A story told about a person from Zhelevo A book about Risto Mavrovski Composed, prepared and commented by his son Spiro Mavrovski (Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov) A story told about a person from Zhelevo A book about Risto Mavrovski Published by: Risto Stefov Publications [email protected] Toronto, Canada All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written consent from the author, except for the inclusion of brief and documented quotations in a review. Copyright 2015 by Spiro Mavrovski & Risto Stefov e-Book Format July 28, 2015 2 Index Foreword ............................................................................................6 A short autobiography of Risto Mavrovski........................................7 Family roots – Risto Mavrovski’s great grandfather Risto Shkavrev8 Mihail Boikov’s (Risto Mavrovski’s father) family ........................10 Risto’s father Mihail Boikov (1903-1964).......................................10 Spiro Mavrovski’s view of his uncle Giorgi Boikov .......................12 Spiro Mavrovski’s view of his grandfather Mihail Boikov .............14 Risto’s mother Neda Ioteva-Shkavreva (Mavrova) (1900-1948) ....14 Risto’s brother Spiro Mihail Shkavrev (Mavrovski) (1925-1948) ..20 Risto’s sister Sofia Shkavreva-Mavrova (Stefova)..........................25 Spiro’s first encounter with his Aunt Sofia......................................27 Risto’s youngest brother Nikola (Kole) Mihail Shkavrev Mavrovski (1937-2007)......................................................................................30 A few words from Spiro Mavrovski about his uncle Nikola ...........32 THERE IS ONE DESTINY.............................................................33 Risto Mavrovski’s sister-in-law Ristana Vasil Bekiarova-Shkavreva ..........................................................................................................34 Spiro Mavrovski’s (Risto’s son) first encounter with Ristana.........34 Risto Mavrovski’s cousin Vasil Risto Shkavrev Mavrovski (1914- 1990) ................................................................................................35 Mountains.........................................................................................38 Fruit trees and plants ........................................................................38 Bodies of water ................................................................................39 Wild and domestic animals ..............................................................41 Development of the village ..............................................................41 The geography of Zhelevo by neighbourhoods ...............................44 A typical house.................................................................................48 A typical “aur” (stable) ....................................................................50 Typical foods....................................................................................51 Clothes the villagers wore................................................................52 Risto Mihail Shkavrev, Mavrovski (1928-2004) .............................53 Children’s games played in Zhelevo................................................55 Teachers who taught in the Zhelevo School ....................................56 Assets in the village Zhelevo ...........................................................57 Human resources..............................................................................58 Life in the village from 1928 to 1940 ..............................................59 Zhelevo during the War years 1939 to 1945....................................61 The Greek Civil War, 1945 to 1949.................................................73 3 Consequences of the Wars for the people of Zhelevo......................78 People of Zhelevo displaced after the Greek Civil War ..................80 Risto Mavrovski’s participation in the partisan movement in 1947 87 The hospital in Tirana – Risto’s first wounding...............................97 Risto’s return to the fighting in Gramos in 1948 .............................97 Spiro Mavrovski – An impression of his father’s meeting with one of his co-fighters ..............................................................................99 Risto’s second wounding – Bulkesh, October 1948 ......................100 Risto Mavrovski - Back to the front in April 1949........................102 Risto’s third wounding – Lisets, August 12, 1949.........................104 Spiro’s own findings about his father’s Lisets episode from talks with people from Zhelevo ..............................................................104 The trip to Poland and to the Hospital “250”.................................105 Spiro’s version of hospital “250”...................................................105 People from Zhelevo at hospital “250”..........................................114 Zgorzelets.......................................................................................114 People from Zhelevo living in Zgorzelets......................................115 Party School “500”.........................................................................118 Party School in Vrotslav ................................................................120 Shvidnitsa.......................................................................................121 Correspondent of the newspaper “Dimokratis” .............................128 Cultural and artistic life in Shvidnitsa............................................129 The Political School at the Wagon factory ....................................131 Dating and marrying Sofia Rosi.....................................................132 Spiro, Risto and Sofia’s first born son ...........................................133 Risto’s move to Macedonia............................................................135 Risto’s family arrives at the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, People’s Republic of Macedonia on September 1, 1957 ...............136 Hotel “Solun”.................................................................................137 Discovering Bitola in 1957 ............................................................138 The “Aegean” Building..................................................................141 Sofia Rosi Mavrovska’s story - summarized by her son Spiro......143 Spiro’s view about his mother’s family .........................................147 Vasil - Risto and Sofia’s second born son .....................................152 Vasil’s story from his own point of view.......................................152 Neda, Risto and Sofia’s daughter and youngest child....................156 The period from 1958 to 1978 .......................................................156 Risto’s social life............................................................................160 Sports in Bitola...............................................................................161 Spiro’s view on sports....................................................................162 4 Events in Risto’s life ......................................................................164 Spiro’s view of his father Risto Mavrovski ...................................167 Risto’s view of World War II ........................................................178 Risto’s view of DAG’s defeat in the Greek Civil War ..................184 Risto’s view of US aid and the end of the Greek Civil War..........186 Risto’s view of the DAG leadership ..............................................193 Prologue .........................................................................................195 Epilogue .........................................................................................197 Acronyms .......................................................................................198 Bibliography...................................................................................199 5 Foreword This book is not an attempt to convey historical facts; it is not an accurate historiography of the time, of events and of personalities. Why? Because the book was based on notes the Risto, Spiro’s father left him which he wrote in the 1990’s, more than 40 years after these events took place. The notes were handwritten in 3 separate notebooks. Some of the events described were repeated. The names of various personalities and the villages they originated from were given with no other information. So Spiro felt it was important to fix this, to sort things out and to provide the reader with a complete picture, particularly about Risto’s family past and present. This was an opportunity for Spiro to tell his father’s story and his understanding of life the way he experienced it, so that we today can continue his work and be proud that Spiro and his siblings had a great father who left them so many things. “We will continue, to the end of our lives, to be proud, to mention his name and to talk about his work. But I would be most grateful to the readers for reading this book and it would be very much appreciated for them to send me feedback and more information on the topics, if they possess such information”, says Spiro. In this book the reader will find basic information on the Mavrovski family from today, extending back many generations. The