TESTIMONIES OF THE UPROOTING

TESTIMONIES OF THE UPROOTING

In 1948 Lena Sulevska from the village Gorno Kotori, Lerin Region, made the following statement:

“On March 26, 1948 I, two other women, and 40 children left the village after it was attacked by government troops. That day the government soldiers kidnapped 13 children belonging to parents who were DAG fighters. We had to hide to avoid capture. The village was also bombed. We traveled in the snow at night and hid during the day.

Two government airplanes attacked us near the village Trnovo but fortunately no one was injured. We joined a group of about 400 children being led by several women. They were from Kostur Region. The women told us that their group had been repeatedly

attacked by government planes. Four children were killed. More refugees joined us near the village Mavrochori, women and children from four villages (Dolno Kotori, Lagem, Turia and Tren).”

Lena Sulevska continued:

“About 500 children and 20 women were gathered and we headed north, walking only at night. The entire time the women carried a child on their backs and held two more by the hands. We ran into a blizzard after we passed the village Konomladi and had to walk in heavy snow. We constantly had to massage the children’s feet to avoid frostbite. When we arrived in the village Strkovo and went inside the village to take a rest, the village was attacked by planes. We, the children and the people from the village all fled to the mountains where we spent the day. The children were crying from fear and from being cold so we lit a fire. But then the planes came again and we had to put the fire out fast. We threw our clothes on it and the children gathered rocks and threw them at it until it was out.

After that we were not allowed to start fires. That was a very sad day, the saddest of our trip. We continued our trek during the night and two days later we arrived in the village German, in Prespa Region. The next night we crossed the Yugoslav border but we did not know that. In the morning we ran into a group of women from the Yugoslav Red Cross. When they saw us all miserable and barefoot, they began to cry and led us to Bitola. They brought us to the Red Cross shelter there and gave the children milk, jam and other foods.

The difficulties of having to travel in the snow and cold left visible marks on the children who kept crying, even after we arrived in Bitola. Most were vomiting and feeling sick. Our hands were swollen, our necks and backs were bruised and our shoulders were in terrible pain from having to carry the children. We were all flea-ridden and dirty because we had not had a bath all this time. We walked for 8 days and traveled over 100 km. Everyone’s eyes were bloodshot and our clothes were in tatters.”

Elena Eftova from the village Turie, Lerin Region, who left her village with 114 children testified as follows:

“The Monarcho-Fascists were bombarding the village with cannons and completely demolished 6 and burned down another 34 houses. They then stormed the village, looted it and took 500 sheep. They did this while we watched them, hidden in the mountains. There were no soldiers from our side which made the Monarcho-Fascists even angrier and they took their anger out on the civilian population in the village. During the bombing a 10 year old girl named Lefteria Doneva was wounded in the chest and abdomen. She was badly wounded and was taken to a basement while the village was being bombed. After that they tried to evacuate her to the mountains but she died on the way in terrible pain near the village Rula. We buried her there. Her mother fled with us but then we lost her and did not know where she went. On the way, we the women carried 2 to 3 children each.”

Vasilka Delova from the village Lagen fled with two other women and a girl, taking 71 children with them. She remembers the following:

“While the attacks from the government troops were taking place we hid in trenches outside of our village. We then returned to the village during the night to look for food. After that we were joined by a second group of mothers and children near the village Konomladi and from there we fled to Yugoslavia. In the next five months or so the children were placed in homes but they still could not get rid of the trauma they experienced during the attacks on the village and the difficulties they suffered while attempting to flee from the Greek military.”

Iordana Ianchova from the village Trsie, near Lerin, had the following to say:

“After my husband died I was left alone with five children. I was continually persecuted by the traitors of the Greek people and by the Burandari who wanted to kill me at all costs, just like they killed my husband. When I decided to flee across the border, the mothers from my village entrusted me with their children, to save them from the horrors of being bombed by the American, British and Greek aircraft.”