Ohrana

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Cornell Ravalli and Kaltschev.
Cornell Ravalli and Kaltschev.

Ohrana were armed detachments organized by the Bulgarian army and composed of Slavophone pro-Bulgarian oriented part of the population in occupied Greek Macedonia during WWII.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

The “Macedonian Question,” became especially prominent after the Balkan wars in 1912-1913, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent division of the Region of Macedonia between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. The Slav - speakers in Ottoman Macedonia tended to be Christian peasants, but the majority of them were under the influence of the Exarchate and its education system, thus considered themselves as Bulgarians.[2] Part of them were influenced by the Greek Patriarchate, which resulted in the formation of Greek consciousness. Greece, like all other Balkan states, adopted restrictive policies towards its minorities, namely towards its Slavic population in its northern regions, as a result of the aftermath of Second Balkan war and the potential threat that Bulgaria could pose in the fear of using the pro-Bulgarian oriented minority in Greece as a "5th Phalanx".

After WWI a new identity parallel to the Greek and Bulgarian ones arose in the region of Macedonia, the Slav Macedonian (Greek: Σλαβομακεδόνας) and was initially supported by IMRO (United)[3].In 1934 the Comintern issued a declaration supporting the development of the new Macedonian identity[4] a decision which was attacked by the pro-Bulgarian IMRO, but was supported by the Greek Communist Party, which would create a Macedonian section within its military structure later during the German occupation. During the 1920s and 30's, bad administration, government endorsed violence by nationalist bands in a period very challenging for the Greek state as it was trying to cope with the massive task of incorporating 1,5 million refugees from the population exchange with Turkey sowed the seeds of bitterness that kept brewing within the local Slav-speaking population which found the opportunity to come into effect during the Second World War and the occupation of Greece by the Axis forces.

[edit] The Thessaloníki Bulgarian club

The location of Axis Forces (Italian in orange, Bulgarian in green and German blue) in the region of Macedonia (May, 1941). Borders prior to the war are in dark.
The location of Axis Forces (Italian in orange, Bulgarian in green and German blue) in the region of Macedonia (May, 1941). Borders prior to the war are in dark.
Greater Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano.
Greater Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano.

In 1941 Greek Macedonia was occupied by German, Italian and Bulgarian troops. The same year, The German High Command approved the foundation of a Bulgarian military club in Thessaloníki. The Bulgarian organized suppling of food and provisions for the Slavic-speaking population in Greek Macedonia, aiming to gain the harts and minds of the local population that was in the German and Italian occupied zones. The Bulgarian club's soon started to gain support among parts of the population. In 1942, the Bulgarian club asked assistance from the High command in organizing armed units among the Slavic-speaking population in northern Greece. For this purpose, the Bulgarian army, under the approval of the Commander of the German forces in the Balkans - Field Marshal List sent a handful of officers from the Bulgarian Army, to the zones occupied by the Italian and German troops (central and west Greek Macedonia) to be attached to the German occupying forces as "liaison officers". All the Bulgarian officers brought into service were locally born Macedonians who had immigrated to Bulgaria with their families during the 1920s and 30's as part of the Greek-Bulgarian treaty of the Neuilly which saw 90,000 Bulgarians migrating to Bulgaria from Greece and 50,000 Greeks moving the opposite direction. Most were members of pro-Bulgarian IMRO and followers of Ivan Mihailov and envisioned a Greater Bulgaria as it almost came into fruition during the Treaty of San Stefano.These officers were given the objective to form armed Slavophone militias.

[edit] The Kastorian Italo-Bulgarian Committee

The initial detachments were formed in 1943 in the district of Kastoria by Bulgarian agent Andon Kalchev with the support of the head of the Italian occupation authorities in Kastoria, leutanant Ravali[5], who armed the local villages to help combat the growing communist threat presented by the ELAS raiding the Italian occupation forces in the district. The name given to the bands armed was 'Ohrana' which in Bulgarian is defined as 'security'. The uniforms of the Ohranists were supplied by the Italians and were resplendent with shoulder patches bearing the inscription "Italo-Bulgarian Committee - Freedom or Death". The Kastorian unit was called the Macedonian Committee. The reasons of locals for taking arms varied. Some of the men were pre-war members of IMRO, and thus harbored deep nationalistic convictions, others because of pro-Nazi sentiments, some to avenge wrong doings inflicted on them by Greek authorities during the Metaxas regime, and many took arms in order to defend themselves from the attacks of other Greek paramilitary and resistance movements as the latter saw them as collaboratives with the Italian, Bulgarian and German forces.

[edit] The Edessa and Florina Ohrana detachments

After their initial success in arming several villages in Kastoria, Kalchev went to the German occupied zone in order to start arming villages in Edessa region.[6] In Edessa, with the help of the German occupation authorities, Kalchev created the Ohrana para-military unit[7]. In 1943, Ohrana detachments counted a total of around 3,000 members and organized guerrilla activity. These bands, a resurgence of the IMRO Comitadjis' legacy pursued Grecophiles, Aromanians, and Pontic Greeks as they saw them as an obstacle to an all Bulgarian Macedonia.. The main leaders during the early phase of activity from 1941 to 1942 were Tsvetan MIadenov and Andon Kalchev in the Florina region. In the Florina counties there were 600 men under arms.

Ohraniotes and Tagmata Asfalias.
Ohraniotes and Tagmata Asfalias.

[edit] Ohrana activity

In the summer of 1944, Ohrana constituted some 12,000 local fighters and volunteers from Bulgaria charged with protection of the local population. [8] During 1944, whole Slavophone villages were armed by the occupation authorities to counter balance the emerging power of the resistance and especially of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). Ohrana was also fighting pro - communist oriented Slavic Macedonians.[9] and Greek communists - members of the ELAS.[10].A part of the Slavophone population, with the help of the Greek Communist Party, organized itself into SNOF, and their prime objective was to struggle occupation forces and pro-Bulgarian agents in the Ohrana[11], and try to persuade its members to join ELAS and fight against the occupation. Nevertheless in the summer of 1944, members of the Macedonian faction of the Communist Party of Greece were unable to distinguish friend from foe in Slav Macedonian villages. Mass involvement of the population was one of the tactics of Ohrana, which thus aims to provide good cover for its activities.[12]

[edit] Ohrana and Mihailov's plans for Macedonia

Ohrana was supported from Ivan Mihaylov too. It was apparent that Mihailov had broader plans which envisaged the creation of a Macedonian puppet state under Nazi control. In August 1943, Ivan Mihailov left Zagreb incognito for Germany where he was to visit the main headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst. From German information, it is apparent that Mihailov received consent to create battalions consisting of volunteers armed with German weapons and munitions. Moreover, these battalions were to be under the operative command and disposal of Reichsfuhrer of SS Himmler. Additionally, in Sofia talks were held between high-ranking functionaries of the SS and the IMRO Central Committee members. Despite the confidential character of the negotiations between Mihailov and the Sicherheitsdienst, the Bulgarian government obtained certain information about them. In this connection to the village companies in these counties, there was also formed three volunteer battalions in Kastoria, Florina and Edessa. These were organized by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization [13] and were to carry the name "IMRO Volunteer Battalions". They were formed after the arrival of the IMRO cadres from the Sofia.

Anton Kaltschev's verdict.
Anton Kaltschev's verdict.

[edit] Re-organization

In spring 1944, the Germans taking up where the Italians left off, reformed, re-organized and re-armed the village companies in the Kostur district. Soon after the villages in the Edessa and Florina districts were also armed and prepared for service. The Militiamen from the Kostour and Edessa districts were actively involved in the German anti-guerrilla sweep operations. In June 1944 delegation of IMRO cadres met up with the German Commander in Edessa with whom they discussed the formation of the volunteer corps. This was in accordance with the agreement Ivan Mihailov and IMRO struck with Hitler and Himmler. It was envisaged that these battalions would form the avanguard of the whole Macedonian military effort in Western Macedonia and would spear-head the drives and sweeps against the ELAS forces. The anti-fascist bands of EAM and ELAS

Soon Ellas forced Ohrana to retreat and dismantled many of its groups. In one report of Colonel Mirchev to the staff of the army from 5th June 1944, it was reported that the ELAS fighters took captive the local band consisting 28 militiamen. On August 21, 1944 ELAS successfully attacked the IMRO stronghold at the village of Polikerason. During the battle, 20 IMRO militiamen were reported killed in action and 300 militiamen were captured. In September, two IMRO companies were wiped out in the defense of Edessa by a combined ELAS and Partisan Division attack.

[edit] The dissolution of Ohrana

The declaration of war by Bulgaria on Nazi Germany Ivan Mihaylov arrived in German occupied Skopje, where the Germans hoped that he could form a Macedonian puppet-state with their support. Seeing that the war is lost to Germany he refused. Ohrana was dissolved in late 1944 after their German and Bulgarian protectors were forced to withdrew from Greece .[14] In autumn 1944 Anton Kalchev escaped northern Greece, and tried to flee with the retreating German army, but was captured in the vicinity of Bitola by communist partisans from Vardar Macedonia, and was apprehended to ELAS officials. In Thesaloniki, Kalchev was put on trial as military criminal and was sentenced to death by the Greek authorities.

When the Macedonian section of the Greek Communist Party created the SNOF, some of the former collaborators enlisted in the new unit particularly after Bulgaria's conversion to communism.[15], and took part in the Greek Civil War on the side of the DSE. After the Greek Civil War many from these people were expelled from Greece.[16][17] Greek historian John Koliopoulos (1994) suggests that to an extent the collaboration of the peasants with the Germans, Italians, Bulgarians or ELAS was determined by the geopolitical position of each village. Depending upon whether their village was vulnerable to attack by the Greek communist guerrillas or the occupation forces, the peasants would opt to support the side in relation to which they were most vulnerable. In both cases, the attempt was to promise "freedom" (autonomy or independence) to the formerly persecuted Slavic minority as a means of gaining its support.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Second World War and the Triple Occupation" [1]
  2. ^ Известия Уральского государственного университета № 0049(2007), с. 138-153. Гуманитарные науки. Выпуск 13. Дмитрий Олегович Лабаури - Берлинский приговор 1878 г. и проблема македонского этноязыкового своеобразия. РГНФ.(Russian) [2]
  3. ^ The Situation in Macedonia and the Tasks of IMRO (United) - published in the official newspaper of IMRO (United), "Македонско дело", Но.185, Април 1934
  4. ^ "Резолюция о македонской нации (принятой Балканском секретариате Коминтерна" - Февраль 1934 г, Москва
  5. ^ Егеjски бури - Револуционерното движење во Воденско и НОФ во Егеjска Македоница. (Вангел Аjановски Оче), Скопје, 1975. стр.122-123
  6. ^ IMRO Militia And Volunteer Battalions Of Southwestern Macedonia, 1943-1944 by Vic Nicholas [3]
  7. ^ Егеjски бури - Револуционерното движење во Воденско и НОФ во Егеjска Македоница. (Вангел Аjановски Оче), Скопје, 1975. стр.122-123
  8. ^ "Macedonia and Bulgarian National Nihilism - Ivan Alexandrov" (Macedonian Patriotic Organization “TA” Australia Inc. 1993) [4]
  9. ^ Unlike the activists of the right IMRO of Ivan Mihailov who declared themselves as Bulgarians, the communist orientated Slavic-spacing population of Greece declared themselves as Ethnic Macedonians - Γιά το ζήτημα των Σλαβομακεδόνων - Ρέννος Μιχαλέας, ΕΛΑΣ, Θεσσαλονίκη 13.XI.1944 (σελ. 1, σελ. 2, σελ. 3, σελ. 4, σελ. 5)
  10. ^ Егеjски бури - Револуционерното движење во Воденско и НОФ во Егеjска Македоница. (Вангел Аjановски Оче), Скопје, 1975. стр.126-127, стр.128
  11. ^ Егејскиот дел на Македонија (1913-1989). Стојан Киселиновски, Скопје, 1990 стр. 133
  12. ^ British Officer Evans. December Report, AV, II, 413
  13. ^ Проф. Добрин Мичев. Българското национално дело в Югозападна Македония (1941 – 1944 г.)
  14. ^ Macedonia in the 1940s.Modern and Contemporary Macedonia, vol. II, 64-103. [5] by Yiannis D. Stefanidis
  15. ^ Идеолошкиот активизам над Македонците под Грција, Стојан Кочов, Скопје, 2000 стр.43
  16. ^ Във и извън Македония. Спомени на Пандо Младенов стр. 97 - 100.[6]
  17. ^ Genocide of Macedonian Children - "Macedonian tribune" newspaper, Fort Wayhe town, No. 3157 from November 4, 1993.[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links