short history of municipality of makedonska kamenica from neolithic to the present

SHORT HISTORY OF

MUNICIPALITY OF MAKEDONSKA KAMENICA

From the Neolithic Period to the creation of the modern

mining settlement of Makedonska Kamenica

Goran Mitevski

Graduated teacher of History

Kochani 2013

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HISTORIA EST MAGISTRA VITAE

Dedicated to my wife Daniela and my children Irene and Martin

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INTRODUCTION

To write about one’s hometown or local history has always been a chal-lenge from several aspects. Of primary concern is whether historical figures and events will be treated justly and without the slightest dose of subjectivity. Secondly, considering that history is a complex and defined science, there is a great responsibility to undertake a systematic analysis consistent with accepted methodology and norms. Thirdly, I would like to mention that in this brief his-tory of our municipality, I would like to present an integrated view with all the conditions and relationships that were imposed by the heavy historical wheel over population from these areas. I would like to emphasize that in the topic there are some circumstances, events, and personalities that had extremely ret-rograde influences in this Macedonian environment. However this does not mean that we should refuse them with some resignation, suppress them, or even deny them, but rather accept them as they actually happened in the past, because people who are really wronged, forced by different motives, or even convinced of the correctness of their procedures, do not need to be deleted and permanently rejected in the wind of oblivion. We need to understand and accept that only the realistic portrayal of the historical past of our lands can give us a great lesson for the present. I don’t think I have managed to answer the task that I’ve placed upon myself, nor am I convinced that I have given a systematic and exhaustive analysis in this patriotic history. That kind of ambition I have not had, because you can always do better and more. How I have managed the task, I leave to the judgment of the readers and the citizens of our community and beyond.

Yours sincerely,

Goran Mitevski

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CHAPTER

I PERIOD FROM THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD TO THE BEGINNING OF

THE TURKISH CONQUEST

Prehistoric and ancient period

As a result of the favorable natural-geographic conditions and adequate climate, the territory of the Municipality of Makedonska Kamenica was settled during the pre-historic age. Many ancient artifacts have been found as archaeological remains from our ancestors dating back to the Neolithic Period (10.000 to 3.000 BC), including a variety of stone weapons and tools. These artifacts were used in daily life for an array of needs, such as, collecting food and seeds in various clay pots. Several types of stone axes and points of arrows and spears have also been found. Our ancestors used these for defense and the hunting of wild animals in those harsh times, until simple tools for primitive cultivating of land emerged. It is interesting to note that several small altars, as well as stone fi gures of various deities and totems used for sacred purposes have also been uncovered. From the Bronze Age (1800 -1000 BC) the fi ndings are less common, but am-ple artifacts from the Iron Age (1000 - 300 BC) have been discovered. This is a result not only of the growth and permanency of the local population, but also of better social or-ganization and improvements in strength and longevity of tools for hunting and agricul-ture. From the prehistoric period numerous “tombs” or “mounds” in the form of small earthen hills used to perform burials have remained preserved. Although they still have not been explored in great detail, some were used burials in the Roman period. Outside the village of Kosevica, in the hills of Parovci, the remains of a Roman site were found ceramic, walls and tiles), and in the area of Gradishte, located near the Kosevica river, a small Roman necropolis has been discovered. Remains of Roman settlements have also been found in the village of Todorovci. At Gjurgja’s meadow a bronze sword that dates back to the X to VIII centuries, BC (several centuries before the arrival of the Romans on the Balkan Peninsula) was discovered and can be found today in the Archeological Museum of Macedonia in Skopje. A top a high hill in the area, numerous remains of a small military establishment have been discovered which were intended to defend the path that led north to the region of the mines for lead and zinc.

The construction of the Roman settlements and military fortifi cations began in the III century AD, when the Roman empire was faced with numerous attacks from warlike barbarian tribes from the north, and fi nished in the VI century AD during the reign of Justinian I (527-565). The invaders carved off chunks of Byzantine territory, and after Jus-tinian’s death in 565, Byzantium was never as strong again. The best-known site of this period is the archaeological site ,,Kalata”, located at the mouth of the River Kamenichka as it fl ows into the River Bregalnica, where the artifi cial lake Kalimanci is today. During the V and VI centuries there was a Roman settlement here with an area of 75,000 square meters. It was here that archeologists uncovered a necropolis, an undercity, and a single nave church, which date back to the late antique period around the VI century.An ur-ban settlement from the late Roman period was uncovered near the village of Sasa, and

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another important site can be found in an area of the village of Dulica in locality named Begov dab (Bey Oak), where among other things, a large basilica and many relics (ceram-ics, capitols) from the VI century have been found.

Medieval period

Failure of Byzantine offenses in the time of Maurice to repulse the vast Slavic hordes beyond Danube River sealed the fate of the Balkans once and for all. The arrival of the mas-sive Slavic tribes on the Balkan Peninsula has fundamentally changed the ethnic makeup of the region. The indigenous population and the Roman colonists had little choice when they faced the Slavic invasion, they could either assimilate into the new Slavic societies or retreat high into the mountains and engage in farming. Those who refused to deal with this new situation moved towards the large fortifi ed cities of the Byzantine Empire. In the early stages, Slavs, from the religious aspect, remained faithful to their pagan teachings. They believe in the stars, various vampires and fairies, supernatural spirits, sacrifi ces to the sun and the moon and polytheism. Christian teachings in Macedonia and the region spread very slowly and in several stages. The fi rst attempt to impose faith in Christ was undertaken by the natives. The second stage began with campaigns of Byzantine emper-ors that brought Christian priests and missionaries in tow. But without a doubt, the great-est success achieved was by the Slavic educators Cyril and Methodius who created the Bregalnica mission in the year 855. The “Thessaloniki Legend” states that Constantine the Philosopher (Cyril’s birth name was Constantine) spread the word among the Slaves in the Bregalnica region and in the City of Raven. Moreover, it is mentioned that he chris-tened, or converted, 54.000 Slavs to Christianity and created the 35 alphabetic letters that laid the foundations for the fi rst Slavic alphabet. As the Municipality of Makedonska Ka-menica is part of the Bregalnica region it is quite likely that the Slav inhabitants here also received Christianity in the Byzantine form. This is important because the Bregalnica re-gion was a valuable administrative territory within the Byzantine Empire, especially the upper course of the river, today covering Pijanec and Males valley. Additionally, the region constituted a border with medieval Bulgaria, which was in the process of strengthening itself and harbored territorial aspirations to the west. The conversion to the Byzantine form of Christianity, therefore, was deemed vital to the creation of loyal subjects and fol-lowers to confront the invasions of belligerent Bulgarians.

The next phase of historical development of the region is closely associated with a burst of Bul-garian militarism and the establishment of a Bul-garian military and administrative organization. This started during the reign of Khan Boris I (852-889) with its zenith being reached during the reign of Simeon (893-927), the most powerful ruler of me-dieval Bulgaria.

With the creation of the medieval Macedoni-an state headed by King Samuil and his successors, Gavril Radomir and Jovan Vladislav, this region was part of the empire until its tragic fall in 1018.

After the fall of Samuil’s state at the request of newly appointed Archbishop Jovan (John), Emperor Basil II gave three charters which declared certain rights for ecclesiastical feudal lords of the Ohrid Archbishopric, to be headed autonomously by its own archbishop. This can be found in the fi rst charter:

Picture 1. St. ,, Cyril and

Methodius“

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“Bishop of Morodviz have the Morodviz and Kozjak, Slavishte, Zletovo, Lukovica,

Pijanec and Maleshevo 15 clergy and 15 pairs “ 1

This is the fi rst mention of the village Lukovica in historical sources. After the revival of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1187-1396) these territories jointly entered medieval Bulgaria. This situation remained until the second half of the thirteenth century, when King Milutin (1282-1321) conquered these territories. Data for these historical events was found in the “Biography of the King” written by Serbian Patri-arch Danilo II which says: “Gathering his strength, Milutin sent out for the country sur-

rounding the Greek empire, to the surrounding regions, and I will say this: He fi rst took

both regions with their cities and surrounding areas, and the famous city of Skopje, then

Ovce Pole and Zletovo and Pijanec “ 2

In 1282 mining work in the old Roman mines was renewed. Then, a number of Sassi from Hungary and Germany fl eeing from the Mongol invasion arrived in Mac-edonia, including the Lukovica area and began work in the lead and zinc mines. The homeland of the Sassi was in Saxony (today’s capital is Dresden) in southeastern Ger-many. That area is known for the Ore Mountains, which lie near the northwestern border of the Czech Republic and extend to the mining settlement Silesia in south-western Poland. In areas of the triangle created by these three Border States (Ger-many, Poland, and the Czech Republic), several German minorities have settled over the centuries, remaining to this day. The Sassi, who revolutionized mining, brought countless treasures to the feudal lords, for whom they worked, improving life in many areas. Very little is known of the superior techniques for mine exploitation used by the Sassi, because they left no written documentation and the secrets of mining were left as inheritance only to their kind. A few words used by the Sassi when mining such as were preserved, including utman (mining supervisor, miner) furnik (worker) shlja-ka (mineral), shtona (pit). With the advance of the Turks from the Ottoman Empire to the Balkan Peninsula, the identities and accomplishments of the Sassi people faded.

Two logical assumptions as to the reason for this are that they retreated to the lands of their ancestors who came to this area a few centuries ago, or they remained and continued to live in this territory intermingling and becoming part of the domi-nant Macedonian ethnic group.

Today’s village of Sasa was named after the Sassi people. The unit of currency exchanged amongst the traders was called “sarafi ”, which gives its name to the neigh-bourhood of Sarafska found above the current mine today. Part of the mined ore was originally melted in Kamenica, which according to folk accounts was a large settle-ment. This area was under the administration of a large-scale feudal Protosevastokra-tor (a senior court title in the late Byzanine Empire, also used by other rulers of other bordering states) Hrelja, and then was operated by despot John Oliver.

In the fi rst half of the fourteenth century in the Balkan Peninsula, the political situation in the region has changed with the introduction of a new power. Namely, after the end of the civil war in Byzantium, the new Byzantine emperor, Andronicus III, recognized the strengthening of the Serbian state and concluded a military alli-ance with Bulgaria in preparation for a joint attack on Serbia.

Serbia at that time was not ready for war on two fronts and tried to make a pact with Bulgaria, but these attempts ended unsuccessfully. After failed negotia-tions, Serbia decided to fi rst attack Bulgaria, whose armies arrived in the valley of the Struma River and were positioned at the city of Zemen in Macedonia.

1 Љубен Лапе Одбрани текстови за историјата на македонскиот народ I дел, Скопје 1975, стр. 71 2 Животи краљева и архиепископа српских, написао архиепископ Данило, издање Ћ. Даничић,Загреб 1866, 108-109

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Picture 2. Panoramic view of neighbourhood of Sarafska

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The Serbian army arrived and camped along the Kamenica River (today’s Kamen-

icka River). 3

Serbian King Stefan Decani, who wanted to gain time mainly because part of his army had not yet arrived, decided to launch an initiative for negotiations. These negotiations failed, and once the Serbian army had gathered, he led his army against Bulgarians. On July 28, 6828 * (1330), the battle of Velbuzhd took place on the border between Pijanec, Kjustendil Field, and Kamenica and ended with the crushing defeat of the Bulgarians and the death of Bulgarian King Mihail. This battle had far reaching consequences for the fate of Macedonia, as it strengthened Serbian hegemony in the region. It was during this period that our lands entered the feudal estates of the large feudal landlord, Hrelja, and later Despot John (Jovan) Oliver.

Hrelja ruled the territory around Strumica, Stip and Radovis and during the pe-riod of independence had 1000 warriors and occupied three cities, which by medieval standards represented signifi cant strength. After his death, these areas were taken by the Serbian army and given to another large feudal landlord, Despot Oliver.

Despot Oliver belonged to the group of the greatest feudal lords during the Ser-bian rule. He was quite rich and powerful, as evidenced by his meeting with John Kan-takuzin in 1342, in which it was reported that Oliver arrived escorted by 2000 men.

Oliver’s source of wealth were the Zletovo and Sasa mines, located within his territory. He also had control of the miners, the famous Sassi, who had already made a name for themselves during the Medieval Era. Jovan Oliver also accrued revenue from the enslaved population which supplied him ,,with grain, wine and domesticated

animals (sheep, pigs, and bees)”. 4 The last known mention of Despot Oliver is from the end of 1354. In a letter from Pope Innocent VI, Oliver is mentioned as one of the feudal lords closest to the Serbian king.

Oliver’s territories are mentioned again in a charter of Serbian Tsar Stefan Du-san (1331-1355) in which he granted Oliver’s legacy to Ivanko Probishtipovikj.

The charter concludes with the words: “Faithful to Christ the Lord, Stephen, King

of the Serbs and the Greeks by order of the Tsar, said Zarko going from Thessaloniki to

Lukovica, on the 28th day of May 1350.” 5

In the second half of the fourteenth century these regions entered the Kingdom of Constantine Dejanovic. The composition of this state included: Stip, Strumica, Vel-buzhd, Kraishte, Vranje, Presevo, Zhegligovo, Zletovo, Kochani, Pijanec, Maleshevo, Petrich, Melnik, Radovish, Dojran, Bohemia, Tikves and Veles, practically “all of Mac-edonia to the east of the Vardar River, including Melnik and Rila and reaching near Serres and almost to Thessaloniki “. 6

During Dejan’s reign, ore from the Osogovo Mountains continued to be exploit-ed, primarily in Kratovo, Sasa and Kyustendil. The mines were state property. Dejan had a strong and organized military, supported by money from the rich mines. The main army included mercenaries ready for action at any time.

The second half of the fourteenth century was characterized by the political split in the Balkans, including Macedonia. This political fragmentation and disunity

3 Атанасовски Александар Македонија во XIV-от век, докторат во ракопис одбранет на Фило-зофскиот факултет во Скопје 1999 год. стр. 45

4 Ibid стр. 139 5 Љубен Лапе Одбрани текстови...171, види и Одабрани споменици српског права, Београд 1926

год. стр. 150-152 6 А. Атанасовски Македонија во XIV век, 258-259

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between Balkan rulers was used by the Ottoman Turks. After the disastrous defeat of Volkasin and Uglesha Mrnjavchevikj in the Battle of Maritsa on June 26, 1371, the Ottomans used the situation to conquer Macedonia in several stages.

In 1386, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I personally engaged in the Balkans and forced Constantine Dejan to accept his rule. Now most of the East Macedonia fell under supreme Ottoman suzerainty. Dejan had no choice because if he refused he would face attack from the whole Ottoman force or be vulnerable to his neighbors-vassals, as Ottoman rule brought temporary tranquility and even the possibility of a temporary expansion of his territories. Although he became a vassal, Constantine Dejan enjoyed great autonomy until 1389. He continued to be the supreme master of his country and the mines in his state. Under his authority, he had many small feudal lords and other dignitaries, and retained the right to continue to distribute property.

In return for this autonomy, Constantine supplied Murat with annual tax (dzhizie harach), if needed, he was obliged to take part in war with his cavalry, and at any time must allow the Ottoman army free passage through all the territories he ruled. During a campaign against the Vlach Commander Dimitar Mirce, Constantine Dejan died on May 17, 1395. He was taking part in a battle fi ghting on the side of the Turkish Sultan Bayezid I Yildirim (1389-1402). His death marked the defi nitive end of his country. There are data that in 1410-1413, the region was ruled by some unknown Duke Yusuf, but there is insuffi cient data about the period after these events.

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Picture 3. Administrative divide of Macedonia on sanjaks from XV to XVII century

CHAPTER

II

OTTOMAN RULE UNTIL WORLD WAR I

There is no other historical process which has left such far-reaching conse-quences on the fate of the Balkan people as the period of the Turkish conquest and half-millennium of Turkish rule in the region. The Ottoman invaders were like an unstoppable avalanche; one after another they wiped out once-powerful medieval Balkan states and established a new order in this part of the world. With that, the Balkan Peninsula began the dark Turkish night embodied by a new feudal system, anchored by the canons of Sharia law, and backed up by the enormous power of the Ottoman army. With this, the Turks began imposing a very different culture, new institutions, and ideas unknown to the Balkan people: the new faith, Islam.

Unfortunately, there are not many written records that relate directly to this region for the period of the fi rst centuries of Ottoman rule. However, based on docu-ments found for nearby towns, such as the Sultan’s orders, it is believed that life for the population in this territory was quite diffi cult. From the material remains found,

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it has been established that mining in the Osogovo mountains came to an end and any settlements that were along the roads disappeared. The population retreated higher into the mountains where most engaged in farming and agriculture, but the harsh mountain conditions and poor land did not allow satisfactory development.

In administrative terms this region was within the Kjustendil Sanjak, while in ecclesiastical terms, if was part of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and then under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Pec from its renewal in 1557 until abolition in 1766.

The Kamenica settlement is mentioned in one of the Turkish census registers (defteri) of the Ottoman state, which refers to the period from 1570-1572. It said Kamenica had 80 Christian families and 59 single men. The village had fi ve mills for fl our and 10 mills for rolling wool products that served the local population.

We do not have a lot of data about whether or not there was signifi cant transription of ecclesiastical books, but it is well known that the fi rst Macedonian printer is from these areas, Jakov from Kamena Reka. Jakov came from a clerical family. In the renewed printing company of Bozidar Vukovic, he printed books for the church in the Slavic language (1566) decorated with fl ags, illustrations and vignettes. One well-preserved specimen is in the possession of the National and University Library “St. Kliment Ohridski” in Skopje. 7

In the record for himself he says: “Undercommand and providence of the

great god of ours Jesus Christ I undertook

the printing of these pages (I) unworthy

and least among all Jakov, because they are

worn by much time and many years for such

holy books. I went out from Macedonia, my

homeland, and I came to the West countries

near the ancient Roman city of Venice, and

there I found the old copies of Duke Bozidar

with his son Vincenzo from very ancient

times, printed upon calf and began to print

these small books: chasoslovs, all annual

Sobors from September to August, tropars,

kondaci, evening psalms, morning prayers

and all hours in a row, and the holy ubrus, Cyril’s Pasqualia and chapel of Bogorodica

whole katavisija, and writs for all ages, and songs of Moses, all this I composed for

any need. Therefore I pray the Lord God to help me with this work I started to write.

And I, Jakov was born and my homeland is from the Osogovska Planina, near

Kyustendil, from the Kamena Reka, from priest and noble family in those places since

old times. And if I had sinned with my hand or tongue, roughly or defective, I beg all

of you on my knees to forgive me...

I began to print these books in year seven thousand and seven hundred and four

(1566) May fi fteenth, and ended on August 30 in a very outstanding city of Venice. 8

The fi rst time, the Turks cared not to cause hardship to the local population, because they needed a stable hinterland during their conquering campaigns in the Balkans. But after thorough mastery of the Balkan peninsula during the reign of Suleiman the Magnifi cent, came the full expression of cruelty of Ottoman rule.

7 Македонска енциклопедија, книга 1, Скопје 2009, стр. 655 8 Љ.Лапе Одбрани текстови... 229

Picture 4. A photograph of Jacov’s books

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The period of the eighteenth century, when there was a crisis throughout the entire Ottoman Empire, saw increases in taxes, various reprisals, and looting of bashi-bazouk hordes (irregular Ottoman soldiers noted for their brutality and lack of discipline) that contributed to the emergence of passive and active resistance. Active resistance was expressed through banditry (Ajduci). To this day in the area of the village Sasa, there exists a mountain spring known as “Ajducki” (Bandits) which is the silent witness of one distant and dramatically heroic time. Particular-ly strong reprisals were infl icted upon the population following the bloody end of the Razlog Uprising (1876), especially after the signing of the Russo-Turkish treaty (signed March 3, 1878 at San Stefano), and the end of two-month insurrection that liberated Pijanec. In fear of Turkish retaliation, part of the population retreated across the border and settled in Kjustendil in Bulgaria.

Emigration data from Vladimir Karamanov show the following departures:

Dulica 2 families with about 12 men

Moshtica one family with 4 men

Kosevica one family with 7 men

Kamenica one family with 7 men

Most of these unfortunate people, together with other refugees from Male-shevija and Pijanec, settled in the Kyustendil neighborhoods of “Velbozhd” and “Topolnica.” Settlers from these areas worked as wage laborers, day-laborers, then craftsmen, etc. Some of these workers, through diligence, honesty, and clarity, received admiration among the population there. Unfortunately those who stayed in their native homes, in the true sense of the word, felt Turkish anger.

Some Turks from the villages of Kalimanci and Kocansko went to the vil-lage of Dulica and killed Peter Zlatkov and stole the grain in his barn. After a few days, Shaban Aga, from Kocani, came with a group of Turks who camped with the Damian family who had a blind 17-year-old girl. Aga, ruthlessly and without shame, reached for the girl.

She was raped and her father murdered. After ten days, Aga returned to the village with 135 male companions and killed Stojko and his wife in their home. The peasant Stoyan Petrov was tied to the beams in his house, hung with his head down and burned in the house. These stories come as poignant testimoni-als from foreign travelers in these areas. After the formation of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) on 04 November 1893 (23 October old style) in Thessaloníki, and the subsequent spread of associated cells throughout the country, the spirit of the liberation struggle lived on.

Notably in 1896, the emigrant representative organization in Sofia, Goce Delchev organized a plan through the Kocani channel, passing through the re-gion of modern Makedonska Kamenica. This channel passed through the gorges between the villages of Sadzhenik and Sasa and from there to Kocani. The main point was in the village of Sasa and the most famous courier was was Grandfa-ther Ampov from the Saravskoto neighborhood. In 1901 and 1902, Sasa was home to the troops of Argir Manasiev and Makazliev. In November, in the same village, another small troop known as the Kocanska unit camped that included Efrem Georgiev, sent by Delchev, and his chetniks, who were later joined by Duke Sava Mihaylov.

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Although at the time of the Ilinden Uprising there were no direct clashes between rebel detachments and Turkish invaders in this area, after the uprising there were clashes between troops returning to Bulgaria after a bloody end of the insurgency. The Turkish authorities, knowing about the routes being taken, constantly controlled them and kept mobile units on the ground. In a check in July 1903, Turkish troops near the village of Sasa found a warehouse with guns, ammunition and 360 kg of dynamite, which Paval Satev had been couriering for the Salonika assassins through this route. The last of the dynamite was success-fully transferred in through the Kyustendil-Kocani-Veles-Thessaloniki channel and in Kocani, being received by Todor Aleksandrov.9

The discovery of this large weapons stash allowed Turkish authorities to repress the the population in a variety of ways. The Ottoman administrator (Mu-dur) of Tsarevo Selo, Habib Agha, personally participated in the reprisals along with his officer Mehmed Aga and a police escort. Most of the villagers fled to the mountains or across the border into Bulgaria, but far more experienced the full brunt of the terror and torture of the Turks. Among others, Kotze Stojkov from village Cera died. After the end of the uprising, there were several clashes between rebels leaving western Macedonia for Bulgaria and Turkish troops. The most ferocious clash was between the squad lead by Duke Christo Chernopeev and the Turkish invaders in the area of the villages of Kosevica and Kostin Dol.

9 Списание Историја год. XXXIX Скопје 2003 број 1-2 стр. 51

Picture 5. The gorges of the village of Sadzhenik

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Picture 6. The squad lead by Duke Christo Chernopeev

This collision was an occasion for mass violence against the population of these poor regions. Nervous that, despite all efforts they would fail to destroy the squad, Turkish soldiers spilled all their rage and hatred against the peaceful population.

In the village of Kosevica they entered the house of Zdravko Dimitrov, a fam-ily of seven, robbed the house, and raped two of his daughters and two daughters-in-law. There was looting of the houses of Georgi Tsvetkov and Nase Petrov. At the home of Arso Simonov, an eight member family, Turkish troops took away 30 sheep and 20 cattle and raped his wife. From Stoica Milenov they took 10 sheep and all of his house belongings. In village of Kostin Dol, from the family of seven of Costa Jancev 16 sheep, 2 cattle and all household belongings were taken. Sokol Spassov, Velin Kostadinov and Georgi Tsvetkov lost 20 sheep, 10 cattle, 3 beehives, 10 oki (a Turkish measure of about 3 pounds), etc. In the village of Lukovica, Nacho Dimitrov’s family of seven was completely robbed of everything, including their property.

Thugs attacked the most valuable possessions owned by the poor Macedoni-an population. They plundered hard-to-fi nd gains in these poor mountain villages and took cattle used for farming, transferring cargo, food, etc. Just as painful for the families, and especially for female world, was the forced Islamization process. On the eve of the Balkan Wars, Petrija Velinova of the village of Cera was seized and forced into Islam in the village of Zvegor, Tsarevo Selo (today Delcevo). From the same village, the same happened to Vana Stamenkova. Ismail Aga from Ko-cani grabbed and forcibly converted Gjurgjena Zaharieva from the village of Sasa. There were a number of forced conversions of women from Kostin Dol, Moshtica and Todorovci.

The last years of Turkish rule in Macedonia are characterized by a crisis in all areas of economic and socio-economic life.

Sensing their imminent end, the Ottomans undertook intensive measures aimed at strengthening the border with Bulgaria. In Kamenica, Sasa, Cera, Kose-vica and Todorovci, military police stations were opened.

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In the village of Kosevica military barracks were built to house 5 units of regular Turkish army. Immediately before the Balkan wars, many citizens of these areas had been the victims of various actions from police, military and bashi-bazouks.

From village of Cera, Goce Gjerginski and his son Jovanco were killed in the area of W’chkova neighborhood. His younger son was killed in the area of Kriva Niva. Ampo Ovcharov from Lukovica was tortured and then hung in Pehchevo prison. From Dulica, Goso Jurukov, together with two peasants from settlements of Crvenikite, were stabbed and slaughtered by Turkish policemen in the presence of their family and assembled villagers. In the village of Sasa, Gose Kamenarov and his son Stanoja were killed by Turkish bandits. In the village of Moshtica, robbers smashed the hands of Mone Zahariev, then he was stabbed with a wooden stiletto.

The First Balkan War began on October 18, 1912 with the announcement of a war on Turkey by Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria.

The Macedonian population, with great enthusiasm, enrolled in the ranks of the Balkan armies, believing that the hour has come for the release of fi ve and a half centuries of Turkish oppression and it was time to establish their own inde-pendent state.

Certainly enthusiasm for that would not have been so great had they known the true intentions and goals of the joint Balkan military alliance against the Ot-toman oppressors. Records of this time evidence behavior that was completely at odds with the objectives and ethics of the Christian faith, the power of forgive-ness, and mutual coexistence. Part of the population of this territory jumped with all possible vigor on the Turkish population, wanting to return tit for tat for all the pain, suffering, and humiliation infl icted by the Turks during the previous pe-riod. In these bloody days, Kriv Mancho from the village of Dulica put himself all in by organizing the unprecedented slaughter of the Turkish population from the neighboring village of Kalimanci, not sparing even the young children.

The Christian allies in the war showed themselves to be barbarians and sav-ages in their dealings with the Turks. They immediately forgot any high and noble ideals as they went to war and turned into ordinary looters and bandits. Perhaps a century of Turkish administration did not witness the injustices infl icted upon the Christian population that were handed down by the Christian victors against Turks in only a month. 10

In the First Balkan War, the region of Kamenica became a part of “Macedo-nian’s military governate” headed by the Bulgarian General Ivan V’lkov. This gov-ernate was divided into districts and the districts into counties and municipalities. Kamenica and the surrounding settlements entered the Carevoselo county, within Stip District. Contrary to international military law and conventions adopted for the occupied areas, invading armies began recruiting the local population for war.

New misfortunes were limited for a time, when on June 29, 1913, the Second Balkan War started with sudden military action by Bulgaria against its erstwhile allies, Serbia and Greece, over the partition of Macedonia.

The villagers, willingly or not, were directly engaged on the front lines. Food was taken from locals for the armies, care was required for wounded soldiers, crops were destroyed, etc. During the Serbo-Bulgarian war looting was unbeliev-able. Wherever the military went, they left nothing: people lost everything. In this

10 Љубен Лапе „Одбрани текстови за историјата на македонскиот народ“ II дел, Скопје 1975, стр.821

17


respect some of the most ruthless were the Montenegrin soldiers. Their behavior can best be explained by a verse from the poet Njegos:

“They made wilderness like a locust ravaged country” 11

The most destroyed was the village of Cera, where the population was left with nothing to eat.

One of the bloodiest battles in the Second Balkan War took place on Govedar Hill, located in the area between the villages of Cera and Dulica and today’s modern settlement of Makedonska Kamenica.

On one side were the Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers, and on the other Bul-garian. After a fi erce artillery cannonade, strong attacks with bayonets and ruthless hand-to -and combat followed. Following the bloody fi ghting, Serbian and Montene-grin troops withdrew via the Bregalnica river, which was swollen due to heavy rains, until they found a suitable crossing point. To ease the crossing of the river, they made human chains with their arms and in a series, crossed the river.

In most cases, furious muddy water broke the chains, with soldiers drowning in large numbers. Bones of the dead soldiers were gathered and today are stored in a memorial ossuary in the basement of the school building in the village of Lower Cera.

The war was ruthless. How one side referred to other side, and especially their relationship to the local population, can be discovered in the report of the Carnegie Commission * for Balkan wars.

An especially poignant testimonial of this ruthless and bloody confl ict was left by a Bulgarian student, Ljudmil Spasov, who with Bulgarian troops, participated in fi ghting for Kalimansko Pole in the Second Balkan War. Later an academic, he spoke 11 Ibid стр.821

Picture 7. View of the school building in the village of Lower Cera

* Raport of the international commission to Inquire into the Causes, and Conduct of THE BALKAN WARS, WASHINGTON D.C 1914. Членови на Карнегиевата комисија која ги испитувала злостор-ствата од Балканските војни биле: д-р Јозеф Редлих (Австрија), барон Д‘Естурел де Константин и Жјустен Годар (Франција), д-р Волтер Шјуклинг (Германија), Франсис Ј. Хрст и д-р Брејлфорд Х.Н (Велика Британија), проф. Павел Милјуков (Русија) и д-р Самуел Т. Детен (САД)

18


Picture 8. The ossarium in the Cera village

with all the bitterness and contemptuous talk about dark the demonic face of war and all the horrors suffered by soldiers from both sides, which were forced with beastly hatred to rush towards one another and mercilessly kill one another, just to meet political and military interests of their elites.

According to offi cial data on the Bregalnica battle against Serbia, Bulgaria enlisted the 4th Army (7 Rila Division, 9 Tudzhan Division, 3 Division and 2nd Thracian Division). Serbia employed the 1st and the 3rd Army (175,000 soldiers, 62 artillery batteries and 34 cavalry squadrons). The battle began on the night of June 30 and ended on July 31, 1913. The Serbian army had 16,200 dead and wounded and Bulgaria about 25,000 soldiers. 12

The war ended with the signing of the Peace Treaty of Bucharest on August 10, 1913. The regions being discussed here entered into the state of Serbia following the rip-ping apart of an ethnically continuous Macedonia and remained so until their incorpora-tion into Bulgaria during World War 1 from October 14, 1915. These territories entered into the Stip district, later renamed as the Bregalnichki District.

After the Second Balkan War, although Serbian rule was established, peace eluded the region. In this border region, and in other parts of Macedonia, the troops of Todor Al-exandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov undertook various actions against the institutions of the Serbian government. Unable to get revenge on rebel Chetniks, the Serbian military and gendarmerie unleashed all their rage on the ordinary people, especially evident in this border area.

Serbian authorities tried to organize schools, but this proved to be very diffi cult, nearly impossible.

12 Македонска енциклопедија, книга 1... стр 232

19


One of activities of the units of the Organization was to prevent the recruit-ment of the Macedonian population for service in the Serbian army, and for those which were already in the ranks of that army, to organize their escape. For this purpose, they organized a network of checkpoints in Bulgaria, one of which was opened in the village of Sasa.

Such disobedience and resistance against Serbian occupation caused meas-ures of terror on the local population.The gendarmes massacred 30 men, caught refugees at the border, and 3 forced mobilized youth from Lukovica and buried them in the lower part of the Kamenica locality of “Yuruks”.

Their tomb was discovered in 1986 by construction workers digging founda-tions for buildings. In the second half of August 1914, in the villages of the Kamen-ica region, Serbian soldiers beat, jailed, and killed more than 200 people, among them 122 defectors from other places. In this expedition through the Osogovo Mountains soldiers and gendarmes raped many women and girls.

21

KAMENICA DURING WORLD WAR I

The June 28, 1914 assassination of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, served as a pretext for the Aus-trian declaration of war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, marking the beginning of World War I. In the beginning of the war the Serbian army had considerable success, re-peatedly repulsing the vast Austro-Hungarian army in the decisive battles of Cer Mountain and the Kolubara River. The Central Powers, wanting to eliminate liqui-date the Balkan Front at any cost, managed to win over Bulgaria with the promise that after the war, they would leave Macedonia and Serbia until the Machva River under their control. The Bulgarian Tsar, Ferdinand Saks Cobourg, infl uenced by the idea of a greater Bulgaria, slipped Bulgaria into the war. On the 14th of Octo-ber, with a special manifesto, Bulgaria fi nally declared war on Serbia and offi cially entered the First World War. The same night Bulgarian armies began their offen-sive. In its ranks, the Bulgarian Army recruited a large number of Macedonian sol-diers from the huge Macedonian immigrant population that lived in Bulgaria. The famous 11th Macedonian division under the command of Major Peter Drvingov of Kilkis was formed from these immigrants. Many Macedonians were also recruited in the diversion detachments of Todor Alexandroff.

The 2nd Army, under the command of General Georgi Todorov, occupied the territory of Makedonska Kamenica. This strong formation, consisting of 90,000 soldiers, were tasked with taking all of Macedonia and protecting the Aegean coast and border with Greece. The fourth column of this army successfully took these areas in one day. Immediately after the occupation, military and administrative power was established. Bulgarian troops behaved no better to the Macedonian population than the Serbians had. They carried out large requisitions of food and livestock without payment, and the male population was forcibly recruited into the Bulgarian army and forced to fi ght in Thessaloniki or on the Macedonian front where they died for Bulgarian interests. All this led to massive desertions of sol-diers from the front lines and to evasion from conscription. To intimidate the population, and to maintain discipline, the Bulgarian military command formed military tribunals that issued summary executions for defectors. Following the Entente’s breakthrough on the Thessaloniki front and the subsequent military disaster, Bulgaria no longer had any choice but to exit the war. On September 25, 1918, the Council of Ministers decided to seek a truce from the allies. That same day, the Bulgarian military delegation led by Andrew Ljapchev, the appointed mili-tary Minister of Bulgaria at that time, arrived in Thessaloniki. The delegation was received by French General Franche D ‘epre, the commander of allied forces in Thessaloniki. Negotiations were held in Thessaloniki, and on September 29, 1918, the Thessaloniki truce was signed and called for a cessation of hostilities, effec-tively representing Bulgarian capitulation.

CHAPTER

III

22


KAMENICA IN THE PERIOD FROM 1919 UNTIL 1944

After the end of World War I, Vardar Macedonia entered the boundaries of the newly formed state of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In this newly formed state, composed of fi ve nations, but constitutionally recognizing only Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian, the existence of minorities, including Macedonians, was nei-ther recognized nor mentioned and the majority of power remained in the hands of the Serbian political-military-police authorities which implemented a greater Serbia policy of the Karadjordjevic dynasty and Serbian civil political parties. 13 Immediately after the war in Eastern Macedonia, the new government conducted a campaign of mass terror against the local population, including mass arrests and beatings of those people who fought on the side of the Bulgarian army during the war between 1915 un-til 1918. Serbian authorities called these people “Bulgarian bands” and treated them cruelly. To secure the border, the Serbian authorities began determining boundary lines and constructing watchtowers. Today there are preserved remains of some of

those military facilities built with free labor by the local population. The border line was kept by placing wires along on the boundary, outfi tted with bells or dogs to alert watchmen if someone tried to cross illegally. In the valleys along the border, deep pits and trenches were dug and fi lled with stakes to impale illegal border-crossers.Immediately behind the military facilities followed gendarmerie stations. Such sta-tions were opened in Kostin Dol, Kosevitca, Kamenica and Sasa, with separate police units in Cera and Dulica. The station of the gendarmerie in Kamenica was placed

13 Бранко Петрановиќ Југославија 1918/1984, Београд 1985, 177

Picture 9. Remaining of Serbian watchtower near the mountain peak Ruen

23


where the police station is found today, and contained four gendarmes, a scribe, and a special offi cer who handled the management books. Border posts and sta-tions had a large number of soldiers and gendarmes, but in order to more success-fully implement the idea of greater Serbian hegemony, the authorities organized special shock battalions from the local population, known by the people as “black bands.” The troops of Georgi Dimitrov from Todorovci and Janko Pomako from Cera served in these positions. The fear of the Serbian authorities came from the fact that the people of this region personally recalled the so-called “fi rst” Serbian regime from 1913 until 1915 and fought in various ways against it. There was an additional danger of the renewal of resistance by Macedonians who had previously fl ed to Bulgaria, but also due to rising local discontent among the Macedonian people.

The Serbian authorities also saw great danger from the activities of the troops of the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) led by Todor Alex-androv and Alexander Protogerov. IMRO found the region to be a fertile recruiting ground due to high levels of resistance to forced Serbianization.14 Despite taking all possible measures to protect the border, the arrival of Todor Aleksandrov’s armed detachments could not be prevented.

In the spring of 1920, Todor Alexandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov, with their armed bands, entered Vardar Macedonia, fi rst coming to the Osogovo Moun-tains.

In the early years, the chetnik (resistance band) detachments that crossed into Macedonia were composed of 20 to 30 fi ghters. In March 1924, by the decision of Todor Alexandrov, their number dropped to twelve men for more effi cient ma-

14 Списание Историја год.XXXIX… 122

Picture 10. Todor Aleksandrov‘s armed detachment

24


neuvers, lowering the risk of being detected by state army and police forces, and particularly so the population would not be exposed to as much risk of death. 15

Near the village of Cera, in a location known as Milev Kamen, a guardhouse was organized, from which the chetniks of Alexandrov followed the movement of the Serbian military and police forces. The guardhouse was built in an inaccessible place, well camoufl aged and well-equipped with weapons for defense. From 1920 to 1923 in that same location two small huts were built in which Todor Alexandrov and his associates resided during their stay in this part of Macedonia. These two huts were in the neighborhood of Kukli in Upper Cera. For the same purpose the houses of Naum Mitev and Cena Hristova from Bizikovo, a small village situated in the area of spacious oak forest where the hilly steep terrain crisscrossed with deep valleys and high cliffs, were also used. The central hiding place for the organ-ization was built by the villagers of Dulica and was located in the area of Pashkov Kamen. From the village of Dulica, Alexandrov appointed two commanders from the local population, Dimitar Medarot and Haralampie Zlatanov, a.k.a. “Sharen Ampo”. These men were required to spread the tentacles of the organization and to establish detachments of peasant militia. In March 1921, due to the increas-ing penetration of cheta committees, the issue of border security again emerged among Serbian authorities.

The Chief of the Bregalnica District, Radivoj Jovanovic, had found that vast spaces after the border inspection posts remained unprotected, enabling the pas-sage of not only ordinary chetas, but entire divisions. He argued that the number of border guards was insuffi cient, given the current situation and asked for an increase in roving units and the formation of cavalry detachments. After renewed attacked in May 1921, all gendarme stations and miliitary units were reinforced. Due to the need for more gendarmerie, the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (SCS) made an agreement with the military minister for recruiting for 2000 new gendarmes from the army to be sent to the “southern regions”.

Frequent clashes between the gendarmerie accompanied by the army of the Kingdom of SCS and the chetas of the IMRO led by Todor Alexandrov forced the government to strengthen the Vardar Division with an even greater force in July 1922.

The areas that belonged in the fi rst line of defense were: Kriva Palanka -Carev vrv-Sasa-Kamenica- Dramche- Tsarevo Selo-Pancharevo- village Crnik- Pehcevo- Berovo-Bosanski Kol- Novo Selo. In the villages of Sasa, Kamenica and Dramche there was one battalion of the XVIth infantry regiment armed with the most so-phisticated weapons of the time, demonstrating that in Vardar Macedonia, espe-cially its eastern part, a state of war already existed.

To prevent actions from committee members in Vardar Macedonia, the re-gime of the Kingdom of SCS fought with all available means. Large rewards were announced for catching the leaders and commanders of IMRO. To help bring peace and order to East Macedonia about 35,000 soldiers, gendarmes, border guards and Chetniks were deployed. Of the total of 17,000 gendarmes within the Kingdom, 12,000 were deployed to the Vardar part of Macedonia.16

Despite numerous military and gendarme units, state authorities of the King-dom of SCS formed the “Association for struggle against the Bulgarian bandits”

15 Група автори Златна книга, 100 години ВМРО, Скопје 1993 стр. 163 16 Златна книга... 164

25


in Stip with armed fi eld combat troops to fi ght against IMRO in September 1923. They numbered about 20,000 armed men and were under the command of old Ser-bian Chetniks and active offi cers, among whom former commanders of IMRO like Grigor Ciklev, Stojan Misev and Mite Sokolarski.

In addition to clashes with Serb forces, the region witnesses internecine skir-mishes between Alexandrov and his opponents. On October 5, 1921, near the vil-lage of Sasa, Kratovo’s Duke of IMRO Doncho Angelov was disarmed and killed. The duke was at fi rst a supporter and close collaborator of Todor Aleksandrov and later his great opponent. Angelov thought that the congress of the organization must be summoned to develop a plan for future activity and to elect a new Central Commit-tee of IMRO because in the previous year, the leadership of the Central Committee was disputed since the organization had not hed a congress for some years. In order to overcome their misunderstandings, Kratovo’s Duke, after receiving an invitation from Alexandrov, went to the village of Sasa, accompanied by four chetniks, where he personally met Aleksandrov. Shortly after the meeting he was captured and disarmed by the Chetniks of Stip’s Duke Ivan Yanev-Brlo, taken out of the village, and executed. Leadership of the IMRO justifi ed this murder because of alleged activities undertaken by the Duke against the Macedonian people of the region.

In order to keep the population away from the IMRO and refrain from supplying them with food, shelter and information, the Serbian government undertook major military raids. In a report dated 16 August 1923, a Komitadji (rebel) organization in Sasa consisting of four people (two of whom were from Kosevica and one from Dulica) was put on trial.

In a similar report from January 10, 1924, 13 villagers from Sasa, 11 from Dulia, 7 from Kamenica, four from Cera, and three from Kosevica were detained and held responsible under Articles 1 and 2 of the Law for the Protection of the State.

It is interesting to mention that both counter-chetniks and the Chetniks of Alek-sandrov looked fi rst to satisfying their own needs without concern for the local popu-lace. During this time, there was a large number of so called “black gangs” headed by lija Pandurski, Hristo Umlenski, Mite Sudzhucaro, and others who terrorized the local population.

These counter-squads didn’t fi ght as much as the troops of the IMRO, but rather went on raids beating, raping, and robbing the population. In many cases, it appeared as though there was a gentleman’s agreement of non-aggression between gendarmes and units of Alexandrov and his closest advisers and commanders. Older locals tell stories about cases when a peasant had a celebration, with both Serbian gendarmes and IMRO chetniks in attendance. Although they both knew about their mutual pres-ence, there were no open clashes, since one group was placed on one side of the house and the others at the other end of the house. Once they fi nished with the feast, they walked away from each other. But clashes were not always avoided.

In these struggles for foreign interests, there were cases when one brother killed another. Thus, in July 1924, in one fi erce clash between a Serbian unit and a Kocani unit, in the area of the village Kalimanci, Ilija was wounded by his younger brother, Sharen Ampo from Dulica. Breaking through the encirclement with a wounded rebel was not possible, so Sharen Ampo, according to the cruel bandit tradition, murdered his brother Ilija. There is another unconfi rmed version which was recorded on July 27, 2010 by my grandfather Blaze Mitevski. According to the stories of his fellow vil-lagers who were direct witnesses at the time, Sharen Ampo killed his brother Ilija, because Ilija personally betrayed him. Ilija had been captured by Serb gendarmes and solders and was forced to take them to Sharen Ampo’s hiding place in the forests

26


around Dulica. Ilija went with a plea to convince his brother to surrender himself because his hiding place was surrounded from all sides. Sharen Ampo allowed him to get closer and shot his own brother in the head with the words: “that’s the fate of traitors” and started a fi erce battle with Serbian troops fi ring his guns and throwing bombs. Seeing that there were no chances for him to break through alone, with the last bomb he blew up himself. This happened in 1927. Unfortunately with this death of both brothers, their lineage was extinguished.

To better counter to the IMRO troops, Serbian gendarmes and offi cers appointed village headmen to be informants and allies. In 1924, the head of the village of Dulica was named Jovan Petrovski, from the neighborhood of Dogriite. His task was to deter his fellow villages from supporting or joining the IMRO chetniks and to consider joining the Serbian army. Soon the “long arm” of the IMRO reached him. He was abducted by chetniks of the organiza-tion and dragged to Kitka in the district of Upper Cera, where he was slain by IMRO’s second in com-mand in the region, Dimitar Medarot. Descendants of this unhappy man live in the same village to this day. Dimitar Medarot was later included in the wing of Ivan Mihailov and became an assassin of his ideo-logical opponents.

On March 4, 1930 the prominent follower of Aleksandar Protogerov and editor of the newspa-per “Vardar”, Vasil Pundev, was killed by assassins Dimitar Medarot and Nicola Stamenov. After killing Pundev, Ivan Mihailov was accused for the fi rst time as being the immediate perpetrator and the direct

killers were sentenced to 15 years in prison.17

However Medarot didn’t stay in prison long. After the coup d’etat and seizure of power in Bulgaria by Kimon Georgiev on May 19, 1934, he was released from prison. With the beginning of World War II and the attack of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941, Medarot actively joined the Bulgarian military service. After the occu-pation and partition of Macedonia by German, Italian and Bulgarian armies, Dimitar Medarot formed his own counter-squad which actively fought against partisans or “shumkarite”, as they were known by the Bulgarian troops.

On May 21, 1943 at Balevica in the Vinica region, the 2nd Pljachkovichki partisan detachment “Goce Delchev”, was discovered by the Bulgarian police and the counter-squad led by Dimitar Medarot. Commander Vanco Prke, political Commissioner Toso Arsov and Aleksander Mitrev all died in this battle. Immediately after the establish-ment of the new state government, its fi rst measures included clearing those persons who, during the war, collaborated or were on the side of the occupying regime and opponents of NOD. (National Liberation Movement).

In one such action, organs of OZN and UDB (both of them were secret services) discovered and captured Dimitar Medarot, who was shortly after convicted and ex-ecuted in Stip prison in 1946. Shortly after his death, his son’s life came to an end in “tragic accidental circumstances.”

17 Виолета Ачкоска, Никола Жежов „Предавствата и атентатите во македонската историја“ Скопје 2004, стр. 293

Picture 11. Sharen Ampo

27


Nikola Pashkov Bachov from the village of Dulica was killed by his brother Van-gelia, because he refused to fl ee with him to Bulgaria. As evidence before the Chet-niks that his brother really was dead, he showed mustaches of the victim along with the fl esh.

On December 30, 1924, Stojan Misev, who following his resignation from the IMRO joined the Serbian service to become one of the most important executives of the “Association against Bulgarian bandits”, was killed in Stip. The assassin was Kiril Gligorov Kjeleshov, under orders from the IMRO. Immediately after this event, Kjele-shov managed to escape from the city, reaching almost to the border with Bulgaria. Passing through the village of Kostin Dol, he was spotted and betrayed by a peasant on January 8, 1925. After exhausting his ammunition in a gun-fi ght with the Serbian chase unit, he was captured and brought to Stip’s prison, and on August 30, 1925 was executed by fi ring squad.

While he was in prison, the “long arm” of the IMRO once again cruelly retaliated, cruelly murder-ing the villager, Stoil Shankev, who betrayed Kjele-shov to the Serbian authorities. This shows that the least merciful in this organization were not even the Dukes and chetniks, as their courts brought de-cisions and acted quickly and freely in slaughtering the “convicted”. All those who were regarded as en-emies were judged harshly.

With the coup d’etat, King Alexander suspend-ed the constitution, dissolved the National Assem-bly, he proclaimed himself as “bearer of all power in the country” on January 6, 1929.18

The dictatorship established a “white terror” against actual and suspected rebels, with exception-al vigor and scale in Macedonia. The stipulated ad-ministrative and territorial distribution of the state at the end of 1929 include Vardar Banovina, which included both Vardar Macedonia and parts of South-ern Serbia and Kosovo. The name of the country was then changed from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to the “Kingdom of Yugoslavia.”

The fi rst Ban (Lord) of the Vardar Banovina was Zika Lazic, the long-time Head of the Department of Public Safety and from 1928 deputy Minister of Interior of the Royal Government. His simultaneous appointment as Ban of Vardar Banovina ensured that “law and order” in the southern parts of the kingdom would be guaranteed with a tested and fi rm hand and the population kept in line with police force.19

After the dissolution of the IMRO in 1934, Serbian authorities fi nally could take a break. Their activity was aimed at creating various nationalistic organizations and organizing a school network in which children would be raised in the Serbian spirit.

To improve the status of teachers in Vardar Macedonia, the government gave special benefi ts for those who had been working in diffi cult places. With the law of 1923, teachers who had been working in “South Serbia” for one year were recognized

18 ИНИ Историја на македонскиот народ книга трета, Скопје 1969, стр. 69 19 Ibid 72

Picture 12.Execution of Kiril

Gligorov Keleshov of IMRO by

firing squad

28


as having two years towards retirement. Despite that, interest for teacher’s work in these areas was very small. The work of teachers from other parts of the Kingdom was diffi cult due to property and other reasons. For many of the designated teachers, the work in these areas along the Bulgarian border was perceived as akin to “work deep in Siberia.” With certainty it can be argued that this included work in the pri-mary schools in the villages of Kamenica, Sasa and Cera. On April 6, after refusing to join the Tripartite Pact, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was attacked on all sides by the coalition forces of Hitler. According to an earlier agreement, the area from Vardar Macedonia to Grupcin and Ohrid was given to Bulgaria. Soon a Bulgarian occupation government was established and all the institutions of the system were replaced with Bulgarian. The most signifi cant event for this area during WWII was the Spring Of-fensive and the march of the Osogovo strike force through the region.

In the midst of the biggest battles, war heroine Vera Jocic was wounded.

Exhausted from three days of wandering through mountain hills and slopes, Vera Jocic, that wonderful image of a fi ghter who was able to win the love of fi ghters, forever bound her very life to the freedom of her country. If she were to die, she saw that thousands of others would remain. A distant echo drifted into her conscious-ness, an echo that slowly faded away, but came as the words of a warrior poet:

... If the bullet grabs your youth

Do not complain, do not mourn

Fiery eyes will not fade:

thousands of hearts with fi re you’ll load,

thousand of soldiers in combat will fl ow.

The poet is experiencing this pain as his worst loss, which will remain deeply embedded in his memory:

In the morning when strike hits our foreheads

you were no longer in our ranks.

But fi ghters overload with a vengeance bitter.

Flying all with your strength,

Like quick deer and easy like birds. 20

In her honor, the cultural artistic company from our town bears her name, and in 1985 in the city park in Makedonska Kamenica was placed a bust of this woman hero, a work of academic sculptor Tome Serafi movski.

With this last information I have fi nished the historical picture of our small, but beautiful, Makedonska Kamenica.

20 Народни херои од Македонија, Скопје 1973, стр. 167

29


Picture 13. The statue of national hero Vera Jocic in the sity park in Makedonska Kamenica

30


APPENDIX

OTTOMAN HERITAGE

By 1914 the Turks were completely driven out of the Balkans. Their European territories were reduced to only Constantinople and the interior of Thrace. The pur-pose of the common Balkan military alliance was achieved: Turkey was barred from the Balkan Peninsula. But in some sense many things had not changed. For more than fi ve hundred years the Balkan peoples were under the authority of one fl ag, just as they were governed from one center of power and all were under the power of one suzerain from one Ottoman dynasty or another. Ottoman civilization had left deep and indelible traces whose consequences are still felt today.

Despite heavy criticism of Balkan intellectuals and the National Academies to represent the period of the Ottoman government as period of “unbearable yoke, blood, tears and pain,” this powerful empire created a separate culture with positive and negative aspects. Ottoman heritage is an integral part of the life of every citizen in our peninsula which cannot be erased. The Turks left numerous traces in the lan-guages of all the Balkan nations and also in ours (Macedonian language). There is no language of any Balkan nation that does not have numerous Turkisms. The Turks also left quite a mark on Balkan folklore as compared to that of other European cul-tures. Here we think primarily of the beauty and rhythm of dances, beautiful songs and instruments used for performance of the same, myriad ballads about life and death, stories about hayduks (bandits) and chetniks, joys and the sorrows. There is no region in our country, including our community, that doesn’t have various place names from that period. For example, consider: Ajducka cheshma” under Ruen, then neighborhoods “Ottomans” in the area of the village of Upper Sasa locality “Yoruk cemetery” in Upper Cera etc. It is a similar situation with Balkan cuisine being very similar to the cuisines of the Middle Eastern peoples and of the variety of spices that the Balkans have, many of which were adopted from the Ottoman conquerors. Otto-mans recipes still live on in many of our dishes, including baked beans, rice puddings, kebabs, many kinds of sweets, etc. For the Balkan peoples many aspects of Ottoman everyday life are especially beautiful. The Ottomans created wonderful inns, tea bars, caravan palaces, mosques and bridges, baths, market places, and other facilities. Par-ticular attention has been paid to rivers and other waterways, as well as the arrange-ment of the yards. Each house has a garden in the backyard, and a variety of fl owers, of which the most prized are roses. Ottomans also had a habit of planting numerous parcels of fruit. These and other traditions are preserved as part of our national her-itage.

The Ottomans also appreciated beautiful clothing made from silk and velvet and moreover in their homes and religious buildings, placed on the fl oors the famous Persian carpets that are found today in nearly every house in the Balkan countries including Macedonia.

Our people, under Ottoman rule, primarily lived in rural areas. These villages

31


constituted the entire known universe for the residents of these areas. Simple peas-ants rarely left their villages and their entire life was spent in them, cultivating the fi elds of Turkish feudal lords and dealing primarily with agriculture and herds. The people of our lands lived in large family cooperatives governed by strict patriarchal norms, where the voice of the oldest living male member in the family was respected. He somehow was the ,,pater familias” and his word was accepted without objection. Despite all of this, however, the people of the Balkans have inherited certain negative characteristics that cannot be reconciled with modern institutions.

The many centuries under the Ottoman social system created many effects and habits that continued to live after the fall of the empire.

Fear of the uncertainty of life created lethargy, indifference, indecision, and a tendency toward obedience, which derived from the necessity to survive. On the oth-er hand due to the uncertainty, a strong hedonistic attitude towards life was created. All people from the Balkan Peninsula are widely known as people who appreciate good brandy, followed by food, salads and good music. The Ottoman Turks in faraway 1564 brought coffee, tea and tobacco, and crops to the Balkan nations that the locals accepted from the start. For someone who is a great consumer of cigarettes, it used to be said they “smoke like a Turk “. Another negative feature is that the work, in an of itself, has very little value. People from the Balkans prefer leisure, where conver-sation with a cup of coffee followed by a cigarette turns into an day-long gathering without a sense of lost time.

It is also interesting to note that the people of the Balkans consistently fi nd blame for problems in someone else, constantly calling something unjust, with the state, its taxes, and its laws a major headache, leading them to look for any way to avoid them. As an example, look to our southern neighbor, Greece. The people of the Balkans also believe fi rmly in happiness, in superstitions, and in God or Allah’s deter-mination of our fate, that one cannot escape what has been written. The primordial urge of our people is to bear male offspring, on the birth of which one declares that “the heart is laughing.” Today, nearly a century after the disappearance of the Kara Osman Empire, we see the return of Turkey to the Balkans through so-called neoot-tomanism, no longer the “sick man of the Bosphorus,” Turkey is Macedonia’s greatest friend and among the group of the twenty most powerful industrialized countries in the world, an American ally in NATO, and a balance between the Middle East and Europe.

The Turks have powerful and developed textile and food industries and their products are increasingly present on Balkans and European markets. Turkish busi-nessmen invest a huge part of their capital in this region, and therefore we should recognize our own interests in attracting investments in our country through an at-tractive and high-quality investment program. Additionally, Turkish culture is rap-idly penetrating our country either through diverse exhibitions, works from Turkish authors, and mostly by the popular Turkish series aired on our televisions. Relations must be kept mutual in all fi elds through economy, business, culture and tourism, because there are no small or big nations. There are great ideas and visions that pro-vide a good perspective on development. How much we have learned and how much we shall apply depends only on us.

32


THE TRANSFORMATION OF MAKEDONSKA KAMENICA FROM PASSIVE REGION INTO CONTEMPORARY URBAN MINING

SETTLEMENT

If we look back 50 years ago, the map of this part of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia has been changed for the better. It is the story of the building of a new settlement, whose growth earned it the crown of a city in 2004. Following liberation, these mountainous regions were poor and non-fertile and the population mainly practiced extensive agriculture and livestock-raising, growing rice and vegetables in the Kamenica River valley that today serves as the home to Makedonska Kamenica. The fi rst attempts to renew the mining activity in these regions was made by the English joint-stock company “Selection trust limited” back in 1927 at the time of the Kingdom of SCS (Kingdom of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians). After a long break in 1954, permission for this big project was granted by the Federal Geological Institute of Belgrade, the mines for lead and zinc “Zletovo” from Probishtip, and the geological Offi ce in Skopje. After years of terrain surveys and drilling in 1965, the fi rst transpor-tation and fl otation facilities were made and the digging and drilling of mine shafts began. This year is the offi cial start of working for one of the largest mining facilities in the former Yugoslavia, which in a very short time has grown into a giant non-ferrous metallurgy and one of the biggest mines in Europe. The fi rst mining detach-ment was led by experienced miner Boris Stoyanov. In the beginning, the lead and zinc mine worked on a trial run and after the confi rmation of its economic reliability, it began with regular production. From this year onward, change of the geographical picture of this region began. In the month of November 1966, the number of employ-ees exceeded 500 miners. Due to the large number of employees, there was a need for the construction of accommodation facilities for the miners and their families. The mine is located 1200 to 1700 meters above sea level and its main features are the steep mountain slopes overgrown with beech forests and mountain climate, unfavorable for construction of residential buildings. The most favorable place was the valley of Kamenicka river and its widest part where today is situated the small city of Make-donska Kamenica. In a very short period of time this area was fi lled with many new residential buildings and healthcare, commercial, hospitality, educational, cultural, sports and other facilities becoming the integral part of a new settlement. Then im-mediately started a transport infrastructure linking Makedonska Kamenica with the surrounding towns of Kocani and Delcevo, as the two neighboring municipalities. For the electrical needs of the mine, the artifi cial dam “Kalimanci” was built. The dam has fundamentally changed the image of these areas, fl ooding separate settlements and fertile plains on the one hand, but on the other enabling a supply of electricity and the formation of a reservoir, with a large water supply capacity that allows bring-ing water to fertile fi elds in Kocansko Ovce pole. The mine, for its own needs, built a modern fl otation which was offi cially put into operation by President of the Assem-bly of SRM, Blagoja Taleski in 1974, which enabled the processing of 500,000 tons of lead-zinc ore per year. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed a book in the work of the mine, which enabled realistic conditions for rapid growth of the population in the munici-pality and attracted mining workers not only from neighboring municipalities, but also from all the republics of former Yugoslavia. In Makedonska Kamenica in the last 80 years, more capital facilities have been built, including the current primary school, the then district heating system, two residential buildings of 10 fl oors, city pool, kindergarten “Bambi”, etc. Besides that, the cultural-artistic association “Vera Jocic”, the football club “Sasa”, which for many years competed in the fi rst League,

33


and the then chess club were formed. All this enabled small Makedonska Kamenica to get all the features and amenities of larger cities.

In the period from 2003 to 2005, when the mine was closed, disaster was re-fl ected in life and all segments of the small mining town. It was a period when a huge number of former miners, along with their family members, and many young people were forced to look outside of the Republic of Macedonia for material security and ex-istence. After the closure of the mine, the state, with all it’s forces, tried to fi nd a stra-tegic investor and announced a tender for the sale of the mine SASA. Tender was re-ceived from the Russian fi rm ‘’Romtrade’’ and developer Pavel Malinovski was elected as the best bidder in the public tender. On the 28th of June, 2005, a sales contract of the mine Sasa was signed, hereby offi cially transferring the ownership and rights to use the property offered at public auction. During the following several months an intensive process of procurement of necessary sophisticated equipment to be able to start normal production took place. Work on restarting the mine successfully was led by a management team comprised of Mr. Dmitry Kudrjakov, CEO, Mr. Alexander Lagutkin, technical director, and Mr. Boris Levitt, commercial director, as well as a large number of experts from various fi elds. The mine was offi cially restarted on 12 June 2006 and was opened for service by Mr. Buckovski, the then Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, and Mr. Alexander Kudrjakov, General Director. Today the mine is among the top 10 most successful companies in the Republic of Macedonia, allowing it to return hope and social peace to Makedonska Kamenica, providing for the livelihoods for over 700 employees and their family members.

According to the last census in 2002, Macedonian Kamenica had 5,147 inhabit-ants excluding the surrounding 9 villages. Kamenica obtained municipality status in 1996 with the the Law on Territorial Division, when it separated from the Munici-pality of Delčevo. In 2004, Kamenica received the status of a city and the seat of the municipality covering an area of 19,037 hectares and 8,100 inhabitants. Today the municipality is in the second phase of the decentralization process, successfully im-plementing numerous projects to improve the living conditions of all its inhabitants.

The end

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Антоњак Стјепан, Бранко Панов „Средновековна Македонија“ том 3 Скопје 1985 година.

[2] Атанасовски Александар - „Македонија во XIV век“, докторат во ракопис, Скопје 1999 год.

[3] Арсовски Драган, Христовски Димитар - „Делчево“ Делчево 1974 год.

[4] Арсовски Драган - „Теророт и отпорот во Пијанец во втората половина на XIX и почетокот на XX век“, Делчево 2002 год.

[5] Ачкоска Виолета, Жежов Никола - „Предавствата и атентатите во македонската историја“ Скопје 2004 год.

[6] Група автори - „Златна книга, 100 години ВМРО“, Скопје 1993 год.

[7] Народни херои од Македонија, Скопје 1973 год.

[8] Списание „Историја“ година XXXIX број 1-2, Скопје 2003 год.

[9] Лапе Љубен „Одбрани текстови за историјата на македонскиот народ“ прв дел, Скопје 1975 год.

[10] Лапе Љубен „Одбрани текстови за историјата на македонскиот народ“ II дел, Скопје 1975 год.

[11] Бранко Петрановиќ Југославија 1918/1984, Београд 1985, 177

35


CONTENTS

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………….… 3

CHAPTER ONE ………………….………………………………………………………………………….. 5

The period from the Neolithic to the beginning of the Turkish conquests ........... 5

Prehistoric and ancient period .......................................................................... 5

Medieval period .................................................................................................. 6

CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................. 11

During the Ottoman rule until World War I........................................................ 11

CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................. 21

Kamenica during World War I ........................................................................... 21

Kamenica in the period from 1919 to 1944 ......................................................... 22

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................ 29

Ottoman heritage .............................................................................................. 30

Transformation of Makedonska Kamenica from passive region to contemporary urban mining settlement ................................................................................... 32

Bibliography ............................................................................................. 34

36


Translation from Macedonian to English:

Goran Mitevski

Zoran Vitanovski

Lecturer:

Sara Scholin

short history of municipality of makedonska kamenica from neolithic to the present

Documents

neolithic period

local history

patriotic history

makedonska kamenicafrom

historical past

historical figures

systematic analysis

heavy historical wheel