Front Matter - Part 03

II) Instead of appointing or electing Macedonians to lead the Macedonian districts in Greek occupied Macedonia, the CPG appointed “selected Greeks” or “Party officials” in the Party committees, who were not only non-Macedonians but who also harboured anti-Macedonian sentiments. Years later the CPG Central Committee Politburo was forced to admit that these people were “avant-garde-ists and chauvinists who supported a Greater Greece!” (28)

III) From the many loyal Macedonian communists and CPG activists who served in the national liberation movement, not one was elevated or allowed to rise to the helm. Macedonian activists were engaged everywhere, on all things in and out of Macedonia, but not in organizing the Macedonian anti-fascist national liberation movement. And those who showed promise and initiative, such as Karadza and Trpovski, were lost, disappeared early from the Macedonian national liberation movement, and in an unusual manner. This not only beheaded all Macedonian hopes but also fulfilled Greek wishes that the Macedonians would never rise or come to the fore.

IV) When conditions were right and the neighbouring nations rose up in the struggle against the occupiers, fighting for their own freedom and survival, when the Macedonian people in the Yugoslav part of Macedonia joined the national liberation war to fight for our Macedonian freedom; their acts and deeds very much influenced the

Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia and their involvement in the struggle in Greek occupied Macedonia became inevitable. The pressure from below, from the Macedonian communists and from the groundbreakers, grew so much that the Greek leaders, as the old Greek saying goes “Pioumeni tin Anangin filotomian” (the inevitable inevitability becomes a well-intentioned readiness), were prompted to allow the formation of Macedonian organizations. The Macedonian Anti-Fascist Organization (MAO) was formed in Voden in 1942. The Slavo-Macedonian People’s Liberation Front (SNOF) was formed in Lerin in November, 1943. SNOF in Lerin-Kostur Region was formed in January, 1944... It seemed that the Macedonians would eventually gain the right to their own organization and struggle on their own behalf, side by side with the Greek people, for their survival and for a decent life in the Greek state. But this proved to be just another Greek maneuver, a tactical deviation, which our Greek comrades planned for their own benefit. Namely:

- The communist Greeks allowed these Macedonian organizations to form in order to 1) attract the Macedonians into organizations that they felt they could control, and 2) avoid the creation of a strong Macedonian counter-autonomist movement that would seriously jeopardize the Greek position and interests in Greek occupied Macedonia; and

- By being under its watchful eye and control the CPG could exert pressure on the Macedonian national liberation movement and gradually and over time diminish its strength until it was suffocated, just like it did with MRO (United).

The Party leaders who suffocated MRO (United) tried to use their experience to suffocate MAO in Voden and SNOF in Lerin-Kostur Region. It was by no accident that MAO was limited to the city Voden, and SNOF to the Lerin and Kostur Regions. The CPG wanted these organizations to stay low key but they did not have much success. MAO in Voden and SNOF in the Lerin-Kostur Region were well accepted by the Macedonian people and with much excitement, and, surprisingly, they transformed the organization into dynamic revolutionary organizations with unexpectedly strong Macedonian nationalism. Obviously, this was

done as a reaction to decades of Greek suppression sponsored by official Greece. No Macedonian was happy with the idea that “Macedonia is Attica and that there is no Macedonian National Question for Greece”. The Greek leaders, on the other hand, could not accept a strong Macedonian national movement and so an open attack against the Macedonian anti-fascist national liberation movement became inevitable.

Like MAO, SNOF too was dissolved and destroyed...

V) The Left sources of information that followed the national liberation war against the occupiers were exclusively controlled by the CPG, EAM, ELAS and EPON. They decided what was published and what wasn’t. While serving in Meglen Region, in Voden District, I was not aware that both MAO and SNOF had been dissolved. I only found out after I left. There was no information, not even rumours, circulating about that... So what did that mean? It became clear to me that our friends in the CPG refused to divulge any information about the Macedonians… anywhere. The reason for this was that they did not want to let Macedonians in one place know of what other Macedonians were doing in another place, because that would inevitably encourage and stir them to act. Also, any news about the Macedonians or about their struggle in general, i.e. struggling as a non-Greek nation, would have meant affirmation of their existence in Greece. It would have been an affirmation of their struggle to survive as Macedonians in the Greek state. And that could not, and would not be allowed to come out given that it was well claimed in Greek circles that “Macedonia was (or should be) Attica” and the Macedonian people were (or should be) “Slavophone-Greeks”...

VI) The communication channels connecting the CPG, EAM, ELAS and EPON districts in Greek occupied Macedonia were never meant to be links between the Macedonian CPG organizations and the Macedonian leadership and activities in those districts. The fact that Macedonians, at different times and in different places, had to fight in order to create various organizations against the will of the CPG, tells us that our Greek friends took extraordinary preventive measures to stifle the Macedonian anti-fascist revolutionary forces

to keep them divided and isolated in their districts and from other districts, so that they could be easily controlled and suppressed.

This well-conceived and accomplished isolation and disconnection of the Macedonian antifascist organizations from each other in the Macedonian districts, was truly a heavy blow to the Macedonian antifascist struggle, which significantly damaged its initiation and development...

VII) As I previously mentioned, around the middle of 1943, Tilamahos Ververis and Andreas Dzimas, representatives of the CPG and ELAS, met with representatives from the Communist parties and from the National Liberation War organizations in Yugoslavia and Albania, and reached an agreement to form a national revolutionary union and come up with a military and political plan on how to work together. But soon afterwards, the Greek side gave up on that agreement because it figured that such a union with its neighbours would create favourable conditions for the development of a massive Macedonian liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia...

VIII) The Greek CPG, EAM and ELAS leaders did not refuse to discuss cooperation, so a meeting was scheduled between the CPG and the CPM (CPY) for early September 1943, to take place somewhere outside Solun. After a long discussion, a cooperation agreement was reached with several points. Under points 5 and 6, the Greek side undertook to “create a Macedonian language” and to “form separate Macedonian military units”. (29) But nothing of this ever materialized. This agreement was totally ignored by the Greek side.

Here are some characteristic moments:

Pando Dzhikata, a Macedonian revolutionary from the village Chegan, Voden Region, was arrested by an ELAS formation and was executed soon afterwards. Five others were also executed. The five belonged to a commission set up by responsible members belonging to the CPG, EAM, ELAS, EPON and EA and sent to protest Pando Dzhikata’s arrest. The five were also natives of Chegan, Pando Dzhikata’s village. They were shot because they

demanded that Pando Dzhikata be released. These people were executed shortly after the CPG-CPM agreement was made outside of Solun for the cooperation between the two Parties and movements... But the Macedonian people knew exactly why Pando Dzhikata had been shot. On the occasion of the 40th “Ilinden” anniversary, Pando Dzhikata wrote an article and submitted it for publication in the newspaper “Tsrvena Dzvezda”, a local MAO paper in Voden, in which, among other things, he called on the Macedonian people to “mature into worthy heirs of the Ilinden Uprising”. He was also found guilty of cooperating with the Macedonian partisan units from the Yugoslav part of Macedonia...

This happened to many Macedonian revolutionaries and tells a story about the Greek leadership’s attitude towards the Macedonian people and about the Party’s policy towards the Macedonian anti-fascists liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia. Of course, Greek plans were one thing and developments of the Macedonian reality on the ground were another. After SNOF was liquidated in May 1944, under very tense conditions, the Greeks had to act so they ordered the formation of two units, one in Lerin-Kostur Region and the other in Voden Region. This was done sometime in July 1944...

From the top they ordered the formation of two units...

But the bottom, the base, instead of forming two units it formed two battalions! (30)

The top reacted but could do nothing because a call for volunteers to join the battalions had already been sent out and volunteers were arriving in droves…!

The reaction to stop the formation of the Macedonian battalions had little effect…

As the battalions began to visit the Macedonian villages, their very existence brought joy and warmed the hearts of the oppressed Macedonian people. By doing so, according to Greek accounts, they were “spreading Macedonian nationalist propaganda” and “awakening Macedonian nationalist sentiments” among the

Macedonian people, which severely affected the “Greek character” of Macedonia. After this demonstration they could no longer be regarded as “Slavophone Greeks”. The Greek comrades, of course, saw danger in this. Their Greek position and their “national interests” were being compromised in this part of Macedonia. So, as soon as the rapid and efficient ELAS Macedonian battalions broke up the autonomist movement and its organized counter-band military force, they were disarmed and disbanded…

It was a real drama!

This is what General Markos Vafiadis said regarding the Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian battalion: “The CPG Central Committee Politburo sent a confidential letter addressed to the ELAS 28th Brigade Commissar ordering him to order the ELAS Macedonian battalion to travel south and ultimately be attacked and disarmed because it posed a danger...” And that is exactly what happened. While the Macedonian battalion was fighting against the Germans on Bigla Mountain it was attacked by partisan units from the ELAS 28th Brigade... (31)

The battalion did not fight back. It disengaged from the battle against the Germans and, in order to avoid bloodshed, withdrew from Greek occupied Macedonia and crossed over the border into the now Republic of Macedonia. As soon as the battalion crossed the border its command wrote a letter explaining its departure and rejected Greek claims as to why it was attacked and what had happened. Among other things the letter said: “The explanation given by our comrades as to why we left our position abruptly is a big lie, a fabrication. We were left with no choice but to take defensive measures against ELAS’s intentions against us. You are all aware that one of our units was captured and disarmed by the Greek Andartes. You all know that ELAS units were dispatched from Kostur Region and from Prespa to surround and disarm us... We simply took measures to avoid fratricide. They ordered us to go south to old Greece for one and only one reason, to destroy the Macedonian partisan movement!” (32)

The same thing happened to the Macedonian Voden battalion. Greek ELAS units were secretly dispatched, as they were in the case of the

Lerin-Kostur battalion, to disarm and pacify the Voden battalion. Further to his comments mentioned above, this is what General Markos Vafiadis had to say about this:

“Before it could be attacked and disarmed (under Marko’s orders, of course) the Voden battalion retreated to Kavadartsi through Kozhuv Mountain.” This took place during the night of October 12 and 13, 1944. I (Pavle Rakovski) maneuvered the battalion and avoided being attacked.

The Party wasted no time in starting what became known as the “well-known campaign” and other rumours which pitted Macedonians against Macedonians, especially against the Macedonian Communists and leaders of the battalions. They were called “Ohraniti” (members of the Bulgarian Ohrana organization), crypto-fascists, traitors, adventurers and so on.

This is what Markos said about that: “The CPG Provincial Committee for Macedonia and Thrace sent a directive to all CPG Committees in Voden, Lerin and Kostur Regions accusing the ELAS Macedonian units, which had left the country, of committing a treasonous counterrevolutionary act...” This resulted in the mistreatment of many civilians especially the parents, wives and relatives of the Macedonian leaders who had fled. Many of these civilians were arrested and sent to the same prison camps where the occupier collaborators were kept. (33) At that time my wife Niki went to live with her parents in Sorovich where she gave birth to our son. She too was arrested and sent to a women’s camp to serve time with the women who went with the occupying officers and soldiers. She was devastated by her experience and protested by not eating. Fortunately she was saved by a man named Kosta Siaperas, a communist, fellow school mate and a friend from the Lerin Gymnasium. As an official inspector in Lerin, Kosta Siaperas was able to visit the camp and get my wife out. She went back to living with her parents but lived under the constant fear that she might be arrested again. Eventually she fled the village and walked to Bitola. She was so exhausted that she fell ill and died. Our son had died in Sorovich a little earlier.

“What a gross mistake…!” remarked Markos. (34)

Perhaps… But only in a tactical sense. The incredible “behind the back” attack against the Macedonian battalion and the tragic and desperate acts committed against the people around it, were no doubt inspired by Greek fears that the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement could no longer be controlled… and that somehow this was in violation of Party policies… and that this was very dangerous for the Greek position and for Greek interests in Greek occupied Macedonia…

In fact, as it is well-known, Markos himself ordered the ELAS division in Greek occupied Macedonia to: “Totally destroy the emerging Slavophones.” (35)

The fact is: As the commissar of all ELAS Group Divisions in Greek occupied Macedonia, Markos, together with Commander Evripidis Bakirdzis, ordered all ELAS Macedonian partisan units to be totally crushed. Why? Because they were seen or characterized as “rising Slavophones”. But if what the ELAS Macedonian partisans were doing was characterized as “rising”, it certainly was a very unusual “rising”. The Greek units attacked them from behind and the Macedonian units were forced to defend themselves. But instead of fighting back to defend themselves, they avoided the attack altogether. They did this in order to avoid bloodshed. In other words, they did not resist but retreated to avoid shedding blood. They did not rise at all but withdrew to the Republic of Macedonia.

The term “Slavophones” also comes into play here. Not Macedonians, but Slavophones. Sarafis and Bakirdzis publicly called Macedonians “Slavophone Greeks” and the “Ethnicon Simvoulion” (National Council) referred to them simply as Greek people. All this was done in the spirit of the anti-Macedonian concept that “there are no Macedonians in Macedonia” and that there is no “Macedonian National Question” for Greece...

So, according to the CPG Bureau for Macedonia and Thrace, that is, the leadership of the CPG, “the separation of the Macedonian units from ELAS” was not, and does not signify anything else other than a “treacherous counterrevolutionary act!...” Perhaps this is why Markos, nowadays, after decades of silence, calls the Macedonian

Partisans “a Trojan horse in ELAS” (page 74) in his biography by Dragan Kliakich. By twisting the facts Markos tried to prove that the “special Macedonian units”, formed by “ELAC Headquarters” itself, were really a danger to Greece and played a “treacherous role” in the ranks of ELAS.

It is well-understood, of course, that the existence of Macedonian partisans strongly affected the “Greek character” of Macedonia. The Macedonians... the Atticans of Rizospastis, could no longer be characterized as “Slavophone Greeks” not only because they were not, but also because they did not show a sense of genuine Greek origin… All they wanted to do was be Macedonians and the existence of the Macedonian armed units, which publicly identified themselves as Macedonian, were encouraging them. As a result many Macedonians rejected their Greek names and surnames and took back their own Macedonian names. More than that. They even rebelled against the CPG, EAM, ELAS and Marko’s “erroneous attitude” and demanded that they be recognized as Macedonians and be allowed to have their own Macedonian national organizations, their own armed units, and be allowed to lead their own political struggle and fight for their own national, democratic rights and freedoms as equal partners with the Greek people.

That is correct. That’s how it was. But how can the Macedonian people be accused of “wrongdoing” when all they were doing was looking after their own interests? The struggle of an enslaved nation fighting for its survival and freedom was a natural thing to do, which means what they were doing was “right”. In principle and in practice what the Macedonian people were doing was legitimate. The working class struggle led by the communist party is one such historical event, an example of a social-political force that not only recognizes the rights of the working class but also protects them. Unfortunately that was not the case with the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia. The Greek workers’ and communist movements did not do what they were expected to do for the Macedonian people. The CPG failed it its historic responsibility to protect the Macedonian people...

Not only did the CPG fail to protect the rights of the Macedonian people, but during the national liberation war against the occupiers,

a decisive and critical revolutionary period, it systematically prevented them from developing their own Macedonian anti-fascist national liberation movement. More than that. It publicly declared that the Macedonian people were Greek, “Slavophone Greeks”, and called upon them to fight for the “national liberation” of Greece, but not for any democratic rights or freedom for themselves.

And because of that, the Macedonian partisans and the Macedonian people in general were victims of Greek chauvinism… perpetrated by our Greek comrades and top leaders of the CPG, EAM and ELAS...

For the CPG Central Committee Politburo to then proclaim that the Macedonian partisans were “a danger to Greece” and today to call them a “Trojan horse”, could only mean that they had committed some kind of treacherous act in their role while serving in the ranks of ELAS. And what treacherous acts did they commit? None!

So, the true and only reason why the Macedonian partisans were condemned by the top Left Greeks leadership, was because the Macedonians made an effort to struggle in order to survive as Macedonians;

The Macedonians were punished because they could not reconcile with the open Greek request for them to only be “Slavophone Greeks”, a fate that would completely disadvantage them and condemn the entire Macedonian nation… condemn it to disappear in the name of foreign interests.

Naturally, this was a projection of a far-reaching ongoing Greek anti-Macedonian campaign...

Unfortunately, even though such drastic measures were taken against the Macedonian people, i.e. to negate their existence and to stifle their progress as Macedonians, all in the name of Greek interests, it has not been captured by Greek authors. Even former CPG, EAM, ELAS and DAG leaders and officials have refrained from publicly speaking about the Macedonians and their role in the national liberation war. This shows how careful our Greek friends are and the old, well-known and traditional tactics they have applied

to avoid speaking and writing about the existence of a non-Greek Slavic people in the Greek state. We have to admit that they have done a bang-up job to avoid popularizing and publicly supporting the Macedonian struggle for elementary human rights, i.e. for creating the right conditions for survival and for a decent life as Macedonians in the Greek state...

Our Greek friends always had justifications for everything, such as:

The domestic bourgeoisie are very sensitive towards the Macedonian National Question… We have to be careful not to anger the bourgeoisie and turn them against the workers’ movement and against the CPG. We did what we had to do in order not to turn the bourgeoisie against the Macedonian people themselves… A national issue can not be raised to the detriment of the workers’ movement and to the detriment of the Party...

These kinds of justifications were nothing more than excuses for the CPG to do what it wanted. These excuses were very effective before the CPG began to collude with the bourgeoisie and accepted the bourgeoisie idea that “Macedonians do not exist in Greece”. While supporting a policy of “full equality for minorities” our comrades and top leaders of the CPG, EAM and ELAS, resolutely accepted the same position as the domestic bourgeoisie that there were “no Macedonians in Macedonia” and the CPG, in that regard, became an extended arm of the bourgeoisie in the suppression of the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement. This means that the official CPG Party line was passed over and, instead of protecting the rights of the minorities, i.e. the Macedonians, the CPG initiated chauvinistic tendencies and a liquidation policy to get rid of the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement in Greek occupied Macedonia...

While trying to explain to his Yugoslavian biographer Dragan Kliakich, and to the whole world, why Greek ELAS units attacked the Macedonian ELAS units, General Markos Vafiadis, as we saw earlier, tried hard to load the whole thing on Zahariadis. Greek authors, however, bypassed it and in a way hid the truth about his contribution as a CPG, EAM and ELAS functionary so that the

“fate” of the Macedonian people, in this part of Macedonia, would be very difficult and dramatic...

In this relationship, the party press did not lag too far behind.

“The correctness of the line on a given question does not exclude individual irregularities when dealing with that issue. This also happened when the Macedonian Question was discussed during the first phase of the armed struggle (against the fascist occupiers (1941-1944)) and later (during the Greek Civil War), claims the newspaper “Neos Kosmos” organ of the CPC Central Committee, in its editorial article (something like a programming document) while explaining the Party’s policy in that period regarding the Macedonian National Question.” (36)

In other words, nothing serious happened... Only “individual irregularities” which the “correctness of the line” does not exclude when dealing with the issue!

In a situation where there was great desire to blur and conceal the real CPG leadership’s thesis and politics, everything that could be done was done, up until 1974. (37) Everything was done to keep the truth away from the Macedonian activists and the Macedonian people in general including the promotion of such slogans as “there is no Macedonian Question for Greece”, “Macedonia has a Greek character”, “Macedonia is Attica”, the “Macedonian people are Slavophone Greeks”, and so on. Then, suddenly, the Macedonian Question and the Macedonian problem in the Greek state, ceased to exist… again... Yes! That is exactly what happened. The Macedonian National Question ceased to exist! It ceased to exist for the leadership of the Greek communist movement, apparently, again… and as they used to say, “due to the extreme sensitivity of the domestic bourgeoisie...”

This was nothing unusual for the Macedonian people who lived under the Greek thumb. These were old and well-known Greek anti-Macedonian tactics, a “Macedonian disease” the Greek “patriots” in the CPG leadership carried in the hearts since the day the CPG was established in November 1918. You will find more information on this CPG “Macedonian disease” and its symptoms from the onset, in

another of my texts. Here, of course, I will only talk about the most important symptoms associated with, and the harm done to me personally. So, let us continue… At the beginning of this autobiographical story, I promised to tell you how I got to become a political prisoner in the Beria-Stalin Siberian camps. Here, in this part of my narration, I will present you with a series of events and symptoms which directly contributed to my fate and shaped my destiny. I will talk about how I was thrown into the forefront of the Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement and how I became a member of the political commission for Aegean Macedonia and one of the founders and leaders of NOF in Greek occupied Macedonia...

Let us continue…

Towards the end of October 1944, I was appointed member of the Political Commission for Aegean Macedonia which, six months later, in April 1945, self disbanded under a directive issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Macedonia (in other words the CPY). Then, on April 23, 1945, a NOF leadership committee for Aegean Macedonia was constituted of which I was an active member.

My role as a member of the political committee was to lead the agitation and propaganda department, that is, to edit the “planned” newspaper, a body of the political committee. I was asked to and I wrote an editorial article. But when I brought it to Krste Tsrvenkovski to review it, he was not happy. He said: “Don’t do this, comrade, don’t do this!” At the time I was very bitter and angry about the injustices committed against our Macedonian anti-fascist liberation movement, and I put it all in this article... Was it because they thought that I was, we were, from Greek occupied Macedonia that we could only be fighters and no more… unsuitable to be politicians… or was it something else? The so-called “planned” newspaper was never realized.

Before that I had to put up with annoyances and inactivity but then, sometime in January 1945, I went to Dzhodzho’s office, who at that time was Committee Secretary of the political committee, and asked him for an assignment. He agreed to allow me to go to the Staravina Base in Kaimakchalan. I stayed at the base until the beginning of

April 1945, after which, on request, I went go Skopje. I visited Meglen Region (Karadzhova) several times. I went to some of the villages where I had recruited volunteer fighters for the ELAS Voden Macedonian battalion. I wanted to gauge the mood of the people and to personally inform them of news from the battalion fighters... Although expected, what I observed on the ground surprised me. Our Greek comrades, with all their might, tried to hide the truth as to why the battalion had left Greek occupied Macedonia. Their propaganda campaign was twisted and politicized. The battalion’s leaders were portrayed as dangerous political adventurers, especially Dzhodzho Urdov and Gotse (myself Pavle Rakovski). Namely, a defamatory propaganda campaign was conducted widely claiming, among other things, that “Dzhodzho and Gotse had sold the battalion for large sums of money...”, that “they sold your children!” And that “they are filthy traitors!”...

After thinking about this for a while I came to the conclusion that it was necessary for us to act urgently, to break this defamatory attack and to defend the honour of our leaders and our battalion by exposing the truth as to why the battalion had really left... From this and from other urgent and inevitable needs, TOMO, the Secret Macedonian Liberation Organization, emerged. It was born exactly at the same place where the battalion was born. Its aim was to spread the truth about the battalion’s departure deep among the Macedonian organizations and people. If this was not done the battalion’s departure would be remembered as a meaningless adventure…

I took my idea to Dzhodzho, of course. But, with the founding of NOF, and in order to avoid unnecessary discussions such as why, how, who decided and who authorized what, and so on, Dzhodzho advised me to keep quiet about this and get to work on developing NOF. I had nothing against that so I followed his advice. (38)

Regarding this, I read in “Istoria” number 2/1981, organ of the Association of Historians, that: “Pavle Rakovski was spreading disinformation regarding the question of who founded TOMO, the Secret Macedonian Liberation Organization, in 1945 in Voden Region. Rakovski claims that Vangel Aianovski-Oche was not the founder of TOMO, and that he has proclaimed himself to be the

founder of this organization. It is true that documents from TOMO’s establishment and activities have not been preserved, which is understandable given the time and conditions under which it was formed and was active. However, while Aianovski has a document from that time which mentions TOMO and its activities, no such thing is mentioned in Pavle Rakovski’s many reports. His explanation that the political committee for Macedonia under Greece, and the NOF leadership, kept TOMO’s establishment a secret, is not convincing. How is it possible to organize and run so many branches in a network and, at the same time, keep such an organization a secret, especially from its own leadership? If for some reason Rakovski needed to keep this organization a secret in 1945, there was no reason for him to keep it secret later. And another thing, while Aianovski details the entire organizational structure in his works (referring to the book ‘Aegean Storms’) showing a list of people who worked as activists or as members of the organization, Paul Rakovski only states that he went to Voden, formed TOMO and nothing more!” (p. 290)

In his book “Aegean Storms” (INI, 1975, pp. 167-170), Aianovski wrote that on April 28, 1945, he convened the first TOMO district conference in Voden Region. It was attended by delegates from the city Voden and from the surrounding villages. He wrote that he personally opened the meeting which was then chaired by Petre Popov (who died later) from Dolno Rodovo. According to Aianovski this was the agenda:

1. TOMO activity report. 2. Change the name TOMO to NOF (People’s Liberation Front). 3. Elect NOF district board for Voden...

Aianovski took the floor for the first agenda item. “Pavle Rakovski, representative of the political committee for the Macedonians under Greece, then took the floor for the second agenda item, and after welcoming the delegates, presented the political committee’s decision to create NOF by renaming TOMO to NOF, which was then accepted...”

Aianovski wrote the above more than three decades after it took place... So, what can I say about it? Well, instead of me talking, I will leave the facts and documents to speak for me.

- The political committee at that time, on April 28, 1945, did not exist so I could not have been its delegated or its representative.

- During the founding of NOF for Aegean Macedonia and the appointment of its bureau, on April 23, 1945, in Skopje, it was decided that all members of this bureau would remain in Skopje for the May 1st, 1945 holiday, and then everyone would leave and report to their assigned districts. So, on April 28, 1945, I was not in Voden Region.

- Sometime near the end of May 1945, as was decided earlier, our bureau gathered for another meeting. Dimitar Aleksievski-Pekar chaired it. In my notepad, dated May 27, 1945, among other things I wrote: “Last month we decided to hold a district meeting next month for the purpose of choosing a district board and to discuss other issues.” (39) And in a note dated June 27, 1945, among other things, I wrote: “On June 20, 1945, I convened and held a district meeting a few kilometers outside of Voden. We did not however get the desired attendance we expected. No delegates from Voden and from Meglen Pole attended. Those from Voden could not attend because the city was blockaded. Those from Meglen Pole did not get the invitations on time because the courier had an incident along the road and was delayed. However, 125 delegates from 28 separate villages did attend. The meeting went well and took a serious and splendid tone being chaired by an old gray haired man from the Ilinden era...” (40) “Because I didn’t know any of the activists from the city Voden, I always had to consult with Dzhodzho regarding their personnel issues.” “Aianovski was sent to Voden in December 1944 to monitor the situation and to report on events. I made a point of inviting him to this meeting and, on Dzhodzho’s suggestion he was appointed first president of NOF (TOMO) for Voden Region. I figured this would make his job easier for which he was sent to the field!” It is not difficult to see that, according to my notes from that time, nothing was mentioned about a district conference taking place in Voden Region on April 28, 1945...

- Let us now have a look at Aianovski’s notes preserved from that time, in which, according to “Istoria” number 2/1981, “TOMO and its activities were mentioned”. Firstly Aionovski’s document is not unique. There is also a second document from that time, i.e. from the first half of 1945. Both documents were published in a collection of documents entitled “Aegean Macedonia in the Second World War”, second volume. The first document was published under line number 39, p. 75, and the second under line number 54, p. 101-104. They were not signed, but based on the channel by which they were obtained it is known who sent them. Apart from that, based on the handwriting on the photocopied the manuscripts, contained in the collection, the same person wrote both of them (Aianovski).

The first manuscript is entitled. “Military Information Bulletin from June 16, 1945”. The second manuscript is entitled “Information Bulletin”. Both were written on June 16, 1945, so they were probably sent to various different addresses. About the first manuscript editors Dr. Risto Kiriazovki and Tosho Simovski wrote that this information was authored by Vangel Aianovski-Oche who reported on the military and political situation in Voden Region”. Here is the content of that report:

“Military Information Bulletin from June 16, 1945.

It is certain. Special movements of English mechanized forces have been observed. Every day armored cars are sent to inspect the border, especially in the regions around Meglen and Ostrovo. They also inspect the border watch towers and guard houses. It has not been determined to which battalion they belong and who their commander is. Several officers and a number of soldiers have arrived in the city Voden to reinforce the 303 battalion. Lively and nervous activities have been observed in the Greek-English intelligence bureau. The Greek authorities in Voden have compiled lists of Macedonians by name but we have not yet learned why they have compiled them. The political and military world and most of the population in our district is nervous because of the published news that three mechanized Russian divisions have arrived at the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Macedonian people are thrilled with this news. The Greek government through the press has advised that the arrival of the Russians at the Greek-Bulgarian border has

nothing to do with Greece, and that this is an internal Bulgaria matter. On May 26, 1945, a gendarmerie with four officers arrived in our city. One them is a major and commander of the gendarmerie. In the next report we will inform you about the number and names of the commanders as well as their purpose...”

As we can see, it is completely unfounded to argue that “TOMO and its activities” have been mentioned anywhere in Aianovski’s first document. There is not a word about it at all. Perhaps someone made a mistake with the accounts in this document. Perhaps they were referring to the second document. Perhaps they incorrectly considered it to be a document of TOMO. Regarding the second document the editorial board consisting of Kiriazovski and Simovski said that it was a “TOMO Information Bulletin reporting on the situation in Voden Region”, which is completely arbitrary and unfounded… Here is what, among other things, was written in that document: “Economics, newsletter 16.06.1945. This morning the Napoleon was worth 12, and in the afternoon it jumped to 9,000. Food items continue to be in abundance. No goods have been hidden. The people are generally satisfied. I am sending you a series of newspapers outlining measures taken by Varvaresos, Minister of Finance, where you will learn more about the economic situation in the entire country...” (41)

Of course, this was typical of Aianovski who, as always, was a nit-picker while doing the job for which he was sent here to do. In fact, the photocopied manuscript, mentioned earlier, undoubtedly confirms that Aianovski was the author of this document. But besides that, TOMO had no reason to send a series of newspapers outlining Varvresos’s economic measures.

Aianovski however does mentions TOMO twice in this document:

a) “...The entire army is not fascist; there are good men among the soldiers... who are expected to connect with our organization TOMO…” (42)

b) “The number of Grkomani (Macedonians loyal to Greece) in those villages is very small and efforts are being made to attract them in TOMO…” (43)

As we can see, there was no mention made in Aianovski’s documents from that time, about a district conference taking place in Voden Region on April 28, 1945, when TOMO was supposedly renamed and replaced by NOF. Aianovski knew nothing about this, and when he wrote these documents on June 16, 1945, as per “a” and “b” above, he was talking about TOMO, he knew nothing about NOF.

In his book “Aegean Storms” Aianovski seems to be silent about the June 20, 1945, NOF (TOMO) meeting in which he personally participated and was elected district president. Did he forget about it? Did he get the dates mixed up? I could not tell you what he did, all I can say is that three decades later, he invented the April 28, 1945 NOF-TOMO district conference... But that’s not all. Namely, after making frequent contacts with his friends Kiriazovsky and Simovski, reviewers of his book “Aegean Storms” and editors of an extensive collection of archival materials about “Aegean Macedonia in the national liberation war”, Aanovski somehow learned that there was no information on this, as well as on who founded TOMO in Voden Region. So, either by his own initiative or at the suggestion of someone else, he solved his problem by associating his say 5 or 6, 10 or 15 or even 20 or 26 auxiliary reporters in Voden and Voden Region, with the political organization TOMO and portrayed himself as the initiator, founder and secretary-general of TOMO which he claims to have founded on January 20, 1945. In his book “Aegean Storms” Aianovski paints a beautiful picture of TOMO and its activities under his leadership. One of those activities, that allegedly crowned his achievements, was convening the first district conference held on April 28, 1945. But where are Aianovski’s documents that directly confirm this? Apparently after he found out that he had no such documents he went ahead to confirm his claims indirectly. Five years before his book “Agean Storms” was published, Aiaovski published a number of articles on the life and struggle of Mirka Ginova in the Skopje daily “Nova Makedonija” printed on August 5 to 10, 1970, XXVI, no. 8455-8460. In one article, entitled “Mirka was helping the fighters”, among other things, Aianovski wrote: “The first TOMO regional conference was held in June 1945, when the name was changed from TOMO to NOF, an organized military-political force for the

Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia. Mirka Ginova was at the conference and was elected member of the NOF regulatory board secretariat for Voden Region…” which, of course, was correct. Aianovski was elected first president and Mirka was elected member of the secretariat and AFZH president for Voden Region...

It is interesting to note that Aianovski’s fictional date from the “Aegean Storms” also appeared in the famous pilot “Chronology” edition sponsored by the “Association of Fighters from the National Liberation War”. Here it was said that Vangel Aianovski-Oche formed the political organization TOMO on January 20, 1945 and convened a regional TOMO conference on April 28, 1945...

Of course, if the same nit-picking Aianovski, who was so pedantic with his notes about minor things such as how much a Napoleon was worth in the market in Voden in a single day, and how many villagers participated in a meeting, surely he would have left tangible evidence if he had founded a political organization such as TOMO. He would certainly have left some written documentation about a great event such as this. And of course, there would be no dilemma about it here and now. Surely there would have been something written in the many “newsletters” from that time if such an event had taken place. The editors and researchers would have found it if such a document existed and had been placed in the multi-volume collection of archival documents in the history of the Macedonian people. But such a document had not been found because it does not exist at all! The researchers found nothing about the first half of 1945 in the pile of Aianovski’s archival documents. Neither did the researchers find anything of significance in the bulletins they were placing in the second volume of the collection of archival materials…

And so we come to the conclusion that: New items had been added to the book “Aegean Storms” and to the pilot “Chronology” which have been created, rewritten and adjusted to fit a history created for one’s own measures and tastes...

Aianovski, accidentally or deliberately, has completely ignored his older documents he had left behind. Then, in his book “Aegean Storms” published in 1975, he openly declared that he founded

TOMO on January 20, 1945, and convened the first regional Voden Region conference on April 28, 1945…

Contrary to what was said in both mine and Aianovski’s original documents from that time, the magazine “Istoria” (History) wrote that Aianovski was the founder of TOMO in the collection of documents entitled “Aegean Macedonia in the national liberation war” quote number (2/1981).