By Arben P. Llalla
Part One
-Greek Collaborators, the Planners and Leaders of the Genocide in Chameria (1944-1945) the truth about the collaboration of the Chams with the Germans –
The book is dedicated to the martyrs of the “CHAMERIA” Battalion, who fought side-by-side with Greek partisans of EAM-ELAS, against the German occupier.
PREFACE
Memorie.al / The period I started writing the book was from 2008-2016, gathering materials little by little. It was extremely difficult for me to find original photographs and some newspapers in the Greek language, for the years in question. For about 70 years, the Greek state with its state structures has been feeding the internal and external opinion with false books and writings about what really happened from 1936-1945, regarding the Albanian minority in Chameria – Southern Epirus.
There are many photographs deliberately misinterpreted by Greek historians and publicists, regarding the unsubstantiated accusation of the Chams’ collaboration with the Germans. After many years of work, I was able to find the truth of those photographs that the Greeks claim show the Cham collaborators with the Germans. I believe that my many years of work to publish this book will be rightly appreciated by readers and critics. There was never a collective collaboration of the Cham population with the Italian and German occupiers; the purpose of the Greek Genocide was to cleanse Chameria – Southern Epirus of Muslim Albanians, the seizure of their property, as well as the settlement of Orthodox refugees who had come over the years from Asia Minor.
During the operation to resettle the Jews of Ioannina to the concentration and extermination camps, the Germans, in cooperation with the Greek gendarmerie, also resettled dozens of anti-fascist Chams. This clearly shows that the Albanians of Chameria were on the side of the Greek partisans. The Greek state’s preservation of the houses and private land whose true owners are Albanians clearly shows that the ethnic cleansing of Chameria from the Albanian element had a political motive and was not based on any facts for the accusation of collaboration with the Germans. Without a solution to the delicate Cham issue, there cannot be good neighborly relations or sincere friendship between Greeks and Albanians, who are more united by ties of interest than divided.
I think that objective scientific evaluation of the phenomena and facts that I present and analyze should prevail over passion. We are publishing original photographs, which clearly show the collaboration of the Greek state and high-ranking clerics of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece with the Italian and German occupiers. True history is not history written from half-truths mixed with half-lies. True history is the history written on the basis of true documents, no matter how bitter they may be.
We thank the benefactor Hysni Omer Idrizi from Margëlliç, for the financial support he gave for the publication of this book, in memory of his ancestors in Chameria.
INTRODUCTION
In today’s Greece, Albanians who, in ancient times, before Christ, lived and still live with the names known as Arvanitas and Allvanos, in three parts: 1. In Northern Greece, from Kastoria to the border with Turkey. 2. in the heart of Greece, Athens, Evia, Peloponnese, and the islands. 3. In Southern Epirus, with its center in Ioannina. The Albanians in Southern Epirus are generally known by the name Cham, but there have been and still are Albanians in Grevena and Konitsa, which are not part of the Chameria province.
Chameria is a province located on the western side of Epirus. Its main districts are Filiates, Igoumenitsa, Parga, Arta, Margariti, Paramythia and Preveza. In the north, its borders extend to the area of Delvina; in the south, it is bordered by the Gulf of Arta (Preveza); in the west, it is washed by the Ionian Sea, while in the east, it is separated from the Ioannina basin by the Olichika and Laka mountains. It is a very rich province with plains, such as the Plain of Frar, or with gentle hills suitable for the cultivation of olives and citrus fruits.
The name “Chameria” comes from the ancient Illyrian name of the river Chames, which crossed the territory of the ancient Illyrian tribe of Thesprotia. Chameria was part of the Roman Empire, before it was conquered by Byzantium, and in the 13th century, it was included in the Despotate of Epirus. In the second half of the 14th century, it was included in the Albanian Despotate of Arta. After the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century, it was initially included in the Sanjak of Delvina and then in that of Ioannina.
In the 17th-18th centuries, most of the Albanian population of northern Chameria, from Konispol to the Griqi River, was forcibly converted into a Muslim population, while those who lived in the south of Greece and up to the Gulf of Preveza remained an Orthodox Christian population. The Muslim Albanians of Epirus were constantly in conflict with their Christian neighbors and favored the Turkish Muslims, gaining the best lands, while the Christians were forced to occupy less fertile lands.
The Epirus region has historically had ethnic conflicts. As one of the late 19th-century visitors pointed out: the entire land of the Tosks was under the strong influence of Greece and it was difficult to say whether Epirus is Greek or if northwestern Greece is Albanian. Although the southern dialect of Albanian is used in speech, Greek is understood by everyone. The Greeks took Chameria phase by phase.
In June 1881, the city of Arta was taken by the Greeks, and gradually the expulsion of Muslim Albanians and the assimilation of Orthodox Albanians began. In October 1912, the Greek army took Preveza, and in February 1913, Ioannina. Thus, the main centers of Chameria were taken by Greece, while Albania was left with Konispol and Delvina.
From Turkish rule, with the fall of Ioannina on February 21, 1912, Chameria also fell under Greek occupation. The population of Chameria at that time consisted of about 40,000 Muslim Albanians and 30,000 Christians who spoke and still speak Albanian and have Albanian customs, spread out in Frar, Paramythia, and the coast, from Parga to the Albanian border.
In 1913, we have the second expulsion of Albanians from Chameria, after the first expulsion in 1881, when the Greeks took Arta. There is very little data about these two expulsions of Albanians because Greek and foreign registrars recorded them based on religion (Muslims-Turks and Orthodox-Greeks) and not based on nationality.
The third expulsion of Albanians from Chameria began after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, where many Albanians from Chameria were forced against their will to be exchanged with the Orthodox population from Asia Minor, who were settled in Greece.
The displaced Albanians, after 1923, as a population exchangeable between Greece and Turkey, were mainly settled in Izmir. During my research, I was able to find only one poor photograph showing Albanians boarding a ship from the port of Igoumenitsa for Turkey. The problem of exchanging the Muslim Albanian population as Turks met with strong reactions from Albania.
On December 17, (1923) Blinishti, the head of the permanent Albanian secretariat accredited in Geneva, told the Council of the League of Nations that the property of Muslim Albanians had been confiscated, crops had been requisitioned, and they were forbidden to plant their grain or sell or rent their property.
To prevent its confiscation, Greek refugees had been settled in their homes and their right to vote had been taken away. Therefore, the Council of the League of Nations decided to draw the attention of the Joint Commission on the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, asking it to hear any testimony that the Albanian Government might wish to present to it.
The Greeks were eager to get rid of the Muslim Albanian minority within their borders—the Christian Albanian element would be assimilated to some extent so that Albania’s claims to the Albanian territory that it had taken in 1913 could be silenced. Turkey, which had supported the exchange, was eager to restore its population, which had been depleted by the war with Greece, and was not expected to refuse the Muslims; moreover, the property they left behind became an asset in its account with Greece.
The problem of the displacement of Albanians from Chameria and other regions in Greece to Turkey, as an exchangeable population, forced the Prime Minister of Greece, Theodhoros Pangallos, to make an official statement before the League of Nations, with which Greece recognized the Albanian minority in Greece and no longer considered the Muslim Albanians living in its territory as a Turkish population. Among other things, he said: “The independence and status quo of Albania constitute a great interest for Greece, because its policy is the basis for maintaining peace in the Balkans…!
The thesis that has been held by us until today, that Orthodox Albanians are Greeks, is wrong and trampled by everyone. Since it has taken a turn for the worse and reached the point of exhaustion, I took the necessary measures and disbanded all the Vorio-Epirote societies that embodied the most extreme corners of this sick idea.”
The declaration of the President of the Greek Republic, General Theodhoros Pangalos, to exclude Albanians in Chameria from the measure of exchange between the Turkish Muslim population and the Orthodox population from Asia Minor, was decisive for the further development of friendship between Greece and Albania.
Thus, from the “Greek-Turkish” issue, the topic that had to do with Greek-Albanian relations was now developing, which would also influence the coming period to a very high degree. A few years later, during the provocations of August 1949, the former President of Greece, retired General Theodhor Pangallos, would publish in the newspaper “Akropolis” an article about the friendly relations between the two countries, where he would also mention the problem of the Albanians in Chameria.
“At the beginning of July 1925, relations with Albania were in crisis, due to the Chameria issue. The representative of Albania came to my office and notified me that the Greek authorities, in a violent manner and without regard to the agreement, were expelling the Albanian inhabitants of that area (Chameria, note A. Llalla) and sending them by sea to Asia Minor, and their objections were answered by telling them that they were exchangeable.
I examined the relevant documents and was convinced that the statement of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not valid, as the Treaty of Lausanne clearly stated that the Muslim Albanians of Epirus were considered a minority and not exchangeable, like the Turks of Thrace, etc. For a more complete clarification of the issue, I called our ambassador in London, Kaklamonos, who had represented Greece during the drafting of the Treaty of Lausanne, and he replied without hesitation that the Chams were not exchangeable and consequently the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not valid.
I immediately called the relevant director and he said something that left me speechless: – “Formally, the Albanians are right, but emergency reasons and the national goal force us to expel the Albanians, to empty their villages and to settle our homogeneous refugees who have come from Asia Minor. It’s not worth dealing with 5-6 thousand ‘Paloshqiptarë’ (bad Albanians, note A. Llalla) Mr. President.”
I barely held myself back from kicking the diplomat out. Meanwhile, according to the reports of the police authorities, a real drama was unfolding in Epirus; the villagers were crying as they left the houses where they had been born and lived for centuries and boarded the ships that would take them to Asia Minor.
I gave the order for them to be disembarked and returned free to their villages. Albanians, like all undeveloped peoples, have serious weaknesses, but they also have excellent virtues. This fact was the reason that such warm relations were established between our two countries, which, as we shall see, almost took the form of a confederation. King Ahmet Zogu, through a warm letter, expressed his gratitude to me, which, as he said, he would never forget.
And indeed, until the day he left the throne, whenever an Albanian representative came to Greece, at Zogu’s order, he would also come to my house and bring me the King’s greetings, saying to me in Albanian: “Big brother”. And at that time, I was nothing but a demobilized general. This is what is called “BESA” in Albanian.
If we take a quick look at the map of the Balkans, it is enough to understand the strategic importance of Albania. For Greece, a friendly and allied Albania constitutes a great natural shield, against any attack from the North…! As for the period before 1928, the little reliable data we have is given to us by the Joint Commission for the Exchange of Populations, whose members made a trip throughout Epirus in June 1928.
According to this data, the Muslim Albanian population of Epirus at that time was about 20,160 inhabitants, who lived scattered in 63 settlements (cities and villages). Until that date, the competent Fourteenth Sub-Commission of Epirus, which was charged with the task of exchanging populations, had declared a total of 2,993 as exchangeable Muslims, who had left the Greek state and headed for Turkey.
This is also the first data we have available regarding the Albanian Muslims of Epirus, which, as can be seen from the following data, seems to be very close to reality. In accordance with the results of the census of May 15-16, 1928, a total of 312,634 inhabitants lived in Epirus, 17,008 Muslims, and speakers of the Albanian language, who must inevitably correspond to the Chams. There are also deviations regarding the census of the population by religious belief and language.
Thus, in the table of ranking by religious belief, the Muslims of Epirus are 19,244 people, but only 17,029 declare Albanian as their mother tongue. It is very possible that the small deviation from the number 17,008, which is included in the summary table of the population ranking by religious belief and language, belongs to the fact that some of them declared Albanian as their mother tongue, but as their spoken language, Greek, a difference that we will encounter later, in the 1940 census.
The violence of the Greek state to expel the Albanians from Chameria did not stop; it was done in other ways by seizing their property, beatings, imprisonment, and murder. To come to the year 1944-1945, in the forced expulsion and collective massacres by the military forces led by General Napoleon Zerva, with the directives of the high leaders of the Autocephalous Church of Greece. The massacres and collective expulsion of the years 1944-1945 were done under the pretext that the Albanians in Chameria were German collaborators, an accusation that was never proven.
We will bring undeniable facts that the archbishops and metropolitans of the Autocephalous Church of Greece are the screenwriters and direct participants of the Greek genocide against the Muslim Albanians in Chameria. With the help of photographs from the years 1944-’45, we will prove that Archbishop Serafim and Metropolitan Dhorotheos were participants in the massacre of June 27, 1944, in Paramythia, wearing the military uniform of Zerva’s army, EDES. We will provide data that the prime ministers, ministers, and deputies of Greece after the 1980s came from families that had been German collaborators, and after 1945, these collaborators were not punished, interned, or had their property taken, as happened with the Muslim Albanians of Chameria.
Precisely the purpose of this book is to bring documents of that time that the Chams never collectively collaborated with the Italians and Germans. There were individuals who collaborated with these occupiers, but an entire people cannot be massacred for individuals who, even in the past, have served various occupiers to preserve their wealth and privileges. We will bring facts that the boys of Chameria were alongside the Greek partisan army EAM-ELAS.
We will bring the truth about who officially collaborated with the Italian and German occupiers. We have extracted these facts from Greek archives; 90% of our bibliography will be based on newspapers, magazines, and books by Greek authors. By telling and defending the truth, that truth that we should all say together, Greeks and Albanians, if we want good neighborliness, if we want a peaceful future. Without a solution to the Cham issue, there will never be a sincere friendship and neighborliness between the two peoples.
We do not know what surprises the future holds, but the beginning of the 21st century is showing that there are more Albanians than Greeks in the Balkans. Greek military strategists have always said that Greece should be wary of an attack from the North rather than from the Albanians, who are a strong shield against this attack. When these Greek generals say “the North,” they mean the Slavs (Serbs, Slav-Macedonians) and Bulgarians. / Memorie.al
To be continued in the next issue
