PERSONALITIES - Part 06

1945 - July 2. Andreas Papadopoulos’s nationalist band entered the village Tsakoni and committed all kinds of atrocities. Andon Siula was badly beaten in an attempt to convert him to a turncoat so he could spy for them but they were unable to break him. He later died from the ordeal. Also badly beaten were Vasilis Suklidis, Naum Nartea, Andreas Stavridis and Petar Chocho. Other thefts reported at the time included 5 heads of large livestock stolen from the village Tikveni by the nationalist Pavle Sjagari. Other atrocities committed by the nationalists and the National Guard included the rape and execution of Dafina Valtova from the village Izglebi and the rape of 20 women from the village Gratsi.

1945 - July 6. Members of National Guard from the 165 battalion raped 4 women in the village Gornichovo because their husbands were serving in the Yugoslav army. Rapes and robberies were also committed in the villages Gorno Kleshtina, Elovo, Sorovich and Rudnik.

1945 - July 7, Law 453 enacted in Greece.

1945 - July 7, Law TOD:/45 enacted in Greece. “For order, peace and justice” to ensure public safety and to stop “autonomist activities” of which the Macedonian political organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS were accused. NOF, AFZH and NOMS were found to be autonomist, separatist and anti-Greek and were placed outside of the law and their members were to be judged for possessing and using weapons.

1945 – July 8. CPG admits Macedonian nation exists. An article entitled “The truth about the Slavo-Macedonians” was published on July 8, 1945, in the newspaper “Rizospastis”, the CPG Central Committee’s organ, in which, among other things, it was said that the Macedonian nation has its own customs, personality and history and its national awareness is quite developed.” This is further evidence that the CPG not only has admitted that Macedonians exist but gave the world proof of their existence inside Greece as a unique nation. What is peculiar about all this is that today the CPG says Macedonians do not exist and has taken either the amnesia route about its past or it claims that “it is not the same CPG”.

1945 - July 10. The Greek Gendarme located in the village Lukovtsi detained 4 girls from the same village. No reason was given. The girls were taken away to jail and placed under guard in the city Sobotsko where they were subjected to torture. A few days later, 14 boys all under the age of fifteen were also detained in Lukovtsi and beaten to death. This was a tragedy not just for their parents but for the entire Macedonian community.

1945 - July 10. Balkanski, in a report to the leadership of the PLF, stated that the National Guard had stolen 250 sheep from the village Eksisu, 2 herds of sheep, 6 oxen and 6 pigs from the village Zelenich and one herd of sheep from the village Mokreni.

1945 - July 18. Law CC 43 passed. Law “against autonomist activities” was passed in Greece with which the organizations NOF, AFZH and NOMS were declared autonomist, placed outside of the law and their members were declared criminals to be caught and tried for high treason.

1945 - July 20, Law (CC) 4124 passed. Law against “Prosecution of suspected persons” was passed. Law (CC) 4124/45 was enacted to be applied only against the Macedonians.

1945 - July 20, Laws PZ 433/45 and PZ 753/45 passed Decree “G” and other laws: PZ 433/45 “For illegal possession of weapons”, PZ 753/45 “For illegal possession and use of arms”, “For extraordinary measures for public safety” were passed.

1945 - July 25. The National Guard flag bearer pulled out his pistol and fired at children he heard praying out loud in the Macedonian language at the Kiupria neighbourhood in Voden. Ianis Perchemlis, Gerimdzhes and Fotiadis, well known collaborators and Fascists who spied for the Germans during the occupation, were seen pacing up and down the streets calling out loud “lists of those going to jail are already made”. In other words they were openly threatening the population with harm without naming names, clearly a terror tactic to frighten everyone.

1945 – August 6. The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9,

1945, respectively, with the consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebec Agreement. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of them civilians.

1945 – August 8. The “Nea Alithia” newspaper fans flames of hatred. Another Greek nationalist newspaper that also fed the flames of hatred against this phantom “Slav threat” from the north was “Nea Alithia” which on August 8, 1945 wrote: “Greece fought, suffered, sacrificed and today is victorious but it cannot ignore threats from the north…”

1945 - August 15. The Fascist Socrates Tumanidis and his band of cut throats invaded the village Lukovtsi, detained 10 people and took them to the village Dragomentsi where they subjected them to beastly torture. Tortured the worst was Nikola Markov who in addition to being badly beaten had to endure hot eggs placed under his armpits and salt poured on his wounds.

1945 - August 19. The Greek Gendarme detained and jailed 25 people from the village Sarakinovo. A Greek Captain from the nearby army base, together with several soldiers, raped a young Macedonian woman in the village Tresino in front of her father-in-law. In a beastly manner, Jovan Dokov from the village Pozhartsko was ferociously beaten and while still conscious was buried alive. In the village Strupino 13 houses were burned down. One of those houses belonged to Tasho Boichev, a Macedonian resistance fighter. Boichev’s wife was killed and her body was thrown in the fire to burn. The same day Germanos Papadopoulos and his band of nationalists detained and killed 2 Macedonian boys.

1945 - August 25. Nationalists from the Greek army and Gendarme killed Kosta Dzhina from the village Laka, Atanas Koroveshov from the village Smrdesh and Atanas Lubchev from the village Kastaneri. These individuals were executed in Krombi, Edindzhe-Vardar Region.

1945 – October. The 7th CPG Party Congress was held to review some of the activities in which the CPG leadership participated in 1945 while attempting to consolidate its authority.

1945 - October 5. A group of National Guardsmen blockaded the village Shtrkovo and imprisoned 7 Macedonians, who after been beaten were sent to Lerin. Among the 7 beaten included were Ioshe Grozdanov, Bozhin Kostov, Pando Kostov and Stavre Katielov.

1945 - October 10. The village Rudari was blockaded and 15 people were taken and sent to the Lerin jail. Joshe Tsaklarovski and Mihail Mihailovski were beaten to a state of unconsciousness.

1945 – October. The CPG held its 7th Congress in Athens in early October 1945. This Congress was held ten months after the bloody events in December 1944, eight months after the signing of the Varkiza agreement and three months after the old CPG Central Committee 12th Plenum was held, when the situation for the democratic forces in the country was increasingly worsening.

1945 – November 7. After the 7th Congress had taken place, the 1st Plenum was convened during which the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece Political Bureau was appointed. Seven permanent members were appointed. They were Siantos Giorgios, Zahariadis Nikos, Ioanidis Gianis, Hadzhivasiliou Hrisa, Partsalidis Michos, Bardzhiotas Vasilis, Petridis Tassos (Anastasiadis Stergios). Appointed were also three candidates for permanent membership. They were Stringos Leonidas, Zevgos Gianis and Rousos Petros. During the decade of the 1940’s, the CPG was represented by a large number of fairly young people.

1945 - November 17. Upon their surrender by the collaborator Dimitar Doiara from the village Kastaneri, the National Guard executed Giorgi Shashev from Kastaneri, Hristo G. Tartev, Trifun Aita, Dimitar Parlapanov, Hristo Gatsov, Giorgi Gulev, Petar Karamutev and Aleksandar Vasilev from Kriva, Gumendzhisko Region. The executions took place in the Sehovo area near the village Barovitsa.

1945 - December 16. 106 Macedonians from the town Rupishcha in Kostur Region were prosecuted, accused of collaborating with the occupiers. This was done in spite of the fact that these people were ELAS fighters and fought against the occupiers. Many were sentenced to life in prison the rest were given shorter sentences.

1945 - December 28. In a hypocritical sense, Nikos Zahariadis, CPG General Secretary, spoke positively about NOF. During the December 28, 1945 General Assembly of the Provincial Committee for Macedonia and Thrace, speaking about a flyer published by the Voden branch of NOF, Zahariadis, among other things said: “Every Greek democratic citizen, I am sure, will agree with the call of NOF from Voden Region, to fight together for our freedom, for political rights and social equality and for a general amnesty. We will struggle together for our bread, our freedom and for a new Greek democracy.” It seems that the change in attitude on the part of the CPG towards NOF is owed mainly to the CPG’s need to reorganize for a new armed struggle against the Greek political right. A new armed struggle at this point was not possible without involving the Macedonians. The call for a new struggle was made during the December 28, 1945 CPG General Assembly when the slogan “We call on the people wherever they are, in the cities and in the villages, to carry out an armed struggle against the reactionaries” was first introduced. Too many mistakes had been made by the left in allowing the right, more commonly known as the Republicans and Royalists, in Greece to highjack power and abuse the innocent to no end. For the leftists more commonly known as the democrats, there was little choice left but to fight back; this time for their own survival.

1946 – January. In early January the NOF Main Board took unilateral action to establish cooperative relations with the CPG. With such a directive it ordered the NOF, NOMS and AFZH county, district, city and regional leaderships to establish links with the CPG, EAM, AKE and EPON organizations and to show them flexibility in resolving outstanding issues, mutual accusations and attacks and to avoid conflict “at any cost” in order to achieve unity with them against the Monarcho-Fascist regime.

1946 - January 13. The newspaper “Rizospastis”, in defense of the Macedonians who were terribly persecuted, harassed and mistreated, said: “…this is the greatest and most dreadful persecution ever heard of in Modern Greek history...”

1946 – January 21. With intentions of helping the EAM coalition, which had been persecuted in the country since the beginning of 1946, a Soviet delegation at the UN, on January 21, 1946, raised the Greek question in the Security Council with a request to adopt a resolution to “withdraw the British occupation forces from Greece”. This resolution, however, was met with bitter resistance from the British as well as from the American, French and other Western Power delegations which, after lengthy discussions at the Security Council, ended on February 6, 1946 with a vague resolution that read as follows: “The Security Council took into consideration statements made and opinions expressed by the Soviet, British and Greek delegations regarding the presence of British troops in Greece. The statements were entered into the Council’s documents and thus the issue was considered closed.”

1946 - January 28. Attacks against the Macedonian people living in Greece from Athenian newspapers were just as vicious engaging in brutal anti-Macedonian campaigns through the newspapers “Elefteria” and “Elenikos Kirix”. On January 28, 1946 “Elefteria” published an open letter demanding the expulsion of all Macedonians from their native homeland. “The Slavo-Macedonians can leave our Macedonia. They can go wherever they want. They need to disappear from here; they need to emigrate immediately and compulsorily. There is no place for them here.” In a similar tone the nationalist paper “Ethnikos Kirix” paved the way for conflict and for persecuting the Macedonians when it proposed, “that there is a need to get rid of 180,000 Slavo-Macedonians as soon as possible”. Even stronger criticism against the Macedonians came from the newspapers “Foni tis Kastorias” and “Ethnos” when they published quotes from Periklis Iliadis, a former Nazi collaborator, insisting that, “there is no place for Greeks and Macedonians in Greek-Macedonia”. In spite of the sacrifices the Macedonian people made to safeguard the security and integrity of Greece, the rightist elements of Greece were bent on destroying them. When they thought their situation could not get any worse, it did. If terrorizing and threatening them with death was not enough, the Greeks were now bent on exterminating the Macedonian people to the last one. The Macedonian people were now faced with a dilemma: remain at home and accept fate in the hands of the blood thirsty Nazi collaborators or forever leave their homes and ancestral lands and

cross over the border? Out of the two evils, the Macedonians chose to remain at home and together with the democratic people of Greece, resumed their struggle for their freedom, equality and human rights for all (in theory). The people had had enough of the lawlessness and brutality committed by the Greek nationalists and their armed wings the National Guard, armed bands and police. The very same sentiment was echoed by the world public which vehemently disapproved of how the Greek government and the British handled the situation.

1946 – February 12. 2nd CPG Central Committee Plenum was held in Athens during which in his introductory speech, Zahariadis specifically said: “...Today, just a year ago, the Varkiza Agreement was signed giving Greece a fair chance in taking the path of a peaceful and democratic evolution, which will allow us to freely express our will during the elections, so that our country could take the path to peace and reconstruction. That was our goal and our tendency. This was the right thing to do. Without a doubt today we can say that Varkiza was correct. It was the correct path to take because it absolutely served our democratic and national interests. The signing of the Varkiza agreement was the only correct step that could have been taken under those circumstances...” During this Plenum, Zahariadis also called for an armed struggle but only as a bluff, without having any serious intention of starting one. A decision was made not to take part in the parliamentary elections and to start an uprising (which later became known as the Greek Civil War).

1946 - March 5. Members of the National Guard jailed 10 people from the village Nered. They were all taken to court and without a shred of evidence, presented as members of the Greek National Liberation Front and of the National Liberation Army of Greece. Similar events took place in the villages Neokazi, Popozhani, Boreshnitsa, and Sekulevo.

1946 - March 6. Betrayed by Irini Mechkari a number of people were picked up by the Ofchareni Gendarmes at 9 pm on March 6, 1946 and sent to jail. Among those jailed included were Dimo Kratev and Vane Alamchev from Krushoradi.

1946 - March 8. Imprisoned were Petros Hadzhikarmenis, Janis Hadzhikarmenis, Kostas Hadzhikarmenis, Janakis Kostas, Dimitar Uzunov, Hristo Uzunov, Stamat Stamenov, Todor Vaskov and Gligor Tumbov from the village Petgas. Among the 35 men and women interned from the village Kriva included were Vangel Janakev, Atanas Jankov, Jovan Ropkov, Tano Janakev, Jovan Mladev, Petar Hadzhikarmenis, Tano Tsegli, Hristo Siagli, Giorgi Janakov, Paskalina Mitrova, Anastas Karadzha, Elisabeta Gatsi, Katerina Stoiu, Marika Pulka and others.

1946 - March 13. Ten people from Petoratsi sued in the Lerin court and were given 10 to 15 year prison sentences. They were accused of belonging to illegal socialist organizations. Among those sued were Bitko Mialev, Lazo Damianov, Naso Zhinzov and Vasil Popov. Another 18 people from the village Setina were also sued by the same court and handed 8 to 10 year prison sentences. These people were accused of various crimes. Their accuser was the teacher Miltiadis Dulukas who was a witness at their trials.

1946 - March 15. The Gendarme from Ofchareni, lead by collaborator and spy Ianis Apostolidis, stormed into the village Krushoradi and abducted resistance fighters Petar Donevski, Pando Vesev, Spase Dzhodzhov and Giorgi Mainov. The next day they were taken to Lerin and put in prison. More Macedonians were rounded up and taken before the courts in Lerin, even decent resistance fighters like Iordan Vitkov who was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, Katerina Ts. Shabalova sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and Alekso Gashtarov, Sveto Charkev and Giorgi Chakalov from the village Setina sentenced from 8 to 12 years imprisonment which prompted one to speak up and say “We are Macedonians and that is why it is not difficult that we must lie in prison. This is our tax for our freedom. The Macedonians are used to spending time in prison, but for us one day the sun will shine”.

1946 – March. About 500 ELAS fighters, refugees from the ELAS camps in Bulkes and Voivodina, left the CPG en masse and joined NOF. But in spite of all the challenges, attacks, accusations, slanders, and everything else the CPG could throw at NOF, the NOF leadership remained coolly restrained, always trying to avoid

confrontation. NOF’s only and most orderly response to all this was its consistent defense of the Macedonian people’s real interests…

1946 - March 31. Elections take place in Greece, Greek Civil War officially begins. While the British and the Greek press continued to speak of free elections in Greece, the nationalist and chauvinistic elements continued to rain terror on the civilian population arresting and imprisoning people uncontrollably. By the time the elections took place on March 31, 1946, almost all of the former resistance fighters were either missing or serving jail sentences under trumped up charges. Interestingly some of these election irregularities were confirmed by British, Colonel Shepard who was quoted by the newspaper “New Democracy” on December 8, 1947 as saying: “During the election a Greek officer was watching a British officer and finally got enough nerve to speak to him. The Greek officer boasted to the British officer about how his regime was capable of creating conditions where 100% of the people would vote for the royalists. ‘Even if not 100% then at least 95% and for those 5% who vote differently we will call them the enemies of the regime and invent reasons as needed to bring them in’ explained the Greek officer.”

1946 - March 31. Greek elections a total farce, not only because of the coercion by the rightist regime forcing voters to vote for them but also because of the perpetrated election fraud. In most European countries like France, Italy and others the population had naturally shrunk because of the war but not in Greece. In spite of the half million deaths due to starvation and war, Greece, according to the number of people who voted in 1946, showed a massive population increase, much greater than those voting in 1936. For example, 1,753,000 voters participated in the 1936 elections and 2,200,000 voters participated in the 1946 elections (voting in Greece was mandatory). Above that another 250,000 voters, known democrats were intentionally left off the lists so that they could not vote.

1946 - March 31. Uprising starts by one of the most characteristic acts performed by the partisans, which was to attack the village Lithohori, in which 23 government soldiers were killed. This, as one of the first major acts performed in the Greek history of DAG, was accepted as the beginning of the Greek Civil War. The Greek Civil

War officially began on March 31, 1946 by decision of the CPG 2nd Plenum held on February 12, 1946. It did not happen by accident, it was planned.

1946 – March 31. “The period from March 31, 1946 (the day the elections were forged) to September 1947 was the most suitable time to bolster the armed uprising and even take power... It seemed like almost all throughout 1946, the CPG leadership showed apathy to the drama committed against ordinary CPG members and former fighters of ELAS. Even during the first months in 1947, when CPG activists from field committees raised the issue of seizing power in the country, Zahariadis’s position was: ‘We are not going to take power for now, we will see, perhaps in 1948…’ During this time the CPG leadership insisted that the primary tasks of the Party were to solve economic problems and bring reconciliation. The CPG forbade ELAS fighters from joining the partisans, and those who insisted on doing it, because of the unbearable terror perpetrated against them by the monarchists, were labeled cowards, suspicious characters and provocateurs. It was during this period that all conditions were perfect for recruiting fighters into DAG and DAG could have easily grown into an army of over 60,000...” According to P. Mavromatis, when in 1946, the Provincial Bureau informed Zahariadis that 20-25 thousand partisan fighters could be recruited in Macedonia within a month, the Bureau was ordered “to stop, because the armed struggle was conceived as only a bluff, as a fake tactical maneuver for political needs, that is, to achieve political goals…”

1946 - April 2. Zahariadis initiates armed struggle in Greece and Tito supports him. CPG General Secretary Zahariadis, after returning from Moscow, went to Belgrade where he met with Marshal Tito and discussed his decision to initiate an armed struggle against the Right in Greece. Tito gave Zahariadis his full support and promised to supply him with moral and material aid. This meeting was arranged to also accomplish the following: 1. Place the Macedonian national liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia led by NOF, which as of April 1945 was under the leadership of the CPY-CPM, under the CPG. 2. Transfer part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ianis Ioanidis, to Belgrade with the task of managing supplies for the armed struggle and representing the CPG abroad. I.e. to take care of

supplying the partisans with weapons, clothing, food and other materials. 3. To organize recruitment of fighters from the Republic of Macedonia, more specifically from the so-called Greek political emigrants who fled Yugoslavia. To organize hospitals for the wounded and sick DAG fighters and for Yugoslavia to take on the role of organizer and coordinator of assistance for DAG from other countries.

1946 - May 4. First Macedonian Detachment formed at the “Trsie-Turie” mountains in Lerin Region. The detachment was led by Petre Markov from the village Neret, Lerin Region.

1946 - May 21. The newspaper “Ethnikos Kirikas” wrote: “Greece should soon expel 80,000 Slavo-Macedonians.” The same was said in the weekly Republican newspaper “Eleftheros Typos” on January 28, 1946 in an article entitled: “Let the Slavo-Macedonians leave our Macedonia - let them go wherever they want to go.”

1946 – June. Communists and ELAS fighters came under extreme attacks from the Athens based Monarcho-Fascist regime. According to General Markos Vafiadis, by June 1946 some 80,000 Greeks and Macedonians, members and supporters of the CPG and EAM, and ELAS fighters were detained and imprisoned without a trial. About 8,000 ELAS partisan, officers and commissars were expelled from Greece and exiled in Yugoslavia. It was under these conditions that the CPG decided to re-arm the partisan movement and fight back. New partisan units were created from the former ELAS fighters and their numbers were increased with time. By July 1946 there were Greek partisans in the mountainous regions of Thessaly, Epirus, Greek occupied Macedonia and other places. By CPG Central Committee Politburo decision, Markos Vafiadis was appointed supreme commander of the new forces. There were only a few Greek partisan units in Greek occupied Macedonia because, at that time, both the CPG and EAM were unpopular with the Macedonian people.

1946 – June 16. The CPG Regional Committee for Greek occupied Macedonia and Thrace held its 3rd Session during which Secretary General Zahariadis announced NOF’s recognition as a “democratic and progressive organization” of the Macedonian minority in

Greece. Zahariadis’s speech, during which he recognized NOF, was published on June 19, 1946 in the CPG central newspapers “Rizospastis” and “Laiki Foni”. The publishing of Zahariadis’s speech informed the entire Greek public about NOF’s recognition. This made many Greeks unhappy, including many Party leaders who quickly changed their attitude towards NOF and further deteriorated the internal political situation in Greece. But, as it turned out, the recognition was done in order to secure Macedonian support in the struggle against the Monarcho-Fascist regime. Guided purely by self-interests, the Communist Party of Greece recognized the Macedonian national organization as a respectable political and potential military factor, as the sole legitimate representative of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. Soon after recognizing NOF, the CPG leadership decided to initiate an armed struggle against the Monarcho-Fascist regime in order to seize power in Greece. The Macedonian people and their organization began to emerge as a reliable ally in this fight. The Macedonian people, it appears, had no other alternative but to fight against the Monarcho-Fascist regime in solidarity with the CPG. In October 1946, under these conditions, NOF and the CPG reached an agreement to combine forces and jointly fight against the Monarcho-Fascists. Following a directive issued by the CPM Central Committee, the NOF Main Board made arrangements to have NOF put under the leadership of the Communist Party of Greece.

1946 – June 28. The CPG District Committee for Voden Region called on all party members and on all the Greek people to mobilize against the “autonomists”, “separatists” and “counter-bandits” organized by NOF. All this led to strained relations. To avoid escalation, the NOF leadership responded with restraint to the violent CPG attacks and looked for a way to normalize relations, because the CPM from the People’s Republic of Macedonia insisted that NOF normalize its relations with the CPG.

1946 – June. Towards the end of June 1946 the NOF Main Board Committee, consisting of Paskal Mitrevski, Giorgi Urdov-Dzhodzho, Pavle Rakovski, Mihailo Keramitdzhiev and Mincho Fotev, was summoned to visit Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Political Secretary and Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia. The meeting was also attended by Tsvetko-Uzunovski-

Abas, CPG Central Committee Organizing Secretary, during which the situation in Greek occupied Macedonia and NOF’s position in relation to the CPG and EAM were discussed. Kolishevski and Uzunovski expressed support for the normalization of relations and noted that “the unity of NOF with the CPG was of vital interest to the national liberation movement of the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia.”

1946 – July 7. Terrorist activities against the Macedonian population peaked on July 7, 1946 when the Greek government voted to take “extraordinary measures” to further deprive the people of their rights by prohibiting political and professional organizational activities and by openly moving towards reinstating a military dictatorship. In view of the Macedonian national liberation front and its activities, these “extraordinary measures” were particularly brutal against the Macedonians who were now being treated more harshly than the citizens of southern Greece. By treating the Macedonians differently and by accusing them of having “separatist tendencies” the regime was promoting division between the democratic people. Here is a quote of “article one” from the “extraordinary measures” adopted on July 7, 1946: “Those who aim to partition a section of the national territory or create opportunities to conspire inside this country or take part in them will be sentenced to death…” Ironically these measures were only a pretext to attack the innocent Macedonians and not the real conspirators; the British consulate in Lerin, Vice-Consul Hill, Captain Evans and the Greek Colonel Bafas who started this conspiracy in the first place. The “extraordinary measures” were immediately put into effect and the courts were transformed into death factories in which tens of real patriots, the ones who spilled blood and freed Greece from the occupiers, were sentenced to death on a daily basis. All one had to do was accuse someone of “committing subversive activities against the state” and the military did the rest. “Article ten” of the “extraordinary measures” allowed for the searching of premises at all times. This part of the law was utilized to justify the brutal measures taken against innocent people in response to press allegations of conspiracies. Names of so-called “autonomists” were printed and people were pursued by state organs without the slightest proof of wrong doing. While the Greek parliament was voting to pass the “extraordinary measures” the Greek newspaper “Makedhonia”,

published the following: “Our competent government officials have uncovered concrete information that proves that in the first 15 days of June disorder of a revolutionary character was taking place, which spread throughout the entire region of Macedonia, both inside and outside of cities. According to government sources, bandits who entered the villages and are concentrating their forces have been advised to act on a moment’s notice. We have information that these orders came directly from NOF whose long term objectives are to free Macedonia from the Greek yoke and proclaim it a “Peoples’ Republic” and then join it with Tito’s federation of Peoples’ Republics.” This well planted Greek propaganda, by the way, today serves as the “Greek side” of the story. With this well fabricated, well planned and well executed program along with the use of well paid “professional witnesses” the Greek government managed to send thousands of Macedonians, sometimes entire families, to the Greek concentration prison camps in the waterless and parched Greek islands not to mention the many that Greece senselessly sentenced to death and executed. Among the many executed were six high ranking Macedonian NOF cadres one of them Mirka Ginova sentenced to death by the military court in Enidzhe-Vardar. The campaign against NOF was becoming fiercer by the day especially in the spring of 1946 after the appearance of the Macedonian detachment in Kaimakchalan. The detachment’s rapid growth was seen as a threat to the Republican and Royalist control of Greek occupied Macedonia and they took immediate action to liquidate it. Gendarmes from Western Meglen were dispatched in pursuit and one day in the middle of July 1946, when the detachment was taking a rest near the village Pochep, it unexpectedly came under attack from three sides. Over 500 gendarmes were involved and in view of such an overwhelming force the Macedonians decided it was wise to retreat. Unfortunately during the withdrawal a group of seven people, leaders of NOF, who that day were having a conference, were left behind and mistakenly took the wrong route to escape. During their retreat they ran into the enemy and were captured alive. Of the seven only Mirka Ginova was armed with a pistol. As the seven were rushed by enemy soldiers, Mirka fired all her rounds and in frustration threw the pistol at the soldiers. Among the seven was also a Greek. All seven were taken to the city of Voden. Mirka Ginova’s capture was touted as a big success for the Republicans and Royalists. To demoralize her

and the Macedonian people, the gendarmes had her dressed in rags and paraded through the streets as a scarecrow. But this fiery revolutionary walked with her head up and saluted onlookers calling on them not to cry for her. “Mothers don’t cry the revolution will be victorious!” A local woman, wife of Andon Shulov, who lived near the gendarme station in Voden, afterwards reported that for three nights in a row a motorcycle was left running just outside the station under Mirka’s cell to mask Mirka’s screaming. Mirka had been severely tortured by the gendarmes using middle age inquisition methods. Several times she was lead to the city cemetery and buried in an open grave up to her neck. She was then fired at with blank shells to frighten her to disclose information on activities and on people in her organization’s network. Even after all that torture Mirka told them nothing.

1946 - July 12. At six o’clock in the morning the army and police from the villages D’mbeni and Gabresh attacked the village Chereshnitsa, using grenade launchers and machineguns. After burning several barns they gathered the entire population in the village square and began to beat people with sticks and metal rods. Thirteen people were beaten unconscious. Among them were Hristo Markov, Vasil Palev, Hristo Andreev, Vasil Skivinov, Poptraianov and Andon Terziev. Dimitar Anastasov was captured while working and taken to the village Gabresh where he endured prolonged beatings until he was dead. Afterwards his body was taken out of the village, doused with gasoline and burned. This was the second attack against the village Chereshnitsa. The village was also attacked three days earlier on July 9, 1946 and the following people were abducted and sent to the island of Corfu concentration prison camps: Lambrovitsa Popfilipova, Marko Vivkov and Filip Palev. They were punished because they were relatives of people who illegally fled the country. Others who were jailed and tortured included Ivan Kizov from the village Gabresh. Unfortunately Ivan Kizov could not withstand the torture he received and died in prison the same night he was jailed. His body was taken and tossed in front of the door of his house and left there. The next day the police jailed Lena Makrieva, Nikola Rompov and Hristo Robov, no reasons were given. Seventy people, fifty women and twenty men, from the village Biraltsi were turned in by the village informer Minche

Shpirov. They were detained, locked up and severely beaten by the army and gendarme.

1946 - July 17. During 1946 a Commission made up of British Labour Representatives (Solei, Tifanis and Dode (sp?)), visited Greece and examined the political situation in some detail. Upon their return to their own country, on July 17, 1946 they announced that Greece is 90% Fascist, after which Laski, the former British President of the Labour party of Great Britain prophetically said: “The return of King George to Greece will convert this state into a second Spain…”

1946 - July 23. Mirka Ginova and the other six (Giorgi Projev, Petre Popdimitrov, Risto Stoianov – all from Voden, the Greek Alekos Mutsakis from the village N’te, Mitse Liumbata from Vlahovo and Tomo Mihailov from Teovo), were taken to a military court in Enidzhe-Vardar where they were sentenced to death. Mirka’s words in her defense will remain a testament for the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia. To her last breath Mirka defended NOF and all Macedonians from the slanders of her captors. “I am a leader of NOF” said Mirka before the court “and during the occupation I fought against the Germans and the executioners Kalchev and Dimchev, who jumped upon us like beasts, especially against us Macedonians so that they could mislead us into the claws of ‘Ohrana’. We fought the Ohrana with fanaticism, just as we fought against the German occupier. NOF is not a military organization; it is a political Democratic Macedonian organization, which is struggling for equal rights for our people within the framework of the Greek State. We are fighting for freedom and democracy!”

1946 – July 26. A military court in Enidzhe-Vardar sentenced to death and executed Mirka Ginova AFZH Secretary and hero of the Macedonian people, Pando Terpovski NOF District Board Secretary, Tasho Ivanovski Head of NOMS from Rupishcha, Giorgi Proeski from Voden, Dimitar Limbov from the village Vladova, Risto Stoianov, Petre Popdimitrov, Tomo Mihailov, Giorgis Mistikidis, Vasil Delevski from the village Chuka and others. Mirka (Irina) Ginova, was a school teacher from the village Rosilovo, Voden Region. From Varkiza (February 12, 1945) until July 1946,

20,000 Macedonians were forced to seek shelter across the border, 22,458 were jailed, 21,202 were convicted, 225 were killed, 1,309 found refuge in the mountains…

1946 - July 28. The Greek army, stationed in the village Breznitsa attacked the village Besfina and jailed the following people: Dimitar Skenderov, Ristana Skenderova and Giorgi and Iane Skenderov. The next day the army captured and violently tortured Donka Dukova, after which she was taken to Lerin and jailed. The following women from the village Rabi, Prespa Region, were tortured and also taken to the Lerin jail: Sevasti Dimitrova, Barbara Kalkova, Metoditsa Iakreva, Mitrovitsa Dimitrova, Stoiantsa Dimitrova, Ioshevitsa Nikolova and Sofia Bailova. The following people were also jailed in the same prison on August 1, 1946: Vezo Karavanov, Ilia Nichov, Done Lazarov, Mitre Gogov and Ilia Srbinov. Also locked up were many residents from the villages Bukovik, Oshchima, German, Orovnik and Orovo. According to press reports, during the months of May, June, July and August 1946, 5,246 people were killed, 415 heavily wounded, 1,446 tortured, 1,246 interned and 3,290 imprisoned. During the same period over 20,000 Macedonians fled Greek occupied Macedonia.

1946 - August 9. In regards to Macedonians in Bulgaria, political changes after the capitulation of fascist Bulgaria and the September 9, 1944 coup d’etat positively influenced the Macedonians in Pirin. On August 9, 1946 the Communist Party of Bulgaria, under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov (a Macedonian), officially recognized the Macedonian nation and the right of the Bulgarian controlled part of Macedonia to attach itself to the People’s Republic of Macedonia. After World War II the Macedonians in Bulgaria were recognized as a separate and distinct ethnicity. Demographic data from a free census in 1946 revealed that the majority of the population in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia declared itself to be ethnic Macedonian. There was a period of cultural autonomy and affirmation of Macedonian national and cultural values. The Macedonian literary language and national history were introduced into the educational system and almost 32,000 students were taught Macedonian. In 1947 in Gorna Dzhumaia (Blagoevgrad) the first Macedonian bookstore, reading room and Regional Macedonian National Theater were opened. Macedonian newspapers such as

“Pirinsko delo”, “Nova Makedonija”, “Mlad borets” etc. were also published. Literary, cultural and artistic associations were founded contributing to the spread of Macedonian culture. In the 1956 census conducted by the Bulgarian government, 63.7% of the population living in Bulgarian occupied Macedonia declared itself Macedonian. Since that census, and after Tito broke relations with Russia and Bulgaria, Bulgaria changed its attitude and negated the existence of Macedonians thus forbidding the expression of the Macedonian ethnicity and language. Another census conducted in 1965 shows only 8,750 or less than 1% of the total population living in the district of Blagoevgrad to be Macedonians. This was a region with the highest percentage of Macedonians shown to live there by a previous census.

1946 - August 15. In Gumendzhe the nationalists and gendarmes killed Giorgi Hadzhipopov, Dimitar Karadzha from Gumendzhe, Kosta Popianov from Karpi, Lazo Proichev from Gomendzhe, Giorgi Tampov from Kastaneri, Petad Dautis, Iovan Shahsov, Trifun Minov, and Tano Mitachov from Karpi.

1946 - August 24. Based on prior agreements between Tito and Zahariadis, one part of the CPG Central Committee Politburo composition, headed by Ioannidis, was moved from Athens to Belgrade. General Markos Vafiadis, who was appointed organizer and leader of the partisan groups, in June 1946 by Zahariadis, left Greece and moved to Belgrade. There he received specific directives and promises of support from the CPG Politburo.

1946 – August 26. Classified dispatch from Mr. Peake to Mr. Bevin. No. 324. Belgrade, 27th August, 1946. WITH reference to Mr. Clutton’s dispatch No. 310 of the 13th August, 1946, have the honour to report that the leading article in the issue of Borba for the 26th August was devoted to Greek, or, as the Yugoslav’s call it Aegean Macedonia. At the head of the article was a map, a copy of which I attach, showing the present national frontiers and also the ethnical frontier. As you will notice the latter embraces Salonica and almost all Greek Macedonia. The article opens by saying that the frightful terror which is being carried on by Monarcho-Fascist bands in Greek Macedonia is already known to the Yugoslav public. Thousands of Macedonians and democratic Greek refugees are