CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

TO NEVER FORGET – AS A LEGACY

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE “MOTHERS”, THE TEACHERS AND THE STAFF THAT WORKED IN THE CHILDREN’S HOMES

From the first moment we began to call them “mothers” we accepted them as our surrogate “mothers” and loved them as much as our real mothers. Many times we mentioned them in this book. And always, while mentioning them, we pointed out that if it was not for them, surely all of us, without exception, would not be what we are today... because for the majority of us, who walked in the vast refugee columns following the “road of tears”, our real mothers and fathers, older siblings, grandparents and relatives were not there. They remained behind, not only to defend our homes, villages, churches and altars… they remained behind the border to fight for our human rights and for our national freedom…

Hence, the glory belongs to them because:

First, they were extremely brave women and sisters, leading us through a military hell and a whirlwind. They expressed and demonstrated superhuman bravery. They demonstrated unparalleled courage carrying the younger children in their arms and on their backs for hundreds of miles. On top of that they encouraged us to endure, to not yield to the Greek Monarcho-Fascist enemy.

Second, they demonstrated unprecedented ethical and moral commitments when our parents surrendered us to them and they in turn promised them that they would take care of us… large groups of us… They promised they would care for us as if we were their own children, promises which they kept… promises which were expressed in deeds… from the first moment we left our villages to all the times we lived in the children’s homes and shelters.

Third, they watched over our lives and remained with us, suffering and longing with us for our return to our parents. They cared for our

progress, for our education and constantly informed us about our loved ones, telling us everything they knew. They raised us well to be good and honest. They suffered with us when we were sick and rejoiced when we rejoiced. They led us by the hand and showed us what life was about.

Fourth, they expressed motherly love and goodness toward us and towards our childhood, always teaching us to never forget our parents, our Macedonian language and our birthplace and to love our homeland - Macedonia.

In other words, from the great motherly love we received, we, the children who left our homes, avoided becoming vast columns and lists only of numbers - and nothing more. They were our real mothers all the years we spent with them. Even though many of them had limited education, they demonstrated the desire and ability to help us in our educational development and made sure we were on the right track...

Therefore, all the glory belongs to them… as well as our immense gratitude. Sometimes words alone cannot express the warmth we feel for them, for what they did for us. We would like to say that there are only a few examples of such demonstrated commitment that can be found in our world history...

The nurse maids who also came with us, and those employed in children’s homes from the local environments in which they lived, also deserve all our attention, respect and gratitude.

With regards to our Macedonian teachers, not only those who came to us from Aegean Macedonia but also those teachers who were sent to us from the People’s Republic of Macedonia’s Ministry of Education, to make sure we were taught properly, in our native Macedonian language and to love our homeland Macedonia, they too deserve our respect and gratitude. They not only taught us in all subjects but knew how to instill the primordial love in the spirit of the work of our fathers who died in Vicho, Malimadi, Gramos... They always had the patience to explain things to us, to educate us with positive examples, to teach us how to learn from our mistakes. They encouraged us to demonstrate curiosity and rewarded us with

their appreciation. They also had the ability to tolerate our misdeeds and child unrest. At the same time they warmed our desires to continue into higher education so that one day we too could become professionals and contributors to society. Our gratitude… a word that alone cannot express all the admiration and warmth we have for them and for their work!

If it was not for them, and if they did not invest all their love in us, we certainly would have been children without a childhood. This way our childhood was spent with them and was filled with endless and infinite love...

We would like to take this opportunity to express our enduring gratitude to our “mothers”, teachers, nurse maids and other staff who looked after us, and to let them know that we have the same love for them as they have for us, and that their qualities are forever engraved in our hearts. We would also like to express our love to our families and to all the people who touched or lives.

WHATEVER THERE WAS...

Just after the People’s Republic of Macedonia freed itself from the occupation and was still healing from the wounds of World War II, the Greek Civil War surfaced at its border. Its desire to help the Macedonian people in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia was bigger than everything. Every effort was made, through this new struggle, to help them achieve their national and social freedom. The Macedonians in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia had already demonstrated their militancy and desire for freedom during the Second World War, when they stood against the anti-Fascist forces and sacrificed countless of Macedonians in doing so.

Just before 1945, many Macedonians from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia began to arrive in the People’s Republic of Macedonia. The vast majority were driven out of their homes by the terror in Greece perpetrated by the right wing Monarcho-Fascists. The terror took a turn for the worse, especially after the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) began to withdraw from the free territories. During that time the Interim Democratic Government of Greece made it its priority to save the children. So, during the spring of

1948 and in 1949, it moved a large number of children outside of the Greek border and surrendered them to the Yugoslav Red Cross and to the People’s Republic of Macedonia where they were first placed in shelters and then in specially organized children’s homes. Apartments and houses, not only in Skopje but in Bitola, Shtip, Kavadarci, Kochani, Tetovo and other places, were built for those who fled with their families. New settlements began to spring up, as was the case with the settlement in Tri Cheshmi.

On several occasions, in speeches and newspaper interviews, Kolishevski, then Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Macedonia, had spoken about the Aegean Macedonian refugee issue. At this point we would like to quote parts of a speech he delivered to the Third People’s Republic of Macedonia National Assembly Sitting, held from April 28 to 30, 1952. Among other things, Kolishevski said the following:

“As you well know, in November 1949 the question about the refugee children from Greece was put before the United Nations Political Committee. Our delegation took a positive position towards it and, with its involvement, greatly contributed to its proper management. This was in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution. The process of that Resolution called for the refugee children from Greece to be returned to their parents, at their expressed request, no matter in what country they are found. This was welcomed by all those people in the world who were able to see the humanity of this act and the tragedy of the parents and children who have been made redundant, who have been scattered in different countries and who are separated from each other. The parents and children have also expressed satisfaction with this and are hoping that by applying this resolution it will help them come together as families…”

Further on in his speech, Lazar Kolishevski underlined the fact that the Federal government and the governments of the Republics were committed to this project, which was implemented in aid of the children’s repatriation with their parents. And thus, a total of 555 children had been returned to their parents. The parents of these children were living in Greece, Canada and Australia. Unfortunately, as pointed out by Kolishevski, outside of Yugoslavia,

none of the countries in which there were refugee children had acted on the resolution, although representatives of some of those governments participated in its adoption. Most of these countries were from the Informburo block. It was characteristic that the USSR directly and openly prevented the return of the children from those countries. Even in times when humanitarian cooperation was needed, to bring children and parents together, the Informburo countries did nothing. And so the tragedy of these children and people continued and was entirely dependent on the governments of these countries. Our government’s endeavours to resolve this issue has been in vain, underlined Lazar Kolishevski, and so were those of our Red Cross and the International Red Cross. The governments of the Informburo countries have flatly refused to act under the provisions of the UN General Assembly Resolution. According to Kolishevski, it was not just a case of one or two countries: the children whose parents were living in Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and other Informburo countries were seeking to be repatriated with their parents. But our repeated requests to these countries continued to go unanswered.