REMINDER! Australia Census - Macedonians in Australia

[Phoenix]

Yes but phoenix that is exactly my point i am not talking about people who originate from the republic i am talking about those who come from lerin or surrounding areas not from in the republic. These people are all grkomani i would say alms t 100%. Some of these families are, the paras, pateras, paraskevas, kreskas, sfetcopolous etc. You would be very hard pressed to find someone who originated form lerin or aegean who is not grkoman:: good luck more chance winning tatts. Ps they all make me sick. Cant speak greek to save themselves but still call themselves greek. It is a disease.

Fair enough, the really sad thing is that some if not many of those grkomani aren't even from as 'far away' as Lerin, many (most) are actually from villages a stones throw away from Dragos(h)...on the other side of the border...places like Sveti Petka and Rako...

You're right about not many of them knowing greek...A friend of mine from Shep was recounting a story about the grkomani funding a 'greek' school in Shep and when they sent their young kids there to learn 'greek' the kids nearly rebelled after their first 'lesson'...these grkoman children thought that the langauge they spoke at home (Macedonian) was the 'real' greek and when confronted with (proper) greek at school they considered it totally foreign...fuckin' peanuts...lol

I also remember a story my late grandmother told about some woman who considerd herself 'greek' but couldn't understand neither written nor spoken greek...she would come to my grandmother with letters written in greek for my grandmother to translate for her...go figure...

What I find really sad is that I can almost forgive an illiterate old woman who hasn't got any life experiences beyond her little village for being so foolish but I can't forgive the 2nd and 3rd generations in the 20th and 21st centuries living a world away in Shep (or elsewhere) for the same lunacy...

[lerin]

ye phoenix your stories are sad. I also can't understand the young ones in sheep this is people in their late teens to early 20s who identify as greek. How they do this is beyond me. It is like the fact that their parents and grandparents hardly speak greek is irrelevant and the fact their parents and grandparents speak macedonian does not seem to make them think? hang on my parents and grandparents don't speak greek wtf maybe I'm not greek?. They will call their grandparents baba and dedo then still say they are greek. I think a lot of it has to do obviously with the parents but hey anyone with half a brain regardless of their parents could work out they are macedonian and not greek.. It just never ceases to amaze me with these young ones how they can't see this.

[Phoenix]

ye phoenix your stories are sad. I also can't understand the young ones in sheep this is people in their late teens to early 20s who identify as greek. How they do this is beyond me. It is like the fact that their parents and grandparents hardly speak greek is irrelevant and the fact their parents and grandparents speak macedonian does not seem to make them think? hang on my parents and grandparents don't speak greek wtf maybe I'm not greek?. They will call their grandparents baba and dedo then still say they are greek. I think a lot of it has to do obviously with the parents but hey anyone with half a brain regardless of their parents could work out they are macedonian and not greek.. It just never ceases to amaze me with these young ones how they can't see this.

You shouldn't be amazed Lerin, didn't you say that you had grkoman relatives, if so you should understand completely this madness...I have grkoman relatives, doesn't surprise me at all...

[EgejskaMakedonia]

It just never ceases to amaze me with these young ones how they can't see this.

From personal experience, I think the older generations of grkomani (the stari) are by far the worst. These people were probably severely brainwashed and threatened by the Greek authorities and that is understandable, but when they emigrate they keep this 'Greek' mentality and pass it on to subsequent generations.

The majority of these people would be well aware that they are living under a false identity, and in many instances they tend to be the most anti-Macedonian of the lot.

Although younger generations of grkomani in the diaspora have wider access to information, they probably believe they are 'Greek,' not just act it. This is a direct result of the mentality being passed down. In Greece the circumstances are different, but within the diaspora it is amazing why this still occurs.

That said, many of the stari deserve a lot of praise. They are the reason why so many Macedonians have maintained a strong connection with their identity. They suffered from Greek oppression first hand, yet managed to proudly pass on their heritage. That says a lot about a persons character and sense of identity.

It's a damn shame though that so many Macedonians 'turned Greek.' If these people truly appreciated and treasured their identity, they would have found out the truth by now. It's often strange to think that a relative or fellow Macedonian thinks of you and your people as enemies...when at the end of the day they are nashi.

[machorot]

From personal experience, I think the older generations of grkomani (the stari) are by far the worst. These people were probably severely brainwashed and threatened by the Greek authorities and that is understandable, but when they emigrate they keep this 'Greek' mentality and pass it on to subsequent generations.

The majority of these people would be well aware that they are living under a false identity, and in many instances they tend to be the most anti-Macedonian of the lot.

Although younger generations of grkomani in the diaspora have wider access to information, they probably believe they are 'Greek,' not just act it. This is a direct result of the mentality being passed down. In Greece the circumstances are different, but within the diaspora it is amazing why this still occurs.

That said, many of the stari deserve a lot of praise. They are the reason why so many Macedonians have maintained a strong connection with their identity. They suffered from Greek oppression first hand, yet managed to proudly pass on their heritage. That says a lot about a persons character and sense of identity.

It's a damn shame though that so many Macedonians 'turned Greek.' If these people truly appreciated and treasured their identity, they would have found out the truth by now. It's often strange to think that a relative or fellow Macedonian thinks of you and your people as enemies...when at the end of the day they are nashi.

Could it be possible that some of the people in this group, are protecting their life long assets in Greece by declaring as Greeks, and thus preventing Greece branding them as a security threat/s? - see this link 26th June 2012

[The LION will ROAR]

Does anyone personally know anyone who was a grekomani, maybe brainwashed by parents, greeks or so fourth... But had a brain and put 2 & 2 together and realised that they aren’t greek but Macedonian.. and then embraced their true Macedonian heritage....?

[Risto the Great]

I know many of them.

[The LION will ROAR]

I know many of them.

Thanks RTG, I personally don't... and you just don't here of many...

[United MKD]

I know many of them.

How did they feel after realising the truth? Embarassed, shocked, happy?

[BigMak]

How did they feel after realising the truth? Embarassed, shocked, happy?

bullshit they continued to be greek

[Momce Makedonce]

Officially 93 570 people in Australia claim Macedonian Ancestry. But the estimate is up to 200 000 Macedonians in Australia. Is this realistic? Is there that many who do not identify themselves as Macedonian?

Also is there any website where you can compare Macedonian ancestry to others. I am pretty suprised to see that Croatian Ancestry is apparently at 126 270. I thought Macedonians would be by far greater than Croatians in Australia. I want to see where Macedonia would rank in terms of Ancestry in Australia.

Bit random I know.

[George S.]

there are people still today that hold to their yugoslav identity they are scared to identitify as macedonians.Not only that successive govts in rom etc wherever they came from have scarred them for life as if not to reveal who they are.Its a sin to be macedonian.

[Macedonian_Nationalist]

There a far more Macedonians in Australia than Serbs or Croats combined. The problem is a number of Macedonians are grkomani and boost the greek numbers while there's a few that are Yugoslavs still and then there's those that just identify as Australian even though they're Macedonians.

But they automatically become Macedonian when you start speaking to them. Is that magic ?

[EgejskaMakedonia]

The SBS census explorer provides some interesting statistics. It's done by language use, not ancestry, so the numbers will be even less for Macedonians. It gives a vague overview of every suburb too. According to this, there are only 4 others (apart from my family) that speak Macedonian in my suburb lol.

http://www.sbs.com.au/censusexplorer/

[Momce Makedonce]

there are people still today that hold to their yugoslav identity they are scared to identitify as macedonians.Not only that successive govts in rom etc wherever they came from have scarred them for life as if not to reveal who they are.Its a sin to be macedonian.

There a far more Macedonians in Australia than Serbs or Croats combined. The problem is a number of Macedonians are grkomani and boost the greek numbers while there's a few that are Yugoslavs still and then there's those that just identify as Australian even though they're Macedonians.

But they automatically become Macedonian when you start speaking to them. Is that magic ?

Do these so called Yugoslav identifiers actually write Yugoslavian when it comes to Ancestry. I am actually interested in seeing how many wrote that in response to that question.

What you say about Grkomani may perhaps be true. Maybe more so in Melbourne but even here in Sydney I have seen some so called Greeks that dont really look Greek at all. Some of them definetely look like they are Macedonian rather than Greek. Not right to judge solely on the way they look though, but some just dont look Greek.