Done Dimov (Part 1 of story)
| First name | Done |
|---|---|
| Last name | Dimov (Part 1 of story) |
| Country of Origin | Macedonia |
| Date of Birth | 18/03/42 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1965 |
| Submitted by | Antula & Done Dimov |
Story
My name is Done Dimov and this is my story.
I was born in 1942 in the village Statitsa, Macedonia currently Northern Greece. I left my homeland in March 1948 with the refugee children, during the Greek Civil War, and never returned. I was only six years old when I left and spent the next seventeen years at various places in Eastern Europe, mostly in Poland and Yugoslavia Ð Peoples Republic of Macedonia, before arriving in Australia in 1965.
Statitsa, my birthplace is located half way between Kostur and Lerin. It is a beautiful village situated on the slope of Mount Golina and nestled in the mountains Lundser and Lisets. The horse-shoe shaped village sits approximately one thousand metres above sea level.
The urban part of the village is divided into two neighbourhoods called upper and lower Statitsa. Through lower Statitsa runs the River Belitsa and beyond it on the other side of the hill near the monastery is where my mother\’s family, the Florinovi, used to live.
Even though I was very young at the time I still remember playing with my cousins Donka, Tsilo, Letsa and Stase and travelling with my cousin Sote outside of the village to visit my grandfather George (Gicho). My grandfather was a sheep and goat herder and during grazing season lived in a hut beyond the outskirts of the village. I had a great time during my visits playing with Dedo\’s (grandfather) dogs Sharko and Murgo and chasing the young lambs and kids as they raced and played.
Then in 1948 as the Greek Civil War began to escalate and move northward into Macedonia, the communist party of Greece decided to evacuate all children ages 3 to 15 out of the battle zones. A decision was reached to temporarily move the children out of the country until hostilities ended, and then return them to their families. The idea was to save the children from harm as well as free their parents, particularly their mothers, so that they could help with the war effort. Both my parents participated in the war and when it ended my mother took refuge in Yugoslavia – Peoples Republic of Macedonia, my father was wounded and was transferred to Budapest in Hungary.
I remember that dreaded day well, when our turn came to leave, when 154 children including Vana, Lazo,Tsveta, Donka, Sote and myself from the Dimov family were evacuated from Statitsa. I remember my dedo (grandfather) Gicho standing by our side with tears in his eyes pleading with us not to go. ‘Sote and Done do not go, you are the youngest’. I also remember promising our dedo (grandfather) not to worry, we will be back soon, a promise that went unfulfilled. We never saw our dedo (grandfather) again.
It was the middle of March 1948 when the evacuation started as we began our long trek to the Eastern world. It was late afternoon when the order to move was given and we began to climb over the mountains towards Oshchima. We spent the night in Oshchima and early next morning we continued our trek pressing through the villages Orovnik, Papli, Shtrkovo, Medovo and landing in Raby. Before arriving at the border, we were re-grouped by age in groups of ten and assigned to a ‘mother’ to look after us. Most of the ‘mothers\’ assigned to assist with the evacuation and look after us during the exodus, were widows of Partisans who had fallen in action.
When we finally arrived at the Greek-Yugoslav border we crossed into the Peoples\’ Republic of Macedonia bypassing the village Dupeni and landed in the village Luboyno, where we stayed overnight.
The next morning we were taken by army trucks to the railway station in Bitola where we joined many other children from other villages who had arrived there earlier.
At the railway station we were met by Red Cross officials who organized the children from each village into various groups and assigned them to a train car. These train cars were previously used for transporting livestock and were laid with straw on which we rested and slept for the next two days while we travelled through the Republic of Serbia.
Next we arrived in Romania in the town of Tulges where the Red Cross divided us again, boys on one side the girls on the other. Because we were loaded with lice we had to strip naked and our clothes were burned. Everyones hair was cut short and the boys\’ heads were shaved before we were all sent to have a shower.
This story continues in Part II