TEACHING WAS DONE IN THE MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE

TEACHING WAS DONE IN THE MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE

Here is what teacher Dinko Kozinakov had to say about the days he spent in the children’s home in Robini:

“In the summer of 1948 I was summoned by Secretary Mihalis Soustas from the branch office of the Provisional Democratic Government and by Pandos Tsangas, born in Kozheni Region, who informed me that I was appointed teacher of the Macedonian children at Sveta Katerina in Rovini, Croatia. Just here, in this house, on the western coast of Istria, I found about a hundred Macedonian children from the Voivodina villages Gakovo and Krushevlie sent here through the Red Cross. These were children from different parts of Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia whose parents were fighting in the ranks of DAG. There were other, smaller homes near Rovini with children from Greece, such as the so-called Osiek home where older children were taught trades. Similarly there were children in Krani where the younger children were placed in the village Dutovlie, Slovenia, which I visited and registered their problems and developments... There was only a single but lavish home on the small coastal island Sveta Katerina. It was built by a certain Russian count on top of a barren rock. But later he brought soil by ship and built up the land on which he then planted a pine forest and created a great park around the residence. Here too we had refugee children from Aegean Macedonian housed who enjoyed all the amenities, thanks to the care provided by the People’s Republic of Croatia Ministry of Education and the Red Cross. With regards to teaching and the school system, we collaborated with our Croatian colleagues who were appointed to be here and, of course, with the remaining technical service personnel, mainly with the Italian national minority who were living there...”

Here is what else teacher Dinko Kozinakov had to say about the days he spent in the children’s home Sveta Katerina in Robini:

“The children, all Macedonian, were divided by grades according to their previous level of education and age. Teaching was to be carried out in the Macedonian language. For this purpose, right from the start, I supplied myself with teaching aids purchased in Skopje, such

as the ones I used in my educational work in Bulkes, Voivodina. Bulkes was the place where cadres were groomed and where the newspaper ‘Edinstvo’ (Unity) was published. This was the first bi-weekly newspaper published in the Macedonian language. It was NOF’s organ in which I wrote an article here and there, which then were published in the newspaper ‘Foni tou Bulkes’ (Voice of Bulkes) in the Greek language, as well as other printed matter. There was also a local radio broadcast which broadcast news and songs in the Macedonian language. This was the place where, for the first time, we heard the voices of Macedonian singers over the speakers, singing Macedonian songs. Singers such as Vania Lazarova, Vaska Ilieva, Nikola Badev, Alexander Sarievski, Kiril Manchevski and other wonderful singers singing and playing Macedonian folk songs were broadcast over the air waves.

But teaching was not an easy task, I knew that and that’s why when I was called to do the job I clearly stressed to the authorities that I was not trained to do such work and that my knowledge was insufficient. I had some experience in teaching when I attempted to teach in my native village Pochep in late 1944 where, after the occupation, we were expected to develop teaching programs from nothing. We were expected to teach the Macedonian children in their Macedonian mother tongue, not taught for generations, without any teaching aids and without any assistance. The only scarce textbooks available to us were in Greek. We had almost the same problem here in the school in the Sveta Katerina home in Rovini. The approach taken was almost the same: ‘Our skill was good enough for us to start the program, which would later be improved as we gained knowledge…’ And, as one can see, we launched the educational process. However, to overcome certain problems and to fine tune the process, we selected five or six assistants from the older children to help us out with the tutoring. The selected assistants were Risto Poplazarov, Traiche Milianovski, Iani Kalimanov, Vangel Popovski, Kiro Shekrov and Evgenia Mushmanovska. In fact, they were like selected leaders for the others...

While we were attempting to do this, the Croatian Ministry of education and the Red Cross ordered new textbooks and teaching aids for us. In addition to this we organized various trips and

excursions in the city and surrounding Rovini areas so that the children would not feel isolated from the rest of the world. For example, we visited the Institute of Biology, the tobacco processing plant, the ‘Miria’ fish canning factory and the modern hospital and sanatorium for treating tuberculosis where two of our children as well as some DAG fighters were being treated. After that we visited the Osiek boarding school, where a group of girls belonging to the refugees from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia were studying in the textile factory in Dutovlie and Stara Gora near the Slovenian border. We also went by boat to Tsrven Otok where President Tito and others took short vacations. We also participated in cultural and artistic events organized in the city. And, on occasion, we arranged trips for our visiting guests who came to visit us.

Unfortunately these successes did not last long. The domestic situation and educational process soon began to experience difficulties, something which caused discomfort in everyone. All this was mainly due to the general conditions arising from the growing dissent and mutual misunderstandings between the Yugoslav and Greek communist party leaderships; a result of the growing Informburo dispute between Russia and Yugoslavia. This was also a critical time in the war at home when, at the end of 1948, a counter-offensive was in effect and hostilities between opposing sides were growing, particularly in Vicho and Gramos where battles were growing larger and bloodier. There was also an increase in foreign intervention in Greece which gave the Monarcho-Fascists open military, political and economic support. The Anglo-Americans and the Greek government continued to tighten the narrow circle of space in which the liberation army operated and rapidly exhausted its reserves. This invasion and increasing pressure and coercion from the Greek government and from the foreign factors also created a rising wave of refugees. Among them were children, sick, elderly men and women; all fleeing to Eastern European countries. On the way they were confronted by the Greek government army, the Greek government aviation and artillery, burning and razing everything in their way...

These were daily dramas taking place in our homeland which we monitored remotely from this island here in the Adriatic through the radio station ‘Free Greece’ and through the press. We all gathered

together and listened to the news. We then all cheered with the familiar slogan ‘Stalin-Tito-Dimitrov-Zahariadis-Hoxha’, hoping that the international community would not allow the situation to worsen and would not allow the resistance to be broken...”

Here is more of what teacher Dinko Kozinakov had to say:

“So one day, under all these circumstances, we were suddenly told that the Croatian authorities had decided to move us out of Sveta Katerina Island and relocate us in the coastal town Tsrikvenitsa, southeast of Rieka, to be together with another group of refugee children. This was a home that housed both Greek and Macedonian children. We were moved to Tsrikvenitsa in early May 1949 and were warmly accepted by about 200 children, their teachers and the staff who worked there. The home was composed of several linked villas which had courtyards, pavilions, playgrounds and other secondary facilities.

To make room for us newcomers the authorities freed space by moving about 100 children to a home in Malinska, located on the island of Krk near Rieka. My friend and co-fighter Atanas Kirovski from the village Ludovo, Kostur Region, was put in charge of that home. Also located in Tsrikvenitsa was the head office responsible for the homes which was run by Savas Kahrimanidis, a teacher by vocation. He was from the village Note, Meglen Region and was here with his wife and two daughters. After I was placed in my new post I was treated equally with my Greek counterparts by the home administration. My assistants, about whom I mentioned earlier and with whom I worked with in Sveta Katerina, also came with me and continued to do the same work here. The Croatian teachers and all the staff I worked with were left in Rovini. Here we had similar staff who were already engaged in their duties and were happy to be here.

At the same time a group of about a dozen older children, who looked and behaved more like grownups, were sent to study and practice in a profession of their choice. The group was sent to Zagreb, placed in a boarding school and given jobs to work in the metalwork plants where the young people became apprentices in the locksmith, metalwork, electrical and other trades. We visited them

once or twice to make sure they were well cared for outside of their former home.

In the meantime our status and role began to change and deteriorate. With DAG’s withdrawal from the war zones many residents took their possessions, which also included livestock, and fled, mainly towards the Albania border, because the Yugoslav corridor was unavailable to them. As mentioned earlier, this was due to the dispute between the Yugoslav and Greek communist Parties as a result of the Informburo problem. The Macedonian people fleeing were caught in the wave of attacks without protection and suffered immensely. That was also the time when the CPG top leadership coined the famous slogan ‘hit from behind’. That was the time when CPG General Secretary Nikos Zahariadis said that if he had known ahead of time that Tito would do this, he would not have chosen this path for the National Liberation Movement in Greece. He would have chosen a different path. But others interpret Zahariadis’s statements as an excuse for DAG’s defeat. At that time, as a result of these disputes, our links with the central East European committee leadership for the protection and assistance of the children expelled from Greece, located in Budapest, was cut off. The only connection we had with this committee was through Nikolaos Georgiadis, an experienced teacher from Kukush Region. Then after our Greek colleagues, Savas Kahrimanidis with his family (wife and two daughters), Ianis Eritropoulos from the village Trstenik, Meglen Region, Partena Avgitidou and Partenopi Kesidou, left Yugoslavia for Czechoslovakia our staff was weakened. It was completely disabled in terms of providing education in the Greek language for the large number of Greek children in the home. At the same time, in late summer 1949, we were shocked and mourning the death of a well-respected prominent revolutionary and fighter for the rights of all enslaved peoples, Georgi Dimitrov, then President of the Bulgarian government. There was also the growing anxiety in the children who were thinking aloud about their parents and relatives and the new and more tragic situation they had found themselves in back home. The children were anxiously asking questions and demanding answers about their loved ones, answers which we did not have...

In early October 1949, I sent my last report by mail from Tsrikvenitsa to the central East European committee leadership for the protection and assistance of the children expelled from Greece in Budapest, informing them of the children’s progress, health and general situation in this home. Unfortunately I received no answer and wondered if the report ever made it to its destination. At that time the home was also visited by a delegation of high ranking officials from Zagreb, which included the Ministers of Education and Social Welfare and the Red Cross president. At that time Husnia Chengich, the official responsible for monitoring the home, also informed us that the entire child care program, responsibility and services would fall under ‘newly emerging opportunities’... After this, two Macedonian teachers arrived from Skopje. They were Pero and Risto Popovski. Unfortunately they did not fit into this environment because the children refused to accept them. A little later this home too was closed down. Then, after my expulsion to Czechoslovakia, my colleagues who remained in Tsrikvenitsa, which included Atanas Kirovski, Risto Poplazarov, Zhivko Mandzufov and Aristidis Karidis, moved away. Most moved to Macedonia to continue their education. Some went abroad to join their friends and relatives, etc.” concluded Dinko Kozinakov.