Memoire of a communist leader:
According to a report by Gerasimos Priftis, founding
member of ELAS (left-wing Greek Resistance group),
dated 20-2-1944:"The overwhelming majority of the ?ams (Chams/Tsams)
in the area [of Epirus] have sided -in no uncertain
terms- with the occupation forces; they have launched
murderous attacks against Greek villages and have
carried out looting and confiscation of properties.
The high point of their collaboration with the
fascists was their assault against Fanari in August
1943 where they burned down 30 villages, killed 500
Greeks and
held another 500 as hostages."
[Cited in the book _Apokalypto_ ('I reveal') by Ret.
General Nikolaos Gryllakis, Ekdotikos oikos
A.A.Libanis, 2001, pp. 102-104 (in Greek)]
A vivid account of the devastation inflicted by
German, Albanian and local Albanian Cam forces is
spelled out in the 14-3-1944 issue of the Albanian
newspaper Bashkimit Kombit (the official publication
of then pro-German Tirana regime).
The publication
proudly announces the success of the February 1944
campaign and takes stock of the degree of destruction:
25,000 homes were set ablaze and 100,000 Greeks were
left homeless.For a background on the role of the Albanian fascists
in Epirus (including Northern Epirus/ Southern
Albania) during WWII, I recommend the personal account
by Nikolaos A. Stavrou, Professor of International
Affairs, Howard University, Washington D.C.
www.worldandi.com/specialreport/stavrou/stavrou.html Indeed, Professor Stavrou's personal story is
particularly telling as shown in the following excerpt
of his essay:
"In Easter week 1944, German forces and their fascist
ally Balli Kombaetar (Albanian National Front),
commanded by Gen. Hubert Lanz [see footnote 1 ? insert
is mine] conducted a sweep of Epirus, a region
straddling the border between Greece and Albania, to
clear the way for German army units to move north,
toward the anticipated Allied invasion. This operation
was commenced just weeks after the Nazis deported the
ancient Jewish community of Ioannina, the capital of
Epirus. In less than three days Nazis and Ballists
would wreak havoc in the pastoral life of my village."
www.worldandi.com/specialreport/stavrou/stavrou.htmlTo put things in perspective, I would like to draw
attention to the apparent dynamic instability of
political affiliation among mainstream Albanian
fascists during the immediate post-WWII period.
Cited below are excerpts from the commentary by Prof.
N.A. Stavrou titled "KFOR: Repeating history?" that
was published in The Washington Times [August 11,
1999, Wednesday, Final Edition, PART A; COMMENTARY;
Pg. A15].
".... Albanians of all ideological persuasions joined
Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in their Balkan adventures.
For a short four years, matters looked promising and
Albanian enthusiasm for fascism was unabashed.
Hitler's U-Boats and Mussolini's air force were
routinely referred to by Albanian leaders as "our
forces", and banner headlines in the press heralded
their victories.
For example, [the Albanian fascist
newspaper] Tomori in April 1942 joyfully announced
"our navy destroyed an American armada in the
Atlantic"; Bashkimi i Kombit headlined the "Successes
of our air force in Malta and the Corinth Canal" with
the subheading "Greece cut in two."Sixty-two thousand Albanians eagerly marched into
Greece with Mussolini's blue shirts. In their
enthusiasm, the commanders of the Albanian brigades,
Drini and Dajti, requested the "honor" of crossing the
Greek borders first.Many prominent communists, among them Ramiz Alia,
(secretary general of the Communist Party) started
their careers as fascists. Omer Nishani, first
president of communist Albania, had fashioned himself
as the theoretician of fascism. But when his fascist
past surfaced at the Paris Peace Conference, even V.M.
Molotov blushed."
In the face of these remarkable shifts of political
affiliation,
one cannot ignore the fact that the Greek
communists themselves were indeed most eager to
accept, in their "Democratic Army", Albanian Cham
conscripts, many of whom had previously committed
atrocities against the Greek civilian population in
Epirus under the armor of the Wehrmacht and SS.I refer to the letter of the infamous Albanian
communist leader Enver Hoxa (Hodja) addressed to
Marshall Tito on 24-9-1947, which was published in the
28-9-1999 issue of the Greek daily Kathimerini [the
letter is accessioned in the Yugoslav State Archives
under code # AJBT 1-3-b-32].
According to this archived document, Hoxa kept Tito
apprised on the visit of General Markos Vafeiadis
[Greek communist leader of ELAS/EAM], during which the
latter had requested from Hodja to dispatch Albanian
Cham reinforcements to Mount Grammos in support of the
Greek communist forces.
Briefly, on 24-9-1947 the "President of the Interim
Democratic Government" i.e., in essence the Greek
communist leader, Gen. Vafeiadis arrived in the
Albanian capital Tirana (via Korytsa/Korce), in search
of help.
Evidently, in his meeting with Hoxa, Vafeiadis
recommended that 3,000-4,000 strong from the 18,000
Albanian Chams who were uprooted by the forces of
Napoleon Zervas, to join the Greek "Democratic
[communist] Army".
It is noteworthy in this regard that Markos Vafeiadis
had expressed his optimism regarding the potential
"success against the American intervention"
speculating that a large part of the Greek state will
soon become "liberated" and that the size of the
"Democratic Army" will reach 50,000 troops.
C.D.K.
[1] Apropos Gen. Hubert Lanz see Case No. 47 The
Hostages Trial: Trial of Wilhelm List and Others.
United States Military Tribunal, Nuremberg.
Source: United Nations War Crimes Commission. Law
Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Volume VIII, 1949
www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/List1.htm