Greeks have a passionate love affair with Macedonia, and even during the darkest hour of modern Greek history during the brutal occupation of the Nazis they were prepared to give their lives for keeping the province Greek.
With Bulgaria's intentions for territorial expansion at the expense of Greece's sovereignty well documented, Greeks found it intolerable that Nazi occupiers had the intentions of expanding the Bulgarian occupation in Macedonia.
Early in July 1943, Adolf Hitler asked the Bulgarian government to extend its occupation zone to encompass additional territory in Greece, and thus a massive campaign of colonisation was launched, which saw all Greek officials (mayors, school-teachers, judges, lawyers, priests, gendarmes) deported.
Ban on Greek language in Macedonia
A ban was placed on the use of the Greek language, and the names of towns and places changed to Bulgarian.
In addition, the Bulgarian government tried to alter the ethnic composition of Macedonia, by expropriating land and houses from Greeks in favour of Bulgarian settlers, and by the introduction of forced labour and of economic restrictions for the Greeks in an effort to force them to migrate.
The alteration of the ethnological composition in Eastern Macedonia and in Thrace was already in process on March of 1941 before the invasion of the Bulgarian armed forces.
Faced with the specter of a prospective Bulgarian invasion, many Greeks began streaming mainly into the rest of Greece and some from Thrace into Turkey. This wave swelled after the invasion of the Bulgarian army in the region on 20 April 1941.
Upon receiving the news that Bulgaria would further expand its occupation in Macedonia, Greeks became infuriated.
A protest strike was called on July 13 in Athens and proved highly successful, paralysing the city almost completely for 24 hours. Similar protests were organised in Thessaloniki and smaller cities in northern Greece.
Occupiers crush demonstration
A second general strike was organised by EAM on July 22, which rallied between 100,000 and 300,000 (or even 400,000 according to some sources) people in central Athens.
A massive crowd attempted to march from Omonoia Square towards Syntagma Square along Panepistimiou Street, but came across a barricade put up by mechanised German army forces, Italian cavalry and Greek collaborationist police.
Riot for Macedonia
The protesters were fired upon during their attempt to breach the barricade and were forced to withdraw, leaving behind 22 dead and several hundred wounded.
Workers and university students participated in large numbers in the protest for Macedonia. Several of them were killed, being either run over by armored vehicles or fired upon.
Among them, Panagiota Stathopoulou and Koula Lili are two of the most remembered today.
Soon after the protest, the plans to extend the Bulgarian occupation zone were postponed indefinitely and never materialised.
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