Bulgarian occupation in Greece

[Prokomenos]

These are collective memories of what happen in WW2 under Bulgarian occupation by Greeks themselve who lived or where children and remember everything. Very interesting information that just shows how cruel Bulgarians were towards Greeks.

Quote:In a society where everyone knew each other and family relations were close and extended, two whole villages were suddenly plunged into a permanent state of mourning. One informant for declared that she had lost thrity five relatives. All informants, even those who hadn't lost people from their immediate family, always spoke of the executions in the first person plural: " They slaughtered us."

All the informants repeatedly lingered over the events and descriptions of the executions- the "slaughter," as they called it each contributing different aspects of the events. This was also the first subject they referred to when queried on the occupation, which , for all practical purposes, seems to be totally identified with the events of September 28-29 of 1941.

The execution left an especially intense scar on the collective memory of the Christians as the "slaughter of Giola" (Giola means ditch in Turkish) especially since all inhabitants of the village were potential victims, including women, children and the aged. In the case of Doxatians, however, because the executions occured without eyewitnesses, the main point of reference for their memory was the imprisonment by the Bulgarians of the women, children, and elderly within the village school for two days without food or water. Of course, the most intense and emotionally loaded was the memory of those who were among the potential victims and of those who lost relatives and friends. Many of those who lost their fathers or young siblings in the executions seemed to have been traumatized for life psychologically, socially, and economically.

Some couldn't manage to continue their education, others were compelled to emigrate to German occupied Greece, many had suffered starvation, most felt that they were socially marginalized: " Ever since then I have a lot of complexes... anywhere you went they called you the 'the orphan'... my mother as a widow did no fit anywhere." They saw the executions as being responsible for all the hardships suffered after the occupation, that is, during the recuperation period in the mid 1940s to the mid 1950's: " The men who were the pillars of our house are gone"; "Our family has four dead. Only women and children have remained."

"If the Bulgarian mayor was passing and you did not notice him and salute he'd come up to you and give you two slaps on the face"; "If you were caught speaking Greek, they'd beat you." Each informant recalled the ill treatment or public disgrace that they themselves, relatives, or co villagers suffered. The memories of various forms of forced labor imposed by the Bulgarian authorities especially as reiterated by the informants from the first generation also fell under this category of psychological oppression. " Bulgaria? Forced Laboria!" " They made us hunt grasshoppers in the fields with sheets!" They also had unpleasant memories of those fellow inhabitants who were "Bulgarized" or written up as Bulgarians" during the occupation. They were usually called tattle tales, spies, traitors and janissaries.

"Hunger, hunger, lice and psora";We would go out to graze! We ate weeds. Within a year we were skeletons. The Bulgarians commandeered all beasts of burden and wagons, there was no work left, unemployment ravaged the population; the harvests of cereals were withheld almost exclusively by the Bulgarians."

"Those who were killed were our brothers, friends, our children we played with them. Not one of our informants tried to forget, either because they couldn't or because they believed that it was their duty to remember; and this not only in honor of the past (the dead), but also as a positive heritage for the future (children and grandchildren).

"If you forget history, thats it, your finished. That which we suffered should be taught to the following generations in order that such events are not repeated again."

" The dream of Bulgarian is to annex eastern Macedonia into Bulgaria. They therefore wanted to erase all traces of Hellenism here. They wanted an outlet into the Aegean. Their gaze was always riveted here. Most, ofcourse, do not spare the opportunity to emphasize that the Bulgarians were allies with the Germans and that they therefore were able to enter the region "holding onto the coattails of the Germans," as they say with all the negative connotations that expression may contain. They even add that the Germans gave them Greek Macedonia because the Bulgarians " helped them pass through. The Germans brought them. How could the Bulgarians possibly handle it by themselves? In this way, their final retreat was seen as disgraceful and immediately correlated with that of the Germans: " Germany collapsed, and they left too."

Xanthippi Kotzageorgi-Zymari, Tassos Hadjianastassiou from the book called After the war was over..

[Ellinas]

Thanks for the article. The Bulgarians always had the ambition to have a coast to the Aegean. This lead them to many atrocities against the Greeks the last centuries. Knowing them as history is good but I don't think that bringing them up again would benefit us. They are many other national issues we have to face today and they are prior.

[Psaltis]

Bulgarians are a country that have too many dreams of conquest in the Balkans. If you read history you see how many times they side with Turkish to take lands.

[Greece4Ever]

I wouldnt say that all Bulgarians have dreams of conquering Greeks. I know a few of them and they seem to be good people. I like going to Bulgaria to shop for gold they have good prices and Bulgarian women are pretty hot.

[Prokomenos]

Originally Posted by Greece4Ever
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I wouldnt say that all Bulgarians have dreams of conquering Greeks. I know a few of them and they seem to be good people. I like going to Bulgaria to shop for gold they have good prices and Bulgarian women are pretty hot.

Im definately sure their are good Bulgarians but still the majority you cant really trust in my opinion.

[pankration]

I never target individuals because of color or creed; nations however are a different story. I too know Bulgarians and they are fine people. But historically Bulgarian governments have NOT been sympathetic to Greece; to the contrary they have been aggressive and territorial. They have to be watched from both diplomatic and military perspectives. It's good to get along with your neighbour; just make sure that they remain that way.

[Psomiadis2]

Yes speacking of Bulgaria does everybody remember the second Balkan war :) ?

[o Draminos]

Bulgaria as Pankration said have always wanted to conquer Northern Greece which is Makedonia for their own. They are extremists in Bulgaria but I would never see that country as a threat. They are small and very poor. Also many Bulgarians are good people and they are Orthodox Christians. During the Balkan wars people thought very differently. In todays world extremists are not the same as it was back then not including Muslims. They are still living as savages. I just read that a 12 year old Arab Muslim sawed off a member of Al Queda which they said betrayed them to the Americans.

[Prokomenos]

Originally Posted by o Draminos
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Bulgaria as Pankration said have always wanted to conquer Northern Greece which is Makedonia for their own. They are extremists in Bulgaria but I would never see that country as a threat. They are small and very poor. Also many Bulgarians are good people and they are Orthodox Christians. During the Balkan wars people thought very differently. In todays world extremists are not the same as it was back then not including Muslims. They are still living as savages. I just read that a 12 year old Arab Muslim sawed off a member of Al Queda which they said betrayed them to the Americans.

I think the Muslims in those areas still think they are living in Saladin's days.
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Those people are ruthless and I would never befriend one even if you paid me to.

[Ellinas]

What do the Arabs have to do with Bulgarian nationalism? The Zionist propaganda of Bush made the inhabitants of USA to see "evil Arabs" everywhere I guess :D.