Amazing US Congressman's Speech in Congress on Macedonians in Greece in 1947!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • vicsinad
    Senior Member
    • May 2011
    • 2337

    Amazing US Congressman's Speech in Congress on Macedonians in Greece in 1947!

    Michigan Democratic Representative George Sadowski's speech to Congress in 1947 on behalf of Macedonians, arguing that Macedonians in Greece are not Greek and deserve freedom.

    Thank you, Mr. Sadowski, for advocating on our behalf.

    I've both copied and attached his speech.

    From Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress, Volume 93, Part 4, May1947.


    Mr. BLOOM. Mr. Chairman. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan

    Mr. SADOWSKI. Mr. Speaker, a few moments ago I asked a question. Are the Macedonians Greeks? We have heard much about this Greek trouble, and it is always referred to as the trouble in Greek Macedonia, but why is it that no one comes down here and tells us the truth about this situation? The Macedonians are not Greeks. The Macedonians are a Slav race of people. They are southern Slavs.

    Further, history will bear out the fact that these Macedonians have lived there since the time of Christ. The city of Salonika is their city, it is not a Greek city. These Macedonian people are a rugged race of people. They live In the mountains: they are a mountaineer people, a simple, hard-fighting people, good Christian people. They have withstood the onslaught of the Romans, the Greeks, and the Turks. The Turks did their best to make Mohammedans out of them. They had them under Turkish domination for many, many years. The Turks practiced every kind of brutality against these Christian people. They desecrated their churches. They burnt their farms and homes. But they remained Macedonians.

    Then after the First World War, after these Macedonians had joined with us in our big fight in that war, and had shed their blood and given us of their best men in that struggle, what did we do, or rather, what did England do? England handed those people in bondage to Greece, instead of giving the Macedonians freedom. Freedom is what they wanted and that is what they fought for, and that is what they were entitled to have.

    In this last war great fighting was done in that northern part of Greece, up in that hill country. A lot of credit was given to the Greeks, but who did this fighting? Macedonians, Greek Macedonians, those mountaineer people. The Nazis and the Italians never did subdue them, they never did annihilate them. They have never been conquered.

    Now the war is over. Again these people are asking for freedom. They want an Independent Macedonia. Are they entitled to It? In my opinion they are. I think they are. Half of Macedonia now is a free state within the Yugoslav federation. They have their own president, they have their own legislature, they have their own state set-up within this federation of Yugoslavia. The other part of Macedonia is still under Greek domination. Here is the problem. Those Macedonians that are still within Greece, under Greek authority, all want freedom. They are united 100 percent on the basis that they want freedom, but they are divided on this: Some of those Macedonians want to join with that part of Macedonia which is now in the Yugoslav federation. Some of them do not want to join but they want to have a separate Macedonian state, a free state so that they would not be under Tito. But all of these people want freedom.

    All of these people have been on our side in this war and in the First World War. They fought heroically for our cause. Now it is proposed that we give bayonets and guns to the Royalists of Greece to kill these Macedonians. I am not mad at these Macedonians. I am not mad at those who want to go into the Yugoslav federation or those who want an Independent Macedonia and freedom from Greece. I do not want to see any of them killed.

    President Truman and the State Department have remained silent about this struggle for freedom. Why? Surely the sentiment of the American people is with the Macedonians. Here is a piece from today's Washington Star : "Greeks condemned for aiding guerrillas in Athens"; a dispatch from northern Greece reports today from the military fort at Almanla they have condemned 10 persons. Including women, to death and sentenced 6 others to life imprisonment for aiding anti-government guerrilla forces.

    Now, that has taken place after we have announced this program of aid to Greece. They are still killing Greeks in Macedonia, and killing those Greeks who do not agree with the Royalist Government in Greece and killing Macedonians because all Macedonians want freedom.

    Am I going to vote to give more bayonets and more guns to kill off more of these people? No. So far as I am concerned, this is not a question of communism. This is the age-old struggle, centuries old. of a light for freedom—of the peoples' fight for freedom. The United States of America should be the first to say, "We stand back of you in this fight for freedom." We did say that in the Atlantic Charter, but now must these people who are struggling for freedom go to Uncle Joe Stalin to look for that freedom? Why should it not come from us—from the United States of America? That should be our program. That is what we should do.
  • Soldier of Macedon
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2008
    • 13670

    #2
    Thanks for that Vic, that is a fantastic speech!

    Here is a some more information on George Sadowski:


    George Gregory Sadowski (March 12, 1903 – October 9, 1961) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan of Polish descent.

    Sadowski was born in Detroit, Michigan, where he attended Ferry School. He attended high school in Foley, Alabama, and then returned to Detroit, where he graduated from Northeastern High School in 1920 and from the law department of the University of Detroit in 1924. He was admitted to the bar in 1926 and commenced practice in Detroit. He was involved in the real estate and building businesses and later became the owner of two golf clubs. He was also a member of Polish National Alliance.

    Sadowski was a member of the Michigan Senate from the 2nd District in 1931 and 1932, and a member of the State Democratic Central Committee from 1930 to 1936. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948.

    He was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's first congressional district to the 73rd, 74th, and 75th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1939. He lost to Rudolph G. Tenerowicz in the Democratic primary in 1938 and again in 1940. In 1942, he was elected to the 78th and then to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1943 to January 3, 1951. In 1950, he lost to Thaddeus M. Machrowicz in the Democratic primary.

    George G. Sadowski died in Utica, Michigan and is interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
    In the name of the blood and the sun, the dagger and the gun, Christ protect this soldier, a lion and a Macedonian.

    Comment

    • Risto the Great
      Senior Member
      • Sep 2008
      • 15658

      #3
      Great speech.
      Sadly it got confused with the USA sending Napalm instead.
      Risto the Great
      MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
      "Holding my breath for the revolution."

      Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

      Comment

      Working...
      X