MEMORANDUM - Part 02

On the government side, according to Queen Frederika’s memoirs, the government began its side of the “pedomazoma” (collect the children program) before the communists did. The government started its program shortly after the creation of the “Royal child care organization” in June 1947. But according to available letters of complaints, the government program was started much later. It roughly coincided with the period of time when the government started a propaganda campaign blaming the Communists for having committed “Pedomazoma”. The Queen’s statement was probably referring to some general relocation program when villages from the war zone were relocated by the government army in 1947, which naturally collected thousands of children and disabled people.

Let us also mention the fact that the Foreign Ministry, on the communist side, on March 7, 1948 declared that they were doing exactly the same thing that the Queen Frederica was doing and that was “collecting the children into children’s camps”.

Maybe this declaration had something to do with a publication the Greek government in Athens had released the previous day, March 6, 1948, saying that 14,000 children were moved from the northern “bandit” held areas. (This agrees with British sources of information coming out of Solun. Correspondence archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs: 868. 00/3-1948)

This news, which came out eight days after the launch of the propaganda campaign against the communist “Pedomazoma”, was the first official news released by the Athens government. This agrees with the news that the Athens newspapers began to publish in March about small groups of children being evicted or had to run away from the northern villages in Greece in order to save themselves from the violent abductions.

The communist press was also busy at the same time publishing similar stories about the Athens government “taking children from their mothers”.

This agrees with a U.S. announcement that talks about the period from January to March 1948 which confirmed that:

“The district administrators, the military and the navy have agreed to cooperate with Queen Frederica’s plans to collect the children. Her aim was to collect 10,000 - 12,000 children. Up to March 31 she had collected 6,240 children.” (Confirmed by: External Aid Programme IPA Foreign Relief Program, Greek Mission, January-March 1948, p. 14) According to the U.S. Assistance Mission to Greece (A.M.G), during the month of April 1948, “…the mission estimated that the number of children taken was around 10,000”.

Even though UNSCOB did not officially deal with the caution taken by the Greek government, the Commission, on April 19, 1948, sent a single sheet questionnaire to the Greek representative trustee to collect information about the number of children taken from the northern regions of Greece which had been cared for by the Greek government. The Greek representative replied on April 23, 1948 and stated that there were 5,500 children aged 3-14 removed from various regions of Macedonia and that approximately 2,150 children were placed at various centres in Solun. Similarly, about 5,000 children were also collected from Serres and

Thrace. This work was done under orders from the Ministry of Social Services. (Report UNSCOB A/754 (1948), p. 19)

The Athenian press began to publish details of government actions to collect the children, starting on April 1, 1948.

In an article entitled “The first group of children arrives in Athens today”, the newspaper “Kathimerini” writes: “1,000 children from the regions held by bandits (DAG Partisans) were transferred from Solun by boat to the villages of Kastri in Kifissia. A second group will be arriving in the morning, meaning April 2, in Piraeus and a third group will be arriving in a few days. These children will be transferred to Patra and Syros.”

On the same page “Katemerini” reported and described two meetings that were held the day before: “Yesterday at 11 a.m. the Queen received Mr. Tsaldaris, Vice President of the Greek government and Mr. Gkrisgulnt with whom she had a long conversation. During their talks, the Queen informed Tsaldaris and Gkrisgulnt about the successes and cooperation that were achieved to date regarding her action of collecting, moving and taking care of the children who were collected from the northern areas held by the bandits (Voden, Lerin, Kostur and other Regions)”.

According to a news story, these kinds of meetings were necessary and needed to continue. Such consultations were held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the chairmanship of Tsaldaris, during which many Greek ministers and American mission personnel took part, including General Van Fleet, head of the U.S. military mission.

According to another story entitled “More committees and subcommittees”, work to collect the children had begun “with the help of commandoes present in those regions”.

During these advisory meetings it was decided to start a new committee from the chairmanship of the Ministry of Services. This committee would have to have the “Unique task of developing a complete system to take care of the displaced children”.

At the end, the article concluded by pointing out the two options of care for these children. One was to accommodate groups of children in humanitarian organizations “where they would have a full education and care” and the other option was to accommodate the children with certain families, who had already committed to do this program and were willing to accept large numbers of children and provide for them. With these actions in place the state budget would not be burdened too much because the money would be provided by Queen Frederica in the sum of a: “Determined amount of money for full coverage of child care costs for a period of about six months”. (See newspaper “Kathimerini”, April 4, 1948)

The Motives and the program were put together by the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, DAG and the CPG.

Ominous 1948 - Facts and dirty deeds... CPG attempts to create “a political family” out of the living and vibrant Macedonian family by crumbling and robbing the Macedonian home of its children.

The CPG leadership’s initiative to evacuate the children i.e. to introduce the “Save the children program” was motivated and explained by the need to “rescue the children from the horrors of war”. But first it had to convince parents to release their children voluntarily and make it look like it was their idea.

So, what does this mean? It means that this CPG initiative, together with the actions of NOF and AFZH, were pure facts and dirty deeds.

To obtain a realistic and objective picture of the general Greek policy towards the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia, one must understand and accept that, regardless of what system or party (monarchist republican, liberal-democratic, authoritarian, etc.) was in power in Greece, they all shared a common policy and that was to see to it that the Macedonian identity was permanently destroyed!

So, in order for the CPG to rid itself of its responsibility in this unlawful act of collecting children, it convinced the parents that it was necessary to do the evacuation but only with their blessing. In other words, the parents had to voluntarily release their children and accept responsibility for releasing them. To further distance itself from this genocidal act, the CPG employed the services of NOF and AFZH to organize a campaign and convince Macedonian mothers to part with their children. But it did not take too long to figure out that this so-called humanitarian act to “Save the children” was not all humanitarian; it had other and more sinister motives. It was not too long after the children were evacuated that they were brought back and drafted into the ranks of DAG and sent to fight at the front. It was not enough that the CPG had drafted the parents to fight in the war; they soon began to bring back their children.

According to a DAG and CPG Press Release:

Very soon after the Greek government began to complain, the CPG leadership and DAG confirmed that indeed there was a collection of children with aims of taking them outside of Greece. On March 3, 1948 the radio station “Free Greece” confirmed the following:

“The Partisan Radio station reported that, according to an ‘agreement’ made between cominform member countries, Greek children between the ages 3 and 14 will be sent to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. According to this announcement, applications have already been made and these countries are preparing to receive and take care of the children from ‘Free Greece’ (the regions controlled by the partisans) so that they don’t become victims of the American occupier. The children will be well cared for and will be able to continue their education.”

“March 3rd, 1948”

Reactions about DAG:

The true dignified and humane endeavour of DAG was characterized by the Athens government as... “Forcibly collecting the children”... “Child collection = janissariesm”. Ironically and hypocritically, Athens was doing even worse; taking the children of the Partisans by force with aims at re-educating them and permanently isolating them from their parents. The government lied to the children and in many cases kidnapped them and terrorized them. Many Macedonian children who found themselves in the hands of the government ended up being locked up in Queen Frederica’s so-called schools in Leros, where they were turned into janissaries, being told that their parents were traitors and that they should turn them in to law enforcement agencies!” Vassilis Bardzhiotas, CPG top leadership and political commissar of DAG. “Struggle - Democratic Army of Greece”, p, 128.

March 15, 1948 - The newspaper “Eksormisi”, issued by DAG in Gramos Region, carried an announcement from the Provisional Greek Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated March 7, 1948. In the beginning it explained the first pragmatic undertaking as follows:

(“The People’s and other organizations, concerned for caring for the children from ‘Free Greece’, as well as many thousands of parents and empowered people, some time ago made appeals to humanitarian organizations in the people’s democratic countries and urged them to take care of the Greek children who were on the brink of being destroyed by the barbarism of the Monarcho-Fascists.” “… Humanitarian organizations, patrons of children’s organizations and other various youth organizations in these countries accepted the pleas of these parents and expressed support for the Greek children with great joy and pleasure, even though they had to keep the children for an extended period of time.”)

This meant that after receiving “guarantees” from these organizations, the CNG and the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece: “Decided to accept all offers from these organizations and countries and the pleas from parents and with their approval, collect the children and send them to these countries, for as long as the situation in their own country was not safe for them to return.” (45)

There was no specific or concrete information given in the newspaper about the chronology, importance and specifics of this plan. But from what was said we can deduce the kind of situation that was created:

a/ A catastrophic policy was initiated by the Monarcho-Fascists. b/ The problem was even bigger with having to feed the children. c/ More than 150,000 children were wandering around the roads of towns and villages, of whom about ten died each day. d/ “Queen Frederica’s decree to her subordinates was to collect all the children, regardless of whether they lived in cities or elsewhere, and turn them into janissaries by force in her Nazi youth organizations.” e/ “Acted in the cruelest and most terrible way by bombarding unprotected women and children, killing more than 120 children.”

On the same page, the newspaper “Eksormisi” published a news article written by an authorized “Eksormisi” employee who said: “I visited several areas of Free Greece”. The article was entitled “Women and children thank the Provisional Democratic Government and DAG”. In his article the writer explained that there were many parents from villages controlled by the government of Athens who came to the ‘liberated territory’ and signed petitions asking the ‘People’s Councils’ to also receive their children and send them away. These parents were begging the authorities to also save their children.”

According to the same newspaper “From the middle of February to March 5, 1948, authorities had parental consent to take 4,784 children from 59 villages”. The paper even provided order numbers under which the children were enrolled and the names of their villages. Further on the article mentions that “hundreds” of telegrams had been received from

parents who expressed their gratitude to the Provisional Democratic Government (46).

Two weeks later, on April 1, 1948, the newspaper “Eksormisi” wrote:

“Numerous convoys of small children were traveling on foot, on ox carts, mules, horses and donkeys in various directions.” There was a detailed description given about one such convoy which said: “Several children were walking. Some were riding on ox carts, mules, horses and donkeys and beside them walked their mothers. They were from the villages Zagorichani (‘Βασιλειδα’), Kumanichevo (‘Λιθιa’), Bombaki (‘Σταυροποταµο’), Tiolishta (‘Τυχειο’), Kondorabi (‘Κοντοραπι’) etc.

The youngest were sleeping while riding their donkeys. When the children were separated from their mothers and taken away, the mothers remained there watching their children disappear into the distance. As they were cheering their children’s departure they tried to hide their tears and pain and their indescribable hatred for the Anglo-American occupiers who had created these conditions for them!”

Following are some statistics:

“To date, five groups have been sent. Approximately 1,884 children have been moved along with about 100 women who will supervise them. In a few days 3 more groups totaling 1,150 children will be moved.”

The same article claims that:

“In occupied Greece, the Monarcho-Fascist government of Athens declared a wild war against the Greek children and their mothers.

The government army and militia are conducting military expeditions in the villages and grabbing the little children from the arms of their mothers.”

“From the 150 children that the Monarcho-Fascists grabbed from the village Bouf, Lerin Region (‘Μπουφι της Φλωρηνας’), many mothers managed to secretly get 25 children back. This took place at the Lerin city centre. After that all the mothers went and complained and they all got their children back.”

At the end, the article claimed that in Alexandroupolis Region, government agents threatened to harm a group of parents who did not want

to hand over their children to be collected and taken to Queen Frederica’s camps.

The newspaper “Eksormisi”, issued by DAG in Gramos Region, carried an announcement from the Provisional Greek Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated March 7, 1948, entitled “Parents and children appeal to the government”. Further down the article it said: “From mid-February to March, 5, 1948 parents from 59 villages from the free territory gave 4,784 children.” The same newspaper carried an article on March 20, 1948 saying that the Interim Government decided to evacuate all the children up to age 14 to be sent to Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland and, according to their data, the total count amounted to about 28,000 children.

3. NOF and AFZH’s motives and program organization.

Did we have faith in our Macedonian revolutionary tradition which led us to want to enter a new period of development, or was it something else?

First let us pose a question. “Did NOF and AFZH have any idea of what was possible for us Macedonians within the boundaries of the Greek Civil War, or did these organizations decide to blindly take this big step?” In retrospect, and after taking a look at what actually happened, we can say with some certainly that we took the plunge with our eyes closed. It would appear that NOF and AFZH not only allowed the Greeks to lead us but trusted them to look after our interests.

They followed the Greek call to urge everyone to action and they did exactly that; urged the entire Macedonian population to joint the front. They called on the Macedonian population to join the fight for Macedonia’s liberation, a cry for the salvation of the Macedonian identity, the very thing that every Macedonian dreams about. This was done at the encouragement of outsiders, at the beacon call of the CPY and the CPM and without giving a second thought as to how it was going to work out. The Macedonians trusted the leadership of NOF and AFZH because they were Macedonians and as a result they were led astray. We can’t fault the Macedonian people for doing what they were asked to do and for what their hearts desired, neither can we fault NOF and AFZH for what they desired to do, but we have to ask; why was there no one to question “how were they going to achieve their goals?” and why were they so trusting of the Greeks when they knew very well the kind of characters the Greeks were with regards to the Macedonians?

When Tsvetko Uzunovski said: “Today, Yugoslavia became the Centre of the revolution in the Balkans and the Macedonian question became a Yugoslav question” (AM. Archive of Macedonia. F -20/276 F-20/196) meaning that the CPY was going to look after the affairs of the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia. Why was there no one in NOF, AFZH, or NOMS to ask, internationally, how that was going to happen given that Yugoslavia was an entirely different country from Greece and Yugoslavia was the inheritor of the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest? More importantly, why was there no one questioning the CPY’s motives for “abandoning” the Macedonian people or should I say “surrendering” the Macedonian people to the CPG? Even more importantly, why did NOF and AFZH not object to being surrendered to the CPG?

Unfortunately, after being “subjugated” by the CPG the Macedonian orientation made a full turn from “liberating Greek occupied Macedonia as part of Yugoslavia” to “fighting alongside the Greeks for human rights”! Fighting for our human rights unfortunately had a condition attached to it. We could achieve our human rights only if we destroyed the Anglo-American occupier! And how were we going to do that? Was there no one in NOF and AFZH with enough sense to first question the vast change in strategic direction from struggling to “create a united Macedonia” to struggling to achieve “human rights”, but only after we defeated the British and Americans? And how were we, a nation of no more that 200,000 Macedonians, going to defeat the British and Americans as well as their allies in order to achieve our human rights in Greece? Was there no Macedonian capable of assessing that situation?

Struggle with evil?

And so, without thinking, we were plunged into an insane war that today makes absolutely no sense and which leaves us to wonder; what were our predecessors thinking? After the children were gone, nothing made sense! We were fighting for what; for a future that may never materialize? In a moment of panic, thinking of the immediate danger, we never thought, not even for a moment, trusting that we were going to win, what if we did not win the war? What would happen to us and our children if, by a long shot, we did not defeat the British and the American occupiers and we did not win the war? Unfortunately, there are no answers to these questions because, it seems, the thinking was left to “someone else”; we only acted as we were told to act; obey the commands of strangers who had different ideals and plans for us!

We would now like to pose a different question. What would have happened to the 28,000 children if they had had an opportunity to return to their homes? Did NOF pose such a question? Today we have thousands of examples where children were forcibly moved to foreign countries, coerced by CPG propaganda! Why?

Testimonies: Speech given by Nikos Zahariadis during the Second People’s Liberation Front Congress.

March 25, 1948

“…thousands of children have been saved and secured in popular democratic countries. So, the Slavo-Macedonian nation is in peace from this vantage point…” (47).

How can we interpret this “comforting” gesture by the CPG leader (during the Greek Civil War) about the security of the Macedonian people…??!!

The Macedonian people need not worry because the leader took a “big step” to save their children. After all he was an ambitious leader who always took “big steps” to secure his plans, especially this latest plan to “save the Macedonian children” so that they could remain forever exiled.

In the spirit of this let us see what “Nova Makedonka”, the AFZH journal of September 1948, had to say:

“... Today we were all in tears. We were moved like never before. We sat under the shade of a poplar tree. None of us had fallen asleep. It was getting dark and we were off to work. We worked during the night. And ... here was our comrade Tsveta from AFZH. We were happy to see her. When she was with us, I don’t know why, but we were not afraid, not even from cannon fire.

This time she brought us letters from our children, who were now in the People’s Republics. We read the letters with our hands shaking. Our hearts were beating strongly, even though our loved ones were far away. It would have been nice to have them close by so that we could hug and kiss them!

But there are airplanes that come here and along with the artillery, drop bombs on us and on our villages. It was very nice of our government to send our children away to be saved.

Now our eyes are filled with tears. Our children write to us to let us know that they are well and that they live well... They also tell us that they think of us all the time and of all our troubles in this war…

Our poor children, when will we see them again? We will see them when we free ourselves. How nice ... but for us to see our children again we need to defeat fascism. But to defeat it sooner we need to fight harder and we in the trenches are fighting and giving it our all.

Tonight we built over three (3) bunkers. We did it for our children so that they can return to us sooner, then we too will go home and be with our husbands...”

We read:

“…No, I am not leaving my friend, my sister and my brother to fight here alone while I go with the children. I know they will be safe; I have full confidence in the selected AFZH officials. I am staying here to help my people with our struggle.”

Does this not mean total domination of the will of the individual by an external ideological force? Is this not unprecedented abuse of ideological power over the people?

And that is how people are consumed by mass euphoria, believing in the birth of a new day while being ignorant of the strings pulled all around them by opposing ideological forces from the West and from the East.

Such controlled aggressive behaviour was the result of the slogans that called upon the people to rise and fight, which for the Macedonian nation had tragic and catastrophic consequences.

History recognizes the tragedy of the collection and separation of children from their parents. Regardless of motives, the fate of a separated child always results in tragedy. The separation of a child from its parents is heartbreaking, an immeasurable tragedy for both the child and the parents. The separation of thousands of children from their parents is an immeasurable national tragedy. Hence the displacement of the Macedonian children from Greek occupied Macedonia was the most tragic event to have taken place in the recent history of the Macedonian people.

In what spirit were the children educated? (That’s what remains in the memory of a child!) See ΡΑΠΤΗΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ, “Τυχερο µας στον Ατυχα”, ΑΘΗΝΑ 1999, Page 242)

“... I have the greatest respect for those people, perhaps because they had a hidden quality and aristocratic nobility about them. And how could I not have respect for them, these people who, during the most difficult moments in the children’s lives, were there for us. We listened for their voices in the crowded dormitory “dining room” and in the children’s lounges etc. giving us unforgettable moments of joy and liveliness. In 1949 we lined up in perfect silence and discipline, in front of the lounges and children’s dormitories in Tulgesh, Sinaia, Oradea, Roman and Kluz in the Republic of Romania and listened intently to Apostoli Spiliu’s chronicles, which were repeated with a crystalline voice by all of my comrades. At the end of each broadcast we would erupt and cry out:

‘Long live DAG!’ ‘Long live Markos!’ ‘The enemy will never set foot on Gramos and Vicho!’ ‘Whose is Markos?!’ someone would yell out and we would all answer in one voice. ‘Markos is ours!’ ‘Who do we belong to?!’ someone would call out. ‘We belong to Markos!’ we would all yell out in a single voice.

After Markos Vafiadis was removed as head of DAG General Headquarters, in his place out of our mouths came the words ‘Nikos Zahariadis’, CPG General Secretary. We called his name with the same fanaticism, excitement and liveliness as we did with Markos… it was our daily prayer. For us the children and for the ordinary members, the Party was an obsession. I remember that we did not differentiate the Party from the leadership. For us both carried immense power. For us the leadership was wise with its own mechanisms... All members of the Political Bureau were like gods to us with Nikos Zahariadis as the main god...”

After DAG’s capitulation…

“... Everything went for the struggle of our people! (Meaning the Greek people).”

“... Things changed, the name of the radio station also changed... From now on you will be listening to clearer and cleaner stations but not to the ‘Voice of Free Greece’, that radio station is gone. You will now be listening to the ‘Voice of Freedom’.

Were the children taken by the CPG viewed as human strength and military resources for DAG?

March 1949 - UNSCOB raised several petitions to the CPG and DAG leadership regarding bringing back children and sending them to DAG battlefield units. In 1948 when the children were collected, expectations were that the war would continue for many years and many of the children taken away would have to be brought back to Greece to fight. Was this CPG’s aim all along? Only those who made these plans can best answer this question.

1. Vassilis Bardzhiotas was CPG Political Bureau member, CPG Central Committee member, political commissar and second highest person in the senior leadership of DAG. Here is what he wrote:

“… In the winter of 1949 we were returning from an assignment in Gramos and from the distance we noticed a group of little girls who made a great impression on us. It was snowing and a cold wind was blowing. It was quite cold. We approached the group of little girls to find out what they were doing here. There were about 55 to 60 of them, 10 to 13 years of age, dressed in their folk dress and instead of wearing shoes they had their feet and legs wrapped in towels. Because they were shaking from the cold we took them to the closest DAG combat unit where the women fighters served them hot tea and dressed them in temporary clothing. I asked them ‘why did you come to Gramos at such a bad time, what happened to you?’ They told me they came here to fight. Then, with a tone of concern and a sense of pain in my soft voice, I told them that they were too young to serve in the ranks of DAG. Only people sixteen or over could be fighters I said. I then told them that we would have to send them to a school to learn to read and write and then, a few years later, we would give them guns to fight. The girls unfortunately did not like my answers and began to complain.

‘And who are you?’ one of them asked ‘and why would you not allow us to fight?’

Another one said ‘they killed my mother in front of me and I want to fight!’ Another one spoke about her parents being murdered. Each one had a story to tell about one or both parents being murdered and demanded to be received by the DAG General Headquarters Political Commissar because they said only he could understand their pain.

When I told them that I was the Political Commissioner of DAG’s General Headquarters, they calmed down a bit but we still could not convince them to go back. We then organized them into a small unit near our headquarters and we began to train them in communications. Several of these girls unfortunately left the school and voluntarily joined the DAG combat units but were not allowed to fight. Eventually we recovered them all. When I talk about this, I get a picture in my mind of the hungry, bare foot, poorly dressed little girls shaking from the cold and holding back their tears. These were brave little girls wanting to join DAG and fight to avenge the murder of their parents! This is why DAG and its fight was national, democratic, anti-fascist and justified. When we talk about the heroic Partisans we will have to go back to the many young and interesting people who made up DAG. At that time 70-80% of the men and women fighters were young, who distinguished themselves by their courage and fighting abilities.

But besides having special military bands made up of young people, armed with machineguns, automatic guns and cannons, we also had the Democratic Youth Regiment under the command of young Shumadi who boldly threw himself into firefights at the most critical points of the battles.

DAG was made up mostly of young boys and girls. Those older than 25-30 years of age were very few and less than 15-20% of the total composition of DAG. We all took pride in the fact that DAG consisted of young boys and girls who went to battle full of confidence and certain of many victories. I will not write a separate chapter for the youth because I believe I have said everything I wanted to say right here.”

Vassilis Bardzhiotas, Political Commissioner of DAG

I don’t know if I need to make a comment about Bardzhiotas’s comments but I do know that it is not normal to arm children in such a manner, place them in military formations and then send them to the front to get killed.

2. Pascal Mitrevski was first secretary of NOF. He wrote a letter regarding issues arising from the mobilization of minors and addressed it to the CPG Central Committee Political Bureau. See: AM collection: “Aegean Macedonia in the Second World War 1954-1949,” AE: 47/b. The document was written in Greek in hand writing. Published in the edition: “Aegean Macedonia in NOB 949,” T. 6 ... Doc. 100, p. 211-213. Here is what he wrote:

“Comrades,

We are seriously preoccupied by the issue of bringing children back from the People’s Republics and mobilizing them into the ranks of DAG. Among these children (male and female) there are some who are aged 12 to 13 years old, who are now being recruited at the village Shtrkovo. There are a total of 35 children being recruited who are under the age of 16 years. Most of these children are from the village Zhelevo.

Their arrival was discovered by the villagers and has created a serious problem, especially for the children (male and female) ages 12 and 13. We checked out their ages and they are indeed what they say.

This question has preoccupied us before but in consultation with you I am sure we will find a solution.

Of course this case is not about the difficulties the question has created. I am sure our organization will overcome the problem. This case is about a principle, an ethical problem, which we are forced to take into consideration. This has created a moral-political situation with our people. People keep asking questions and forming negative moral impressions about this, which is hampering our bases and sources beyond the activation and development of forces for the movement. It is understandable that 10 to 15 children cannot solve the problem and meet our needs. It would appear that the people responsible for the Homes in the Socialist countries have misconstrued things. And what is worse, their attitude towards the children is not good.

Take the case of Timios, responsible for the children at the ‘Tulgesh’ home in Romania. His attitude can be characterized as ‘not good at all’. He psychologically abuses the children and has created a tense atmosphere.

Here’s what the children told comrade Malio, sent there by NOF’s Central Committee to pay the children a visit:

Timios forcefully gathered the children in the home and shouted at them: ‘Go down there and fight. To those of you who do not want to go, I will tattoo a cross on your forehead to brand you as the bastards that you are’. This is what he said to 12 to 15 year old children. He also threatened them with the words ‘I will teach you a lesson! With what you are doing you are turning yourselves into Truman’s sharks!’ Etc.

On top of that he prohibited the children from writing letters in the Macedonian language. Any letters, including money and cheques that originated from America and other countries, sent to the children by their parents and relatives, he kept for himself and refused to give to the children. The children say that he spent their money on himself.

There is also the case of 12-year-old Alexander Stefov who, with tears in his eyes, said to Malio that because he did not sweep the courtyard, Timios stripped him naked and left him to stand outside in the terrible cold in December, for four hours wearing only his underwear. After that he was not allowed to eat and stayed hungry for 24 hours. The same child was clubbed, forcefully pushed and repeatedly kicked. The child told Malio that Timios’s hands were swollen from him beating the children.

Malio was told that Timios had stripped children and forced them to remain naked and hungry, many times.

We are aware that children can sometimes make up stories and do naïve childish things but there is a pattern of serious abuse towards our children here which needs to be addressed. We must stop allowing these negative acts to take place and start treating the children with some respect.

The worst thing about this is that when the children are brought back, they immediately tell their stories and the treatment they received and their stories are spread among the villagers. When we learned about this from the people, we sent Comrade Malio to verify it and he did, just as was reported, so something needs to be done to quiet the voices.

It is therefore necessary to have these incidents, such as that of Timios, examined and culprits of such acts removed as soon as possible before they do more damage. We also suggest that children aged 12-15 years old that were brought here be returned back to the homes.

In such cases, we need to inform the parents through a special message, orally or by some other way. Similarly we should also be informing parents if we are returning children younger than 15 years old back from the People’s Republics. In regards to this, Comrade Koichev will also be talking to you, with whom we discussed this yesterday.

Please let us know what your thoughts are regarding this question or better still invite us for a face to face discussion. There are also other issues regarding the children’s homes, to be discussed which can better be addressed by Slavic speaking cadres, who are better prepared to deal with Slovo-Macedonian issues. (48)

June 14, 1949. With comradely regards, Pascal”

Here is what “AM Collection, Aegean Macedonia in NOB 1945-1949,” AE: 476/49 and AM F-7/108, regarding the actions of the CPG and DAG leadership, had to say:

“Recruitment of children was carried out through extensive propaganda and application of pressure. Appropriate directives and orders were issued and special emissaries appointed specifically for this purpose. Recruitment of children was carried out not by age, but by height, and thus children aged 12-13 were recruited. In fact, several hundred children were recruited from Romania and Czechoslovakia. Children were organized in training centres and after several days of training they were sent to the front line where most were killed.”

This was confirmed by Tome Miovski, an evacuated child, in his memoirs “Mobilizing the Macedonian Children in Czechoslovakia”. See: the newspaper “Nezaborav”, p. 7, from July 1, 1995.

“Exactly one year after our departure from our villages, after the Provisional Democratic Government (PDV) collected us and sent us to the democratic states to be saved from certain death by enemy bombs, hunger and disease, there again the same government wanted to return us to the hell of war and to our certain death. It was like this: ‘On April 17, 1949 at 8:30 am, our House Director informed us that the same day, after lunch, a delegation consisting of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) would be arriving to our Children’s House.

At exactly 4:00 pm, a big black ‘tatraplan’ limousine appeared in front of the Home and before it had a chance to enter the main door, we all began to shout slogans and sing partisan marching songs. When the car stopped, Miltiadis Porfirogenis, CPG Central Committee and member of the Political Bureau, and the Judiciary Minister of the Interim Democratic government, stepped out.

After dinner, which ended on a happy note, there was absolute silence when our director announced that all boys and girls aged 15 and 16 were invited to go to a meeting at 8:00 pm, while the rest were ordered to go to bed at 7:30 pm.

At exactly 8:00 pm our guest entered the hall as we all gave him a standing ovation and greeted him with the slogans: ‘Long live Markos, long live the CPG, long live free Greece...’ We all sat down after he sat down but he still looked like a giant among us and with his low voice he began to tell us about DAG’s combat successes against the Monarcho-Fascists. He said: ‘DAG has in its hands 25% of the entire Greek territory. Every village has its own people’s committees, people’s courts, rural cooperatives, public hospitals, cultural and folk art companies and the people feel free. In a few days from now we will have our hands on Lerin, Kostur, Voden and other cities and 1949 will be the year of our victory’.

The moment we heard all that, we all stood up, interrupted his speech and joyfully started shouting: ‘Long live free Greece! Victory for Markos! Victory for Markos!’ When we stopped shouting he continued to speak: ‘Young men and women, sons and daughters of our heroic DAG fighters, I was sent here by the CPG Central Committee Politburo and by the Interim Democratic government to call on you, to ask you to go back to your homeland because our holy struggle needs young people, young fighters, worthy of their fathers and mothers who are fighting every day and are achieving combat successes against our enemy, the Monarcho-Fascists. At the same time you will have a chance to once again visit your beautiful and now free villages, your parents, relatives and friends. Therefore I urge you all to ‘voluntary’ return to Greece. Please come up here and sign the list.’ He then held up the list with our names on it.

We all lined-up and one by one, signed the list against our names. In total we were 31 young men and 8 young women. When we were done our guest told us that the volunteers from Romania and Bulgaria had already returned to ‘Free Greece’ and that very soon they would be issued weapons and become regular fighters in celebrated DAG. Other children from other democratic countries were on their way to our homeland and in no time at all, we would be there too. He also warned us not to tell anyone about our repatriation, not the other children and especially not the locals. Anyone who did speak about this or write about it would be considered an enemy of our struggle, we were told.

The next day, Monday after lunch, our director gathered us ‘volunteers’ and told us: ‘From today on, up to the day you leave, every night from 8 to 10 pm you will be attending night training at the training ground to learn how to fight in the dark. As of today you are to tell no one about this or about your return to Greece, not even to younger brothers and sisters. Anyone who dares to speak will be expelled from the House’.

Seven days later, on Sunday April 24, 1949, at 6 pm, the director gathered us ‘volunteers’ and told us: ‘Tomorrow, Monday April 25 at 3:00 am you will be leaving for Bratislava by train with Irina, your school mistress. You will be issued food for one day and you will leave before activities begin in the village. In Bratislava you will meet more ‘volunteers’ and from there you will be dispatched to ‘Free Greece’ together’.

On Monday, April 25, 1949 they woke us at two o’clock in the morning and told us to quickly wash up, get dressed and pack our suitcases. At exactly 2:30 in the morning we were standing in a line accompanied by our director and our school mistress Irina. We were not allowed to see our younger brothers and sisters. From there they took us at a quick pace to the train station, which was about a mile away from the Home. At 3 am we got on the train and were off to Bratislava. We were in good spirits throughout the entire trip, feeling joy at the prospect of returning home and singing revolutionary Partisan songs during the entire time.

Ten hours later we arrived at Bratislava railway station where an escort was waiting our arrival. After we said our goodbyes to our school mistress Irina, who had to turn back because she was not allowed to travel any further with us, we continued on our way. About an hour later, at 2 pm, we arrived at the entrance to the barracks where a guard stood. After examining the truck, he opened the door and allowed us to enter the great court where all the troops were gathering. The truck moved a little past the entrance and stopped for us to get off. There were children gathered all around us, who belonged to several groups who had arrived before us. We knew many of them from our early days in Czechoslovakia, when in December 1948 we were sent to the automotive institute “Tatras” -Koprivnitsa technical school, and now they too were mobilized.

We rested a while and at 8 o’clock when all the other groups had arrived, we gathered in the big yard where we met with the Bulkes Party organizers, sent there by the CPG authorities. Included among the Party organizers were Nikola Stoianovski, a native of the village German, Prespa Region, Nikos Zafiridis and Geogios Trendafilidis (settlers from Asia Minor) both from Kostur.