Mincho Fotev
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Mincho Fotev And The National Liberation Movement Of the Macedonian people From Greek occupied Macedonia (1941-1949) By Dr. Mihailo Minoski (Translated from Macedonian to English and edited by Risto Stefov) Mincho Fotev And The National Liberation Movement Of the Macedonian people From Greek occupied Macedonia (1941-1949) 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 2017 by Dr. Mihailo Minoski & Risto Stefov e-book edition ****** March 3, 2017 ****** 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ............................................................................................6 Part I...............................................................................................8 MINCHO FOTEV’S LIFE AND REVOLUTIONARY CONTRIBUTIONS ...........................................................................8 Part II............................................................................................22 PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT OF THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE FROM GREEK OCCUPIED MACEDONIA (1941-1949) ........................................................22 Participation of the Macedonian people, from Greek occupied Macedonia, in the defense of Greece against Fascist aggression (1940-1941)......................................................................................22 Greek capitulation and the triple occupation and the division of Greek occupied Macedonia by fascist Germany, Italy and Bulgaria ..........................................................................................................23 Bulgarian aspirations and supremacist Bulgarian propaganda in Greek occupied Macedonia (1941-1944).........................................23 Pro-Bulgarian political movement in Western and Central Greek occupied Macedonia ........................................................................26 Collaborationist movements in Greek occupied Macedonia ...........31 Greek anti-Macedonian legal and secret armed terrorist formations and organizations .............................................................................31 The Vlach Legion.............................................................................32 Appearance and activities of the armed pro-Bulgarian counter-bands and movement ..................................................................................32 People’s Liberation Movement in Greek occupied Macedonia (1941-1944)......................................................................................43 The partisan movement in Kostur Region .......................................45 Advisory meeting in Nestram ..........................................................48 Establishment of the Slovo-Macedonian National Liberation Front (SNOF).............................................................................................57 The CPG’s position on SNOF in the context of the pro-Bulgarian political movement...........................................................................64 The CPG information blockade .......................................................69 The “Gotse” Macedonian battalion within the ELAS composition.74 Gotse Battalion crossing over the border into the Republic of Macedonia........................................................................................78 Macedonian people’s situation in Greek occupied Macedonia under Greek monarchic post-war control...................................................78 3 Formation of the “First Macedonian Assault Brigade” and the Political Commission .......................................................................81 National Liberation Front for the Macedonians in Greek occupied Macedonia........................................................................................83 NOF and the UN Inquiry Commission in Solun............................109 Final activities in the implementation of the unification Agreement ........................................................................................................110 First AFZH Congress .....................................................................116 Factionalism and divisions in the NOF leadership ........................118 NOF meeting..................................................................................121 NOF crisis ......................................................................................122 First NOF Congress – January 13, 1948 ........................................124 Auxiliary units and free armed groups in Kostur and Lerin Regions ........................................................................................................126 Reactivating divisions in the NOF leadership................................127 NOF Central Council Plenum ........................................................128 Origins of the divisions and rivalry in the political currents for supremacy in NOF and the PLM ...................................................131 Second NOF Congress ...................................................................135 External relations in the PLM in Greek occupied Macedonia .......143 Measures taken by the CPG to subdue NOF by use of anti-Yugoslav misinformation ...............................................................................145 Establishing KOEM (Communist Organization of Aegean Macedonia).....................................................................................145 DAG’s defeat .................................................................................149 Repression of NOF, NOMS and AFZH.........................................151 CPG Central Committee Sixth Plenum and the Macedonian Question .........................................................................................154 Macedonian revolutionaries in Albanian and Soviet prisons and concentration camps.......................................................................155 NOF in the PLM and its opposition...............................................157 Dissolution of NOF, NOMS and AFZH ........................................158 The “Ilinden” organization.............................................................160 Conclusion .................................................................................161 Part III ........................................................................................163 ATTACHMENTS (Compiled by Mincho Fotev)..........................163 APPENDIX 1.............................................................................163 List of NOF, NOMS and AFZH leaders and activists who were killed from 1945 to 1949................................................................163 APPENDIX 2.............................................................................177 4 CPG’s attitude towards the Macedonian PLM and Macedonian National Question ..........................................................................177 APPENDIX 3.............................................................................196 Notes analyzing Risto Kiriazovski’s book “The National Liberation Front and other Macedonian organizations from Aegean Macedonia (1945-1949)”, published by “Kultura” in Skopje in 1985 .............196 ABOUT THE AUTHOR............................................................233 ABOUT MINCHO FOTEV.......................................................234 Acronyms ...................................................................................235 5 Foreword These is much testimony given about the armed struggle involving the Macedonian people from Greek occupied Macedonia in the period of the anti-fascist war and during the Greek Civil War. Included in this testimony are views, evaluations and polemical articles published by several of the Macedonian leaders who participated in the Macedonian national liberation movement. Included among the contributors are Paskal Mitrevski, Vangel Aianovski-Otse, Mihailo Keramitchiev, Pavle Rakovski, Naum Peiov, Andreia Chipov, and later scientist-historians Dr. Risto Kiriazovski and Todor Simovski, publicist Hristo Andonovski and other historians including Dr. Stojan Kiselinovski and Tashko Mamurovski. Their presentations were based on relevant facts and authentic, first-hand information that defined both the size and intensity of the armed struggle. In addition to that they each offered their opinions, assessments and sometimes divided views, especially regarding fundamental issues such as ethnic equality between the Macedonian and Greek people in a democratically governed Greece, one side, and a United Macedonia, on the other. Mincho Fotev was one of the leading Macedonian figures in the PLM (People’s Liberation Movement) (SNOF and NOF) from Greek occupied Macedonia. For various reasons, Mincho Fotev never did publish his testimony or make any other contributions and opinions regarding the armed struggle in which he participated from its beginning to its end with DAG’s defeat. But he did leave behind a great deal of relevant information regarding his views and assessments about the Macedonian participation in defending Greece against fascist Italian aggression, about Greece’s capitulation in WW II, about the division of Greek occupied Macedonia by