Macedonians in Greece, Part 7

With the old Metaxas dictatorship state apparatus re-established in Greek occupied Macedonia under the protection of the German, Italian and Bulgarian Fascists, the Macedonian people again found themselves vulnerable and open to abuse. They had no other choice but to devise their own forms of defense for which they heavily depended on the communists. Most communists unfortunately were in jail but as luck would have it, with the capitulation of the Greek state, many were released.

Even before they were sent to jail, communists were regularly abused in Greece and in their defense had organized strategies to deal with the abusers. Then as they fled the jails they went back to reorganize those strategies and restore their party organizations and this time to prepare resistance against the new occupiers.

The main strength of the party came from a group of twenty-four leaders and communist sympathizers who were freed from Akranavlion, a Middle Ages prison, through the actions of Julia Shaider. Julia Shaider who was of German descent, was married to Nedelko Popnedelkov, a resident of Solun who during the Metaxas era was accused of being a communist and jailed in the Akranavlion prison. Speaking fluent German Julia Shaider took her husband's case directly to the German command. She managed to convince the Germans that her husband was in jail not because he was a communist but because he was a Macedonian. Under Julia Shaider's advisement other prisoners "who spoke Macedonian" were also released. Among the prisoners released were Lazo Trpovski, Andrea Chinov, Lazo Damovski, Rusalim Harizani, Gjorgji Peikov, Andrea Dzhuma, Atnas Zjogas, Lazo Bozhiniv, Lambro Moskov, Trpo Kalimanov, Ziso Kalimanov, Foti Urumov, Dimitar Leskov, Anastas Karadzha, Kiro Pilijev, Nedelko Popnedelkov, Teodoros Eftimijadis, Bahuevanov and others.

Julia Shaider's intervention was later used by the Greek press and Greek historians as "proof" of the Greek Communist Party's (CPG) "collaboration" with the occupiers in an attempt to "sell" Macedonia to the Bulgarians. The truth however paints a different picture. The reason the Greek Minister for Public Security Maniadakis, deliberately labeled these people Communists, had them jailed and surrendered to the occupier is so that they could be exterminated without putting blame on the Greeks. The minister was well aware of how the Fascists felt about communists and what better way to eliminate patriotic Macedonians than label them communist and let the occupier deal with them.

We will not get into detail here as to why the fascists hated communists and why Goebbels and the Gestapo fabricated information to slander the GCP but we will say that the moment someone was labeled communist they were quickly acquainted with the occupier's practices, i.e. automatic jail sentence to be served in one of the concentration camps and then to be executed in retaliation for Partisan interventions.

After Hitler began his attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the CPG in Greece and in Greek occupied Macedonia was placed on alert. All progressive organizations in major cities such as Solun, Voden, Negush, Kostur, Lerin, etc., were quickly re-established and rearmed with new arms. One of the strongest organizations, founded by the Macedonian Trifun Hadzhijanov in 1924, was reactivated in Voden on July 1st, 1941. In September of the same year this organization re-established connections with the CPG for Macedonia in Solun through Yannis Tifengopoulos, an old cadre of the CPG code named "The Turk", who had escaped from the Akronavlion prison. Hadzhjanov was one of Tifengopoulos's protégés and learned much from him while serving time in the concentration camps in the islands.

Most of the strength for the Voden branch of the party came from the farm worker syndicates, factories and cooperatives in the region. This organization was the prime motivator behind the organized demonstrations, strikes against rising prices, black markets and other activities.

Besides the Voden successes, similar activities were also taking place in Lerin and Kostur Regions including arms acquisitions and stockpiling ammunition and other war materials.

In the fall of 1941 Kostur Region was particularly active mainly due to the involvement of the people from the village Dmbeni; Lazo Trpovski's birth place.

The village Gabresh too played an active role in arming the resistance by raiding an abandoned storehouse full of ammunition. Among the arsenals recovered were bombs and other materials left over from the Greek army. The arsenal was distributed to various resistance groups with 300 cases of ammunition going to Dmbeni and some light arms and one anti-aircraft cannon going to the town of Rupishcha.

During the summer of 1941 another organization was formed in Gumendzhansko Region in the village Izvor. This particular organization was charged with the task of conducting missions against the railway line running between Gevgelija and Solun. For these missions the Partisans needed dynamite and other explosive materials which they acquired from a warehouse in Izvor hidden near Mount Kozhuv. As a result of such missions, the Gevgelija-Solun rail was mined three times in the course of 1941 alone. Unfortunately such actions were not without consequences. The first retaliatory act by the Germans and quisling Greeks took place in September 1941 when a gendarme from Gumendzhe was sent to surround the village Plagia in an effort to capture and jail those suspected of being communists. Among those included in the list were Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis (Nikos). During this mission three gendarmes broke into Kozakis's house and apprehended Kozakis. But before they could exit the yard, Kozakis produced a pistol and shot and killed one of the gendarmes. He shot the second but only wounded him. Fearing for his life the third dropped his weapon and gear and fled. Tsangaras, Kozakis and Vafiadis then fled to the Republic of Macedonia.

In spite of all efforts on the part of the small resistance groups, the Greek quisling government, supported by the occupiers Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, was still wreaking havoc in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was a matter of time before all resistance groups would be squashed, unless of course a more massive effort was organized.

This effort came in the form of a Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF) on September 27, 1941. The GNLF's aim was to unite all people in Greece and coordinate a defensive effort with similar organizations in other Balkan states. The GNLF, although largely supported by the communists, was aimed to appeal to everyone.

At the outset the main role of the GNLF was to protect the population from exploitation and terror and to begin a struggle to drive out the occupiers.

As to what role the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia were to play in this organization and in the struggle in general, can be found in the Seventh plenum of the Central Committee of the Greek Communist Party of September 1941 and in the Eighth plenum of December 1942, where it was mentioned that: "The national minorities in Greece, especially the Macedonians need to unite their struggle with the national-liberation struggle of the Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian people against the occupiers". ("The Ten Year Struggle", Athens 1935-1945, Pages 126-169).

As mentioned in the introduction of this write-up, the Third Congress of the CPG held between November 26 and December 3, 1924 supported a united Macedonian state in a future Balkan federation. Due to its unpopularity amongst the Greeks, this policy was replaced during the Sixth Congress in December 1935 with a new policy supporting equal rights for all national minorities in Greece, including the Macedonians. So one can hardly blame the Macedonians for being suspicious about joining Greek lead organizations especially after experiencing decades of anti-Macedonian conduct from the various regimes in Greece. Besides, even among the ranks of the so called "progressives of the day" there existed visible elements from yesterday's ranks of the former "dictatorial apparatus".

While Macedonians and progressive Greeks were trying to iron out their differences, the Greek quisling government and its spies and gendarmes were busy gathering information on the resistance movements. It did not take too long for the Germans to use that information and round up, jail and execute people without hearings. Among the people executed on August 29th, 1941 in Lerin Region were Kon. Lijakov, Stavros Stangulis and Mih. Tesijanos for allegedly possessing and concealing arms. On September 24th, 1941 Stefanos Hristoforidis and Kostas Klasidis were executed in Solun, no reason was given. On October 5th, 1941 Jeremijas Stefanidis, Kirjakos Chotilis and Kostas were killed in the village Gostoljubi, Meglen Region for allegedly moving arms. On October 30th, 1941 Panajotis Jalamas was executed in Enidzhe-Vardar for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 4th, 1941 Mihail Vojadzhopulos was hung in Nigirita for allegedly taking part in the resistance. On November 13th, 1941 Macedonian students Ilija Kapeshev and Sokrat Djariros in Solun were executed, no reason given. On December 27th, 1941 496 people were executed in the German zone (Solun Region, Kukush Region, Gumedzha Region, Voden Region and part of Lerin Region) for allegedly raising arms, alleged sabotage and alleged participation in acts against the occupier. More were killed in actions with the Nigrita Region detachment "Andrutsos" in the village Krmsko, Kaljar Region. (The stats above were reported in the newspaper "Makhethonia" in Solun on February 19, 1959).

Unfortunately even with all those people killed, the Germans were not satisfied and with help from the Greek police got hold of the old Metaxas lists of people that were sent to jail for allegedly being communists. Among the people captured and sent to the "Pavlos Melas" concentration camp in Solun included were Jani Takev, Dinko Delevski, Zisi Mesimercheto, Risto Petrlev, Foti Tipev, Gjorgji Dimovski, Jani Sheretov, Hristo Popov and Dimitar Leskov all from Voden Region. Similar actions were also undertaken by the Italians in Kostur Region. A special battalion under the command of Major De Prema circulated around Kostur Region looking for hidden arms. The Italian move was motivated by Dailakis's execution. Dailakis was a well known collaborator who was executed on October 5th, 1941by the resistance movement from the village Zhipanishta. Among those suspected of doing the killing were Micho Shishkov, Vangel Tankov, Ziko Kolijovski, Teohar Burinchkov and Atanas Popleksov.

Towards the end of October 1941 Atanas Nizamov from Bapchor, who worked with the Italians, secretly informed Kosta Trpchevski in Dmbeni that the Italians had a list with twenty-five names who belonged to the resistance organization in that village. Trpchevski immediately acted on the warning and saved many lives. The next day the Italians arrived, blockaded the village and began to round up those who remained. All the men were detained, jailed and tortured in Naso Kondov's house. The Italians lifted the blockade on October 28, 1941, when a large number of the detained were sent to various jails. Sixteen were taken to the "Averov" prison in Athens and in the spring of 1942 were transferred to the concentration camps in Karditsa, Thessaly and killed. Among them were Zhurkov Naum, Moskov Naum, Andriovski Hristo, Kenkov Zhivko, Skivinov Staso and Chekrov Nikola. In November 1942 Kosta Trpovski, the secretary of the Dmbeni resistance organization, was captured and sent to the Avarov prison. Another 8 men were taken to "Hajdari", a dreaded concentration camp outside Athens.

Nineteen people were also killed in Nastram including Paskal Liveradov, Niko Popjanov, Slave Todorov and Yane Chakurovski. Similar acts were also committed in Drenoveni, Rupishta and others villages.

The Greek police in Kostur had many lists with names of people suspected of belonging to the resistance. Those lists were given to the occupiers and used to round up and jail people.

The Italians closely cooperated with the gendarmes and on many occasions conducted joint search and destroy missions while looking for arms. In December 1942 the notorious Italian "search and destroy battalion" from the village Drenoveni attacked the city of Volos in Thessaly and killed Ljondo Popvasilev, Andon Bita and Atanas Lazarov.

The occupiers were determined to eradicate the resistance movement from the beginning and their persistence would have succeeded had it not been for the well established resistance organizations in Greek occupied Macedonia. Unfortunately being pursued by the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, the Greek police, the gendarmes and sometimes by the Communist Party of Greece definitely had an effect on the Macedonian people which lead them to pursue more drastic measures to defend themselves.

The first line of defense for the Macedonians was to arm themselves against collaborators responsible for sending people to prison and to their death. The first Partisan group to organize such as defense was in Kostur in the village Zhupanishta. This group, on October 5th, 1941, took action to eliminate Laki a well known collaborator. Then around mid-April 1942, against the wishes of the GCP, the first Partisan detachment was formed. The initiation ceremony took place in the Sveta Trojtsa monastery in the presence of Lazo Trpovski. Naum Pejov was appointed commander and Kosta Trpovski was named commissar. Unfortunately about a month later Kosta Trpovski was captured by the Italians and sentenced to life in hard labour and was sent to the Averov prison.

During the detachment's inaugural ceremonies the question of "what symbols should the fighters wear" came up. Lazo Trpovski put forward the idea that the men should wear the Macedonian flag on their sleeves, an idea that was wholeheartedly applauded by the Macedonians except for secretary Zhiogas, a Vlah from Kostur, who disagreed and persistently insisted that this struggle must be lead with a Greek flag as a Greek national liberation struggle. This naturally created friction between the Macedonians on one hand, who as a minority, were promised rights and on the other hand by the Greek communists who not only did not trust the Macedonians but did everything in their power to take away those rights. Unfortunately under such conditions the detachment could not function for more than a couple of months and was disbanded.

On a national level however, as more and more people were targeted by the occupier and by the Greek quisling government, many fled to the mountains for safety and were recruited by the struggle movement. With the Greek National Liberation Front being established in many regions, the struggle movement needed an armed wing to recruit, arm and train fighters and to conduct military campaigns.

In December 1941 by a joint decision between the central committee of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and the leadership of the Greek National Liberation Front (GNLF), the National Liberation Army of Greece (NLAG) was formed. Soon afterwards, in January 1942, the central committee of GNLF selected a central committee to lead the NLAG and in February of the same year NLAG was made public and began its recruitment of officers and fighters. Most of the NLAG fighters in Greek occupied Macedonia were Macedonian volunteers.

I just want to mention at this point that in the winter of 1941-2 a number of other (non-communist) resistance organizations also came into being in Greece. The National Republican Greek League (EDES) was the most important, but these organizations were of less significance and will not be included in our analysis.

The initial objectives of the NLAG were to take action against the occupier's tax services, disable bandit bands, subdue the gendarmes and burn the gendarme archives. NLAG's actions against the Greek quisling government quickly gained the sympathy and trust of the ordinary people.

During the summer of 1942 in the central part of Greek occupied Macedonia a detachment of NLAG subdued a band of robbers on Mount Pajak. This particular band, while pillaging the surrounding villages, was putting the blame on the resistance fighters.

On December 3, 1942 NLAG conducted its first military campaign against the occupier in the Gumendzha Region by successfully destroying the Greek gendarme post at Boemidzhki Bridge, killing all the German guards and capturing the gendarmes. The bridge was bombed and destroyed along with a German train. The train engineer and a German officer (a major) on board were both killed. One hundred and twenty regular partisans and 250 volunteers from the neighbouring Gumendzhe villages took part in this mission.

The importance of this mission was captured by historiographer Chrysochoou who wrote: "During the night of December 3rd, 1942 an armed group of EAM (GNLF) resistance fighters attacked and destroyed the railway station in Gumendzhe capturing one officer and five gendarmes and killing the German train engineer. Similarly the group destroyed the German bridge watchtower, wounding a German soldier and five Czech workers. The same Partisan group on the night of December 7th attacked the Mavrodendro mine near the village Fanos, and stole large amounts of dynamite and other items." (Chrysochoou , "The Occupation in Macedonia", Thessaloniki 1950, Vol. 1, Page 40)

In less than a week after the first Partisan attack, the Germans retaliated with a counter attack on December 9th, 1941. However, instead of pursuing the resistance group in Mounts Pajak and Kozhuv, the Germans rounded up a large number of people from the surrounding villages and sent them to the Pavlos Melas concentration camp in Solun. Twelve people from Ljumnitsa alone were jailed and one named Frints was immediately executed.

In their hunt for resistance fighters the Germans discovered a Partisan camp in the village Ite at Mount Kozhuv and immediately burned it down along with a warehouse full of food and ammunition.

As punishment for destroying a German train, bombing a bridge and attacking the watch tower, the Germans, on December 12, 1942, killed 25 innocent people in Solun. ("Makhethonia", February 20, 1959)

The Pajak and Kozhuv Partisan groups lead several battles with the German army but being unable to push the Germans back they decided to abandon their bases in Mount Kajmakchalan and moved to Mount Karakamen. Since then the resistance movement continued to gain strength throughout the whole of Voden Region. Among the first Macedonian Partisans from Voden Region to join the Kajmakchalan group were Kosta Simadi, Gito Salahorov, Kosta Tsironkov, Aleko Tsrvenkata, Vangel Kordalov, Hristo Pochepov, Kolokotron, Atanas Provata and others.

As the resistance movement continued to grow new detachments were formed. In 1943 another detachment was formed in Pajak which was joined by some of the most elite Macedonian fighters from the city of Gumendzhe. Among them were Aleko Zelenkov, Aleko Pishuta, Atanas Popstojanov, Tomo Sadrazanov, Vangel Karagjorgjev and Ivan Kovachev. Others known to have joined were Klearhos Dimchevski from Ljuminitsa, Apostol Simovski from Izvor and a number of young men from Tsrna Reka, Barovitsa, Kriva and other villages.

On February 28th, 1943 the first Lerin Region resistance detachment called "Vicho" was formed in the village Lagen. Among the first fighters to join this detachment were Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, Kocho Kalinov, Lambe Popovski, Miltiadi Popnikolov, Gijorgij Kalinov, Gijorgij Rusov, Jani Chochev, Hristo Sahidis-Pandelis Masiotis, Giogos Gavriilidis, Pashalis Papadopulos - Spartakos, Atanas Furtunas and Stojan from Lerin. A few days later more men enlisted including Risto Kolentsev from Lerin bringing the number to 35.

The first actions of the Vicho detachment were to disarm the gendarme located in the village Voshtareni (Ofchareni) in Lerin Region. Here 20 men were apprehended and disarmed and their arms, ammunition and food were apprehended. This was a moral victory for the struggle not only for the acquisition of materials but because it deprived the occupiers of their security and their resources.

The day after, it was announced that about 5,000 Partisans were active in the city's surrounding region which forced the German command in Lerin to barricade itself and to take strong counter measures.

On May 20th, 1943 the Partisans attacked and destroyed a train on the Lerin-Voden rail line in order to free the political prisoners being transported. Among those freed was Haralambos Haralambidis - Atanatos. Four Germans were killed and Papatanasiou, a well known collaborator, was wounded. All the prisoners were freed and in the process a large number of arms were acquired.

On several occasions the Vicho detachment combined forces with the Dame Gruev detachment from Bitola to perform joint missions. One of the more successful missions was the disarming of the Macedonian villages in Kostur Region.

Armed by the Italians and mislead by the Bulgarian fascist propaganda, Kostur Region villagers, thinking that the Partisans were Greek gendarmes, were ready to fight against them. But as soon as they found out the detachments were Macedonian, they not only surrendered their arms but most joined the Macedonian detachments. Four months after its formation the Vicho detachment had more than 80 fighters.

On July 20th, 1943 the leadership decided to split this detachment into four smaller ones. The newly created detachments were "Vicho", "Kajmakchalan" under the command of Ilija Dimovski - Gotse, "Bigla" under Mito Tupurkovski - Titan's command and "Dauli", each named after the mountain where they were to be active.

The vast majority of leaders and fighters in these detachments were Macedonians and this did not bode well with the Communist Party of Greece but in spite of its objections Macedonians continued to conduct business as usual and recruit Macedonian fighters from an overwhelming pool of volunteers.

Even in Kostur, after the initial failure to form a lasting all Macedonian resistance group in April 1942, a new detachment was born in September 1943. This detachment was named "Lazo Trpovski" after the influential Macedonian fighter and political leader from Dmbeni who had been killed in the village Imera, Kozheni Region on April 11, 1943 by a band of collaborators belonging to the racist Panhellenic Liberation Organization.

The Macedonian lead detachments were very popular with the Macedonian people and attracted massive numbers of recruits from the Macedonian population which unfortunately disturbed the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG who lead the struggle under a pre-determined national all Greek platform. Even though Macedonians continued their solidarity with the progressive Greeks in a unified struggle to expel the occupier, the Greeks did not trust them and began to plant seeds of discontent. The truth of their aims was never revealed but actions spoke truer than words. Besides attempting to infiltrate and replace the Macedonian leadership, the Greek leadership in the CPG, GNLF and NLAG began a propaganda campaign labeling the Macedonians "autonomists". In the eyes of the Greek population this was supposed to mean that the Macedonians had a hidden agenda interpreted as anti-Greek. Besides being afraid that they may lose Macedonia, the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership knew very well that its source of NLAG recruits and supplies would dry up very quickly without the Macedonians. The real drive behind the resistance movement in Greece was in Greek occupied Macedonia and it was fuelled by the Macedonian people. The CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership was well aware of this and knew it had absolutely no chance of success without the protection of the Macedonian mountains and surrounding villages capable of supplying not only fighters but an inexhaustible source of food. Without Macedonian support the struggle would be starved in no time. So rather than making a big fuss the CPG, GNLF and NLAG leadership decided to allow the Kostur detachment to continue to recruit while new and more sinister strategies were planned.

But as mobilization into the Lazo Trpovski detachment became more massive than ever anticipated, especially from the village Koreshchata, the Greek side had to act quickly. Having no other course of friction to complain about, the Greek side started to show dissatisfaction with the symbols Macedonians, wore on their hats. Having chosen to wear a star on their hats was cause enough for the Greek leadership of NLAG to complain thus accusing the Macedonians of being more interested in nationalistic principles than in the struggle to free Greece from the occupier. Even though the Macedonians did have cause to rise up against the Greeks this was not their intention. The Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia firmly believed in the principles that after the conflict they would gain their rights as Macedonians inside Greece.

In spite of their disagreements with the Greek progressives, the Macedonians were instrumental in the resistance struggle, especially in rallying the people to strike against high prices and the black market. More that 10,000 workers participated in a strike in Voden, 8,000 in Edindzhe-Vardar and surrounding region and 5,000 in Gumendzhe. In August 1943 a massive rally was organized in Lerin Region where more than 15,000 demonstrators were in attendance. These were vast numbers for small cities and towns where the population was no more than 10 to 30 thousand. Strikes and demonstrations were also held in Kostur and Rupishta where a large part of the population attended. More than 20,000 attended a rally in the city square in Subotsko in November 1943 when residents from the entire surrounding region came together carrying black flags and banners demonstrating their discontent with the economic situation.

The most massive demonstrations however were conducted against the Bulgarians when their occupying army crossed south of the Struma River. Thirty thousand people gathered together in the city of Nigrita to show their displeasure. There were also demonstrations organized in Solun, Negush and Ber where people, mostly workers, attended in large numbers. These demonstrations were a clear message not only to the occupiers but also to the Greek authorities on both the right and left side that Macedonians were capable of defending themselves. Unfortunately this show of strength, instead of bringing improvement, brought more misery to the Macedonian people as all sides began to persecute the Macedonians, especially after Italy's capitulation on September 8th, 1943.

To be continued.

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You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com