Part 2 – Nikola and Ristana’s Story

by Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com

Ristana’s Story

Ristana, daughter of Krsto and Petra was born in Oshchima on December 18th, 1930. As a child, Ristana lived with relatives and worked on their farm helping them with chores and learning to knit and crochet. Ristana was in grade three when the Greek-Italian war broke and the schools closed so she hardly received much of an education. With her grandfather’s help, however, she learned how to read, write and to do arithmetic.

Even though Ristana had little training she did have a flare for writing and enjoyed writing letters for practice. She was sixteen years old when her enthusiasm for writing almost got her into real trouble.
One night Ristana’s feet were aching badly from walking barefoot so she asked her grandmother to make up the usual concoction which helped but only gave temporary relief. This particular night Ristana’s feet were aching badly causing her to moan with pain. Every time she moaned her grandmother ran to her aid, re-applying the homemade potion. This went on well into the late hours of the night. As it turned out, the same night, Greek police patrols (burandari) were in the area looking for Partisans. As they witnessed a light (kandilo) move from room to room several times in the dark of night, they were sure something was going on. Convinced that there were Partisans inside they surrounded the house and crashed through the door. The first person they ran into was Ristana’s grandmother from whom they demanded to know where she was hiding the Partisans. When the grandmother explained that there were no Partisans in the house they demanded to know why there was a light moving from room to room in the dark of night? Ristana’s grandmother explained that she was nursing Ristana’s feet because she was in pain, but they didn’t believe her. Even after she took them to see Ristana with bandages on her feet, they still had doubts and began to search the house. Unfortunately, they found Ristana’s letters, especially the one addressed to her uncle Stojan who was living in Bitola, Yugoslavia, a foreign country, which at the time, was not in good relations with Greece. It was explained to the police that this was not a real letter but something that young Ristana was doing for practice. Still unconvinced the police dragged the entire family out from their home in the middle of the night to the house of one of their informants. There the police consulted with an individual behind closed doors and released the family unharmed.

As the Greek Civil War gained momentum in Macedonia, both sides of the conflict drew able bodies from the same Macedonian community. By 1946 the Partisans had drafted most of Ristana’s family. At the same time Greek presence in the area intensified as Greek Monarchist patrols frequently prowled the village looking for Partisans. With family members as Partisans, Ristana’s family was considered traitorous by the Greek Monarchists and in breach of the law. One day as the Greek police approached Oshchima, fearing for her life (aided by her uncle Paso), Ristana left for the safety of Mount Moro. There she joined the Partisan youth core and, along with others her age, was given responsibility for guarding Oshchima and couriering messages between Partisan command posts.

Ristana could have left with the refugee children during the 1948 mass exodus but her concern for her grandmother kept her at home. Unfortunately that was not to last as Ristana was drafted by the Partisans. Initially she was sent to the village of Papli to work in the fields. Then about a year later, in July 1948, she was transferred to a military support unit where she transported supplies and worked in the fields. A group of several women were put together and placed in charge of transporting grain between villages in Partisan held territories. The group was also responsible for harvesting crops as required. This lasted for several months until the winter of 1948 when Ristana was transferred to the military training camp in Rudari where she spent December and January in combat training and in the use of weapons. When her training was completed in Rudari she was dispatched to Trnaa for further training and assignment in preparation for the Lerin assault.

In February 1949, after all training was completed troops, in good spirits dressed in white capes, were transported near the battlefield and readied to fight. This was Ristana’s first battle. She was anxious and thought about freeing the captives in the Lerin prison camp where some of her family members were kept. If only this battle had taken place a couple of years earlier she could have freed her father and uncles. Now they were in prison in the Greek islands suffering humiliation, hunger and constant beatings.

After arriving in Psoderi near the battleground the Partisans were ordered to hold their position. Ristana remembers waiting for three days. They were unprepared for a long delay and many endured the cold sleeping in the snow in makeshift tents. After the third day Ristana’s unit was ordered to take a defensive position at Trsianski Kalivi and block the Greek Army from mounting a rear attack.
Finally the order came down and the offensive on Lerin began but did not unfold as planned. The Greek Army anticipated every move and countered it with stiff resistance. The young Partisans force was no match for the well-trained and battle-hardened army. The battle lasted all night. As dawn broke it revealed the horrors of war. The snow-white terrain was painted red with the blood of the dead and wounded. It was a terrifying sight especially for the inexperienced fighters like Ristana. She could not comprehend the loss of so many lives and why so many young and beautiful men and women had to be slaughtered.
Ristana’s unit started out with four hundred but when the battle was over only forty were left standing, the rest were either dead or wounded. The survivors were re-grouped and re-assigned. Ristana was assigned to the field medics where she met up with her aunt Rina and Rina’s friend Sevda from Oshchima. Running a gauntlet of machinegun fire, mortar fire and aerial attacks, Ristana carried the dead and wounded from the battlefield to the field hospitals.
The battle for Lerin consumed many. Some were instantly killed while others wounded, froze to death from the cold.
With all the planning, organizing, training and preparing that went on, how could this have happened? Many questions were raised but few answers were given. Ristana believes the Partisan leadership was responsible for the catastrophe. Many blunders were made, some may have been intentional. For example, before the assault a Partisan surrendered to the Greeks and it was rumoured that he had revealed their plans. Then, there was the three-day delay between the planned and actual assault. Was the delay intentional? It was well known that the Greek Army was waiting for reinforcements. Some claim that the attack was held back to give the Greek reinforcements time to arrive. Were these events a coincidence, a conspiracy to destroy the Partisan force, or was the Partisan leadership simply incompetent? No rational explanation was given.
Due to the dead and dying foaming at the mouth, symptoms of nerve gas poisoning, it was alleged that the Greeks were using nerve gas during the battle of Lerin.

After the field medic assignment, Ristana, cold, frightened and hungry was re-issued her old machinegun and ordered to report to Kolomnati. Her new assignment took her to Bigla, Psodery, Trsie, Statitsa and finally Kolomnati. There, after some re-training she was assigned to a guard patrol responsible for guarding strategic points in the local mountains. This lasted for about three weeks before she was sent to Trnaa to prepare for an assault on the village Surovitch.

It was April 1949 and Ristana hoped to go home for Easter but her unit was shipped out earlier than expected. But before leaving she and her old friend, Leftera from Oshchima, were visited by Leftera’s mother and youngest brother Alexander. They brought them zelnik and other goodies for Easter as well as news from home. For the rest of the Partisans, Easter was celebrated with a small piece of zelnik and half an egg each. This was all the Partisans could afford to give their fighters. Ristana celebrated Easter at Mount Malimadi and shared her egg with her friend Leftera.
As soon as the forces arrived at their destination, orders were given to carry out the assault on Sourovitch. Ristana’s unit was left behind to guard the rear. It was well known that the neighbouring village, Exisou, harboured Greek patrols (Burandari) so it was Ristana’s responsibility to make sure they weren’t ambushed from the rear.
Ristana recalls it was cold that night and all she was wearing was a black cape. She had to lie flat on her stomach in the snow to support her machinegun pointing towards Exisou. Then the mortars began to fall, raining down on them as the Greek forces (Burandari) began to hit back hard from everywhere. Within minutes the Partisan unit was decimated. Ristana was lucky to have escaped with her life. A mortar killed two people next to her, including a nurse. This was yet another sad episode in Ristana’s life. Having to recall the experience, Ristana was reminded of another sad episode in her life. This one took place before she became a Partisan. It was at a different battle in a different place and time. She recalls having to take a young woman, who was badly wounded, to the hospital. Ristana had a mule and because the woman was unconscious, she had to mount her belly down hanging over the back of the mule. Unfortunately the hospital was far and the poor woman died on the way. She died on top of the mule slumped over with her long hair hanging down, bathed in blood. It was a sad sight which haunts Ristana to this day.

After the unsuccessful attempt to capture Sourovitch, orders were given to report to the command centre in Trnaa. Once again Ristana came close to home but could not visit her family. Soon she was shipped out on guard duty guarding various strategic positions in the Partisan held territories.
Like most women in the Partisan force, Ristana was guard by night and housekeeper by day. Women with sewing skills, which included almost every woman, were responsible for washing and mending uniforms. Ristana recalls making shirt collars from shirttails to keep the necks of those wearing them warm. Women also took turns washing the camp’s clothes in nearby rivers. One time Ristana recalls being promised time off from guard duty if she helped out with the laundry. She was so disappointed when she never received it because her unit was ordered to ship out. What was worse was she had to go on guard duty without a uniform. Her uniform was wet from being washed, so Ristana had to wear unsuitable regular garments, some of which were still wet from the wash. On top of the cold, as luck would have it, Ristana’s camp was ambushed that night and she lost everything, her clothing, uniform, camping gear and her parka. The next night she was on guard duty again and she nearly froze to death. She recalls being helped up because her legs were frozen and she had lost all feeling in them. To return back to camp Ristana grabbed the tail of a pack mule and dragged herself behind it for what seemed like an eternity before she got some feeling back in her legs. Her frozen journey took her from Bel Kamen to Vitcho. Unprepared for the mountain climate, Ristana like many others experienced hardship and illness from the cold. Those who lost their gear and supplies during the ambush remained cold and hungry for a long time. When they passed through Kolomnati, Ristana was given some plain bread to chew on to ease her hunger, but after chewing and chewing she was unable to swallow any due to the pain from her sore throat. Ristana was sick, weak and in bad shape and her feet were sore, swollen and cold. The next day during exercise she collapsed from exhaustion.

The winter was difficult but it was finally over. After her recovery, Ristana was sent to Malimadi on various work details that included food gathering and bunker digging. She remembers this one particular day when joy turned to tragedy. It was a beautiful summer’s day in early July and Ristana, along with a crew, was sent to pick cherries. Weather wise it was a perfect day and the crew had already picked six bushels of cherries before deciding it was time to return. On their way back they spotted a beautiful cherry tree loaded with cherries. The weather was perfect and picking cherries was a joyous chore for all so they couldn’t resist picking a few more. Ristana for some reason became uneasy and tried to warn the others but one particular man, determined to get more cherries, paid her no attention. Unaware of the minefield he stumbled onto a mine and his leg was blown off. Unable to walk on his own the crew had to carry him on their shoulders while he bled profusely.

As the Greek Civil War intensified Ristana was assigned to various combat duties including manning anti-aircraft guns and guarding various Partisan strategic positions. She was put back on the old routine doing guard duty by night and domestic chores by day.

All was going well for Ristana until the Greeks decided to attack her outpost. She remembers the day well because on the same day food rations were issued which included two kilos of canned beef, a rare treat for the Partisans.
On this particular day Ristana was paired up with Leftera and sent on a routine assignment. They were issued a machine gun, two grenades and one hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition each. Being already overloaded by their combat gear, the women felt it would be unnecessary to carry all the food as well. After all, it was a short assignment and they were expecting to return to camp no later than the next morning.
The weather was clear and it was a beautiful warm August night when the women were interrupted by a fast approaching patrol. It was their relief who had arrived unexpectedly early. But instead of being relieved the women were dismissed from duty. Word came that the Greek forces were fast approaching. They had already taken Roula and were coming for their camp. The women were told to leave quickly and head for Albania. They were also strongly advised against returning to camp.
As the women left they could hear the engines of the Greek tanks approaching. Then came the artillery fire pounding the terrain to dust.

Their journey took the women to Vambel where they found Stojan, another Oshchimian, who also advised them to head for Albania. Stojan was wounded in the leg and he could not walk so he remained behind.

Scared, tired and hungry Ristana and Leftera walked for several days, dodging Greek patrols, before they arrived in Albania. Upon crossing the border they surrendered their weapons and joined the others that had arrived in the camps.

After three days of rest Ristana’s unit regrouped, rearmed and was loaded on trucks and taken back to the battlefields in Mount Gramos. In Albania, Ristana was issued food rations of bread and raw meat. Each individual was responsible for finding the means to cook the meat or eat it raw. In addition to food each combatant was issued a new Italian-made rifle, just uncrated and still coated with grease. The new rifles had no shoulder straps so Ristana fashioned one from her waist belt. She also ripped parts of her shirt and used it to clean the grease off the riffle before inspection.

At Gramos, Ristana resumed her old duties of guarding by night and doing laundry and mending by day. It was late August with frequent rainstorms and cold nights. The Greek forces were closing in and skirmishes were becoming unavoidable. Ristana recalls one time while on guard duty laying flat on her stomach when she noticed Sofia, her partner, approaching very slowly, whispering to her that the Burandari were in sight. But instead of firing at them, the pair grabbed their rifles and ran for their lives. The rest of the unit had already retreated.
It was raining that evening and the roads were wet and muddy. It was hard to run in the sticky and slippery mud. As the women hopped away to escape, bullets rained down on them, rifles crackled in rhythm with each step they took. Were they poor shots, or were they mocking the women? They didn’t know for sure nor did they care. They were simply happy to be alive.

Upon their return the women were informed that their camp had been captured and they had been ordered to retreat to Albania. Ristana had problems with her feet and could not make the trip without rest so she hid in a secluded place behind some rocks and spent the night there. Later, on her way to Albania, Ristana met up with Leftera. Tired and hungry the women decided to skip camp and went to a nearby village looking for food. There they met a young Albanian mother who gave them some bread to eat to ease their hunger pains. Ristana was so grateful for the woman’s hospitality that she gave her the only prized possession she had, her sewing needle.

At camp Ristana found family members who had earlier arrived with the refugees. It was a great comfort for Ristana to once again visit with family and receive news from home. Her relatives also gave her some of their spare clothing and socks.

Ristana was ill from her ordeal and had to be admitted to the hospital in Albasan where she spent two weeks recovering. Before she was released she was ordered to re-join her unit which at the time was preparing to leave. The Albanians in the Albasan hospital, however, were refusing to let her go because, through some misunderstanding, she had been promised to marry a local boy. Ristana could not get out of the situation on her own so she sought help from Mihail another Oshchimian who at the time was also at Albasan. Mihail agreed to take her case to headquarters. Mihail also informed Ristana that her unit was leaving soon and that it was imperative that she be there. Finally after much wrangling she was released and was able to report for duty on time.

After the doctors examined her and found her fit, Ristana was issued new clothes and boots and was shipped out, not to combat, but to the Soviet Union. The Greek Civil War was over and the Partisan combatants were discharged from duty and joined the ranks of the refugees.
The Greek Government did not want any of them back so they became permanent refugees and were shipped out to the Eastern Block countries willing to take them. Ristana, and others from the fighting force, were taken by trucks to the port of Durresi, loaded on a cargo ship and sent to the Soviet Union. The Soviets then sent them to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for permanent relocation. Ristana remembers the trip well. The cargo ship was a dump but the train and the liner inside the Soviet Union were luxurious. The Soviets did their best to make the refugees feel welcome. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for Ristana, who suffered from motion sickness, and she could not enjoy the hospitality to its fullest.

In late fall of 1949 Ristana arrived at her final destination in Tashkent. After spending a month in quarantine she, along with other refugees, was issued permanent quarters in a converted camp formerly occupied by Japanese prisoners of war. The compound was divided into rooms, each with sleeping quarters for thirty-two people in sixteen bunk beds. There, Ristana met Nikola her future husband.

Nikola’s Story

Nikola, son of Dimitar and Lena was born on October 15th, 1929 in the village Tresino in the Voden region. Nikola completed grade two in public school before he was sent to work at the family farm full-time. Among other jobs, Nikola served as a shepherd and cow herder.
At age nine Nikola had an experience that changed his life forever. On his way home from work one day a policeman overheard him speaking to his cousin in Macedonian. Speaking Macedonian was forbidden in Greece. The policeman became furious with him, grabbed him by the neck and gave him the beating of his life. From then on Nikola developed a deep fear of uniforms and stayed clear of them. Unfortunately, as much as he tried he could not always avoid them. Years later he had an accidental and abrupt encounter with man in a uniform. The man was very old and was wearing a padar’s (vineyard guard’s) uniform, no threat to Nikola but his fear of uniforms sent him running. Nikola ran instinctively for safety before realizing that this man was not a policeman and his life was not in danger.

As the Greek Civil War escalated in Macedonia, Nikola’s village experienced frequent visits from Greek patrols. Some elements in the Monarchist police force were unsavoury and regularly sexually assaulted women. Having no recourse to fight back, much of the population was frustrated and had no choice but to voluntarily join the Partisans.
Harassment alone was not motivation enough to make Nikola leave his home, but he made his decision after witnessing the execution of an innocent twenty-three year old man. For no reason at all, the Greek police pushed the young man into the funnel of a running water mill to be crushed by the force of the water. The entire village was angered by the incident and on February 11, 1947, when the opportunity presented its self, many young men, including Nikola, took up arms and left Tresino to join the Partisans in Gramos. There, Nikola was issued an automatic weapon and sent into combat at the various fronts. By the time the conflict ended his unit of one hundred and twenty strong was reduced to eleven. When orders came to retreat, Nikola’s unit was combined with another with specific orders to enter Albania. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding between the Albanian border patrol and his command and after twelve grueling, hunger filled and exhausting days they finally reached their destination. When they arrived, the active Macedonian leaders were arrested by the Greek Partisan authorities but were later released by special request of the Soviet Government. Nikola left with the refugees and was taken to Tashkent.

Nikola met Ristana for the first time in November 1949 at the refugee camp in Tashkent. On December 4th of the same year they married. Nikola joined a local construction company building houses for the refugees while Ristana took a job painting houses and delivering bricks to the bricklayers. Ristana found the winter very cold, especially since she had to travel in open transport trucks. About four months after her first job Ristana found a new job at the aviation factory. She started the job as a lathe operator making airplane parts, then moved on and joined a riveting crew assembling airplane bodies. Nikola also changed jobs, joining Ristana at the aviation factory making shipping boxes. A year and a half after settling down Ristana and Nikola’s first child, Dimitar was born on June 1st, 1951. Three years later a second child, Lena, was born on April 15th, 1954. Sadly, however, Lena fell ill and died fourteen months later from severe diarrhea. Seven years had passed since Ristana and Nikola arrived in Tashkent but they still had hopes of returning home. Knowing that they had no chance of going back to Tresino or Oshchima, Nikola and Ristana decided to go and live in the Republic of Macedonia. Their third child, Sofia, was born on August 1st, 1957 and with their application accepted, Nikola and his family left Tashkent September 14th, 1957 for Bitola.

Bitola was home but life was still difficult. Nikola found a job in construction while Ristana stayed home to look after the children. With the birth of their fourth child Violetta, born on April 12th, 1962, the family started looking towards Canada as a prospect for a better life. Members of Ristana’s family lived there, including her mother and father who were willing to sponsor them. The family arrived in Toronto on July 8th, 1966 where they reside to this day.