MEMORANDUM - Part 01

MEMORANDUM

From: The Democratic Army of Greece – Central Command Headquarters - II Division

To: The Select Committee of the United Nations

Re: Reasons for the start of the Civil War and our thoughts on ending it.

March 14, 1947.

The following is a short explanation. Because the material is extensive, we will convey only a short interpretation here and provide the complete memorandum in chapter four of this write-up. This will give us an idea of how far we Macedonians were willing to go to (self) sacrifice ourselves as participants in DAG and whether the Greek Civil War was really a “Macedonian Liberation Movement”, an extension of the “Macedonian Ilinden tradition”, or something else.

Brief: (At the agreed upon meeting, agreed to by General Markos, DAG Supreme Commander, with the Soviet and Polish representatives of the Security Council Inquiry Committee for Greece and the representatives of Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria, on March 21, 1947, at the General Democratic Army Headquarters located in the village Hrisomilia (Kalambaka District), General Marcos delivered a comprehensive memorandum to the Inquiry Commission. The memorandum consisted of four chapters.

The memorandum provided accurate data regarding the Monarcho-Fascist bands roaming Thessaly, their whereabouts, their numbers and the names of their officers. Nearly all the officers on the list were collaborators who, during the occupation, had collaborated with the occupiers and had personally committed many crimes against the people for which the people’s courts had sentenced them to death. Here are their names: Kalabalitis, Surlas, Zervas, Tselios, Karakisos, Bizdas, Kunduris and others. The memorandum also listed facts about the ELAS officers who were arrested, exiled to the islands, or executed without having committed any crimes. The memorandum also produced documents originating from representatives of the Greek government who had admitted that the Monarcho-Fascist bands existed and were armed by the British much earlier than when the left began to arm its partisans who had fled into the forest. The aim of the Monarcho-Fascist bands was to destroy the will of the democratic citizens. Anyone in Greece who spoke about democratic rights was labeled an enemy of the Greek State. In the archives of the gendarmerie stations and in other government agencies, which DAG had seized, there was not a single directive that dealt with anything other than the destruction of the people’s movement and the Communist Party of Greece.

It was also characterized that in 1945 the largest blockades and attacks were said to have been carried out by British and Greek military units.)

The Democratic Army, endowed with the spirit of peace and with a normal democratic approach to solving our internal problems, which hang over the Greek people, has not missed a single occasion to advocate measures that will pave the way for democratically solving this problem. The attitude of the Democratic Army aptly matches the desire of the people’s democratic leadership leading the movement which represents the will of our democratic nation. Now, what are the reasons that caused the Civil War in our country and how can it be ended? We offer and maintain that without resolving the following problems there can be no peace: withdrawal of British troops from our country; EAM to participate in the government; general amnesty to all fighters; cleansing the state apparatus and security battalions of its fascist members;

Establishing democracy and freedom in the military, public safety and conducting free elections are prerequisites for our country to calm down. Without these factors there can be no normal life and freedom for the people. The Democratic Army and the people will continue to struggle until these factors are realized. We are confident that the people of all democratic nations will support us as long as we struggle for our rights and ideals.

The Democratic Army believes that the United Nations Inquiry Committee that represents all Democratic and Liberal nations who have made incredible sacrifices in their fight against Fascism will fulfill its objectives in its examination of the situation that exists in our country. We are confident that it will find the real reasons that caused the Civil War to flare up and that it will also help the people to achieve their aspirations and their freedom, which are enjoyed by all the democratic nations in the world.

Marcos, S. R. - DAG Central Command

May 20, 1947- The 1st NOF (41) Conference was held during which the new line of Organizational Objectives for the Macedonian National Liberation Movement were outlined, which were derived from the CPY and CPG directives to: “Fully incorporate the Macedonian people into the struggle led by DAG to establish a people’s democracy in Greece”. Everything else was geared towards that goal. (See: Kiriazovski 1998/232-233)

Over the course of this war the Macedonian people went from experiencing euphoria to disappointment and to awe of having lived through the winds of war. This is what our involvement brought us as a result of that small “paragraph” decided by the CPY and the CPG. And was this not a dangerous strategy and a cunning tactic of foreigners who were not even sure if they could march in that direction??!!

An interesting question to ask is: “Was NOF even aware of Zaharadis’s position in all this?” (See: Vassilis Bardzhiotas 1987/91) “…Nikos Zahariadis, since the 2nd Central Committee Plenum, in 1946 wanted a military struggle. But in the beginning when he had the military might to seize power by force he was pushing for a peaceful solution and for democratic developments. Zahariadis did not give up on his idea even after September 1947 when the 3rd Central Committee Plenum was held, during which the responsibility of the Party was devoted to the struggle. Yes, of course Zahariadis supported this idea (position) until 1948-1949, when concrete talks were taking place at the UN, with the proposal and support of the Soviet Union, for a peaceful solution to the Greek question...”

U.S. Foreign Minister G. Marshal, on February 14, 1947, stated that the U.S. government was satisfied with the Greek government’s changes and in the interest of the U.S. and all the United Nations, recommended that Greece receive aid in order to maintain its independence and territorial sovereignty (See: State Department Newsletter, 2. 2. 1947, 341.)

American predictions made regarding developments in the Greek occupied part of Macedonia in the spring of 1947 were taken advantage of by Greek authorities to further strengthen their hold on the region and expand their persecution against the Macedonian people. To give legal basis to committing acts of terror, the Greek government enacted a number of legal acts. Among other things the government adopted the following laws and regulations: PZ 511/47, “Organizing concentration camps” and “Forcing evacuation of the population from urban centres”. Decree L-3 “People accused of committing anti-state acts to be stripped of their Greek citizenship”. PZ 509/47 “State security measures, constitutional orders and protecting the citizens”.

In the face of these draconian measures, we were pushed further into the hands of the CPY and the CPG and were later obliged to do their bidding…

Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) - Orders Headquarters - Headquarters Office 1 Protocol Number 722 - Regarding number 132/25.8.1947 and A.P.307/25.9.1947 order:

We call on all men and women to join the Democratic Army and serve in its armed ranks...

The above recruited, wherever they may be, will have to find their own way to report to the closest Democratic Army recruitment station. Those who were mobilized and who do not report to their designated units in the ranks of DAG will be considered unreported.

Regional Headquarters are to issue appropriate orders. Measures need to be taken to quickly inform everyone that was mobilized.

Headquarters, 9/30/1947, General Markos.

Second order, 23.11. 1947.

DAG headquarters ordered, only for Vicho Region (Aegean Macedonia), to mobilize all men and women ages 17 to 35. This applied to all men including those who were left behind to construct fortifications and to those who were left behind due to illness. Practically the entire Macedonian population in the Kostur and Lerin Regions was recruited during this mobilization.

* * *

Macedonians showed themselves to be trustworthy and such trust served as a mobilization success factor. But then came what was unexpected: thousands of our Macedonian young people being sent by Markos’s orders to the depths of Greece. And what was their fate? That’s a different story; most of them disappeared as if walking through a pit of quicksand. I will mention this; I was among the 350 young men, aged 17 to 18, recruited from the Macedonian villages Turie, Bapchor, Visheny, Kolomnati etc. between October 5th and 10th, 1947 who were sent to the Headquarters in Epirus and Antihashia and who fought in Konitsa. I was among the few who survived when about two thirds of us left our lives on those battlefields. But let us see how our history assessed our sacrifice:

“The Macedonian military formations, now units of DAG, were sent south into Greece in order to strengthen the existing partisan movement there. And they truly furthered the armed struggle in that part of the country…” (See: Kiriazovski 1985/166).

* * *

That is exactly why we Macedonians, during the Greek Civil War, were unable to impose our political or military will and shift the orientation of our struggle towards defending and saving our homeland and preventing the eradication of our homes.

And what happened to us after the war? For Greece we no longer existed! And for the communists who got us into this mess in the first place, we were nothing… For the last half century or so we were nobodies; after this war no one cared about how the Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia coped or how they existed, roaming the world as permanent refugees…

The CPG 3rd Plenum was held from September 15 to 17, 1947 in order to discuss military matters. This was when the famous slogan: “All to arms and everything for victory!” was coined. This was when it was also decided to create a free territory in the Kozheni plateau, which was surrounded by the mountain Massifs of Pindus, Pieria, Karakamen, Kaimakchalan and Vicho.

September 27, 1947 – The General Headquarters of Markos’s Partisan units, before the Democratic government was declared, which makes this act illegal, issued orders to mobilize fighters aged 17 to 35 years. But after this mobilization, because it was carried out only in the Macedonian villages, only 15,000 to 17,000 fighters were mobilized. Just for comparison: in the spring of 1946 when the Greek Civil War began, the Greek government possessed the following numbers: 27,000 policemen from whom 14,000 were from Northern Greece (i.e. Greek occupied Macedonia); paramilitaries about 5,000; national military units 17,000 (40 battalions); 75,000 regular soldiers (7 armies and two free brigades) (See: “DAG-strategic issues and management tactics,” G. Maltezos Dzhumerkiotis, p.60).

According to Dzhumerkiotis: “It is well known that in 1947 DAG had not resolved either the issue of military supplies or the issue of arming its fighters with ordinary battle machine guns and other battle assets, as well as ammunition. It also remains to be explained why on the one hand Zahariadis gave Markos orders to increase the number of fighters in DAG to 60,000 while Ioannidis gave Markos orders to acquire arms for only 4,500 thousand fighters. It is also well known that Markos, in 1947, ended up sending home thousands of fighters who wanted to voluntarily enter the ranks of DAG.” (p. 354). The question is: “Why did General Marcos conduct an illegal mobilization only in Macedonia, mobilizing young and old and wreaking havoc on the Macedonians?”

The decisions made by the CPG Central Committee during the 3rd Plenum, held in Belgrade in September 1947, is also a problem for Greek analysts. According to Gusias (p.251) the Plenum was attended by only six CPG Central Committee members and several military personnel, but not a single Macedonian was present!

The Plenum decided to oblige DAG General Headquarters to start mobilizing recruits right across the country so that by March 1948, there would be 60,000 armed fighters in DAG. At the same Plenum it was decided to switch fighting tactics from self-defense to going on the offensive and take power by force. To achieve this goal plan “S” was put into effect, also known as operation “Lake”. This plenum also coined the slogan: “All to arms and everything for victory!” At this Plenum it was decided to create a free territory on the Kozheni plateau, which was surrounded by the mountain Massifs of Pindus, Pieria, Karakamen, Kaimakchalan and Vicho. The plan was to liberate the towns Lerin, Voden, Negush, Sobotsko, Konitsa and others as a first stage to liberating all of Greece.

From what was said above, there is clear confirmation that all these decisions were made without Macedonian presence or consent and that the Greek Civil War was intended to be fought in Greek occupied Macedonia. All this was decided at the Belgrade Plenum in September 1947 with no Macedonian representation!

Mobilization beyond the borders of Greece to include all those people who had fled to Yugoslavia to save themselves from the Greek terror

September 27, 1947 – DAG Headquarters ordered the mobilization of all men between the ages of 17 to 35. With much intensity, over the course of 4 to 9 months, the Macedonian political refugees who had fled to Yugoslavia and were living in Skopje, Veles, Shtip and Bitola were also mobilized into DAG and shipped from Yugoslavia to the front in Greece, in trucks covered with tarps during the night. (See: F.M INI SK.4-271/60 p.73-76).

8.0 The fourth fateful year 1948 – Under CPG and Inform-Bureau control and the “Save the Children program”

Ominous 1948 – Sorrow, fear and eternal parting with our native lands

January 13, 1948 – NOF’s 1st Congress was held in the V’mbel village church in Kostur Region during which it was concluded that more then 20,000 of the 25-28,000 DAG fighters in the entire country were Macedonians. This means that by 1948, 8,000 fighters, at most, were Greeks i.e. of non-Macedonian origin.

February 24, 1948 – The American Military Advisory and Programming Group led by General Van Fleet arrived in Greece.

It was announced as the “high visit” to Athens.

December 31, 1947 – The American Military Advisory and Programming Group “IUSMARG” was formed and headed by Van Fleet. Through this American military advisory group, the Americans regained control not only of Greek politics and economics, but also of the Greek armed forces.

War Diary:

February 7, 1948 – American Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet (43) assumed command of IUSMARG, and a week later together with Major General Stewart Rollins, head of the British military mission, they were attached to the Greek National Defense Council. See: Foreign Office to Belgrade, March 4, 1949.

Everything was unwinding towards Truman’s doctrine

Truman emphasized: “...If Greece falls under the control of an armed minority then confusion and anomalies can easily prevail in the entire Middle East. Furthermore, the disappearance of Greece as an independent state would have a deep reflection on all European countries whose peoples are struggling ... If we don’t help Greece in this critical moment, the consequences will be severe for the West and for the East. We are obliged to take immediate and decisive action.” To this end, Congress was asked to provide 4,000,000 dollars in economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey. The Soviet Union condemned this as “Truman’s doctrine”.

In early March 1948, Zahariadis decided to test the NOF and AFZH leadership by asking them to show him their political and military

potential, which among the Macedonians showed very clearly that: people who do not respect themselves cannot respect others.

The Macedonian members of NOF and AFZH often impeded one another and Zahariadis used their minor disputes to inflame the principle of “divide and conquer”. He allowed certain “pluralistic opinions” in his closest circle and used those opinions to create disputes and hostility among the Macedonians. This benefited him immensely because he was able to better define his control over them and his power with suggestions and ideas.

Zahariadis decided to also test the Macedonian intellectual and political capacity in Greek occupied Macedonia and to determine the leadership’s trustworthiness after spending a long time under CPY/CPM (April 23, 1945 to October 14, 1946) influence when the Macedonian consciousness was under Yugoslav political influence.

Extract B: “...March 27, 1948 - Zahariadis took the next very significant step to change NOF from the inside. For secretary of the party’s faction in NOF, he imposed the well-known anti NOF and exponent of CPG politics in the Macedonian national liberation movement, Stavros Kochopulos whom Evdokia Foteva - Vera in her book “To Hell and Back” calls “scum”. NOF leadership was handed over to Kochopulos; a man who hated NOF!

March 1948 – DAG General Headquarters issued an immediate order to mobilize almost the entire NOF and AFZH membership and the memberships of all other Macedonian associations. The CPG leadership then asked the Macedonian leadership to submit a proposal on how the Macedonian activists could be engaged in the mobilization.

Among other things, here is what Mitrevski said in his report to the Greek leadership: “The issue of mobilization of personnel, according to your directive, after extensive discussions we eventually agreed as follows:

As per Keramitchiev’s suggestions, Pavle Rakovski and Lazo Poplazarov were to be appointed Brigade political commissars. Vangel Aianovski (Oche) and Mihailo Malio were to be appointed Battalion political commissars. Lambro Cholakov was to be appointed Battalion quartermaster.

As per Vera’s suggestions: Rakovski and Poplazarov - political commissars of the Brigade, Malio and Cholakov - political commissars of Battalions, and Oche - Brigade officer. As per Stavros Kochopulos’s suggestions: – Rakovski, Poplazarov and Malio to be moved to the command of the Battalion. Cholakov and Oche to the company.”

... Pascal Mitrevski informed the Greek party leadership that at the top of NOF and among the Macedonians there were separatist tendencies, chauvinism, nationalism, fractionizm and antiparty tendencies. (Report submitted to the CPG Central Committee Political Bureau on April 12, 1948)

See: p. 233 “... Mihailo Keramitchiev, Vera Nikolovna, Pavle Rakovski, Ilia Dimovski – Gotse, with their letters addressed to the CPY Central Committee, begged the Yugoslav leadership to intervene and convince the CPG leadership to change its attitude and policy towards the Macedonian people”.

It remains unclear how members of NOF and AFZH, of whom so many were viewed as the “sons and daughters of the Macedonian people” who would bring them freedom, could receive such low grades? It is even harder to understand how they assessed themselves and attained the positions as political commissars!

Zahariadis often wondered why the Macedonians “NOF and AFZH” had not chosen a leader to lead them and represent the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia in the future Balkan Federation they were aiming to create??!!

My question is: Why did the NOF and AFZH leadership lack the courage to suggest that Macedonians be placed in positions to lead the CPG political pillar and DAG military pillar given that the majority of DAG active participants, 50-60%, were Macedonians? Why did they simply accept being sent to Headquarters and appointed as being “responsible for the Macedonians”!?

It has never been made clear why NOF and AFZH activists were deployed as “Responsible for the Macedonian fighters in combat units”? Such appointments are not usual in the annals of warfare in regular armies.

Now, before every military operation and before every battle the “responsible for the Macedonians” came to give us advice that we needed to act boldly and heroically… This is what was expected of the Macedonian fighters from the Party and from the Leader, they would say.

In all of this, is there anything worthy done by these Macedonians? And what does our historiography say…? It says that they were “a Macedonian military and political factor” and that the war they were fighting was a “Revolution”...

Our research shows that:

The then so-called “Macedonian political figures” demonstrated below average leadership skills. There was lack of leadership among the NOF and AFZH membership. There was no one capable of seizing power or opportunity to command the companies, battalions and regiments the Macedonians had created. Zahariadis and his cronies knew that and manipulated the Macedonians at every opportunity. Even without a determined leader of their own choosing, the Macedonians continued to follow and die behind the slogan “independent and united Macedonian state within a Balkan federation”, which Zahariadis conned them into believing; a slogan coined during the CPG Central Committee 5th Plenum.

March 15, 1948 - The newspaper “Eksormisi”, issued by DAG in Gramos Region, carried an announcement from the Provisional Greek Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated March 7, 1948, entitled “Parents and children appeal to the government”. Further down the article it said: “From mid-February to March, 5, 1948 parents from 59 villages from the free territory gave 4,784 children.” The same newspaper carried an article on March 20, 1948 saying that the Interim Government decided to evacuate all the children up to age 14 to be sent to Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland and, according to their data, the total count amounted to about 28,000 children.

April 28, 1948 – An AFZH Congress, led by Evdokia Foteva – Vera, was held in the free territory of Vicho.

June 1, 1948 – The CPG Central Committee Political Bureau made a decision to suspend Mihailo Keramitchiev, President of NOF, and Pascal Mitrevski, NOF Board Secretary, because they were alleged to have conducted an “unprincipled factionist struggle”.

June 10, 1948 - Based on prior decisions made by the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, in 1947-1948, “free zones” were established in Greek occupied Macedonia where Macedonian schools were opened and courses in the Macedonian language were offered. In total 87 Macedonian schools were opened and courses were offered to around 10, 000 Macedonian students.

June 30, 1948 – An announcement was made in Yugoslavia regarding the Inform Bureau’s Resolution passed during the second advisory meeting with the Political Bureau held in Bucharest from June 20 to 28, 1948. The resolution was not adopted overnight but was the result of several months of disagreements and sharp correspondence between the then CPY - ruling (and only) political force in the former Yugoslavia and the communist bloc (absolute ruling) party of the remaining communist world managed and controlled by the KPSS i.e. Joseph Visarionovich Dzhugashvili - Stalin. The company to which communist Yugoslavia (FNRY) “naturally” belonged.

The CPG, in the middle of 1948, requested from Albanian authorities to establish a military camp for DAG at the Greek-Albanian border in Kuk Region. This camp was to be used for the security of DAG. On March 5, 1949 by order of the Albanian Interior Minister Mehmet Shehu, this camp, where many Greek citizens were protected, was disbanded. The people, most of whom were Macedonians, were then sentenced to death.

July 7, 1948 – The CPG Central Committee two day long 4th Plenum began in Gramos during which, among other things, a resolution was passed commending the Macedonian involvement in the struggle as follows: “This Plenum highlights the great contribution of the hundreds of Slavo-Macedonians who gave it their all for freedom. The Slavo-Macedonian people’s participation in the liberation struggle is popular and complete. With this struggle the Slavo-Macedonian nation has firmly earned its freedom and equality in life. It has strengthened and secured its place with the blood of its sons and daughters in this people’s democratic future”.

August 27, 1948 – Sitting of the CPG Central Committee with an agenda:

a/ The struggle in Gramos called: “Epic of the Northern Pindus, political and military questions and decrees.”

b / Removal of Markos Vafiadis as General and Leader of DAG, due to illness and his departure for Moscow. (Note: Then, the system produced the term “ideologically crazy”, which grouped very smart and healthy people with the lunatics).

c / The New Military Council was to consist of:

1. Nikos Zahariadis - President and Supreme Commander of DAG. 2. Georgios Vonditsios - Head of military battles. 3. Vasilis Bardzhiotas - Political Commissar of General Headquarters. 4. Michos Vlandas - Responsible for military resources. 5. Leonidas Stringos - State Administration.

d/ Reorganization of General Headquarters by region and creating military divisions. Promotion of officers in DAG high military ranks.

Attachment: Order (August 27, 1948) - Taking into account the newly created situation on December 23, 1947 and DAG’s proposal.

Decisions:

1. Decision to reorganize the major district headquarters and to create divisions. 2. The divisions to be appointed as follows;

I - Division: Thessaly II - Division: Rumely III - Division: Peloponnesus VIII - Division: Epirus IX - Division: Macedonia X - Division: Macedonia XI - Division: Macedonia

During the sitting of the Headquarters of the Provisional Democratic Government of Greece, August 27, 1948.

President and Minister of DAG’s armed forces, General Markos.

September 24, 1948 - See also: “∆ΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΒΛΑΝ∆ΑΣ −ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ 1947 − 1949”. The then DAG Military Minister of Greece: (p. 237 - 238)

That evening comrade Zahariadis attended a meeting with about 54 of the Slavo-Macedonian cadres who were present.

The question regarding the so-called “Slavo-Macedonians” represents a taboo for the CPG and the DAG armed forces. Even though the Slavo-Macedonian fighters in DAG fought to the end of the Greek Civil War, and the majority of the DAG veterans were Macedonians, there is very little or next to nothing written about them. This is also characteristic of G. Margaritis who has devoted two volumes of his work to the Greek Civil War with no information about the Macedonian contribution and with insignificant information about DAG’s involvement in that war. November 15, 1948 – The CPG Central Committee Political Bureau decided to suspend General Markos as Chief of DAG and member of the CPG Central Committee.

November 23, 1948 – DAG headquarters ordered the mobilization of Macedonian men and women ages 17 to 35 only in the Vicho area. Practically all Macedonians in Kostur and Lerin Regions were mobilized.

Note: DAG received all its equipment and military assistance from Yugoslavia up to January 1, 1948. (See: List of complete equipment in the book “Macedonians and their relations with the CPY and the CPG, 1945-1949”, p.263 by Dr. Risto Kiriazovski), “Review of military equipment and other material assistance to DAG”.

This part of our study is about the “Save the children program” which exiled 28,000 Macedonian children from their families and from their homes.

Ominous 1948 - Facts and dirty deeds... CPG attempts to create “a political family” out of the living and vibrant Macedonian family by crumbling and robbing the Macedonian home of its children.

The CPG leadership’s initiative to evacuate the children i.e. to introduce the “Save the children program” was motivated and explained by the need to “rescue the children from the horrors of war”. But first it had to convince parents to release their children voluntarily and make it look like it was their idea.

So, what does this mean? It means that this CPG initiative together with the actions of NOF and AFZH were pure facts and dirty deeds.

To obtain a realistic and objective picture of the general Greek policy towards the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia, one must understand and accept that, regardless of what system or party (monarchist republican, liberal-democratic, authoritarian, etc.) was in power in Greece, they all shared a common policy and that was to see to it that the Macedonian identity was permanently destroyed!

So, in order for the CPG to rid itself of its responsibility in this unlawful act of collecting children, it convinced the parents that it was necessary to do the evacuation but only with their blessing. In other words, the parents had to voluntarily release their children and accept responsibility for releasing them. To further distance itself from this genocidal act, the CPG employed the services of NOF and AFZH to organize a campaign and convince Macedonian mothers to part with their children. But it did not take too long to figure out that this so-called humanitarian act to “Save the children” was not all humanitarian; it had other and more sinister motives. It was not too long after the children were evacuated that they were brought back and drafted into the ranks of DAG and sent to fight at the front. It was not enough that the CPG had drafted the parents to fight in the war; they soon began to bring back their children.

With the children evacuated and safely out of the country, the CPG leadership expected to engage their parents in combat as military resources. By 1948 the CPG, as the leader of the Greek Civil War, had failed to solve the problem of mobilizing new fighters across Greece.

Under what identity were the children taken and moved out of Macedonia?

One of the most significant issues that I became familiar with about the collection of the children by both the Left and Right, to which little attention has been given, was the different attitude taken towards the Slavo-phone as opposed to the Greko-phone villages in northern Greece.

Although the UNSCOB report talked about the disposition of villagers in the Slavo-phone areas willing to allow their children to leave, it never formally mentioned how many of the 25,000 to 28,000 (44) children belonged to this Slavo-phone group. There is nothing noted in the report to suggest that any of these children were Macedonian. Greek sources also deny that any such children existed. In fact the Greek government in Athens insisted that all these children were Greek. What is even more bizarre is that the Communist Party of Greece confidently and strongly stressed that the children were Greek, even after the Greek Civil War, and did everything in its power to give the children a Greek education in the Eastern European communist countries. The Red Cross too reported on the problems experienced by the children and their education but said nothing about any Slavo-phone group. It was made very clear that even though the children spoke a Slavic language, they were Greeks. This was in accordance with the legal records and with official thinking. But in my research I am more interested in finding out how many of these children were Slavo-phone?

Identity with the likeness of Markos

“At the Tulgiesh pavilions we moved like a swollen river, walking on the pavement of the big yard. We looked for one another, but the hardest thing was to find our ‘mothers’. There were many children at the dormitory who did not know their last names or their place of birth. They were simply collected as they were leaving and brought here over the border and as such, for years, like shadows, they looked for their loved ones and for their identity...

But to make us all equal, or who knows why, they took away our names at Kalimaneshti. Our names were the last piece of information that identified us and our nationality. After that we wore a metal plate around our necks which was etched on one side with the image of General Markos, and on the other was stamped a unique number which identified each one of us. My name was replaced with the number 521 and when I lived in Romania I had to call out the words: ‘Chinch sute douzech shi uno’ (Five hundred and twenty one) instead of my name.

At the end of 1948 we were sent to Poland by train. At the border we were greeted by Polish authorities and medical staff. While traveling on the train each child was given a medical examination by the physicians and depending what was found the children were directed where to go for treatment. The Polish people were very kind to us and at the same time were astonished how the children of Partisans, who were still fighting in Vicho and Gramos, could not have names?

When we arrived at the ‘Barburka’ dormitory we were given new robes to wear. We tossed our old clothes in a pile and left them there. Life was often full of cruelty and fierce playing. We called the Poles ‘good uncles’ but most of all we liked Pan Piotr Pshezhinski. He liked us too and called us ‘descendants of a dead army’. He was an old, experienced Pole, a former businessman and philanthropist, who served in the camps for many years. He felt sorry for us and told us that we all had the same fate, because he too was issued a number when he served time in the camps, but his medal did not have the face of a leader. ‘Your fate is more difficult,’ he used to say, ‘because you have to carry General Markos around your necks’…”

(For additional information: See Fani Butskova 1998/76) “... The metal plate to be worn around the neck, issued to the children in Romania, had General Markos’s face imprinted on one side and a number on the other. The metal plates issued in other countries had only a number. The shape of the plate was round which could be worn around the neck or on the wrist. Some of those who wore these ‘medallions’ remember their numbers even today, more than fifty years later. Some even have photographs of them, testimony to their existence. For example, Ahil Petrovski was photographed in Czechoslovakia and had the number 288, which is clearly shown in the photograph from May 1948. Dimitra Karchitska was issued the number 1048 and her brother Ilia was issued number 1053. Towards the end of 1948, when they went to Poland, their metal identification tags were taken. Surrogate ‘mother’ Tomia Tsutsulova was issued a tag in Hungary with the number 112 and her young baby daughter was issued the number 111. Olga Petkova in Poland was issued the number 555 and Slava Petkova was issued the number 425. The only thing that remains alive from these ‘medallions’ now are the memories, both good and bad.”

What a shame that Macedonian children in that day and age, found themselves numbered like slaves in the heart of Europe! (See: “Nezabarav” no. 15, p. 7 June 1998 Featuring “Authentic testimonials from the displaced Macedonian children from Aegean Macedonia” in “Vecher”, May 20, 1986

Camp numbers instead of names

None of us had a name in the dormitories or to give to the government authorities in Romania. Each person, adult or child, carried a number and when someone called us, they called out our number. Tome was number 1,381, Ristana was number 1,441 and I was number 1,454. This was our first and last name. Only our surrogate mothers who personally knew us called us by our names. They reminded us to not forget the names we were baptized with and by which our mother’s called us. When we (Ristana, Tome and I) arrived at Tulgesh, the children were separated by pavilion, by age and by sex but we remembered Dosta Endriova from the village Bapchor, Kostur Region.

“Chedosobirstvoo” – “Pedomazoma” (The ominous child collection program took place in 1948 but the children’s exodus was permanent. This no doubt was part of the plan to de-Macedonia-nize Macedonia. But today, sixty years later, they are still calling it the “Save the children program” and the “saved children” they call “Refugee Children”.)

Why “refugee children”? How can children ages one, two, three, four, five, or six years old be “refugees”? How were they able to flee on their own and across borders from one country to another to qualify being called refugees; i.e. seeking refuge?!?! Does this “title” imply that the children left on their own?! Or were international goals of genocide realized through this disguise? Why have we Macedonians not raised this issue like the Armenians did regarding their World War I (1915) genocide?

Why haven’t we raised this issue like the Republicans in Spain did against Franco, when thousands of children belonging to Marxists and revolutionaries were collected in the thirties and re-educated? Even though so many things have happened to us Macedonians, without the knowledge of ordinary mortals and for mysterious reasons, we keep quiet about it and don’t dare rock the boat. Why is that? Are we a lazy people? Do we quickly forget? Do we not care? Or do we treat them as acts of God and coincidences?

Why are we not using the wisdom and knowledge passed on to us by our ancestors to guide us instead of following the lead of “ideological activists” and foreigners who use us for their own purposes and leave us worse off than when we started?

Ours has been a secret of the Century. We have a history without details. Our history is defended by the power of the syndrome. Our history has been fabricated for us and we have been masked from it. Foreign policy goals have driven our history. People have written great histories about themselves by shedding our blood. We have allowed strangers to manipulate us and darken our souls. We have allowed foreign and alien ideologies to rule us and divide us especially in the years 1944 to 1950...

It is time for us to uncover the genocide perpetrated against the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia during the Greek Civil War (1945 - 1949).

It is time that the secrets come out as to why the CPY and the CPG took the military option in Greece and started a new war at a time when most things were already settled and decided!

Now, half-a-century after the fact, half a century of lying and hiding under the ideological web, we are finally looking for “our story”, we are looking through the secret files of foreign politics to find out exactly what happened to us; why we made a graveyard out of our heroes of the Greek Civil War (1945-1949); why did we fight for foreign policy goals; and why have we allowed strangers to write their great stories with our blood.

NOF and its “historical” decisions made during its 1st Congress

January 13, 1948 – The 1st NOF Congress was held in the church of the village V’mbel, Kostur Region where it was declared that: “The 1st NOF Congress was the brightest stage of Macedonian post Ilinden history.... NOF stands by its international position and, with sincere intentions, is ready to help in the development of the Greek movement. NOF is in agreement that three-quarters of the Macedonian partisan force in the ranks of DAG should be sent south of Olympus in all parts of Greece…” It was also concluded that more that 20,000 Macedonians were mobilized in DAG units. According to DAG General Headquarters, the entire DAG force right across Greece consisted of 25 to 28 thousand fighters.

It is our belief that it was a deliberate strategy to get the Macedonian people riled up and emotionally charged and, through NOF and AFZH, get them involved in the war. NOF and AFZH were lied to about what this war was about; and they in turn unwittingly lied to the Macedonian people. Strangers, on many occasions, have used such strategies to get the Macedonian people to do their bidding. That is why it is very important to look at the big picture and always question “actions”, particularly if they are readily supported by outsiders.

It is also our belief that after the war was started and during its course, the Macedonian people became indifferent to it and were unable to grasp the entire situation and where they were headed, so they relied on the Greek leadership to guide them. The people may have been aware that they were lied to by the Greek leadership but then, what were their choices? Everything had its price! They were damned if they did and they were damned if they didn’t!

When bombs were falling and bullets flying, the people became like wild beasts and followed their instincts. The leadership told them to give up their children to save them, so they did. The leadership told them to fight at the front and so they did. After the war had started, there was no turning back; the people were left at the mercy of those leading them. And lead them they did, straight into genocide and to the loss of their lands and homes. This is what the CPY and CPG did to our people; but why? Who was behind all this and what did they have to gain?

Indeed after searching persistently for a long period of time, a person will run into many answers but which does he or she believe? There is one truth: the Macedonian people were forced to fight in this war and, as a result, they lost their homeland. This was also confirmed by General Markos after his return to Athens from the Soviet Union.

Of course General Markos knew about this, he led thousands of Macedonian fighters to their destiny making human sacrifices of them. A man such as our esteemed, confirmed communist, General Markos, about whom many Macedonians wrote and sang songs, certainly demonstrated his lack of human dignity when he led so many young Macedonian men and women to their deaths.

Did the motive to save the children and the civilian population become a propaganda tool against the partisans?

1. Athenian government motives and program carried out to evict the children.

“The Queen’s ladies, as they were called (72 Athenian women), left their families and the safety of their homes to rescue children in the northern districts of Greece. They traveled for hours riding on mules, ignoring the dangers of the battlefield, in order to find the children in the villages and take them before the Communists did. This was a hazardous and terrifying struggle, having to walk on those roads and sometimes getting lost, but in spite of all the horrors they won the battle.” Greek Queen Frederika, “A Measure of Understanding”, p 137.

This is how Lars Barentzen explains the Athens government’s program called “Pedomazoma”: “Both sides in the Civil War were calling for the removal of children from the war zone as a necessity and both sides had the same reasons for removing the children, to save them from the other side.”

But even after investigating the situation, it is difficult to figure out what the real motives were for starting this program and even more difficult is to say who started it first.

About the communist side, information collected by UNSCOB and other sources shows that the mass evictions were started in March 1948, even though several groups of children left in January. (See: Lars Barentzen “Το παιδοµαζωµα και οι παιδουπλεις της Βασιλισσας”, 1992/148: Report UNSCOB a/574, p. 30; “that emigration began in January, but actively continued in March”.