Παιδομάζωμα - Communist child abductions in the Greek civil war

[Orphic_Hymn]

Στα ΖΑΓΟΡΟΧΩΡΙΑ ήρθαν νέα στοιχεία για την ανθρωποφαγία του Εμφύλιου

Φως στον ξεριζωμό

Του ΤΑΚΗ ΔΙΑΜΑΝΤΗ

Το πιο πικρό κομμάτι της νεότερης ιστορίας της Ελλάδας -αυτό του ξεριζωμού εκατοντάδων χιλιάδων ανθρώπων- στη διάρκεια αλλά και μετά τον Εμφύλιο, το οποίο σημάδεψε και μέχρι σήμερα ακόμα εξακολουθεί να σημαδεύει την ελληνική κοινωνία, ξαναζωντάνεψε τις ημέρες αυτές.

Ηταν σε μια τριήμερη συνάντηση που πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Ζαγόρι, στο χωριό Μονοδένδρι, οργανωμένο από το Δίκτυο για τη Μελέτη των Εμφυλίων Πολέμων και το ΕΛΙΑ, με τη χορηγία του υπουργείου Πολιτισμού.

Ενα μεστό τριήμερο, γεμάτο μνήμες από την τραγική εκείνη περίοδο, αλλά και αρκετές απαντήσεις σε ερωτήματα που γεννήθηκαν στην ταραγμένη περίοδο που ακολούθησε τον Εμφύλιο και σε κάποιο βαθμό εξακολουθούν να υπάρχουν μέχρι και σήμερα.

Μνήμες από τον εξανδραποδισμό μεγάλων τμημάτων πληθυσμού κυρίως από τη Βόρεια Ελλάδα, από τα καραβάνια ανδρών και γυναικών του Δημοκρατικού Στρατού που έφευγαν με προορισμό τη Σοβιετική Ενωση, την Τσεχοσλοβακία, την Ουγγαρία, τη Ρουμανία και ακόμα τη Γιουγκοσλαβία του Τίτο. Και μαζί, από τα καραβάνια των παιδιών, που ομάδες ομάδες περνούσαν μέσα στη νύχτα τα σύνορα, για να οδηγηθούν σε άλλες, «ασφαλείς» χώρες.

Το έγκλημα

Το γνωστό «παιδομάζωμα», όπως χαρακτηρίστηκε τότε από την κυβερνητική προπαγάνδα, σε αντιδιαστολή προς το «παιδοφύλαγμα», το αντίστοιχο πρόγραμμα, που σχεδιάσθηκε τότε και εφαρμόσθηκε υπό την αιγίδα της Φρειδερίκης, με σκοπό τη συγκέντρωση παιδιών από τη Βόρεια Ελλάδα σε διάφορες νότιες περιοχές και κυρίως νησιά, τάχα για την προστασία τους.

Πρακτικές που προκάλεσαν τότε την αντίδραση του ΟΗΕ, ο οποίος μάλιστα τις είχε καταδικάσει ως έγκλημα κατά της ανθρωπότητας και είχε ζητήσει την άμεση επιστροφή των προσφύγων -και κυρίως των παιδιών- στις εστίες τους, πράγμα που όχι μόνο δεν έγινε φυσικά, αλλά έμεινε για πολλά χρόνια κρυφό από την κοινή γνώμη, ίσα ίσα για να διατηρεί το πνεύμα του διχασμού που κυριάρχησε στη χώρα για δεκαετίες.

Κύριοι ομιλητές στη συνάντηση ήταν κυρίως πανεπιστημιακοί δάσκαλοι, οι οποίοι παρουσίασαν σημαντικές εργασίες ως προϊόν πολύχρονης και επίπονης έρευνας. Παρόντες όμως και ο πρώην γ.γ. του ΚΚΕ Γρηγόρης Φαράκος, καθώς και ο Θανάσης Μητσόπουλος, πρώην καπετάνιος του ΕΛΑΣ, οι οποίοι έδωσαν το δικό τους βάρος, φωτίζοντας ιδιαίτερες πτυχές του θέματος.

Για παράδειγμα, η αναφορά του Γρ. Φαράκου στη χρησιμοποίηση των παιδιών του «παιδομαζώματος» από το ΚΚΕ, στο πλαίσιο ενός «σχεδίου» που είχε σκοπό να δημιουργήσει εφεδρικές μάχιμες ομάδες που στη συνέχεια θα έρχονταν στην Ελλάδα για να ενισχύσουν το Δημοκρατικό Στρατό. Ενα σχέδιο που δεν πραγματοποιήθηκε φυσικά, λόγω της ήττας και της λήξης του Εμφυλίου, ωστόσο πήρε άλλη μορφή αργότερα, με την αποστολή στελεχών από το εξωτερικό στην Ελλάδα, για την ανασύνταξη ομάδων του Δημοκρατικού Στρατού, πράγμα που αποδείχτηκε τραγικό λάθος, καθώς εκτός των άλλων οδήγησε στη σύλληψη και την εκτέλεση (ομάδα Μπελογιάννη, Πλουμπίδη κ.ά.), τη μακρόχρονη φυλάκιση ή την εξορία εκατοντάδων σημαντικών στελεχών του ΚΚΕ.

Πολιτικά παιχνίδια

Για τους πολιτικούς πρόσφυγες και τα παιδιά που κατέληξαν τότε στις σοσιαλιστικές χώρες του Ανατολικού Μπλοκ, ιδιαίτερη αναφορά έγινε στις κοινότητες που δημιουργήθηκαν στην Τσεχοσλαβακία, στην Ουγγαρία (όπου δημιουργήθηκε το χωριό Μπελογιάννης), στη Ρουμανία, καθώς και, από την πλευρά της Σοβιετικής Ενωσης, στην Τασκένδη, με επίκεντρο το ρόλο των κοινοτήτων αυτών και την αντιμετώπιση που είχαν από τις χώρες υποδοχής τους, αλλά και της πολιτικής που ακολούθησε απέναντί τους και τα «παιχνίδια» που προσπάθησε να παίξει μαζί τους η ίδια η ηγεσία του ΚΚΕ.

Συγκεκριμένα, αναφέρθηκε πώς το ΚΚΕ χρησιμοποίησε κατά καιρούς τις κοινότητες των πολιτικών προσφύγων, ωστόσο έχασε την επιρροή του σ' αυτές με τον καιρό και ιδιαίτερα μετά τη διάσπαση που ξεκίνησε από τη Ρουμανία, αν και στο μεταξύ είχε αρχίσει η αφομοίωση, ιδιαίτερα των παιδιών, από τις κοινωνίες των χωρών στις οποίες βρίσκονταν.

Μεγαλύτερο βάρος δόθηκε στους πολιτικούς πρόσφυγες που κατέληξαν στη Γιουγκοσλαβία του Τίτο και κυρίως στην πρώην Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία της Μακεδονίας, στην οποία με την παρουσία τους έπαιξαν σημαντικό ρόλο στη διαμόρφωση της πολιτικής που αναπτύχθηκε τότε έναντι της Ελλάδας και που εξακολουθεί να υφίσταται και να επηρεάζει τις διμερείς σχέσεις μέχρι σήμερα.

(ΣΣ Αρχικά στα Σκόπια είχε διαφύγει, στη διάρκεια του Εμφυλίου, το μεγαλύτερο μέρος δύο ταγμάτων Σλαβομακεδόνων που ήσαν ενταγμένα στο Δημοκρατικό Στρατό, αφού διασπάστηκαν από αυτόν, με αφορμή μία απόπειρα εξοπλισμού βουλγαρόφωνων κατοίκων διαφόρων χωριών της Καστοριάς από βουλγαρικές οργανώσεις, σε μια συνάντηση που είχε πραγματοποιηθεί μεταξύ Σλαβομακεδόνων ηγετών και εκπροσώπων του Δημοκρατικού Στρατού στην περιοχή της Πρέσπας.

Στη συνέχεια όμως, μετά το τέλος του Εμφυλίου και για αρκετά χρόνια αργότερα, έφτασαν στα Σκόπια πολιτικοί πρόσφυγες -ακόμα και μη Σλαβομακεδόνες- προερχόμενοι και από άλλες σοσιαλιστικές χώρες, σε αρκετές περιπτώσεις μάλιστα, όπως αναφέρουν μαρτυρίες, με την προτροπή υπαλλήλων των ελληνικών διπλωματικών αποστολών. Η κατάληξη ωστόσο ήταν όλοι αυτοί οι πρόσφυγες να παγιδευτούν, εκόντες άκοντες, στα Σκόπια, μετά το νόμο για την επιστροφή της ιθαγένειας που ψηφίστηκε επί Ανδρέα Παπανδρέου και ο οποίος επέτρεψε την επιστροφή ενός μεγάλου αριθμού προσφύγων από τις πρώην σοσιαλιστικές χώρες, με τη -φωτογραφική- εξαίρεση «όσων δεν είναι το γένος Ελληνες», πράγμα που άφησε εγκλωβισμένους όλους εκείνους που θέλοντας ή όχι είχαν καταλήξει στα Σκόπια).

Ενα αρνητικό στοιχείο πάντως στην πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα αυτή συνάντηση του Πολυδενδρίου ήταν η απουσία κάποιων από τους πρωταγωνιστές της περιόδου εκείνης, οι οποίοι με τις μαρτυρίες τους θα μπορούσαν να δώσουν περισσότερο ανθρώπινη χροιά στα συμπεράσματά των, σημαντικών κατά τα άλλα, επιστημονικών ερευνών.


ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΤΥΠΙΑ - 17/07/2003

[Ptolemy]

(EXCERPT FROM):

I FONI TIS IRINIS (THE VOICE OF IRENE)

I Martyria tis Irinis Damopoulou apo to Paidomazoma

(The Testimony of Irene Damopoulou from the Child-gathering)

By Ioannis Bougas

Erodios Publishing House

Thessaloniki, 2006

Part II (Chapter 19), pages 124 – 127

The KKE (Communist Party of Greece) Constructs Slavomacedonians

It was decided by KKE officials in our community in Florika [Romania] to divide the inmates of the base into Greeks and Slavomacedonians. This division into Greeks and Slavomacedonians started in school. The primary person responsible for the classification of children into one or the other group was the teacher Kostas Triantafyllides from Kalohori, Kastoria [Greece]. Although he had studied to become a teacher in Greece, he had become a fanatical communist, Slavomacedonian, and a persecutor of Greeks. He had personally thrown my brother Ilia and me out of the Greek school [in Florika]. He told us that we were Slavomacedonians and not Greek because we were from St. Demetrios [Greece], which according to him was a village solely of Slavomacedonians.

Since my brother and I refused to declare that we were Slavomacedonians and refused to take courses in Slavomacedonci, we were also thrown out of the Romanian school for three days. Our dismissal from school above all created a problem of survival as we had no more right to food from the school mess hall. When my mother complained to the community leaders because we were not given food, she was told that there was nothing that they could do and that we should think of the consequences of our denial to identify as Slavomacedonians.

Then my mother went to the school to complain. She found one of the teachers, a man named Mr. Nikos from Kilkis [Greece]. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his family name.

“Comrade Niko, why have you thrown my children out of school?” she asked.

“Because you are Slavomacedonians from St. Demetrios!” he answered. “Your children need to change schools and attend the Slavomacedonian school.”

My mother retorted, “Comrade Niko, you are making a big mistake! My children and me are Greeks! We are descendants of Alexander the Great! We have nothing to do with Slavomacedonians. Just because we lived in St. Demetrios, doesn’t mean that we are Slavomacedonians! My father was a Greek priest and fought against the [Bulgarian] komitadjis so that Macedonia could remain Greek. I heard that you, comrade, originate from Pontus [Asia Minor]. With your logic, you should be Turkish then!”

My mother’s fervent complaints had a positive effect, I suppose. My brother and I returned to the Romanian school and continued to take Greek and not Slavomacedonian classes.

The Greek communists on the Florika base also tried to divide the adults into Greeks and Slavomacedonians. They created a committee of communist members that visited the inhabitants of the base one by one so that they can classify them into one or the other group. It was evident however that for many people, the committee members had already decided the result before the visits. Perhaps these visits were a means to inform the inhabitants of their classification, or a means to convince them of it.

Many inhabitants were greatly shocked when they learned that from one day to the next they had become Slavomacedonians. Some actually dared to complain. Others on the other hand accepted the committee’s decision without a word. This should not come as a surprise to anyone today as we lived under such oppressive conditions that all decisions depended on the communist leadership of the community.

When the committee members came to our room to classify my mother, she was naturally informed that she was Slavomacedonian. My mother however, did not accept this. My brother and I cried and pleaded with her to accept so as to avoid seeming oppositional because we were afraid that the community leaders would take her away from us into exile again. My mother however did not hold back her tongue and did not display any fear as she harshly criticized the Greek Communist Party’s plan.

“Comrade Elpida, I had heard of you but I never imagined that you would be so difficult,” said one of the committee members who had visited our room that evening.

After visiting our family, the members went to see an old lady who lived in the next room. Like us, she was from Macedonia [Greece] and had also been brought as a hostage by the KKE to Romania. Unlike us though, she had originally been a refugee from Asia Minor but had immigrated to Greece after the Asian Minor [Ottoman Turkish ethnic cleansing] Catastrophe. My brother and I were listening behind her door:

“How should we classify you granny? Greek or Slavomacedonian?” they asked.

“Greek! How else, my children? I am from Asia Minor, poor old me! What business do I have with Slavomacedonians?” she replied.

http://history-of-macedonia.com/word...ne-damopoulou/

[akritas]

Greek and slavmacedonci "children" in 60s.......





all these "children" educated and grew in iron curtain countries.!!


source
Child Gathering Vol II, Education and Teaching of the kidnapping Greek children, Georgios Manoukas, 1967

[Orphic_Hymn]

As the Twig Is Bent


Give us the child for eight years,
and it will be a Bolshevist forever.

—Lenin


In the bleak city hall of Kozane, a northern Greek mountain town, 13 peasants stood before a U. N. field team. The peasants had been hostages of General Markos Vafiades' Communist Andartes. In the mixed Greek-Slav-Albanian dialect of the Macedonian border people, they haltingly told their story.

Black-shawled Athena Papalexiou, 50, spoke first. "All children between 3 and 14 are being registered by the Andartes," she said. The rebels had told the parents that the children would be sent to good homes in the Slav "democracies." "Would the children come back again?" asked'an investigator. "It was forbidden to discuss the matter," replied Athena.

John Natsis and Zagarus Voiliotis had been billeted with a widower in Kranies, in the rebel-controlled northwest corner of Greece. They had watched the widower give the names and ages of his three children to a rebel officer and a clerk. "They told him he must be glad that his children would be taken away to the safety of other countries," said the two peasants. "They said soon the Monarcho-Fascists would bomb Kranies, and in Rumania his children would receive a good education."

When Athens newspapers blared forth the story of "mass kidnaping," some foreigners were skeptical, at first. But a sensitive Greek nerve was touched. Greeks never forget that for centuries the armies and government of their conquerors, the Turks, had been manned by children of Christian families, caught young and trained for their jobs.

Were Greeks to be ruled again by their own children, kidnaped and alienated? Confirmation came from the rebels themselves. The Communist radio in northern Greece bluntly announced that 12,000 Greek children had been "recruited for educational purposes." Markos agents were already negotiating with Balkan members of the Cominform, including Rumania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, to provide homes for the recruits.*

Said an Athens spokesman: the plan "was intended to destroy Greece by destroying Greece's future—her youth." The Greek government hurried off a sharp note to the U.N. Balkan committee in Salonika, charging the Reds with "genocide," and asked for immediate action. Two committees were appointed and the issue labeled "top priority."

As the U.N. committee waited for the report of its investigators, the Markos radio went on the air again. From 69 villages of "free Greece," a broadcast reported, 4,884 children had already been transported across the frontier into Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria "for maintenance and education."


* Historian Arnold J. Toynbee points out that the Turks transferred to human administration a great invention of their Caspian steppe home land: the use of domestic animals to control other animals. As they had trained dogs to watch their herds, "the Ottoman Padishahs maintained their empire by training slaves as human auxil iaries 'to assist them in keeping order among their 'human cattle.' " The most promising of the children were taken into the court as pages, oth ers were farmed out temporarily as slaves. In struction in the Mohammedan faith, hard labor, savage punishment, meticulous education and an unceasing appeal to ambition developed a gov erning and military class of "human watchdogs" that kept the Ottoman power flourishing through four centuries (1371-1774).


TIME

[Ptolemy]

THE CRY OF IRENE
The true story of a young girl, Irene Damopoulou from Kastoria, in western Macedonia, that began during the years of the internal Greek conflict (1946-1949)



By Ioannis Bougas
.................................................. ............................................
.................................................. ............................................
“Paidomazwma”

A short time after my uncle left for the safety of the city of Kastoria, our village passed under the control of the DSE, and became part of the area that the guerillas proudly called “Free Greece”. Then we heard for the first time about Paidomazwma, the plan of the Communist Party of Greece to take young children from their parents and bring them inside the communist countries. We heard that the children, accompanied by some women, were led to cross the borders into Albania or Yugoslavia, and from there they were spread into camps in all the communist countries of Eastern Europe.

Our village, and the neighboring one, Ieropigi, because they are very close to the border with Albania became often station for many children of Paidomazwma on their way to Iron Curtain. The children stopped there, for one or more nights, in order to regain their strength and until those leading them organize the crossing of the border undetected.

I remember very well, even today, three shipments of children that stopped in our village and slept in several homes there. One shipment they said that had children from Thessaly, and another from the area of Kozani. However, the third and last shipment that stopped in our village, is the one that has remained more clearly in my memory. The children were coming mainly from Epirus. I believe that it was during the month of March. The weather was very cold, and the icy winds were very strong, when they brought the children and distributed them to various homes in the village to sleep.

The next day those leading the children ordered the villagers to bring their work animals – horses, mulls, and donkeys- in the center of the village. They also asked them to bring along those big coffins used to transport the raisins from the wine fields to make the wine. In the coffins they were placing two-two or three-three the small children that could not walk. Their mothers, who had carried them until that point, could not carry them any further, since they were going to enter Albania, and they had to be separated from them.

Most children were crying hard and were trying to exit the coffins and come down from the animals. The mothers of the children were also crying and pulling their hair. Many of those children were very young; perhaps their mothers were still breast-feeding them. As the convoy was getting ready to leave, those in charge separated all the mothers that had come along and pushed them away from the children. Several of them began to cry very loudly, pulling their hair and calling the names of their children. The guerillas from their side were screaming as well. They were swearing and ordering on the mothers of the children to stop following. We were observing from our home those tragic scenes that were occurring a few meters away.

After a while the convoy left, with the animals carrying the young children inside the coffins and the older children following on foot, in the direction of the Albanian border. However, we learned that for some reason they were forced to stay in the forests, near the border, for three whole days. A rumor was spread then in our village, claiming that several young children died from the cold.

{The above brief description of Paidomazwma by Irene Damopoulou as she saw it in 1948, in the small border village near Kastoria, coincides with the description given by other eyewitnesses of this terrible crime. This is how G. Manoukas describes it: “In many places the abduction of the children had taken the form of battle. Children who were abducted from villages that were under the control of the (Greek) Army were taken during the night through raids by units of guerillas. They were asking all the guerilla units in the area to protect the convoys of children. In the middle were the children, while the partisans placed themselves in front, back and on the sides. Between them, were the mothers holding their babies in their arms. They had been ordered to carry their babies until reaching the border, and then pass them to “forwarding units”.

Many children tried to escape from the moving convoys, and for that reason they had taken special measures transferring them. They always moved the convoys of children during the evening. I have never seen a more dramatic moment than that of the children leaving their parents!!! I could not sleep during the fifteen days that this drama lasted, from the emotion I had felt. The children were arriving in the border by the hundreds, in horrible condition from suffering on the road for many days. Some were ill! The parents were kissing their children once, twice, … a thousand times. They would start to leave, after hugging and kissing their children, and then they would return calling out, “Wait! Let us kiss our children again”!! In groups the women, the mothers, were standing silent, some were lamenting until the carriages with the black belongings disappeared. The forests were full of the cries of the mothers who were left behind…”. ([6], pg 16-17).

In another place of the book, he says: “… Some, perhaps many, were lost on the road, because their move through the mountains by foot was not easy, especially during winter. For the parents, the abduction of a child is a much worst calamity even than the death of a child. The overall picture of this event was unbelievably tragic. When they were bringing the children in the arranged places to leave, they were screaming, and the mothers were crying and begging. Every attempt to keep their children was rebuffed abruptly. The village mothers were shocked, and knew that any resistance had no chance to succeed. ([7], pg 48)}.

I remember that during that period my mother became very concerned about the safety of my brother and myself. She wouldn’t let us go far from our house. I heard her talk with my two aunts how they were going to respond to a situation if the communists would ask them to take us to Albania. What my mother had feared soon became reality. One morning they called with bullhorns (“xonia”) by name all those who had young children to come to the center of the village to explain to them their decision to take the children away into the Iron Curtain countries for their “protection”. Naturally, they called my mother and my two aunts. My mother and my aunts Alexandra Lazaridi and Polytimi Ralli refused to give their children. My aunt Polytimi was at that time a widow with three boys. Her older son, Demetrios, was placed in the public orphanage of Kastoria. In the village, with her, were her two other boys, Vangelis – her second boy and little Theofanis, the third one.

My mother, despite the threats and the pressure by the communists, adamantly refused to give away my brother and me, insisting that we were very young and already orphans by missing a father. As I have mentioned earlier, my father had disappeared before the birth of my little brother. The people from KKE who came to the village for the Paidomazwma, but also the locals who were giving them information, warned my mother and my aunts that they not only would feel terribly sorry for their refusal, but their children would suffer a lot because of them. For several days after that, my mother would not allow us to go out of our house at al to play. Not too long after that, one evening, the the Paidomazwma took place. They gathered all the children of Agios Demetrios, took them into Albania, and a child’s voice could not be heard in the village anymore.

Unfortunately, they also took the last-born son of my aunt Polytimi, little Theofanis. They caught him in a village street and took him away without permission from his mother. Much later, in the sixties, my aunt learned that Theofanis was alive and lived in Belgrade. She went there to see him. Her description of their meeting, upon her return, was extremely dramatic. As the taxi was approaching the address they had given her in Belgrade, she saw him walking on the street! Despite all the years that had passed, she recognized him! Unfortunately her young son did not have the immediate recognition as his mother did. He did not recognize his mother. The scenes that followed, until her son was convinced that indeed she was his mother, must have been terribly hard for her.

Theofanis, still lives in Belgrade today. After meeting his mother, he did visit Greece a few times. However, he did not stay permanently. The main obstacle for his permanent stay in Greece, was the the issue of his employment. In Yugoslavia, he had graduated from a technical school and he was working in the field of electronics, but the school never gave him his degree…..
I should add that the second born son of my aunt Polytimi, Vangelis, shunned the Paidomazwma and presently lives in Cincinnati, USA.

In 1993, I heard Xarilaos Florakis talking on Greek TV and saying that in some villages the parents of young children were asking to give their children to the communist partizans for the Paidomazwma. He mentioned that the parents wanted to “save” them from the Greek State so that they get educated in the Iron Curtain countries!!

I am not disputing the fact that there were some parents who gave their children voluntarily and without resistance, because this did happen in our village, Agios Demetrios, as well. What Mr. Florakis did not tell us, was how many were these parents who willingly gave their children away? Weren’t they a small minority of fanatical followers of the Greek Communist Party, and a few more brainwashed by the propaganda of his/her comrades? Who were the individuals who went around the villages under the domination of the guerillas and were spreading lies about horrible atrocities committed by the Army in areas under its control? Could it be possible that some parents were giving their children, because they were scared of the consequences of a refusal? Mr. Florakis never explained what happened to the parents, who either refused to give their children away, or were pressured, forced and feared the communist comrades. He never mentioned what their punishment was.

Some mothers lost their lives trying to keep their children. For example that was the fate of Sultana Petridis. I happened to see it with my own eyes and hear with my own ears the terrible torture she suffered in the hands of the communist partisans because she refused to give her children away to the paidomazoma. Sultana Petridis was from the village of Polyanemos of Kastoria. She was divorced from her husband and had two small children, a boy and a girl, whom she refused to give to be taken into Iron Curtain countries. One day, as I was going from our house to my grandmother’s house, I met her in a narrow street of our village. She was walking between two partisans with guns, holding her head down and her hands behind her back. Two more partisans were following a few meters behind them. As the street was very narrow, I stopped and remained standing on the side for them to pass. When they reached the place where I was standing, auntie Sultana slowed her walk and asked me about my family’s name. When I told her, she asked me where my parents were. She asked first for my father, and then for my mother. About my father I said that I did not know, and for my mother I told her that she was at home. As the guerrillas pushed her to continue, she turned her head a little and told me to give “greetings to my mother from aunt Soulta”.

Later that evening we started hearing Sultana’s cries and screams of pain from the torture she was obviously suffering in the hands of the communist guerrillas. The guerrillas had led her to my uncle Papagermanos’ house, which after his escape to Kastoria, was being used by them as their local headquarters. The torture of unfortunate Sultana Petridis continued late into the night. Next morning, the guerrillas put her on a mule and led her outside the village. Because of the torture she had suffered she could not stand on the mule. Thus, the guerrillas first placed a wooden structure on it and tied Sultana. As they were leading her on the mule by our house, she looked as having no life in her. Perhaps she was unconscious. My mother and I,saw this scene from a small window of our house. The guerrillas led her little further north from our village, inside the narrow valley and killed her.

{*According to the source H. P. that I met in Kastoria, the killing of Sultana Petridis by the communist guerrillas in the village of Agios Demetrios, in Kastoria, was carried out with a knife}.

The afternoon of that day my mother saw that the door of my uncle’s house was open. She decided to enter to see what had happened. I followed her. On each of the four corners of my uncle’s bed they had tied ropes, which most likely had been used to hold down Sultana during her torture. The ropes were full of blood, and there was blood on the bed and on the floor. We understood what poor Sultana had suffered and left quickly very scared.

During that period my mother had made arrangements with two-three young women from our village to come one at a time and spend the night in our house, because she feared that the guerrillas would make a nighttime visit. After what happened to Sultana, these young women informed my mother that they could not sleep in our house any longer.

The communists took Sultana’s children into the Iron Curtain countries. Later, they returned to Greece. Her son visited the area of Kastoria, and he was asking to find out “why the fascists killed his mother”? One of those he asked was my uncle, Lewnidas Lazaridis, who related this to me. My uncle knew the real killers of Sultana Petridis, and informed him. He told him that the killers of his mother were exactly those people who had indoctrinated him and his sister with stories about “fascists killers,” while he was away in some communist country. I do not know if he was convinced, or if he pursued the matter to learn all the truth about the torture his mother had suffered in the hands of the guerrillas of the Greek Communist Party before her killing. I know that until recently, this son of Sultana lived in Thessalonica, and his sister Politimi lived in Chicago, USA.

Reviewing what Mr. Florakis said I want to add the following. I was a little girl when I saw with my own eyes Paidomazwma. From the cries, the screams and the curses of the mothers who were following, many pulling their hair, I concluded that there were not many such Greek parents who gave the partisans their children voluntarily. Mr. Florakis, force, and the threat of force and of promises of harsh consequences, made the Greek parents who had the misfortune to find themselves under your communist control, to give their children away to be carried in some communist country. Certainly, Mr. Florakis, you did know this obvious truth! It perplexes me why, even during the last years of you life you did not have the courage to admit it. It is not comprehensible to me!

{It appears, however, that Xarilaos Florakis must have had some change in his conscience because in 2001 in the introduction he wrote for the book of Demetry Servos “The Paidomazwma and Who is Afraid of the Truth”, avoided to make any reference to this subject. The only thing that he mentioned about Greek children of Paidomazwma is the following: “..Comrade Demetry, closing this letter, I feel it is necessary to comment specifically on the part that refers to the children who lived as political refugees. You include important issues that show what socialism offered to the people and especially to the unfortunate Greek children who found themselves living in the Socialist countries”. ([8]).

Now, even for Xarilaos Florakis, the children involved became “the unfortunate Greek children”! Not a word, however, about how and why the “unfortunate Greek children” found themselves living there, and the responsibility of his Party’s participation!! On the other hand, he makes no empty claims about taking the children to “save” them, or about the parents “begging” to send them behind the Iron Curtain. He leaves that to the author of the book who, I do not know, why he did it, describes imaginary events and unbelievable stories about Paidomazwma. Consequently he claims that the Paidomazwma by the Greek Communist Party never took place! They ushered the Greek children inside the communist countries “Paidofylagma” and “Paidoswsimo”. That is, not to be taken by the “fascist” Greek State and put them into the camps for children that were organized by Queen Frederica. Yes, exactly like you read it, Demetrios Servos describes “Paidomazwma” in his book. Queen Frederica and the Greek State organized the “Paidomazwma”! Actually, he is not the only leftist author who makes such claims.

All the decisions of the United Nations and of so many other organizations, the personal depositions by thousands and thousands of abducted children, parents, relatives, and even communists who took part in this crime against the Greek nation, are ignored. Particularly, the inhuman act of removing 28,000 unfortunate Greek children from their homeland has no significance to Mr. Servos and those like him. Not only they refuse all these horrifying acts but also they turn the events around and talk about Paidomazwma by the Greek State. In reality, the State in its attempt to safeguard the orphan Greek children of the border areas, and the areas under the control of the guerillas, often placed them into camps for children.

The following brief excerpt from the above book, ([8], is included here for the reader to see to what length an author can go in his attempt to cloud a really tragic event of Greek history. «…When the shipments of young refugees, accompanied by young women, who were selected for this purpose from the villages of the children, were crossing the border, specialized committees from organizations of youth, pediatricians, child care givers, child teachers, and nurses from the Red Cross of the welcoming country, were receiving the scared and tired children. First, they were offering them a cup of hot milk and a plate of warm soup, and right away they were replacing their worn out clothes with new ones. After that, railways were bringing the young refugees to the cities where they would live». ([8], pg 244).

Compare the above description of Demetry Servos with that of George Manoukas, who was one of the people the Greek Communist Party made «responsible» to complete the task of Paidomazwma and an eyewitness himself. «…The «gates of entry» to the communist countries (Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria) had been prearranged. In coordination between the representatives of the Greek Communist Party and the representatives of the aforementioned countries, the method of receiving the children had been arranged. At the time of their entry to the foreign country, the gates were open. At the the borders entrances there was no soldier guard. It was planned like that, to look as the children were ….. «under attack by airplanes and scared …were running towards the borders» and entered into the foreign countries in waves.
They had developed this horrible plan so they could present it as a weapon of defense to the foreigners. That is, that the children were entering like a scared herd, because of the bombardment by the airplanes. Near the borders they were setting up rough camps, where the children were registered before being sent elsewhere. …. The registration of the children followed by their distribution and shipment to the northern Iron Curtain countries. The separation of the children was made without human criteria. There were separated brothers from brothers and children from parents with such roughness and so much secrecy that one would not know where the other was going…”. ([6], pg 17).

This inhuman behavior shown by the Greek Communist Party in the application of the extremely harsh plan of separating the young children from their parents, their roots, and their country is unique in the world. It can be compared only with actions of the Ottomans and the Nazi. It is even more reprehensible, considering that the head of the Committee assigned with the responsibility of implementing Paidomazwma was the “minister” of Health and Education of the “Government of Mountains” Socratis Kokkalis, a medical doctor! Members of the Committee were the wife of Zaxariadis, George Manoukas, who later changed sides and wrote the book we mentioned earlier, G. Athanasiadis, F. Vetas, and the Slav Kotsef.

The abduction of the Greek children made no impression on the communists, not to the members of the Committee-with the exception of G. Manoukas- not to the leaders of the Greek Communist Party and the so-called Democratic Army of Greece. I am certain that they could understand, if they did not know first hand, the dramatic life the children had in the Iron Curtain countries, and their parents’ anguish. All Greek communists remained silent then, and they all later ignored the calls of Greece and of the relatives of the children for their return. Others, such as Harilaos Florakis, even assail the memory of the Paidomazwma victims by trying to convince us that their parents were asking the Greek Communist Party to take their children away from them, to bring them the Iron Curtain counties!

On January 8, 2005, a program of the Greek TV Station Odyssey 2 in Canada, which rebroadcasts the televised programs of MEGA and ANTENNA from Athens, discussed the celebration of Christmas and New Year by Greeks of Diaspora. The program included a part that was filmed in the village Belloyianis, in Hungary. At one point, the reporter speaks with an older Greek woman at the door of her “home”.
“Were you born here”, asks the reporter?
“No, I came here when I was 13 years old”, replies the old woman.
“Did you come with your parents”, continues the reporter?
“No! I came by myself! My mother was in Romania. We brought her later here, but she died.
“Alone! A 13 years old girl, how did you come alone”, the reporter asks with obvious surprise.
“Ah, the guerillas took me”! Responds the older woman, shaking her head from the emotions of her memories, and making a tragic figure for the viewers.

The reporter however is persistent. He wants to enter her poor “home”, to see the decorations she had made for the holidays. The Greek woman refuses politely, telling him that she has not prepared anything…
Later during the conversation, that continues outside the door of her “home”, the reporter asks the old woman why she did not return to her home country.
“Why didn’t you return to Greece?” the reporter insists.
The answer of the early aged woman was really tragic.
“Hellas, my son, is gone for me”!!
Note that this tragic Greek woman from Belloyiannis, a victim of Paidomazwma, mentioned that she was coming from the most famous “mastoroxwri”(mason-producing village) of Epirus, the village of Pyrsoyianni. Obviously, the so-called “Paidofylakes”-children guards- of the Greek Communist Party separated her from her parents. She ended up in Hungary, her mother in Romania, and the rest of her family who knows where. (Odyssey 2 TV, in Canada, January 8, 2005, 11:00 am).

The case of the aforementioned Greek woman, victim of Paidomazwma, presents another aspect of this policy of the Greek Communist Party. They emptied from young people key areas of Greece, the mountainous border villages of Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace, since the largest proportion of the abducted children remained permanently outside Greece. Unfortunately, the leaders of the Left never gave sensible explanations of many of their decisions of the period 1946-49. Their decision to move thousands of children to the Iron Curtain countries, in addition to the fact that it was an act against their nation, it was above all an inadmissible act on a humanitarian level. Without hesitation, one can claim that it was also a criminal act, and all those that were involved will be regarded guilty against the Greek nation.

Among the leaders of the Greek Communist Party, major responsibility for the crime of Paidomazwma falls on its unchallenged leader, General Secretary, Nick Zaxariadis. Then follows Markos Vaphiadis, the Commanding “General” of DSE, “Prime Minister” and “Minister” of the Army of the “Government of Mountains”, which was formed in the Grammos mountains in 1947. Finally, heavy responsibility belongs to the “Minister” of Health and Education” Socrates Kokkalis. The latter – who is the father of the current businessman Socrates Kokkalis - was the person made accountable for executing the Paidomazwma plan.

The Greek Communist Party and its apologists, since they do realize very well the significance of the national and social crime committed against the children and the their families from the border areas of Greece, make a coordinated effort to explain and argue their inhuman act. Thus, they now present Paidomazwma as “Paidofylagma” (caring for the children) and “Paidoswsimo” (saving the children). They claim that the Greek Communist Party took the children away so they can firstly protect them from the bombardment of the villages controlled by DSE by the Greek Air Force, and secondly to keep them away from the Camps for Children which were then operating under the direction of Queen Frederica. These claims are rather comic and without a trace of truth, but continue to be presented as valid even to this day. Since the fall of communism, the return of large number of victims of the abduction, and opening of the archives of the former communist countries, the truth is now known to all that want to recognize it.

There is not a single verified case of bombardment of inhabited areas (cities or villages) within the Greek State by the Greek Air Force. Thus, there is no element of truth whatsoever in their first claim. It is a fact that Paidopoleis (Camps for Children) were set up in various areas of Greece. But these started operating several months after the beginning of Paidimazwma, a fact that nullifies their second claim as well. In these Paidopoleis mainly two groups of children were sent. One group consisted of children who had become orphans, or were left without a guardian, because their parents were victims of the guerillas, dead or abducted. The second group consisted of children from the border areas of Greece who were in danger of falling under the control of DSE and consequently becoming victims of Paidomazwma. The Greek Army, with the assistance of local authorities, was collecting such children and sending them to the Paidopoleis, set up in large cities for security reasons. These children were returned to their parents after the end of the internal conflict. The Paidopoleis operated for many more years, housing the orphan children and those coming back from the Iron Curtain countries, until their unification with their families}.

(*) Text in Italic are the author's comments

http://history-of-macedonia.com/word...oulou-part-ii/

[Tsontos]

Scans of the above excerpts from book in Greek:

[Victor]

Evidence means nothing to fyromanian scum who continue with the disgraceful lie that those children left there mothers and villages voluntarily.

Notice how the communists and Hitlers NAzis both tried to indoctrinate/brainwash children into a sick ideology at a very young age.AT least the GErmans are cured.Will the fyromanians ever wake up?

[Tsontos]

The strange thing is that the Skopjian narrative is so unclear about what their lie is.
Some propagandists parrot that it was the Greek "fascist" state deporting "Macedonian" families.

Some parrot that it was the well meaning communists who took them away to save them from the attrocities the Greeks were about to perpetrate on them.

Some parrot vaguely that it was the Greeks, some ambiguous groups of communists and government forces presumably, who together carried out the "deportations.