu, all Macedonians and AFZH activists. (Ibid, p. 58.)

(Marika Elkova was from the village P’teli, Lerin Region. She immigrated to Poland after the war and then returned with her family to Skopje, People’s Republic of Macedonia.)

(Mahi Pilaeva was AFZH Secretary for the Lerin District. She immigrated to Czechoslovakia to Brno and, with her Greek husband, returned to Athens.)

(Andonia Filipova was from the village Krchishte. From AFZH she was delegated to the AKE agricultural party. She immigrated to the Soviet Union in Tashkent and from there returned with her family to Skopje, People’s Republic of Macedonia.)

Second NOF Congress

The unfavourable situation created for the CPG by the Greek government military buildups in Greek occupied Macedonia, forced the CPG leadership to re-evaluate its relations with NOF and take action to stop the crisis. In order to survive the Greek government onslaught, the CPG leadership realized that it needed the Macedonian people’s support and to gain it, it needed to change its attitude towards the Macedonian National Question. During its 5th Plenum, held on January 31, 1949, the CPG Central Committee not only recognized the Macedonian people as equals to the Greek people but also took a further step and acknowledged their “right of self-determination…” However, only a few days later the CPG leadership retreated from its declared position of “self-determination” but committed to allowing the creation of a “free Macedonian state within a Balkan Federation…” (Ibid, p. 51.)

The CPG declaration, to resolve the Macedonian National Question within the Balkan federation at a time when CPG and CPY relations were at their lowest with the CPY and Yugoslavia being dangerously squeezed by the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and the other Eastern European countries, was pure manipulation. This was purposely done by the CPG to denigrate Yugoslavia and to create friction between the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia and those in the People ’s Republic of Macedonia. According to Fotev: “This kind of attitude had the stench of an anti-Yugoslav and anti-Macedonian character because NOF was neither consulted nor informed about this before it was announced. NOF was never given a chance to react or decide for itself.” (Ibid.)