ЦВЕЌЕ (FLOWER) - Part 04

took a white coat from the nurses and came upstairs to my room to see me and my child in order to convince my mother that it was really me and that I was alive after all these years. The next days all the visitors from Skopje left. Mincho booked himself into a hotel, thinking that the hospital would be discharging me in a couple of days and we could leave for Skopje together. But my health situation did not improve and the doctor did not want to discharge me. I told Mincho to leave and go to our people in Skopje. Fifteen days later my condition had still not improved. I was not aware that having a high temperature while giving birth was dangerous. My temperature had climbed to 40 degrees. The staff looked after my son while I lay in bed. My temperature persisted and would not go down despite the medications that they gave me. Twice a day they brought my baby so that I could see him. Disappointed, one day I asked the cleaning lady to bring me some paper and a pencil. I wrote a telegram to my relatives in Skopje in which I said: “Come and take the child because I find myself in a critical situation.” All the hospital workers consoled me saying: “Don’t worry, it will pass. You’re in good hands here and your child will become a strong man. Don’t just look at your current condition.” Twice a day I visited with my son. While they comforted me, I thought to myself: “Oh my brothers and sisters if you only knew the conditions and torture I have survived until I got here, of course I will be fine. There is nothing better for me than to make my mother happy by giving her a grandchild...” My family in Skopje received my telegram exactly at the time that they were having their lunch. The same day Olimpia (Mincho’s oldest sister who was also Paskal Mitrevski’s wife, with whom we were together, but she had returned earlier and knew our situation), left Skopje and arrived in Belgrade the following morning. Using a white coat she borrowed from the nurses she came to visit me in the hospital. She saw the situation I was in and examined the baby and said: “I know people here and I will stay for a couple of days. Don’t tell the administrator that you have a high temperature. When they give you a thermometer to take your temperature, try and keep it away from your body and tell them you are feeling better and I will take you back to Skopje.” I did what Olimpia told me. Two days later they discharged both of us, me and my baby. They gave me medications and some artificial milk for my baby and after we had said our goodbyes to Lukich and the hospital staff, we left. Olimpia got us train tickets and we were on our way to Skopje. The train from Belgrade was crowded and more people climbed on board at each station. Many were moving to Turkey. We

had secured a cabin but when the conductor came and witnessed the misery that we were in he took us to his carriage where it was more comfortable. The conductor was a Macedonian from Gevgelija. We later became friends and had him to our place in Skopje as our guest many times. We always looked forward to our visits with him; we wanted to repay him for his kindness and the respect that he gave us during the trip from Belgrade.

We were finally in Skopje

We arrived in Skopje during the night. Waiting at the railway station were my mother, Mincho, my cousin Petre, Mincho’s younger sister Marika and her husband Vasko Makrievski; our comrade from the anti-fascist war. They were so impatient they could not wait for us to get off the train so they took me and the child out through the train car window. Petre and Vasko were both tall men and grabbed me by the underarms and yanked my out of the window. Olimpia handed my baby to my mother. After greeting everyone, I braced myself against Mincho and we both followed Petre to his mother’s place on “Ilinden” Street. Waiting there for us were Petre’s wife and the two daughters Vasilka and Dochka. The apartments in that building no longer exist, for a while the building was used to house the CPM Central Committee. It now houses the Government of Macedonia. The apartment had only one bedroom. They put me, my mother and the baby in the bedroom while Mincho went to stay with his sister. By now my temperature had risen even higher. Olga took care of my child because she was a midwife and knew what to do; she worked at the City Hospital. The next day more of our relatives and friends came to visit me, telling my mother: “Kolevitse, you sent away one but now three came back.” My mother did not know what to do with me. Petre broke the thermometer, saying that “this is no good” we need to get a real thermometer. But in reality he broke it to elevate my mother’s worrying. As luck would have it however, a few days later my countryman and co-fighter Antonie Shkoklev and his wife Dara came to visit us. Dara worked as an administrator at the gynecological hospital in Skopje where Olga worked. When Dara saw the condition I was in, she yelled at everyone there: “Can’t you see the woman is sick! Get her ready I am taking her with me to the hospital. You will kill her here.” Dara put me in a separate room in the hospital and told the nurses: “You will continue to administer injections of penicillin and streptomycin and you will care for the child!” There were other people working there as nurses and midwives besides Olga whom I knew. I also knew Ristana Liochkova and Sultana. I remained in the hospital, under the care of gynecologist Dr. Dara Shkokleva, until early December. By then I had somewhat recovered but I continued to take the prescribed medications. In the meantime my mother, Olga, Vasilka and Dochka looked after my baby. At the time we called Vasilka and Dochka “the little mothers”. They are now grandmothers with their own grandchildren. So even though I was now free, my life somehow

continued to be a torture. But at the same time I can’t forget the good people who, at their own expense, helped me in a time of need. Among the many, I want to mention a few. Before going to the hospital my aunt, Lefteria Purovska who had a short time earlier given birth to her daughter Zoritsa, often came over to breastfeed my baby. Zoritsa is now a famous ballerina. Also many thanks to Dara Shkokleva for helping me recover. Dara later moved with her husband to Belgrade. Antonie worked at the VMA under the rank of General and was first in Yugoslavia to accept Chinese acupuncture as a treatment for various ailments.

Care and support from Lazar Kolishevski

Mincho and I knew President Lazar Kolishevski very well. We had known him even before the Greek Civil War had started. He was very familiar with NOF and AFZH and the suffering we had experienced. Mincho and I even had personal contact with him when Yugoslavia was helping our movement. Besides all that, I think our journey from Moscow to Belgrade left a distinct impression on him that he could not forget, especially my situation. In early December 1956, a person from Lazar Kolishevski’s cabinet came to our home and invited us to go and see Kolishevski. Mincho and I accepted the invitation. Lazo received us as if we were old acquaintances and asked us how and where we were located. He was well acquainted with our situation. Among other things, during our discussions he said: “We were concerned about you. We couldn’t find you anywhere. We asked many of your friends but they too did not know where you were all this time. About you Vera, they told us that you were in China.” I told him: “At one point I was going to go to China at the invitation of the Chinese delegation of women who attended the Second Congress of Peace, held in April 1949 in Prague (as well as in Paris and Tokyo). I couldn’t go to Paris because the French authorities did not want to issue us visas. But while the Congress was taking place, Shanghai was liberated from Chiang kai-shek. The Chinese women were so happy that they invited me and Rula Kikulu (Zahariadis’s consort) to attend their women’s Congress in China. But after what had happened here, I was not at liberty to go anywhere, let alone to China. I don’t know if Rula went or not, that is why some people got the impression that I was in China.” Lazo then addressed Mincho and said: “There is a two year ‘legal administrator’s’ course opening up that I think you should take. You will receive a scholarship if you take it.” Then he turned to me and said: “You, Vera, when you feel able and can work, we will employ you as a clerk at the ‘Ilinden pensions office’, there is an opening at Vene Georgievski’s. If you have questions both of you can contact Vasil Giorgov the Secretary of the Executive Council and get answers and financial assistance. At that time Vasil Giorgov was President of the Commission for accepting Aegean Macedonians coming from Eastern European countries who wanted to settle in Yugoslavia and who were not allowed to return to Greece. Bulgaria, through its embassies, also offered the expelled Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia sanctuary in Bulgaria provided that they declare themselves Bulgarians. Some Macedonians who had relatives in Bulgaria went to live there. It is important at this point to mention that some people who worked against NOF and AFZH

also went to Bulgaria and were later spreading anti-Yugoslav Bulgarian propaganda among the Macedonians living there. In Skopje, a Special Service was established to take care of technical questions arising from the Aegean Macedonians. Responsible for the Special Service was Blagoi Daskalov, who took care of financial aid, housing and other needs that arose after their arrival. “About your accommodation and your personal housing issues, you will be looked after by Comrade Ivan Krstevski, responsible for the technical services of the Executive Council. A new building is now being built which will solve the housing crisis in which you will get to pick your own apartment. I understand,” continued Comrade Lazar Kolishevski, “that you lost many years of your lives, but now we need you to focus on the political and civil life of our lives and look beyond our differences. As you know we have formed a committee to address the issues of the Aegean Macedonians. We have made large sums of money available to fund housing projects but the people are fractured into two factions. I reminded those responsible that if this continues I will have no choice but to expel them all,” concluded Lazar. Lazar Kolishevski’s advice was very helpful in the furthering of our work. Indeed both factions approached us and attacked one another. Each told the truth differently but there was only one truth. Those who had deserted from DAG and NOF, who fled the war and left the people at the mercy of the enemy, in our absence, were promoting (oral and written) untruths about us which caused much trouble for us. Even when they were in Aegean Macedonia in the CPG, NOF, AFZH, and NOMS they always served with intrigue. And as such they twisted the truth about DAG and NOF 180 degrees, thinking that the true and reliable officers would never return alive. So we used every opportunity to correct those lies and the slanders propagated by these people. We even reacted in the media. That is why everything that was written after our arrival had to be verified by science before it was published. That is why that Board had to be dismantled. Anyone can say whatever they want about Lazar, but Lazar Kolishevski remained a true Macedonian to the end. I had the honour, in the last days of his life, to speak to him at his request after my withdrawal from a television discussion regarding the problems of the Aegean Macedonians and of Aegean Macedonia. Mincho and I by nature are polite and honest people. This is how we were during the struggle, when we were detained, in the prisons and in the camps. We remained far from foreign influences. We always told the truth. We remained true to the Macedonian Organizations, to NOF and to the Aegean Macedonians. We opposed all those who rushed to justify their own sins against our struggle with various simulations,

intrigues and defections. We became thorns in the eyes of those who deserted in various ways and rushed here to care only for themselves and their own families, leaving our people stranded and at the mercy of the enemy. Mincho thoughtfully made those points clear to everyone. Mincho took Kolishevski’s advice and enrolled in the administrative law school. Having successfully completed the two year course he was employed as a senior officer in the Secretariat General Administration in the Executive Council, then as an advisor in the Ministry of Justice, from where he retired. We got our apartment during the first half of December 1956. It was located at 34 “Hristo Botev” Street near the old railway station. Now the street is called “Mito-Jasmine” and our apartment is br.6/III-2. Our child at the time was three months old. My mother Nevena came to live with us. She was very helpful at home and pleased to be with us. For the first month we slept on the floor with our child. We had to start from scratch but by working hard and savings we managed to scratch out a decent life. In February 1957 I got a job at the Executive Council of Macedonia as an officer of the Ilinden pensions. At that time there were approximately 3,000 retirees in the Republic of Macedonia. The Ilinden pensions were about two to three thousand dinars. Each Ilinden pensioner was also entitled an additional 4,000 dinars per year as vacation pay. Among the Ilinden pensioners were Shakir Voivoda from Prilep and Rosa Plaveva, a socialist’s wife from Veles. Their pensions were far from being any compensation for their Ilinden merits. They were more symbolic than anything else. Being recognized as participants of the 1903 Ilinden Uprising was worth more to them than the compensation that they received. I later switched jobs and went to work as a senior officer for the Bureau of complaints and grievances in the Executive Council, from which I retired.

A decade from making a promise to actually being married

When we came to Skopje we received citizenship identity cards. Now my first child was already three years old and a second one was on its way and still Mincho and I were not officially registered as married. We needed to become legally married so that out children would not be illegitimate. One Sunday in 1959 we found ourselves in the Skopje Civil Service office. The date of our marriage registration was witnessed by President Dushan Dimov and Secretary Velko Ilievski, secretary of the Kale municipality. Our marriage was witnessed by Tomo Changov, a friend of Mincho’s from his native town Rupishta and his sister Marika’s husband, Vasko Makrievski. The home office of the municipality Kale submitted a request to the appropriate service in the Belgrade municipality Savski Venats, where our son was born on August 25, 1956, to record his name. We named him Lazar Fotev after Mincho’s father, an Aegean custom. When our second son was born on May 1, 1959 we named him Nikola after my father. From a promise made during the struggle, with a promise kept during our time in custody, in the prisons and in the camps, a decade later we finally formalized our marriage. Our “wedding” was long, joyful and sad but we always lived for each other, one for the other and as such resisted much torture and isolation. With those promises we lived a modest but honest life.

Our home – An open door for everyone

Since the normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and the other Eastern European countries, Macedonians began to return to Macedonia en masse. Many came with unregistered marriages and young children, but after receiving their citizenship they were registered. During those years many families, Macedonian and Greek and mixed marriages, visited us and stayed at our house until they were placed in shelters or in apartments in Skopje and elsewhere. General Markos came to see us and stayed with us in our apartment on two separate occasions. We were visited by General Georgios Kikitsas, Himaros and other senior officials from the anti-fascist struggle and from the Greek Civil War. We were visited by the colonels Ilias Papadimitriou-Liakos, Ahilaes Papaioanou, Gianis Patsuras, Alekos Papamadiotou, Thanasis Hadzis, Renos Mihaleas and others. Greeks from Eastern European countries came here to visit with their relatives from Greece. After that many moved to Greece. Among those who did was Deftheris Katsakos, a CPG official. This was in accordance with the 1982 law of repatriation enacted by Andreas Papandreou which called for the return of: “Greeks by birth!” Which meant that we Macedonians were excluded! There were no visas for us to enter Greece, not even to light a candle at the graves of our dead. General Markos Vafiadis visited us at our home in 1978 and in 1981. He wrote some good things about my village D’mbeni and about some of our heroes. His handwritten statements in the Greek language were published in 1996 in the monograph “Kosturskoto Selo D’mbeni” by Lazar Popianev. Before moving to Greece, Ahileas Papaioanou gave us a handwritten manuscript of the history of his village Kalevishta (monograph written from 1963 to 1970). Alekos Papanaiotou, a historian at the Institute of National History of Macedonia, before moving to Solun with the family, gave us a manuscript entitled “Za udarot od grb” in which he wrote about Zahariadis’s accusations of Yugoslavia and Tito. Many of our friends, including my husband, left this world in pain. They left this world without having had the opportunity to visit their birthplace. That injustice has lasted and still exists to this day even after Greece became a member of the EU. For me it took 54 years before I was allowed to go back. On July 17, 2003 I, along with my two sons Lazar and Nikola, took a trip back to my birthplace and visited the remnants of my house in D’mbeni, burned to the ground in 1948. In fact the entire village D’mbeni was burned to the ground in 1948. We visited Rupishta, my dead husband’s birthplace. The town is now settled by the newcomer settlers. We visited the places where Mincho and I had fought before we were

detained, as well as the place where the Second NOF Congress was held in March 1949. During our visit we filmed all these places including the bridge between the two Prespa Lakes. On August 20th, 2003 the Greek state allowed us to go back with the refugee children, evacuated during the Greek Civil War in 1948, and visit several cities including Kostur, Lerin, Voden, Sorovich and the legendary Mount Vicho where we fought heavy battles against the Germans and against the Monarcho-Fascist hordes. We also visited many of the destroyed Macedonian villages left with almost no inhabitants. My visit to Lerin, Kostur and Voden seemed to me like it was part of my long wedding. I was reminded of many things and I remembered many things as if they had taken place yesterday; not more than half a century ago. My husband Mincho and I became truly active in the overall life of the Republic of Macedonia as Lazar Kolishevski had advised us (which I will discuss in my autobiographical notes). The folk singing group, the “Kosturchanki”, sent me back to my youth in D’mbeni and Kostur. They truly portrayed our life in D’mbeni and our tragic “Aegean wedding” on stage. The monograph “Kosturchanki” was written by Dr. Stoian Risteski in 1988. In the picture “kosturchanki” (not included in the translated version of this book) are the singers: Kola, Vera, Lena, Vasilka, Hrisa, Boda, Mita, Tsana and Marika. They all contributed a great deal to safeguard our folklore. In October 2003 the Faculty of Music, led by composer Buzarovski, promoted the latest video tape made by the group “Kosturchanki.” During the Metaxas dictatorship, Renos Mihaleas, a Greek native of Peloponnesus, was repeatedly imprisoned, but during the Fascist (German, Italian and Bulgarian) occupations he was released. Upon his release he immediately joined the antifascist struggle in Greece which lasted from 1941 to 1944. During that time he was political commissar of the 9th ELAS Division and in his capacity was present during the formation of the first Macedonian Battalion on August 2nd, 1944. He was in total agreement and advocated for the realization of the rights for the Macedonian people in Greece in accordance with the Tehran Charter and because of that he came into conflict with the leadership of the Communist Party of Greece. In 1945, with the arrival of Zahariadis in Greece, Renos fell into disfavour. During the Greek Civil War he was declared insane because of his beliefs and was interned in the city Kluz in northern Romania. By Cominform resolution many Greeks and Macedonians who disagreed with Zahariadis’s views were interned in this city. Included among them were Done Sikavitsa (NOF representative in charge of the care of children in homes in Eastern European countries, who together

with Petros Kokalis Minister of Education of the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece were in charge of the children’s homes), his wife Milka Dzhambazova (teacher and educator in the Macedonian language), Kula Karandzhova (teacher in the children’s camp in Tulkez, Romania), Foti Ilkovski (head of the NOF cultural and educational group), Alekso Dukovski and Risto Poptraianov (in charge of children’s literature and books in Bucharest) and many other Greek and Macedonian Party undesirables. These people were not allowed to leave Kluz. During the same period similar camps for CPG undesirables, or for people who Zahariadis personally disliked, also existed in Poland. Among the people interned there were Urania Rakovska (Pavle Rakovski’s wife who was later imprisoned in the USSR with her young daughter), Petre Asprovski, Tane Naumov, German Damovski Stariot, Kosta Kirkov and other NOF leaders. Such camps also existed in Czechoslovakia. At the end Zahariadis started a “pogrom” (an internal conflict between his supporters and those of Markos) in Tashkent, pitting Partisan against Partisan until eventually the Soviet authorities interned him. Zahariadis was interned in Borovitsa from 1956 to June 1962, after that in Surgut-Tjumen until August 1, 1973 when he could no longer stand the isolation and took his own life. In 1991 a booklet was published about Zahariadis in Athens entitled “Osnovach i Zhrtva” (Founder and sacrifice). Renos Mihaleas returned to Athens where he published his own newspaper. He adopted the son of a friend who had died and took care of his upbringing. He was invited to a symposium at the Institute for National History of Macedonia in Skopje during which time he donated this photograph to be remembered (photo not shown). After that he returned to Skopje several times, traveling back to France where he owned a shop.

We were rehabilitated while Zahariadis punished himself

We were arrested, tortured and tormented in the jails, concentration camps and in exile. As leaders of NOF and of the Aegean Macedonian people we were loyal fighters and responsible for the massive participation of the Macedonian people in our struggle for freedom and democracy in Greece. Our only crime was that we had survived the conflict and remained alive; waving the battle flag to the end. This, our noble CPG membership and our esteemed leader Zahariadis, knew only too well. But the CPG and Zahariadis, it seems, served different masters without knowing that they too were expendable. Our truth was publicly acknowledged by the CPG in 1956. The CPG Central Committee rehabilitated us as Macedonian Democrats and as Anti-Fascists, who together with the Greek people fought for freedom and democratic rights in Greece and for National and Social freedom for the Macedonians in Greece. Nikos Zahariadis survived to be excluded from the CPG and to be interned. When we were being rehabilitated, he, in 1956, as CPG General Secretary submitted an application to the CPG Central Committee to be re-admitted into the Party as an ordinary member. The answer that he received was that it was not possible to re-admit him, not even as an ordinary member because even as an ordinary member he would be harmful to the Party. Zahariadis was at Borovitsa until the end of 1956. In June 1962 he was sent to Surgut-Jumen in the USSR. Unable to withstand the treatment that he was getting from his party, on August 1, 1973 he hung himself by placing a rope around his neck. His end speaks best about the kind of inhuman person he was. More information about his suicide can be found in the book “Osnovach i Zhrtva” (Founder and sacrifice) published in Greece in 1991. Well this is the truth, now out in the open, about us who were arrested and expelled from our birthplace. But unfortunately knowing the truth will not return us to our homes and reverse our dark fate as Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, nor will it recover the best years of our lives that we lost! However moral satisfaction means a great deal to us, especially for our current and future generations.

Autobiographical notes

My name is Evdokia, but according to my hometown tradition, the people who know me affectionately call me Kicha. I was born on Ilinden, August 2nd, 1926 in the village D’mbeni, Kostur Region. My parents were Nikola Balev and Nevena Mangova. Both of my parent’s families came from a revolutionary tradition. I don’t remember my father well because he left for Canada, as a pechalbar (migrant worker), when I was barely three years old. My mother took care of me when I was young. I have no brothers or sisters, I am an only child. I finished primary school in my native village D’mbeni. I had a wish to further my education, a desire which prompted my mother to suggest it to my father. To accomplish my goal I received help from my teacher Lazaros Hazizisis. I was an excellent student and he was a man of forward ideas. He was from the village Loshnitsa, Kostur Region. After passing the entrance exams, I was enrolled in the first year of high school in Kostur. But it did not take too long before I was made fun of by the teachers and especially by the students from the city. It was very rare for a female child from a village to attend secondary school, especially from a revolutionary village like D’mbeni. When they asked me what I was, I used to say that I was a “selanka” (a peasant girl). “If you are a ‘selanka’ then what are you doing here?” was the typical question I was asked. Then I would say: “I am here to learn!” When I began to surpass the rich girls from the city, academically, some befriended me but they never allowed me to forget that I was a “peasant girl.” Like the bear who was never allowed to forget the pain from the burning coal. I lived in Kostur with my relatives. My mother, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday came to market to sell firewood in order to support me. During her visits she always brought me and our relatives food from the village. This is how the children from the villages studying there were supported. Experiencing insults in high school in Kostur became a regular daily affair for me so one day it occurred to me what the old D’mbeni Communists Staso Karadzha, Kolio Karadzha, Malbro Moskov and others had told us back in 1932-1935 when they, together with the women Communists Dana Karadzhova, Mara Karadzhova, Dana Stavkova and Baba Rina Kenkova, went from house to house and spoke about the injustices that existed from exploitation. Connected with this group also were women whose husbands worked in America, Canada and Australia, like my mother Nevena and others. They told us about the Revolution that had taken place in Russia and how the Russian people had achieved their freedom from exploitation. At the

time all of this seemed like a nice story to me. During the religious holidays I would go back to D’mbeni and notice the anti-regime mood of the people become stronger and stronger despite the Metaxas dictatorship crackdowns. D’mbeni, because of its past revolutionary activities, was carefully watched by the Greek government. It always had a police station supporting 10 to 15 policemen. In 1939, on Easter day, I was with my friends in the village square singing Macedonian songs. When the police heard us sing they began shooting above our heads to intimidate us. After that they gave us hefty fines. After the Italian-Greek war broke out and after the Front was established in 1940-1941, education was interrupted. The Italians were bombing the entire territory and it was too dangerous to be outdoors. The first casualties in D'mbeni were Sulta Mutkova and Mara Liochkova, both killed, and Dana Karadzhova wounded. Many houses were destroyed. Besides the police, two army detachments were also stationed in D’mbeni. As a sympathizer of the Progressive Movement in Greece, in the summer of 1940 I became a member of the Communist Youth of Greece (OKNE). Other members belonging to this Organization included Liubitsa Popianova, Donka Kenkova and Evdokia Karadzhova. My bid to join OKNE was supported by my neighbour Panaiot Karadzhov. I was deployed in the propaganda agitation sector. Secretary of the OKNE cell was Olimpia Popianova, who in 1939 completed a domestic course in Lerin. Although I have written much about NOF in the main text and some in the autobiographical notes, there is still more to discuss. NOF in its development went through various periods and passed through three stages; the illegal stage, recognition by the CPG stage and the demobilization stage. NOF was established on April 23rd, 1945 as an illegal and independent entity. At the time it managed to win over the masses but mostly in remote places. NOF’s activities were carried out in the spirit of the progressive forces in Greece. For precisely that reason General Secretary Nikos Zahariadis recognized NOF at the CPG Plenum and at the Bureau for Macedonia and Thrace, held on December 26, 1945 in Solun, at which point the democratic and anti-fascist forces expressed readiness for cooperation with NOF. NOF’s recognition by the CPG and Nikos Zahariadis was repeated in a July 15, 1946 speech Zahariadis gave at a rally in Solun. NOF was viewed as a democratic and anti-fascist organization. When the CPG called for boycotting the March 31st, 1946 Parliamentary elections, NOF endorsed its position and in some places managed to boycott 100% of the voting. March 31st, 1946 was also the date when fighting

was renewed in Greece, which prompted the start of the Greek Civil War. On this day ELAS commander Aleksos Rusos-Ipdzilandis attacked and destroyed the gendarme station in the village Lithohori in Olympus. On October 28, 1946 DAG General Headquarters was established and came under General Markos’s command. NOF unified all DAG staff from Gramos, Vicho, Kajmakchalan and Paiak Mountain. NOF’s influence and ability to get results began to be viewed as “interfering in the affairs of the CPG”, in other words in Zahariadis’s affairs, so he began a campaign to dismantle NOF from the inside. On May 20, 1947 Giorgos Eritrijadis-Petris, member of the Macedonian Bureau for Macedonia and Thrace, through Mihailo Keramitdzhiev, member of the NOF Board, began to unravel NOF, exploiting Secretary Paskal Mitrevski’s absence. Mitrevski at the time had been supposedly sent to Solun to negotiate with the CPG but instead he had been placed under house arrest. Dzhordzo Urdov at the time was the representative of NOF at DAG Main Headquarters. A NOF meeting was held at the “Mishova Koliba” locality in Kajmakchalan where, through internal spies, despite our opposition, NOF was reorganized by the “coordination bureau.” With that NOF lost its identity. NOMS too was dismantled and its members were sent to DAG. The only independent organization that remained the same was AFZH. NOF gained its identity during its First Congress on January 13, 1948. The Congress passed resolutions giving NOF status and a program and chose its new leadership consisting of 35 member and 15 deputy member candidates. Shortly after NOF’s Second Congress, which took place on March 25th, 1949 in the village Nivitsi near Lake Prespa, the great struggles for Vicho and Gramos began, resulting in DAG’s capitulation and the exodus to Albania. It was definitively a calculated measure on the part of the CPG Central Committee and Zahariadis to blame NOF and its leadership for DAG’s failure and to label the NOF leadership “agents” of Tito and Yugoslavia. After our arrest NOF practically ceased to exist. The entire Organization was sent into exile but in 1951 it was renamed to “Ilinden.” The following people were appointed leaders of Ilinden under Nikos Zahariadis’s personal initiative; Pando Vaina, Stavro Kochev and others. These “internal enemies” went to Bulgaria and completely ended NOF’s i.e. “Ilinden’s” activities. When I wrote these lines I had different thoughts. Why, despite our great ability, did we suffer in Macedonia? Because we allowed “strangers and foreigners” to manipulate us? It will always be like this

until we start learning from our mistakes. We will always be like this until we learn to put national issues ahead of personal feelings. For my merits in the Anti-Fascist and the Greek Civil War I have been awarded the following decorations:

1. Medal for bravery 2. Medal for brotherhood and unity with a silver wreath 3. Medal for merit for people with silver rays 4. Plaque of the Alliance of fighters in Yugoslavia 5. Jubilee Medal from the Russian Federation, marking the 50th anniversary of Victory over Fascism, 1945-1995 6. Order, 50 years of DAG, 1946-1996 7. Medal, NOF, 1941-1949

I have also received numerous awards, praises, plaques, certificates and acknowledgments from the Martial Associations and other social, cultural and educational organizations and associations.