Browse Tagged “Child Refugees” from the Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society archive, library and community collections.
The Greek Civil War occurred in the aftermath of WWII between royal government forces supported by Great Britain and America and the Communist forces supported by Yugoslavia and Russia. During the Second World War, the royalists fled Greece and set up a government in exile in Egypt, while the communist movements played an important role in fighting German and Italian occupying troops.
In the Macedonian villages of Aegean heartbreaking cries were reechoing. The Greek rebels from the mother's warm lap were grabbing the child. Innocent angels helpless with frightened souls We're asking each other "What will happen to us?" Without shoes, without food Frozen without their mother's tenderness Mountains, ravines explored without pause Mountains, ravines were leaving behind without a return. The ...
The Prize Winning Documentary "The Children of 1948" On Sunday March 13, 2005, the Canadian Macedonian Historical Society presented the new documentary "The Children of 1948". Synopsis: The Children of 1948Fifty-six years ago, one of the biggest h...
On June 12, 2004, the Canadian Macedonian Place and the Canadian Macedonian Historical Society launched the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of Canadian Macedonian Place with a special lecture featuring author Olga Lexovska Naumoff and Macedonian child evacuee Sotir Nitchov. The presentation centered on Naumoff’s book My Name Is Sotir: A Memoir of a Child Evacuee, which recounts Nitchov’s experiences as one of the thousands of Macedonian children evacuated from Aegean Macedonia during the Greek Civil War. Through a moving combination of historical narrative and personal testimony, Olga captivated the audience with stories of hardship, resilience, and survival, while highlighting Sotir’s lifelong dedication to preserving the history and struggles of the Macedonian Detsa Begaltsi. The event not only celebrated the publication of an important memoir but also underscored the ongoing efforts of both Naumoff and Nitchov to preserve Macedonian history, culture, and collective memory for future generations.
The Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society’s 1992 lecture, "The Plight of the Macedonian Refugee Children of the Greek Civil War," served as a profound historical and personal testimonial to the tragedy of the 30,000 Begalci evacuated in 1948. Through the detailed accounts of George Bukovski, Mary Roseova, Chris Carilo, and Risto Chovi, the event traced the arc of the Macedonian struggle from the systemic linguistic and cultural suppression under the Metaxas dictatorship to the harrowing mountain exodus and subsequent exile across the Eastern Bloc. The speakers highlighted a dual tragedy: the physical displacement of a generation and the ongoing "casualty of truth," as survivors faced political indoctrination in host countries and continued legal exclusion from their ancestral homes by the Greek state. Ultimately, the report positions the Begalci not merely as victims of war, but as a resilient global community whose advocacy for human rights and property restitution remains a vital pillar of Macedonian national identity and historical justice.
