The Thirteen Executed from the Village German
On 17 April 1946 at 1 am, the gendarmerie excited the village German
to rebellion. More than 50 police and soldiers raised their voices,
swore and broke down doors and in a brutal manner stormed into the houses.
On that dreadful night more than 40 souls, men and women, were arrested
and imprisoned in the police lock up for three whole months, and were
subjected to beastly torture. After that some were imprisoned in Lerin
while others were sent to Solun prisons. Thirteen of them - Belev Vasil,
Babinkostov German, Boglev German, Damovski Joshe, Ivanov Johdrich,
Mladenov German, Mechkarov Fote, Nushev Vangel, Pandeov Stojan, Rusev
Lazo, Torkov Metodija, Cetelev Vangel and Jankov Stojan in 1947 were
imprisoned in the bloody camps of Ura.
For more than a year the thirteen patriots from the village of German,
together with thousands of other fighters from villages in Greece, felt
the horrors of Ura. Despite the beastly tortures they did not resile
one bit from their position on the people's struggle and remained loyal
to their beloved party - CPG - and the people.
That which was not achieved by the best of Ura the reactionary forces
thought they would manage by the military court. In October 1948 the
thirteen German villagers were taken to Lerin where they appeared before
the military court and were sentenced to death. On 29 October they were
all shot.
The history of the thirteen German villagers is the same as that of
many villagers and their motherlands - Macedonia and Greece. They were
all honourable patriots and brave fighters for freedom, members of EAM
and CPG, who participated actively in the struggle against the Nazi
and Italian occupation for the liberation of the motherland.
When the news of the death of the thirteen precious sons reached German,
the local people's council in honour of the killed fighters arranged
a people's festival, which the whole village joined. At the festival
the presidents of the People's Government, DAG, and the Lerin Regional
People's Council were present, as well as delegates from other Prespa
villages and others.
The DAG philharmonic played mournful marches, while a guard formed
of fighters showed respect to the lost fighters.
From: For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom
Fighters
© 2009
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For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom Fighters