Part 3 - Janko’s Story

March 2005

by Risto Stefov
rstefov@hotmail.com

Janko, son of Mihail and Ristana was born in 1934 in the village Oshchima.

Janko spent his first fourteen years in the village after which he was sent away to Eastern Europe as a Greek Civil War child refugee. Even though he was very young at the time, Janko remembers many details of his life.

He remembers an episode he had in early spring of 1939, before the Second World War started, which literally left a lasting impression on him. One day when he was visiting his best friend Petre, Petre’s mother asked the boys to go to Petre's aunt's house to pick up some supplies. After several hours had passed and the boys had still not returned, Stojanca, Petre’s mother, began to worry and sent her older son Naum to look for them.

Like typical young boys, Janko and Petre stopped off for a visit at a friend's house and lost track of time. When they realized they were late they left in a hurry. Just as they were coming out of Mirulka's house there was Naum standing in front of the door looking stern. Sensing trouble the boys bolted; Petre ran down the alleyway towards the river and Janko took off towards the Kazanche (distillery). Seeing the boys run, Naum figured he would have some fun with them and began to chase Janko. Janko ran towards the bridge but before crossing it he stopped. He couldn’t hear Naum’s footsteps so he turned to look. Unfortunately Naum was right behind him, teasing and pretending to go after him. With every step Naum took Janko took a step backwards. Janko was getting visibly upset. He was nervous about being caught and at the same time he was angry at Naum for taunting him.

While Janko was distracted he had completely forgotten that he was getting close to the edge of the bridge. The bridge had no railings and as Janko took another step and fell plunging into the shallow, muddy water.

He landed face down and severely cut his face on the sharp rocks. The fall left a wound the size of a dime on his nose. He plugged it with his finger to stop the bleeding.

Naum was startled by Janko’s fall and ran off. Janko picked himself up off the muddy rocks and crawled to his grandmother Koteitsa’s house. There she patched him up as best as she could since there was no doctor in the village.

This was a traumatic experience that Janko would not likely forget, being constantly reminded by the scar on his nose.

Janko attended one year of school before the schools were closed due to the start of World War II. He was in grade one when the Italians attacked Greece and life suddenly took a turn for the worse. He doesn’t remember much from that period except the time when the Germans were making their final retreat. At that time the entire village packed up and left. People took their families and livestock and disappeared into the forested mountains. They had no idea what the Germans would to do to them as they were leaving, angry and disgraced by their defeat.

Janko also remembers the day German attack planes assaulted a group of British heavy bombers. Fire was raining from the sky over Oshchima that day as the fast moving fighters attacked and shot at the heavy bombers. One was shot down over the village but fortunately it continued to glide and crashed in Stara Oshchima some distance away from the populated area. It was a terrible crash; debris from the plane was spread over a large area. Body parts from the dead British airmen were everywhere; some were even hanging from the trees. It was a terrible sight for a youngster to have witnessed. Some of the bombs the plane was carrying were scattered over the crash site and remained unexploded. The crash was a bad experience for all Oshchimians, especially for the young children who witnessed it.

Fortunately, not all of Janko’s experiences were bad. Some of his favorite childhood memories are from Katin Livage, where he spent his summers in the family summerhouse looking after the orchard. Janko spent many dark nights alone with only his dog Hitler for company. His only regret is that he dreaded the dark nights because he was afraid of the load screeching noises coming from the forest. It wasn't until he was much older that he discovered that those noises were made by the nighthawk, a small bird.

Like many young Oshchimians, Janko at an early age was expected to work and help out the adults around the house and on the family farm. But when Janko's father left for Yugoslavia to join the Partisans, Janko being the eldest male in the family had to take his place. He and his older sister Sophia became the primary workers running the homestead. They had to till the soil, plant, harvest and look after the livestock. No sooner was World War II over than the Greek Civil War started, bringing further hardship to the Macedonian and Oshchimian people.

At the start of the Greek Civil War Janko’s father left Yugoslavia and came back home to fight on the Partisan side. Unfortunately Mihail expressed an undesirable opinion which his commanding officer did not appreciate. Mihail cared a lot for what was happening to the Partisans and believed that too many, especially the young, were killed due to the inexperience of their commanding officers. Mihail spoke up against this practice and was condemned for it. The Greek Partisans in his command did not share his opinion, charged him with treason and sentenced him to death.

His sentence was not fair so Mihail looked for ways to get out of it. His chance came when he was taken out of lockup and placed under house arrest. He made a clean getaway but unfortunately was caught by an enemy patrol and sent to prison in Solun. He was later transferred to another prison in Lerin to await trial.

Fortunately Kote, Mihail's father, was a British subject and a Canadian Citizen who had money and good connections. He was able to arrange Mihail's release. Unfortunately Mihail’s release was conditional. He was only to be released if he agreed to give up his Greek citizenship and leave the country immediately, which meant he had to abandon his family.

As soon as Mihail was freed he fled Greece and went to Canada to join his parents in Toronto.

Janko remembers one early February morning in 1948 while his father was in prison, a group of Greek Partisans came to the house, took the family out and placed them under house arrest in the village school. They then seized everything from inside the house. They emptied the grain bins, took all the clothing and every last piece of food. Then they paraded the seized livestock through the village for everyone to see. When they were done they converted the house into a hospital.

Later in the afternoon an armed escort came and took Janko, his mother Ristana and his older sister Sophia to the village of Breznitsa. They traveled on foot through the deep snow and reached Rula by nightfall, where they spent the night. The next morning they continued on foot to Breznitsa. Upon their arrival Janko's mother was taken to the high command headquarters where she was interrogated and subsequently released. After her release the family was free to go but had nowhere to go to so they returned to Oshchima and stayed with Ristana’s parents, Tanas and Sotira. Thanks to his grandparents and to the generosity of the Oshchimian people, the family was looked after. Unfortunately their ordeal was not over.

In the spring of 1948 the Partisans enacted the 'Save the Children Program' during which all children under the age of fourteen were to be evacuated from the war zones in northwestern Macedonia and temporarily placed under the care of participating eastern European countries.

After losing his father, this was another emotional breakup for Janko’s family. The first to leave were Janko's younger siblings Petre and Lena. They traveled together to Yugoslavia but were later separated. Petre was sent to Romania and from there to Poland, Lena was left behind in Yugoslavia.

Parents were 'assured' that the evacuation was only temporary and the children would be returned within six months or as soon as the war was over.

In hindsight, however, this was nothing more than a well thought out plan to permanently exile more Macedonians.

After the children left, the Greek State closed the door behind them and would not allow them to return. A vast majority, sixty-five years later, are still not allowed to return.

Janko left next. He remembers the day well when thirty-three Oshchimian children were gathered at the village square and handed over to surrogate mother Kita Keleshova. It was a day of high emotion as the children departed in tears and as their mothers watched them slowly disappear over Mount Preol. They crossed the Yugoslav border in the dark of night and went in the village Lubojno. They stayed in Lubojno for approximately three weeks waiting for others to join them, before they left for Bitola.

Janko remembers they had no change of clothing, dishes, or cutlery. At the border the Greek Partisans took everyone's belongings, promising they would deliver them to them at Lubojno by wagon. Unfortunately the wagon never arrived and the children were left without the most basic essentials. Janko remembers going up and down the riverbank looking for tin cans or anything that could be used as a spoon or bowl in which to put his rationed soup. He couldn’t find anything and most of the time went without food.

From Lubojno, the children were loaded into trucks and taken to the train station in Bitola where they boarded a train and, after a short stopover in Skopje, were taken to Hungary. From Skopje they traveled two days and three nights before they arrived in Budapest where they were welcomed by the Hungarian Red Cross. From the railway station they were bused to the empty Lahtania military dormitory. The Hungarian Red Cross did their utmost to please the children and make them feel at home. There was no shortage of toys, candy, or other things for the children.

Even though World War II had ended, there were still huge shortages of food, especially bread. Janko remembers being served rations of bread, well packaged in paper cartons. He also remembers the older children stealing bread from the younger ones. They would turn off the dormitory lights and attack the little ones in the dark, taking their bread. That’s how desperate the situation was.

Children were homesick and on many occasions tried to escape. Believing they could find their way back home, they would sneak out from the compounds and hide in the yard hoping to run away. Children had no concept of how far away from home they were but in desperation they were willing to try anything. Their desire to be with their family was sometimes overwhelming.

After a short stay in Lahtania, the Oshchimian children were transferred to a tobacco factory called Dohangiar, located in the industrial district of Budapest-Ujpesht. During their stay there, Sevda, an Oshchimian girl, fell ill and was taken to hospital. Janko remembers visiting her with some older Oshchimian friends and trying to cheer her up, encouraging her to hang on and fight her illness so that they could be together again. Unfortunately the hospital staff suddenly stopped their visits. Perhaps Sevda was too ill to have visitors. The children knew something was wrong but did not know what until much later. Sevda had died.

While at Dohangiar, Janko recalls having the honour of being guests at a luncheon given by the president’s wife, Mrs. Rakosi in downtown Budapest. She was a kind lady and donated sports uniforms for all the boys and girls.

After spending about five months in the factory facilities the children were moved to a resort called Nogmagoch, where they were enrolled in school for the 1948 – 1949 school year. This was the first time they attended school full time since they arrived in Hungary.

Nogmagoch was a beautiful resort, well decorated with modern amenities and art sculptures. In front of the building was a large globe surrounded by red rose bushes and four symmetrically placed statues. The statues symbolized the four seasons of the year; spring, summer, fall and winter.

After completing the 48/49 school year, Janko was moved to the dormitory Zahariadis in Budapest where he attended summer school.

In September he was again moved, this time to the Trpovski dormitory in downtown Budapest. Children were assigned to various trade schools and work facilities where they could learn practical trades. During the re-assignment, new arrivals on their way to Poland were assigned to the Trpovski facility. Janko wanted to leave Hungary with them to join his brother Petre in Poland, so he made an official request for the move. His request was granted and in September 1949 Janko left and met up with his brother at Londek Zdroj.

In the spring of 1950 the brothers were split up again. Janko was transferred to Zgozelec, to the Zahariadis dormitory and Petre was sent to the city of Shcecin where he stayed for a while and then left for Warsaw to study auto mechanics. Soon afterwards Janko left Zgozelec for nearby Ujazd to study electronics.

In 1951 Janko was transferred to Wojanow where he completed a two-year electronics course specializing in radio mechanics.

In 1952 he received news that his mother Ristana, in Toronto, had passed away. Ristana was only thirty-eight years old when she died. Needless to say the children were devastated by the sad news and all their hopes of ever seeing their mother again were shattered.

During the 1952-53 school year Janko was admitted to second year in a four-year program at Technikum College. The program was called Technikum Mechaniczno-Radiotechnichne and the college was located in the town of Dzierzoniow.

Janko graduated in May 1955 as a certified radio technician (Swiadectwo Dojzalosci) and got a job as a radio technician in the Polish radio station Radio Wroclaw. He job included servicing the radio transmitter which was located just outside of Wroclaw.

Janko’s two sisters Sophia and Lena remained in Yugoslavia until their final departure for Canada, only three days before their mother died.

In September1955 Janko and Petre arrived in Toronto and were re-united with the rest of the family.

A few years after his arrival, through a school friend, Janko met Cena, his future wife, at a St. Kiril church dance. They were married in January 1957.

Cena was born in 1937 in the village Visheni, Kostursko. She came to Canada from Poland in May 1955.

Janko and Cena have three children, Christina, Mitchell and Caroline, all born in Toronto, Canada.

Since their arrival to Canada both Janko and Cena have been active in the Macedonian community.

Shortly after his arrival Janko joined the United Macedonians Committee of Canada and in 1964 he was elected to the executive as Secretary Treasurer. The next year he was elected President.

Janko occupied several positions in the Executive Board and became co-founder of the United Macedonians of North America. Janko was elected President of the Joint Executive Board of the United Macedonians of North America during the first United Macedonians convention, held on September 3-7, 1970.

Janko was also one of the founders of St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church in Toronto. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1963 and remained on the Board during and after the church’s construction which lasted from 1963 to 1965.

In September 1965 Janko was re-elected to the Board and in 1966, under the Presidency of Professor James Zugloff, served as Secretary Treasurer of the church.

In 1980 Janko was elected President of St. Clement of Ohrid and served in the 1981-1982 term. Two years later, at the American Canadian Orthodox Diocese Convocation in Gary, Indiana, in September of 1983, Janko was elected vice-president of the diocese for the years 1984 – 1985.

Janko has also been an active supporter and member of Benefit Society of Oshchima.