“When Napolon Zerva’s gangs were retaliating against the Cham population in Filat, killing women, old women and children, or raping young daughters and brides, the Sidheriot villagers…”/ The tragic story of 1944

By Hajredin Isufi

Memorie.al / The history of the relations between Muslim Chams and Christians, during the fascist occupation of Greece, must be seen, judged and evaluated on the basis of extensive documentation of the time, as well as undeniable truths. It is a well-known fact that at this time, Muslim Chams and Christians found themselves side by side, to protect themselves from evil and unconscionable elements. The first measures to establish Muslim and Christian villages began in 1939, when Fascist Italy invaded Albania. Relying on early Albanian traditions, covenants were created between them.

Year 1940, the Muslim-Christian alliance of the Chams

The first covenant between Muslims and Christians was the one that was created in the cauldron of Margellichi, in 1940. According to this covenant, the Muslim villages of Margellichi and the Christian villages of Frari, Shenica, Livadhia, Llur, etc., would occupy positions common, to repel any threat that would come to their villages.

The points where the positions were to be fought were even determined. The defensive lines would be at the place called Fujat, a strategic point that controlled every entrance and exit to that area, as well as the Arpice-Aji line. The covenant was also extended between the villages of the Kasa of Paramithi, as well as between the village of Kurtes and the Christian village of Draganj.

A powerful covenant was also created in the cauldron of Filat; even since the time of the Ottoman rule. To the east of the city of Filat, there were four Christian villages: Fanasomeri, Finiqi, Jeromeri and Sidheri, which were known by the name KALLOHOR (good villages). The Christian inhabitants of these four villages were distinguished as hardworking and honest people, generous and hospitable and very correct with Muslims.

In 1940, when the government made the first internment of the majority of the Chamerian Muslims, some Christians from the deep villages of Filat thought that the opportune moment had come to plunder the wealth of the defenseless Cham families. It was the Christian villagers who protected the Muslim villages of Filat, and with their intervention, it was possible to protect many Muslim families…!

Greek massacre: Kristo Pituli supports the Chams

The parish of Christians in Cham, inspired by the desire to live in harmony and in a good neighborliness with the Cham minority, not only took protection of Muslim Chams from evil elements, but went even further. Thus, for example, Kristo Pituli, representative of one of the most vocal Christian families in Chameria and throughout Greece, as a sign of protest against the decision of the government of Metaksai, against the Cham Albanian minority, went to the village of Grikohor, near his friends Muslims and as much as he could, he would defend them.

There he found the commander of Korofillaqia of the region, Vardhallaq, a Greek from the depths of Greece, newly appointed to the post of Commander of the Region. Kristo Pituli, when he learned that the mission of the commander of Korofillaqia in the village of Grikohor, was to arrest the pariah of the village and, to send them immediately into exile, he addressed:

– “Commander! What good did he bring you to this village, which has only good and hardworking people”?

– “Government work, Mr. Pituli”, he answered.

– “Before you carry out the government’s blind orders, you should also ask us, who have long acquaintance and centuries-old coexistence with them. Where did you find these dangerous elements that you blacklisted and sought to exile? If I am dangerous for the Greek government, so are the Chams of Grikohori and all of Chameria”, – addressed Kristo Pituli.

Then he continued: “The decision you made to deport the Muslims of this village is not right. You are foreigners. Today you are here, tomorrow you go, while we have lived and will live together with them. We do not we want to pay for your sins”, (Jani Sarras, collected work, p.617).

How did the mass cleansing of Chameria begin?!

At the small pier of Gumenica harbor, the Cham elite from Filati, Paramithia, Grikohori and Varfanji, from Margëlliçi and Nista, from Skopjona and Vrohonaji, from Dolani and Globoçari, from Versela and Peshtani, from Grava and Luarati, etc. had gathered. . Only Greek ships were expected to leave for the distant islands of Greece.

Christo Pitulis and many other wise Christians saw with concern these shameful scenes of the Greek government. At the time when many of his Cham friends had cut ties with their families and relatives and were desperately waiting for the departure, not knowing where they would end up, Kristo Pituli went among them.

He hugs those who were without any protection, gives them courage and meanwhile puts his hands in his pockets and without looking at what the other hand has, he says in a low voice: “Take it so you don’t need it on the way.” And in order not to offend the country’s agallars in the conscience, he added: “It’s not that you don’t have a master, but you didn’t think that you would go far”!

The exile of the Chams caused the remaining population in Chameri, mainly women, children of the elderly, to face sporadic cases of violence and looting by specific Christian elements. But, at the same time, distinguish and be in a protection and massive kindness of the Christian community in the villages and cities of Chameria.

How were 500 Cham women and children protected from shooting?

The efforts of the Greek chauvinist circles, never succeeded with their propaganda, to replace the love and respect of the Sidheriots for the Muslims, with hatred and religious hatred. On the contrary. The Christians of Sidher village never agreed with the anti-human and barbaric attitudes taken by the Greek government forces and Napolon Zerva’s gangs.

The Sidheriots followed the Cham drama with pain and despair and tried to be by their side, even in difficult moments, to help them. The Sidheriots, when they learned that Napolon Zerva’s gangs were retaliating against the Cham population in Filat, killing women, old women and children or raping young daughters and brides, rose to the defense of the defenseless Muslim population.

When the Sidheriots learned that in the school of Filat, 500 Cham women and children had been isolated and that their execution in a mass grave was being prepared moment by moment by the Edes, the men and women of Sidher lined up in front of the school and with their determined persistence, until the clash with the Greek forces and the paramilitaries, it was possible for the victims to be rescued and taken to the Albanian border.

The residents of Sidher, with their determined attitude, managed to take to their homes in Sidher, the Muslim women, girls and children of the village of Galbaq, who were isolated in the school of Filat. Meanwhile, according to the archival documents of the time and the testimonies of the surviving victims, after a few weeks, the pariah of the village of Sidheri, along with the boys of the village, escorted the women and children towards Saranda…!

Warning ignored…!

Beginning after the massacre carried out by Napolon Zerva’s gangs against the Albanian Muslims in Paramithi on June 27, 1944, panic gripped all the residents of Chameria. According to archival documents, Dhimitrulla, a noble woman, sent by the Pariah of Finiq, goes to Filat and informs the Cham compatriots: “Dear Muslim brothers! I am sent by the Pariah of Finiq.

I am commissioned to tell them: Do not listen to anyone’s words! All of you must leave like humans, because the decision is that even your cats will be exterminated”, (“Agapitemoi adhelfia othomani, ime opostelmeni apotin epitropi tou Finiqiou. Min akusete ta slojaa tou kathena. Oli esis na fijete san anthropi, olla that tis gatesa said tin sfaxun…”).

Musa Demi, one of the chiefs of Filat, and his associates, thanked the girl for the notices conveyed to them by their kind Christian friends, and told her to convey to them the gratitude, not only of the chief, but of all the Muslims of Filat .

The Paria of Filati, despite all the very alarming signals he received, did not take any action to empty the city and villages and immigrate to Albania. The reason was that the information they received was vague and contradictory. They hoped very much that the crimes of Paramithi would not be repeated in Filat, also for another fact: the Mufti of Ioannina had received a promise from the Chairman of the International Red Cross, Lambert that the Chams would be provided with life, honor and wealth.

This is made known to us by the historian, Georgia Kretsi, a good connoisseur of the Cham problem in the years 1913-1960. She wrote: “The mufti of Ioannina begged the President of the International Red Cross to intervene to free the Chams who were in the concentration camps of the city of Paramithi and Margellichi”.

Following her article, the historian informs us of the answer given to the mufti of Ioannina, in August 1944, by the chairman of the Red Cross, Lambert: (Georgia Kretsi, “The Secret. Post of the Greek-Albanian Borrlands Cham Muslim Albanians’ perceptions on a conflict over historical accountability and current rights”, article in “Ethnologia Balkanika”, vol. 6, year 2003, p. 183, cited according to the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece (AYE) 1943- 1944/2, Lambert to the Committee representing the Muslims of Chameria, 08.07.1944). Memorie.al