INTRODUCTION - Part 13

sweets. Soon after Sotir purchased an ice cream making machine and served ice cream. American soldiers traded their rations of chocolates and gum for cash and Sotir sold the rations to the French ladies who loved American sweets. All the success and money, however, did not bring Sotir happiness and after seeing many of his friends leaving for the US and Canada he became discontented and was ready to leave. Having no passport, however, he could do nothing. Then with the help of his friend Ziso and Greek connections, he pleaded his case to the Greek Government in Athens and received a new passport. He immediately applied and was granted leave for Canada. Sotir sold his shop in Paris and left for Canada by ship. He arrived in Toronto on January 28th, 1948. His first job was washing dishes and a year later he opened his own restaurant. As soon as he was established, Sotir began proceedings to reunite with his daughter Sofia, who was living in Bela Tsrkva, Yugoslavia and his wife Slavka who was living in Poland. With the help of the Red Cross and concerned groups, his daughter Sofia arrived in Canada in 1952 followed by his wife Slavka in 1955. Slavka, daughter of Sterio and Dafina was born in Oshchima on December 6th, 1920. As a youth Slavka received seven years of education including kindergarten and graduated from grade six. For the most part, Slavka grew up in Oshchima helping out with the farm and assisting with chores at home. After marrying Sotir, Slavka moved in with the Boglev family and stayed with them until her departure for Poland as a refugee. Three months after Sotir’s departure for France, Slavka on November 20th, 1939, gave birth to her daughter Sofia. Slavka spent most of the turbulent times during World War II and the People’s Popular Uprising at home, looking after Sofia and supporting the Boglev family. Soon after, however, Slavka’s world was about to change forever. First it was her episode with the Greek police. A Greek patrol spotted Slavka out in the fields and immediately assumed she was guilty of aiding the Partisans. When confronted about her whereabouts she told them the truth that she was out watering one of her fields. Not satisfied with the answer, they beat her repeatedly. When Oshchimians confronted the patrol about their actions and about their lack of evidence, they backed off and let her go. Unfortunately for Slavka the harm was already done. In addition to her physical injuries, Slavka was emotionally traumatized. She was surprised and frightened by the attack. Her brother Risto took her to a doctor in Lerin who examined her and treated her injuries. On the way home they could only get transportation from Lerin to Bigla. They had to walk the rest of the way. Exhausted by her ordeal and unable to make the trip on foot, Slavka collapsed and nearly died. She was taken to nearby Zhelevo where she spent a few days recuperating before she was able to go home. Even after nearly sixty years, Slavka finds it emotionally difficult to recount her experience. If that was not enough, on July 1947 Slavka’s brother Risto was killed in action. The year after, in March of 1948, she said goodbye to her daughter Sofia who departed for Prespa with other refugee children from the village. This was an emotional time not only for Slavka and the Boglev family but for the entire village. The Boglev family saw twelve of their children depart with the refugees. In August 1948, Slavka along with other Oshchimian women was mobilized by the Partisans to serve as a field medic carrying dead and wounded from the battlefields to the field hospitals. Slavka endured many battles, including the final battle for Lerin where she served in the hills of Bouf. Then in July of 1949 her unit was disbanded and individuals were ordered to leave and save themselves from capture. Like many others destiny took Slavka to the refugee camps in Albania. From there she was shipped out and arrived in Poland in December 1949. She spent the next five years working at the children’s restaurant washing dishes.

By 1953, her husband had initiated the repatriation process and with the help of the Red Cross, Slavka arrived in Canada on July 14th, 1955. Slavka found life hard and lonely, especially the fifteen years without her husband. Slavka now lives in Toronto, Canada together with her husband Sotir and daughter Sofia who gave her two grandchildren to enjoy.

Rina (daughter of Spiro and Mitra) and Mito (son of Risto and Vana)

Rina, the first child of Spiro and Mitra was born in the village Oshchima in September 1923 and currently lives in Toronto Ontario, Canada. As a young child Rina completed grade six in public school then went to work on the farm. Being the eldest of three, she also looked after her brother and sister. In 1936 Rina lost her father to pneumonia and at age thirteen assumed responsibility for running the farm. Among other things she was responsible for tilling the soil, planting, watering, harvesting, and looking after the sheep and other livestock. At age 19, in 1942, Rina met Mito Boglev also from Oshchima and married him in October of the same year. Her wedding was a happy occasion for both Rina and Mito. Rina recalls being a shy bride and according to tradition, avoided looking at the crowds. From the noise and happy laughter, however, she could tell that many had attended. The entire village was invited, as were many people from the neighbouring villages. The band was playing lovely melodies filled with Macedonian songs and everyone was having fun. Mito’s brother Sotir, a pechalbar, came all the way from Germany just for this occasion. On his way to the village he met some German soldiers at the Bigla garrison and invited them to his brother’s wedding. Rina recalls how the Oshchimian men stood in astonishment watching the Germans down large quantities of Rakia. A year after their wedding, Rina and Mito were blessed with their first daughter, Fania, born in September, 1943. Rina was happy living in the Bogleva house even though it was crowded at times. Her mother in law was kind to her and so were the three wives of Mito’s brothers. In March 1946, Rina’s second daughter Atinka was born. Rina recalls happy times being with her family and on occasions getting together with other young mothers to listen to old men sing in the streets, then joining them with their own chorus. But as luck would have it the good times were short lived. The Partisan movement was on the rise and Mito, like many young men from Oshchima, was caught up in it. Unfortunately for Mito, he fell prey to a Greek patrol and was sent to prison in the Greek concentration camps. By now the Greek Civil War was moving northward into Macedonia and had engulfed the entire region. Rina recalls on March 25th, 1948 taking her daughter Fania to Preol to join the first wave of refugee children destined for the Eastern Block countries. On her way back Rina felt an earthquake and was certain it as a bad omen. A few months later Rina, along with other Oshchimian mothers of young children, was drafted to serve in the Partisan medical corp. Initially, Rina was sent to Ipir to guide draught animals and deliver a load of shoes and clothing to the Partisans. With her, among others, was her friend Sevda Malkova, also a mother of a young child. On their return the women were sent to Bigla to dig bunkers for the Partisans. Two weeks later they were sent to Kolomnati for new duties. Rina recalls going by Oshchima during a rainstorm and being drenched. The women begged the officer in charge to let them go home and change into dry clothing but he wouldn’t let them for fear that they may not return. At Kolomnati, fed up with the way they were treated the women protested. Rina recalls Grozda Traikovska scolding one of the officers and demanding that they send these women home to their children. Finally, a decision was made and women wh breast fed their babies were released. The rest were sent to the battle zones in the Kostour region. There, Rina paired up with Sevda and two other women to form a team and served as field medics responsible for evacuating the dead and wounded. After serving at Kostour for a few days, the team was dispatched to Oshchima to carry wounded from shiroka bouka to the village. As battle zones shifted they moved wounded from Roula to Preol and from Kolomnati to Roula. This lasted for about four weeks. As the war intensified, the team was sent to the mountains of Posdivishcha to transport wounded from there to Roula and Breznitsa.

It was Christmas in 1948, Rina recalls, when the Greek forces hit hard with machine guns, artillery, and dive-bombing. It was terrible and many lost their lives. After that they were sent to a place near Zherveni to carry wounded to Posdivishcha. There they heard that several medic teams with women from Bapchor were killed by cannon fire from Kostour. Rina recalls being afraid and refusing orders but being forced to obey, at gunpoint. After that her team was sent to Negosh where a fierce battle took place and they almost fell into enemy hands. They were ordered to march single file through the white snow facing machine gun fire and dive-bombing. Sevda stuck with her and, despite orders, the two dashed together keeping each other company. On the way to their next destination, they found a dead Partisan stuck in the snow. Sevda decided to investigate thinking he might be Gierman, her

brother in law. As it turned out it wasn’t Gierman but, as luck would have it, when they arrived in the valley below, Sevda found Gierman dead. As the Partisans prepared to attack Lerin on February 12th 1949, Rina’s team was sent back to Kolomnati and from there to Psoderi. The Partisans began their offensive in the morning of the 13th. Rina recalls watching Partisans, dressed in white, marching four by four to the front through the snow. Thirteen women were sent to Lerin near the Church of St. Nikola to pick up wounded and carry them to Armensko. They were continuously under gunfire and the camps were filling with dead and wounded. It was so bad that some of the women were contemplating surrender to escape the torment. After spending some time hidden in a house, they decided to head for Lerin to surrender. Fortunately, they ran into a former commander who recognized them and turned them back. Upon arrival at Armensko, the sight and the number of dead bodies piling up horrified them. This horrific sight was enough to make them abandon their post and return home to Oshchima. They ran from Armensko to Psoderi and over the Golina Mountain to Oshchima. They immediately surrendered to the Partisan officer in Oshchima and told him the truth about the situation at Lerin. The officer refused to accept their story, charged them with desertion, and sent the team to Trnaa for a court martial hearing. The court found the team not guilty, reinstated them to their former duty, and sent them to Posdivishcha were they spent time hiding in bunkers waiting for orders. There they met an officer they knew who had previously served in Oshchima. From there he escorted the women to Dalipov Most between Roula and Breznitsa. Their orders were to transport dead and wounded Partisans as well as wounded prisoners of war. Among the wounded was a young Greek soldier. The women once again contemplated surrender and began to destroy documents to avoid capture. Seeing what they were doing, the soldier warned them that surrender was not a good idea. The Greeks did not take prisoners and would most likely shame them before they killing them. The women took his advice. Soon after the soldier died. When it was safe, the women moved to Breznitsa. The townspeople there provided them with shelter where they could rest and gave them food to eat (beans and buttermilk). Once again the women wanted to desert and stay in Breznitsa. After refusing many pleas, the hosts of the village told the women to leave. By being there, the women put the village in danger of being harmed by the Greek authorities. Understanding that their presence could complicate matters for the village, the women took the road to Albania via Smrdesh and Malimadi. Rina recalls the road being seeded with sharp nails, placed there by the Greek army to slow down the Partisan exodus. When they passed through Smirdesh, the local people gave them each a canteen full of water to take with them. Rina remembers the trip well especially after experiencing an appendicitis attack, which caused her much discomfort. After entering Albania the women, along with many other refugees, were taken to the port of Durasi and loaded on cargo ships. Rina and Sevda were loaded on a livestock ship destined for the port of Zgozelets, Poland. When crossing the straight of Gibraltar, at the inspection station, Rina recalls being told to go down to the cargo bays and keep quiet. For the rest of the trip, however, Rina and Sevda stayed on deck and were even brave enough to eat raw fish. The refugees were welcomed and treated with much respect by the Polish people. Upon arrival they were given a change of clothing, donated by the Polish authorities, and then were placed in quarantine for about a month in a military camp. After that, most refugees were kept in the same camp for about eighteen months. The younger people, including Rina, helped out in the kitchens and cafeterias. The Polish authorities then announced that they could no longer provide for them and they had to find jobs for themselves.

Local business and industry officials were invited to hire staff from the camps. Knowing this beforehand, the Greek organizers arranged a day trip away from the camp for the Macedonian women. This always coincided with the day of hiring and lessened the women’s chances of securing jobs. However, Rina did eventually get a job in a glass works factory in Pinks. She worked there for about six months but found it very difficult. She could not get used to rushing and the extreme heat. While looking for a new job, Rina ran into a social organization run by Macedonians. They had some good ideas and helped her find a new job in the food sector. Her first assignment was to fill mugs with beer and wash dishes and pots. Slowly she began to learn the Polish language and read the menus. After another Macedonian woman quit her job, Rina was promoted to making sandwiches. Here she became friends with a French woman who helped her learn the various jobs in the restaurant and she was able to

get herself a buyer’s position, ordering supplies. Rina was well liked by her colleagues and in time became a model worker and qualified for a month’s paid vacation. After winning the draw she was sent to a luxurious mountain resort. Rina was alone and felt uncomfortable about going places. She did, however, agree to go and see the Nativity in a local Church. There she met two women who recognized that she was not Polish and were curious about how she got there. After some discussion, it turned out the women were Red Cross workers and interested in finding people like Rina. When the women found out that Rina was a refugee interested in returning home, and that many others were in a similar situation, they urged her to seek help. She was given an address in Warsaw where she could meet with Red Cross officials. Upon her return from vacation Rina and Sevda went to Warsaw and after eleven days of appealing and pleading, their story was heard. Officials were curious as to why this did not come up at the camps during the official Red Cross visits. As Rina recalls, unbeknownst to her, the Greek organizers made sure that the Macedonians were sent on day trips on the days of the Red Cross visits. Even after all this, Rina was still not allowed to leave. Greece would not accept her without a request from her husband. Mito in the meantime was serving time in prison in the Greek concentration camps. It was not until 1954 that Mito was able to initiate the process for repatriation. Rina arrived in Oshchima on May 19th, 1958. Rina’s daughters, Fania and Atinka, were reunited in 1953 by Mito’s parents through the Red Cross. In Oshchima, Rina found life stifling and demoralizing. After being free to speak Macedonian and share her culture and traditions with others like her in Poland, she now had to speak Greek or stay mute. With Mito’s mobility restricted to the village, she felt like a prisoner in her own home. Rina and Mito had two more children Freda born in 1960 and Mara born in 1962. Seeing that there was no future for their young daughters in Greece, Mito and Rina decided it was time to leave their beloved Oshchima and join Mito’s brothers in Canada. Mito left on September 5th, 1965 to find a new home and establish himself, followed by Rina, Fania, Freda, Mara, and Mito’s mother Vana on April 14th, 1968. Atinka married Tanas a young Macedonian man from Tsrnovishcha before Christmas in 1963. In 1975, together with her husband and two children, she came to Canada were she is currently living. Mito, Rina, and the rest of the family are also currently living in Toronto. Mito, fourth child of Risto and Vana was born in the village Oshchima in October 1916. As a youngster, Mito received a grade six education in public school after which he joined the workforce. After finishing school, at twelve years of age, Mito was sent to the village of Shtrkovo for about six months to work as a hired hand. Then at age seventeen, he was sent to France to work as a shepherd in the Ouxel Mountains. About four months later he left this job and joined his brother Krsto in Saone, France. He helped Mito find another job nearby. Mito liked the new boss because he respected his workers. When his business moved to Silemar France, Mito went with him. Mito stayed with this organization and served as a shepherd from October 1936 to January 1940. Mito remembers an encounter with a man there that had a lasting impression on him. Mito recalls having injured his arm and being sent to a doctor who, after patching him up, sent him to purchase medication. The man behind the counter looked at Mito and said, “You are not from around here, are you?” The man then asked Mito “What nationality are you?” Mito, startled and surprised by the sudden inquiry said, “I am Greek-Macedonian.” The man looked at Mito and said, “You are either Greek or Macedonian, you can’t be both.” “Macedonian” replied Mito. “Where from?” asked the man. “Lerin.” replied Mito. “Where in Lerin?” asked the man.

“Oshchima.” replied Mito. The man then proceeded to tell Mito that he was in the area with the French army in 1916 and was responsible for building the main road from the city of Lerin to Oshchima and from Oshchima to Prespa. The man had learned some Macedonian words and was eager to share them with Mito. He also told Mito that he employed many workers from the surrounding villages and enjoyed working with them. They were hard workers and very friendly. The experience gave Mito confidence and made him feel good about himself and his nationality. It was an uplifting experience to hear a foreigner speak his mother tongue, especially when it was forbidden back home. After spending a little over three years in France, Mito came back to Oshchima in January 1940. On May 30th of the same year the Greek army drafted him. He was trained in combat and sent to Albania

to hold back the Italian advance. Mito recalls being dispatched from Lerin to Roula then to Besfina before going to Albania. He spent September and October doing maneuvers at Vrba Planina. Before leaving Lerin, Mito took a horse and used it to carry his provisions and supplies. While at Vrba Planina Mito, for the first time, witnessed aerial bombardment. He recalls looking at the bombs coming out of the plane. They glistened in the morning sun with an egg-like, white glow as they fell from the sky. Then came the thunderous, deafening explosions followed by carnage and the cries of the wounded. Winter came quickly and many, unprepared, fell victim to the cold and frostbite. As the war stabilized, Mito was moved to Vrbnik then to Zhakoni and finally to Korcha. He recalls being very hungry, as provisions and clothing were in short supply. Mito witnessed artillery soldiers walking barefoot in the cold. It was Christmas and soldiers were raiding the warehouses scrounging for food when they came upon a bushel of dried corn on the cob. The officers confiscated it and none was given to those who found it. In April of 1941 Greece was invaded by Germany, which put an end to the fighting with the Italians in Albania. The combat units were marched to Ianina and most of the soldiers were disarmed and sent home. The Germans captured some, had their guns destroyed, and sent them home but no soldier was harmed. After disarming, Mito left for Kostour where he was given a hero’s welcome, including a free meal at a local restaurant. He arrived home May 1st 1941. Not too long afterwards, Mito met Rina and married her in October 1942. By now the Partisan movement was forming and attracting attention. On one occasion, Mito and two other Oshchimians were invited and attended a recruiter’s meeting at Katin Livage in Oshchima. At this time Partisans operated underground and the whole affair was kept confidential. After the meeting was concluded Mito took the dinner sack, utensils, and left for home alone. The other two men left but took a different path. As luck would have it, Mito was stopped by a Greek patrol and questioned regarding his whereabouts. His story was not credible so he was searched. They found several utensils in his dinner sack indicating that more than one person was involved. Mito was again questioned but refused to disclose any information. Suspected of aiding the Partisans, Mito was beaten on the spot, detained and taken to the village-square where he was further interrogated and beaten. Mito did not break down. From there he was sent to Zhelevo, Gierman, and Pupli. At Pupli his legs were tied to a rifle and he was hung upside down. The under sides of his feet were beaten with a wooden stick until they were bruised. His feet were then splashed with water and beaten again. This was a typical interrogation method employed by the Greeks. Mito broke down but did not implicate the other two or the person who provided the food for the meeting. Velika Iankoula, from Oshchima, had donated the food and Mito knew that she would be killed if he betrayed her. Mito knew he was in serious trouble but didn’t know what to do. Someone suggested bribing the authorities so his brother Krsto was sent to offer the bribe. The attempt failed, his money was confiscated, and Krsto was arrested and beaten. Now both Mito and Krsto were in jail. The brothers spent a week in jail at Pupli. Krso was tried, found guilty and sentenced to three months in jail or pay a hefty fine. Krsto chose the latter. Mito was sent to the Solun detention centre to await trial. Eight months later, on December 2nd 1946, his trial came up and was found not guilty. His lawyer pleaded that Mito had no choice in the matter. If he didn’t deliver the food to the Partisans the lives of his family would have been placed at risk. This incident was entered in Mito’s record. After being released, Mito took a bus from Solun to Lerin and walked home from there. Due to his physical inactivity in prison he found it difficult and very tiring to walk.

Being free, however, gave him the energy to continue. Mito’s freedom did not last too long. On April 17th, 1947, Mito, along with thirteen other men from Oshchima including his father and brother, was detained by the Greek patrols and sent to a lockup in Lerin. There, Mito spent 105 days building bunkers and wire fences for the Greek army. Mito still has horrible memories of the 26 heads of dead men in the prison yard, strung through a wire along a fence. The dead men were supposedly Partisans and this was an example of what the Greeks do to Partisans. Some people, however, recognized the faces of the dead men and knew them, not as Partisans but as farmers from neighbouring villages. Every time the Partisans attacked near Lerin, the police would line up the men in lockup in front of the police station to use them as human shields.

After being charged with “being a danger to the security of the Greek State”, Mito was sent to Solun where he spent two days in prison and from there to Aistrati (Agios Estratios) on a freighter ship along with one thousand other men. Quarters were very tight during the journey and the men were constantly sprayed with cold water. Upon their arrival, the prisoners were greeted by approximately one thousand other prisoners. After two weeks the number of prisoners had climbed to six thousand five hundred. The men were constantly hungry. Mito recalls his father purchasing unrefined flour and making pancakes on a geramida (earthenware roof tile). As the camp grew and its administration became more efficient, food rations were increased to one-quarter loaf of bread and some spaghetti or manestra (orzo) per day. After spending some time in Aistrati, Mito was relocated to Makroniso and eventually went back to Aistrati. After spending seven years at the Greek Island concentration camps, Mito was released from Aistrati in March 1954. After arriving in Lerin, he spent three more months in house arrest before he was allowed to go home to Oshchima. At home Mito had restricted mobility and was confined to the boundaries of the village. To go beyond, he was required to get a travel permit from the police in the neighbouring village of Zhelevo. With the constant questioning, harassment, and being followed by plainclothes policemen, Mito found life hard in Oshcima. Even when applying to reunite with his wife Rina, Mito was refused several times. For missing a month of military service, Mito was fined 25,000 drahmas about 1,000 drahmas per day. There was no future in Oshchima for Mito and his family. Mito made his decision to leave Greece and on September 1965 he arrived in Canada and joined his brothers. Mito is grateful to his brothers for providing him with financial assistance throughout the hard times and for making it possible to leave the torment behind. Canada has been a land of opportunity for the entire family. Mito’s mother Vana experienced ten wonderful years here before passing at a ripe age of 103. Mito and Rina’s daughter Fana married Nikola Damoff from Tersie and had a daughter Cathy who is currently married and has two children of her own. Mito and Rina’s second daughter Tina (Atinka), who came to Canada in 1975, is happily living with her husband and two children. Freda and Mara, Mito and Rina’s youngest daughters are both married to Macedonians and are currently living in Toronto. Freda has two children and Mara has three. Life in the past was not easy for Mito and Rina but they are happy here in Canada being surrounded by their family.

Lena (daughter of Ziso and Sofia)

Lena, the only child of Ziso and Sofia was born in the village Oshchima in 1924 and currently lives in Mississauga Ontario, Canada. As a young child Lena completed grade six and graduated from grade school with a mark of 90%. Being an only child, she was responsible for a great number of household chores including fetching water from the springs, cleaning, washing, cooking, working in the fields, and sometimes looking after her grandfather, File. For most of her young life Lena lived with her mother Sofia and grandfather File. Ziso, her father, was an active pechalbar and worked away from home in the fur trade, mostly in France. In 1941, at age seventeen, Lena married Paso Boglev who was born in 1922 and was also from Oshchima. At that time, Lambro Kozarov from Oshchima had formed a new music band and was hired to play at Lena’s wedding. This was a happy and memorable event for the newlyweds. Lena and Paso moved into Spiro and Ristana Temov’s house (Lena’s mother’s parents) where their first child Tsilo was born in 1942. Lena’s second child, Ilo, was born in 1944. In 1946 the Greek civil war broke out and in 1947 the Partisans drafted Paso. Unfortunately, two months after the draft, Paso was killed in action on July 11th, 1947. As the civil war progressed northward into the Macedonian countryside, orders came to evacuate the children to save them from being bombed by the Greek forces. Lena along with other Oshchimian women, some of whom had lost their husbands during the Italian-German occupation and the Greek civil war, were selected and trained to assist with the evacuation. At age 24, on March 25th 1948, Lena was ordered to depart for Preol to join other women for what came to be known as the exodus of the first wave of refugee children. The women assumed the role

of surrogate mothers (maiki) and were each responsible for the needs of approximately 20 children. On the same day, children from various homes began to arrive, some riding on carts and wagons and others on foot. At the end of the day the assembly was transported and spent the night in the village Shtrkovo. Each mother was assigned a group of about twenty children and a home where they could stay. Lena made sure her own children, Tsilo and Ilo, were assigned to her care. Early the next morning the assembly was ordered to leave the village and spent the day hiding in the mountains to avoid detection and being bombed. They were asked to leave their luggage and provisions behind assuming they would be brought to them the next night. Unfortunately, their escort arrived the same day and marched the assembly to Rambi (located near the border). It was too risky for them to go back to gather their belongings. Lena recalls the assembly being led to the Greek-Yugoslav border by a man on horseback who told them to keep quiet and hide until dusk. Then each mother with her group was ordered to cross the border quietly and proceed to Dupeni, a nearby village, where they spent the night. There each group was assigned to a home and everyone was given a slice of corn bread for supper. Without their provisions, the children were left without food. After a few days of hunger some resorted to stealing and raiding the village gardens to obtain food. After a week, the groups were transported to Bitola by truck where they boarded a train that took them to Brailovo. In Brailovo each group of children was assigned to a home. Lena recalls having to sleep in one room with all the children. The room had no furniture and the floor was lined with hay for bedding where everyone had to sleep. The children cried with the pain of being taken away from their mothers and constant hunger. Food was scarce and to preserve rations, the children were fed one meal every other day. Those who left their belongings behind had no spoons or other utensils with which to drink their soup. Most meals consisted of watered down soups. On one occasion, Lena recalls asking the children to look around for something they could use to make into utensils. The boys found an empty toothpaste tube, which Lena washed in the river and shaped into a spoon. A rusty bucket was also found and washed to hold the soup. The warm soup dissolved the rust, colouring the soup red and bringing it to the surface. Lena was too hungry to waste the soup so she skimmed the rust off the surface and proceeded to spoon some soup into all the children. One old woman that was watching felt sorry and offered Lena her portion of bread, arguing that old people don’t need as much food as the young. Lena hesitated in accepting it but she could bear the children crying of hunger and she took it. From then on Lena had a great respect for the woman and has never forgotten her kindness. After spending a little over a week in Brailovo, the groups were transported to the nearest train station and told to wait for orders. Each child was pinned with a name and destination tag. From there the younger children were sent to Bela Tsrkva where they spent a week at a train station, waiting for new arrivals and re-grouping the children. The older half of the group went back to Brailovo awaiting the next transport. In four days the remaining group was taken by train to Skopje, where the children were given milk and food on the train and then proceeded to Bulkes. Unfortunately the train wagons were divided in Skopje while one of the boys was visiting another wagon which ended up in Romania. Lena didn’t know what had happened to him and found out about his whereabouts years later. They arrived in Bulkes, Vojvodina on April 8th. There they were given food donated by the United Nations, were bathed and given new clothes. From there the children were taken by wagon to a nearby hospital for physical examinations. They then boarded a train and on May 8th arrived in Mikolov, Czechoslovakia.

There the groups spent about a month in quarantine before they were transported to Melch for permanent placement. The children were re-grouped into pre-school ages 4 to 6, public school ages 7 to 12 and technical school ages 13 and over. Lena was responsible for a public school group of twenty children. Her duties included waking children up in the morning, helping them dress in their uniforms, supervising their morning exercises, making sure everyone had breakfast, and supervising their play until they were put to bed. She also had to make sure shoes were polished and uniforms cleaned and properly hung for the night. This lasted for about one year. In the spring of 1949 Lena was moved to Boudishov. Here Lena, along with other mothers, was responsible for the care of many children. About twenty children were assigned to a room each under the care of a mother. Lena was offered a job in the kitchens in exchange for room and board and was also assigned duties to clear stones and weeds from the fields. Lena found life harsh and difficult to cope with

but with the moral support of a few girls from Prespa she managed and survived the next two years. She recalls having to use toothpaste for soap because soap was in such short supply. In 1950 Lena was moved to Klokochov, a small town near the Czechoslovakian-Polish border. They lived in an institution run by Czechoslovakian administrators under the directorate of the army. The institution had a swimming pool that kept the children busy and active during rest periods. The institution housed approximately four hundred Macedonian and Greek children. Six days a week the children attended school, most of their time occupied with activities. Sundays they were allowed a little leisure and napped from 1 to 3pm. For the most part, the mother’s responsibility was to supervise the children and make sure they were dressed properly, ate their meals, and attended school on time. Strict discipline was enforced with regard to dress code and tardiness. There were daily meetings with administrators to ensure that discipline was enforced. On occasion the administrators snarled at mothers for slipups. At the end of the day the mothers ensured all the children were accounted for and attended supper. In addition to her duties at the institution, Lena was also expected to attend “political lessons” offered by the Greek organizers. Also on occasion, mothers and children were sent on work assignments to the farms to assist with gathering fruits, berries, and mushrooms. Mothers and children were beginning to adjust to their new life with the exception of the usual fighting between Greek and Macedonian children, especially the boys. There was friction between children and frequent verbal insults sometimes resulted in fistfights. Eventually the Greek children were moved to a new camp, which put an end to the fighting. Lena was also happier here, especially after meeting a lady with whom she enjoyed working. Lena was a widow in her late twenties, much too young to remain single and support her two children. After some time, her friend had Lena convinced that she needed to find someone to spend the rest of her life with. Lena was hesitant at first but came to the realization that she may be better off married. As it happened, Lena’s friend had a nephew, named Lazo, who visited her regularly during his school vacation. She often spoke of him. After Lazo finished school in the spring of 1952 he moved close to his aunt and met Lena for the first time. Lazo’s first wife had already remarried back home in the village of Drenichevo. Lazo proposed to Lena and assured her and her children that he was willing to accept them as his own. Lazo married Lena in October 1952. Lazo was born June 15th, 1925 in the village Drenichevo, Kostourtsko. He completed grade six and from 1938 to 1939 attended high school in Kostour, which was interrupted before completion by the outbreak of the Greek-Italian war. For most of his young life Lazo worked on his father’s farm. In 1943 he joined the Partisans, Gotche’s brigade in Bitola. Lazo was part of the Egaitski Batallion from Kostourtsko. In 1944 Lazo contracted leprosy (krasta) on his arms and was sent to Vardar hospital for treatment. After his treatment Lazo went home and in 1946 married his first wife. Five months later he was re-called by the Partisans to assist in acquiring provisions and supplies. He worked until December and was sent back home. In March of 1947 he was once again re-called to active duty as a courier until July 1947 when his knee was wounded. From there he was transported to Vardar hospital via Gramos, Orovo, and Prespa which took ten days. Lazo took 105 days to recover. After that he was sent to Bulkes, Voivodina to manage a provisions warehouse consisting mostly of food and clothing. At the end of the Greek Civil War, Lazo left Bulkes and on September 1949 boarded a train for Czechoslovakia. He attended technical school for about a year and after completing his studies, he moved near his aunt and applied for work at the children’s camp where his aunt and Lena worked.

A year after their marriage, Lazo and Lena had their first child Vera, born in 1953 and later their second child Iane (John) born in 1954. In 1956 the family left Klokochov and went to Karvina. Lazo left first to find a home, then Lena followed with her young children, and finally the older children arrived. Here Lazo found a job in construction. Lena worked in a factory making roofs for convertible cars. Then on October 18th, 1968, Lena, Lazo, Vera, and John left Czechoslovakia for Canada where they joined Lena’s father Ziso who came to Canada in 1952. Since the first day of her arrival in Canada, Lena, with the help of her daughter Vera, made every effort to reunite her family. Ilo and his family, and Lena’s mother Sofia came to Canada in November 1972 followed by Tsilo and his family in August 1980.

Lena is grateful to the Eastern Block countries, especially Czechoslovakia, for their hospitality and the educational opportunities they provided to the Macedonian refugee children.

Trpo (son of Vane and Petra)

Trpo, son of Vane and Petra, was born in Oshchima on October 26th, 1933. As a child, Trpo spent most of his time working on the farm and helping out with family chores. Trpo was able to complete grade four before events forced schools to close. Trpos’s father was originally from Rula but after marrying Petra he moved to Oshchima to live with his wife’s family. Trpo has two sisters, Stojna and Marijana, currently living in Skopje. When asked what he remembers from Oshchima, the sixty-eight year old Trpo smiled and replied, “Many things.” He remembers, at age eight, tending the community sheep herd, working in the fields, and herding cows. “I was five years old going with my grandfather (dedo) to plough a field when we decided to stop at the Moisiov store to pick up some candy for me. My grandfather had poor eyesight and did not see the policemen coming towards us as he lit a cigarette. Smoking home grown tobacco was illegal. Dedo, I said, the police are coming, put out your cigarette. Dedo quickly tossed his cigarette and pretended nothing happened. Unfortunately the policemen saw him and as they passed by they gave him a warning. We were lucky this time.” When asked what else he recalled from Oshchima, Trpo had a little story that went something like this. “I was six years old when my mother and I went to the village Vrbnik to visit the dairy (bachilo) where my father worked. When we arrived I saw three wooden flutes belonging to the shepherds, all covered in butter. They were left there to soak and keep from drying and cracking. My eye caught the flutes and I could not get them out of my mind. I wanted one but didn’t know how to go about getting it. Finally, just before leaving, I got enough nerve and pinched one. I stuck it in my pants and covered it with my shirt. It was very long and extended from the top of my knee to the bottom of my neck. I was not seen, and to this day I am still amazed as to how I did it. After we left the dairy to head for home and were a few kilometers away, I pulled the flute out and began to play it. My mother must have been distracted because she said nothing until I got her attention and showed her my prize. When she looked at me she could not believe her eyes. I was covered in butter from neck to toe. I was not allowed to keep the flute. It was returned to its proper owner on our next visit to the dairy. My punishment was light.” Trpo had a nickname and to his peers in Oshchima he was known as Trpo the bomb (boumbata). The story goes something like this. “My father and I were ploughing one of our fields at Stara (old) Oshchima. I was in the nearby brook securing the mule and donkey while my father was busy ploughing the field when Pando Kozarov arrived with a small axe in his hand. Some time ago an English bomber had crashed with its bombs still aboard. The crash left unexploded bombs all over the place. Pando approached one of the bombs and raised his axe, ready to strike it. He called out to my father and asked him to give him a sack of grain or he would explode the bomb. He said ‘I am poor and have nothing to live for, my family is hungry and will die of starvation unless I can provide for them. If you don’t give me the sack of grain, I swear I will blow up the bomb.’ My father did not know what to make of this. Pando was crazy enough to do it. My father was more concerned for me than for himself so he tried to warn me, ‘Trpo run the bomb will explode, Trpo the bomb, Trpo the bomb.’ Unbeknownst to my father and me, the whole thing was a joke. Pando, however, found much humour in it and spread the news to the whole village. My friends also found the whole thing very humorous and I became the butt of their jokes. After some time I resigned myself to the fact that my friends would always call me Trpo the bomb and graciously accepted my nickname.” When asked to tell some more of his life’s story, Trpo became serious and recalled an event that changed his life forever. In 1946 or 1947, his father, to make a living, traveled from village to village purchasing and selling goods.

As luck would have it one day, while heading for home Trpo’s father, Vane, was stopped by the Greek military police. Vane was traveling with a little girl, a family member, as they left the village of Luk. The little girl was too young to walk so she rode the mule. According to Trpo, the