EVENTS BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS 1919–1941

EVENTS BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS 1919–1941

The Participation of the People of Banitsa in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922

The period between the two World Wars did not provide any respite to the people of Banitsa. At the commencement of war between Turkey and Greece in 1919, the Greek Government mobilized an army, and 100 people from Banitsa were sent to the front in Asia Minor. Twenty-one people did notreturn,allofthemyoung menwhogavetheir lives for Greece. TheseincludedLazoLekoBoglev, MitseStefeDukov, Metodi Dafo Dzugomanov, Gele Kochev,17 Dimitar N. Lumanov, Harishi Kole Lumanov, Stefo Tego Lumanov, Fote Dine Malinov, Metodi Petre Malinov, Trajan G. Nichev, Marko Dzale Pendzov, Naum M. Pendzov, Gligor Filip Pochinov, Tase Filip Popov, and Pande Vasev,18 all farmers, Stavre F. Vasev, Vasil S. Dzugomanov, and Pande Leko Kurtov, all miners, Sande Shisharov (café owner), and Gjorgi Natse Pechinov, merchant.

Most of the surviving soldiers were wounded. There would have been even more casualties; however, many young men went into hiding during the mobilization or escaped across the border into Serbia or Bulgaria. There was no proper personal identification system in place yet, so people were able to cross a porous border.

17There is a younger Gele Kochev (Angelo Kotsopoulos) mentioned later, a son of Krishe Kochev and a brother-in-law of Evan Mallin. He will be referred to as Gele Krishe Kochev. 18The editor’s grandfather Dzole Malinov survived the hurried Smirna evacuation of Asia Minor by crossing the sea to a nearby Greek island in a leaky boat.

The Greek Government erected a monument in 1935 or 1936 to the fallen soldiers of the Greco-Turkish War; the monument is situated in the centre of the village in a spot called St. Dimitrija. The circle was enclosed and adorned with greenery and shrubs.

The parents of the dead soldiers and the surviving war invalids were given pensions, which were symbolic in monetary value.

Relations between the Population and the Greek Government

During this period there were numerous robberies, beatings, rapes, arson and killing by the аndartеs against which the people of Banitsa defended themselves with weapons, forming their own civil guards whose members guarded both the village and the surrounding territory day and night. When elections were held in the village, Natse Kochev-Kajcheto, an educated and respected person, was elected president of the local council.

After the end of the Greco-Turkish war an agreement was reached between the Greek and Turkish governments to exchange the populations of Anatolian Greeks in Turkey and the Turks in Greece. The Greek government made a schedule for where the population returning from Turkey would be settled, with the goal of placing most of them in the Aegean part of Greece, which included Banitsa, a village completely Macedonian in ethnicity. The government planned to settle 40 Greek families among the Macedonian villagers, but the people complained and demanded from the president and the local council that these families not be allowed to settle in Banitsa. The Macedonians threatened unforeseen consequences and wrote a petition to the government and their President Venizelos. Seeing the persistence and revolutionarymoodof thepopulation, theGovernment decidedtocreate a new settlement in the vicinity of Banitsa, by the railway station, which is about four kilometres from the village. They succeeded in their goal as the newcomers were settled there.

Migration of the Population

From 1926 until 1930 many men emigrated to the America, but their exact number is unknown. It is assumed that over 150 people crossed the ocean to America, and there was no coming back for them. Most of them sent for their families and loved ones later on. From 1930 to 1939 many went to live in Australia.19

The Activity of the Working Class in the Coal Mine

The German entrepreneur Mitrendjo (who may have actually been a Vlach) and one Koraki, from the village of Kostec, Kostur Region, improved production and made plans to build a factory to turn the locally-mined coal into coke and to build a thermoelectric power plant to illuminate Lerin and surrounding villages. When the Greek government found out about this, they stopped them, confiscated the newly-arrived machinery and sentenced them to long terms in prison for tax evasion. The coal mine was taken over by a company from England in 1930. Coal mining was started, but after a big explosion underground in 1933 the company left the mine. The brothers Hrisafov of Banitsa took over the mine and operated it until 1935. These entrepreneurs paid a daily wage in kind only, equivalent to 30 to 32 drachmas for 12 to 15 hours of work, but forcing the workers to only shop at their stores in the village where goods were much more expensive than in the other shops. In 1935 the mine was taken over by the brothers Gjorgi and Lefterios Palis, Greeks from Athens, who operated it until the spring of 1944, when it was confiscated by a decision of the Peoples’ Court in Banitsa. The mine was proclaimed to be a municipal resource and put under the direction of the organization ETA (Procurement Committee for the Partisans). State Boglev was the director, and the supervisors were Stojche Genev, Nune Tanev and Tone Lulov, each one responsible for one shift. The operational and administrative decisions were made by

19Evan Mallin’s father, Dzole Malinov went back to the USA for the second and last time in about 1932 after marrying and fathering four children. He could not return and was to remain there until he died in 1951. He supported his family with regular cheques. He died just after Evan Mallin and his wife Vassa arrived in Canada. He never saw his adult children.

the director and all the supervisors. In this period the daily excavation yieldedbetween 120 and 150 tonsofcoal,which wasthen sold forgrain. The workers were paid in grain until the spring of 1945 when Palis returned and took over the mine again. Because of the difficult working conditions and the low wages they received, the workers had to be well organized to fight for their economic, social and other rights, including improved working conditions. From time to time, they went on strikes which would last from several hours to a few days. Strikes in 1934 and 1939 turned into political clashes between the workers and their employers who hired the police to protect the mining shafts and the equipment, the workers having threatened to destroy equipment and lay explosive devices (mines) in the mining shafts.

Foundation of the Communist Party in Banitsa

The first cell of the CPG (Communist Party of Greece) in Banitsa was formed in 1928. Its membership comprised Kitse Kochev, State Boglev, Nune Vasev and Dine Kachorov, as well as Giorgios Davidis from the neighbouring Banitsa Station (Stathmos Vevis). The leader of the cell was Kitse Kochev.

With Banitsa’s historical revolutionary and fighting tradition and its well-developed working class of around 400 workers employed in theBanitsacoal mine, membershipintheCPG rapidlyincreased, sothat by 1932 there were eight cells and 23 entrants into the Party; by 1934 the number increased to 26 members and over 30 candidates for membership in the CPG; and in 1938, 37 members and 40 candidates. It is worth mentioning that the ‘Red Aid’ paid most of the dues for the coalmine workers.

Here is a review of the Party members admitted before the war:

According to the accounts of Tone Lulov, Kitse Kochev became a member of the CPG in 1925, starting in his student days. As of 1928, State Boglev, Dine Kachorov and Nune Vasev were members; from 1932, Vangel Kujchev, Vangel Zabrtski, Mitse Velikin and Blazhe

Kochev; from 1934, Tsile Tsinokov, Ilo Abov, Dine Robev, Lazo Kochev, Lefter Olevski, Trajko Kjimov, Dine Mangov, Gjorgi Kalpakov, Krishe Robev, Kire Janin, Kitse Apchev, Mitse Nedelkov, Natse Janchev, Metodi Vasev, Lide Ziskov, Blazhe Ricalov, Petse Malinov, Slave Nedelkov and Raden; from 1938, Pavle Mangov, Slave Nedelkov, Gjorgi Janin, Makile Evgin, Slave Katin, Dafo Dafov, Kole Depin Olev, Kitse Chorlinov, Metodi Apchev, Krishe Janchev and Tone Lulov.

Because of events after the 1936 Greek general election and the start of the dictatorship of Metaxas, the Party became illegal, went underground and stagnated. The Party organized into smaller groups and cells with a leader for each group or cell.

It is worth noting that in the spring of 1936, the following members were elected to the secretariat of the coal mine branch of the CPG: Lefter Olevski, secretary; Blazhe Ricalov, Lide Ziskov, and Metodi Vasev, members. The organization in the coal mine had over 30 members and 20 candidates for membership in the Party, and the ‘Red Aid’ paid for most of the dues for those employed in the mine. There was a strong union organization in the mine which reorganized and chose new leadership in the spring of 1936 with the following members: Metodi Apchev, president; Nune Tanev, secretary; Kitse Apchev, Lazo Vasev, Tane Gjergev, Vangel Kujchev, Dine Robev and Lazo Kochev, as members.

In addition to the secretariat of the coal mine, there were several subsidiaries or branches, which were led by the secretariat members, meaning that the senior members of the secretariat also had the job of leading the branches. About 400 labourers and other employees worked at the mine.

A celebration of Labour Day, 1 May, was first organized in 1931 inthelocationofthe Long Furrows(DolgiOrnitsi).The organizerswere Krishe Pavlev, Slave Katin, Kitse Katin and Kitse Kochev. In the following days they were all summoned by the police and interrogated at the police station where they were pressured to say that the CPG had

organized that celebration. Everyone was adamant that it was just an outing and communal meal for the workers and that it had no political element. They were released because of a lack of evidence.

During those tempestuous times amid the political developments in Europe and especially in Greece, the CPG held its sixth congress in December1935.TherethedangersandthreattoGreece,especially from fascist Italy, were described. At that congress, the CPG carried out a review of its work to date and confirmed a huge programme of objectives for the Party.

At this congress, Nikos Zahariadis was elected secretary of the CPG, having been elected into the leadership of the CPG in the 1934 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPG.

The Metaxas Dictatorship

On 4 August 1936, Metaxas took over as dictator, changed the constitution,ended democratic freedom,abolished freedomofthe press, banned all political parties and subordinated parliament to his will. He most openlyandbrutallyopposedcivil democraticforces andespecially opposed the interests of the Macedonian population.

Harsh times came upon the Macedonians. Tens of thousands of Macedonians were under investigation and persecution by the police and the security service. Still, Government persecution did not scare the free-minded Greek and Macedonian populations who demonstrated their dedication to opposing the dictatorship, each in their own way. This was especially the case when the government imposed obligatory studyof theGreeklanguageupon the adultMacedonian population. The resistance was obvious in Banitsa. The mine workers went on strike, and in the struggle for their rights, they were supported by the local population of all the surrounding villages, parties and the anti-fascist organized forces in the Lerin region.

The ban on speaking Macedonian, singing Macedonian songs, dancing Macedonian dances (the oro), and practising Macedonian customs hit the Macedonians hard. Night schools for the Greek language were organized for those adults who had not finished the obligatory six years of primary school education. The people of Banitsa resisted by not going to night school and continuing to speak Macedonian. If anyone was caught speaking Macedonian, which happened frequently as the gendarmes were eavesdropping at the windows of private homes, they were taken to the station where they were beaten up and tortured. Nevertheless, people would still declare their Macedonian names and not their new Greek names given to them by the Greek government. During interrogation, they would demand to be questioned in Macedonian because they could not understand Greek, and they would answer in Macedonian. They were charged and taken to court where they would persist in speaking Macedonian; and the judges, not knowing Macedonian, had to call for an interpreter. The convicted individuals paid their fines without hesitation. In some cases, they openly stated in court that the judges were judging for money and in order to advance their policy of assimilating Macedonians into Greeks. Most of them declared, “We are Macedonians and Macedonians we will remain!”

Terror and Persecution by the Greek Government

At Easter in 1936 the police and the Metaxas Government security forces arrested five members of the CPG in the village of Banitsa, who were then sent to Agios (Aja) Strati, a desert island in the Aegean Sea. They were: Kitse Kochev, member of the local secretariat and member of the district committee of CPG for Lerin District; Dine Robev, member of the secretariat of the trade union organization of Banitsa’s coal mine; Kitse Mangov, merchant; State Boglev, active CPG member and old revolutionary; and Mitse Vasev, active member and private truck driver.

During the summer of 1936, declared guilty of undermining the state and the regime due to their activities, Mitse Mangov, miner, and

Petse Vragov Hrisafov, grain mill owner, were arrested. They were taken to a concentration camp on Falegandro Island in the Aegean Sea.

A new wave of arrests started in the autumn of 1936 and continued until the autumn of 1940, and the following people were taken from the village of Banitsa and exiled to various concentration camps in the Aegean Sea: Kole Malinov and Boris Malinov, merchants; Dore Malinov, owner of a grain mill; Lazo Malinov and his four brothers; Leko Abov, merchant; Gligor Popdimitrov, barber and photographer; Tsile Risafov, merchant; Boris Risafov, Gire Babulov, butcher; Risto Popаlev, shoemaker; Pando Kujchev, tailor; Tsile Tsinokov, miner and member of the secretariat of Banitsa’s CPG; Kole Janin, trader and old Ilinden veteran; Kitse Dzogov, fabric maker, SlaveKostov, miner; Filip Nedelkov and Stojche Chorlinov, farmers; David Janin and Pande Velikin, merchants; Risto Nichov, miner; Ilo Dajkov, farmer, revolutionary and Ilinden veteran.

Thousands more Macedonians from other villages in Lerin District and the rest of Aegean Macedonia were sent into exile on the islands Agios (Aja) Strati, Hios and Makronisos, while others were conscripted into the army and sent to the Albanian border where they later took part in the war between Greece and Italy from October 1940 to April 1941.

On the eve of the Greco-Italian War, a general mobilization was ordered of men between the ages of 20 and 30, who were then sent off to the front. Production was thus minimized or entirely halted in many factories and mines since fewer workers were available. In need of continuing its coal production, the Greek government overcame the problem by conscripting young workers aged 16 to 19. In addition, and by order, the older generation of retired men were activated again and joined the many young men who had been enlisted as workers in Banitsa’s coal mine in order to continue the production of lignite coal. These young men formed the first organization of OKNE (Communist Youth Organization of Greece). On 15 May 1941, elections were held for thelocal committee of the Communist Youth Organization,andlater those boys became leading organizers and part of the young managing

cadre of Lerin District. Among them were Pavle Pavlev-Dimko, Todor Kochevski-Viktor, me, Atanas Katinovski-Goche and many others.

The seeds of revolution were sown. These young men would go on to become leaders during the whirlwind of the four-year liberation struggle, in which comrade Dimko would lay down his young life for the freedom of his people.

Compulsory Labour in the Mines from September 1940 until German Occupation in April 1941

On the eve of the Second World War, the Metaxas dictatorship reached its zenith with the suspension of the constitution and the dissolution of all political parties, imprisonment and internment for some of its leaders and most of the officers who held democratic beliefs. The Communists and all of the Macedonians were given exceptionally cruel treatment. In addition to the regime’s discrimination, assimilation and physical and moral torture of the Macedonian people, the regime also systematically destroyed the last Macedonian Slavic monuments (old churches, schools, Slavic script on tombstones) and everything else that would bear witness to the centuries-old Macedonian ethnicity of the region. It went as far as forbiddingthe peoplefromwearingMacedonian traditional clothing, and from participating in the folklore, national songs, dances and other customs and traditions which for centuries had been passed on from parent to child, generation to generation. Macedonians were prohibited from working in the civil service, serving in the police force, and holding an officer position in the army. That privilege was given only to the Macedonian Grkomani who, during the andartes movement of 1904–1913, fought on the side of and in the ranks of the Greeks. However, they were very few in each district. They were despised by the Macedonian people as traitors, a view that was confirmed later when they willingly went to work for the German occupying forces.

Despite the inhumane treatment by the regime, the suffering and humiliation, the Macedonian people in general displayed political maturity when it came to protecting the country, they considered it their duty to defend the land even though they weren’t recognized. Under the leadership of the Communist party, they took part in the fight against the fascist aggressor, Italy, and later on against Nazi Germany. Accordingly, one can say that for the Macedonians, the anti-fascist war began on 28 October 1940, because the Greek-ItalianFront was manned mostly by Macedonians and Greeks from Asia Minor.

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