Trajchev Stojan (Stefo)
He was born in the village of Nevoljani, Lerin region. He took part
in the democratic movement on our side from a young age and in 1941
he became a member of the CPG. He developed an active revolutionary
record in his village and because of that he was followed and persecuted
by the occupying forces.
In 1943 he was forced to leave his village, to separate from his family,
to give himself to the national liberation struggle, to liberate our
side from the German fascist occupiers.
At the start he worked as a member of the Balkan regional committee
of the CPG and later as the first secretary of the same committee with
the pseudonym "Stefo". In this important and demanding post
Stojan was responsible for carrying out missions for the liberation
movement.
He was filled with faith that the people would ultimately win and criss-crossed
the region from Cherovo to Asanovo village, from Papadija to Petoraci,
establishing new party organizations, spreading the party line, teaching
the population - Macedonian and Greek about the battles against the
occupier.
![](assets/Stojan_Trajchev_(Stefo).jpg)
And covering that region was not an easy matter. He had to get through
the roads of Lerin-Solun. Lerin-Kozhani, over the railway lines, bridges
and crossings, over many unfamiliar villages where he did not know anyone,
where there were no party organizations, where in those dark years at
any moment you could meet an enemy ready to betray you to the occupying
forces, so that you would be shot.
In all of these hardships Stefo fought bravely and thanks to his self
sacrifice, he prevailed. There was, for him, one other hardship. He
was an illiterate man and for the first time he was obliged to speak
before 10-15 or more people. And not just to speak but to persuasively
put the party line, to defend the party line and to prepare the population
for a battle, which was not expected by most of the people.
Stefo overcame this difficulty too, thanks to self education, the help
of his comrades and fellow workers, his unending love for the CPG, and
the goals that he contributed to - not just because he was dedicated
to it, but also because he adopted the party's line and policy.
Stefo became an effective agitator. He spoke simply and persuasively.
One night, I remember it like it was now, after a party meeting in
a mill near the village of Krushoradi, kneeling among about 10 villagers
from that village, he spoke, he informed the villagers in a way that
the most exacting teacher would envy. He spoke so well that all of those
present listened to him with undivided attention.
* * *
In 1943 the whole Banichki region was liberated or under the control
of the ELAS units. Prespa, Karadzhova and Vich too. The occupying forces
in Lerin and Voden were not in a position to act against the partisan
units on their own. So, during the night of 16 January 1944 one Bulgarian
fascist division transferred from Bitola to Prespa, the Lerin plain,
then to Kajmachkalan.
The Bulgarian fascists' army under the command of the German Gestapo
in Lerin made a brutal attack on the peaceful population. They torched
whole villages and plundered them, they arrested and shot patriots and
carried out horrible brutal acts. In those dark days, in the village
of Voshtareni, Stefo was arrested. At once he was taken to the Lerin
based Gestapo and was subjected to indescribable torture day and night.
But they could not break the man who had endured many hardships, a
man who was dedicated to the party. After a few days he was taken to
Solun to the polyclinic in Vaena that was taken over for the purpose
of torturing fighters of the struggle. And there Stefo was brutally
tortured and in the summer of 1944 - it is not known on what day - he
died as a result of the non-stop brutal torture.
He died for the party, for the people.
S Kochev
From: For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom
Fighters
© 2009
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For Sacred National Freedom: Portraits Of Fallen Freedom Fighters