INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

As is well-known, the Greek Civil War ended around the second half of 1949 with DAG experiencing defeat. The tragedy of the burned Macedonian villages and murdered Macedonian people was so great that it could be compared to the disaster that was experienced by various regions and by various nations in World War II. The Macedonian people in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia were massively involved in both the Second World War and later in the Greek Civil War, believing that their historical moment had arrived when the Macedonian National Question in Greece could finally be resolved and that the Macedonian people in Greece could finally obtain their national freedom.

Unfortunately, despite the unprecedented massive Macedonian participation and heroism expressed during the Greek Civil War and the constant encouragement and guidance received from the Communist Party of Greece, it proved once again that the Macedonian people were lied to and laid to rest on the altar of the victimized. The Communist Party of Greece and the DAG leadership, under great pressure from the Greek Monarcho-Fascists and their foreign supporters, took concrete measures to “deal” with the population in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia. In doing so, one of the primarily political (Party) objectives was to collect the children in Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia and send them out of the country to Yugoslavia and to other Eastern European countries… to the so-called people’s democratic countries.

In the first half of 1948 columns of small children (ages 2 to 14) began to move from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia into the People’s Republic of Macedonia, and from there to the Yugoslav republics and to the other democratic countries. The children were accompanied by women called “mothers” who dedicated themselves to lead the column of children to safety and to deliver them to the free countries where the children were placed in homes and boarding schools. The paths taken during the long trek led the children through gullies and mountains to the territory of the People’s Republic of Macedonia, and hence to Bitola, Brailovo and beyond to Skopje, Belgrade, Gakovo, Bela Tsrkva, Tsrkvenitsa, Stara Gora and other places.

The new Macedonian people’s government, together with the Yugoslav and Macedonian Red Cross, became involved in this activity and led the struggle to rescue every child, giving them medical care, housing and education.

The majority of the Macedonian refugee children, after they were given medical assistance, food and clothing, were sent to Belgrade and from there were deployed in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and the Autonomous Province of Voivodina. This is where the majority of the centres were set up to accommodate the Macedonian refugee children, whose numbers, although negligible to the total number of children uprooted and displaced, was still rather significant. Several researchers have pointed out that the figure of displaced children was 28,600, 90% of whom were Macedonians and the others were from the other national and ethnic groups living in Greece.

A Greek settlement was established in Bulkes, Autonomous Province of Voivodina, from 1945 to 1949 to accommodate Greek party leaders, fighters and other staff as well as Greek refugees. The entire overall policy regarding the Greek refugees, including the refugee children, regardless of the fact that the vast majority were Macedonians, was led from Bulkes. The “Committee for helping the children” was formed here. Their job was to place the refugee children in homes (boarding schools) in Yugoslavia and to make sure they received a proper education. Here they printed newspapers and brochures and created all the political means to deal with the refugee children.

After the Informburo Resolution was adopted in mid 1948, which publicly proclaimed that there was a conflict between the then Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, two things came out: first, the Greek leadership in Bulkes adopted the Informburo Resolution and began to brutally and mercilessly attack the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. This was done regardless of the fact that Bulkes was right in the middle of Yugoslavia. Secondly, the Greeks in Bulkes attempted to exploit the refugee children for their own propaganda purposes. Besides printing leaflets attacking the social and political system in the former Yugoslavia, they insidiously began to organize riots in the

refugee shelters and in children’s homes. They informed the foreign media, especially the media in Eastern European countries, to publish fabrications and rumours that the children in orphanages in Yugoslavia lived under extremely difficult conditions because they were exploited. They were forced to work hard in physical labour camps instead of being educated in schools.

Naturally, these were lies perpetrated by the Greeks which the Yugoslav and Macedonian authorities had to fight against with the strength of argument and the truth. They organized visits for several foreign journalists to visit the homes that sheltered the refugee children from Aegean (Greek occupied) Macedonia, and to show the world that the children were indeed being well looked after as well as being educated. This, the journalists had to see for themselves and verify how the children lived. In the end their articles were published in several prominent newspapers. The articles were impartial and showed the actual conditions under which the refugee children lived and were educated in Yugoslavia. This was a slap in the face for Greek and Eastern European propagandists. It showed the world that the situation in Yugoslavia was completely different and positive and that there should be no concern for the wellbeing of the refugee children living there.