The Sixty Two Killed from the Village Frangoch

In the western plains of the Vermion mountain is the Kajlarsko village Frangoch. Before the Second World War it had about 325 houses with 2,500 residents.

In the years of the Nazi occupation the whole village took part and sacrificed itself in the battle for the liberation of our homeland. All of the villagers were organized in the ranks of EAM and EPON and more than 200 youths fought with the famous liberation army of ELAS. This attracted the hatred of the German occupiers and their collaborators. On 8 March 1944, the village was attacked by bands of the regiment leader Pulos. They entered the village and set fire to some houses immediately and killed a villager. They shamefully assaulted a large number of women and girls and arrested 25 villagers, whom they transferred to the village Dzhuma (Kozhani region) and kept them there like prisoners. Many of the villagers with sheep and other livestock managed to save themselves, escaping to the mountain, which was covered in snow.

Among the captured villagers, they killed Georgi Toshev the very first night while the others were brutally tortured. They sent one of them to the village to tell them to take up arms and to fight against ELAS. But the answer was "No!" On 9 March they shot the captured villagers in the Kozhani prisons where they had been kept for seven days, hungry and tortured. That was the first attack against the village.

The second attack was on 16 March the same year, at 2 o'clock. This time the bands did not come alone. With them they had 30 Germans with five tanks. The villagers found out that the Germans were coming but they did not manage to escape in time. The bands and Germans surrounded the village and had captured the roads that led to the mountains. At the same time they began to shoot from the tanks against the people who were escaping, and so not many managed to escape and rather fell into the hands of the bands and the Germans. They arrested many villagers and took them to the village square where brutal killing orgies took place. They burned down more than 200 houses and 300 barns. They shamed many women and girls and cut the throats of 56 people. The first whose throat was cut was the Kozhani representative Saris. The others whose throats were cut were:

1. Andrea Stefan
2. Antonev Mihal
3. Antoneva Gjorga
4. Bojchev Anastas
5. Bojchev Ilija
6. Bojari Trifon
7. Gajtadzhiev Dimitri
8. Genga Miltiadi
9. Dala Ahilea
10. Dala Anton
11. Dala Anastas
12. Ichkov Nikola
13. Karatashi Teodos
14. Karatashi Sana
15. Karatashi Olga
16. Karajani Anastas
17. Kapetanov Vangel
18. Kapetanova Done
19. Karapeov Nake
20. Karapeov Nikola
21. Kote Stojan
22. Kote Hristo
23. Kote Kosta
24. Kote Vangel
25. Kote Gligor
26. Mingov Georgi
27. Mingov Dimitri
28. Mingova Velika
29. Manchov Vangel
30. Manchova Dota
31. Manolaki Niko
32. Niko Anton
33. Papa Kosta
34. Papa Nikola
35. Papa Ipokrati
36. Pejov Kozma
37. Pejov Stojan
38. Pejov Pejo
39. Pejov Apostol
40. Ruskov Nikola
41. Sekilaru Kata
42. Svrtini Hristo
43. Svrtini Nikola
44. Tashov Georgi
45. Tuni Aristoteli
46. Chuara Dimitri
47. Chuara Trandafil
48. Chuara Sokrati
49. Chuara Panagi
50. Chuara Kosta
51. Chuara Zlata
52. Chavdari Nikola
53. Janka Jani
54. Janka Vangel
55. Janchev Vasili
56. Jancheva Stojna

After the massive and terrible killing the villagers who remained alive left the village and sought refuge in the surrounding villages: Komano, Ineli and elsewhere. Some went to Negush and other villages further away. Then the bands found time to destroy the village entirely and even take stones and building blocks from Frangoch to their own villages. They were in a fury and surrounded the nearby villages where the surviving villagers had escaped to and searched under trees and rocks to find them and killed whoever they found. In Komano they killed the young son of Eftim Manchov and took four Frangoch villagers to Kozhani and killed them there.

The massive participation of the Frangoch villagers in the battles against the Nazi occupiers and the sacrifice of the whole village was a great contribution of the Macedonian people to the general struggle with the brotherly Greek people against fascism, for liberation and democracy.

T Rizov

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

© 2009

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