Risto Stefov - Articles, Translations & Collaborations

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • George S.
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2009
    • 10116

    PM Gruevski's column for German FAZ: Macedonia deserves full-fledged NATO membership



    Skopje, 8 February 2012 (MIA) - Probably many Germans had not heard about our country (Macedonia) until recently when our national team played a match to remember at the European Handball Championship. The handball heroes have shown that everybody is entitled to equality and justice, while the success depends solely on own efforts. Unfortunately, in another sphere we do not enjoy the same rights as others: Macedonia has met all NATO membership criteria, being recognized by the Alliance at Bucharest Summit in 2008. Nevertheless, Macedonia is not allowed to be part of it. Macedonia is de facto NATO member, whereas de jure it isn't, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski says in his column for the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.



    NATO membership is the Government's strategic goal, Gruevski says. The (country)'s integration enjoys the support of over 85% of citizens. Macedonian peace forces in Iraq, Afghanistan have been sharing the threats to freedom with the allies, half of Macedonia's defense budget is allocated for (the country)'s contribution to Afghanistan. Our peacekeepers are meritorious for the security of Kandahar base, being decorated for their operations.

    "Then why Macedonia is not a NATO member? We are a hostage of senseless and virtual dispute, never heard of across the globe. Our neighbour is hindering our membership although we have met all preconditions for membership. Only because Greece has a problem with the name of our country that harms nobody and for which we don't seek exclusivity. Greeks also have problem with our identity, the name of our nation and language. You may comprehend what absurd this is only if you imagine that somebody has a problem because you feel as and call yourselves Germans. Or try to imagine that Belgium doesn't allow Luxembourg to join NATO only because its province bears the name Luxembourg. If not insulting it would be ironic, maybe for the verses of Brecht or stories of Kafka, but this is the cruel reality," Gruevski says in his column.



    Greece, he says, has prevented our NATO membership, being aware that it must not do that if we join in under the reference, granted by the UN. Greeks have accepted this reference under the Interim Accord, an international agreement we signed in 1995 under the UN auspices. In favor of reaching this accord, we have changed a flag, constitution, gave up the care for our minority - only to avoid Greece's opposition to our accession in international organizations.

    The failure in Bucharest has not discouraged us, Gruevski says. We have resumed our efforts to become part of and contribute to NATO.



    "In compliance with (Otto von) Bismarck's quote 'Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable - the art of the next best', we have sought our chances before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, while remaining committed to the dialogue with Greece aimed at finding a name solution. The ICJ lawsuit ended with a verdict that Greece had violated its obligations stemming from the 1995 Interim Accord after hindering Macedonia to be admitted to NATO at a summit in Bucharest in 2008 under the reference defined by the United Nations. ICJ ruled that Macedonia hasn't breach the agreement in any way, that it has always negotiated with good will, thus putting an end to all Greek diplomatic attempts to accuse us of lacking constructiveness in name talks," the PM says.



    The ICJ judgment, he adds, is binding for both parties and suggests that there are no legal arguments for Greece to keep on objecting Macedonia's accession to NATO. In accordance with international law, Greece should refrain from hindering Macedonia's NATO membership. By setting a condition 'settle the name issue, then join NATO', international law is being breached and the ICJ judgment is not respected. Hence, NATO members relying on international law should extend a membership invitation to Macedonia at the upcoming summit in Chicago, this time without additional conditions set by Greece, which would breach international law.

    "I hope that Germany and NATO members will take into consideration the ICJ conclusion that Macedonia has never violated the principle of neighbourly ties. Hence, there is no reason for the membership invitation to be postponed. The ICJ decision is clear. Moreover, Greece doesn't need to be afraid from Macedonia. The country should be very interested in being in the same alliance as partners. We want cordial relations with Greece and the future of the region to be built with joined forces. We also want talks focused on solving the dispute launched by Greece to be intensified," reads the column.



    It is important to know that Macedonia's NATO membership will not be a burden to German taxpayers. Macedonia is implementing successful economic policies, for which we have been praised by the World Bank, ranking Macedonia 22nd - above 19 EU countries - on its Doing Business report. According to the World Bank, Macedonia is one of the most improved economies in the world for five consecutive years. IMF has said that Macedonia is a low-indebted country with an external debt of 26% from GDP, being the second lowest one in Europe. The national currency is firmly stable, the banking system is liquid and foreign exchange reserves are at the highest level in history.



    "We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon," (Konrad) Adenauer used to say. Hopefully, the German and Macedonian horizon is going to be the same in NATO," Gruevski concludes in his column for "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"
    "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
    GOTSE DELCEV

    Comment

    • George S.
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2009
      • 10116

      Milcho Manchevski on the Name issue
      Interview by Cinzia Dal Maso





      Cinzia dal maso - What is your attitude towards the name issue?



      Milcho manchevski - The name issue looks like a complex issue, but it boils down to an absurd excuse for an end-game of ethnic cleansing. It is absurdity brought to an extreme.



      How would you feel if someone came to you and told you that you had to change your name because he or she didn’t approve of your name? What cheek, what balls! At first you’d laugh at it, but 20 years later it will start eating at your insides. Especially when this attitude expressed by your neighbour has serious practical consequences (such as slowing down or blocking your country from access to processes that stimulate economic prosperity and system reforms, and imposing crippling illegal blockades and embargoes).



      This is only in addition to creating toxic atmosphere in the region which is going through a deadly war. This is particularly troublesome when you realize that this someone has absolutely no problem with their preposterous, arrogant and aggressive demand, but also when you realize that the hypocrisy of political Europe is more interested in solving their bureaucratic problem than in justice, human rights (such as the right to self-determination) or even peace and stability. Euro-bureaucrats keep lecturing Macedonia on your behalf, telling us to, basically, change the name of our country, the name of our language and the name of our nation. This, as you could imagine, is offensive and insulting, especially for a small nation and people with troubled history and fragile collective ego. This is a real issue with most Macedonians, a deeply heart-felt emotional problem that has to do with the personal and collective dignity, and as such, could have unforeseen consequences.



      As a footnote, allow me to tell you what happened the first time I came to Venice. I was presenting my film Before the Rain at the Mostra del Cinema in 1994. The first day, I was summoned to the offices of the Festival. I was told that there was a diplomatic “issue”. Namely, the Greek embassy in Italy has complained to the Festival, demanding that they remove the name “Macedonian” when describing the name of the language spoken in my film. The Greek embassy had claimed that such language did not exist. I asked the very nice lady representing the Festival whether I looked like a character from a cartoon. One that does not exist. We both laughed and concluded the matter then and there.



      For those interested in the history of the name conflict, I have to mention that Macedonia changed both its constitution (to explicitly state in its constitution that Macedonia is not seeking anyone else’s territory - as if the country the size of Central Park could demand anything) - AND its flag (to remove a symbol that Greece claimed as her own, in spite of the fact that this symbol has been found in archaeological sites in Macedonia as well as in Greece). What has derogatorily been called “antiquisation” should be seen in this context.



      c. d.m. - Do you think antiquisation is a purely political issue, or it is also extensively supported by Macedonian citizens? Do Macedonians really feel they are descendants of Alexander?

      m. m. - Some do and some don’t. I was not around when Alexander roamed the earth, nor do I pretend to be an expert in history. Yet, his father built cities where today is the Republic of Macedonia, there is material evidence of this civilization in the Republic of Macedonia, and some of Alexander’s people did come from here. When the empire collapsed these people did not vanish into thin air. So, if people today feel that they want to celebrate, cherish and preserve the memory of those Macedonians - in addition to the memory of other cultures that left their trace here - I don’t see why anyone would find that objectionable. Unless, of course, if that someone had an issue with their own identity. Or, if that someone was using this pseudo-historical argument as a proxy in a more complex political battle, such as the completion of the ethnic cleansing of southern Macedonia, for example, the one started at the beginning of the 20th Century and carried out through most of it.



      As far as the claim that the “antiquisation” is new, there are written records that people living in these parts, ethnic Macedonians speaking the modern Macedonian language (which is of the Slavic family of languages) have claimed Alexander as their forefather since the 19th century (see Georgija Pulevski’s Dictionary of 1875, for example), while at least 14 Greek intellectuals of the same period (1794-1841) insisted that the Ancient Macedonians were not a part of the Hellenic world and would be considered occupiers of ancient Greece.



      c. d.m. - What about those (the current political opposition) who insist on the Slavic heritage of Macedonia? Is it true they are an élite, while the majority of the population is crazy for Alexander?



      m. m. - The divide of Slavic vs. Alexander’s Macedonians has more to do with political power-struggles than with the way most people in Macedonia today feel. Why would the Slavic heritage exclude the heritage of ancient Macedonia? Do you exclude the Etruscans as your forebears? Are we now going to look into every individual’s Dna to determine people’s ancestors? Different cultures lived or passed through what today is the Republic of Macedonia, and people have the right to study and cherish their past - as long as it does not affect their future.



      c. d.m. - Is it possible that the reaction of Greece to the use of ancient name and symbol by modern Macedonia, made Macedonians even more fanatic? Is it possible that, hadn’t it been for Greece, Macedonians would have had a less instrumental relationship with their ancient history?

      m. m. - Yes, what you describe is probably true. The interest in Alexander the Great in the Republic of Macedonia was not as extensive before the Greek insults of the last 20 years. The Greek destructive politics, aggressive chauvinism and hysteria did contribute to a solidifying of the Macedonian sense of pride and even nationalism.



      The sense of national belonging and pride changes with time everywhere, and in contemporary Macedonia we are witnessing sweeping developments in that respect. But, these should not be confused with the justified sense of indignation that most Macedonians feel at the prolonged insult they have been dealt by Greece and - by extension - by the European Union. It is terribly sad to see this aggression perpetrated in the heart of self-satisfied Europe, the one that prides itself on the principles of justice, equality and human rights, and moreover perpetrated by the proverbial cradle of the Western civilization, Greece. People in Macedonia are disappointed by the treatment they are receiving from Europe and the international community: the EU ignored its own findings (by the Badinter Commission) and did not recognize Macedonia for a long time in spite of the fact that it fulfilled the criteria for diplomatic recognition; Greece imposed a unilateral embargo against Macedonia for several years (and the landlocked country could not bring most of its imports in); the EU stood by as the basic human rights to self-determination were being violated in Greece (the only country in Europe claiming not to have any minorities); there was no mercy when the Macedonian meagre economy was brought down to its knees by the UN embargo against Serbia (where Macedonia did most of its trade before the wars of the 1990’s); Macedonia was shamelessly used as NATO’s backyard for its single war in Europe (the one against Serbia) and forced to put up with the influx of more than 300,000 refugees (an addition of roughly 15% of the population of the country) from Kosovo as the world stood by and lectured us on how to deal with the crisis while no one took on a substantial number of these refugees (the French took only Catholics and parts of families, leaving the mothers behind); then, when the guerrillas trained in NATO’s war in Kosovo turned on Macedonia, the world took pictures and pretended it was not a war for territory but for human rights; then that same NATO caved in to the Greek veto over Macedonia’s ascension to a member status even after Macedonia had been used as a driveway for NATO’s very own war against Serbia…



      The Macedonian people have no problems understanding the Greek state and its politicians: they have been next door for centuries now. But the people here are disappointed by the recent rediscovery of European hypocrisy, the one that is blasé while observing first ethnic cleansing, then cultural and linguistic cleansing.
      "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
      GOTSE DELCEV

      Comment

      • George S.
        Senior Member
        • Aug 2009
        • 10116

        Efforts at truth

        Fri, Oct 22 2010 09:00 CET

        By Gabriel Hershman







        Challenging traditional views seems to be a specialty of Professor Ed Gaffney, a lecturer in law at Valparaiso University in Indiana and a writer and filmmaker.

        Empty Boxcars: Murder and Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews in World War 2, a new 90-minute documentary that had its world premiere in Bulgaria on October 11, permeates traditional comfort zones and highlights some unpalatable facts about Bulgaria's actions.

        This seems to be Gaffney's vocation, to prick self-satisfaction. As an Irish-American Roman Catholic engaged in Jewish-Catholic dialogue for decades, Gaffney is deeply critical of anti-Semitic animus and contempt for Jews within his own church. But Gaffney is by no means a "pro-Jewish, right or wrong" evangelist of the type to be found in the US on the Christian Right. He targets injustice wherever he perceives it.

        Gaffney is also a friendly critic of Israeli policies he deems unlikely to promote Israel’s own interests; for example, he regards demolition of Palestinian homes as inflicting on others "the horrible attacks on the fragility of Jewish homes over the centuries when Gentiles dispossessed Jews or sent them into exile, or when the Nazis stole their violins and pianos and art and homes all over Europe during World War 2." So it was that Gaffney was also moved to make an earlier documentary exploring how bereaved families on either side of the Israel-Palestinian divide (murdered by the other) came to empathise with each other's suffering. The film, Unbroken Circle, features many (Jewish) critics of the Israeli government.

        I make this point lest readers think Gaffney is an unbridled supporter of every Jewish/Zionist cause – rather he is a humanitarian.

        Under Bulgaria's thumb


        Gaffney refuses to play what could be called the preferential numbers game regarding Bulgaria's Jews during World War 2. When I cite the fact that 50 000 Jews in Greater Bulgaria survived the war, Gaffney shoots me down.

        "That's a distinction without a difference," he says. "I don't think there's a plausible justification for singling out Greek or Macedonian Jews, on the one hand, and saying they were somehow worthier of death in Treblinka. Claims by the Bulgarian authorities that they couldn't stop it (murders outside so-called Greater Bulgaria) are baloney. Nobody's going to indict Bulgaria for any of these crimes in 2010 but these WERE crimes against humanity nonetheless," he says.

        Empty Boxcars features, among others, the story of a Bulgarian Rabbi, Haim Asa from Plovdiv, who survived the war. Other family members, however, didn't. This, says Gaffney, is a crucial part of the film.

        "There were three different members of the Asa family, all of whom thought of themselves as Jews," says Gaffney.

        Asa had a cousin in Bitola, in Macedonia, who he remembers visiting in the 1930s, and another in Kavala. Both were murdered at Treblinka.

        "What are we saying – that we're going to differentiate between members of the Asa family, that national borders is the way you discern moral legitimacy or legality? No, it's illegal and immoral every time," says Gaffney.

        And, as Gaffney points out, these people were in areas administered and controlled by Bulgarians.

        "They were issuing postage stamps with pictures of King Boris right at the top and then it showed you three major cities in Macedonia - Skopje, Ohrid and Bitola. During their occupation the Bulgarians ran everything from the post office through to the police station and the educational curriculum. One of the dumbest reasons given by Bulgarians for why they couldn't save Jews in those other countries is that they weren't citizens of Bulgaria. Well, who decided that? The Bulgarians did! Under the Law to Protect the Nation, they denied citizenship to Jews," says Gaffney.

        Starting out


        Gaffney first became interested in Jewish-Christian relations when he studied theology in Rome. This was a time when the Church was starting to acknowledge its long history of Christian anti-Semitism.

        "In a way this film is one person's attempt to turn around centuries of mistaken and outrageously false teachings about Jews," he says.

        Reading a book called the War Against the Jews (by Lucy Dawidowicz) first stoked Gaffney's interest in Bulgaria. In the book she lists the fate of the Jews in each country during the war.

        "At the time it (Bulgaria's story) struck me as pretty remarkable. Then, subsequently, I met someone at my law school who asked me which country, allied to Nazi Germany, had more Jews after the war than before." (The answer was Bulgaria). "It turned out he was married to the former cultural attache of the Bulgarian embassy in Washington."

        From 1998 onwards Gaffney started making many trips to Bulgaria and Israel (where most Bulgarian Jews emigrated after the war) to interview survivors. Incidentally, but perhaps inevitably, this also stirred his interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

        Origins of race laws


        Bulgaria's race legislation post-1941 emulated Germany's. Gaffney sees modern anti-Semitism - reaching its most virulent zenith in the 20th century - as a continuum. Hitler did not invent it. He merely added some rather obscure racial theories to an enduring animus against Jews that began with the erroneous Christian assertion that the Jews crucified Christ. As Gaffney says, it was actually Pontius Pilate.

        "When Hitler grows up in Linz there are few Jews around. Then when he goes to Vienna to see the Jewish community he's filled with revulsion and disgust. In Mein Kampf all these animal metaphors are brought in – the Jews are 'sub humans' – people always use animal metaphors when they hate someone; it's always rats or something like that," says Gaffney.

        According to Gaffney, hatred towards Jews is a feeling that the anti-Semite then justifies with various spurious charges.

        "The Protocols of Zion (a notorious forgery) recites the world's ills and scapegoats Jews but that, of course, puts the cart before the horse. The hatred existed first and then the justifications, which are bogus and totally false, are used to explain it," he says.

        Inside the anti-Semitic mind


        Holocaust-denial and anti-Semitic websites particularly concern Gaffney.

        I cite David Duke, who seems obsessed with Jews, as a perfect example. Gaffney agrees.

        "There was a time when he (Duke) was running for governor of Louisiana and people had bumper stickers on the back of their cars urging support for the incumbent governor – who's now dead but was known to be 'on the take' a lot – saying 'vote for the crook, it matters'."

        Can one, I wonder, have a rational conversation with the anti-Semite to change their mind?

        "I don't think it's a question of reasons that are thought through," says Gaffney. "These people are not attentive to facts. Rational people are humble enough to change their mind when they're told – 'wait a minute; you didn't take into account enough of the data'. Duke doesn't do that, he starts off with the judgment, not the facts, just as the only experience that Hitler needed to justify his revulsion was to meet a few Jews in Vienna and invoke the same vulgar stereotypes that guide the Protocols."

        Gaffney says that personal encounters helps to cure hatred of other groups.

        "It's certainly not having a rational conversation with David Duke. Hope for transformation comes from – to cite the example of what San Francisco's celebrated gay activist Harvey Milk said – when people meet individuals in the group they dislike. In other words, they meet Aunt Sally who's a lesbian but a fabulous family member. And you simply can't help but love her even before you discover her sexuality. Similarly, change comes when you consult your Jewish neighbour about the crossword puzzle because he knows a word you don't. Then you find that they're extraordinarily sweet and generous people – that's what shifts attitudes."

        Hitler's rise


        Gaffney believes that so many Germans bought into Hitler's anti-Semitism, either actively or passively – due to a confluence of well-timed (from the Nazi point of view) factors.

        He sees Hitler's rise to power as resulting from a fusion of unjust war reparations, longstanding Franco-German enmity and severe economic crisis set against the background of a desperate people looking for a scapegoat. (Gaffney, by the way, sees the European Union's greatest achievement as rendering impossible another war between France and Germany).

        "You impose massive reparations on a country and the price of a loaf of bread jumps from one mark to 10, and then to 100, and you have huge debts. That's the moment Hitler enters the scene. Democratic persuasion plays no part. He says that the way out of the mess is to overcome these Jews" – although they made up less than one per cent of the population – "but a demagogue needs a scapegoat, a handy person. Sadly, the Germans didn't invent racial purity, the Americans did. Just look at the history of American race theory. Unfortunately, all this Aryan baloney that Hitler pumps out becomes part of the story in Bulgaria, which is all the more ludicrous because there is no racial purity in Bulgaria – it's a country of immense ethnic diversity."

        Does that imply that such ethnic purity existed in Germany?

        "I don't believe in racial purity anywhere; it's a fairytale," says Gaffney.

        "I teach my students that Barack Obama is not the first Afro-American president. Warren Harding was. Every black person in the US who knows anything about black history in the US acknowledges that. But most whites don't. Harding was one eighth African-American and that was enough in racial purity theory not only to put you at the back of the street car, but to put you in jail in the US. So the racial differentiation in Germany (between a Jew and an Aryan) was no stranger than a white man showing up in South Africa, saying that a Dutch God had declared that they were the rulers."

        All racism, says Gaffney, defies scientific analysis or rational thinking.

        "As I said, Obama is not the first African-American president but if you want to take seriously everything we know about genetics and about human origins, we're all Africans. There's no justification for it. In Germany, one of the first acts of the Nazis was to force Jewish scholars and academics out of their jobs. Why? Because somebody decides so. That doesn't answer why; that doesn't satisfy an inquiring mind, that's just a dictator talking."

        The Bulgarian case


        Gaffney does not diminish the Bulgarian rescue of its Jewish population, describing it as "extraordinary, stunning and staggeringly wonderful". He does, however, qualify it.

        "All by itself it's a beautiful story. What's wrong with it from our point of view as journalists is that it's not a complete story. That's why Rabbi Asa's story is such a compelling part of this film."

        A total of 11 393 people from the occupied areas were murdered in Treblinka – about 7000 from Macedonia and 4000 from Thrace.

        "The really destructive act of rounding up everyone in a community is described by Holocaust historian Michael Berenbaum in the film. 'When you deport the entire population of a town what you get is the absence of presence and the presence of absence'." Gaffney says these crimes can't be overlooked. "In Bitola or Skopje and Kavala, you see Bulgarian gendarmes and soldiers guarding Bulgarian trains and you see the Jews of Bitola in Skopje's tobacco warehouse."

        The pictures sometimes seem so mundane that Hannah Arendt's remark about "the banality of evil" comes to mind.

        "One of the extraordinary things about the Bulgarian story is that we expect our rescuers to be 100 per cent saints and never get anything wrong. The very improbability of the Bulgarian story makes it a compellingly human one because most of us are like that; we're not saints and we get it wrong as often as we get it right," says Gaffney.

        Boris - saint or sinner?


        Perhaps that's never more true than about Bulgaria's King Boris. What, I ask Gaffney, is his true legacy?

        "In criminal law, no prosecutor ever attempts to prosecute the dead," says Gaffney. "When a person dies, historians can evaluate a person's life but it's useless trying to vilify someone. For example, in Hitler's case, why are so many skinheads admiring of him? That's a contemporary cultural issue that we have to wrestle with and take seriously. We can't ignore that, just as we can't ignore the David Dukes of this world. But what's the point of trashing Hitler? He trashed himself; he trashed the entire civilisation of the country he governed. As for King Boris, Hitler's description of him is enough – 'a fox' – he was clever and very attentive to facts. Hitler used to love it when Boris visited Berlin because he'd find out what was really happening. He'd say to his staff – 'How come I didn't know that until Boris came to town?'"

        Gaffney says that Hitler demanded payback for negotiating with the Romanians to cede lands to Bulgaria. Part of that price was the deportation of Bulgaria's Jews. The result was catastrophe for Jews in the occupied territories.

        "The year 1943 was the most horrible year for mass murder," he says. "In just a few months between 700 000 and 850 000 Jews were killed in Treblinka. Some people say the title I chose for the film – Empty Boxcars – is false. 'The trains were full, not empty', people say. Well, they were full until they get to the terminus but here's what you should know about Treblinka. Eichmann had these trains running on a precise schedule - 20 cars with exactly 2000 people in each – and then the boxcars would leave empty because no freight cars had food or water, nothing like that. It was a place of extermination."

        Going back to Boris, however, Gaffney does believe that some of his anti-Semitic comments – as with his infamous address to the synod of bishops in 1943 – was merely a way of covering his back in Berlin.

        "When Boris met Hitler you get a sense of how insightful he was about Hitler's pernicious psyche. For example, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he relates how Hitler talked non-stop and didn't seem interested in what other people had to say."

        Weighing up the evidence, however, Gaffney rejects the notion that Boris was in any way a hero. "What's wrong with this theory is not that Boris didn't have the courage to stop the deportation, it's that he didn't do it earlier," he says.

        Integration


        Jews were more integrated in Bulgaria than they were in Germany and this may have been a decisive factor in their salvation, according to Gaffney. If you put people in a ghetto, then you create a 'them and us' attitude that perpetuates discrimination.

        "In fairness to the Germans they didn't invent the ghetto. It began in Rome and Venice, from where the name derives. But when you lock people up in an area, telling them that they belong there and there is no integration, then it becomes 'Jew town'. That's what Hitler witnessed in Vienna. But in Bulgaria, by contrast, the Jews were common labourers and artisans. There may have been a couple of Jews in banking but there was no data to say they wielded an undue influence or any basis for alleging that they ran the country's finances."

        Bulgaria, according to Gaffney, has always tried to wriggle out of responsibility for its wartime role to the extent that even some claim that the Star of David that all Jews had to wear in public was smaller than that of the German equivalent, as if this in some way diminished the humiliation.

        "If a Jewish kid was on his way to school, it meant that thugs caused trouble for them, just like Norbert Yasharoff (who features in the film) from Pleven, who recounts in the film how he was beaten up daily as a kind of price of admission into the Fascist youth group."

        As we end, I try to draw more solace from Bulgaria's actions. Does the saving of Bulgaria's Jews indicate a greater compassion in the Bulgarian national character?

        "Compassion is a human question, not one of national stereotypes," says Gaffney. It seems an appropriate conclusion from a person whose work has always repudiated the notion that inherent or ingrained characteristics define any group of people.
        "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
        GOTSE DELCEV

        Comment

        • George S.
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2009
          • 10116

          Challenging Greek History-By-Slogans

          By Victor Bivell



          Thank you Dushan and the Australian Macedonian Literary Association. I'm very happy to launch these two short and very interesting books - The Little Book of Big Greek Lies by Risto Stefov in Canada, and Ancient Greek and Other Ancient Testimonies About the Unique Ethnic Distinctness of the Ancient Macedonians by Aleksandar Donski in Macedonia.

          Let me start with the obvious - that Greek Government lies are very topical at present. They are on the front pages of the newspapers and often the lead stories on the nightly TV news. They've been there for a couple of years, and that is where they are likely to stay for a few more years while the Eurozone debt crisis gets sorted, and the Greek economy continues in recession.

          We've all seen the TV news with the dramatic demonstrations and riots in Athens and outside the Greek parliament. The reporters tell us the Greek people are calling their own government "Liars" and "Thieves".

          I saw one photograph of a demonstrator with a sign in English that said exactly those words - "Liars & Thieves", and I thought: that guy could be a Macedonian. Because the Macedonians have been calling the Greek Government liars and thieves for over a hundred years. The Greek Government lied about Macedonia when it was under the Turks, saying there no Macedonians there, that they were Greeks. Then it stole half of Macedonia in 1912-13 when it sent in the Greek army, and it has been lying about Macedonia ever since.

          So I look at the photos, and the TV clips, and I think perhaps the whole crowd could be Macedonian, because the Greek people have woken up to their own government and now agree with the Macedonians. Yes, we agree on something. The Greek Government has managed to do the impossible and unite Greeks and Macedonians in the same view. Miracles can happen, so let's have hope that the Greek people might keep learning the truth.

          Meanwhile, it is not only the Greek people who have had their eyes opened. The rest of Europe is also amazed at the whopping great lies the Greek Government told them so that Greece could join the Euro. If you measure the lies in money, these are probably some of the biggest lies in history. Billions of Euros worth.

          In 2010 a report by the European Commission accused Greece of "widespread misreporting of deficit and debt data" and "severe irregularities... including submission of incorrect data, and non-respect of accounting rules".

          London's Financial Times newspaper put it less diplomatically, and accused Greece of "falsifying data" and that it "deliberately misreported" financial data. In another article the European economist Edin Mujagic called Greece a liar three times, and he also used the words "untrustworthy", "cheating", 'manipulate", blackmail, and "massive squandering".

          I'm pretty sure Dr Mujagic doesn't come from Macedonia, but he sounds like a Macedonian too.

          If we look at the big picture we see that for over a hundred years the Macedonians have been saying that Greek governments have been lying about Macedonia, politics, history, human rights, and the ethnic structure of Greek society. Now the Greek people, the Europeans and the rest of the world know that Greek governments have been lying about finance and money for over 10 years.

          To better connect these two sets of lies is the challenge for Macedonian activists.

          That is actually not an easy thing to do. I tried two years ago when the Greek lies to enter the Eurozone first became known. But the media is much more interested in Greek lies about money than it is in Greek lies about human rights or history.

          But the connection needs to be made, and it is still early days. We need the Greek people, Europeans and the rest of the world to better understand what has really been happening in Greece over the past 100 years. We need the world to better understand how dishonestly Greek governments have been treating their own people - Greeks as well as the Macedonians and other minorities - and how dishonestly Greek governments have been treating the Republic of Macedonia.

          So the arrival of these two books - The Little Book of Big Greek Lies, and Ancient Testimonies about the Ancient Macedonians, if I can call it that, is very timely.

          Both books tackle Greek government propaganda that is both persistent and shameless. They do this with a huge amount of very credible evidence that contradicts the Greek government's immovable position on what it euphemistically calls 'national issues'. The Greek government and its Greek academic and Greek media cheer squad shamelessly ignore this evidence, but others will not.

          As a general rule, the world outside Greece will always look at all the points of view available and make up its own mind. But as Macedonians, we have to somehow make these people interested in our points of view, in our issues, so having these books in English is a very good start.

          The Little Book of Big Greek Lies is a good introduction for the general reader. It is easy to read and presents 20 of the Greek government's most blatant propaganda lines.

          The government calls these 'national issues' but really they are 'national myths' that have the status of 'official national myths'. They are so official that to challenge them is to risk severe criticism from other Greeks. It can risk fear and an attack of "Cambridge Courage", as happened when Cambridge University backed out of publishing the book Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood by Greek American academic Anastasia Karakasidou. And it can risk death threats, as happened to Ms Karakasidou when Chicago University found the courage that Cambridge University did not and published her book.

          Mr Stefov gives us some insight into the power of these official 'myths' in his introduction. The series of articles from which the book grew were meant to be humorous. He says "The real surprise however was the vast amount of attention the articles received, not just from Macedonians, but also from Greeks who saw the articles not as humorous but as a 'horrible thing to do", not because they were not true but because they were "airing Greek dirty linen" in public. This series of articles has generated more feedback than all my articles put together. I received emails with criticism that ranged from being called 'a dirty liar" to being threatened with bodily harm."

          So let's look at some of these propaganda lines, these slogans, or 'national issues' as the Greek government prefers to call them.

          They cover history - "The Ancient Macedonians were Greek", "Philip II United The Greeks", "4,000 Years of Greek Civilization", and "Macedonia Was Liberated in 1912, 1913".

          They cover who the Greeks think they are - "Modern Greeks are Direct Descendants of the Ancient Greeks", "Greece is an Ethnically Homogenous Nation", "Greece is a Democratic State", and "Greeks are a Superior Race".

          They cover what Greeks think they contributed to the world - "The Koine Language is Greek", "The Ancient 'Greek Gods' Were Greek", and "Macedonian Monks Kiril and Metodi Were Greek".

          And of course, they know better than we do who we are, so some of the issues are about the Macedonians - "There is No Such Thing as a Macedonian", "Tito Created the Macedonian Nation", "No Macedonians, Turks, Albanians or Vlachs Live in Greece Today", "The Macedonian Language Does Not Exist", "Macedonians Are Slavs", and "No Macedonians Exist in Macedonia".

          Greek governments have been carrying on a propaganda war for a very long time and every Greek and every Macedonian has heard these lines many times over.

          Mr Stefov's book neatly summarizes them for all to see, discuss and debate, and refute or extend.

          Some of the slogans are quite impertinent and offensive, telling Macedonians who they are and continuing to insist on it even when the Macedonians disagree, or are deeply offended.

          That so many Greeks are sensitive about these propaganda lines is really not surprising. They too have had these lines repeated to them since their childhood and the lines go to the heart of what they have been told they are as a people, what they have been told about their history, what they have been told about their ethnic origins, and what they have been told about their place in the world.

          If Greece were a place of intellectual freedom, where opposing views could be freely put forward and debated, analyzing these slogans would be part of normal public discourse.

          But Greece is not a place of intellectual freedom. Take the slogan "No Macedonians, Turks, Albanians or Vlachs Live in Greece Today". This is the official Greek government line. To say otherwise is to risk threats and being called a 'traitor", as happened with Greek human rights campaigner Panayote Dimitras.

          A lovely feature about Big Greek Lies is that it concludes with the essay The Apology of an Anti Hellene by modern Greek writer Nikos Dimou. This is an essay that everyone should read. Mr Dimou has run into big trouble with his fellow Greeks for speaking his mind, first in 1975 when he wrote an essay that got him labeled "Dimou the anti-Hellene", and then big time in the 1990s when he says, "I rebelled against the eruption of Greek nationalism. The daily newspaper Kathimerini promptly expelled me from its ranks." Mr Dimou has lived outside Greece for many years.

          All countries have national myths, 'favoured stories', a way they prefer to see themselves, but in countries with intellectual freedom these ideas are open to discussion and debate. For example, Australians think of themselves as a "fair" people, that we treat people equally, but everyone is free to challenge that view and to give examples of where we are not fair. This is something we all love about Australia.

          Likewise Macedonia. Macedonians have views about who we are, and these are sometimes seen as contradictory. But the important point is that Macedonians are free to debate the issues.

          That is why I am proud to be a Macedonian in a way that I would not be proud to be a Greek. Let's take the extremely controversial example of whether the Macedonians and the Greeks are descended or ethnically related to their ancient Macedonian and ancient Greek counterparts.

          The Greek view is "Modern Greeks are Direct Descendants of the Ancient Greeks". This is not a topic for public debate. To challenge that view is to risk being called unGreek, or worse, if there is such a thing.

          In Macedonia, some people believe the Macedonians are direct descendants of the ancient Macedonians, some believe they are descendants from slavic invaders, and some believe they are a mixture of ancient Macedonians, slavic invaders and other peoples. Yes, the topic can generate extreme heat and it can ruin friendships.

          But for me, the important part is that Macedonians are free to discuss and debate it and to freely present all available evidence. That is why at an intellectual level I am proud to be Macedonian, even though my family comes from what is now Greece.

          Mr Stefov gives the general reader plenty to discuss and debate. For each propaganda line he succinctly summarizes the Greek position and then gives some of the key evidence and arguments as to why he says the claims are untrue.

          We get a very nice feel for this style with the opening paragraph to Big Greek Lie No 1, that "Modern Greeks are Direct Descendants of the Ancient Greeks" subtitled "The greatest victims of Greek lies are the Greek themselves".

          "How can a region in the Balkans where modern Greece is located today, which has been open to a multitude of invasions, conquests and settlements, remain homogenous and untouched for two thousand seven hundred years? Ironically, as the Greeks claim, how can modern Macedonia, a region neighbouring modern Greece, be so heterogenous that it has completely lost its original identity?"

          That's a good question, and the author then discusses some of the key developments that have formed the modern Greek people, and concludes with an excellent quote from professor Donald Nicol "The ancient Greeks were after all, of very mixed ancestry; and there can be no doubt that the Byzantine Greeks, both before and after the Slav occupation, were even more heterogeneous."

          This is the book's style with all 20 Big Lies. It does not try to do too much or labor the point, but is a very good introduction to each slogan.

          Each 'Big Lie' could be developed into a full book, and that is what Aleksandar Donski has done with his book, which focuses on the slogan "The Ancient Macedonians were Greek".

          The world hears this line over and over, and in his introduction Mr Donski explains why. "It is of great importance to Greece to prove that the name Macedonia and the ancient Macedonians were "Greek", which means that today's Macedonians "have no historical right" to use these "Greek names"."

          This Greek logic can also be applied to the Greeks. If the modern Greeks are not direct descendants of the ancient Greeks, as Mr Stefov and many others argue, then they have no more right to the heritage of the ancient Greeks than anyone else. That is why they keep asserting they are direct descendants.

          But the Greek position on the ancient Macedonians also needs to be challenged head on, and Mr Donski's approach is to quote the ancients themselves, particularly the ancient Greeks. The 212 page book is a deep mine of quotes from some of the ancient world's most famous writers and leaders, all of them saying or implying that the Macedonians and the Greeks were ethnically separate people and nations.

          Among the more than 60 ancients he quotes are the Macedonian kings Alexander the Great, Philip II and Philip V; leading Greeks Aecshines, Appian, Arrian, Demosthenes, Herodotus, Homer, Isocrates, Pausanias, Plutarch, Polybius, Praxagoras, Theopompus, and Thucydides; leading Romans Cicero, Diodorus Siculus, Flamininus, Justin, Livy, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Seneca, and Tacitus.

          Other historical figures quoted are Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, Agrippa, Strabo, Clement of Alexandria, Josephus Flavius, and Tatian the Assyrian.

          These are some of the most renowned figures in the ancient world, and all of them had something to say about the Macedonians and how they were different from the Greeks. Some examples:

          Donski writes: "Justin clearly separated the Macedonians from the Greeks when he writes about the preparations of the Macedonian army before the battle of Issus, too. It is well known that Alexander at the time divided his troops by nationality. He talked about all the different reasons of the importance of this battle to all the troops, of all nationalities, in order to lift their spirits. Here we see that he was a great psychologist as well. We read:

          "He excited the Illyrians and Thracians by describing the enemy's wealth and treasures, and the Greeks by putting them in mind of their wars of old, and their deadly hatred towards the Persians. He reminded the Macedonians at one time of their conquests in Europe, and at another of their desire to subdue Asia, boasting that no troops in the world had been found a match for them, and assuring them that this battle would put an end to their labours and crown their glory."

          Donski comments: "We can see that all four peoples, the main core of the Macedonian army, are separately mentioned, those being Illyrians, Thracians, Greeks and Macedonians."

          Of course there were many more Greeks against Alexander than with him in Asia, including at the Battle of Issus, where Alexander and the Greeks had a major confrontation. Donski quotes Arrian:

          "But as soon as Darius was certified of Alexander's approach for battle, he conveyed about 30,000 of his cavalry and with them 20,000 of his light-armed infantry across the river Pinarus, in order that he might be able to draw up the rest of his forces with ease. Of the heavy armed infantry, he placed first the 30,000 Greek mercenaries to oppose the phalanx of the Macedonians."

          Donski says "Here we see that the number of Greeks who fought in the Persian army against Alexander was at least 30,000, like Alexander presumed. We can see that these Greek units were sent to fight against the strongest part of the Macedonian army - the Macedonian phalanx.

          "Arrian says that this battle had the biggest clash between the Greeks and Macedonians, and the main reason was the great hatred between these two peoples. Arrian writes:

          "This was a violent struggle. Darius' Greeks fought to thrust the Macedonian back into the water and save the day for their left wing, already in retreat, while the Macedonians, in their turn, with Alexander's triumph plain before their eyes, were determined to equal his success... The fight was further embittered by the old racial rivalry of Greek and Macedonian."

          Donski comments "The ancient Greek historian Arrian, using data and information from the Macedonian historians Ptolemy and Aristobulus, clearly wrote that "old racial rivalry" existed between the Macedonians and the Greeks. This is one of the highest levels of impatience and hatred that can exist between two nations. So who, after this statement, can claim that the Macedonians and the Greeks were the "same nation"? What kind of members of the same nation have "racial rivalry" i.e. "racial hatred" between each other?"

          The Roman philosopher and senator Cicero spent a year in Macedonia. Donski writes: "In one of his works called "In Pisonem" (written around 55 BC and dedicated to his friend Piso), Cicero clearly mentions the borders on that day's Greek countries. Here we read: "...all Achaia, and Thessaly, and Athens, in short the whole of Greece, was made over to you."

          "We can practically see that for Cicero it was very clear that Greece was made of Achaia, a territory around Athens and Thessaly. Macedonia isn't even mentioned as a "Greek country" at all."

          For a Jewish perspective, the book quotes the historian Josephus Flavius, who wrote about the Seleucid Macedonians who ruled the Holy Land.

          Writing about the death of the leader, Judas Maccabee, Flavius says he "left behind him a glorious reputation and memorial, by gaining freedom for his nation, and delivering them from slavery under the Macedonians."

          On the same subject: "The nation of the Jews recovered their freedom when they had been brought into slavery by the Macedonians."

          He also said the Jews were "under the government of the Macedonians", that "Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings", and that Simon Maccabee "freed the Jews from the dominion of the Macedonians, after one hundred and seventy years of empire".

          Donski comments: "All of this is extraordinary important information especially because in a lot of world encyclopedias and other works it is untruthfully written that the Seleucids supposedly spread "Greek culture and language" in their state, that they built "Greek cities" etc... we can see from the testimonies himself Flavius made that the Jews were completely aware that they were under Macedonian (and not Greek) slavery."

          Flavius himself clearly distinguishes between Greeks and Macedonians. Donski says: "For example, while writing about the Jewish migration in the Asia Minor cities by the Macedonian ruler Seleucus Nicator, Flavius writes: "The Jews also obtained honours from the kings of Asia when they became their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities which he built in Asia, and in the lower Syria, and in the metropolis itself, Antioch; and gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and the Greeks, who were the inhabitants..."

          The book has many more equally interesting quotes, but let me finish with this one from Tatian the Assyrian as this also ties back to the Stefov book and the many things in civilization that Greeks claim are theirs. Tatian wrote Tatian's Address to the Greeks, where, says Donski, he criticizes ancient Greek authors for claiming for Greeks what they do not deserve, and where he lists parts of science and art which the Greeks took from other nations and later proclaimed as their own.

          Tatian wrote "The Greeks claim, without reason, the invention of the arts. Be not, O Greeks, so very hostilely disposed towards the Barbarians, nor look with ill will on their opinions. For which of your institutions has not been derived from the Barbarians? The most eminent of the Telmessians invented the art of divining by dreams; the Carians, that of prognosticating by the stars; the Phrygians and the most ancient Isaurians, augery by the flight of birds; the Cyprians, the art of inspecting victims. To the Babylonians you owe astronomy; to the Persians, magic; to the Egyptians, geometry; to the Phoenicians, instruction by alphabetic writing. Cease, then, to miscall these imitations inventions of your own. Orpheus, again, taught you poetry and song; from him, too, you learned the mysteries. The Tuscans taught you the plastic art; from the annals of the Egyptians you learned to write history; you acquired the art of playing the flute from Marsyas and Olympus - these two rustic Phrygians constructed the harmony of the shepherd's pipe. The Tyrrhenians invented the trumpet; the Cyclopes, the smith's art; and a woman who was formerly a queen of the Persians, as Hellanicus tells us, the method of joining together epistolary tablets: her name was Atossa. Wherefore lay aside this conceit, and be not ever boasting of your elegance of diction; for, while you applaud yourselves, your own people will of course side with you. But it becomes a man of sense to wait for the testimony of others, and it becomes men to be of one accord also in the pronunciation of their language. But, as matters stand, to you alone it has happened not to speak alike even in common discourse; for the way of speaking among the Dorians is not the same as that of the inhabitants of Attica, nor do the Aeolians speak like the Ionians. And, since such a discrepancy exists where it ought not to be, I am at a loss whom to call Greek. And, what is strangest of all, you hold in honour expressions not of native growth, and by the admixture of barbaric words have made your language a medley. On this account we have renounced your wisdom, though I was once a great proficient in it."

          Donski comments: "Many of these notes made by Tatian the Assyrian are really significant for some of today's Greeks as well. As for the subject we're covering, we can clearly see that while mentioning the Greek dialects, this early Christian writer does not mention the Macedonian language as a "Greek dialect"."

          So to sum up, we have two excellent books that can help cut through the reams of Greek government propaganda that Macedonians and the world have suffered for too long.

          Technically, the books are not perfect as they both have a number of small typos and would have benefited from a final sub-edit by a native English speaker. But these are not enough to seriously annoy the average reader.

          The quality of the content comes through loud and clear. So buy the books and enjoy them. Get some extras for your interested friends, your library and your local politicians.

          With the subject of Greek government lies so topical, these books are a good way to show that lies about big money are just the start of what is in the Greek government's cupboard. Help open the closet. Greece needs less history by fanatical assertion, less history by slogan, and more history by public debate. Let's help good Greeks to be free to discuss these issues without fear of self imposed exile, being called a traitor, or death threats. Open debate in Greece is the way forward for Greece and Macedonia.

          Both books can be ordered from Dushan Ristevski at the Australian Macedonian Literary Association at [email protected] (click Here) or phone 0425 231 335.

          2 December 2011

          Source: www.pollitecon.com

          The online version of this article is Here.

          Pollitecon Publications
          PO Box 3102
          Wareemba NSW 2046
          Australia
          Ph 02 9705 0578
          Fx 02 9713 1004
          Email [email protected]
          Web http://www.pollitecon.com
          "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
          GOTSE DELCEV

          Comment

          • George S.
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2009
            • 10116

            On the Road of Time



            By Petre Nakovski


            Who will testify to the times
            in which we have been immersed
            and imprinted with countless targets
            and bound with bloody strands?


            Who will write that we live
            a deeply rooted life
            on our great grandfather’s and grandfather’s land
            to which we are very much faithful?


            They wrong us by their testimonies and colourless they wrote, spreading a dark cloud over us,
            a divide they dug between us,
            and with lies and false promises they embraced us,
            and at all times,
            a bloody cover they laid under us.


            Who will testify and record that for us
            freedom has always had the colour red?


            Who will testify if not we,
            about our pain and suffering, crying and lamenting,
            prayers and tears, waiting without end,
            about the fire, the shout and cry, the horrible defeat,
            about our uprooting and exile
            that lead us so far away from home;


            And hopefully the prophesy will come true
            that after years and the passing of time
            everything will be ours again?

            For this great hope
            and for everything, and for everyone who was lost to time,
            may the glimmer of candlelight shine,
            may animated and living ambers for eternity glow,
            may God will, that in all of us shine
            the enlightenment we possess today
            so that we will be smarter and wiser tomorrow.


            Amen!
            "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
            GOTSE DELCEV

            Comment

            • George S.
              Senior Member
              • Aug 2009
              • 10116

              The Great Lie – Chapter 15



              By Petre Nakovski

              Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

              [email protected]

              March 4, 2012



              The machine for sending and receiving encrypted telegrams suddenly came on and began to type. The decipherer, who at the time was leafing through a newspaper, looked at the calendar pinned to the wall. The date was July 5th, 1949. After the machine finished typing he took the paper out, spread it on the table and, with surprise on his face, began to read: <<Μοναρχοφασιστικ‘α στρατ‘ευματα περν‘οντας απο γιυκοσλαυικ‘ο ‘εδαφος, καβ’αλησαν τις θ’εσεις μας και κατ’ελαβαν την εκλης’ια.>> (Monarcho-Fascist units passing through Yugoslav territory attacked our positions and occupied the church.)



              The decoded part of the tape that came out of the machine read: “Monarcho-Fascist units, in agreement with the Yugoslav border units, entered Yugoslav territory and fiercely attacked, units of the DAG (Democratic Army of Greece) XXIV Brigade from behind, killing and wounding many and inflicting great losses.”



              After a short pause, the machine resumed typing, repeating the same message. The duty officer cut off a long piece of paper with the recorded message and without delay ran to General Headquarters. Vlandas then conveyed the news to Zahariadis by telephone who, without delay, called a meeting of the Military Council. As a first measure, a decision was made to announce the contents of the telegram on Radio Free Greece the same day.



              By the afternoon the news was transmitted on radio stations all over Europe. There was shock in Belgrade and Skopje, joy in Athens and restraint in Moscow…



              A response from Belgrade was eagerly awaited by DAG at the General Headquarters.



              Three days after the radio announcement, early in the morning, the General Headquarters decipherer delivered to the duty officer a message which read: “Today, July 10th, 1949 there will be an announcement on Radio Belgrade at 10.00 hours with a direct transfer from Pula where Marshal Tito will be speaking and Radio Skopje will carry the same message at 14.00 hours.”



              “Tito,” said the decipherer, “attacked our movement with a strong message and ordered the border to be closed.”



              There was surprise, silence and anticipation at the DAG Central Committee and General Headquarters when the news first arrived. Seeing the calm reaction in the others, Zahariadis also reacted unemotionally. He then ordered the technicians to move the radio to the larger barracks and to let everyone know that their presence was requested there at 13.55 hours to listen to the program and hear Tito’s speech.



              The technicians changed the batteries and moved the radio from the cave to the barracks. A few minutes before 14.00 hours members of the Supreme Military Council and the General Staff gathered in the barracks. Zahariadis sat in the front row with a bunch of papers in his hands and ignored questions from Vlandas and Bardzotas.



              The barracks went silent. There was a table in the corner. A middle aged woman was sharpening pencils with a pocket knife. Next to her was a man with headphones on his ears. The radio operator turned on the radio. Radio Skopje was broadcasting Macedonian folk songs. Suddenly there was a break and a voice was heard over the speaker:



              “This is Radio Skopje. This is Radio Skopje. Dear listeners we present the speech of Yugoslavia’s Marshal, Comrade Tito, who today is attending the great national rally in Pula.”



              The silence that followed was broken by Tito’s loud voice and immediately after that by the sound of the translator who translated the speech from Serbian to Greek.



              Vlandas leaned his head towards Zahariadis and with a smiling tone of voice said: “He is talking about internal matters…”



              “Keep quiet and listen,” ordered Zahariadis.



              The translator was calm; he knew both languages well and accurately translated the speech. There was a small pause. A quiet knock was heard. “Tito must be drinking water,” piped up Bardzotas.



              “Comrades,” thundered the speaker on the radio, “I now would like to elaborate with a few words on the question of our relations with Greece. Almost daily you read in the newspapers about conflicts often occurring at the Greek border where Monarcho-Fascists cause disruptions while blatantly crossing the border. If you recall a while ago 18 of our soldiers who lost their way and accidentally crossed into Greek territory were wounded or killed. You will also recall that recently there was an attack on our village Skochvir, where more of our people were killed. We protested against these acts yet still we don’t know how our protests will be treated at the United Nations and whether there will be a positive response or not.



              Some time ago there was an incident of Greek troops crossing into our territory, where a Greek soldier was killed. Shots are heard every day and hundreds, hundreds of grenades and bullets fall on our territory as if a small war was taking place. We have taken measures and have requested that the United Nations put an end to that. Our appeals to the Greek government however have yielded no results. We can’t appeal to Tsaldaris’s regime because we know very well that they are Monarcho-Fascists. Our protests are constantly being ignored. Their behaviour is arrogant and that, of course, can have very bad consequences for which we cannot further bear responsibility.



              Now allow me to tell you about another side of Greece and the reverse of that. A few days ago the radio station Free Greece broadcasted information implicating us as having an agreement with the Monarcho-Fascists to allow their army to enter our territory for the purpose of attacking the Democratic forces.



              More treachery, greater notoriety! This information, I am sure, was not invented by our Greek comrades. I am sure it was invented somewhere else, they are only repeating what they heard, I am convinced of that.



              But then, when Monarcho-Fascists spill the blood of our people, these other people accuse us of negotiating with the Monarcho-Fascists. This can only mean that these other people in Democratic Greece are inclined to believe in the one thing that could, and probably would, have fatal consequences for the Greek liberation movement.



              Callously, these people are playing with the blood spilled every day, heroically, by the fighters fighting against their oppressors. They soil that blood for their own dishonest purposes, in order to demonstrate the legitimacy of their decisions. They want to blame us for their mistakes. They blame us for the losses experienced by their Greek Democratic Army even though we bear none of the responsibility. But, I assure you that they will fail.



              So, where is all this leading to? On one hand the Monarcho-Fascist provocations endanger the lives of our citizens and on the other they slander us. We have arrived at the point where we must now completely shut down the border in order to protect the lives of our working people in that region. I think these are the wishes of our people, who often have asked, ‘how long is this going to go on and where is it leading to?’ This problem, one day, needs to be solved and of course we will defend our country without hesitation and we will not let our citizens suffer. That is all I want to say regarding this issue with Greece.



              We need to defend the peaceful development of socialism in our country and we will do it against all opposition! I therefore appeal to Western countries, primarily to Britain and the United States, to take these provocations seriously and to put an end to them. At the same time we will not allow our people, our citizens, to suffer. That is all I want to say about Greece,” concluded the broadcast.



              “Turn it off!” motioned Zahariadis with his hand and, leaning towards the stenographer, said: “Re-type the text, make several copies and bring them to me. He then looked at his associates and without saying a word, dismissed them.



              In the evening Zahariadis invited Vlandas, Gusias, Bardzotas, Stringos and Porphirogenis to a meeting. “Comrades,” he said. “The situation is obvious. Tito has openly revealed his intentions. We can now announce our own intentions, the intentions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (CPG). We now will fully support the Inform-Bureau’s position. In other words, we will now fully support Moscow’s position in relation to the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and Moscow’s attitude towards Tito.



              We need to immediately send instructions about this to our contacts in Belgrade. Radio Free Greece needs to be informed to commence broadcasting part of Tito’s speech and emphasize the part in which Tito says that he is closing the border on us. I want the message about that part to be repeated every hour. We need to also prepare and broadcast a message with strong criticism against Tito and make him look like the destroyer of our movement and an agent of the imperialists.



              Find every word in his commentary that characterizes him negatively and all the ugliest words spoken by the Inform Bureau and printed by communist publications and use them. With a single word we, the Greek communists, will wage a full blown, open ideological war against that imperialistic agent and lackey, Tito.



              Also, put the entire NOF (People’s Liberation Front) leadership under control. Shoot anyone caught attempting to escape to Yugoslavia and isolate all suspects. Place all intelligence services, political commissars and party secretaries on alert. From today on our movement begins a difficult period, perhaps the most difficult period since its inception. So, go now, think about what further steps need to be taken and I will see you at my place at 21.00 hours.



              They left.



              Zahariadis read the entire speech one more time. He thought for a moment and, after slamming the papers on the table with open hands, yelled out: “I’ve got you fatso, I’ve got you now… If by any chance my movement fails, you will be my biggest excuse… Yes, I have the culprit!” Zahariadis whispered out loudly and, with both hands, scrunched up Tito’s speech. He kept squeezing the paper and clenching his fists until they began to hurt.



              In the evening of the same day, uphill, along the crooked, narrow path leading to the meadows under the Kajmakchalan hilltop, was a stretched out column of wounded DAG fighters on the move.



              “Halt!” yelled out a sharp and authoritative voice. The head of the column stopped. “Who are you?” asked the same voice.



              “Partisans, fighters of DAG…” answered the leader of the column and walked towards the Yugoslav border patrol. “We are bringing wounded… friend.”



              “Wait,” said the Yugoslav soldier in a quiet voice.



              The column stopped and the wounded fighters sat down for a rest. Many could be heard moaning in pain. They were tired, irritated, thirsty, hungry and in pain and could not tolerate the wait. The column leader and his patrol approached the Yugoslav soldier and asked to meet with the Yugoslav Border Checkpoint commander.



              “Wait…” replied the soldier.



              “Comrade, I can’t wait. Over there,” the leader pointed with his head, “I have about fifty wounded fighters, some heavily wounded. Call your commander…”



              “I told you to wait!” repeated the soldier with a firm sounding voice. “Step back! You are on Yugoslav territory. Step back!”



              “Please, call your commander, I beg you. I want to speak with him. I know you have your orders to stop us… Tell him we have many wounded. Call the commander,” insisted the column leader.



              “He has been summoned. Have some patience…” answered the soldier.



              A little past midnight the column leader was summoned to the checkpoint commander’s barracks.



              “I am Lieutenant Mihailovski,” the officer introduced himself and extended his hand for a handshake.



              “Mavridis,” said the column leader, shaking the extended hand and in poor Serbian said: “On the other side there I have thirty lightly and heavily wounded fighters. I am asking for pemission to have them cross your border and be immediately taken to the hospital.”



              Lieutenant Mihailovski put his cigarette in the ashtray and sharply said: “We will take the wounded and we will send them for treatment, but not because you asked us to!...” his sharp tone of voice loudly filled the entire room.



              Mavridis wanted to say something, but was interrupted. “We accepted 80 wounded fighters yesterday and all were placed in hospitals. My soldiers transported the wounded on our territory. You will have to wait until the trucks arrive. And after that they will be seen by doctors and will be fed…” concluded the Lieutenant.



              After some moments of silence Mihailovski asked with a milder tone of voice: “Where did you learn Serbian?”



              “In Serbia, in Bulkesh. I was there for two years,” said Mavridis.



              “Are you Greek?” asked Mihailovski.



              “Yes, pure blooded…” answered Mavridis.



              Mihailovski looked at him and hid his smile with his hand.



              “Why do you ask?” asked Mavridis.



              “Underhung eyes, vulture-like nose, black hair…” answered Mihailovski.



              “Yes, my parents were from the Caucasus but I was born in Greece…” replied Mavridis.



              “Ah, and that’s why you are a pureblooded Greek ha? But let’s leave it at that… As I understand it, as soon as you began the battle for Kajmakchalan you lost it…” said Mihailovski.



              “Sadly that’s correct. But…” replied Mavridis.



              “But what?” asked Mihailovski.



              “Our brigade political commissar told us that you, the Yugoslavs, allowed Greek government forces to enter into your territory and to attack us from behind,” replied Mavridis.



              “And you believed that?” asked Mihailovski.



              “Personally I don’t, but whatever the brigade political commissar said took root. We suffered much loss due to the mistakes of our leaders and their inability to command but those mistakes are now being blamed on others…” said Mavridis.



              The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. The guard on duty reported that the trucks had arrived and asked if they could now start loading the wounded.



              “Drive the trucks under the trees and cover them with branches,” ordered the Lieutenant. “We cannot allow the other side to see us transporting people.”



              The wounded, along with their leader, Mavridis, were transported to the hospital in Esenovo which the Yugoslav National Army had set up especially for the DAG fighters. Here, some ten days after the Kajmakchalan defeat, Greek hospital administrators, by order from a representative of the CPG’s Central Committee stationed in the Headquarters in Prespa, were sent to visit the hospitals in Esenovo and Katlanovo where they brought news to the wounded of the alleged ‘behind the back attacks’ and the reasons why the Yugoslavs closed the border.



              Even though there was no gathering and no meeting between the patients and the hospital administrators, word got around and the patients prepared for resistance. They began by resisting the Yugoslav doctors and nurses and not allowing them to enter their hospital rooms, and then they refused to allow change of bandages and would not take their medication. Some days later they called for a general strike, demanding to be transferred to Czechoslovakia for treatment.



              News of this reached Skopje first and then Belgrade and after much discussion a decision was reached and those who requested to stay in Yugoslavia in writing were allowed to remain there, the others were to be loaded on a train and sent to Czechoslovakia. And that is how it was done. But somewhere north of Kumanovo something unexpected happened. Two trains stopped side by side parallel to one another. Boarding the one were the wounded DAG fighters headed for Czechoslovakia and on the other were a bunch of happy Yugoslav youths going to work. The youths were singing songs and shouting slogans praising Tito and criticizing Stalin. This angered the DAG fighters and they then began to sing songs praising Stalin and Zahariadis and shouting criticism against Tito.



              Then while the singing was going on, a Yugoslav youth carrying a bucket got off the car and with a large brush painted the words “Long live Tito – death to Stalin!” along the entire length of his car. Seeing this, Mavridis jumped off his car, grabbed the brush and bucket and painted the words “Ζ’ητω ο Στ’αλιν – κ’ατω ο Τ’ιτο” (Long live Stalin, down with Tito) on his car. Someone then jumped Mavridis from behind and hit him on the head with a shovel. So, instead of going to Czechoslovakia he ended up going to a hospital in Belgrade.
              "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
              GOTSE DELCEV

              Comment

              • George S.
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2009
                • 10116

                International Day at CFB Borden – March 8, 2012



                By Risto Stefov

                [email protected]

                March 10, 2012



                On March 8th, 2012 the winter version of the bi-annual event, known as “International Day”, was again celebrated here at Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario, Canada. I am happy once again to have been there and to report on this great event which has improved year by year. Twenty-two countries participated in this event in a show of culture, dance and cuisine.



                International Day is put on twice a year by CFB Borden to honour the countries that participate in the CFB Borden English language training program for foreign military personnel. This is an activity which the students to organize and participate in.



                Since 1993 CFLS Detachment Borden, located at Bldg P 153, has been teaching English as a Foreign Language to military officers from Central and Eastern European countries and Far East Countries.



                The course is sponsored by the Military Training Assistance Program, one of Canada's initiatives through the Partnership for Peace Programme. CFLS offers two 17-week and four 10-week courses annually. The objective is to provide foreign officers with a working ability in English, while acquainting them with the Canadian Forces and Canadian society. The officers, ranging from Second Lieutenants to Generals, have served or may serve with NATO, the UN, or as military attachés.





                This was the seventh International Day that I have attended so far. I am told that International Day began in 1996 and has become a bi-annual tradition.



                Even though these events officially start at 4 pm, local communities arrive early and prepare the booths. The Bosnia-Herzegovina community was first to arrive and had their booth ready by about 3 o’clock. Unfortunately they would not serve their delicious food until it was properly inspected by the local health services. I was told that there were some incidents with the food last International Day so the Base personnel wanted to make sure that the food was safe and warm before it was served. Someone also said that there were incidents of food poisoning in one of the American military camps abroad so that was another reason to be more careful. But after two attempts to get to the delicious Bosnian “baklava”, I finally succeeded on my third try at 4:15pm.



                I tried not to eat so much, encouraged by my wife, who this time accompanied me. I managed to sample food from more booths that way. I could not resist the Turkish coffee, tulumi and baklava at the Bosnia-Herzegovina booth. As usual the food was delicious. After eating kebabi and grafche vtafche beans at the Macedonian booth my wife and I, as well as many other visitors from the Macedonian community, again darted to the Croatian booth to have some of the delicious roasted piglet, served by a professional chef. And delicious it was. Thank you Croatia and the Croatian community for that. Unfortunately, from what I hear, this will be Croatia’s last International Day. Croatia will no longer be participating in the English Language Program. I hope I am wrong.



                I am not ashamed to say that I went back to Bosnia-Herzegovina for more baklava two more times and overheard one of the ladies say that this was a repeat visit for me. Let me assure her that I did come back because I like their sweets. Thank you Bosnia-Herzegovina.



                The ladies auxiliary from St. Clement Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral, headed by Gorica Popovska, arrived at the event on time. The food passed the health inspection test and after a couple of trays were warmed, the booth was open for business just a little past 4pm.



                Even though every officer from every country was new to this, it seemed to me that there was even less anxiety in this group at this event.



                We must thank the Canadian officers and especially the catering and kitchen staff for their part. It was up to them to make the minor corrections to the food and make it just perfect to serve. And let’s just say they worked very hard to do it and have it ready on time. Many thanks to the CFB Borden officers and kitchen staff for their courtesy and contribution in making this International Day, more than any other, a great success.



                On the entertainment side, six performances took place during this event. The first was the Albanian Eagles Dance Group, followed by “Kudmera” the Bosnia-Herzegovina Ladies Dance Group, then the instrumental and vocal Croatian folk group “Norval” followed. Then with a minor change to the program, the Macedonian community followed with a community dance. Since we (Macedonians) did not have a dance group, the ladies from the Macedonian Auxiliary Group thought it would be nice to have a dance while waiting for the next performers to arrive. The Captain in charge of the event granted us our wish and the ladies had their dance which, once it began, was joined by other ladies from communities originating from the Balkan Region, familiar with this kind of dancing. I personally thought it was a brilliant idea. Dancing at events is a long standing Macedonian tradition.



                Next to perform was a soloist, a young man from the Mongolian community who played a song on Horsehead Fiddle. Last to perform was a Dance Group from Georgia called “Kakheti” and what a marvel this group was. The performance was a mix of ballet, marshal arts and acrobatics; very difficult moves. There is no doubt that the Georgians would have won this competition; if there was one. Bravo and a great big thanks to all the groups for their contribution.



                My wife and I have been visiting the officers at Borden on a regular basis since they arrived on January 23rd (they are leaving June 1st, 2012). We had met many including the seven officers from Croatia, most of the Ukrainians, some of the Mongolians and others from other countries. It was nice to see them in uniform at the event and party with them at the party after the event.



                Among our closest friends at the base of course, included are our own Macedonian Air Force Officer Captain Nikola Softovski and our Civilian, working for the Department of Defense, Iljasa Saslihi, the two Bosnian Officers Lieutenant Colonel Senad Pajc and Captain Jovan Djajc, and the two Montenegrin Officers 2nd Lieutenant Predrug Marjanovic and 2nd Lieutenant Vuk Medigovic.



                Before the place began to get busy, I decided to take my usual tour, visiting and photographing all the booths and their cuisine. I began from the Macedonian booth in the larger hall and went counterclockwise to China, Thailand, Peru, Uruguay, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mongolia, Benin, Senegal, Brazil, Poland, Guatemala and the Ukraine. Then I went to the smaller hall and counterclockwise visited Jordan, Mali, Malaysia, Albania, Korea, Bolivia, Montenegro and Croatia. Georgia did not have a booth. I have to say this again, “Imagine all these countries competing for the attention of not only the visitors from the various communities but also for the attention of every Canadian officer and soldier on the base who visited the event.” Our venerated Macedonian revolutionary hero Gotse Delchev would have been very proud.



                Macedonia again was one of the communities that had a lot of food and perhaps the best food (outside of the roasted piglet served by the Croatians), at least in my biased opinion. This is thanks to the St. Clement Macedonian Orthodox Church ladies auxiliary, led by Gorica Popovska, who made the food, delivered and served it.



                Among the guests from the Macedonian community who attended the event were the Macedonian General Consul in Toronto Dragan Gjurchevski, St. Clements’s President Vlado Dimitrievski and his wife and United Macedonian Organization’s President Mendo Bakalovski and his wife. Many thanks to everyone who participated, for their hard work. Again, special thanks goes to the ladies auxiliary who prepared, delivered and served the food. Also a big thanks goes to all those who brought extra food, gifts and other items for our officer and for the display. And thank you to all the people who had to travel a long way on a working day to attend the event, our community in Georgian Bay included.



                CFB Borden is one of a few military bases here in Canada which host foreign officers. The officers are brought here to learn English and some military lingo. Canada picks up most of the tab for countries that are not NATO members. Canada usually informs each country interested in participating in its programs of the number of officers it can accommodate and the country decides who to send. In Macedonia’s case, officers who want to participate either volunteer or are chosen by their commanders. The long program is held twice a year; January to June and August to December.



                Canada provides all accommodation including recreation, outings etc. There is also a local gymnasium, soccer fields and a swimming pool available to the officers for physical activities. On weekends there are periodic planned outings and shopping trips to Barrie, Toronto and other places.



                I also want to mention that International Day at CFB Borden is a military affair where all visiting officers and soldiers and our Canadian officers and soldiers dress in uniform, each wearing their country’s colours, flag, crests and emblems with pride. It is a wonderful sight to see.



                The event usually lasts from about 4:00 pm when the booths open to the public until about 7:30 to 8:00pm when the facilities begin to empty. Afterwards the guests who remain cluster in various common rooms in the officer’s quarters for an after party get-together. Members of the local Macedonian community got together with the officers for snacks, drinks and discussions.



                All in all this was yet another great event and again my wife and I are very pleased to have been part of it and to have met many people from various cultures under one roof. Congratulations to Canada and CFB Borden for putting together such a fantastic event.



                Again, many thanks to the Canadian Forces Base Borden officers and kitchen staff who worked tirelessly to make this event possible.



                A bit about CFB Borden



                The mission of Canadian Forces Base Borden (CFB Borden) is to support all of its customers in the most cost effective manner to enable them to accomplish their missions.

                These customers include several military training establishments and a variety of other military and civilian organizations located on the base.



                The Base Commander of CFB Borden is Colonel J.P.L. Meloche. Colonel J.P.L. Meloche also serves as the Commander of Canadian Forces Support Training Group. The Canadian Forces Support Training Group validates, coordinates and delivers all common support occupation training for the Canadian Forces.



                On average, CFB Borden trains 15,000 military personnel annually. CFB Borden employs approximately 3,250 military members and approximately 1,500 civilians.



                CFB Borden is located approximately 100 km north of Toronto, in the heart of Simcoe County, one of the major tourist areas in Ontario. CFB Borden is ideally located to service personnel from all across Canada. The base is a major economic entity in Simcoe County and enjoys excellent relations with the surrounding local communities.



                The Commander of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden is Colonel J.P.L. Meloche, who exercises administrative control over the personnel and units assigned to other commanding officers. He is responsible for the provision of support services to all CFB Borden units, which comprises 21,000 acres of land, including a 6,000-acre training area and approximately 460 buildings.



                Reporting directly to the Base Commander is Chief Petty Officer 1st Class (CPO 1) Jean Denis, CD, the Base Chief Warrant Officer; he oversees various important matters, including the dress, deportment and discipline of non-commissioned officers, Base heritage, and professional development.
                "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                GOTSE DELCEV

                Comment

                • George S.
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2009
                  • 10116

                  The Great Lie – Chapter 16



                  By Petre Nakovski

                  Translated and edited by Risto Stefov

                  [email protected]

                  March 11, 2012



                  During the first half of May several hundred men from various prison camps were brought to the Drepano locality near the town Kozhani. Working under tight guard day and night in shifts, they built bunkers of various sizes and strength similar to those built last year in Gramos but now they were built in Mali-Madi, Bela Voda, Bigla, Lundzer, Iamato, Baro, Roto, Lisets, Polenata and on other hills in the Vicho Sector. Following about a month of forced labor, prisoners were then returned to the camps.



                  Without delay, as soon as the newly constructed polygon was completed, Greek Royal Military units of the II, IX, XI, XV Divisions as well as officers of the I, X and VIII Government Divisions began intensive training exercises. For a month these soldiers and officers were subjected to military training to master military skills and the use of new weapons such as bazookas and 75 mm cannons that had recently arrived in Greece from the United States.



                  In combination with tanks, artillery and airplanes, they were training to fight active combat for both day and night conditions; skills they would require in order to defeat a well established, strong opponent.



                  Priority was given to the Air Force, which, well stocked with new bombs and rockets, was responsible for destroying well-established enemy positions such as bunkers, command posts and observation towers… After that came the artillery whose objective was to destroy the bunkers and trenches leading up to strongholds and the minefields and obstacles surrounding them such as barbed wire. The infantry rehearsed coordinated night attacks and by day carried out charges assisted by tanks.



                  Additionally, training exercises were also important in strengthening the fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers, increasing the level of combat readiness and raising the army’s faith in the upcoming summer offensive designed to destroy their opponent once and for all.



                  All training exercises were designed to master the new weapons, especially the piloting skills required to fly the advanced military aircraft such as the Dakota, Harvard and Spitfire, which were constantly under the watchful eyes of United States and British military specialists and instructors all reporting directly to U.S. General Van Fleet.



                  Two days after training was completed the battalion, regiment, brigade and division commanders, as well as high ranking air force officers, were invited to a meeting at the City Council Great Hall now converted into a military operational headquarters.



                  Inside, beside the front wall, there was a long table covered with a white tablecloth and behind it sat the Chief Commander Marshal Alexandros Papagos, Chief of Staff Kozmas and the commanders of the I, II and III Corps Tsakalotos, Manidakis and Grigoropoulos. Sitting in the first row was General Van Fleet with his associates and staff.



                  Chief of Staff Kozmas lightly tapped his pencil on his crystal glass and stood up. The quiet conversations died down and everyone stopped talking.



                  “Marshal, General Van Fleet,” Kozmas greeted the two with a slight bow as he turned to face each. He then continued: “Generals, officers…” He paused again for a moment, seemingly listening to his own voice echo in the great hall. “The day when we combine forces is coming closer and when as allies with massive firepower we will finally subdue our enemy at Vicho…” He paused again.



                  At that moment Colonel Zafiropulos pulled a white canvas off the wall exposing a large operational map. General Kozmas stepped back from the table, stood next to the map and with a trembling voice continued: “Gentlemen, I am honoured to express my gratitude to the highly respected General Van Fleet and his colleagues with their vast military knowledge who have helped us prepare this operational plan, which will carry the secret name <<ΠΥΡΣΟΣ>> (Torch). [The information referred to in this chapter, has been taken from the book “Ο αντισυμμοριακος αγων 1945-1949” (Anti-Bandit War 1945-1949) by D. Zafiropoulos, Major General, 1956.]. I want to express my gratitude to our Chief Commander Alexandros Papagos who spared no expense or energy in the preparation of this plan…”



                  Kozmas bowed slightly, wiped the sweat off his forehead with his white handkerchief and continued:



                  “Gentlemen, I need to emphasize that all materials, presentations and matters discussed in this meeting are military secrets and strictly confidential. Gentlemen, it is my honour and pleasure to familiarize you with the basics of the operational plan. Layout details of each combat division, brigade, regiment, battalion and reserves, as well as combat activities of the artillery, tanks, military aircraft, supply centres and ancillary services you will find sealed in envelopes that you will be given after the meeting. Over the course of the next few weeks you are responsible for studying the plans in detail and preparing your units for combat operations under the combat tasks assigned to your unit...”



                  Kozmas turned to the operational map. “Gentlemen, I will resume going over the plan. Our main objective is Vicho Region. But in order to achieve a strategic surprise, we decided on two secondary steps. The first step is to clean up the Kajmakchalan Region with the forces of XI Division, where, according to our information, there are approximately 800 communist bandits. By implementing this step we will take our enemy’s ability to transfer forces from Vicho to Kajmakchalan. According to our operational plan, combat actions in this region will commence on July 4th and end on July 8th. Immediately after that, most of the forces of Division XI will become available to join the Second Corps and participate in the Vicho area operations.



                  The second step is even more important. The objective of this step is to make the opponent think that our main thrust is directed at Gramos. From here, we predict, the forces of the First Corps, specifically the First and Eighth Division with the 73rd Brigade, and the 8th, 15th and 24th Infantry Regiment, together with the artillery and aviation will make a strong impact on the opponent’s established strongholds and nail him down at these positions and thus prevent him from transferring his forces to Vicho when the major offensive begins.



                  According to our information, our opponent is defending Northern Gramos with 4,900 men and women, 16 cannons, two 120 mm mortars and many anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons for which he has limited grenades. This operation, gentlemen, according to our plan, will commence on the night between the 2nd and 3rd of August and must end on the 9th of August...



                  I will now speak about the main target. Vicho! Vicho Region is a mountainous area with many forested patches. Compared to Gramos, there are no high rocky peaks, deep gorges, or numerous goat trails. The key mountains in Vicho Region are Bela Voda on the north, Vicho on the east, Mali-Madi on the south and Chuka and Lisets on the west. Belitsa River, which passes under the village Psoderi, flows to the south and divides this region between Mount Vrba on one side and Prespa and Lake Prespa on the other. It then turns southeast near the village Breznitsa splitting Mali-Madi from Iamata, Baro, Roto and Polenata further up.



                  Characteristic of this region is that it has two very important roads. One road travels from Kostur through the village Aposkep along the Belitsa River, then north of the village Breznitsa it intersects with the road that travels from Kostur over Maniak, Tikveni, Chetirok, Sveta Nedela, Kosiners, Smrdesh, Breznitsa, Zhelevo and Psoderi then crosses over Mount Bigla and ends in Lerin. The map will show that the road forks before Zhelevo with one fork heading up to Prespa. The road section between Smrdesh (Greek-Albanian border), Psoderi-Bigla and Zhelevo-Prespa is invaluable to our opponent. Their entire supply of weapons and food supplied by trucks from Albania and Yugoslavia is stored in depots and dugouts along this road.



                  Of course these roads also have enormous strategic significance for us. A rapid penetration with our tanks on these roads…” Kozmas paused, stared at the audience for a moment and with a wide circular sweep of his hand, finished his thought, “will mean that the roads will be closed to our opponent and will stop him from retreating to Albania and Yugoslavia. In other words his escape route will be closed…Yes, gentlemen, just like that, his escape route will be closed... And now let's see with what and how we will confront the enemy.



                  Thanks to our scout planes, our brave and heroic air force and to our fearless intelligence, we now have an accurate picture of the terrain. We know exactly how many bunkers there are and their durability. We built exactly the same kind of bunkers at the polygon in Drepano, used them for target practice and now we know exactly how to destroy them with all of our weapons. All their positions of strength are known to us and so is their whole line of defense, minefields, obstacles, barbed wire, etc.



                  Enemy forces will defend Vicho Region with Division X, Brigades 14 and 102 and with Division XI, Brigades 18 and 103. Specifically, their forces will be deployed on the northern front spanning along the Bela Voda-Bigla-Lundzer-Kulkutria line with 4 infantry battalions, 8 mountain, 5 field and 5 anti-tank cannons. Enemy forces will total about 1,450 fighters of whom thirty percent will be women.



                  The central front spanning along the Polenata-Plati-Kula and Roto line will be defended by 3 infantry battalions, 12 mountain, 4 field and 10 anti-tank cannons. Enemy forces will total about 1,250 fighters.



                  The second line spanning along the Baro-Iamata-Lisets-Moro-Chuka line will be defended with 3 infantry battalions, 6 mountain and 6 anti-tank cannons. Enemy forces will total about 1,060 fighters.



                  The south front spanning along the Mali-Madi line will be defended with 3 infantry battalions, 6 mountain and 3 anti-tank cannons. Enemy forces will total about 1,250 fighters. Brigade 105, consisting of about 1,000 fighters, will remain on reserve in the region around the village Smrdesh as well as about 500 fighters from the School for Officers in the region near the villages Breznitsa-Trnaa. Enemy reserve forces will total about 1500 fighters.



                  From the information given above we can see that the enemy line of defense to the north is located along Bela Voda and Vicho (with a very strong foothold in the middle along the Bigla-Lundzer line) and continues from there to the east along the Kula-Plati-Glavata-Roto line and south where it leans on Mali-Madi with particularly fixed positions on the hills above the villages Kosinets and Labanitsa from where the entry into the village Smrdesh is defended.



                  In depth analysis shows that the enemy is organized around two defensive lines. The first is drawn from Bigla-Lundzer linking the hills of Iorgova Glava-Golinata-Chuka-Lisets-Baro-Iamato with trenches, bunkers and minefields. Behind this defensive line is the road linking Smrdesh-Breznitsa-Zhelevo-Psoderi. The second defensive line lies to the north around Bela Voda turning south to cover Preval and Vrba and ends in the valley near Smrdesh. The final defensive stronghold is in Prespa beginning in the hills between the villages Shtrkovo and Rabi, following along the Lake Prespa peninsula and encompassing the villages Nivitsi, Vineni, Orovo and Grazhdeno.



                  Our research has confirmed that the enemy's morale is high. This is due to last year’s combat successes in Gramos and Vicho (during the battle of Mali-Madi) where they had some successes in the battles for the smaller cities and in taking Gramos in the spring.



                  During the winter and in the spring our enemy reorganized its units and improved its supply of food and clothing. This situation instilled confidence in High Command in believing that 1949 will be a year full of victories, thus raising the morale of our opponent.



                  What is their aim? Their aim is to preserve the last “free space”, by decisively defending the mountains Bela Voda, Vicho and Mali-Madi. During the offensive, believing that the enemy (us) has been actively engaged and nailed down, they will wait for the situation to change and when conditions are right, they intend to destroy our forces with a counter offensive.”



                  Kozmas paused and stared at the packed hall with people listening to his speech. He filled his glass with orange juice from the crystal jug and drank it slowly. His Adam’s apple jumped up and down violently with every swallow. He then placed his glass to the side and opened a new envelope.



                  “With what forces will we defeat our enemy? Ready for combat we have Infantry Divisions II, IX, X and XI with a total of eleven brigades; Search and Destroy Division III with two infantry brigades, one light infantry regiment and six National Guard battalions. In terms of artillery we have 4 field cannon regiments, 3 medium cannon units, 5 mountain cannon units and nearly half of the available tanks and battle cars that we have, as well as 90 aircraft.



                  Division XV will remain in Rupishta and the 32nd Brigade will remain in Derven as reserves of Supreme Command. The main and major battle task of the Second Corps will be to overpower enemy positions and destroy the opposing forces. The offensive in Vicho Region will take place in four phases.



                  The first phase will commence on August 10th, 1949. The day after the airplane bombings and artillery preparation, Brigade 22 will depart at 10:00 pm and head in the direction of Derven-Kulkuturia-Polenata to take possession of Polenata Hill, elevation 1685 located behind the first line of defense. There it will set up a base and create favourable conditions for further attacks and for the penetration of the Statitsa defense line where our forces will surprise the enemy and occupy the Chuka-Lisets hills.



                  The second phase will commence during the night of August 10th and 11th with a number of synchronized attacks. Division X will depart from Bukovik in order to overcome enemy positions on the Iamata-Baro line, elevation 1,709. Division XI will commence its attacks from Derven-Kulkuturia and continue to attack the Chuka-Lisets line. At the same time the Third Search and Destroy Brigade will commence its attack on the Bigla-Lundzer-Gogova Glava line, elevation 1695, and Brigade 36 will attack Mali-Madi in the south. The 21st Brigade will commence its attacks at the north end, from village Dolno Kleshteni then go over Buf in the direction of German and eventually close the escape route to Yugoslavia after it captures the village Rabi in Prespa Region and closes the Kula road located between the two Prespa lakes. The time for commencing these attacks will be 8 pm on August 10th.



                  The third phase will commence during the night of August 12th and 13th, 1949 with the transfer of our forces to the Vrba-Preval-Korben line and the infiltration of the Prespa valley with the aim of closing off our enemy’s escape route into Albania and Yugoslavia.



                  The fourth phase will commence during August 14th to 16th with the clean up of the Lake Prespa Peninsula area and Vicho Region.



                  Two powerful artillery groups will be allocated to support the infantry. The northern group located in Lerin and south of Lerin and the southern group located in Kostur will have all kinds of immobile cannons. The mechanized artillery units, consisting mostly of tanks, will also provide support. The offensive will commence in the morning with our glorious aviation attacking and destroying set enemy targets and continuing with the destruction of enemy artillery and mortar nests. The aviation will also perform reconnaissance flights by air in order to inform us of ongoing enemy developments and take photographs of the current situation on the front. Ninety combat aircraft will be participating in total.”



                  Kozmas paused for a moment, looked down the hall and, pointing with his finger on the map, said:



                  “At any rate, at the start of the offensive we need to intensify the interaction between our aviation, artillery, infantry and mechanized units. This is especially important during the assault on Polenata and Hill 1685, which Division III will be attacking first while the task of Divisions X, XI and IX will be to prevent enemy forces from escaping to Albania.



                  You will find details of each phase in the envelopes that you will receive after the meeting. In the Divisional Headquarters of the brigades, regiments and battalions it would be good for the troops and their leaders to study their combat actions and memorize the details of the battlefield.


                  Gentlemen! Until now the Greek army has never handled such a huge combat force of people, assets and equipment. Thanks to our friends and allies, the United States, whose officers and team of experts under the command of our dear and respected General, Mr. Van Fleet, we are more than ready to exterminate our enemy. We are interested in one thing: victory! There will be no negotiations. Only our weapons will speak. No capitulation. There will only be defeat from which they will never recover!



                  Gentlemen, it is my honour to tell you that the offensive will commence on August 10th at 5 am.”



                  The hall thundered with applause.



                  Before Kozmas had a chance to sit down, General Van Fleet stood up and, like a victor parading before an army in formation, stood in front of the map, looked at everyone with a measured look, covered the entire area of Vicho with both his hands and loudly said:



                  “Well, dear generals, you only have to take two handfuls of space. Two handfuls of space and nothing more! We dressed and fed your army well and armed it with the best weapons we have. Now you have everything! The most modern aircraft, the most modern cannons, mine throwers, mortars, napalm bombs and bazookas!”



                  Van Fleet paused for a moment, looked at the audience and continued:



                  “Being in possession of such weapons should boost your courage but for only five days, gentlemen, in just five days you can put an end to this war. Here, he hit the map with his left hand, “here 90 aircraft will drop their bombs and napalm, hundreds of artillery pieces will thunder and just as many mortars will be dropped. On top of that, nearly 80 thousand troops, assisted by over two hundred tanks and armored cars will be stomping this ground! For no more than five days! Don’t take the communists out of the trenches and bunkers, leave them there dead…



                  You have five days and if you don’t destroy the enemy in these five days, adios amigos, we're gone... The American taxpayer spent a lot of money for you and for this war,” concluded Van Fleet.
                  "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                  GOTSE DELCEV

                  Comment

                  • George S.
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2009
                    • 10116

                    Greek Proposal for a Sovereign Macedonia

                    By Aleksandar Donski

                    Translated and Edited by Risto Stefov

                    (This article was taken from the Macedonian magazine
                    “Makedonsko Sonce” 531 / 3.9.2004, pages 52 and 53)
                    First Greek President Yannis Kapodistria calls for a sovereign and independent Macedonian State! Imperial Russia was in favour of the creation of a contemporary Greek State!

                    It is interesting to note that Imperial Russia, in October 1829, during a leadership meeting with Czar Nikolai I, decided that it was in Russia’s best interests to preserve the Ottoman Empire.

                    It is also interesting to note that during the same meeting the Russian leadership considered the eventual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and reviewed the proposal put forward by the then Greek national advocate Yannis Kapodistria. This proposal (in which Macedonia was considered as an independent state), at the same meeting, was brought forward by Dashkov, the Russian minister of foreign affairs. In his proposal, the Greek Kapodistria envisioned the formation of five Balkan states. These are:

                    Dachia (which consisted of the principalities of Moldavia and Vlachia, i.e. the closest territories to present day Romania and Moldavia);
                    Serbia (which consisted of the territories of the then Serbian State, along with parts of the territories of Bulgaria and Bosnia);
                    Macedonia (which consisted of the entire territories of the then Rumelia together with the surrounding islands, i.e. the entire territory of ethnic Macedonia and parts of today’s Bulgaria, Thrace and Thessaly);
                    Epirus (which consisted of the territories of upper and lower Albania); and
                    Greece (with the name “Territory of the Hellenes”, which consisted of the territories south from the river Pena in Thessaly including the city Arta and the entire Archipelagos). (For more details about this consult Blazhe Ristovski’s “Istoria na Makedonskata Natsia”, MANU Skopje, 1999, page 10.)
                    From this Greek proposal we can clearly see that the then nationally conscious Greeks considered Thessaly to be the most northern part of their Greek territories. Epirus was not considered to be part of the Greek territories and Bulgaria was not even considered to be a country.

                    This proposal carries even more weight if we consider that it was put forth by Yannis Kapodistria, the first president of the Independent Greek State!

                    Before becoming president of Greece, Kapodistria was a Russian Count and served in the Russian State as secretary of foreign affairs. Afterwards he became President of the newly formed Peoples Greek Assembly and at the end he was chosen as the first president of the Greek Independent State.

                    Russian Proposal for a Macedonian State

                    At the same Russian leadership meeting one more proposal was put forth, this one from the Russian Count Bulgari who proposed the following states for the Balkans:

                    Greece (with the Archipelagos, Samos and Crete);
                    Macedonia (together with the northern part of Albania and part of Thrace up to the river Maritsa);
                    Serbia (together with Bosnia), for which he asked to become a protectorate of the Great Powers; and
                    The Territories of Moldavia, Vlahia and Bulgaria (as one state), to become a protectorate of Russia.
                    The Academic Ristovski (from whose book this information is obtained), justifiably concluded that during that time in Europe, and in the Balkans, there was no clear representation of ethnic boundaries in the Balkans and in these combinations Bulgaria was only mentioned as part of Serbia, Romania and Russia.

                    And now we will return to the history of the creation of the then Greek State, its development and territorial expansion.

                    During the period between 1453 and 1460, most territory of present day Greece was captured by the Sultan Mohamed II and annexed by the Ottoman Empire. In the following two centuries the Ottomans fought against the Venetians and other City States who had remaining colonies in Greece. In 1669 the Ottomans succeeded in taking the island of Crete but lost Peloponnesus to the Venetians. In 1718 the Ottomans recaptured the Peloponnesus and the Greek territories remained under Ottoman rule up until the 19th century.

                    A great number of Greeks suffered from the Ottoman regime, however it is a fact that many of them also enjoyed a variety of privileges in the Ottoman State. This, above all, was carried out by the Greek Church whose high ranking officials (with the Patriarch in charge) enjoyed great privileges and influence in the politics of the Ottoman Empire. Actually, the worst suffering was felt by the Macedonians, when under the influence of the Patriarch, the Sultan ordered the abolishment of the Ohrid Eparchy.

                    Many Greeks took important positions in the Ottoman administration and served as officials and political advisers (for more information on this consult the world famous Microsoft Encarta CD encyclopedia, 1988, re: Greece).

                    The first signs of serious and significant Greek nationalism surfaced in the mid 18th century directly initiated by Russia. Being a Pravoslav (Orthodox Christian) State, Russia incited the Pravoslav (Christian Orthodox) Greeks to rebel against Ottoman rule. Unfortunately these first attempts at creating a Greek consciousness were unsuccessful. In 1770 the Russian Count Orlov came to the Peloponnesus with warships aiming to start a Greek rebellion, but without success.

                    Another factor that played an important role in the awakening of the Greek ethnic consciousness and its desire for liberation was the French Revolution. Then again under Russian influence, the Russian prince of Greek descent, Alexander Ispilanti, in 1814 formed a secret organization under the name “Filiki Heteria” (friendly association) and in 1821 started a rebellion, which was quickly put down. In the next three years the Greeks again began to actively arm but in their fight they were almost entirely alone. They did receive material help from a number of European countries but that help was self serving in the eventual creation of the Greek State.
                    "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                    GOTSE DELCEV

                    Comment

                    • George S.
                      Senior Member
                      • Aug 2009
                      • 10116

                      Letter to the American Hellenic Institute

                      by Chris Elinchev

                      November 1, 2005


                      Gene Rossides
                      Nick Larigakis
                      American Hellenic Institute
                      1220 16th Street, NW
                      Washington, DC 20036

                      Dear Mr. Rossides:

                      Your recent letter to President George Bush stating that the American Hellenic Institute has problems with America's decision to formally recognize the Republic of Macedonia under its Constitutional name belies, once again, the real issue behind Greece's response over the name issue with the Republic of Macedonia --- the basic lack of human rights for Greece's minorities.

                      After Southern geographic Macedonia fell under Greek jurisdiction for the first time in history in the early part of the 20th century, there began a systematic cleansing of the indigenous Macedonian populace. Their cleansing has been so brutal and the forced assimilation so complete that many, if not most, remaining ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece have been afraid to speak up. It is time the Greek government acknowledged this dark period in its history and began to make reparations to the Macedonian minority.

                      On a recent trip to Northern Greece I found that everywhere I went people spoke and understood the Macedonian language. There are estimates of 500,00 to 1,000,000 people of Macedonian ancestry left in northern Greece today. Yet ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece are not allowed to have their own cultural organizations, worship in their own churches or print newspapers in the Macedonian language -- rights granted to minorities in all other European Union member states.

                      According to many reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Greek Helsinki Monitor and other organizations, Greece's record on human rights record is abysmal,

                      Now that an independent and democratic Macedonia exists, Greece fears for its borders and claims sole ownership of the name "Macedonia" not because of territorial ambitions from a Macedonia with virtually no army but because its own citizens of Macedonian heritage will want the most basic of human rights --self-identification.

                      Most of the world, including the United States, refers to The Republic of Macedonia by its constitutional name. The Republic of Macedonia has the right to self-identification according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Under the rule of international law, there is no precedent granting any government the power or authority to dictate to an independent sovereign nation what that nation's name is or should be.

                      It is the ethnocentric policies of Greece that are the true source of any problems. If Greece behaved like a democracy by affording its Macedonian minority full human rights the paranoia over any so-called threat to its borders would disappear.

                      Respectfully,
                      Chris Elinchev
                      [email protected]

                      SmallPondProductions.com
                      "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                      GOTSE DELCEV

                      Comment

                      • George S.
                        Senior Member
                        • Aug 2009
                        • 10116

                        Diary of a First Time Demonstrator

                        by Virginia Andreoff Evans

                        August, 2001

                        Day 1:
                        A demonstration was planned for Thursday, August 9, 2001, in Washington, DC, and had been announced at the Ilinden Picnic. I attended a meeting at St. Clements Church in Toronto to find out details. The President of St. Clements was the spokesman who informed us about the plans for the trip. He promptly called the Macedonian media (radio and television programs) to publicize the event. However, at the Ilinden Picnic, it was decided not to take commitments (read "money") for the demonstration. We found out that the bus would accommodate 55 people, cost $4,000 and the return ticket was $75.00. I thought it a small price to pay for voicing our concerns about what was happening in Macedonia, and what was being done to the country by NLA terrorists.

                        Because of differing opinions as to the wisdom of going to Washington, someone observed that the number of factions at the meeting reflected the same kind of thing that went on in Macedonia. "Everyone pulling every which way, instead of pulling in the same direction." Copies of articles which appeared in the Toronto Sun by columnist, Peter Worthington, Another Balkan Pot Set to Boil Over, as well as one by James Bissett, the former Ambassador to Yugoslavia, We Created a Monster! were circulated at the meeting. Bissett's article was well researched and both Worthington and Bissett are welcome allies.

                        Opinions were flying back and forth, but money was not, with about 150 people in attendance, expressing their points of view, but only 20 made the necessary pledge. The organizers were hopeful that word-of-mouth would spread the news.
                        I have never attended a demonstration of this magnitude before. As a Canadian of Macedonian descent, we tend to gather where Canadians gather, and very few first-generation Canadians were in attendance at the meeting. I decided to commit, because it was my way of saying, "enough is enough." We have a little corner of the world that is designated Macedonia. People living there are from diverse ethnic groups - Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Roma, Bulgarian and Serb -- they live in Macedonia, speak Macedonian but are free to speak their own language. Albanians, as the most active minority have achieved language rights in schools, representation in parliament and now their own university. This is a highly significant concession in a country as small and economically fragile as Macedonia.

                        The line must be drawn in the sand and Macedonians have to stand up and say "no more." Peter Worthington had the right idea when he said we should be concentrating on what is good for Macedonia. I was born in Canada, but I need to know that there is a place in the world that acknowledges my heritage and language and the right to speak it. Perhaps I was making a statement that my parents never had the right to make, as they emigrated from Northern Greece.

                        I am not particularly political, but just declaring myself of Macedonian descent has become a political statement. I am glad I have that right as a Canadian.

                        Day 2:
                        On e-mail, bright and early, I sent off information to all and sundry. I am embarrassed that Australia and other parts of the world where Macedonians reside seem to have reacted more instantly to the situation. The suggestion last night that we should have had more time to prepare; (It is one day off work. The question is: can you make it or not?) or that we should be demonstrating in front the US Embassy in Washington or on University Avenue in Toronto and not going to Washington. My belief has always been, whenever I have complained in the past, to go to the top. And Washington is the top! They don't make decisions on University Avenue, but they do in the White House. A large number of Macedonians in Washington would make a major statement.

                        The decisions are made at NATO about what happens in Macedonia. Perhaps they don't remember what Macedonia did for the Kosovo refugees, all 400,000 of them. We must remember that an influx of such numbers was a destabilizing event. Just imagine 16% of say 30 million, approximately the population of Canada, suddenly showed up at our borders. That is 4, 800,000 refugees! And Macedonians took them into their country, in spite of their own economic situation. We are there to remind them of what this meant to Macedonia!

                        (My daughter wants to come along. I am looking forward to it!)

                        The Bus and Beyond
                        We arrived before six o'clock in the parking lot of the church, as we were scheduled to leave by 6:30 p.m. After much hemming and hawing, and checking of names and being seated and unseated, we were informed that we would not be leaving until 8:00 p.m. So much for Macedonian promptness! The bus unfortunately was not full. Pity, since the Toronto Diaspora is the home of the largest population of Macedonians in North America. However, we left with spirits high. There were first and second generation Canadians, immigrants from the Republic, as well as descendants of Aegean Macedonians, a priest, and a student activist who had been to Quebec City's anti-globalization demonstration. We all had our own reasons for being there.

                        As the evening wore on, we were entertained with Macedonian CD's and Father Jovan Boseovski, who thoughtfully brought along a couple of videos for us to view. Although many of us had seen Before the Rain years ago, we decided that it was very prophetic, especially since we were now driving to Washington about the NLA terrorists and what was happening in Macedonia. However, the film also makes the point that terrorists and irrational, crazy people with guns can come in many stripes, both Macedonian and Albanian. There was a lively discussion afterwards that continued into the night.

                        The Main Event
                        We finally arrived in Washington, D. C., at 6:00 a.m. and were literally dumped from the bus in front of the State Department Building. We wrongly assumed we would have access to the bus. As a result, we had to carry everything we might need for the day and decide what we might need in two minutes. It was going to be a scorcher, and water would be a grave concern. We found the cafeteria in the Natural Science Building across the street would welcome us and we all trooped in to wash up and refresh ourselves with a good breakfast. When the bus dropped us off, unceremoniously on the street, there was a discussion about the signs that had been prepared, and it was decided not to take them. The people scattered after breakfast, each to their own devices, such as seeing relatives and the sights of Washington.

                        We returned to be faced with a "massive" gathering, in front of the Department of State on "C" Avenue. The demonstration would begin after the delegation of seven Macedonian Americans, which included Professor Nestor Oginar, ended their meeting with the deputy Secretary of State, Richard L. Armitage at 11:00 a.m. We were to march to the White House afterwards! It was truly a glorious sight, seeing hundreds upon hundreds of people that supported the Macedonian cause. There were kids wearing T-shirts and hats with "Macedonia", signs with slogans, chanting and policemen on motorcycles and on foot, and lots and lots of policemen, who made sure that we kept to our route and did not stray.

                        Since it was approaching the height of heat at noon, and we had just finished a brisk walk, water was a necessity. We were unable to re-access the Natural Science building, as they no doubt were concerned about an influx of demonstrators using their premises to cool themselves. (Toronto opened up its public buildings for just that purpose in our heat emergency.) They would not allow anyone in under any circumstances. Water was available from street vendors about a couple of blocks away. It was a seller's market We had water on the bus, but it was now lost to us.

                        We proudly joined the crowd as I spoke to people in the march and discovered there were four buses from Detroit, about ninety folks from New Jersey, and various numbers that arrived via airplane and car from New York, Chicago, Fort Wayne, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Columbus, Washington and Skopje, Macedonia. I took the opportunity, along with the kids, to run through any sprinklers that happened to be watering the plush grasses in front of government buildings.

                        I spoke to people as to why they were there, especially the young, because therein lies our future, and was very impressed with their commitment, under the most extreme circumstances. When young kids were asked where they were from, they answered "Macedonia", proudly. When I identified myself as Macedonian, they told me the name of the city they were from. Many had traveled as far and even further than we had from Toronto, and many were first, second or third generation Americans and/or Canadians. Others had been former citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, and knew the dangers presented with the terrorist activities of the NLA extremists.

                        A representative of Lyndon LaRouche, Democrat, who has started his campaign for the Presidency in 2004, had set up a table near the start of the march. LaRouche has been a supporter of finding a solution for the Macedonian situation, according to an article in the magazine handed to me called "'Balkan Wars Precede World Wars,' LaRouche Tells Macedonians." He seemed to be quite knowledgeable about the predicament Macedonia faces and was aware of the ramifications of NATO 's actions.

                        We had no Canadian flag, unfortunately, to show that there were Canadians of Macedonian descent demonstrating. Our group was dispersed. We were part of the crowd, and there was little opportunity to take collective pictures of their activism. At least someone in our group had the foresight to provide and carry his own Macedonian flag: Angelo is always a popular guy at any Macedonian demonstration.

                        CNN and other news services were present, in front of the White House. The police were ever vigilant to make sure we didn't get too close, for instance on the sidewalk in front of the White House. We milled around for about 20 minutes or so while Professor Nestor Oginar spoke to CNN and other media. Apparently there was supposed to be an improvised mass conducted for those that have given the ultimate sacrifice, which somehow I must have missed. There were a number of the participants that had black ribbons on to designate that someone in their family had died in Macedonia.

                        Since President Bush was not in residence, our demonstration became a media event, with Professor Oginar as the designated spokesman. We were very fortunate to have someone of his calibre, as he is articulate in both Macedonian and English. He is living these awful events as his family is from Tetovo and had been specifically targeted by the NLA.

                        We dispersed to try and find a place to eat and sightsee for the time left before the bus was scheduled to leave, which was about 5:30 p.m. Wonder of wonders, we left at 5:15 p.m. Somehow I thought our trip back to Toronto would be shorter! There was no problem at the border and we arrived at the church parking lot at 5:00 a.m.
                        The lack of sleep both ways did not make the actual trip fun and enjoyable. What made it for me was the commitment of all the people collectively on the march, and the fact that they had made a considerable effort to attend. You might say that those at the Rally in Washington "put their money where their mouth was". There are some people who just talk, but do not walk the walk. Of course, this is not the only way, and certainly some may argue, may not be the most effective way, but for others it is their way to participate actively, and make "one small step for Macedonia", if I can paraphrase.

                        All in all, the involvement in Washington and the act of participating was worth it. The greater purpose was achieved, by being part of the event-in whatever total number of attendees one wants to report--on the hottest day of the year. The fact that we didn't all pass out is a compliment to the Macedonian resilience, constitution and ability to survive.

                        These are merely my personal observations and reflections of what I experienced. Others had different experiences. I was part of a demonstration that went to the top of the food chain!

                        Would I do this again? It's too soon to ask. But now that I have done it once...

                        Virginia Andreoff Evans
                        "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                        GOTSE DELCEV

                        Comment

                        • George S.
                          Senior Member
                          • Aug 2009
                          • 10116

                          D’MBENI – A little History, a Lot of Memories
                          by Virginia Andreoff
                          November 2004
                          Macedonians who live outside of Macedonia still ask the question “What village
                          are you from?” The village defines us and reinforces our cultural identity. It is where
                          many of us come from--our clan binds us. That is why for the Dambensko Benevolent
                          Society the celebration of its 60th anniversary on May 1
                          st
                          2004 in Toronto this year was
                          significant. The attendance was excellent, with many children, grandchildren and
                          friends of D’mbenchari. The number of real D’mbentsi--those actually born in the
                          village--is shrinking. As a result, there were two kinds of people at the celebration—
                          D’mbenchari, and those who wanted to be! The President and Treasurer spoke about
                          the history of D’mbeni the village, as well as the Society in Canada with some
                          interesting facts and myths revealed.
                          For those who have not been to D’mbeni, it is in the Kostur region (okolije),
                          northwestern corner of Greece, 20 km from Albania. In its hey day, with a population of
                          two thousand, it had 400 stone houses, fourteen stores and one church. Andrejko
                          Andreofski in Skopje built a scale model of D’mbeni with every house replicated in
                          miniature. In his video, he recounts the names of the families that lived in each house.
                          This was a labour of love for his village.
                          The way Louis told the story everything has a beginning, and D’mbeni came
                          about this way: a cow belonging to a man from an adjoining village ran away. Now a
                          cow in those days was a prized possession so the dedo immediately went in search of it.
                          He discovered the cow by a running brook, plenty of grass and an abundance of forest
                          and oak trees. Dedo liked what he saw and eventually moved his family there, and
                          others followed him. In Macedonian, an oak tree is called “dump” and therefore
                          D’mbeni was born and it became a village. An imaginary line running down the middle
                          of D’mbeni divided the village into east and west. The east side was named Kamenska
                          Mala, and the west side Klanchenska Mala. A great deal of good-natured rivalry 2
                          entertained the young men of the day such as the Koleda celebration and who would be
                          successful in putting the torch to the paleshka!
                          As for the actual boundaries of D’mbeni there was another folk tale. D’mbeni
                          was built at the base of the mountain that rose high to the north. However it had an
                          immense area surrounding the village to the east, west and south. This large area came
                          about thanks to an enterprising person named Dedo Zugla. When the Turkish overseer
                          laid out the boundaries, Dedo Zugla accompanied him. It came about that wherever they
                          walked during the day, the overseer asked Dedo, if he was stepping on D’mbenski soil.
                          His reply was “Falla boga, I am stepping on D’mbenski soil.” The boundaries were
                          recorded and set. Unbeknownst to the Turkish overseer, Dedo Zugla had put soil of his
                          beloved D’mbeni in his shoes and in the process of walking with his bastoon (cane); he
                          was truly stepping on D’mbenski soil. This is an actual account of the boundary
                          process. Drenoveni, Smurdesh, Aposkep and Gabresh are D’mbeni’s neighbours.
                          The following geographical names also had great meaning to the villagers, and
                          invoked memories that were both happy and incredibly sad:
                          Planinata, (mountain) Rekata, (river) Polieto, Urlovo, Karanzovo, Pandarnitsa,
                          Arbenishka, Livadidsa, Spiliato, Klisoura, Vulcov Reett, Yanoff Reet, Dumbo,
                          Kostolata, Oraete, Malio Gornoff Reet, berik, Koviltsa, Kotsovi Koree, Pachkoff
                          Bunar, Tumba, Grobishteta, (cemetery) Chirskata Neeva, Sternata, Tserkvata,
                          and “Lokvata and Viniary”, which was the title for Lazar Pop Traikoff’s epic
                          poem about the struggle for freedom from the Ottoman Empire in the early part of
                          the 20
                          th
                          Century.
                          To escape Turkish persecution after Elinden, many people fled D’mbeni and
                          emigrated to Canada and other foreign countries in the early 1900’s. They continued to
                          emigrate right up until the 1950’s, after the Greek Civil War. They sought each other
                          out in Toronto and decided to form an association. Giving aid or doing good to others
                          describes “Benevolent”, while “Society” is the apparent companionship that many have
                          found within the association. It is probably why the organization has been in existence
                          for 60 years. It has provided aid to their members, especially in the early days, e.g. at 3
                          the death of a member. It was part of the original Constitution. In 1959 a benefit of
                          $150 was sent to the family of a member upon his/her demise, along with flowers.
                          Some of these benefits have had to change in recent years, because of the declining
                          membership.
                          The Society also kept a Minute book, which became an important part of the
                          written Canadian Macedonian history. The first meeting of the society was held on May
                          28
                          th
                          , 1944 at 386 Ontario Street. Twenty people attended for the inauguration of the
                          Brotherhood of Lazar Pop Traikoff, which was shortly to become the Dambensko
                          Benevolent Society. The dues in 1944 were $3.00 each, which was to be collected until
                          a member was 60 years old. (Presently membership fees are collected from all
                          members, regardless of seniority.)
                          The first President and executive were: Kosta Pachkoff, Blagoy Stefkoff and
                          Andy Ralleff, while the Kontrolna Komiteja included Rizoff, Ralev and Popovsky.
                          Regular elections were held and various people held positions such as Evan Rizoff, Peter
                          Mousmanski, Tommy Popvsky, Vasil Bouzoff, George Baloff, Evan and Labro
                          Andreovi, Chris Rallis, Steve Theodorou and Dono Rizeff. These were only a few of
                          the names mentioned--these early pioneers of the Society--the ones with vision and on
                          whose shoulders the Society stands today.
                          The women were very active. Women like Nada Raleva, Lexa Andreova, Vana
                          Mousmansky, and Leena Popovska were just a few of those whose job it was to visit the
                          members on the occasion of name days, solicit donations, while leaving postcards
                          depicting Selo D’mbeni. They were the fund-raising backbone of the Society. The
                          women, then and now, along with their continuing contributions of time and effort,
                          made the social events enjoyable and profitable.
                          The first-ever dance was held at Ontario St with the band called Mopey 5. It was
                          noted the occasion also had a buffet, as food was always an important ingredient at
                          celebrations. The Society also voted to send a delegate to Gary, Indiana when the
                          American D’mbeni Society had a picnic and Canadian members were eager to support
                          them. (There are D’mbeni village organizations throughout the world.) Dances 4
                          continued to be held at Ontario Street in the 1940’s and then at Sts. Cyril & Methody
                          Church. A clock was presented to St. Cyril's in memory of D’mbeni. It is still working,
                          just like the Society! St. George’s Church also was a venue for “vecherinki”, on
                          occasion.
                          The Dambensko Benevolent Society had a history of helping the Macedonian
                          community at large when they contributed specifically to the refugees in Bitola from
                          Aegeska Macedonia in 1945, after the horrors of WWII. Contributions to various
                          Macedonian churches and cultural institutions, both here and in Greece, have continued
                          to the present day.
                          Most of the Minutes kept by the Society were written in English, while much of
                          the earlier ones were in Bulgarian, the only written language Macedonians learned at
                          that time, except for the imposed Greek. They should be commended that the Society
                          kept records, as most organizations were primarily interested in “money in or money
                          out”. We need to mention here that they were way ahead of the times, by having a
                          young woman--a teenager--act as secretary back in 1946. Mary Rizoff was thrilled to
                          read her Minutes again, 60 years later.
                          There were summer picnics in the Don Valley, when it was still an urban park,
                          before it was converted into a highway. Most of the community had no cars, which
                          made this location attractive. Now we drive by, oblivious to the fact that celebrations
                          and even Elinden picnics were held in this place. The tradition of picnics was continued
                          at the property owned by D’mbeni in Bowmanville, right on Lake Ontario, and then for
                          the past 25 years in Uxbridge on Zephyr Road. It is where corn roasts are held annually
                          after Labour Day in September: old style picnics, with races for the kids, and ladies
                          competing to see who can throw their shoes the greatest distance! And let’s not forget
                          the ever-popular bottle filled with fasul (beans) as the crowd guesses the number to win
                          a prize. It has always been a perfect opportunity to re-connect with selyani and friends.
                          And they still have a piece of land that is called D’mbeni!
                          D’mbeni is one of the many destroyed villages in Macedonia. All that remains
                          now are the church and the village well (boonaro). The buildings are stone shells. 5
                          However it still lives on in the hearts and minds of the men and women who lived there
                          and later had to flee to foreign lands. Because many of the villagers had to leave in
                          haste, remembrances and costumes were often left behind, and are now impossible to
                          find. Many D’mbenski children joined the thousands that had to be evacuated in 1947 -
                          49, for their own safety to the host countries of the Eastern Bloc. Unfortunately,
                          returning to their birthplace was not an option, as Greece has populated many destroyed
                          Macedonian villages with non-Macedonians.
                          It is amazing that the Society is still thriving, although it is getting harder and
                          harder to get people to take on various duties. But as the Minutes indicate, the problem
                          was ever thus, even in the early days. Various secretaries would complain about the
                          lack of cooperation. Some things never change. Many of these events would not have
                          happened without the continuing work and dedication of a small group of “movers and
                          shakers” in the Society. People like the Mousmanis and Popovsky families, who were
                          involved through two generations, made our annual dances and gatherings more
                          enjoyable and well organized. The baton has been passed to members like Connie
                          Parkinson and Virginia A. Evans. However, as in many organizations, the struggle to
                          find dedicated and dependable members is ongoing. Every volunteer hour given is
                          precious, and as our members age, it is difficult for the younger generation to exhibit the
                          same commitment as the original members.
                          There is a heritage and history here, which should be maintained before it is
                          forgotten. Coming together for their 60
                          th
                          anniversary, highlighted the need to keep alive
                          our stories, memories and contacts. The following few lines from Vasko Karadza’s
                          poetry about D’mbeni reflects the thoughts of the people of D’mbeni, either now or
                          then.
                          “We were born with D’mbeni in our hearts,
                          We grew with D’mbeni in our hearts
                          We thrive with D’mbeni in our hearts.“
                          Virginia Andreoff can be contacted by e-mail at: books@macedonianhistory
                          "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                          GOTSE DELCEV

                          Comment

                          • George S.
                            Senior Member
                            • Aug 2009
                            • 10116

                            Zorba the Greek Unmasked: Chorba the Macedonian

                            by Dr. Alex K. Gigeroff, Ph.D.

                            Originally published September, 1990

                            Printable Version (120k)


                            To make a good soup you have to collect the ingredients and cook it very slowly.

                            My Dedo Naumche was born in Macedonia way back about 1870. I never met him but I've heard lots about him. Sometimes I think about him. Apparently he really liked soup and I imagine that he enjoyed it ever since he was a child. He enjoyed soup as an experience and everything that went into making and eating it. He enjoyed the whole process. He loved having food in the house. He enjoyed the aroma of the dish as it bubbled and simmered slowly in the big pot that hung on a rack in the fireplace. And just as much, he loved that first taste, every mouthful and particularly the last spoonful.

                            In my mind's eye, I can see him when he had finished his soup that he had eaten with home made bread. I see him brushing aside his long moustache to either side of his face with the back of his hand and hear his sigh of satisfaction. I am sure that at moments like that he was a contented man who knew two essential things: who he was and what he liked.

                            The soup he liked best was a "CHORBA". It is sometimes made using a cow's belly or tripe. It's a robust lively soup, a soup that sings in the mouth, that makes the taste buds come alive and dance up and down. It is a soup tasty beyond belief and fully satisfying. Chorba is a man's soup, and women love it. Who wouldn't? It gives such life-giving energy to everyone.

                            It's easy enough to make: Wash the tripe and boil it then simmer it with salt, garlic and black pepper; add a cup of hot broth spoonful by spoonful into a bowl of two beaten eggs, some lemon juice and do this slowly so the mix doesn't curdle; add a cup of light cream into the mix and then pour the whole thing back into the pot stirring all the while. Of course, while the tripe is simmering you can add whatever vegetables you wish. To dress it up sprinkle the top with whatever happens to be around like some chopped green onions or leeks, some chives or some parsley. Voila! There you have it, "CHORBA".

                            Other countries might have different names for it. Certainly Chorba does not have an international reputation. But if it were advertised widely enough, given some publicity, show famous movie stars eating it in a movie, give it an eye catching name, why it could become as famous as anything. It could become as famous as "Zorba The Greek" and known the world over. It might even become popular. But it would still be Chorba as we know it.

                            But enough about soup. Let's change the subject.

                            Changing Names

                            People sometimes change their names, especially when their original names are not socially or politically acceptable. There was a lot of name, changing in our part of the world. Common Macedonian names were transformed slightly so that they would appear to sound and look more Greek, or more Serbian or more Bulgarian. It all depended on which one of the surrounding nations had occupied which part of Macedonia after 1913. So totally did the neighbours divide up Macedonia, that there was no Macedonia left. Although Macedonia appeared on maps for thousands of years it very suddenly vanished. But it continued to exist in history, in people's minds and in people's hearts. In the long run these are the most important places.

                            The Macedonian people were still there, those who hadn't emigrated and spread throughout the world. But the Macedonians who remained were fearful, and with good reason, to call themselves Macedonians or to use their historic names.

                            The skies were to darken even further for the Macedonians in Greece. As most Macedonians know and as the world is slowly learning, in and around 1928 the Greek government began to change all Macedonian village names to Greek names. And they did that for the mountain ranges and for the rivers. Thousands of years of history were wiped out with a pen for the government wanted the territory to 'look' like Greece. For example, the village where my grandfather Naumche was born, Oshchima, probably meaning 'there is still more' was changed to Trigona, Greek for 'Three Corners'. It was a new name plucked out of the air! Not very imaginative either, but the significance of the change was enormous.

                            Seeing which way the political boundaries had shifted, watching how historic place names were being changed all around them, seeing how the Greek language was being pushed throughout the schools, the people realized quickly enough that their whole way of life at the dominant political level had shifted and changed. Many frightened people for honest reasons of survival did a quick make-up job on their own names as well.

                            Abracadabra! Greeks seemed to rise up everywhere where only Macedonians had lived for many, many centuries. Many people fled, those who could, to surrounding countries, and to Canada, the U.S.A. and to Australia and elsewhere. But those who could not escape began TO DISGUISE THEMSELVES for protection from the government under new, Greek-sounding names.

                            Survival, survival, stoic survival is the strength of peasants. Not only survival against the chance devastations of weather, storms, floods, but survival in the face of being shot dead by the politicos and their armies.

                            The problem for the people that remained is easy enough to understand and to accept. They were given no real choice. Change your name or suffer the consequences. The choice was really change your name or die! One can almost hear the old folk speaking among themselves: "What if we change our names, change the sound a little, change one or two letters on a piece of paper? What does it matter if they will only let us live? There is nothing to it! What's in a name? It is food we need in our bellies, food in our children's bellies, food for our cattle and animals. It doesn't matter what name you call it, serve up the, "Chorba"! We can at least get our tongues around that, get some food into our bellies so that our families can live. We'll manage somehow to get our tongues around the new language, the new names later. SURVIVE FIRST!"

                            I doubt if any one of them ever forgot their real historic family names. How could they? The reality was that the Greeks had captured the land, the people, the stage on which life is played. The children were taught to play in Greek, to speak in Greek, to read in Greek. Like in classic Greek theatre, a mask had to be worn.

                            And the Greek government could say, "See they have Greek Masks, they speak Greek, there are no Macedonians here". Sadly, oh so sadly, the Greek Orthodox Church also played a role like an attendant lord, sacrificing and serving up one of the oldest Christian people to political masters.

                            The Drama Continues

                            If you have not already met with him, allow me to introduce a real life historic character on to the stage. George Zorba. He is the real person on whom the novel and movie, "Zorba The Greek" is based. This is where the soup thickens, and the plot unfurls.

                            He was born in 1865, in a Macedonian village (now called Kolindros) about 25 miles from Salonika. Curiously, Dedo Naumche was born a few years later only about 80 miles to the northwest as the stork flies from where Zorba was born. That whole area was under the occupation of the Turks until 1912. Life for poor Macedonian peasants was probably not too much different from one small village to the next. Clearly Zorba was not born a Greek citizen. And from his name it is fairly certain that he was not a Turk. What was he?

                            In a fascinating article, "Searching for the Real Zorba" written by Alan Linn and published in the Canadian MD magazine, the author doesn't ask or answer the question of Zorba's ethnic identity. The article gives an historic account of the real Zorba; how Zorba's father quarrelled with a Turk and fled his village, travelled south into Greece taking his family with him where George Zorba grew up; how his mother died when he was 19 years old; how his father retired to a monastery at Mt. Athos; and how Zorba, penniless, began to make his way back to his father's village. From these facts it looks as though he wanted to go back to where he was born, where his roots were, where he must have felt he belonged, and where perhaps some relatives still survived.

                            We are told that he worked as a herdsman, tending sheep and goats, as a woodcutter, as a digger in a mine, as a pedlar, a blacksmith, a labourer, a smuggler, beggar and musician. He was a talented survivor by all accounts.

                            In 1912 he "joined the fighting". But from the article we do not learn who he was fighting with, against whom, or where. One biographer apparently describes him as burning and pillaging "Bulgarian Villages." Where? Where were these "Bulgarian Villages"? In Bulgaria? This was a war against the Turks wasn't it? What was going on?

                            If we look to the novel we learn that Zorba fought in the mountains of Macedonia with Pavlos Melas, a Greek Officer, who distinguished himself in the war against the Bulgarian 'Comitadjic' or guerilla fighters. In the novel Zorba describes how he cut the throat of a priest, a Bulgarian comitadji. From this information taken by itself one might prematurely conclude that Zorba had become politically Greek. But follow, the story further to see what Zorba does. A few days later, Zorba says he encountered five little children dressed in black, barefoot, begging, three girls and two boys, the oldest ten years old and the youngest still a baby. On learning that it was the children's father that he had killed, he says tears came to his eyes, and "the earth spun like a millstone." He took his purse and gave the children all the Turkish money and gold he had and all his supplies, and then he tore up the Saint Sophia medal he had embroidered with the hairs of his own head and threw it away and ran. He says he rescued himself from the ideas of country, the Church, and money, all at once. He said "he used to" think of men as Greeks, or Bulgars or Turks and burned villages, cut throats, robbed and raped women, but he calls himself "a swine" for having done so. He says to himself, "To hell with you right away, you ass." He denounces and gives up all ideas of country, of nationalism and says, "...But I am delivered from all that. God be praised! it's finished for me!" As indeed, in his day, was Macedonia finished.

                            Zorba was ashamed and hated himself for the part he had taken in the war, and the killings. One wonders, had the real George Zorba become a pacifist? Had he reverted to becoming a peasant without a country and hating the very idea of country because of what had happened to him? Had he become apolitical as well?

                            From that part of the book what seems to remain is a deep sorrow and compassion for his fellow man regardless of their nationality.

                            Let us return here to the historic facts of George Zorba's life. After fighting against the Turks in the war of 1912, he retreated to the monastery at Mt. Athos like his father before him but he could not stand the place. Shortly thereafter he met the author-poet Nikos Kazantzakis and together they planned their adventure to develop a mine. This project was quite simply a hoax, a sham to avoid conscription into the Greek army in the war of 1914-1918 as apparently mineworkers were exempted from military service. The mine had a timely collapse in 1918 when the war ended.

                            Apparently George Zorba and Kazantzakis next met on a trip to Russia that Kazantzakis had organized to "rescue Greeks fleeing Bolshevism". That too sounds very strange. The two men stayed in a hotel housing refugee dancing girls and Zorba returned back to Greece with three beautiful Russian women. None of that sounds as if he rescued political dissenters or heavyweights.

                            George Zorba drifted north into what is now Yugoslavia and settled in a village a few miles from Skopje. For almost the last twenty years of his life the historic George Zorba lived in the centre of the Macedonian countryside until he died at about the age of 77 in 1942.

                            A magnificent soup can move the taste buds in all kinds of directions and an open mind can move around just as easily. Why, as a middle-aged man in his late 50's, would Zorba move north into the Macedonian heartland? If he were Greek, why wouldn't he have moved south and lived anywhere in Greece? Having deserted the Greek cause in 1912 in the war against the Turks, was he afraid for his life? Was he choosing to spend his last years among a strange people and culture, or was he going to live with the people he knew, with the people with whom he felt closest? Would he speak Greek in a Macedonian village, or would he speak Macedonian? Was he a Greek among Macedonians, or was he... a MACEDONIAN?

                            Changing the Name of the Novel

                            The book was written by Kazantzakis and published in Greek in 1946 during the civil war between Macedonians and Greeks. The original title was "The Life and Times of Alexe Zormpa". Zormpa? How peculiar? But you did notice that the book originally was not called "Zorba The Greek".

                            When the book was first translated into English in 1952 the title of the book was changed to "Zorba The Greek." Why? And it was under the new name that the movie was made in 1964 that further helped to make the character of Zorba world famous. It is because of the new English title of the book and the movie that the whole world has been led astray as to the real ethnic and national identity of the legendary character. The world has come to think of Zorba as Greek, but is he?

                            A Close Reading of the Novel: Great Truths Revealed

                            There is no better evidence as to the ethnic and national identity of Zorba than the text of Kazantzakis' book itself.

                            When the main character in the book first meets Kazantzakis, but before he reveals his name he offers to work for the author as a cook. He says, "I can make soups you've never heard of, or thought of." That is Kazantzakis dropping the first clue about the name, Zorba as Chorba in Macedonian.

                            When asked his name the character replies as , follows: "Alexis Zorba. Sometimes they call me Baker's Shovel because I'm so lanky and my head is flattened like a griddlecake. Or else I'm called Passa Tempo because there was a time when I hawked roast pumpkin seeds. They call me Mildew too, because wherever I go, they say I get up to my tricks. Everything goes to the dogs. I have other nicknames as well, but we'll leave them for another time..."

                            Look now! As soon as we meet Zorba we find out he had many names! What is truly fascinating is how the nicknames he gives show a progression of decay, from a name associated with baking fresh bread, then the passing of time, and then mildew when bread turns bad and can't be eaten. What kind of tricks is Kazantzakis talking about? Is it tricks with names? Is that a clue from Kazantzakis to look out for word tricks?

                            Kazantzakis provides a further clue in the book when he writes further on, "Everything in this world has a hidden meaning ... men, animals, trees, stars ... (and notice that last one) ... it is only years later, too late, that you understand." Kazantzakis tells us that there are hidden meanings and to look further.

                            Let's look closer. The author has Zorba describe Macedonia. Now notice that in another separate paragraph he has Zorba speak about Greece, Bulgaria and Constantinople. Why does he place these in separate paragraphs you might wonder? Kazantzakis was a master writer, a master craftsman, and perhaps the greatest writer that Greece has produced in this century. It is not simply chance that he makes that separation.

                            Then there is the greatest revelation about Zorba. In the book, Zorba, talking about himself says,

                            "O wonderful Slav, may you live a thousand years!"

                            Are Greeks Slavs? Do they ever speak of themselves as being Slavs? Macedonians are Slavs, in an ethnic sense and a religious sense.

                            In the novel, Zorba sings Macedonian songs, a synthesis of "poetry, music and thought" as Kazantzakis describes them. Do you remember Zorba singing Macedonian songs in the movie? No, neither do I. Kazantzakis spoke Greek. He knew the difference between a Greek song and a Macedonian song. He did not use the name Macedonian to mean Greek. Kazantzakis was nobody's fool.

                            The author even asks Zorba to sing a song, "A Macedonian Song of your own country, Zorba". Oh mark Kazantzakis words well!

                            To mark the difference clearly, at another point Kazantzakis writes, "And don't forget, Zorba is a foreigner, a Macedonian, and it is the greatest disgrace we Cretans can bring on ourselves to raise a hand against a guest in our country...

                            Perhaps the saddest and most telling evidence of all about the distortions to Zorba's name is a letter Zorba writes from Romania that he signs, "Alexis Zorbescu". Later he also sends Kazantzakis a card, a postcard, from Serbia that is signed, "Alexis Zorbic". The last time Kazantzakis hears about his friend is a letter that he received from a schoolmaster in Skopje telling him of the death of Alexis Zorba.


                            Kazantzakis Respect for Zorba

                            For Kazantzakis, Zorba was a hero, and he placed him along side of Homer, Nietzche and Bergson whom he called "the bodyguards of the Odyssey", men who protect and develop man's freedom to think in the progression of human history. He elevated Zorba to the very pinnacle of human evolution, human achievement.

                            Kazantzakis believed that what Zorba was offering in his understanding and philosophy of living was a new Decalogue, nothing less than a new set of Ten Commandments for man in this world. He placed Zorba, in the illustrious company with Christ, Dante, Buddha, El Greco and others. It is astonishing, but here we have Kazantzakis, one of the great intellectuals of our age, a one-time Education Minister in the Greek Government, a writer who almost won the Nobel Prize for Literature, placing an ordinary Macedonian among the world's greatest philosophers, poets, painters, and spiritual leaders. Amazing!

                            That is a kind of respect that Macedonians seldom receive openly and publicly. It is also the kind of respect we must learn to give towards ourselves and our history.

                            Kazantzakis knew our history. In the preface to the English translation of his 'Alexander the Great', the translator, Theodora Vasilis, writes, "Zorba, the most popular of his (Kazantzakis') creations was fashioned in the image of the crafty Odysseus." If Odysseus was crafty and cunning we must open both of our eyes! Why did Kazantzakis reject the name 'George' and choose the name 'Alexis'? Was it because he simply liked the sound of the name and pulled it out of a hat? Or was Kazantzakis the writer acting as a 'koom', as a godfather and deliberately chose the name 'Alexis'? Did he do this so that the name would ring a bell of remembrance in our minds, a name associated with somebody? Who? What name? Very likely to remind us of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian who struggled to bring the whole world together, east and west.

                            Notice how both names have three words, the same balance, the same form: Alexander the Great - Zorba the Greek. If we search for the meaning of names we find Alexis means 'to ward off, keep off, protect'. Was the book about Zorba meant to be more than just a novel but a way of speaking to the world about the Macedonian Spirit?

                            Consider the initials of Kazantzakis' hero, 'A.Z.' - like the beginning and the end of the alphabet that Kazantzakis loved so much. And there too is the mysterious biblical "alpha and omega".

                            Was Kazantzakis hiding the true identity of his hero and sending forth a hidden message to the world in his hero's name! Was he doing what Zorba himself had done, changing a letter here and there as he did Romania and Serbia.

                            It was in 1952, three years after the civil war between the Greeks and Macedonians ended, that the book was translated into English with the new title, "Zorba The Greek". Kazantzakis was still alive and surely he knew of the translation. Surely he approved of the name and title to the book, and the question that arises is why did he do it? Why, if Kazantzakis was clearly giving the message throughout his book that Zorba was a Macedonian, with his own country, a Slav who should live for a thousand years, a man whom he admits he loved dearly in his life and for whom he had such respect and regard -- why would he allow the translation into English to be "Zorba The Greek"? What a puzzle?

                            Kazantzakis the Classic Scholar

                            Kazantzakis knew well enough that English is one of the great international world languages. No doubt he wanted his ideas and philosophy and those of Zorba to spread around the world. He even refers to Zorba as the new Sinbad the Sailor and he clearly must have had a world audience in mind.

                            One moment then! Was adding the words "The Greek" some kind of a sham, a trick, a disguise? Was this a hoax, just like their "mining operation" during the war? In the book itself in a dozen different ways he invites the reader to dig, dig, dig for the truth about his much-beloved character.

                            Was the new English title and translation of his book meant to be a mask for Zorba/ Chorba? Was "Zorba" intended to go around the world, disguised as "The Greek", fashioned and crafted to become world famous, and irony of ironies, in the end to reveal himself and to confront and confound the Greek politicians for their conduct towards all Macedonians. Is that what he was letting us know right at the beginning of the book when he was talking about names and wrote, "I get up to my tricks, Everything goes to the dogs?"

                            Observe the classic tradition in story, poetry, songs. In the classic epic songs of Homer, and in the epic songs in the Slavic oral tradition a hero frequently travels in disguise for the real purpose of making a rescue. When there is a disguise there must eventually be a recognition when the disguise is stripped away. In these recognition scenes, almost like a signal there would always be present at the moment of recognition a song or a musical instrument.

                            What Do We Find in the Novel?

                            True to classic tradition, when Zorba reveals himself as a Slav, a Macedonian, he sings and plays the santuri.

                            Who can doubt that Kazantzakis, whose greatest work was The Odyssey, A Modern Sequel, knew of these themes, these traditions of disguise and rescue.

                            Open Letter to Kazantzakis

                            "Nikos! Kazantzakis! I cry out to you in the beyond! I may be wrong about what you have written, what you intended, but I may be right? Throughout your work you called on the human spirit to dare, to look behind the masks of everything as you had spent your life doing. It is still worth doing Nikos!"

                            "I do not think that you meant to cast any insult on the memory of your friend who was dead by misrepresenting him around the world. I do think that you may have been trying to provide him with a kind of peasant's revenge after his death. Did you not, by writing, preserve and rescue for the world that Macedonian whom you had come to know and admire and respect. You rescued him from an almost total oblivion and through your spirit transformed the man into the undying literature of Freedom."

                            "Da ti ye arliya, Nikos"

                            "Nikos, is it time now to take away the disguise of "The Greek", from your friend George Zorba? What a wonderfully crafted mask Nikos, worthy of Odysseus himself. What a comic mask! And beneath that what, the mask of tragedy, the tragedy of Macedonians in Greece?"

                            "But you wouldn't want to leave us with another mask, one of comedy and one of tragedy would you? Where would the rescue and the resurrection be? Didn't you intend that Zorba should hold up and represent, not only the national ethnic identity of man, but much, much, more than that, the classic universal human craving for the ideal of freedom for the body of man."

                            "And didn't you Nikos want the world to know that you and Zorba were the best of friends on a personal level, on a human level, Macedonian and Greek. Weren't you describing a universal human brotherhood of work and struggle together for a kind of freedom for everyone with a decent respect for each other. And wasn't it above all petty politics? Wasn't it a message for politicians too? And wasn't one of the great messages that you wanted any reader to take from your story, your book, "Peace ... for the sake of the children?"

                            Nikos Kazantzakis died in Frieburg, Germany, on October 26th, 1957. His body was taken to Athens to lie in state. The Archbishop of Athens of the Greek Orthodox Church refused to permit the national honour or to celebrate a funeral mass for him. Kazantzakis name and the name of his hero Zorba/Chorba live on around the world and will to the end of time. I don't remember the name of the Archbishop.

                            Conclusion

                            "Zorba the Greek" has been a great international commercial success and a lot of people have been able to cat steak because of it. But steak is a passing thing, and TRUTH STICKS.

                            The evidence from George Zorba's life and from the novel clearly points to the conclusion that Zorba the Greek is in truth, Chorba the Macedonian.

                            Kazantzakis, a one-time Minister of Education in the government of Greece, and perhaps the greatest Greek writer of this century, hails and affirms a Macedonian and places him among the world's leaders.

                            By creating a mask, by writing an excellent novel, by contributing to the great literature of the world, Kazantzakis hid a great Macedonian, to protect and preserve him.

                            He saved, not the man Zorba/ Chorba, but even more important, the memory, the image, the philosophy, the life-view and the world-view of the Macedonian mind alive in the world.

                            The marvelous achievement of Kazantzakis is that he created an indelible universal statement of Freedom and Human Rights with the essential message of "Long Live the Macedonians".

                            And, Kazantzakis did that by beginning with one word SOUP. CHORBA!
                            "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                            GOTSE DELCEV

                            Comment

                            • George S.
                              Senior Member
                              • Aug 2009
                              • 10116

                              Zorba the Greek Unmasked: Chorba the Macedonian

                              by Dr. Alex K. Gigeroff, Ph.D.

                              Originally published September, 1990

                              Printable Version (120k)


                              To make a good soup you have to collect the ingredients and cook it very slowly.

                              My Dedo Naumche was born in Macedonia way back about 1870. I never met him but I've heard lots about him. Sometimes I think about him. Apparently he really liked soup and I imagine that he enjoyed it ever since he was a child. He enjoyed soup as an experience and everything that went into making and eating it. He enjoyed the whole process. He loved having food in the house. He enjoyed the aroma of the dish as it bubbled and simmered slowly in the big pot that hung on a rack in the fireplace. And just as much, he loved that first taste, every mouthful and particularly the last spoonful.

                              In my mind's eye, I can see him when he had finished his soup that he had eaten with home made bread. I see him brushing aside his long moustache to either side of his face with the back of his hand and hear his sigh of satisfaction. I am sure that at moments like that he was a contented man who knew two essential things: who he was and what he liked.

                              The soup he liked best was a "CHORBA". It is sometimes made using a cow's belly or tripe. It's a robust lively soup, a soup that sings in the mouth, that makes the taste buds come alive and dance up and down. It is a soup tasty beyond belief and fully satisfying. Chorba is a man's soup, and women love it. Who wouldn't? It gives such life-giving energy to everyone.

                              It's easy enough to make: Wash the tripe and boil it then simmer it with salt, garlic and black pepper; add a cup of hot broth spoonful by spoonful into a bowl of two beaten eggs, some lemon juice and do this slowly so the mix doesn't curdle; add a cup of light cream into the mix and then pour the whole thing back into the pot stirring all the while. Of course, while the tripe is simmering you can add whatever vegetables you wish. To dress it up sprinkle the top with whatever happens to be around like some chopped green onions or leeks, some chives or some parsley. Voila! There you have it, "CHORBA".

                              Other countries might have different names for it. Certainly Chorba does not have an international reputation. But if it were advertised widely enough, given some publicity, show famous movie stars eating it in a movie, give it an eye catching name, why it could become as famous as anything. It could become as famous as "Zorba The Greek" and known the world over. It might even become popular. But it would still be Chorba as we know it.

                              But enough about soup. Let's change the subject.

                              Changing Names

                              People sometimes change their names, especially when their original names are not socially or politically acceptable. There was a lot of name, changing in our part of the world. Common Macedonian names were transformed slightly so that they would appear to sound and look more Greek, or more Serbian or more Bulgarian. It all depended on which one of the surrounding nations had occupied which part of Macedonia after 1913. So totally did the neighbours divide up Macedonia, that there was no Macedonia left. Although Macedonia appeared on maps for thousands of years it very suddenly vanished. But it continued to exist in history, in people's minds and in people's hearts. In the long run these are the most important places.

                              The Macedonian people were still there, those who hadn't emigrated and spread throughout the world. But the Macedonians who remained were fearful, and with good reason, to call themselves Macedonians or to use their historic names.

                              The skies were to darken even further for the Macedonians in Greece. As most Macedonians know and as the world is slowly learning, in and around 1928 the Greek government began to change all Macedonian village names to Greek names. And they did that for the mountain ranges and for the rivers. Thousands of years of history were wiped out with a pen for the government wanted the territory to 'look' like Greece. For example, the village where my grandfather Naumche was born, Oshchima, probably meaning 'there is still more' was changed to Trigona, Greek for 'Three Corners'. It was a new name plucked out of the air! Not very imaginative either, but the significance of the change was enormous.

                              Seeing which way the political boundaries had shifted, watching how historic place names were being changed all around them, seeing how the Greek language was being pushed throughout the schools, the people realized quickly enough that their whole way of life at the dominant political level had shifted and changed. Many frightened people for honest reasons of survival did a quick make-up job on their own names as well.

                              Abracadabra! Greeks seemed to rise up everywhere where only Macedonians had lived for many, many centuries. Many people fled, those who could, to surrounding countries, and to Canada, the U.S.A. and to Australia and elsewhere. But those who could not escape began TO DISGUISE THEMSELVES for protection from the government under new, Greek-sounding names.

                              Survival, survival, stoic survival is the strength of peasants. Not only survival against the chance devastations of weather, storms, floods, but survival in the face of being shot dead by the politicos and their armies.

                              The problem for the people that remained is easy enough to understand and to accept. They were given no real choice. Change your name or suffer the consequences. The choice was really change your name or die! One can almost hear the old folk speaking among themselves: "What if we change our names, change the sound a little, change one or two letters on a piece of paper? What does it matter if they will only let us live? There is nothing to it! What's in a name? It is food we need in our bellies, food in our children's bellies, food for our cattle and animals. It doesn't matter what name you call it, serve up the, "Chorba"! We can at least get our tongues around that, get some food into our bellies so that our families can live. We'll manage somehow to get our tongues around the new language, the new names later. SURVIVE FIRST!"

                              I doubt if any one of them ever forgot their real historic family names. How could they? The reality was that the Greeks had captured the land, the people, the stage on which life is played. The children were taught to play in Greek, to speak in Greek, to read in Greek. Like in classic Greek theatre, a mask had to be worn.

                              And the Greek government could say, "See they have Greek Masks, they speak Greek, there are no Macedonians here". Sadly, oh so sadly, the Greek Orthodox Church also played a role like an attendant lord, sacrificing and serving up one of the oldest Christian people to political masters.

                              The Drama Continues

                              If you have not already met with him, allow me to introduce a real life historic character on to the stage. George Zorba. He is the real person on whom the novel and movie, "Zorba The Greek" is based. This is where the soup thickens, and the plot unfurls.

                              He was born in 1865, in a Macedonian village (now called Kolindros) about 25 miles from Salonika. Curiously, Dedo Naumche was born a few years later only about 80 miles to the northwest as the stork flies from where Zorba was born. That whole area was under the occupation of the Turks until 1912. Life for poor Macedonian peasants was probably not too much different from one small village to the next. Clearly Zorba was not born a Greek citizen. And from his name it is fairly certain that he was not a Turk. What was he?

                              In a fascinating article, "Searching for the Real Zorba" written by Alan Linn and published in the Canadian MD magazine, the author doesn't ask or answer the question of Zorba's ethnic identity. The article gives an historic account of the real Zorba; how Zorba's father quarrelled with a Turk and fled his village, travelled south into Greece taking his family with him where George Zorba grew up; how his mother died when he was 19 years old; how his father retired to a monastery at Mt. Athos; and how Zorba, penniless, began to make his way back to his father's village. From these facts it looks as though he wanted to go back to where he was born, where his roots were, where he must have felt he belonged, and where perhaps some relatives still survived.

                              We are told that he worked as a herdsman, tending sheep and goats, as a woodcutter, as a digger in a mine, as a pedlar, a blacksmith, a labourer, a smuggler, beggar and musician. He was a talented survivor by all accounts.

                              In 1912 he "joined the fighting". But from the article we do not learn who he was fighting with, against whom, or where. One biographer apparently describes him as burning and pillaging "Bulgarian Villages." Where? Where were these "Bulgarian Villages"? In Bulgaria? This was a war against the Turks wasn't it? What was going on?

                              If we look to the novel we learn that Zorba fought in the mountains of Macedonia with Pavlos Melas, a Greek Officer, who distinguished himself in the war against the Bulgarian 'Comitadjic' or guerilla fighters. In the novel Zorba describes how he cut the throat of a priest, a Bulgarian comitadji. From this information taken by itself one might prematurely conclude that Zorba had become politically Greek. But follow, the story further to see what Zorba does. A few days later, Zorba says he encountered five little children dressed in black, barefoot, begging, three girls and two boys, the oldest ten years old and the youngest still a baby. On learning that it was the children's father that he had killed, he says tears came to his eyes, and "the earth spun like a millstone." He took his purse and gave the children all the Turkish money and gold he had and all his supplies, and then he tore up the Saint Sophia medal he had embroidered with the hairs of his own head and threw it away and ran. He says he rescued himself from the ideas of country, the Church, and money, all at once. He said "he used to" think of men as Greeks, or Bulgars or Turks and burned villages, cut throats, robbed and raped women, but he calls himself "a swine" for having done so. He says to himself, "To hell with you right away, you ass." He denounces and gives up all ideas of country, of nationalism and says, "...But I am delivered from all that. God be praised! it's finished for me!" As indeed, in his day, was Macedonia finished.

                              Zorba was ashamed and hated himself for the part he had taken in the war, and the killings. One wonders, had the real George Zorba become a pacifist? Had he reverted to becoming a peasant without a country and hating the very idea of country because of what had happened to him? Had he become apolitical as well?

                              From that part of the book what seems to remain is a deep sorrow and compassion for his fellow man regardless of their nationality.

                              Let us return here to the historic facts of George Zorba's life. After fighting against the Turks in the war of 1912, he retreated to the monastery at Mt. Athos like his father before him but he could not stand the place. Shortly thereafter he met the author-poet Nikos Kazantzakis and together they planned their adventure to develop a mine. This project was quite simply a hoax, a sham to avoid conscription into the Greek army in the war of 1914-1918 as apparently mineworkers were exempted from military service. The mine had a timely collapse in 1918 when the war ended.

                              Apparently George Zorba and Kazantzakis next met on a trip to Russia that Kazantzakis had organized to "rescue Greeks fleeing Bolshevism". That too sounds very strange. The two men stayed in a hotel housing refugee dancing girls and Zorba returned back to Greece with three beautiful Russian women. None of that sounds as if he rescued political dissenters or heavyweights.

                              George Zorba drifted north into what is now Yugoslavia and settled in a village a few miles from Skopje. For almost the last twenty years of his life the historic George Zorba lived in the centre of the Macedonian countryside until he died at about the age of 77 in 1942.

                              A magnificent soup can move the taste buds in all kinds of directions and an open mind can move around just as easily. Why, as a middle-aged man in his late 50's, would Zorba move north into the Macedonian heartland? If he were Greek, why wouldn't he have moved south and lived anywhere in Greece? Having deserted the Greek cause in 1912 in the war against the Turks, was he afraid for his life? Was he choosing to spend his last years among a strange people and culture, or was he going to live with the people he knew, with the people with whom he felt closest? Would he speak Greek in a Macedonian village, or would he speak Macedonian? Was he a Greek among Macedonians, or was he... a MACEDONIAN?

                              Changing the Name of the Novel

                              The book was written by Kazantzakis and published in Greek in 1946 during the civil war between Macedonians and Greeks. The original title was "The Life and Times of Alexe Zormpa". Zormpa? How peculiar? But you did notice that the book originally was not called "Zorba The Greek".

                              When the book was first translated into English in 1952 the title of the book was changed to "Zorba The Greek." Why? And it was under the new name that the movie was made in 1964 that further helped to make the character of Zorba world famous. It is because of the new English title of the book and the movie that the whole world has been led astray as to the real ethnic and national identity of the legendary character. The world has come to think of Zorba as Greek, but is he?

                              A Close Reading of the Novel: Great Truths Revealed

                              There is no better evidence as to the ethnic and national identity of Zorba than the text of Kazantzakis' book itself.

                              When the main character in the book first meets Kazantzakis, but before he reveals his name he offers to work for the author as a cook. He says, "I can make soups you've never heard of, or thought of." That is Kazantzakis dropping the first clue about the name, Zorba as Chorba in Macedonian.

                              When asked his name the character replies as , follows: "Alexis Zorba. Sometimes they call me Baker's Shovel because I'm so lanky and my head is flattened like a griddlecake. Or else I'm called Passa Tempo because there was a time when I hawked roast pumpkin seeds. They call me Mildew too, because wherever I go, they say I get up to my tricks. Everything goes to the dogs. I have other nicknames as well, but we'll leave them for another time..."

                              Look now! As soon as we meet Zorba we find out he had many names! What is truly fascinating is how the nicknames he gives show a progression of decay, from a name associated with baking fresh bread, then the passing of time, and then mildew when bread turns bad and can't be eaten. What kind of tricks is Kazantzakis talking about? Is it tricks with names? Is that a clue from Kazantzakis to look out for word tricks?

                              Kazantzakis provides a further clue in the book when he writes further on, "Everything in this world has a hidden meaning ... men, animals, trees, stars ... (and notice that last one) ... it is only years later, too late, that you understand." Kazantzakis tells us that there are hidden meanings and to look further.

                              Let's look closer. The author has Zorba describe Macedonia. Now notice that in another separate paragraph he has Zorba speak about Greece, Bulgaria and Constantinople. Why does he place these in separate paragraphs you might wonder? Kazantzakis was a master writer, a master craftsman, and perhaps the greatest writer that Greece has produced in this century. It is not simply chance that he makes that separation.

                              Then there is the greatest revelation about Zorba. In the book, Zorba, talking about himself says,

                              "O wonderful Slav, may you live a thousand years!"

                              Are Greeks Slavs? Do they ever speak of themselves as being Slavs? Macedonians are Slavs, in an ethnic sense and a religious sense.

                              In the novel, Zorba sings Macedonian songs, a synthesis of "poetry, music and thought" as Kazantzakis describes them. Do you remember Zorba singing Macedonian songs in the movie? No, neither do I. Kazantzakis spoke Greek. He knew the difference between a Greek song and a Macedonian song. He did not use the name Macedonian to mean Greek. Kazantzakis was nobody's fool.

                              The author even asks Zorba to sing a song, "A Macedonian Song of your own country, Zorba". Oh mark Kazantzakis words well!

                              To mark the difference clearly, at another point Kazantzakis writes, "And don't forget, Zorba is a foreigner, a Macedonian, and it is the greatest disgrace we Cretans can bring on ourselves to raise a hand against a guest in our country...

                              Perhaps the saddest and most telling evidence of all about the distortions to Zorba's name is a letter Zorba writes from Romania that he signs, "Alexis Zorbescu". Later he also sends Kazantzakis a card, a postcard, from Serbia that is signed, "Alexis Zorbic". The last time Kazantzakis hears about his friend is a letter that he received from a schoolmaster in Skopje telling him of the death of Alexis Zorba.


                              Kazantzakis Respect for Zorba

                              For Kazantzakis, Zorba was a hero, and he placed him along side of Homer, Nietzche and Bergson whom he called "the bodyguards of the Odyssey", men who protect and develop man's freedom to think in the progression of human history. He elevated Zorba to the very pinnacle of human evolution, human achievement.

                              Kazantzakis believed that what Zorba was offering in his understanding and philosophy of living was a new Decalogue, nothing less than a new set of Ten Commandments for man in this world. He placed Zorba, in the illustrious company with Christ, Dante, Buddha, El Greco and others. It is astonishing, but here we have Kazantzakis, one of the great intellectuals of our age, a one-time Education Minister in the Greek Government, a writer who almost won the Nobel Prize for Literature, placing an ordinary Macedonian among the world's greatest philosophers, poets, painters, and spiritual leaders. Amazing!

                              That is a kind of respect that Macedonians seldom receive openly and publicly. It is also the kind of respect we must learn to give towards ourselves and our history.

                              Kazantzakis knew our history. In the preface to the English translation of his 'Alexander the Great', the translator, Theodora Vasilis, writes, "Zorba, the most popular of his (Kazantzakis') creations was fashioned in the image of the crafty Odysseus." If Odysseus was crafty and cunning we must open both of our eyes! Why did Kazantzakis reject the name 'George' and choose the name 'Alexis'? Was it because he simply liked the sound of the name and pulled it out of a hat? Or was Kazantzakis the writer acting as a 'koom', as a godfather and deliberately chose the name 'Alexis'? Did he do this so that the name would ring a bell of remembrance in our minds, a name associated with somebody? Who? What name? Very likely to remind us of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian who struggled to bring the whole world together, east and west.

                              Notice how both names have three words, the same balance, the same form: Alexander the Great - Zorba the Greek. If we search for the meaning of names we find Alexis means 'to ward off, keep off, protect'. Was the book about Zorba meant to be more than just a novel but a way of speaking to the world about the Macedonian Spirit?

                              Consider the initials of Kazantzakis' hero, 'A.Z.' - like the beginning and the end of the alphabet that Kazantzakis loved so much. And there too is the mysterious biblical "alpha and omega".

                              Was Kazantzakis hiding the true identity of his hero and sending forth a hidden message to the world in his hero's name! Was he doing what Zorba himself had done, changing a letter here and there as he did Romania and Serbia.

                              It was in 1952, three years after the civil war between the Greeks and Macedonians ended, that the book was translated into English with the new title, "Zorba The Greek". Kazantzakis was still alive and surely he knew of the translation. Surely he approved of the name and title to the book, and the question that arises is why did he do it? Why, if Kazantzakis was clearly giving the message throughout his book that Zorba was a Macedonian, with his own country, a Slav who should live for a thousand years, a man whom he admits he loved dearly in his life and for whom he had such respect and regard -- why would he allow the translation into English to be "Zorba The Greek"? What a puzzle?

                              Kazantzakis the Classic Scholar

                              Kazantzakis knew well enough that English is one of the great international world languages. No doubt he wanted his ideas and philosophy and those of Zorba to spread around the world. He even refers to Zorba as the new Sinbad the Sailor and he clearly must have had a world audience in mind.

                              One moment then! Was adding the words "The Greek" some kind of a sham, a trick, a disguise? Was this a hoax, just like their "mining operation" during the war? In the book itself in a dozen different ways he invites the reader to dig, dig, dig for the truth about his much-beloved character.

                              Was the new English title and translation of his book meant to be a mask for Zorba/ Chorba? Was "Zorba" intended to go around the world, disguised as "The Greek", fashioned and crafted to become world famous, and irony of ironies, in the end to reveal himself and to confront and confound the Greek politicians for their conduct towards all Macedonians. Is that what he was letting us know right at the beginning of the book when he was talking about names and wrote, "I get up to my tricks, Everything goes to the dogs?"

                              Observe the classic tradition in story, poetry, songs. In the classic epic songs of Homer, and in the epic songs in the Slavic oral tradition a hero frequently travels in disguise for the real purpose of making a rescue. When there is a disguise there must eventually be a recognition when the disguise is stripped away. In these recognition scenes, almost like a signal there would always be present at the moment of recognition a song or a musical instrument.

                              What Do We Find in the Novel?

                              True to classic tradition, when Zorba reveals himself as a Slav, a Macedonian, he sings and plays the santuri.

                              Who can doubt that Kazantzakis, whose greatest work was The Odyssey, A Modern Sequel, knew of these themes, these traditions of disguise and rescue.

                              Open Letter to Kazantzakis

                              "Nikos! Kazantzakis! I cry out to you in the beyond! I may be wrong about what you have written, what you intended, but I may be right? Throughout your work you called on the human spirit to dare, to look behind the masks of everything as you had spent your life doing. It is still worth doing Nikos!"

                              "I do not think that you meant to cast any insult on the memory of your friend who was dead by misrepresenting him around the world. I do think that you may have been trying to provide him with a kind of peasant's revenge after his death. Did you not, by writing, preserve and rescue for the world that Macedonian whom you had come to know and admire and respect. You rescued him from an almost total oblivion and through your spirit transformed the man into the undying literature of Freedom."

                              "Da ti ye arliya, Nikos"

                              "Nikos, is it time now to take away the disguise of "The Greek", from your friend George Zorba? What a wonderfully crafted mask Nikos, worthy of Odysseus himself. What a comic mask! And beneath that what, the mask of tragedy, the tragedy of Macedonians in Greece?"

                              "But you wouldn't want to leave us with another mask, one of comedy and one of tragedy would you? Where would the rescue and the resurrection be? Didn't you intend that Zorba should hold up and represent, not only the national ethnic identity of man, but much, much, more than that, the classic universal human craving for the ideal of freedom for the body of man."

                              "And didn't you Nikos want the world to know that you and Zorba were the best of friends on a personal level, on a human level, Macedonian and Greek. Weren't you describing a universal human brotherhood of work and struggle together for a kind of freedom for everyone with a decent respect for each other. And wasn't it above all petty politics? Wasn't it a message for politicians too? And wasn't one of the great messages that you wanted any reader to take from your story, your book, "Peace ... for the sake of the children?"

                              Nikos Kazantzakis died in Frieburg, Germany, on October 26th, 1957. His body was taken to Athens to lie in state. The Archbishop of Athens of the Greek Orthodox Church refused to permit the national honour or to celebrate a funeral mass for him. Kazantzakis name and the name of his hero Zorba/Chorba live on around the world and will to the end of time. I don't remember the name of the Archbishop.

                              Conclusion

                              "Zorba the Greek" has been a great international commercial success and a lot of people have been able to cat steak because of it. But steak is a passing thing, and TRUTH STICKS.

                              The evidence from George Zorba's life and from the novel clearly points to the conclusion that Zorba the Greek is in truth, Chorba the Macedonian.

                              Kazantzakis, a one-time Minister of Education in the government of Greece, and perhaps the greatest Greek writer of this century, hails and affirms a Macedonian and places him among the world's leaders.

                              By creating a mask, by writing an excellent novel, by contributing to the great literature of the world, Kazantzakis hid a great Macedonian, to protect and preserve him.

                              He saved, not the man Zorba/ Chorba, but even more important, the memory, the image, the philosophy, the life-view and the world-view of the Macedonian mind alive in the world.

                              The marvelous achievement of Kazantzakis is that he created an indelible universal statement of Freedom and Human Rights with the essential message of "Long Live the Macedonians".

                              And, Kazantzakis did that by beginning with one word SOUP. CHORBA!
                              "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                              GOTSE DELCEV

                              Comment

                              • George S.
                                Senior Member
                                • Aug 2009
                                • 10116

                                Greek NATO Veto of Macedonia
                                a Civil Rights Problem for the EU

                                April 11, 2008

                                Steve Gligorov

                                [email protected]
                                In 1918, the U.S. National Board for Historical Service published its "Handbook for the Diplomatic History: Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1879-1914" under the auspice of the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.

                                The U.S. Handbook of 1918 notes that a sizable portion of the territory known as "Macedonia" was seized by Greece in 1913 under the Treaty of Bucharest. Specifically, this important territorial concession of 1913 split Macedonia and "increased the area of Greece from 25,014 to 41,933 square miles and her population from 2,660,000 to 4,363,000."

                                Presently, this annexed territory and population of Greek citizens who are of ethnic Macedonian descent are revealing their "diachronic" reason behind a Greek veto against the Republic of Macedonia at the last NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

                                U.S. President George W. Bush made it clear that Washington wants Macedonia, along with Croatia and Albania, to join NATO, but American foreign policy interest in the Balkan region was not fully realized in large part due to the Greek veto denying Macedonia NATO accession.

                                Instead, Greek Foreign Minister, Ms. Dora Bakoyanni, noted that E.U. member Greece shall preclude Macedonia from joining NATO because the name "Republic of Macedonia" implies territorial ambitions towards Greece's own northern province, also named Macedonia and annexed under the 1913 treaty.

                                Conversely, the real problem with recognizing Macedonia in NATO, or any other international arena, is the systematic state sponsored civil rights discrimination by the Greek government, according to the "Political Party of the Ethnic Macedonians in Greece," known as "Rainbow European Free Alliance." The Rainbow E.F.A. party in Greece says there is specific "unwillingness of the [Greek] government to allow any private groups or associations to use associational names that include the appellation ...Macedonian, based upon the state party's assertion that there are no ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities in Greece..." who are in fact of Macedonian national origin or ethnicity.

                                The following excerpts and attestations are directly from an April 26, 2005 letter drafted by Greek citizens currently discriminated against because of their Macedonian ethnicity, national origin, or their Macedonian religion. The letter was delivered to the President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, to the Commissioner on EU Enlargement, and to 25 Ministers of EU countries, as well.

                                "As Greek and European citizens we are obliged to point out that today the key to this so-called Macedonian issue lies elsewhere, and not in the conceptual and linguistic objections of the Greek government. The problem that the Greek government diligently conceals is its refusal to recognize the existence and to respect the rights of the Macedonian nation... [and] the existence and the rights of the Macedonian minority in Greece. The problem as the Greek government presents it has nothing to do with the so called 'cultural heritage of ancient Macedonia,' or that a portion of the Greek territory bears the administrative name of the District of Macedonia and the neighbor state calls itself also Macedonia or the Republic of Macedonia.

                                What the Greek government stubbornly refuses to admit is that it does not agree with the ethnic use of the terms 'Macedonia,' or 'Macedonian' because of the existence of the Macedonian minority in Greece. Greek politicians maintain that the Macedonian minority in Greece is likely in the future to rise up with separatist demands. This - and not the name of the Republic of Macedonia - is the real and diachronic problem for every Greek government. However, if the Greek government admits this, then it must also proceed with corresponding measures to recognize and respect the rights of the minority - which, unfortunately, it does not currently do..."

                                In light of the Greek NATO veto, the Macedonian Foreign Minister, Antonio Milososki, described the Greek state discrimination against people of Macedonian national origin as follows: "It is very regretful for the principles of democracy that Macedonia's bid for NATO membership was punished, not because of what we have done but because of who we are. We are Macedonians and our country is the Republic of Macedonia. And it will remain so forever."

                                California minority rights attorneys, Lenny Bush and Michael Rollins, agree that the Macedonia and Greece name dispute "…is nothing more than garden variety government sponsored discrimination based on race or ethnicity." Both conclude "the E.U. and NATO can learn from U.S. federal law when it comes to resolving race-based or ethnic discrimination among member states."
                                "Ido not want an uprising of people that would leave me at the first failure, I want revolution with citizens able to bear all the temptations to a prolonged struggle, what, because of the fierce political conditions, will be our guide or cattle to the slaughterhouse"
                                GOTSE DELCEV

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X