The Story of Ted Yannas

[Bill77]

Pretty powerful stuff, thanks for sharing Bill. My condelences as well.

I do recommend you read the story when you get the chance but also read what I said after how the names and village of origin were changed to protect privacy, so it isn't actually talking about Kladorabi.

I will LOM and i didn't mean to be disrespectful to your post/thread its just me being lazy.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Pretty powerful stuff, thanks for sharing Bill. My condelences as well.

I do recommend you read the story when you get the chance but also read what I said after how the names and village of origin were changed to protect privacy, so it isn't actually talking about Kladorabi.

[Risto the Great]

Lest we forget Bill.

[Bill77]

Bill, I had no idea about the history behind Kladorabi and how close to home my question has struck for you. I meant no offence whatsoever. And, if you have taken any, then I appologise wholeheartedly. I'm only going off the story's description of Kladorabi descendants in Australia and Greece, which is why I asked for someone who has any insight about this village because there is always a reason why people behave the way they do. My interest on the matter was out of genuine curiosity to know why the hearts of these villagers have been hardened so much, that's all. Without knowing about Kladorabi's past, I was really annoyed to read the story's description of these villagers as die-hard Greeks. Thank you for setting me straight and I'm sure Kladorabi has it's fare share of real Macedonian patriots just like your dedo, who, like you said, was born and died in the village.

What happened to your dedo is a war crime. Plain and simple.

BTW, I always wondered who that person on your Avatar was. I assumed it was your dad. Can I ask if that's his baby he is holding or a niece or nephew?

Firstly.... i wish to apologise for i am about to rave on a bit. The majority probably won't bother to read my post due to the size of it, but i have to as it's soothing to release.

A) Hi Karposh, no need to apologise my good friend and i took no offense whatsoever. if anything i should thank you for bringing it up as it gave me an opportunity to tell my story and release some pain iv'e bottled in.

B) Every Village has its die-hard Greeks some more than others. Kladorabi is not exempt. The stories description posted on this thread is just one side painting a biased picture (admittedly i have not read it so i'm not sure what its about) but i have my own honest insight, through family history and personal experience i can share. On the subject of personal experience..... As i stated earlier, i spent a couple of nights in that village. It was like a ghost town, not many people around any longer and a neglected little village (which is the case for every historically pro-Macedonian villages)

We stayed at this absolute lovely little old ladies house who lived with her quite old never married son who was rarely home. She spoke perfect Macedonian so did her son who we finally met out on the street as we were driving exiting the village. I have video of this lady out in the street grabing my hand and starts singing Macedonian and dancing an oro with me out of the blue. She was lovely enough to walk me through the village and show me my ancestors homes and the remaining hand full of family members. It was so eerie but beautiful. She showed me the house where my Dedo was born, lived and his family had to escape from. It was as if i entered some time warp and i was living those days waiting for them to come out and being introduced. I was woken out of my somewhat trance by a male voice who spoke perfect Macedonian, if not better, just as good as anyone in Bitola. It was the next door neighbor. Very welcoming and a kind lovely bloke. Me being so emotional after being in a momentary trance had to ask this neighbor (which was probably to abrupt of me).... Who was this uncle that played part in my dedo's murder by offering the axe. I was so hungry for information on my family history. He took a step backward and raised his hands saying "ne znam" looking quite uncomfortable. I felt this was quite strange. This is also captured on video. Once i showed this video to the family (brother) of dedo Yani back in Bitola, he instantly recognised this man i questioned, to be the son of this uncle who handed over the axe. Poor man (not his fault for what his father did) probably thought i was there for revenge.

Then i was taken further down the road to this small little but picturesque property, that belonged to a family member of mine. The old lady and now this neighbor showing us the village knocked on the door, and out came a tall but old an frail lady around the age of 90. I will never forget the first words i heard her speak "ti se molam ne moj da mi go zemite kujkata, sama sum stara zena". Till this day it still hurts me. I don't know why she reacted the way she did. Once we were introduced to her, as who we were.... she felt more at ease as she realised we were not there for any sinister reason.

Why i'm telling you all this? though its not clear evidence, but you can make a strong case that when a person naturally speaks their mother tongue, is a indication of where their heart leans to ethnicity.

C) That baby in the picture, is the brother of Dedo Yani. The brother that lives in Bitola who i have shown the video of Kladorabi to since he has never visited his place of birth.


Oh and for war crime? Information i received of the highly likely place he is buried is in a mass grave in Lerin. Instructions given to me were something about a second or third exit in a big roundabout as you enter Lerin center from Bitola. You would have to drive a few miles and you will come across a populated area but one strange empty large prime piece of land where no one dares to build on it. Locals would tell you that its a site of mass graves and being superstitious fear building on it. But who would care enough or have interest to investigate?

[Carlin]

Horrible, Bill I am really sorry.

[Karposh]

Bill, I had no idea about the history behind Kladorabi and how close to home my question has struck for you. I meant no offence whatsoever. And, if you have taken any, then I appologise wholeheartedly. I'm only going off the story's description of Kladorabi descendants in Australia and Greece, which is why I asked for someone who has any insight about this village because there is always a reason why people behave the way they do. My interest on the matter was out of genuine curiosity to know why the hearts of these villagers have been hardened so much, that's all. Without knowing about Kladorabi's past, I was really annoyed to read the story's description of these villagers as die-hard Greeks. Thank you for setting me straight and I'm sure Kladorabi has it's fare share of real Macedonian patriots just like your dedo, who, like you said, was born and died in the village.

What happened to your dedo is a war crime. Plain and simple.

BTW, I always wondered who that person on your Avatar was. I assumed it was your dad. Can I ask if that's his baby he is holding or a niece or nephew?

[Bill77]

Terrible and infuriating to read, Bill. I am sorry.

Thanks Chris. Even more tragic is that he was taken away to some mass grave which his parents and siblings never found out exactly where. Though i did a little investigating for them while i was there (as they can never cross over the border) and found out roughly where he might be.

He with the help of the partisans transferred his parents and siblings over to Bitola after police threatened the family's lives if they don't hand their son in within 24hours. Which parent can hand their son over, to a certain death? He stayed with then a couple of days in Bitola making sure they ended up having a roof over their heads. Thats when this photo was taken. That was the last they have seen of him as the next day he head back to continue to fight and seven days later, he lost his life.

Oh most infuriating thing is, it was his uncle (Tetin) that ran to where he was captured and handed his own axe, which was used by the capturers so they could chop his head off. Wanted to show them (the weasel that he was) that he was a proud Greek. many many years later he, this tetin went to Bitola and looked up my Great grandparents and dropped to his knees asking for forgiveness. The piece of shit. He moved to Melbourne Australia not long after and gladly he died a decade ago. Not soon enough and i feel bad saying it.

[Risto the Great]

Look at my avatar

Thats a dedo of mine who was born, lived and died in Kladorabi. he was only 17, a Pro Macedonian independence partizan during the civil war when captured (lured into a trap) by the fascist Greek army. He had his head cut off and then his torso dragged by a rope tied to a horse through his village Kladorabi, in order to send fear through the population in that village. An auntie of his lunged at his torso with a blanket covering him to give him some dignity. Which is when a general dragged her off and inspected the body which his head was also alongside him. After realizing how young he was, He then started laughing and mocked him as he yelled to the rest of the villagers who gathered around the center "Are these the types we fear that will take Macedonia away from us?" This tells me at that time, Kladorabi was pro Macedonian. During a visit to that village around 10 years ago, i spent a couple of nights there and sensed nothing but Macedonian.

Terrible and infuriating to read, Bill. I am sorry.

After being killed seventeen, Karavitis leaves the latter to live, telling the other Macedonians that anyone who does not become a Greek will not remain in his house " no cat alive "

Greeks either can't read their own resources or they are all lying to the world together in one cohesive group. I don't think they are that clever. What a bunch of duped fools.

[Amphipolis]

This is Lithoxoou's synopsis of sources for Kladorahi (automatic translation)

https://translate.google.gr/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=el&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lithoksou.net%2Fp%2Foikismoi-tis-florinas-poy-arxizoyn-apo-k&edit-text=&act=url

=

[Bill77]

If anyone on this forum has any real insight with regard to Aegean Macedonian villages, I'd be really interested to know if Kladorabi has always been a Grkoman village or whether this village is symptomatic of a much broader cross section of Macedonian villages who share these types of pro-Greek attitudes. I don't mean to sound naive and I know circumstances have forced these pro-Greek attitudes on people but I also know that there are many villages who do not share these attitudes. And, there are still others which are slowly waking up from their Greek stupor they have found themselves in, as the main character from this thread's narrative, Ted, managed to do. The reason I ask is that the odds don't look good if we take Kladorabi as a typical example of attitudes among Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia. One or two people out of a whole village who are not afraid to announce that they are in fact Macedonians don't seem like good odds at all.

Look at my avatar

Thats a dedo of mine who was born, lived and died in Kladorabi. he was only 17, a Pro Macedonian independence partizan during the civil war when captured (lured into a trap) by the fascist Greek army. He had his head cut off and then his torso dragged by a rope tied to a horse through his village Kladorabi, in order to send fear through the population in that village. An auntie of his lunged at his torso with a blanket covering him to give him some dignity. Which is when a general dragged her off and inspected the body which his head was also alongside him. After realizing how young he was, He then started laughing and mocked him as he yelled to the rest of the villagers who gathered around the center "Are these the types we fear that will take Macedonia away from us?" This tells me at that time, Kladorabi was pro Macedonian. During a visit to that village around 10 years ago, i spent a couple of nights there and sensed nothing but Macedonian.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

If anyone on this forum has any real insight with regard to Aegean Macedonian villages, I'd be really interested to know if Kladorabi has always been a Grkoman village or whether this village is symptomatic of a much broader cross section of Macedonian villages who share these types of pro-Greek attitudes. I don't mean to sound naive and I know circumstances have forced these pro-Greek attitudes on people but I also know that there are many villages who do not share these attitudes. And, there are still others which are slowly waking up from their Greek stupor they have found themselves in, as the main character from this thread's narrative, Ted, managed to do. The reason I ask is that the odds don't look good if we take Kladorabi as a typical example of attitudes among Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia. One or two people out of a whole village who are not afraid to announce that they are in fact Macedonians don't seem like good odds at all.

I should have noted that names and birthplaces were altered for the protection of privacy, so "Jim Yannas" isn't actually from Kladorabi.

In saying that, there are some Pro-Greek villages in Lerinsko of course but many that aren't, it's a complex scenario.

[Karposh]

If anyone on this forum has any real insight with regard to Aegean Macedonian villages, I'd be really interested to know if Kladorabi has always been a Grkoman village or whether this village is symptomatic of a much broader cross section of Macedonian villages who share these types of pro-Greek attitudes. I don't mean to sound naive and I know circumstances have forced these pro-Greek attitudes on people but I also know that there are many villages who do not share these attitudes. And, there are still others which are slowly waking up from their Greek stupor they have found themselves in, as the main character from this thread's narrative, Ted, managed to do. The reason I ask is that the odds don't look good if we take Kladorabi as a typical example of attitudes among Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia. One or two people out of a whole village who are not afraid to announce that they are in fact Macedonians don't seem like good odds at all.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

[Liberator of Makedonija]

[Liberator of Makedonija]