Introduction - Part 04

On October 14, 1946, Tito and Zahariadis decide to transfer control of NOF from the CPY/CPM to the CPG. Then, on October 18, 1946, Lazar Kolishevski, CPM Central Committee Political Secretary and Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, ordered the NOF leaders to show absolute loyalty to the CPG. He told them: “It was of particular interest that they consistently enforce unity with the CPG, maintain and strengthen unity in the ranks of NOF, maintain and strengthen brotherhood and military solidarity with the Greek people, consistently and unreservedly fight when necessary, and any problems that arose during the fight were to be decided jointly with the CPG leadership and with DAG headquarters…” In other words the CPY/CPM put NOF under CPG control and broke all ties and contacts with it. The next day, October 19, 1946, the NOF leaders rushed back to Greek occupied Macedonia and, under this arrangement, agreed to combine forces with the CPG and jointly fight against the Monarcho-Fascists. In the meantime the Monarcho-Fascist regime further intensified its repression through its police and terrorist formations, in an attempt to expel the Macedonian population out of Greek occupied Macedonia. The right-wing press also became involved through its newspapers “Ellinikos Voras”, “Nea Alithia” and others, by calling for the expulsion of the “Sudetenland of Greece”. Because of the cruelty of the perpetrated daily terror, old people, men, women and children, naked and barefoot began to flee across the border into the Republic of Macedonia. According to reports maintained by the NOF Main Board, in the first 6 months of 1945 alone, more than 25,000 Macedonians were expelled from Greek occupied Macedonia. The Macedonian fighters in ELAS were constantly persecuted and arrested. The number of Macedonian patriots and ELAS fighters detained and persecuted had risen to several thousand. Even in a small town like Rupishcha around 300 Macedonians were arrested, three were killed heinously and about 100 were persecuted and expelled to the People’s Republic of Macedonia. Those arrested were sent to the infamous concentration camps such as “Makroniso”, “Iura” and “Pavlos Melas” and to the prisons

“Averof”, “Edikule” and others, in which many were killed by the Greek police using “medieval inquisitorial methods of torture”.

After returning from Belgrade to Greek occupied Macedonia Markos Vafiadis established DAG General Headquarters on October 28, 1946. DAG or Democratic Army of Greece was the new army that led the Greek Civil War on the resistance side. All DAG and NOF units in the Gramos area were gathered together in the village Drenovo, Kostur Region, on November 9 1946 were merged together. A little later Zahariadis received a directive from Stalin to stop expanding the armed movement during the winter of 1946-1947 because it was allegedly causing an international situation and that the CPG should focus more or less on its political struggle.

At about the same time a Greek delegation was sent to the UN to inform the Security Council that the struggle being led in Greece was led with help from the outside, claiming that “the rebels in Greece are being helped by Greece’s northern neighbours who are in violation of international law and are endangering the peace and security in the Balkans”. Soon afterwards a decision was reached at the UN to form an Inquiry Commission which was to go to Greece and examine the situation on the ground. The Inquiry Commission consisted of 11 Security Council representatives which included delegates representing the interested parties of the four named Balkan countries - Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria on the one hand and Greece on the other.

Soon afterwards the NOF, NOMS and AFZH district leaderships were informed that a UN Inquiry Commission had arrived in Greece at its headquarters in Solun and that the Commission was there to examine the causes of the Greek Civil War amid allegations, made by the Greek Monarcho-Fascist government, that the governments of Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria were responsible for the war in Greece. NOF senior officials in the districts were requested “to take most urgent measures and form groups of delegates, approach the UN Inquiry Commission, and submit petitions, memoranda and other materials, with irrefutable evidence, that point to the Greek government as the sole culprit for the Greek Civil War and for the causes of the unprecedented terror unleashed against the anti-fascist movement participants, who for the most part were members of

EAM and ELAS, and who fought with gun in hand against the German-Italian fascist invaders. The NOF leaders were asked to also inform the Commission of the Greek genocidal attempts against the Macedonian population with aims at driving it out. This information was to be confirmed and accompanied by thousands of signatures signed by Macedonian fighters and supporters of the anti-fascist struggle and to testify that thousands more Macedonians were currently in Greek prisons and in Greek concentration camps being brutally tortured by the Greek government. The people being imprisoned, without trial and being killed by the Greek police, were the leaders and fighters who had earlier fought in the anti-fascist movement. The International officials needed to know that the majority of the chiefs of police in the Greek State apparatus and officers in the Greek army were officials of the quisling government and officers and associates of the fascist occupiers. The highest priority for the NOF leaders at that time was to inform the Commission that the Macedonian people were suffering in Greek occupied Macedonia and that “orgies and crimes were carried out against them by the Monarcho-Fascist government”. It was expected that when the world found out the truth, about what was going on in Greece, it would also find out that there were many Macedonians living in Greek occupied Macedonia and that they had participated en masse in the great anti-fascist war and had made many sacrifices and sustained huge material damage. On top of that it was also important to inform the civilized world and the international democratic community about the genocide the Greek Monarcho-Fascists were committing against the Macedonian population. In other words, to inform the world, in the most comprehensive way, of the Macedonian National Question in Greek occupied Macedonia. The United Nations representatives were given over fifty memoranda and petitions. These were documents with evidence showing the tragic situation that existed among the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. The documents also contained requests for the United Nations “to condemn the terrorist policies of the Greek government and to demand of it to commit to providing a peaceful and democratic life for the people in Greece and to recognizing the Macedonian people as an equal nation to the Greeks”.

Then, on December 23, 1946, the rightist Greek newspaper “Ethniki Floga”, an organ of Napoleon Zervas, a former occupier collaborator now under British influence, waved another “Slav threat” flag giving Greek nationalists the signal to start terrorizing the anti-Fascist democratic citizens of Greece by printing the following: “The danger is patient and is always there. As long as Soviet Russia is not contained within its own borders the danger will lurk and make us uneasy threatening our lives and our country. As long as Russian watchtowers are closer than 30 km from the Aegean Sea they will continue to attack. With burning heat provided by their branches Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania the communists will burn our state because it is in their nature. There is only one way to escape this –full destruction of this banditry which breaks the law of justice and makes this treachery possible. The lozenge is war without hesitation or mercy. War until the enemy is transformed into food for vultures and wild beasts or it is in chains in the prisons from which there is no escape.”

The United Nations Inquiry Commission began its work as soon as it arrived in Athens. The Commission remained in Athens from January 29 to February 15, 1946, after which time it moved to Solun with individual teams visiting one side and then the other side of Greece’s northern border. On March 24, 1946 the Commission left for Sofia and Belgrade with one team heading for Skopje, where it held meetings until April 2, 1947, conducting interviews of witnesses. The Commission also received CPG and EAM delegations, one team even made contact with General Markos Vafiadis, Army Commander of DAG General Headquarters. The Inquiry Commission then retreated to Geneva where it remained from April 17 to May 23, 1947 preparing the report of its findings.

On February 12, 1947, the English government informed the United States government that, for economic reasons, as of March 31, 1947 it would stop helping Greece. The U.S. government agreed that it must inherit England’s role in Greece because otherwise Greece would inevitably fall under Russian influence. Then, on February 20, 1947, the U.S. and the Greek governments signed an agreement in Athens during which the U.S. government pledged to help Greece. As a result the U.S. began to exercise American dominance over Greece, pushing the UK to the side. At about the same time, on

February 24, 1947, the Greek king and Greek government publicly called on DAG fighters to surrender. They were given a deadline up to March 15, 1947. If they were to surrender before the March 15 deadline their offenses committed against the State and against the people would be absolved and they could return to their homes.

Then, on March 1, 1947, US President Harry Truman openly said that he was determined to “help Greece secure its independence”. Truman announced this to the US Congress and his statement became known as the “Truman Doctrine”, which basically was a plan to rescue the Greek bourgeoisie. Based on this the US government began to openly intervene in the Greek Civil War. In 1947 alone the US sent 300 million dollars of military aid and this practice continued throughout the entire duration of the civil war and beyond. On top of material assistance in military equipment, the US also sent military experts to train the Greek army. In the fall of 1947 a joint military staff was formed and placed under the command of US General Van Fleet and all major operational units were staffed with US officers. This intervention was deemed of “legal” character because it was there to help the “legally elected government” and the “lawful regime in Greece” against “subversive elements”. U.S. aid came at a time when the Greek bourgeoisie had fallen into a difficult situation. Before the U.S. had awarded this aid, part of the Greek bourgeoisie was unsure of Prime Minister Konstantine Tsaldaris’s Populist Party and the success of its dynamic policies. Themistoklis Sofoulis, head of the Liberals with his MP’s in opposition, had criticized the government and the resistance movement of being too extreme and advocated “for agreements”, “peace”, etc. But the arrival of US aid in September 1947 had such an effect on the entire liberal bourgeoisie that it entered into coalition with the government and led the war against DAG with even greater dexterity. At about the same time the collaborator Napoleon Zervas took charge of the Ministry of Public Security, police and gendarmes and escalated the terror and violence to unprecedented heights.

As part of US General Van Fleet’s strategy to starve the resistance movement, a short time later the Greek government issued a secret order to all its units to withdraw from open spaces and concentrate in major administrative and communication centres. The

Government forces found better security there and at the same time isolated these urban centres from access to the resistance movement. The government army’s retreat was soon followed by a forceful civilian evacuation of many villages which gave the Greek government greater economic control. These measures were accompanied by efforts made to organize a defense strategy around urban centres and communication facilities. The cities in the regions where resistance movements existed were surrounded by barbed wire (left over from the occupation), minefields, bunkers, machine gun and cannon nests, etc. At the same time, according to the military plan “Terminus”, revealed on April 9, 1947, the Greek government initiated military operations to destroy DAG. DAG forces were to be encircled, destroyed or thrown out of Greek territory. To starve the resistance movement from its recruits, the Greek government, on April 17, 1947, initiated a program to forcibly take all men of military age from the Macedonian villages and send them to the Greek island prison camps. All this was Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet’s plan. Van Fleet was familiar with the concept of how to starve a guerrilla army. In order to do that he had to rob the guerrilla army of the ability to feed itself and recruit new fighters. To stop the partisans from recruiting new fighters, the Greek government arrested basically every man, capable of carrying a gun, who was not loyal to the government or was affiliated with the resistance movement. All these people were sent to the Greek island prison camps.

On April 21, 1947, Nikos Zahariadis went to Belgrade to discuss with Tito the help the CPY had promised him. He then went to Moscow and, in May 1947, met Stalin and Zhdanov. In June 1947, after returning from Moscow he again went to Belgrade to speak with CPY representatives who agreed to create a corridor for transporting weapons from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. In the meantime operation ‘Terminus’ was finished, but the government forces did not achieve their objective. DAG forces breached the encirclement and escaped but with severe losses.

In late April 1947, after spending two fruitless months in Greece, the UN Inquiry Commission was dispatched to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to interview more witnesses at the request of the Greek government. The Greeks were making accusations against Yugoslavia for

allegedly harbouring a NOF organizational network in Skopje and Bitola, which allegedly managed the partisan groups in Greek occupied Macedonia. The witnesses offered by the Greek government were Patatoukas, Mensourakis and Bopchis who, in their testimony, created a lot of confusion about what NOF’s role was and about the refugees from Greek occupied Macedonia found in Yugoslavia, which caused many Commission members to declare the statements made by these witnesses were deprived of any value. In other words, their testimony was useless.

On May 20, 1947, Siantos had a heart attack and died. Zahariadis, however, claimed that the intelligence service liquidated him because he was one of their agents and they feared that he was going to be discovered. They killed him to stop him from talking.

Failing to achieve its goal through “Terminus” the Greek government in Athens was facing a crisis. During this time DAG General Headquarters issued a communiqué with which it declared that Greece was an “independent republic”. Further in the communiqué it reported that DAG General Headquarters was in charge of the supreme legislative and executive powers up to the formation of a democratic government. Then, on September 15, 1947, the CPG, during its 3rd Plenum, held from September 15 to 17, coined the slogan: “All to arms and everything for victory!” and announced the creation of a free territory in the Kozheni Plateau surrounded by the mountains Pind, Pieria, Karakamen, Kaimakchalan and Vicho, which it was prepared to defend at all costs until the spring of 1948, at which time DAG was going to be expanded to 65,000 fighters. This unfortunately proved to be completely unrealistic. According to General Markos: “That was wishful thinking on our part and did not necessarily reflect the reality of the day…”

On September 27, 1947, DAG General Headquarters issued mobilization orders to mobilize all men ages 17 to 35. A mobilization which took from 4 to 9 months was conducted, which included mobilizing people from the Macedonian refugees who had fled Greece and had gone to Yugoslavia. Places of mobilization outside of the Greek borders included Skopje, Veles, Shtip, Bitola and various other places in the Republic of Macedonia. All these

people were shipped out of Yugoslavia and sent to join DAG. Considering all the above factors, one would arrive at a logical conclusion that NOF was nothing more than a mobilizing Machine for the CPG.

In the meantime things were so bad in Greece that even the Brits stationed there began to complain. On November 22, 1947, a British officer, who at the time was stationed in Greece made the following remarks for the newspaper “New Statesmen and Nation”. In short he described the situation in Greece like this: “One week after the signing of the Varkiza agreement I witnessed the most horrific and antisocial behaviour committed by the newly formed National Guard made up from personnel from the former collaborators of the occupiers. Everyone who placed their faith in the word of the agreement (which the English had guaranteed) and did not leave in good time, were put in prison and mistreated. In an underground enclosure in the larger part of a kitchen in a small flat I saw 16 men, women and children. Two of the men were lying on the floor unconscious swimming in a pool of their own blood. Every prisoner had the right to go to the toilet only once in three hours and only for three minutes. An old man, because he was selling EAM newspapers, was tied and beaten for an entire hour. None of the prisoners were informed as to why they were imprisoned. None of the prisoners were taken to court, sued and found guilty but were kept in prison for nine months. This was not an isolated situation during the time when not a single group of communists existed and not even a single leftist activity was taking place.” The newspaper “Daily Mirror” published another article written by a British soldier who personally had witnessed atrocities committed by the Greek Rightist forces. The article was illustrated with photographs showing people being tortured and beaten. There were photographs of mass slaughters and decapitations. There was even a photograph of a decapitated 16 year old girl. People’s decapitated heads were shown to be carried as trophies hung on the saddles of horses or propped up on spikes. The people who had suffered and died at the hands of these blood thirsty Greeks were Macedonians who had done nothing wrong except to have being born Macedonian.

Connie Ziliakus (sp?) wrote that the official Greek government and the military which was organized by General Charles Uiakam, (sp?)

a well-known enemy of the communist ideology, well-known from the time he was chief of the British military interventionist forces in the Soviet Union, were no better than the police and the gendarmes. “Four fifths of the forces in the official administration, in the courts and in the police are in the hands of these extremists. Surlas’s bands ruled the province and had established their own administration. They are well armed and did what they feel like.”

Quoting British Colonel Shepard, the newspaper “New Democracy” on December 12, 1947, wrote: “The backbone of the Royal Gendarme, making up Greece’s Security battalions today, consists mainly of German collaborators”.

Richard Mayer from the American Overseas Information Agency reported from Athens that: “a large part of the former gendarme which a while ago served the Germans is now using the lists left by the Germans to oppress doubtful personalities…”

Based on the two reports the Balkan Commission prepared regarding “Greece’s neighbours helping the rebel war”, the Greek government requested that this “Greek issue” remain on the Security Council agenda, which it did for the entire summer of 1947. But because the Soviet Union kept placing vetos on it whenever it was brought up, the US, on August 20, 1947, sent a request to the UN Secretary General to move the “Greek issue” to the UN General Assembly’s agenda. When the General Assembly convened on December 17, 1947 in New York, the item was present on the agenda under the theme “Endangerment of the national independence and territorial integrity of Greece”. Its initiation by the US delegation had great significance for the Greek government. As a result the crisis that the Greek government was facing in August 1947, eventually ended. The UN reached consent and the leadership in Athens was given a mandate to put together a new government headed by Themistoklis Sofoulis. This was also a win for the Americans and international factor. The “Greek issue” was again raised in the UN General Assembly in October 1947 during which time a decision was made to task the Balkan Commission with assisting the Greek government to suppress the resistance movement. The Commission, composed of representatives from the US, Britain, France, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, China and

the Netherlands, arrived in Greece in November 1947 and, after remaining in Athens for a few days, moved to Solun where it was subdivided into teams and dispatched to various points along the Greek border. The Commission remained in Greece until May 1948, after which it moved to Geneva. The Balkan Commission became a good protector of the Greek bourgeoisie by strongly insisting that material assistance to the democratic movement by the democratic countries must be prohibited. It constantly and morally acted in favour of the bourgeois government both domestically and on the international scene. When on December 24, 1947 it was announced that a democratic government had been established in the “free territories” in Greece, with General Markos Vafiadis as the President, the Commission was first to warn the Balkan countries that “any recognition of the Provisional Democratic Government is in opposition of UN decisions”, and so on. In other words, the “international intervention” to investigate the “Greek issue” and punish the Athens government for what it was doing, eventually began to work in favour of the Athens government.

The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece was created on December 23, 1947, in accordance with the decisions made by the CPG’s Central Committee Political Bureau. The seat of the provisional government was established in Prespa, in Asamati, located in the People’s Republic of Macedonia. The seat of the government was supposed to be established in Konitsa (as claimed by Zahariadis when he said: “…If we take Konitsa our government will probably be recognized…”). But unfortunately, it did not happen! DAG units fought tough battles and sustained heavy losses in their attempt to take Konitsa, but to no avail. The arrival of members of the Provisional Democratic Government in Prespa was accommodated by UDBA’s Lieutenant Colonel Slobodan Krstich, a Yugoslav National Army officer. Originally the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece consisted of eight members: President Markos Vafiadis, Yannis Ioannidis, Petros Rousos, Miltiadis Porfirogenis, Petros Kokalis, Vassilis Bardzhiotas, Dimitrios Leonidas and Vlandas Stringos. Then, by decree, twenty-five people were promoted to colonel in the ranks of DAG. But neither in the government nor among these officers, who represented the military and political factor of DAG, was there a single Macedonian! The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece

was a one-party government exclusively composed of Greek communists. Despite the fact that 50% to 60%, or more, of the DAG fighters were Macedonians, not a single Macedonian was in charge! The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece led by Markos Vafiadis was not recognized by any country, which means it was operating illegally and conducting illegal mobilizations, especially in the Republic of Macedonia.

Meanwhile on the international scene, on February 10, 1948, Stalin demanded that Yugoslavia stop supporting the resistance movement in Greece. Stalin told the Yugoslav delegation visiting Moscow that: “I do not agree with you, my Yugoslav comrades that the revolution in Greece should continue. That struggle has no hope of success. What do you think; the UK and the USA, the strongest countries in the world, will allow it to bring down a line of communication with the Mediterranean Sea? Nonsense! And there’s almost nothing of naval forces! No! The revolution in Greece should stop, as quickly as possible.” This recommendation was most likely based on what was decided between Stalin and Churchill in Yalta and in Moscow from October 5th to the 20th 1944, during the division of spheres of influence of the Balkans between the Great Powers. Another of Stalin’s clear and undeniable positions was that the USSR was against Zahariadis’s decision to announce the creation of a “United and Independent Macedonian state within a Balkan Federation”, a decision passed during the CPG Central Committee 5th Plenum. Stalin’s dislike of this was made very clear in the correspondence files between the USSR leadership and Chernishov, the Soviet Ambassador to Athens.

A wide call for evacuating the Macedonian and other children from the war zone which was predominantly located in Greek occupied Macedonia was made in March 1948. The newspaper “Eksormisi”, issued by DAG in Gramos Region, carried an announcement from the Provisional Democratic Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated March 7, 1948 entitled “Parents and children appeal to the government”. Further down the article it said: “From mid-February to March 5, 1948 parents from 59 villages from the free territory gave 4,784 children.” The same newspaper carried an article on March 20, 1948 saying that the Interim Democratic Government has decided to evacuate all the children up to age 14. A

mass evacuation of children took place right after the recruitment and training of the special teachers called “mothers”. The actual evacuations were carried out en masse starting on March 25 through to March 30, 1948 until all the designated villages were evacuated. Most children were transported through Yugoslavia and were sent to Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Some were evacuated through Albania and Bulgaria. As the numbers of the evacuated rose, children were also sent to East Germany and the USSR. It is estimated that about 28,000 children in all were evacuated, most of them from North-Western Greek occupied Macedonia. Although smaller in number some orphans, children of partisans and children of families who were in trouble with the Greek Government were also evacuated. In the first half of 1948 columns of small children (ages 2 to 14) began to move from Greek occupied Macedonia into the People’s Republic of Macedonia, and from there to the Yugoslav republics and to the other democratic countries. The children were accompanied by the specially trained women called “mothers” who dedicated themselves to lead the children to safety and to deliver them to the free countries where the children were placed in homes and boarding schools. The paths taken during the long trek led the children through gullies and mountains to the territory of the People’s Republic of Macedonia, and hence to Bitola, Brailovo and beyond to Skopje, Belgrade, Gakovo, Bela Tsrkva, Tsrkvenitsa, Stara Gora and other places. The majority of the younger Macedonian refugee children, after they were given medical assistance, food and clothing, were sent to Belgrade and from there were deployed in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and the Autonomous Province of Voivodina. This is where the majority of the centres were set up to accommodate the Macedonian refugee children, whose numbers, although negligible to the total number of children uprooted and displaced, was still rather significant. Several researchers have pointed out that the figure of displaced children was 28,600, 90% of whom were Macedonians and the others were from the other national and ethnic groups living in Greece. A Greek settlement was established in Bulkes, Autonomous Province of Voivodina, from 1945 to 1949 to accommodate Greek party leaders, fighters and other staff as well as Greek refugees. The entire overall policy regarding the Greek refugees, including the refugee children, regardless of the fact that the vast majority were Macedonians, was led from Bulkes. The

“Committee for helping the children” was formed here. Their job was to place the refugee children in homes (boarding schools) in Yugoslavia and to make sure they received a proper education. Here they printed newspapers and brochures and created all the political means to deal with the refugee children. After the Informburo Resolution was adopted in mid 1948, which publicly proclaimed that there was a conflict between the then Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, two things came out: first, the Greek leadership in Bulkes adopted the Informburo Resolution and began to brutally and mercilessly attack the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. This was done regardless of the fact that Bulkes was right in the middle of Yugoslavia. Secondly, the Greeks in Bulkes attempted to exploit the refugee children for their own propaganda purposes. Besides printing leaflets attacking the social and political system in Yugoslavia, they insidiously began to organize riots in the refugee shelters and in children’s homes. They informed the foreign media, especially the media in Eastern European countries, to publish fabrications and rumours that the children in orphanages in Yugoslavia lived under extremely difficult conditions because they were exploited. They were forced to work hard in physical labour camps instead of being educated in schools. Naturally, these were lies perpetrated by the Greeks which the Yugoslav and Macedonian authorities had to fight against with the strength of argument and the truth. They organized visits for several foreign journalists to visit the homes that sheltered the refugee children, and to show the world that the children were indeed being well looked after as well as being educated. This, the journalists had to see for themselves and verify how the children lived. In the end their articles were published in several prominent newspapers. The articles were impartial and showed the actual conditions under which the refugee children lived and were educated in Yugoslavia. This was a slap in the face for Greek and Eastern European propagandists. It showed the world that the situation in Yugoslavia was completely different and positive and that there should be no concern for the wellbeing of the refugee children living there.

With the departure of the Macedonian children from Greek occupied Macedonia, the CPG had no problem convincing the Macedonian women to join DAG and fight in the mountains, if they wanted to see their children again.

On the international scene, according to secret CIA documents from June, 1948, the conflict between Stalin and Tito was about Tito not adhering to the idea that the Soviet leader did not want problems with the allies, America and England, because of the Yalta agreement. Stalin was upset with Tito because he continued to supply the communist rebels in Greece with weapons, equipment and officer corps. Stalin sent a letter to Tito criticizing him for opening the “Greek line” and for helping the Greek communists who started a war that had no chance of success because Athens was supported by America, “the most powerful country in the world”. CIA documents have also revealed that immediately after Yugoslavia was discharged by the Informburo, Tito suspended aid to the communist resistance in Greece, even closed the borders which was meant to end the struggle in Greece. From what Stalin said it should have been obvious to everyone that not only did the Macedonians have no chance of uniting Macedonia because the West would not allow Greece to be broken up, but the communists in Greece had no chance of winning either! So why did Yugoslavia, against Stalin’s advice, continue to support this campaign? Again, it is important to understand that events such as this war do not happen by chance, there is always a purpose to them and to understand that purpose we need to take a look at the final outcome: the Macedonian people not only lost the right to acquire human rights in Greece but were ousted from their natural ancestral homeland. There is no doubt that the Macedonian people were lied to in order to get them involved in this war and eventually led, not to the victories they were promised but to their demise!

In the meantime the CPG used the Informburo resolution, which called for isolating the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, as an excuse to remove more NOF leaders from the organization and replace them with its own cronies. This was done during the period from June 14 to August 21, 1948, which coincided with the Greek government’s major offensive against DAG in western and central Greek occupied Macedonia.

When the CPG needed more Macedonian involvement it tended to praise the Macedonian people. During its 4th Plenum held on July 28 and 29, 1948, it said: “The CPG Central Committee Plenum

underlines the extraordinary contribution of the ‘Slavo-Macedonian’ people for their struggle in our common cause for freedom.” In other words the CPG admitted that Macedonian people were helpful in Greece’s liberation. The CPG then went on to say: “With the blood of their sons and daughters, the Slavo-Macedonian nation in this struggle has earned its solid freedom and equality in Greece, which will be guaranteed in the future by the people’s liberation movement…” What the CPG failed to say is that the Macedonian people had fought massively in the armed struggle from the beginning and had earned their rights. It failed to say that the Macedonian people had lived through the fiercest terror and persecution campaigns exacted on them by the Monarcho-Fascist regime and its police, army, special units and air force.

Because of Van Fleet’s campaign to “starve” the resistance movement many Macedonian families were displaced from their homes and villages. Their sons and daughters over the age of fifteen were sent to concentration camps. In their absence their homes were looted and their properties destroyed. In this way the Monarcho-Fascist army, led by US officers headed by the notorious General Van Fleet, forcibly evicted around 50 villages in the Lerin and Kostur Regions and gathered them in the cities in ghettos under very difficult conditions. Many of the villagers who protested at being moved were accused of collaborating with DAG and were sent to prison in the Aegean islands. The Monarcho-Fascist aviation, flown by US and English pilots, bombed and destroyed the free zones on a daily basis. Flying the British military aircraft “Spitfire” and the American aircraft “Dakota” they bombed everything including flocks of cattle and sheep. They also bombed the crop fields with flammable liquids. The Monarcho-Fascist army led a totally destructive war not only against DAG but also against the entire population. The lives of the people were turned into real tragedies. Their physical existence was threatened by these bombardments by disease and hunger. The Provisional Democratic Government of Greece called on the governments of the people’s republics to start taking refugees from this part of the population.

Soon after the CPG adopted the Informburo resolution, we are told, there was an apparent dispute between two NOF leaders, Paskal Mitrevski and Mihailo Keramitzhiev. These two NOF leaders were

apparently causing problems in NOF so on October 3, 1948, a NOF Conference was held in the village Rudari, Prespa Region to resolve these problems. The Conference was personally attended by Nikos Zahariadis, who insisted that both Mitrevski and Keramitzhiev be immediately removed from their duties. During the Conference Zahariadis also asked Mitrevski what he wanted to do, i.e. where he wanted to work while being suspended from the NOF leadership. Mitrevski said: “I am a communist and a fighter... I will go wherever the Party sends me...” To that Zahariadis replied: “Then go and join the ranks of DAG and fight like an exemplary fighter…” And that’s exactly what he did. On October 5, 1948 Paskal Mitrevski was sent to the ranks of DAG’s 107th Brigade to serve as an ordinary fighter. The order for this came directly from Nikos Zahariadis. Unfortunately there was little to no mention of what the dispute between Mitrevski and Keramitzhiev was about but whatever it was, it gave Zahariadis reason to remove both of them from NOF and replace them with people who were loyal to him. Then, I found this in a classified report written by Col, R.F Rothschild, who on item 10 of the report said: “The feud between Tito and the Cominform resulted in a split in the NOF organization. As a result, two opposing groups were formed within NOF, each following its own line of policy. One group under Gotseff (Ilia Dimovski-Gotse) and Keramidjieff (Keramitzhiev) had declared itself as the followers of Tito. Its aim was still the incorporation of Greek Macedonia into the People’s Republic of Macedonia which constituted one of the six republics of the Federated Peoples Republics of Yugoslavia. This group was now in Yugoslavia and came under the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The second group was lead by Mitrofski (Mitrevski) (Metropoulos – member of the Communist Provisional Democratic Government as Minister of Food) and Kotchef (Kotsopoulos – also member of the Provisional Democratic Government as Director of Minorities)…

On November 15, 1948, the CPG Central Committee Political Bureau decided to suspend General Markos Vafiadis as Chief of DAG and member of the CPG Central Committee. Vafiadis was suspended because he wanted DAG to remain a hit and run partisan army, while Zahariadis wanted to turn DAG into a stationary army so that it would fight in a front. On November 23, 1948, DAG Headquarters ordered the mobilization of Macedonian men and

women ages 17 to 35 but only in the Vicho area. By this act practically every Macedonian man and woman in Kostur and Lerin Regions was mobilized. In the meantime, Zahariadis continued to speak of DAG as an invincible force that would defeat the Greek government’s regular army, destroy the Republicans and Royalists, take over the government and bring victory to the Democratic people. He threw around slogans like “1949 will be the year of victory” and “Death to Monarcho-Fascism and American-Imperialism”. He then called on the Macedonian people from the “free territories” to continue their struggle and sacrifices and in place of promising them “equal rights with the Greeks as a minority” as has been done before, he now promised them “self-determination as Macedonians” but only when the CPG came to power. He was saying all this when even the most lay of people knew that DAG was facing an unavoidable defeat. Was this an act of an incompetent commander or an act of a treacherous and deceitful traitor? Among other things Zahariadis also said that the Macedonians in Northern Greece have given their all in the struggle with outstanding heroism and self-sacrifice which calls much admiration. There should be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that as a result of their effort and spilling of blood the Macedonian people have earned their full national restitution in the way they themselves would want it. Then, during the CPG Central Committee 5th Plenum, held on January 30-31, 1949, the slogan: “United and Independent Macedonia within a Balkan Federation” was coined. This unfortunately was an unpardonable cruel manipulation. To recognize the Macedonian people’s right to self-determination just a few months before DAG was liquidated was a cruel act, a ploy to “intensify” the war on both sides! And as it turned out, this “offer” lasted only until DAG was liquidated! After that it was business as usual for the CPG. Accordingly, this “recognition” was made quite independently and outside of the Balkan reality and, of course, it was absurd and not true. Zahariadis was simply playing on emotions and on centuries-old Macedonian aspirations with a specific goal in mind; intensify the war. This announcement was published in DAG’s newspaper “Pros ti niki”, on March 27, 1949 and more spectacularly it was announced through the radio program “Free Greece”. Given the current situation in the Balkans, the announcement caused vivid public interest and a sharp reaction from the Athens government. Because of this, or perhaps because of

someone else’s complaint, Zahariadis denied that he ever made such an announcement and called it an enemy fabrication. This is what in part Zahariadis said: “There are rumours that the 2nd NOF Congress is expected to declare the creation of a single Macedonian state, and that this state will then join Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, or the Balkan Communist or Democratic Federation. Our enemies always choose to say what they think is better for them. The truth, however, is different. The 2nd NOF Congress is a military congress, a congress for further strengthening and not breaking our unity. This is a congress that will organize our victory in expelling the foreigners, destroy the Monarcho-fascist killers and ensure a free and independent life for our people’s democracy.”

In the meantime Zahariadis was preparing plans to attack Lerin, the city, in early February 1949, which turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles in the so-called Greek Civil War. This battle was unnecessary because the resistance forces were already losing but Zahariadis insisted on capturing Lerin because, as he put it, if the partisans won this battle and captured a city then they would be taken seriously by the outside world. DAG units attacked in an attempt to enter the city but their actions failed because of the poor coordination. In the end, DAG endured a catastrophic defeat. Around one thousand DAG soldiers died and were wounded. The enemy was well-aware of this attack and of all the details. DAG’s attacks were anticipated and wherever the partisans came from they were welcomed with well-prepared counter-attacks and ambushes. The enemy commanders knew everything, all the details about the attack. This is what a Vlach officer who fought on the opposite side in Lerin said: “Exactly that evening of that February night in 1949, our unit was informed that the partisans would be attacking from there, from there and from there... Many partisans were killed. We recognized many of the women fighters from the Prespa villages...” At the time the Vlach was mobilized in the enemy reserves as a non-commissioned officer.

On March 7, 1949, the CPG Central Committee denied coining the slogan “United and Independent Macedonia within a Balkan Federation”. The CPG also denied accepting NOF’s new program principles drafted during NOF’s 2nd Congress on February 3, 1949.