Front Matter - Part 02

more difficult going to night school in the winter with snow and ice, especially for the older men and women who were not steady on their feet. Someone, a family member, had to bring them to school and then take them back home. There were cases of elderly women who had slipped on the ice and had fallen and broken an arm or a leg. The teachers were required to keep daily records of all those who were present and who were absent. These records were then submitted to the police station and those who were absent were punished. The Greek government took very unpopular measures against the Macedonian population and these unpopular measures were compounded because the “assimilation process” was entrusted to a number of incompetent bureaucrats.

Let us have a look at an example of what happened in the school in R’bi: One evening the teacher questioned 60-year-old Vasilitsa Iankulova, who up to this time was unable to learn or remember a single word in Greek. The teacher asked: “Pos se lene” (what is your name) but the woman understood nothing and attempted to repeat what the teacher had asked and said: “Posolena” which in Macedonian means “salted”. Suddenly there was an outburst of laughter in the classroom. The young women could not stop themselves from laughing. The teacher became very angry and first he yelled at the women who were giggling and then at Vasilitsa for saying that. Poor Vasilitsa felt insulted by both the young women and by the much younger teacher who yelled at her. To the young women she angrily said: “Go ahead, laugh, you silly mares, laugh instead of crying for losing your own language…” And to the teacher she said: “My son, I have my own language which is enough for me, I don’t need another language. We are happy that the Turks were not like you. We would all have been Turks today including you Greeks…” The younger women bowed their heads down and the teacher became red in the face but continued with his lesson.

The pressure to Hellenize the Macedonian people was getting stronger with each passing day and expanded to the homes, the fields and on the roads. Gendarmes and policemen patrolled the streets and squatted under people’s windows every night, listening to the private conversations of families to see which language they spoke; Macedonian or Greek. They spent hours sitting behind walls and bushes waiting for people to pass by and catch them speaking

Macedonian. All those caught were given a hefty fine and their names were entered in the “black book” of offenders. Many people were fined this way.

Here is an example: Boris Demirov was with his mother in his own house and he spoke to her in Macedonian because this was the only language she knew. Unfortunately a policeman happened to be hiding under their window and heard them speak Macedonian. The policeman then rushed into the house, grabbed Boris and took him to German to pay the fine and then he wrote his name in the black book.

After 14 years away from home, seeking his fortune in Australia, Stoian Mundushev finally returned home. During the fall of 1939 Stoian, along with some people from his village, went to gather firewood on Nivichka Mountain. After crossing the Perovo-Kula bridge they climbed up the slope towards the hill while speaking Macedonian out loud. Stoian was telling the others about his life experiences in Australia. Suddenly two armed gendarmes jumped out of the bushes like scarecrows and startled the group. They arrested everyone and, along with their horses and donkeys, took them to the gendarmerie in German, 8 long kilometres away. Here Stoian said to the chief: “I saw images of a Macedonian man and a Macedonian woman in a world magazine with their tongues cut off and a Greek holding the scissors in his hand with which he cut the tongues…” He also told the chief that he had served three years in the Greek army and had fought for Greece in Asia Minor against Turkey. He then lifted his pant leg and showed him the scar from a wound he received at the front. But even after all that, the chief was too stupid to understand what Stoian was telling him in his own Greek language. He punished all of his friends including Stoian for speaking Macedonian.

Spiro Bakushov was plowing his field and at one point cursed his oxen in Macedonian for not going in a straight line. Unbeknownst to him a gendarme was hiding behind a wall, he then jumped out violently, grabbed Spiro and his oxen and took them to German to pay the fine.

These were the kinds of tactics the Greeks used in R’bi and in the other Mala Prespa villages to intimidate the Macedonian people in order to Hellenize them. This was an every hour and an every day endless affair that the Macedonian people had to endure at the hands of the Greeks, with no end in sight. It was a sad, sad picture indeed to watch the idiotic gendarmes, with batons in hand, beating the Macedonians on the head, forcing them to march like cattle in front of them to the courts in order to punish them for speaking Macedonian, their own mother tongue and, for most, the only language they spoke. Also sad were the images of gendarmes crashing weddings because some older Macedonians liked to sing Macedonian songs, arresting the old offenders and destroying the wedding altogether.

The gendarme chiefs in the villages German, Orovo, P’pli and Lok constantly threatened the offenders who illegally spoke Macedonian and often beat them with a stick or a belt while yelling at them: “If you don’t know God’s Greek language put shit in your mouths and never again speak that cursed banned tongue, which poisons the pure Greek air…” People all over Greek occupied Macedonia caught speaking Macedonian were arrested, sent to prisons, beaten and tortured, as well as paid hefty fines. Repeat offenders were also forced to drink castor oil and eat salted herring in the presence of gendarmes. Castor oil caused a lot of stomach pain and humiliating diarrhea, salted herring caused great thirst for which no water was given.

In the meantime in Athens, in the corridors of the Greek capital, senior officials in the various government ministries, even middle officials, greeted each other in the Turkish, Vlach and Albanian languages but never in Macedonian.

With Ioannis Metaxas coming to power, the Greek youth was educated following in the examples of Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. Boys aged 16 to 25 were enrolled in EON, the Greek fascist youth organization. We were forced to join this organization and each member wore a dark blue uniform with a white tie and white belt. We were allowed to keep the uniforms at home. Every Sunday we dressed ourselves in our uniforms and marched to church. When liturgy was over we marched in the streets

of the villages and sang the song “Why are people happy”. Often young people, dressed in their uniform, lined up and marched to visit other villages and others from the other villages came to visit us. Youth clubs were opened in the larger villages which had radios, a rarity at the time. R’bi had such a club. The EON club in R’bi was entrusted to the care of Giorgios Kolovos, a tax officer. He was an agile man and every night he invited us to the club so that he could tell us stories about the “beauty of Greece” with its many vineyards, olive groves and fishing voyages. He even taught us old Greek songs.

In 1938 Mala Prespa was visited by Ioannis Tsaksiras, the then District President for Lerin and Kostur Districts. The man made every effort to assimilate the Macedonian population in villages by encouraging his men to torment the people.

Ioannis Tsaksiras came to Mala Prespa to see for himself and be assured that all his orders were being carried out as ordered. He ordered all the men from the villages to appear in R’bi and, as a result, a lot of people showed up at R’bi square where Tsaksiras came out on a balcony and delivered a speech. Among other things he said: “Mala Prespa has resisted our orders to teach the Greek language. A lot of people don’t want to speak Greek here, which is evident from the large number of offenders that the security authorities have prosecuted and punished…” Looking serious and in an angry tone of voice, Tsaksiras went on to say: “If this is not corrected immediately we have a plan and that plan will soon be launched. All men and women over the age of 18 will be expelled and resettled and we will bring others here…” He then said: “Correct this problem because we are committed to implementing the new plan…” Then, while pointing towards the island Ail, he angrily said: “Then, when you can no longer see that anathematized island, you will speak Greek. We will only leave the minors here and I can assure you we will not have problems with them…” The people who heard the President’s speech suddenly got shivers all over their bodies and broke into a cold sweat. Tsaksiras had the power to do this because he had the support of the Greek government. Later, in 1949, his dream came true when a great number of older Macedonians were driven out of their homeland

and exiled. Nikos Zahariadis, CPG Secretary General, accomplished in 1949 what Tsakritsas was dreaming of doing in 1938.

Italian occupation of neighbouring Albania with aims at invading Prespa

The April 1939 the Italian occupation of Albania greatly influenced the situation in Mala Prespa, prompting the Greek government to take measures to defend the country. Orders were issued to build a defensive line along Mala Prespa’s border with Albania. The Greeks were authorized to employ the Macedonian population to do all the labour, which resulted in the entire Macedonian male population, ages 8 to 65, to be drafted and forced to work for free. The people were divided into work gangs and sent to do various jobs. Each person was delegated a task which they were expected to complete during the day. Their objective was to develop an entire network of bunkers, tunnels, hideouts, warehouses and trenches along the entire border line. Specialists and engineering units supervised the work. At the same time a second defense line was started, in which the key strategic points and bunkers were built and reinforced with concrete. These bunkers were built by the military with help from the civilian population.

Twelve concrete bunkers were built in Mala Prespa which comprised the main line of defense. Construction of these two defensive lines continued until the end of October 1940 when Italy declared war on Greece.

World War II and Mala Prespa

Italy declares war on Greece

On October 28, 1940 Italy declared war on Greece. The same day, the population from the villages Nivitsi, Ail, Vineni, Orovo Grazhdeno, Trnava and DR’bitishta was evacuated to the upper Mala Prespa villages where it remained until Ivan Mountain and the city Korcha were captured by the Greek army.

Great merit must be attributed to the Macedonian fighters for stopping Mussolini’s Italian fascist army, even though it possessed the most modern arms and weapons. It was the Macedonian sons who bravely fought at this front, suffered, bled for six months and lost many lives in the Albanian mountains defending Greece. The number of dead and wounded was not small and neither was the Macedonian heroism demonstrated by those who participated in this war. Here is a small example of what a company did whose soldiers were all Macedonians:

The Fifteenth Greek Army Division, which during the war was called the “Steel Division”, consisted of the 28th and 33rd Regiments whose soldiers were from the Macedonian border areas, mainly from Lerin, Kostur, Sorovich and Mala Prespa Regions. This Division protected the border line and was like a wedge between Albania and Prespa that ran along Mounts Malimadi and Verba, and between Yugoslavia and Prespa that ran along Mount Kaimakchalan. The deteriorating situation in Albania then prompted the Division to concentrate all forces along the Albanian border.

The soldiers of the Fifth Detachment in the II Battalion of the 33rd Regiment were all Macedonians. Only the officers and an old sergeant were Greek. There were also ten young men from the Asia Minor colonist and settler families who had been settled in the Mala Prespa and Lerin Regions. On August 15, 1940 the Fifth Detachment, which numbered about 120 soldiers, started to dig trenches along the hills near Rulia and the crossroads at Breznitsa Bridge, as well as in the areas around the villages Breznitsa and Smrdesh. On October 20th, 1940 the Detachment stopped digging and moved to Besfina, to the detachment’s headquarters.

With Italy declaring war on Greece, the Italian amphibious forces swept into Greek territory. The soldiers of the Fifth Detachment left Besfina and during the night of October 29, 1940, under heavy rain, climbed over Verba Mountain and assumed their combat positions in the hills over the village V’mbel. In the morning the Italians invaded and captured the hills. This was the first enemy attack during this war. On October 30, 1940 the Fifth Detachment, along with two companies from II-Battalion, invaded and took the Albanian village Vrbnik. Here they captured their first Italian prisoners. The Detachment continued to fight from November 1 to 6, 1940. Then, on November 7, 1940, the 33rd Regiment stormed and took Bilishta. During this battle the Fifth Detachment stormed the hills above Bilishta and took them and then stormed Bilishta itself. Many soldiers received wounds, including the Detachment’s commander Captain Rondoianis, Andrea Prodanov from Lerin and Sotir Madzhev from German. Sotir Vidinov from R’bi was killed during these battles.

After it took Bilishta, the Fifth Detachment withdrew from the first line and remained in the village Vrbnik for a few days of rest. From there it traveled over the villages Besfina, R’bi and Orovo and entered Albania again where it took its new position in the hills of Mount Ivan above the village Rakitsko.

The Fifth Detachment attacked these hill four times. But the Italians continued to stubbornly hold them. Each time the Detachment attacked it suffered casualties both dead and wounded. During its fifth attack the Detachment employed its artillery and managed to take the hill. The same day Mount Ivan was taken, and several days later, Korcha was taken pushing the Italians out.

The battle to take Mount Ivan lasted 10 days. It was a bloody struggle of life and death during which many Macedonian soldiers were killed including Traiko Bechkov from R’bi. Nikola Markov from R’bi was also severely wounded. In fact half of the soldiers from the Fifth Detachment lost their lives taking this nameless hill. This prompted those who survived to name it “Hill of death”. The Italians withdrew.

The half-massacred detachments of the 33rd Regiment stayed in the several villages near the town Bilishta for 10 days after which, on December 5, 1940, they were sent back to the front. “We traveled along the road to Kiafezhezhi during the night in a rainstorm,” wrote Mundushev, “and stayed in Kiafezhezhi for one day and one night. After that we followed the same road towards the village Frasher and took an up hill mountain path. It started to snow hard but as we continued up hill the snowfall subsided and later it turned into fine powdery snow which was swept by the strong wind. It was night and very dark, the path we traveled on was covered with large drifts of snow. The horses and mules, which carried heavy loads of food and ammunition, kept slipping and sliding. Some fell into deep crevices covered by snow drifts. It was impossible to help them in the dark as we traveled completely blind. We were beaten down by the strong wind and by the flying snow. The soldiers could hardly move, holding each other for dear life. But in spite of our great difficulty we arrived at the village Frasher in the morning. Unfortunately we lost a large number of our animals and livestock that traveled with us. All the soldiers, dressed in their tattered uniforms and torn shoes, were wet and cold and suffered immensely during this trip...” concluded Mundushev, author of this book.

The next morning everything was covered with a thick layer of snow, the thermometer was showing minus ten degrees celsius and the sky was clear and bright. Italian aircraft were seen hovering above, dropping bombs and occasionally firing bursts of machine gun fire. Artillery shells were heard exploding and machine gun fire on the hills over Frasher. The Fifth Detachment was now at the front.

In snow up to their knees, the Fifth Detachment soldiers, still wearing their tattered uniforms and shoes with holes, left during the night to take their positions at the front. By dawn they were there and the same day they attacked the enemy.

It was a fierce attack forcing the Italians to withdraw leaving behind their wounded. The Fifth Detachment went on a chase and their fast advance left many of the fleeing Italians dead and wounded. Some Italians decided to surrender.

The Detachment experienced great difficulties due to the deep snow and due to the many wounded and captured Italian soldiers it was looking after.

At a height of 1200 metres above sea level, the Italians blocked the Detachment’s path and the fighters were unable to drive them out. Here the Italians had raised a strong defensive line, which prompted the Greek army to launch an attack with more troops, artillery and mortars. The Greek army unfortunately was not prepared for this. Supplying a front line with food and ammunition at such a height in winter conditions was difficult. Snow was falling every day and the roads were jeopardized. The little food the soldiers carried with them was quickly eaten and now they were all left hungry. It was also very cold and the temperature at that height was hovering around minus 15 degrees celsius. The soldiers had no choice but to stand, with rifles in hand, and defend themselves from enemy attacks. When they exhausted all their food supply and ate the last can of meat and last loaf of bread, they began to eat the dead horses and mules which froze to death.

The few villages with the scattered houses that were inhabited in this mountainous region were unable to help much with food, because they themselves did not have enough to survive the winter. The Greek army, however, forced itself on them and confiscated their herds of sheep, goats and cattle, as well as their corn stashes. During the first days after the confiscations, the soldiers ate everything roasted but that made them all sick with strong diarrhea. After that they ate everything boiled. Their health conditions had deteriorated so much, especially from the lice epidemic, that they had contracted typhoid. Two soldiers from the Fifth Detachment died as a result of this.

Transporting the wounded was very difficult. They had to be carried on mountainous terrain in knee deep snow for over 5 kilometres. Many of the severely wounded soldiers died along the way from the bitter cold. And so did Sergeant Alexiou.

“On January 7, 1941, I, with Sergeant Alexiou from Kalamata, Trifun Mirchev from Nivitsi and Petre Mangov from Banitsa, was sent to scout the area and find a place for the Fifth Detachment to

attack and break through the Italian noose at hill 1200. Unfortunately we were spotted by the Italian air force on a ridge and we were bombed. Trifun was slightly wounded. One of Alexiou’s legs was broken and he was also wounded on his shoulder and upper arm. We bound their wounds and made a makeshift stretcher with sticks and a blanket for Alexiou, who we then took to a doctor at the nearest first aid medical station,” said Mundushev.

They had to carry Alexiou for several kilometres in snow up to their knees and in bitter cold. Unfortunately the sergeant died on the way. On January 8, 1940 the Greek Regiment attacked and took hill 1200. The Italians were defeated during a battle that lasted half a day. Many Italians surrendered to the First Detachment. The First Detachment also suffered losses of its own with many dead and wounded. German Mundushev from R’bi was also killed here.

After the Italians lost hill 1200, many Italian soldiers surrendered as individuals and as groups, even as entire units along with their officers. This massive surrender created great difficulties for the Fifth Detachment which had to find food and accommodation for its Italian prisoners. All these prisoners had to be transferred to the interior and the Detachment did not have enough manpower, so it ended up sending one Macedonian soldier to escort a row of a hundred Italian soldiers. Some of the Italian prisoners had musical instruments with them, such as accordions, guitars and flutes, and played music along the long marches seeming like they were escorting a wedding, and not coming from the front.

After all this the Fifth Detachment again lost half of its fighters, who were immediately replaced but not with Macedonians. The Fifth Detachment was replenished with Greeks because most of the Macedonians were wounded, killed, or removed from the Detachment and sent to other duties.

“When we were carrying Sergeant Alexiou on the makeshift stretcher, he grabbed my arm, pulled me down, kissed me on the cheek and said: ‘You are my brother, and if I am still alive and may God keep you alive, I will come to Prespa to see you and you are welcome to come to Kalamata, my Macedonian friend!’ It was noble of him to recognize me as a comrade, friend and brother, but most

importantly as a Macedonian! These were the Sergeant’s parting words as he left us forever. The remaining Macedonian troops in the Detachment always spoke Macedonian and no one made any fuss. Some of the Greek officers even wondered why the Greek government outlawed our Macedonian language...” said Mundushev.

After hill 1200 was taken, the Detachment was sent to attack the village Bumbeshi. On its way it took several smaller villages including the village Kaiza. In Kaiza the Detachment took some time off to celebrate its victories. The soldiers and officers gathered together in a large room and rejoiced by singing Macedonian and Greek songs, at the expense of Mussolini. The Greek soldiers who heard Macedonian songs for the first time were a bit hesitant but soon warmed up to them and joined the Macedonians in their celebration. The Macedonian soldiers even tried to teach the Greeks Macedonian words but most they could not pronounce. “Some of the officers, who were familiar with our popular Macedonian songs, were encouraging us to sing the song ‘Tri godini Donke’ and kept yelling at us ‘donke’, ‘donke’, ‘donke’… We Macedonians with this struggle did not only believe we deserved, but strongly believed that we would acquire our freedom in Greece…” said Mundushev.

Every day the Fifth Detachment was under fire. As the Italians retreated, the Detachment followed behind step by step and would not allow them to take a break. “And the deeper we entered Albanian interior the more our supply lines of food and ammunition were disrupted and so was our ability to send back our wounded...” said Mundushev.

The Greek army made great efforts to take the narrow gorge at Klisura and the road along the foot of Mount Trepeshina up to the great Inn known as the Balabani and the village Bumbeshi, so that the supply line to the front would be free. The army also took another village located on the road between the narrow gorge at Klisura and Balabani, which only left Bumbeshi to take behind which lay the Italian front line. This village had to be taken because otherwise the Italians could easily retake the Klisura gorge and cut off the supply line.

The 2nd Battalion in the 33rd Regiment initiated the attack on the village Bumbeshi, which had to cross a river of waist deep water on foot in February during the coldest part of the winter. At the beginning of February the weather was sunny, nice and warm. The battalion continued to attack up hill. Then, about four hours of bloody fighting later, it finally made the ascent and took the village. All the Detachments were decimated and the soldiers were exhausted. A few days later the Detachment was again re-enforced with fresh troops and was given shovels and pickaxes and ordered to dig itself in.

A few days later the Italians started a counter-attack in order to re-capture the village. “But, we refused to give it up. We also collected the wounded Italian soldiers who could not withdraw and gave them first aid. We then sent them to our hospitals to be treated...” said Mundushev.

The Italian artillery, without interruption, continually bombed the water sources to prevent the Greek army from obtaining water for its fighters and for the wounded. Many were killed and wounded trying to get water. Others had to be sent a long distance to get water from the river. A group of 20 soldiers held their position on top of a small hill under which clear water flowed in a ravine. The Italians held the opposite hill. In the beginning both sides got their water from the ravine during the night. Later both sides began to get their water during the day. “When we went down to get our water, we carried a white flag to let the Italians know that we were there to get our water. They did the same and we shared the water like brothers…” said Mundushev.

Many dead Italian soldiers were left behind in the neutral zone and as the weather began to warm up the place began to stink. Both sides were in danger of contracting diseases and starting an epidemic. “Then an Italian delegation consisting of 3 priests, dressed in white robes carrying large crosses with chains around their necks, came to our side and asked for a truce and a ceasefire in order to bury the dead bodies. The Greek Government rejected their request…” said Mundushev.

The Italians often bombarded the Greek held positions with cannon fire which lasted for several hours. Many of the fighters from the Fifth Detachment were wounded and killed this way. “Nine men were wounded and fourteen killed. It was a real massacre. Some of the soldiers were wounded not just once but two or even three times. It was difficult to endure, especially when we had to fight while wounded. Captain Rondoianis was still suffering from his wounds when he was sent back to the front to resume command of his Detachment. When he asked how many of the old soldiers remained we told him only eight. And when he asked what happened to the others, we told him they were killed or heavily wounded. We also listed all the names of those who were killed. He started to cry. He cried like a little child and we cried too. He told us he was proud of us. He also said that he always told his colleagues that ‘all my fighters are Macedonians and jump into the fire like lions and we envy them’…” said Mundushev.

On March 9, 1941 the Greek held positions around the village Bumbeshi were attacked by the Italians in a massive offensive which lasted two days and two nights without interruption. The Macedonian soldiers were told that this offensive was initiated by Mussolini himself, who came to Albania and joined his soldiers at the front. When it was over the entire hillside and village were covered in smoke and dust. Tons of explosives were unleashed on the terrain. “But in spite of all that, we remained vigilant in our defense of the line by inflicting heavy losses against the enemy. We too acquired many losses. Many trucks waited at the river bank to take the wounded. The soldiers we lost in our Detachments were quickly replaced with new soldiers. Some of them never made it to the top of the hill, they were either killed or wounded on the way. Of those who made it, many were asking to see the Macedonians and tell them in person how much they admired their heroism…” said Mundushev.

After Germany attacked Yugoslavia and Greece, the Fifth Detachment found itself in a difficult position. It had to withdraw from the front fast otherwise it would be trapped. On April 9, 1940 the Regiment left the front and withdrew to the bridge at Merdzhani near the Greek-Albanian border. The regiment was ordered to take a defensive position in order to allow the withdrawal of all remaining

troops from Albania, which were in danger of being severed. Some of the Regiment officers, however, refused to accept the orders which created panic among the troops. The same day, on April 13, 1940, during the evening, many soldiers deserted the army and fled back to their villages and homes. Unfortunately many fell into Italian hands and into ambushes carried out by Albanian armed gangs working with the Italians. One part managed to escape the Albanian ambush and returned back to its regiment. Many soldiers perished attempting to escape. The next day the remaining troops crossed the bridge in Merdzhani and entered Greek territory near the town Konitsa where they stayed a few days. On April 23 they entered Ianina and found it occupied by the German army.

There were many soldiers in Ianina and many more were arriving each day. Headquarters issued an order for the soldiers not to leave and to wait for new orders. Upon their arrival, the Germans took their weapons and confiscated their food. All the bakeries and shops in the city were closed and there was nothing for the multitudes to eat.

Slowly the soldiers began to leave the city.

Tsamburas from Kozhani, a retired Headquarters officer from the 2nd Battalion, was there telling the soldiers to go home, to go back to their villages. He informed the soldiers that their Headquarters was allegedly attempting to somehow transfer to Cairo and re-establish itself there. On April 26, 1940 most soldiers, including Mundushev, left Ianina and headed for home.

* * *

While the sons of many Macedonian families died in the Albanian mountains defending Greece’s honour, Tsaksiras’s fanatical Greek faction never stopped persecuting the Mala Prespa Macedonian civilians; parents and relatives of the young men who died for Greece. Even during the most desperate times, these Greeks had Macedonians locked up in their prison simply because they felt Macedonian. Included among them was Mitre Kuzmanov from the village German whose son Ilia fought in the 33rd Regiment of the

Greek army. Mitre was sent to prison because he refused to adhere to Tsaksiras’s wishes.

Greece under occupation

Macedonian awareness for liberation rises

With the German penetration into Greek territory, the Greek government troops and gendarmes, as well as the Greek administrative staff, including the teachers who were staying in Mala Prespa, fled Prespa via Kostur and went south into the Greek interior. In the meantime, before the new occupiers took hold, Mala Prespa was free like never before. Unfortunately, at the same time, the region became lawless. Those who felt brave broke into the military barracks and watchtowers and stole everything that was left behind including the military uniforms. They took their wagons and carts and stole everything they thought might be useful. The sentry booths were also looted. Even the doors and windows were taken from the barracks in R’bi. Some even climbed on the roof and began to remove the roof tiles but a number of older men told them to stop and they left.

The situation was quickly deteriorating and something had to be done to stop it and fast. Something needed to be done to stop the thugs from looting the abandoned public properties and from the violence because it was scaring the population. With no one to stop them the thugs escalated their criminal activities to terrorizing and robbing ordinary people. Wearing masks and disguises the thugs ran around the streets and mugged and pillaged people. Some stood at the crossroads and robbed everyone who passed by.

Some people in the villages, who were concerned about this, took matters into their own hands and began to form local councils and took initiatives to bring order to their villages. With its success in preventing crime, all villages eventually established local councils made up of respected elders. The councils vowed not to allow the Macedonian people to sink low on the moral scale. Their motto was: “We will not do what the Ottomans did to us for centuries and what the Greeks did to us for years…” The Macedonian councils even went as far as extending their protection to the Asia Minor Turkish Christian settlers and colonists. The protection offered by the councils stabilized the situation. All disputes arising in the villages were settled by the councils.

After Greece fell and the Italian front was abandoned, many Greek army soldiers, mostly Macedonians, were left at the front. After they ran out of food, the barely surviving soldiers, waiting for new orders, eventually decided to leave and go home. These soldiers were returning in groups or alone. When people who worked in the fields spotted them, they dropped everything and ran to welcome them back. Happiest were the parents of the soldiers who returned safe and sound.

On July 25, 1941 one of Cholakoglu’s newly formed gendarme units was introduced into Mala Prespa. This was part of Cholakoglu’s newly established security services. Cholakoglu was the leader of the quisling government installed in Greece by the occupiers. The composition of the new gendarmes consisted mostly of former gendarmes and supporters of Metaxas, who earlier were deployed in the former gendarmerie stations in Mala Prespa. Cholakoglu’s people informed the population that the new gendarmes, together with the new government, would provide the necessary security for the people. Unfortunately the arrival of the quisling government in Mala Prespa brought with it unrest. The gendarme presence and activities practically sank the sagging morale of the population, especially when the gendarmes proved themselves to be faithful servants of the Germans and started collecting taxes for them.

For much of the population in the Mala Prespa villages nothing had changed. With the arrival of these undesirable gendarmes, it was like stepping back in time to the Metaxas dictatorship era when people were humiliated, tormented, tortured and imprisoned. The bitter life was back and there was no sight of it ending anytime soon. As their desire for freedom grew, one day the Mala Prespa villagers got together and agreed to protest against the quisling government and politely ask it to leave the villages. Unfortunately the gendarmes did not agree and told the people they had weapons and were not afraid to use them.

The wave of discontent among the people was the strongest and most effective in the village German. The same day the villagers protested and their request was turned down, they turned off the water to the gendarmerie. The villagers also agreed that no one was

to supply the gendarmes with food. And the people did exactly that. The gendarmes remained without food and water for days. From time to time overnight gunfire and machine gun bursts were heard through the village. In his panic the chief of the gendarmes made several attempts to contact the Germans in Lerin and establish a relationship with them, but without success. Finally, after four days of being isolated, the chief stuck a white flag out of this office window signaling that he wanted to leave. When he was given the signal, one by one his gendarmes left the building and together they left the village German and took shelter in the barracks in R’bi. Unfortunately for them, the people of R’bi were not too happy to have them in their village. So the reception they received in German followed them in R’bi. After returning from working in their fields, in the evening of June 29th the R’bi villagers got together in the village square and agreed to send a delegation to the barracks to tell the gendarmes to immediately leave the village. The delegation met with the chief who not only refused to leave but told them: “We are not leaving and are prepared to fight to the last man…” When the delegation returned it found about 100 men waiting in the square and more arriving. The situation was becoming very tense and word quickly spread to the other villages. Then, about 10 minutes later, a column of about 200 men was heard singing Macedonian revolutionary songs and approaching R’bi from German. By the time the column arrived about 350 Macedonian men in total had gathered and were singing Macedonian revolutionary songs. The men then marched to the R’bi barracks to demonstrate their displeasure. When they approached the R’bi bridge the quisling gendarmes opened fire on them. Not anticipating being fired upon, the demonstrators ran in panic. Some ran down the river and others fled back and ran down the village streets. About an hour later, when the situation calmed down, another group of villagers tried to go down to the barracks but they too were shot at. The gendarmes killed Mial Mundushev from R’bi and wounded Done Bechkov also from R’bi. During the night the gendarmes left the barracks and fled to Lerin.

About 10 days later the German army arrived in Mala Prespa with tanks and brought with it the gendarmes that had fled earlier. The Germans gathered all the people from the various villages together and threatened them with harm while demanding they surrender the

troublemakers. No one was surrendered. A while later, the German officer leading the German unit said: “We will forgive you this time but if this happens again your villages will be burned down and you will all be killed…” He then pointed to the gendarmes and said: “These people will remain here and will be your government. They are our people, they are the German government…” Several village men approached the officer and told him: “Regardless of whether they are part of your government or not, we just don’t want them here and we have our own reasons…” The German officer became visibly upset and yelled: “Communists!” One of the men replied and said: “We are not communists, we are Macedonians… but they will not allow us to be Macedonians and they are trying to turn us into Greeks by force.” The officer then looked at him and said: “We must have order here!” he then turned around and left. The gendarmes took their original positions and remained in the villages.

The gendarmes of the German-installed Greek quisling government were never recognized or accepted as a government in Mala Prespa by the Mala Prespa villagers. The gendarmes were there but were treated like they were not there. The Macedonian people in Mala Prespa went as far as speaking Macedonian and singing Macedonian songs, including songs about the Ilinden Uprising, in their presence. But the German-appointed gendarmes were not happy and constantly endeavoured to quell the strong Macedonian spirit. A barn was burned down in R’bi and no one knew at the time how the fire was started, but this incident gave the gendarmes reason to arrest 9 individuals and send them to 6 months in prison. Their hearing took place in Lerin and not once was the “burned barn” mentioned during their trial. These 9 people were sent to prison because they were accused of organizing an armed attack against the gendarmes in R’bi and of being rebels. Later it was revealed that the barn was intentionally burned down by the gendarmes to create a reason to round up the 9 individuals.

In the other part of Prespa, more precisely Dolna Prespa, the Italians were in control. Italian soldiers were stationed in the village Liuboino. The Markova Noga pass was also guarded by Italian troops. At some point, Italian Occupational Command stationed in Kostur and German Occupation Command stationed in Lerin made

an agreement to put Mala Prespa under Italian control. The Italians arrived in Mala Prespa in November 1941.

Mala Prespa under Italian occupation

When the Italians came to Mala Prespa they established military stations in the villages Orovo, R’bi, P’pli, German and Lok. They set their artillery batteries on Krina Hill, at Nivitsi Mountain. With the arrival of the Italians to Mala Prespa, the Greek-quisling gendarmerie left and went to Lerin. Mala Prespa was then placed under the Kostur administration.

About 10 days after the Italians established themselves in Mala Prespa, they invited the people of Prespa and demanded of them to surrender their weapons. This was in response to what they had been informed by the German authorities and by the Greek quislings of Mala Prespa. The Italians also asked the people to return some of the items that were taken from the R’bi barracks after the Greek army left. People were held in the barracks at R’bi for days and were grossly abused while being questioned about the weapons they allegedly possessed. The Italians did the same in the villages German, P’pli, Lok and Orovo. They summoned people from all the villages and kept them there for days while interrogating them about alleged weapons. A special Italian interrogation unit numbering about fifty soldiers was sent to R’bi exclusively for these interrogations. The Italian interrogators were accommodated in the R’bi barracks.

When all the Macedonian people from Mala Prespa were gathered together, summoned by the Italian special unit, the Italian officer in charge pulled out his notebook and, in the Macedonian language, read the words: “Those of you who have weapons are to bring them here immediately. Those who refuse to give up their weapons will be shot. You have one hour to surrender your weapons...” It was well understood that the Macedonians possessed weapons to defend themselves from the Greeks. An hour later the villagers were again summoned to appear before the Italians but no one was carrying weapons. When the officer saw that no weapons were brought back he went into a fit of rage. He ordered the people to line up in three columns. He grabbed his shmaizer (rifle) walked ten metres in front

of them and raised it ready to shoot. He stood there for 2 minutes aiming his gun at the people. Everyone was frozen with fear. He then said: “I will give you one more minute to step forward and speak up before I start shooting… Anyone who speaks will be spared…” He looked at his watch. Everyone was silent. He again looked at his watch and ordered his troops to escort the people to German where he said he was going to shoot them. The three columns of 150 people were escorted to German and locked up in one of the classrooms in the local school.