Tashominovski Kocho

The family of Vane Tashominovski lived in the village Zabrdeni, Lerin region. He had no property and his whole life he worked as the village cowherd. His wife, aunty Nuna, was a farm day labourer. In 1922 the first boy - Kocho - was born to the family of Vane and Nuna. Later on, Aspasija and Jane. The fate of the three children was the same as theirs. Kocho and Jane cowherds and Aspasija farm labourer.

When he reached the age of 13-14 Kocho began to work as a free worker on the streets and later in the mines of Banica and Krushorad.

At the time of the Nazi occupation, Kocho and his mother worked as couriers for the CPG and the other people's liberation organizations in the Banica region. He continued the same work after the Varkiza agreement and because of that they were arrested many times and tortured by the monarcho-fascist forces. But they ceaselessly and fearlessly continued the dangerous but honest work as couriers.

Later the whole Tashominovski family was in the ranks of DAG. Father, mother, brothers and sister. Who could fail to recall aunty Nuna as a carrier in the great battles on Gramos in 1948? Who could fail to recall her tireless work at the emplacements, in the furnaces on Gramos, on Smrdesh and elsewhere? Her daughter Aspasija, who was known under the pseudonym Sloboda, fought heroically in Western and Eastern Macedonia and rose to an officer rank in DAG. Her youngest son Jane fought bravely too and on 28 -7-49 he died as an officer in Tambura on Gramos.

And Kocho continued to work for DAG as a courier as he had before. He was a courier in the headquarters of DAG for Western Macedonia. He carried out difficult and dangerous missions. He took letters from Vich to Kajmachkalan. He had to go through many dangerous places. He had to cross the Lerin plain. He had to cross the railway line Lerin-Solun, the road Lerin-Solun, Lerin-Kozhani and others. Kocho knew the places, the roads and, most importantly, the people in that region and all of that enabled him to carry out his difficult and serious mission successfully.

Many times in summer and winter weather he crossed the Lerin plain going to Kajmachkalan and returning to Vich. However, one spring day in 1948, returning from Kajmachkalan he did not reach the headquarters. Near Vortolomsko he fell to an enemy trap and was badly wounded. In those hard moments Kocho did not think of his wound, or that he was suffering terribly, nor that he was dying so young, nor about his death which was approaching. There was only one thought that troubled him; how could he gather his strength together to get to the headquarters or to the closest DAG unit so that he could hand over the post. So that the letter would not fall into the hands of the enemy, he put it into his mouth. With great effort, he dragged himself and reached almost all the way to Kotori. His last strength left him there and the DAG partisans found him there half-dead. His first task was to hand to them the part-chewed letter. Then he closed his eyes and died with a sweet smile on his lips.

From: For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom Fighters

© 2009

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