5.5 “NA PAT SO VREMETO” (ON THE ROAD OF TIME) - Part 01

5.5 “NA PAT SO VREMETO” (ON THE ROAD OF TIME)

Who will testify if not we, about our pain and suffering, crying and lamenting, prayers and tears, waiting without end, about the fire, the shout and cry, the horrible defeat, about our uprooting and exile, that lead us so far away from home, and hopefully the prophesy will come true, that after years and the passing of time, everything will be ours again?...” 153

According to the expanded definition of “literature of fact”, the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time), published in 2010 by “Matica Makedonska”, Skopje, is a typical novel-reportage.

This novel is about the author and his wife’s personal experiences of years later (60), having to follow the path they took during the child exodus while recalling the time when they were children and taken away from their homeland during the end of the Greek Civil War. While on the road they also visited many of the places in Kostur and Lerin Regions where the battles between DAG and the government army took place; in those places where the eradication and displacement of the Macedonians began and in the places in Southern Albania where the Macedonians were accommodated after the eviction, and the wounded fighters were treated. This novel is also based on testimonies of living participants and witnesses, archival documents, newspaper and magazine clippings, published memoirs, notes, and are a typical representation of the “literature of fact” whose elements will be analyzed below.

Figure 13. Cover page of the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time)

And exactly this confirms the author’s thoughts that the novel has a bit of everything: “novel, travelogue, reportage, memoirs” 154

153 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica Makedonska, 2010, p. 7

Strongly realizing that he wanted to capture the truth from today’s perspective, the author set himself a goal “…to preserve the entire experience. With a little bit of effort I was ready to brush off and clean the dust resting on the papers and allow the memories to flow regardless of how grievous and painful they might be…” 155

The novel begins with poetry, personal works, in which the author calls for the reconciliation of the nation, a reminder of the evil that drove out the Macedonian people from the Aegean part of Macedonia (Northern Greece) and exiled them from their ancestral homeland, demonstrating that part of the nation was in danger of being destroyed, damaged by dark forces and sick minds. The Macedonian syndrome which hovers over the Macedonian nation brings constant disunity and self-destruction. This novel sends a message of unity, harmony and a sense of survival:

Who will testify to the times in which we have been immersed (…) (…) Who will write that we live a deeply rooted life on our great grandfather’s and grandfather’s land to which we are very much faithful? (…)

(…) For this great hope and for everything, and for everyone who was lost to time, may the glimmer of candlelight shine, may animated and living embers for eternity glow, may God will, that in all of us shine the enlightenment we possess today so that we will be smarter and wiser tomorrow. Amen!” 156

The novel is a chronotope and is segmented in space and time. The composition is based on the narrator moving in space, which is characteristic of travelogues. The plot of the novel is set in the present, in 2008. The author here confronts his own memories which he re-experiences 60 years after they took place at the end of the Greek Civil War. Facts presented in this time period are arranged in a retrospective composition, i.e. the author follows events by visiting the places through his memories and allows himself to gradually re-acquaint with past times, events and the fate of the population as seen from today’s perspective. The author will write the following about this:

“Harnessed under the yoke of a great desire to document this past, we set off and took the road of time, following the footsteps of memories which are now part of our survival and existence which, as some wise men would say, are a large component of our past and a small component of our present...” 157

154 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica Makedonska, 2010, p. 9 155 Ibid., p. 9 156 Ibid., pp. 7-8 157 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 10

The following events were dealt with in the content core:

• Visit Kostur and Lerin Regions

• Visit Southern Albania with special reference to Prenies, Korcha, Elbasan, Durres and Sukt

• Memories of survival

His desire to again walk the road of uprooting and eviction, his desire to be reminded again of what happened to his people, of the existence as things were - rooted in the land of their grandparents, the desire to see what remained in his memories, and not in reality, prompted the author to face his past again. “Encouraged by the thought that memories do fade over time we took a leap of faith to take a journey over the road of time carrying with us our destiny and our notes from statements about events and happenings made by many living participants, and set out once again to re-experience our uprooting and eviction.” 158

In the course of his documentary presentation, possessing many authentic descriptions of places, the author started out his journey in Kostur and Lerin Regions. On his way, he consistently described the places he visited from a current perspective, and, through the memories of witnesses he spoke to, he shed light on the various events that transpired during the Greek Civil War and “managed to interpret the inner experiences, the tragedies, traumas and suffering that have remained deeply ingrained in the collective memory…” 159

While examining various events, he recorded the time and the people who were forced to leave their homes and go on a journey from which there was no return. Also typical in the novel are descriptions of the author’s place of birth, his memories of home, customs, faith, childhood memories - everything that today seems like it was erased with an eraser, but still lives engraved in the memory of those who were evicted and exiled, and in the memory of their families and descendants. The author’s depiction of his visits to his native village Krchishta is impressive and very emotional:

“On our way we made a stop at a place called Vishomo. Close to there, where the land rises and widens, is a church and all around the church there is nothing, only emptiness. The village Krchishta used to occupy that emptiness. As I stared at the desolate space where my village used to be, I was overwhelmed with a certain sickness and chills ran down my spine. The village was here but now it’s gone; only its name remains… Here, I say, this emptiness was a village and this emptiness was full of life... And here, I say, where we stand now, was the house in which I was born.” 160

158 Ibid., p. 9 159 From the promotion of the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time) held in Shtip on December 4, 2010 160 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 58

Remnants of foundations from demolished houses are a reminder that something bad happened in the Macedonian villages. The collapsed bare walls are a metaphor for absence.

During his journey through these parts and from his memories, Nakovski again captured and revived all the evil that the war did to the Macedonian people. There is no place, no stone where the war has not left a bloody mark.

“I am looking for families. They were here, they are gone. I am looking for houses, they were here, they are gone. I am looking for what once was. That too is now gone... In what unknown wide space in the world has time scattered them?” 161

While visiting the village Lobanitsa, the author tried to remember what had happened to him in 1948, more precisely on March 25, 1948, when, together with other children from this and other villages in Kostur region, at the age eleven he was taken away from his mother’s arms and sent to Eastern European countries.

From reading this novel the reader should have no problem capturing a picture of Kostur and Lerin Regions today, but also from the past. About this the author will write: “... we are here in the present without life... Now we only have time to remember the past and time not to forget it…” 162

The part devoted to the term “time” as described on pages 59-61 in the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time) is unusually striking.

In the novel Nakovski describes nature, the roads, the churches, the modern cities, the new houses in the villages now inhabited by Asia Minor (Madzhiri) Christian Turkish settlers and colonists who built their houses with stones from the houses of the evicted Macedonians. Nakovski also made special reference to the current situation in Northern Greece and the attitude of the Greek border guards and Greek citizens towards the Macedonians.

Petre Nakovski and his wife Ditta’s visit to Southern Albania was strictly for the purpose of locating the places where they were brought as children when the exodus took place and to find traces they had left in this foreign country. About this Petre wrote: “So that once again we can set foot on the same place from where we took a step on the road that took us to distant lands…” 163

Through his conversations and testimonies with the local population, especially with the older generation, the author searched for the house in which the residents of Korcha took the children in on March 26, 1948. The fate of the evacuated children is best

161 Ibid., p. 59 162 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, pp. 60-61 163 Ibid., p. 124

described in the novel “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched) by Petre Nakovski, which is also the subject of analysis in this master’s thesis.

Also, through his travels from city to city, from Prenies, Korcha, Elbasan, Durres to Sukt, the author again followed the plot in his novels: “Postela za chemernite” (A bed for the wretched), “I kamenot e zemja” (A stone too is soil) and “Golemata izmama” (The great lie).

Nakovski followed the path as he remembered it. He followed the same Macedonian geography, which the Greeks had changed, on which he experienced personal suffering, trauma and tragedy. And through encounters with the living, the horrors of war re-emerged. While passing through Prenies, he found the old barracks in which the Macedonian refugee population was accommodated, including his parents, about whom he will briefly write: “painful memories began to appear before my eyes. These were the memories I had inherited from my parents and from the many others who had spent a very difficult time in Prenies right after their purge from their birthplace.” 164

The novel is also based on testimonies given by the children who were mobilized and who had to relive the horrible events they had experienced. In long conversations with the author, they spoke about everything they had experienced as children separated from their parents and were left to a few “mothers” to be taken care of. Done’s story about meeting an Albanian woman is especially characteristic:

“… I put my hands over my eyes and imagined seeing my own mother in her. She had the same hand and body movements and walked with the same ease as my mother. There were movements in this woman that were very similar to those of my mother’s which gave me an irresistible desire to suddenly run to her… With her free hand she gave us the signal to sit down… from her sack she removed something wrapped in a towel. She then, gently, almost timidly, began to unwrap it… exposing a red pumpkin, full of aroma, slightly burned at the edges and still warm… She cut it into slices… and put a slice in everyone’s hand… I broke off a small piece and brought it to my lips. I left it glued there for a long time so that my lungs could be filled with its soothing aroma.” 165

Perhaps someone may think that the pumpkin (which is figuratively a symbol of stupidity and an empty mind) is not so important in this whole description, but exactly this useless detail 166 reveals the essence of memory. Namely, exactly the pumpkin and the thought of its aroma brings the children back home, to their village, to their mother, to their customs.

164 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p 149 165 Ibid., p. 179 166 Venko Andonovski: Struktura na Makedonskiot realistichen roman. - Skopje: Detska radost, 1997, p. 126

Undoubtedly, by choosing this detail, the author wanted to preserve this “segment of shared memory, a segment of family memory.” 167

During his trip through Southern Albania, the author visited places where thousands of wounded partisans were treated during the Greek Civil War. He again revisited those memories through the recollections of the surviving fighters who were wounded and treated at the hospitals in Korcha, Elbasan and Sukt.

Additional information on the fate of the wounded treated in these hospitals can be found in the book “Grchkata bolnitsa na ostrovot Volin” (The Greek hospital on the island Volin) by General Dr. Miechislav Barchikovski, a valuable record worthy of testimony.

The novel “Na pat so vremeto (On the road of time), through the memories of witnesses of these turbulent times, has provided us with descriptions of the roads taken during the Macedonian exodus to Eastern European countries, especially to Poland and Uzbekistan, in the former USSR. The conversations with Polish staff on the ship are particularly impressive. Here Macedonian words similar to Polish are intertwined. Also, horrible words have been spoken about the barracks in Tashkent where DAG fighters were housed, after World War II Japanese prisoners of war were evicted. The picture is shocking when a mother loses her child on the ship: “... my little girl, my child is gone, people look for her, help me, my child is gone… my little girl is gone...” 168 The child was eventually found, about whose fate Vancho Andonov wrote in the newspaper “Nova Makedonija”, 1973, and later in “Vecer”.

Similarly, described through testimonies are the stories of those who never returned home but remained in foreign countries and had families there. They too managed to preserve their Macedonian language, customs, songs and dances. “Exile as a condition is most strongly felt by those who personally experienced it, but also because of personal history…” 169 As a direct participant in the resettlement, the author gave a concrete picture of the situation in Skopje at the time, when he and his wife and many other Macedonians from Poland returned to Macedonia. He especially referred to the deep-rooted Macedonian discord and hatred, intolerance and disunity. This was true for the Aegeans but not for Macedonians from the other part of Macedonia. The Macedonians from the Aegean part of Macedonia (Northern Greece), who, after arriving in the Republic of Macedonia, spent days in the Idrizovo prison facilities, not to rest, but to be interrogated.

And by following this train of thought the author, as well as the people who participated in these events and who witnessed this war, expressed their moral judgment and resentment about the systematic and planned eviction from their homeland.

167 (http://www.blesok.com.mk/tekst.asp?lang=mac&tekst=1033&str=4#, (Elizabeta Sheleva: Romanot kako filosofia na sekiavanieto)) 168 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p 238 169 Vesna Mojsova-Chepishevska: Chinot na pishuvanie kako chin na osloboduvanie), Igra I simila. -Skopje: Galikul, 2011

“Without sorrow and with simple words, Nakovski has recorded the time and people who were forced to leave their homes and took to the various roads. Physically and mentally crippled they asked ‘where are we being led and to whom are we leaving our homeland’…” 170

Nevertheless, they managed to preserve their human dignity, pride and awareness of their national affiliation – their Macedonian identity.

The novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time), which is the subject of analysis, is a touch on the old wound and pain for Macedonia. It is no coincidence that the author quotes Seferis 171 in the prologue: “The memory wherever you touch it hurts” 172

The first element that confirms that the work has elements of “literature of fact” is the authenticity of space, names of settlements, toponyms.

The action in the novel takes place on the basis of movement, i.e. the journey through Kostur and Lerin Regions and Southern Albania.

The author has used centuries-old Macedonian names and topography with unusual accuracy. He has recorded the Macedonian topography of villages, towns, mountains, rivers, which by law 173 were Hellenized, i.e. renamed with Greek names. This novel fortunately has preserved the past, Macedonian history, Macedonian roots and Macedonian individual and collective memories.

Villages: Dolno Kaleshteni (Kato Kaliniki), Psoderi (Pisoderion), Vineni (Pili), Zhelevo (Andartikon), Lak (Mikrolimni), Orovnik (Karie), P’pli (Levkonas), Rudari (Kalithea), Shtrkovo (Plati), Madovo (Milonas), Rabi (Lemos), German (Agios Germanos), Drenovo, Orovnik, Kulata, Pero, Nivitsi (Ptsarades), Orovo (Piksos), Grazhdeno (Vronderon), Osheni (Inoi), Sveta Nedela (Agia Kiriaki), Statitsa (Melas), Novo Gabresh (Neo Gavros), Ezerets (Petropulaki), Snicheni (Kastanofito), Koteltsi (Kotili), Kosinets (Ieropigi), Chetirok (Mesopotamia), D’mbeni, Lobanitsa (Agios Dimitrios), Smrdesh (Kristalopigi).

Cities: Kostur (Kastoria), Lerin (Florina), Voden (Ethesa), Rupishta (Argos Orestikon).

The author also mentions the towns and villages in Southern Albania where the evacuated children, evicted population and wounded fighters were housed:

170 Words spoken at the promotion of the novel Na pat so vremeto held in Stip on December 4, 2010 171 Iorgos Seferis, Greek poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963 172 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 5 173 In 1928 the Greek government passed a law to change the Macedonian names of settlements and toponyms to Greek ones

Cities in Albania: Bilishta, Kapestitsa, Korcha, Pogradets, Elbasan, Perenias (Prenies), Drach (Durres), Sukt, Bureli.

Villages in Albania: Trestenik, Visochishta, Vrnik, Zvezda and Poian.

Other toponyms found in the novel, where key events took place at that time period are: Lerinsko Pole, Prespa, Prevalot, Devolsko Pole.

Mountains: Lehovo, Vicho, Bigla, Bela Voda, Lundzer, Bazdrovitsa, Liupkata, Vrba, Drenicheto, Lisets, Moro, Chuka, Orle, Odre, Siniachka, Mali Madi, Kopanche, Sveti Ilia, Krusha, Gorusha, Kotelska Kula, Bel Kamen , Gorna i Dolna Arena, Charno, Krastavets, Aliavitsa, Pind, Petre Peleni, Amuda, Nikoler.

Figure 14. Mount Orle

Rivers: Morava.

Lakes: Lake Prespa, Lake Kostur.

Islands: Sveti Ahil.

Monasteries and churches: Sveta Troitsa, Sveta Petka, Sveti Atanas, Sveti Giorgi, Sveti Iovan, Sveti Ilia.

The second element that confirms that the work has elements of “literature of fact” is the time frame and the real events that took place in that time period. Of course, it is important to mention that the very presence of the author in the places visited where these events took place, which were key to shedding light on the fateful turmoil and eviction of the Macedonian people from Aegean Macedonia (Northern Greece), confirms the authenticity of time and events.

- In November 1947, military conditions were created to open the first course for Macedonian teachers in the village German. Eighty demobilized men and women who had completed primary education were ordered to learn to read and write in Macedonian Cyrillic within 15 days.

- From October 1947 to August 1949 a prison was set up in the village Drenovo where the people’s government abducted and, without a trial, punished and jailed people. It abducted the families, fathers, mothers and even minor children of those who deserted the war and fled to the other side.

- Four hundred and fifty children, aged two to fourteen, were taken in March 1948, from the village German and sent, first to Dolno Dupeni, then to Liuboino and Bitola and from there to Eastern European countries.

- On February 11 and 12, 1949, an order was issued to capture Lerin where 360 mobilized women from the Prespa and Korestani villages were deployed to transport wounded from the front to the field hospitals.

- The Second NOF Congress was held on Sunday, March 25, 1949 in the village church in Nivitsi, at which time a decision was made to have greater Macedonian participation in the Greek Civil War where, in exchange, the Greek Communists would allow the Macedonian people to form their own Macedonian state. This was the biggest deception to date committed against the Macedonian people.

- On August 13 and 14, 1949, the Greek Air Force dropped 34 bombs weighing 250 kilograms, 530 bombs weighing 125 kilograms, 1900 bombs weighing 10 kilograms, 70 napalm bombs, 620 rockets, 26,000 20 mm grenades and 43,000 12.7 and 7.7 mm machine gun bullets in the area near the village Rabi in Prespa. 174

- There is a cave in the village Grazhdeno in which a partisan hospital was located. 175

- The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, housed in village Vineni, was formed in December 1947 in the village Asamati in Prespa. “Zahariadis’s Cave”, a secure place located in the village Vineni was used to make political and military decisions such as: “to attack Voden, Negush and Lerin”. 176

- The battles at Gramos lasted from June 14 to August 22, 1948.

- On July 7, 1959, the Greek newspaper “Eleftherotipia” carried a story in which it was said that all inhabitants in the village Tremino (Karidia) swore that in the future they would never speak that Slavic dialect again. They were cited as an example by Greek officials.

174 See: Istoria na grchkata gragianska voina, p. 533 175 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 50 176 Ibid., p. 51

Figure 14. This is where the main DAG hospital was located

- On July 8, 1959, the Greek newspaper “To Vima” carried a story about the Slavo-Macedonian language, saying that it should have been banned a long time ago.

- On August 4, 1959, the Greek newspaper “Ellinikos Voras” reported that the inhabitants of the village Ludovo (Kria Nera), in Kostur Region, decided to swear that they would completely forget their mother tongue and that they would only speak Greek.

- On August 11, 1959, the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” reported that the inhabitants of the village Krpeshina (Atrapos) swore that they would no longer speak their Slavic dialect.

- There is a hill fenced with barbed wire along the road Kostur-Bilishta-Korcha on which hangs a sign with the words “Mine Field”. DAG minefield experts planted these mines in 1949 and they have not been removed to this day.

- On March 24 and 25, 1948, children and mothers from the villages Bresteni, Galista, Ezerets, Novoseleni, Dolno Papratsko, Krchishta and Kosinets were brought to the village Lobanitsa.

- A government brigade attacked Lisets during the night between August 10 and 11, 1948.

- The children evacuated on March 26, 1948, were taken from Kostur Region to Korcha.

- In February 1948, after the unsuccessful battle to take Lerin, 1500 wounded fighters were placed in the hospital in Korcha.

- In 1948 the exiled Macedonian population from Kostur Region was settled in Prenies.

- From May to the end of November 1948, 1600 evacuated children from Kostur Region lived in a shelter in Drach (Durres).

- Members of the Macedonian leadership were declared enemies and Tito’s agents by Zahariadis in Bureli. Zahariadis placed the entire blame for losing the Greek Civil War on the Macedonian leadership.

- Wounded fighters were transported by ship from the port of Durres to the Polish port Shvinouishte, and then transferred to hospital “250” on Volin Island. Other ships transported wounded to the ports Gdansk and Shchechin.

- On July 13, 1949, 750 wounded fighters were transported on the ship “Koshchushko” which sailed from Albania.

- The exiled people from the Kostur and Lerin Region villages were taken by ship from Durres to Poland.

- The exiled people from the Kostur and Lerin Region villages were taken to Tashkent on the ship “Michurin”.

Also mentioned in the novel are names of historical figures, military and political organizations and newspapers which confirm the thesis of “literature of fact”.

Historical characters: Porfirogenis - member of the CPG Central Committee, Gregorgiades, Zahariadis, Tito, Stalin, Khrushchev, Boleslav Beirut - first secretary of the PORP Central Committee, Dr. Miechislav Barchikovski – a general, Kshemien – a general, Vatslav Komar - main organizer and implementer of Greek policies in Poland, Dr. Bogdan Bednarski - Minister of Health of the then Poland.

Organizations: Vinozhito (Rainbow) - Political Party of the Macedonian Minority in Greece, PORP - Polish United Workers’ Party; Ilinden - a national liberation and revolutionary organization of the Slavo-Macedonians, formed by Zahariadis in the Ukrainian village Kroschenko in Poland; Zdruzhenie na Egeitsite (Aegean Association) based in Skopje.

Newspapers: “Glasot na Kostur (Voice of Kostur), “Eleftherotipia”, “To Vima”, “Ellinikos Voras”, “Glas na Egeitsite” (Voice of the Aegeans).

Leading characters in the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time) are the author, Petre Nakovski and his wife Ditta Nakovska, who represent the collective destiny of all the exiled children collected in 1948. Taking the paths they took sixty years ago

they rediscover the road of their exile and relocation and they relive the tragic events of their separation from their parents and homes:

“They collected us and took us away and behind us remained the unfinished story in a grandfather and grandmother’s voice… And we thought and asked ourselves: ‘Will there be anyone, where they were sending us, who would caress us with a warm hand like the hand of our mothers, who would kiss us goodnight before sleep, like our mothers kiss us, who would gently look at us like our mothers looked at us, who would smile at us with our mother’s smile, who would tell us a story, sing us a song, wipe our tears? Would there be anything there from our home? When will we return to our homes?’ We descended on the abandoned road in silence. We then crossed the road on foot that was once a parting road.” 177 It is also characteristic that, even though the author’s goal was to visit all the key places where the events took place during the Greek Civil War, he did more than that. From the darkness of oblivion to “save the pieces from the great whole of human suffering,” 178 in his remarks, and later in his novel, Nakovski provided an authentic description of the beauty of nature, of the villages, of the cities, of the modern trends and of the people’s attitude towards them. The author especially referred to the use of the Macedonian vernacular spoken in Lerin, but “quietly and carefully and only in his company.” 179

During his visit to Southern Albania, Nakovski provided an authentic description of the cities, the modern buildings, roads, but also of the Albanian people’s attitude towards them; their hospitality and customs.

“Which one of these houses is the house where I was looked after by strangers who always radiated warmth, gentle smiles and a lot of kindness? Which door should I knock on?”

Sadly, Nakovski found out that the house in which he had been looked after as a child was demolished and that a street now passed over it. In his novel he expresses his gratitude to these people whom he called “my good angels” 180 and regrets that he failed to thank them in person, saying: “I had in me a great desire to go to Korcha and in their language to say to those people ‘faleminderit’ (thank you!)” 181

The third element that confirms that the work has elements of “literature of fact”, besides the author and his wife, are the real characters such as: Kole, Mita, Pop Sterio, Lena, Stoina, Stefo, Done, Lefteris and others.

Testimonies given by these characters are a document depicting the irrational war, the tragic fate, the broken families, the homelessness, the human dignity and the endurance. The novel is composed as a system of narratives, which complement one

177 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, pp. 105 and 106 178 Ibid., p. 10 179 Ibid., p. 12 180 Ibid., p. 136 181 Ibid., p. 136

another, and actions connected through the intertwined witness testimonies depicting the turbulent times; the children taken away and separated from their parents, the homelessness and the participants in the war. Each character brings out his or her own deeply engraved recollections, through which destinies and the collective destiny is characterized. Here we discover the psychological depths of these characters and bearers of painful experiences, persecuted, separated, but continue to last in and through time. The author has built the characters pictorially, based on their testimonies, specific life situations and drama; characteristics consistent with the truth.

Kole was a boy separated from his parents and taken away. He spent his childhood and part of his life in Poland. He introduces us to his destiny through his moving testimony, which is the destiny of all children taken away during the Greek Civil War.

“When we crossed the border and when the blasts of the bombs could not reach us, and when we could no longer hear the roar of the flying aircraft, that’s when I felt the greatest emptiness, the greatest pain. That’s when I realized how painful the forced abandonment of my home was... I realized that for us there was no other road except the road that led to our uprooting...” 182

Kole from the village German in Prespa was a shepherd before he was uprooted from his home. He said he was placed in a dormitory in Poland where the state allowed him to get an education. He said he finished primary, high school and college and then, with his family, returned to Macedonia as a civil engineer and participated in the construction of many buildings, such as: the Archives of Macedonia, the Institute of National History, the National and University Library and so on, which confirms that the Republic of Poland had invested in the upbringing and education of children who had been placed in children’s dormitories. More information on this can be found in the political science study entitled “Makedonski detsa vo Polska (1948-1968)” (Macedonian children in Poland (1948-1968)” by Dr. Petre Nakovski.

From the testimonies given by characters Mita and Lena, we learn about the partisans who fought in DAG’s ranks, battles fought in Gramos, the heroism of fighters, the difficult climatic and military conditions, the strong spirit and great physical endurance of Macedonians. They told the author their stories through tears and strong emotions, about how they lost their youth, about the images that they kept deep inside their consciousness, about what they remembered which had turned into incurable wounds.

“I remember the evening of the sixtieth day when the order was given to withdraw to new positions. These were the last positions. Behind us was Albania. In the night we took a count of how many of us were left. From the 460 men and women fighters aged 16 to 22, which was the number of fighters in our battalion before the battle started, 95 were left alive, 60 of which were wounded. Who can you patch up first and who can you carry

182 Ibid., p. 44

to the hospital? Some died in our arms…” 183 This confirms the high morale, the greatness and the courage and determination the young Macedonian women exercised in performing their combat duties.

On pages 108 and 109 we find a list of villages which kept a record of how many villagers were mobilized and killed fighting, which speaks very vividly about the large number of victims.

From the testimony given by Stefo, a ninety-year-old fighter and driver, we learn about the difficult fate of the wounded fighters whom he transported to the various hospitals. He had to face those young fighters, crippled from fighting, every day.

“I often secretly wiped my tears when, after a day, after a week and rarely after a month, I had to drive the same boys and girls to the same hospitals from which I had brought them back. Were they complaining? Were they bent over with pain? Were they praying?” 184

Ninety-year-old Stefo never did receive an answer to these questions. But the images of their faces, especially of those who did not survive the war, never faded from his memories.

When he was a young child Done was taken to Sinaia, a city in Romania, and placed in a dormitory. He testified to the fact that he was one of three hundred and fifty children returned to Prenies to become DAG fighters. His memories from that experience did not fade and he was able to convey many details from those events with deep feelings. Many of these children did not take part in battles mainly due to protests organized by their parents.

“And now, with the passing of time, I am often reminded of what I have experienced in Prenies. I see the trucks coming, the crowds dashing, the people rushing, I hear their shouts, cries, pleading and cursing… I see myself as a guard. I see myself and my friends in the middle of the night carrying dead bodies from the barracks and horse stables and burying them in shallow graves in the hard ground… That is exactly how it was… That is how it was and that is how it should be written…” 185

Let us note that Done and the other children from Prenies were airlifted to Poland. “They returned us to Prenies the same day. About twenty days later they put us on an airplane and sent us to Poland. There the Poles sat us down and told us that we could conquer the world by learning…” 186

A villager from Kostur Region who was held in the Greek prisons for a long time opens his soul and recounts his experiences with police brutality and harassment. From

183 Ibid., p. 87 184 Ibid., p. 221 185 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p 180 186 Ibid., p. 179

his dusty shelves he pulls out clippings of excerpts from Greek newspapers that describe the oaths that the Macedonian people were forced to take in front of Greek officials, condemning their Macedonian language and promising that they would only speak Greek.

From the testimony given by Pop (Reverend) Sterio we learn about his village and about past events, more precisely about the event which, as he said: “only the old people spoke and only in secret.” 187

Namely, he testified that on March 17, 1905, Greek palikaria (policemen) entered the village to look for voivodi (Macedonian revolutionary leaders) but plundered the houses looking for gold.

Figure 15. This is the burial place of the villagers who were slaughtered by the Greek police on March 17, 1905 (Pictured here are Pop Sterio and his daughter Ditta)

Pop Sterio said the Greeks took six civilian men, tortured them, cut their jugular veins and left them to bleed to death. The villagers buried them at night and no one outside of the village spoke about where they were buried: “Anyone in the village can tell you what their names were, but no one will speak about where they were buried. We can’t tell because we know someone will come and desecrate their eternal resting place. One hundred years have passed and no one has muddied their dreams.” 188 During the author’s long conversation with Pop Sterio and his many testimonies about those times, especially about the collection of the children, Nakovski found that Sterio’s testimonies were very characteristic: “And what do you think if they had not collected the children, there wouldn’t have been a high school in Ezerets? There would have been one, even larger than that in Osheni, but someone thought it was not important to have a high school here.” 189

Also worth mentioning here is the author’s conversation with Pop Sterio about the current situation in Macedonia and its survival: “How will this tiny, poor country live and

187 Ibid., p. 90 188 Ibid., p. 91 189 Ibid., p. 92

survive? My dear Reverend Father, I said to him slowly and quietly, she is now like a tiny, lonely and poor bear cub… What?! he raised his voice sounding surprised. You say a tiny bear cub? A bear cub which one day will grow up to be a bear?! Well, what can you do Reverend Father, bear cubs do grow into big bears…” 190

Lefteris was a refugee, brought with his family from Turkey to Kostur Region. He was a “prosfiga” 191 whose family was given land to live on and work that had once belonged to a Macedonian family. Worth mentioning here is that Lefteris did not call the house in which he lived with his family a home: “...how can you build a house on land that does not belong to you?” 192

“Namely, for some groups of people - such as victims, refugees, migrants, subalterns - memories play a particularly important role in legitimizing their uncertain identity (because it is strictly transitory). But, unfortunately, the right to remembrance is not acquired in a straightforward way, but goes in correlation with the socio-political, i.e. socio-cultural power to speak about one’s experience with one’s own voice and in one’s own name!” 193

Collective testimony is built through individual stories and testimonies. The life stories upon which this novel is based are presented as a journey through time and space with a starting and ending point. The end of the journey is people not returning home to their homeland. This confirms that Nakovski is a tireless researcher when it comes to revealing the Macedonian people’s tragic fate from this part of Macedonia.

It is also worth mentioning the Albanian characters whose names are Tahir, Ismet and Marieta, who helped the author find the places he was looking for relating to events from the Greek Civil War.

The fourth element that confirms that the work has elements of “literature of fact” is the Macedonian common code, “traditional things that are symbolic” 194 and those are celebrating name days and traditional Macedonian holidays, such as: Easter, St. George’s Day; celebrating name days and holidays such as: Mitrovden and the Great Mother of God. It is characteristic that, even though they were separated, Macedonians in foreign countries did not forget the customs and respected the holidays that marked the Macedonian domestic tradition. This was evident from the testimony given by Stoina who said: “We continued to practice our own customs as we had practiced them at home. We quickly weaved baskets and placed boiled wheat, bread and a bit of fruit in them and went from house to house, from person to person to dispense some for the souls of those lost. Again and again we gathered in these strange and abandoned houses to mourn the dead and the living and our own fate. We had no priest to perform ceremonies and the

190 Ibid., p. 92 191 Refugee 192 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 67 193 http://www.blesok.com.mk/tekst.asp?lang=mac&tekst=1033 (Elizabeta Sheleva: “Romanot na filosofia na sekiavanieto”) 194 See: Venko Andonovski: Abduktsia na teoriata. - Skopje: Galikul, 2011, p. 176

churches and cemeteries around us were all Catholic...” This confirms the touching authenticity of Macedonian life and customs. As valuable proof of the Macedonian fighting spirit, are Macedonian folk songs such as: “Vo borba, vo borba, vo borba Makedonski narode” (To struggle, to struggle, to struggle Macedonian people) and “Napred, napred Makedontsi!” (Forward, forward Macedonians!)

The author’s goal in this novel too is to preserve the smallest detail of truth and tragedy from that time. The character testimonies are a source of facts, a reality taken from everyday life and the time in which they lived, which confirms the Macedonian people’s spirit.

In the novel we also find the surnames of the families: Nanovtsi, Damovtsi, Nakovtsi, Pudovtsi, Laskini, Popovtsi, Donovtsi, Liapovtsi, Penovtsi, Shkoklovtsi, Traikovtsi, Pandovtsi, Filiovtsi, Guliovtsi.

The author uses the Macedonian literary language in his work which is enriched with authentic words and statements from the Kostur Region dialect, i.e. he reliably presents witness statements and testimonies on which this novel is based, in order to capture the authenticity of place and language: “kadro” (photograph), “Grchki” (Greek), “peesh” (you sing), “puli” (watch/look), “Zaklame” (we slaughtered), “zborvame” (we are talking), “ka pominate” (how did you do), “sho storite” (what did you do), “klai da iaime” (place so we can eat) and others. In order to capture the authenticity of space, time and occasions, the author uses both Greek and Albanian words and expressions. Greek: “Stin patrida tus pigenun”, “Sto patriko tus homa”, “Etsi, day ine?”, “Vale, tria kafethakia”, “Milate Elinika?”, “Edo ine Elatha”, “Aftin ti glosa na mi tin milate”, “Na milate Elinika”. Albanian: “Mir dita”, “falemingerite”, “nane”, “mir”.

The novel is also enriched with symbolism: the title of the novel and the picture on the cover page, which depicts a burning fire in a lantern, symbolizes eternity, warmth, life, which the author connects with the fate of the collective. The stone - the homeland, the icon, the word, the speech, presented in the novel, are a symbol of permanence, survival of the nation and prayer - a personal religious experience based on a return to the thought of God or another cult object in a state of worship and admiration. We also find symbolism in the statements made by the author and by Pop Sterio when they talked about Macedonia: “You say a tiny bear cub? A bear cub which one day will grow to be a bear?! Well, what can you do Reverend Father, bear cubs do grow into big bears…” 195

With regards to symbolism, Roland Barthes pointed out that: “...a symbol remains, lasts, but what changes - with the change of social structure - is its interpretation.” 196

The author is characterized by the precision of his expression. The novel is filled with sensitive experiences: emotions and reflections, through which we would say ideally express the “literature of the fact” in the work.

195 Petre Nakovski: Na pat so vremeto. - Skopje: Matica makedonska, 2010, p. 92 196 Zoran Konstantinovich, Uvod I uporedno prouchavanie knizhevnosti, Belgrade, 1984, p. 149

Nakovski has created an artistic testimony in which he uncovers the core truth in an original way, revealing a concrete, true image about the exiled, filled with memories and emptiness in their souls. About this, Rade Silian in his review of the novel “Na pat so vremeto” (On the road of time) will write:

“Through a documentary, Nakovski has shed light on events and has presented a broad picture of the fateful days, and, by weaving the destinies of individuals, he has managed to interpret internal experiences, traumas and suffering that have become the sum of the collective tragedy.” 197