PAPAZHANI (POP'ZHANI)

The village of Papazhani was made to change its name by the Greek government to Papajanis. It is about 10 kilometres southeast of Lerin. It is on the Lerin plains at 21 degrees 30 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 50 minutes latitude. It is 632 metres above sea level and is about 8 kilometres square in area.

The village borders with the following settled places: to the north the village Sakulevo, to the east the village Vrbeni, to the southeast Petorak and to the northwest it borders the village Gorno Kalenik. The Eleshka River runs through the village and divides it in two. The rail line Bitola-Lerin runs alongside the village.

Before the start of the Greek Civil War about 1,350 Macedonian residents lived in the village. They were employed in agriculture, with few involved in raising livestock, trades and other activities.

In the period 1946-49, the residents took little part in the organization of NOF and even less in the armed forces of DAG led by KPG. They only had about 4 and, unfortunately, all 4 died. In the Lerin prison, during the time of the bloody battles another 3 patriots were sentenced to death and shot.

They were:

1. Bakalot Risto
2. Gluvchev Todor
3. Dimov Done
4. Dinov S Gavre
5. Popov Zhivko
6. Stelov Trajan
7. Tsakle K Pando

After the Greek Civil War and emigration from and forced migration to the village, the number of residents fell significantly. The census in Greece in 1991 recorded that there are 912 residents in the village.

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