The Sixty Two Killed from the Village Frangoch
In the western plains of the Vermion mountain is the Kajlarsko village
Frangoch. Before the Second World War it had about 325 houses with 2,500
residents.
In the years of the Nazi occupation the whole village took part and
sacrificed itself in the battle for the liberation of our homeland.
All of the villagers were organized in the ranks of EAM and EPON and
more than 200 youths fought with the famous liberation army of ELAS.
This attracted the hatred of the German occupiers and their collaborators.
On 8 March 1944, the village was attacked by bands of the regiment leader
Pulos. They entered the village and set fire to some houses immediately
and killed a villager. They shamefully assaulted a large number of women
and girls and arrested 25 villagers, whom they transferred to the village
Dzhuma (Kozhani region) and kept them there like prisoners. Many of
the villagers with sheep and other livestock managed to save themselves,
escaping to the mountain, which was covered in snow.
Among the captured villagers, they killed Georgi Toshev the very first
night while the others were brutally tortured. They sent one of them
to the village to tell them to take up arms and to fight against ELAS.
But the answer was "No!" On 9 March they shot the captured
villagers in the Kozhani prisons where they had been kept for seven
days, hungry and tortured. That was the first attack against the village.
The second attack was on 16 March the same year, at 2 o'clock. This
time the bands did not come alone. With them they had 30 Germans with
five tanks. The villagers found out that the Germans were coming but
they did not manage to escape in time. The bands and Germans surrounded
the village and had captured the roads that led to the mountains. At
the same time they began to shoot from the tanks against the people
who were escaping, and so not many managed to escape and rather fell
into the hands of the bands and the Germans. They arrested many villagers
and took them to the village square where brutal killing orgies took
place. They burned down more than 200 houses and 300 barns. They shamed
many women and girls and cut the throats of 56 people. The first whose
throat was cut was the Kozhani representative Saris. The others whose
throats were cut were:
1. Andrea Stefan
2. Antonev Mihal
3. Antoneva Gjorga
4. Bojchev Anastas
5. Bojchev Ilija
6. Bojari Trifon
7. Gajtadzhiev Dimitri
8. Genga Miltiadi
9. Dala Ahilea
10. Dala Anton
11. Dala Anastas
12. Ichkov Nikola
13. Karatashi Teodos
14. Karatashi Sana
15. Karatashi Olga
16. Karajani Anastas
17. Kapetanov Vangel
18. Kapetanova Done
19. Karapeov Nake
20. Karapeov Nikola
21. Kote Stojan
22. Kote Hristo
23. Kote Kosta
24. Kote Vangel
25. Kote Gligor
26. Mingov Georgi
27. Mingov Dimitri
28. Mingova Velika
29. Manchov Vangel
30. Manchova Dota
31. Manolaki Niko
32. Niko Anton
33. Papa Kosta
34. Papa Nikola
35. Papa Ipokrati
36. Pejov Kozma
37. Pejov Stojan
38. Pejov Pejo
39. Pejov Apostol
40. Ruskov Nikola
41. Sekilaru Kata
42. Svrtini Hristo
43. Svrtini Nikola
44. Tashov Georgi
45. Tuni Aristoteli
46. Chuara Dimitri
47. Chuara Trandafil
48. Chuara Sokrati
49. Chuara Panagi
50. Chuara Kosta
51. Chuara Zlata
52. Chavdari Nikola
53. Janka Jani
54. Janka Vangel
55. Janchev Vasili
56. Jancheva Stojna
After the massive and terrible killing the villagers who remained alive
left the village and sought refuge in the surrounding villages: Komano,
Ineli and elsewhere. Some went to Negush and other villages further
away. Then the bands found time to destroy the village entirely and
even take stones and building blocks from Frangoch to their own villages.
They were in a fury and surrounded the nearby villages where the surviving
villagers had escaped to and searched under trees and rocks to find
them and killed whoever they found. In Komano they killed the young
son of Eftim Manchov and took four Frangoch villagers to Kozhani and
killed them there.
The massive participation of the Frangoch villagers in the battles
against the Nazi occupiers and the sacrifice of the whole village was
a great contribution of the Macedonian people to the general struggle
with the brotherly Greek people against fascism, for liberation and
democracy.
T Rizov
From: For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom
Fighters
© 2009
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For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom Fighters