The Greek State’s Approach for the Extinction of the Macedonian People’s
Identity and Culture
By George Nitsou (Goche Nichov)
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The Greek state's approach for the extinction of the Macedonian people's
identity and culture after the occupation of Aegean Macedonia as a result
of the Balkan Wars in 1912-13 took many forms and at different stages.
These approaches and stages are as follows:
1. The Political Approach - The Greek state's first priority was to
"decapitate" the Macedonian leadership by forcing the Macedonian elites,
including priests and teachers out of Greece. Their properties were
confiscated and they were given no option to return. My father-in-law's
father was from the village of Labanitsa and being a teacher in Macedonian
was expelled from Greece. This led him and his family to move to Bulgaria.
His wife's father who was from the village of Exsisou and a priest in
the Exarchate Church of the village was also expelled to Bulgaria with
his family.
2. The Identity Approach - The next step of the Greek state was to
destroy the historical evidence of the Macedonian culture existing in
the Aegean part. That included the destruction of the Exarchate Churches
in villages where Patriarchal Churches also existed, or to architecturally
redesign the interior of the other Macedonian Churches to match the
architectural style of the Greek Church. The Greeks destroyed the Slavic
Church icons containing Cyrillic lettering and replaced them with Greek
script. For instance, the Exarchate Church in the village of Zhelevo
was completely destroyed and at the same time the Patriarchal Church
in the village was restructured. Furthermore, the Greek state forcefully
changed the Macedonian names of all the people, towns and villages into
new Greek-sounding names. For instance, the name "Done Trokov" was changed
to "Antonios Trokas". The village of "Zhelevo" became "Antartiko", "Breznitsa"
became "Vatahori".
3. The Economic Approach - This approach was based on the concept of
"let them be poor and have limited literacy." The Greek state placed
Greek-oriented Orthodox refugees into the Macedonian villages. These
were refugees resulting from the Greek-Turkish War of 1919. These refugees
were given land deeds to the best agricultural land previously owned
by the Turkish "beys". The Greek state refused to provide land deeds
to the local Macedonians for the land they had historically occupied.
After the Greek Civil War ended in 1949, properties of Macedonian partisans
who fled Greece after the Civil War were confiscated by the Greek state.
These Macedonian partisans were refused the political amnesty that was
given to Greek partisans since the Macedonian partisans were not considered
"of Greek birth".
4. The Linguistic Approach - This approach embraced the idea of "speak
Greek or else!" The Metaxas Fascist dictatorship in Greece (1936-1941)
passed a law that prohibited the speaking of the Macedonian language.
They did this by imposing draconian financial court fines for even one
word spoken in Macedonian. These draconian fines instigated by informers,
police and the Greek teachers had a devastating impact on the Macedonian
adult population. This fear of speaking the Macedonian language even
lingers today in some of those who were alive during that terrible period.
Even children were punished during that time. My wife's mother who
was born in Breznitsa was heard speaking one Macedonian word in her
classroom. As punishment, she had to kneel on a pile of sharp twigs
for three hours in front of the class as her punishment. This was done
as a lesson to the other children not to speak Macedonian. Her brother
was hit on the ear so violently by the same teacher for speaking Macedonian
that her brother's ear bled badly. These gross violations of even young
children were permitted. Parents plagued with fear so deeply instilled
in their souls had no right of recourse.
This strategy of "speak Greek or else" was taken even further by the
dictatorship of Papadopoulos in the 1960-70s. The children in the Macedonian
village were taken away for the entire day to so-called "daycare" centers
away from their Macedonian grandmothers and were forced through fear
of punishment to only speak Greek. The children were also told in these
centres that when they returned home to ask their parents to speak to
them only in Greek.
Fearing state reprisal, children were warned by parents not to speak
any Macedonian in public or in the classroom. The fear that was instilled
in the parents about the speaking of Macedonian during the Metaxas dictatorship
combined with the fear instilled in the youngsters in the "daycare"
centers during the Papadopoulos military dictatorship. This resulted
in the "forced" habit of speaking Greek in the Macedonian home. The
speaking of Greek in the Macedonian family was being further reinforced
by the lack of any Macedonian schooling for the children.
5. The Ideological Approach - The strategy of the Greek state - taking
into consideration the sensitivity towards the "Macedonian issue" with
its Slav neighbours - is to downplay these discussions and keep them
to a minimum. The Greek Government likes to pretend that the "Macedonian
issue" is non-existent. However behind closed doors, the use of police
files which are compiled based on the individual or his family's activities,
is very much alive. If a citizen asks for state employment, military
advancement, high school admission, business permits, passports, etc.,
they will not be successful unless their police file is considered "clean".
Those citizens who support calls for a Macedonian Church to be built
or Macedonian schools to be opened are not looked at favourably. Such
"undesirable" individuals sometimes face the risk of intimidation by
the "goons" working for the state.
6. Queen Frederica's Schools - The children who attended Frederica's
schools in Leros and elsewhere were chosen by various criteria. In the
case of the children returning to Greece from the Communist countries,
they were admitted into these schools in order to "correct" their "political
ideological indoctrination".
During the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), it is estimated that 28,000
children were evacuated to Communist countries. Most of them were Macedonians
but there were also children from Epirus and Thrace who were also evacuated.
Frederica's schools were recommended for these young people returning
to Greece so that their minds could be "cleansed" from any Communist
or atheistic teachings they had encountered while abroad. The majority
of the young people who returned to Greece from the Communist countries
and attended the Technical School in Leros were of Macedonian origin
but also there were a number of Greek children from Epirus and Thrace
returning from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Tashkent in the
former USSR.
Other children from the mainland of Greece were invited to attend these
schools. These children were predominantly from mountainous or economically-deprived
villages. The main educational goal for these children was to teach
them a trade that would be useful to them upon return to the village.
June 2024
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Source: www.pollitecon.com
