CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

(A few characteristic moments)

1. The essence of the British intervention

Churchill said:

“One late night, at that time, I sent a telegram to our General Skobi, who arrived in Athens with three thousand soldiers, in which I told him that he should not consider himself neutral in the struggle of the Greek parties, but on the contrary he should support Prime Minister Papandreou and not narrow himself down to only the Communists who are involved in the attacks. (NOTE: The December 1944 events had already begun in Athens and the local ELAS units had crushed Papandreou’s neo-fascists). This order was sent on December 6, 1944 around 2 am and arrived precisely in time. The British troops, with few units, moved forward and opened fire against the communists who attacked…” (See: “Life”, April 23, 1947.)

And here we gave our CPG leadership trying hard to convince us that the English armies, which came to Athens to stay, had not come here to interfere in Greece’s internal affairs but… to help with the internal tranquility and order…!

Paul Porter, a spokesman of the former US mission, said:

“In such cases, the British always cooperate with the domestic ruling classes. Buying the support of these classes by recognizing and confirming their rights to exploit the masses and relying on them to suppress the people with the help of their gendarmerie and the whip…!” (See: US “Colliers” journal, September 20, 1947.)

But, as is well-known, the people in Greece did not succumb to “the gendarmerie and the whip”, or to the cannons and the bombers. This struggle led to England’s bankruptcy and to the bankruptcy of a long string of pseudo-governments and exploiting tyrants. Then the Americans came to replace the English.

The English bitterly insisted that:

“The United States, support Greece’s economy and armaments; contribute to the training of the Greek army; and take Greek issues into defense at international forums and make them the main driving force of Greek politics…!” (See: “The Economist”, July 1947, article entitled “Greece at the blade’s edge”.)

And it is true, English bitterness became justifiable.

We will just say here that the “Greek issues on international forums”, as the English say, and the general Greek conscience, can be “handled” by foreigners, outsiders and strangers. The same is true of Greek internal affairs. And here we have foreigners, outsiders and strangers going everywhere and doing everything for Greece. Everything is dependent of these foreigners, outsiders and strangers. For example, foreign spies participate in the work of the Greek national defense council. Foreigners are continuously present at the Greek authority consultations on practically every issue. On top of that we have a foreigner managing the ministry of “national defense”. Foreigners are present at every Greek authority consultation on all issues. We also have a foreigner heading the Greek ministry of economy. Foreign trade is headed by a foreigner and he has allowed foreigners to become members of a committee that regulates foreign trade. A foreigner manages the Greek state treasury. A foreigner regulates the country’s budgetary issues and a foreigner regulates issues related to the wages and operation of state-owned enterprises. The Monarcho-Fascist army wears a foreign uniform, uses foreign weapons and is led by foreigners... etc... etc...

Are all these foreigners actually working for Greece…?

According to the “sold out” Athens government: “YES! The English and the Americans are our generous friends who help us with the restoration of our economy…!”

Even though it was announced that only fifty million dollars of the total US “aid” would be spent on the foreign sponsored Greek army in Gligsburg’s plan to rebuild the country, only the reorganization of the ports in Piraeus, Solun and Volos and some of the airports was

envisaged. So, it appears that the money spent was not really a matter of rebuilding the economy of the country, but a matter of turning Greece into a military base for the Anglo-Saxons. And here are the consequences of one-year’s worth of US “aid”:

Greece was constantly rolling deeper and deeper into inflation chaos. Wages and salaries were falling. The drakma was falling and, so far, had lost 50-75% of its value. The price indicator was constantly climbing. The most needed items were increasingly disappearing from the market and passed on to the hands of speculators and the black markets. About 60% of workers were unemployed. Misery among the people was constantly growing. And in parallel with this was the terror, more venerable than that of Hitler’s, and all this was happening under the direction of foreigners, outsiders and strangers, “competent people”, competent advisers. With the US Law on “Goodness”, thousands of civil servants were thrown out on the street. Over 10,000 were people killed, 50,000 were put in jail and over 400,000 were already in prison and internment. Over half a million people, mostly farmers, were forced to become economic refugees. The military courts worked continuously and non-stop to exterminate people nationwide. The Greek government mobilized the gendarmes MAI, battalions of them into the “National Guard”, and continued to mobilize new recruits in preparation for the “spring”, “summer”, etc., offensives in Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Rumelia, Peloponnesus, Crete, Samos, Chios...

These are all facts which eloquently speak about what the Americans did in Greece. But they failed. They went bankrupt much faster than the English. They did not help Greece, they just pushed it further down the pit, much more than the English did. And yet, the Anglo-American installed Athens government, provocatively, continues singing the same old song:

“Our neighbours to the north are guilty... of interfering in our internal affairs…!”

Right from the start when the titanic struggle against the British and American invaders began inside Greece, the Macedonian people, as loyal comrades, stood side by side with the Greek people. They

resolutely set off and marched beside them in a long and difficult joint liberation struggle…

And here today, after receiving help form the Americans for a year, the traitorous, domestic clique is still helpless and the liberation movement is stronger than ever. The American architects in Athens were not at all happy about this and began looking at new ways to approach the problem. The foreign advisors in Athens began to carefully prepare a new military operation and named it “Campaign 1948”, but that campaign too was unsuccessful. Their “glorious” retreat, which ended their start in Epirus, demonstrated how “Campaign 1948” was going to end.

The liberation movement at the time was invincible and I had absolutely no reason to doubt Zahariadis’s ability to lead the Party and DAG. I couldn’t have known that later, by treacherous tactics and strategies, he was going to destroy DAG and the people’s revolution. By opposing the policy of national unity and by not giving the people what they really wanted, to live freely and without the “patronage” of international imperialist agents, he weakened the struggle and allowed the shameless foreign intervention to take hold and grow stronger.

At the time when I wrote the following I did not know that: Believing in the revolution the men and women in NOF and AFZH, as well as all the Macedonian people in the liberated and non liberated territories, decisively jumped into the struggle fighting side by side with the heroic Greek people. Let national unity be expanded and strengthened on the basis of Law No. 3 of the Democratic Government for amnesty. Let the misguided Macedonian people see that they serve a world of betrayal and blood, they serve those who organize their physical extermination and let them come to us – a world of victims who struggle for democracy and national rights, within an independent and democratic Greece.

The Macedonian heroes of DAG: As fighters, let them learn how to shoot a rifle, a machine gun, a mortar or cannon. As military cadres, let them learn the art of fighting. All to arms and fight with all our might! Force the stubborn Anglo-Saxon neo-colonialists to admit

that the good old times, when they easily subjugated peoples by giving them “generous” patronages, or “help” as they call it nowadays, are over forever…! (Introduction, NEPOKOREN, Number 7, March 20, 1948)

2. Statutory Acts enacted by DAG Supreme Headquarters

August 10, 1948, was the first anniversary of DAG Supreme Headquarters enacting Acts number 1 and 2 with statutory orders to destroy the Greek reactionary police and other reactionary security services and give power to the people in the liberated territories.

At the same time we Macedonians were recognized as Macedonians with the right to speak and learn our Macedonian mother tongue in school. We were free to basically develop our national culture.

The statutory orders freed all Macedonian farmers and workers to own and operate their farms and businesses, free from their masters, just like the Greeks. All issues including people’s health, social welfare, children’s education, product development, etc., were to be settled by the local and village governments. The highest local government in the village was the General Assembly. People’s boards were elected by a general election and, if members did not perform accordingly, the General Assembly had the right to expel them.

There was also a District Board chosen by the people to manage district affairs.

This justice for the people by the people gave our (Macedonian) people the opportunity to tackle all their problems, from the smallest to the most serious, right in their village and without suffering, without arguing and without having to run to the authorities in the cities.

Women became equal to men and rose as comrades in all things including the army, the people’s government and business.

The people’s government tackled the agrarian question in the most equitable manner. The many thousands of fields in which people

worked but did not own were divided up and given to those who did not own their own fields. (NEPOKOREN, number 12, August 23, 1948)

3. Behind the scenes activities

There were also organized teams, consisting mostly of old people, whose job was to harvest the grain growing in the fields and supply the struggle. One such team, consisting of 52 white-bearded men, 46 women and 50 ox carts, led by Comrade Krste Mangov, chairman of the people’s district committee for Kostur Region, was sent to harvest Manakidis’s (Elmi Bei’s) fields in Kostur Region. The harvesters were accompanied by a unit from the People’s Militia to protect them in case they were attacked.

The harvest was expected to be completed in one night as the harvesters worked very hard in silence under the light of the moon knowing that their work was invaluable to the struggle. They cut the grain and immediately loaded it directly onto the wagons to be able to run at a moment’s notice.

By dawn the entire field was harvested and 5,200 oki (about 10,000 kilos) of grain was delivered to Gramos to feed the victorious fighters...

Another example:

There was much praise for the people of Shtrkovo, Lerin Region, from the Provisional Democratic Government’s Ministry of Internal Affairs for their part in harvesting grain and donating it to the struggle, a gift for the DAG fighters in Gramos. “This village is an example of how every village in free Greece should be…”

But, no one had to say that to us, we Macedonians very well knew that every village in (Greek occupied) Macedonia was like Shtrkovo.

Our (Macedonian) people, male and female, young and old, as a whole were dedicated to the struggle and, being thrown in the struggle together with the Greek people, were fully confident in

DAG’s heroic strength and were completely devoted to the beloved General Markos, the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece and to NOF, being fully confident that the ultimate victory would be ours.

With this ultimate victory, paid for with their suffering and blood, our people were certain they would achieve their rights and earn their national and social freedom…” (NEPOKOREN, number 12, August 23, 1948.)

4. My comments

After eight years had passed, in 1956, while interned in the Kazakh capital Alma-Ata, I wrote the following:

As leaders in their village Shtrkovo, brothers Pando and Mihailo Kostovski contributed greatly by supplying DAG with food, warm clothing and bed covers.

The provisional democratic government noted their contribution to DAG with a special announcement. Pando was also given a “Government commendation” for being President of the village people’s board.

Pando was then killed...

After that Shtrkovo, headed by Mihailo, remained as an avant-garde village to the end.

Today, July 1956, Mihailo is located somewhere in Poland, thrown away and forgotten by all those who, of course, were obliged not to forget him...

Another example:

Bogoia from the village Medovo in Prespa was well-known to everyone. No one passed through Medovo without visiting him at his house. Everything that Bogoia had, his property and his children, he gave to the struggle, to the common Macedonian and Greek people’s liberation struggle.

While collecting materials and supplies such as underwear, sweaters, socks and covers for the DAG fighters, an AFZH activist, as she was telling the story herself, did not know how much Bogoia had already given to the struggle and went to him and asked him to donate something. Without saying a word, Bogoia stopped to think what else he could give. He thought for only a second before he reached out for his scissors and cut off half of his bed cover, the only thing that he still had which was used to covered himself and his wife, and gave it to her.

The “story” of how Bogoia enlisted his two daughters in DAG’s ranks was even carried by “BILTEN”, the DAG Supreme Headquarters newspaper.

One day he showed up at DAG unit headquarters in Besfina, Prespa Region, with the two girls, and said to the officer on duty:

“Take them! They are my gift to the struggle!”

And today, July 1956, the same Bogoia is somewhere in Poland, sick and without his daughters, they were both killed during the struggle. And like Mihailo, Bogia too was thrown away and forgotten by all those who, of course, were obliged not to forget him...

And those are not the only two who were “thrown away and forgotten”! How many more? One can only imagine!

I found out about this from letters that I received from Poland. As a Macedonian I was greatly offended and finished my writing as follows:

Those Macedonians who knew what they wanted and were prepared to fight for it, and fought for it, i.e. the most conscious and revolutionary Macedonians, were isolated by the Greek authorities and sent to prison, to the Greek island concentration camps to be destroyed. Those conscious and revolutionary Macedonians, who left Greece and were drifting in the world as political refugees, were also isolated and conditions were created for them so that they felt

lonely, rejected, forgotten and lost in the world... This was done to destroy their moral spirit and leave them alive to walk the earth as living corpses…

Those Macedonians who felt less Macedonian and were loyal to the Greek cause were supported. The janissaries among us not only enjoyed full support from the CPG leadership but were also distinguished and rewarded by being appointed to leadership and managerial positions which allegedly served the Macedonian people...

Today, as I write these lines, I know Bogoia, the great little man, just like Mihailo Kostovski and thousands of other Macedonians like him, managed to save himself from the jurisdiction and “concerns” of the Greek leadership “comrades” and returned to die in the free part of our homeland (Republic of Macedonia). When Bogoia was repatriated his lungs were ruined. He had contracted tuberculosis and was in the last stages when he died in the Bitola hospital. Mihailo Kostovski, to this day, is okay. He got his old age pension and lives peacefully in Skopje...

5. Villagers suffering

The drama played by the Americans, the “white terror”, the persecutions that plagued our country…, clearly showed that there was no trace of democracy left in Greece. Not only were the reactionaries, with American help, slaughtering and interning people by the thousands, they were doing it indiscriminately putting fear in all including the very young and very old. Fear of being killed forced everyone including the very young children and the very old men and women to leave and abandon their native villages and towns, rendering them desolate. There were many and different ways of putting pressure on these people to leave. Over 500,000 villagers left their homes in the village and ended up in the cities homeless and hungry. There are no words to describe the tragedy committed by the Monarcho-Fascist regime against these people. In Voden Region alone, over 40,000 people were evicted. The majority of them were Macedonians. Thousands were also expelled from Lerin and Kostur Regions.

Their life was terrible to say the least.

Over 300 villagers were forced to sleep practically on top of each other in a school in Kostur. The situation was similar or even worse in Rupishta and Kailari. There was no law that stopped these fascist criminals from tormenting our people. We should have never allowed the people to flee their native villages. They should not have been sent to the cities. Our people should have resolutely fought united for their return to their homes in the villages. None of them should have been sent anywhere where the Monarcho-fascists could have taken advantage of them. These acts were not committed by accident, they were planned measures designed to remove the villagers from the environments where they could rebel and fight for their independence and for democracy.

We need to stop the exodus... (NEPOKOREN, number 7, March 20, 1948)

6. Life in the prisons

Part of our people, the best of our sons and daughters are slowly being exterminated in the prisons on the islands of death. The Monarcho-fascists, through various schemes intrigues and trumped up charges, have thrown them in jail only because they are Democrats.

Life in the prison camps was very bad. The prisoners were the recipients of all the American-fascist rage and frustration caused by the struggle. The prisoners were examples that showed that no basic human rights existed in this country and human culture was shaken to its core.

Here is what a person from the village Zupanishta told us a few days after he came from there:

“Over 8,000 tried and untried prisoners were serving sentences in the “Iura” prison on Siros Island, surrounded with barbed wire. We were guarded by about 600 soldiers, dogs well-chosen for their fascist ways of dealing with us. Two out of seven days they kept us hungry. They forced us to carry 60 to 80 oki stones from one place

to another. Those who couldn’t do it were beaten badly. Many died from the abuse. They forced us to build walls and immediately tear them down. They did everything they could to us to torment us without repercussion on their part.

But, even though they suffered badly, the prisoners believed that the ultimate victory was going to be theirs…!

This was the promised paradise, Truman’s Garden of Eden, where their bloody democracy was flourishing. But the prisoners knew that these “criminals” will be destroyed. They believed that the Macedonian people would not forget their own children who have been interned in these prisons and eventually would help them by every means possible.

They will never forget their own children… and their tormentors... (NEPOKOREN, number 7, March 20, 1948)

7. Renewal of our villages

There were 38 people’s boards elected by democratic means in Kostur Region. These boards practically and resolutely took on all basic problems that the people were concerned with. They even took on construction projects in the liberated villages and built about twenty bridges with the help of over 750 volunteers. Over 22 km’s of road was fixed with about 700 volunteers. They even took on water supply projects and built over 10 public drinking fountains, with about 60 volunteers.

In the village German in Prespa, Lerin Region, for example, 2 bridges and two fountains were built and 200 metres of road were widened for cars to travel.

In the village Robi in Prespa, Lerin Region, a 200 metre stretch of road was built to accommodate automobile traffic.

In the village Bukovik in Prespa, Lerin Region, several irrigation ditches were dug.

The schools in practically every village, that needed repair, were repaired... (NEPOKOREN, number 6, February 20, 1948)

8. A people’s hospital

Living proof of what people can do when they are determined to live free and hold power in their own hands was the founding of a people’s hospital in one of the free villages.

The Lerin and Kostur Region people’s district boards helped the local people build the hospital, with much joy and enthusiasm. Everyone, rich and poor, helped as much as they could to acquire everything that was needed from beds to lighting fixtures and quickly made the hospital operational.

The hospital was officially opened on February 5, 1948, with ceremonies and in the presence of Minister Dr. Kolakis and other ministers and representatives of the people’s government and organizations. Many ordinary people also attended the opening ceremony.

Our people’s hospital was both modest and impressive. Everything was clean and bright. The house that it was located in was tall and hygienic. There were 25 beds with all the necessary covers. The beds and tables were donated by the people and the cooperative workshops. There were 10 nurses available to the hospital, three of them, one director and a doctor were present and working at all times.

The Democratic Army helped the hospital with medical supplies. The hospital also included a pathology department and a medical clinic.

This was the first step the people took to safeguard their own health, independent of the fascist government. This was also another blow against fascism, which now was fighting tooth and nail to destroy the people... (NEPOKOREN, number 6, February 20, 1948)

9. Conclusions

About three hundred thousand Macedonian people, organized in NOF from the youngest to the oldest, were actively involved in this titanic struggle between the democratic forces of Greece and the domestic and international reactionaries.

Three and a half thousand Macedonian women dedicated their lives to building fortifications on Mount Vicho under enemy artillery shelling and air bombardments. There were thousands of Macedonian women who supplied the DAG fighters with food and ammunition carried in bags and sacks around their waist or on their backs, from Lerin and Kostur to the Gramos front. There were also Macedonian women, and even young girls, mobilized into DAG through several mobilizations who, after a short preparation, were sent to the front to fight in the frontlines. Tens of thousands of Macedonian children were evacuated alone and without their parents and sent to friendly European socialist countries.

The first woman to be sentenced to death by a Greek military court and executed was a Macedonian. Her name was Mirka Ginova, an AFZH activist during this struggle.

The men who served in DAG’s ranks from the villages in the border territory were all Macedonian. More than ten thousand fighters who fell at the front were Macedonians.

According to official statistics from the 1940 and 1951Greek censuses, the Macedonian population in 179 Macedonian villages dropped in half, while 46 other Macedonian villages were completely devastated during the Greek Civil War and were not even mentioned in the 1951 census.

Over sixty thousand Macedonians were forced to flee to Yugoslavia and other European socialist countries.

The only people that experienced similar devastation, compared to the Macedonian people, were the Spanish and Vietnamese people. The Spanish people fought epic battles against fascism and the Vietnamese people fought epic battles against imperialism and neo-

colonialism. During the Greek Civil War, the Macedonian fighters represented about half of DAG’s effective forces. At its peak DAG numbered about 40,000 fighters. And if we compare this to the total Macedonian and Greek population, it turns out that, percentage wise, seventeen or eighteen times more Macedonians fought in the war than Greeks.

It was one of the most massive revolutionary movements in the recent history of our people...

10. File Peiov’s Bapchor

“Everything is forgotten... But my parents, relatives, friends, our customs, songs, dances, weddings, my native Bapchor, hanging from the chest of Vicho Mountain, is never forgotten, is not lost. Like the sun in the sky that warms the earth, it warms my soul. The two or three storey houses built with stone and mortar were as white as the snow on Vicho. But most beautiful of all were the green meadows around the four rivers with clear water which made the women look like fairies... And now Bapchor is erased from the map, it is all black and desolate. There were 320 families living there before the war and now there is not a soul alive, the people have been scattered all over the world. Those who were left alive fled to the Republic of Macedonia, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Canada, the United States of America and Australia.

Oh, you, poor Bapchor…!

Here, in Perth, there are about 105 families. There are 55 in Manchester and 82 in Melbourne. All those who fled are still alive. But I have a hard time believing that what happened is true. It seems very strange to me that the people of Bapchor are spread all over the world…!”

(At this point File stopped talking, got up and went to look for his flute.)

“Forgive me,” he said, “when I was young I often spoke with my flute!”

He then continued with the legend of Bapchor.

“Oh Vicho, old Vicho, you know, Vicho, the kind of village Bapchor was, and the many people it had... Oh Vicho, old Vicho, you are a tall mountain, that can see into the distance, look for your people where they are scattered. Oh Vicho…!”

File felt there was much more to say about Bapchor when he asked:

“Do you want me to sing the song I composed about Bapchor?”

We then listened to the song old man File Peiov sang about his native village and, yes, it was full of passion, mercy and great pain...

“Do you know how many people from Bapchor died in the last war…? I have written down their names here… look, everyone is here in my list, everyone…” he said and began to read. I began to count them.

“1. Petre R. Tsigul, born in 1915, died on May 2, 1947 in Neveska, served in the 18th brigade.

2. Iovan Per. Bogdanov, born in 1924, was killed on March 29, 1948, at Kolumb while serving in the 18th brigade.

3. Giorgi Per. Bogdanov, born in 1924, (twin brother to Iovan), died one year after Iovan, on February 14, 1949 in Lerin, serving in the 14th brigade.

4. Sotir Per. Bogdanov, born in 1929, was killed on January 10, 1949, in the battle for Larisa, serving in the 14th brigade.

5. Vasil T. Bogdanov, born in 1912, was killed on August 18, 1949, fighting in Prespa, serving in the 14th brigade.

6. Strati T. Bogdanov, born in 1914, was killed December 15, 1948, during the battle for Negosh, serving in the 18th brigade.

7. Stati Kume Kopov, born in 1926, was killed in December 1948, at Vicho, serving in the 14th brigade.

8. Vasil Iovan Sarin, born in 1924, was killed on February 25, 1947, fighting at Sheshtovo, serving with the 18th brigade.

9. Mitre Tanas Sarin, born in 1926, was killed October 22, 1948, at Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

10. Blaze Tanas Sarin, (brother of Mitre) born in 1929, died on February 20, 1947 in Gramos, serving in the 18th brigade.

11. Boris Peno Zaikov, born in 1924, was killed on August 10, 1948, fighting at Hasia, serving in the 18th brigade.

12. Vasil Mume Grkin, born in 1926, was killed on October 15, 1948, shot at Sheshtevska Buka, serving in the 18th brigade.

13. Boris St. Donev, born in 1914, died on February 14, 1949, in the battle for Lerin, serving in the 14th brigade.

14. Kosta Ris. Endriov, born in 1939, died on September 12, 1949, in Gramos, serving in the 18th brigade.

15. Tanas K. Manov, born in 1927, was killed on October 11, 1948, at Malimadi, serving in the 18th brigade.

16. Tanas Iovan Krstev, born in 1929, was killed on January 18, 1948, at Kaimakchalan, serving in the 14th brigade.

17. Vasil Iovan Krstev, (Tanas’s older brother) born in 1927, was killed on March 20, 1948, in Gramos, serving with the 18th brigade.

18. Risto T. Belchev, born in 1924, died April 26, 1948, at Shestevska Buka, serving with the 18th brigade.

19. Tanas Iovan Ognenov, born in 1914, died on June 6, 1948, in Gramos.

20. Mitre Iovan Ognenov, born in 1923, died on March 20, 1949, in Hasia, serving in the 14th brigade.

21. Kole Tanas Sternov, born in 1923, died on May 5, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 18th brigade.

22. Mihale Koste Kochov, born in 1922, was killed on August 5, 1949, in Hasia, serving in the 14th brigade.

23. Georgi Tanas Hanzol, born in 1913, died on March 2, 1949, in Kaimakchalan.

24. Stase Naume Rimpalov, born in 1929, was killed on November 2, 1948, in the battle for Konitsa, serving in the 10th brigade.

25. Iovan Kole Stoichev, born in 1921, was killed on September 15, 1948, in Vicho Mountain, serving in the 18th brigade.

26. Nome Risto Peikov, born in 1918, was killed on March 16, 1949, in Gramos, serving in the 14th brigade.

27. Sotir Vasil Peikov, born in 1928, died on July 28, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 10th brigade.

28. Vasil Stoiche Iankov, born in 1924, died on May 14, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 14th brigade.

29. Tanas Kole Palasin, born in 1922, was killed on August 8, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 14th brigade.

30. Risto Mitre Sopov, born in 1923, was killed on May 12, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 14th brigade.

31. Naum Tanas Risin, born in 1925, died on April 1, 1948, in Hasia, serving in the 10th brigade.

32. Iovan Lade Milenkov, born in 1919, was killed on July 17, 1948, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

33. Iovan Stase Kochov, born in 1924, was killed date unknown. Where he was buried unknown.

34. Stase Mitre Enoriev, born in 1925, died on August 8, 1948, serving in the 14th brigade in the cavalry.

35. Risto Mikali Borshov, born in 1923, was killed on March 10, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 10th brigade.

36. Lecha Mikali Borshova, (Risto’s sister born two years after Risto) born in 1925, died in 1948 day unknown, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

37. Giorgi Iovan Margin, born in 1924, was killed on October 10, 1948, in Kostur, serving in the 18th brigade.

38. Iote Tome Kiandov, born in 1914, was killed on May 15, 1948, in Kaimakchalan, serving in the 14th brigade.

39. Iovan Mano Manov, born 1926, was killed on November 8, 1947, in Gramos, serving in the 104th brigade.

40. Vasil Stase Kuluvet, born in 1910, died on February 15, 1947, in Kostur, serving in the 10th shock brigade.

41. Kuzo Mitre Kuluvet, born in 1924, died, date and place of burial unknown.

42. Kosta Mitre Kuluvet, (Kuzo’s twin brother), born 1924, died in 1948, day unknown, in Vicho, serving in the 14th brigade.

43. Mikali Trpin, born in 1914, was killed on July 16, 1947, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

44. Iovan Giorgi Dimkov, born in 1923, was killed on the 16th in 1947, month unknown, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

45. Georgi Nume Endriev, born in 1924, died on July 13, 1948, in Hasia, serving in the 18th brigade.

46. Mano Risto Manov, born in 1924, was killed on July 13, 1948, in Gramos, serving in the 18th brigade.

47. Tanas Risto Manov, born in 1926, died on August 15, 1948, at Konitsa, serving in the 105th brigade.

48. Kocha Ilo Peiov, born in 1929, died February 14, 1949, in the battle for Lerin, serving in the 18th brigade.

49. Slavka Mile Rimpalova, born in 1925, was killed on December 15, 1948, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

50. Dosta Stase Delianova, born in 1914, was killed on December 12, 1948, serving in the 18th brigade.

51. Krisa Nume Irina, born in 1924, was killed on September 22, 1948, in Malimadi, serving in the 18th brigade.

52. Elena Kosta Pop-Vasileva, born in 1924, was killed on December 15, 1948, place unknown, serving in the 18th brigade.

53. Lisa Mane Pachakoska, born in 1926, was killed on August 1, 1949, in Prespa, serving in the 18th brigade.

54. Vasil Kole Tanin, born in 1923, died in 1946 as a courier, in Vicho Mountain.

55. Tanas Kuzo Gelevichin, born in 1925, died in 1946 as a courier, in Lagen.

56. Georgi Risto Kanzev, born in 1921, was killed on December 15, 1948, during the battle for Negush, serving in the 18th brigade.

57. Iovan Kosta Stavre, born in 1930, died on March 20, 1949, in Bukata.

58. Risto Mitre Sternov, born in 1923, died on December 14, 1948, in Bukata.

59. Iana Kole Dimova, born in 1902, was killed by a fascist bomb, in Bapchor.

60. Stasa Kole Dimova, born in 1926, also died by a fascist bomb in 1947, in Bapchor.

61. Todora Risto Milena, born in 1887, died 1947 from a bomb.

62. Risto Mile Ognenov, born in 1885, killed in 1946 by a German bullet, in Bachchor.

63. Naum Iovan Vishin, born in 1906, killed in 1946 by a German bullet.

64. Kata Tome Zisova, died in 1946, in Pozdovishta.

65. Vasil Iovan Enrikov, died in 1946, in Pozdovishta.

66. Risto Vasil Iovkov, died in 1946, in Pozdovishta.

67. Dosta Risto Iovkova, born in 1924, died in Bapchor.

68. Lena Tanas Doneva, born in 1925, died on May 25, 1948, in Vicho, serving in the 18th brigade.

69. Kosta Risto Martin,

70. Kole Kuze Karshov,

71. Tanas Iankov ...

How many more should I read? Let us now say something about Bapchor through a song!” he said and began to play his flute.

“What a village Bapchor was, there are no tears…”

(The above text was published in the weekly issue of Nova Makedonija on May 14, 1972, without the name of its author. I decided to publish it here because it has the strength of an authentic document.)