Ohrana (, "Protection"; ) were armed collaborationist detachments organized by the former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) structures, composed of BulgariansДобрин Мичев. Българското национално дело в Югозападна Македония (1941 — 1944 г.) in Nazi-occupied Greek Macedonia during World War II and led by officers of the Bulgarian Army."The Second World War and the Triple Occupation" Bulgaria was interested in acquiring Thessalonica and Western Macedonia, under Italian and German occupation and hoped to sway the allegiance of the 80,000 Slavs who lived there at the time. The appearance of Greek partisans in those areas persuaded the Axis to allow the formation of these collaborationist detachments. However, during late 1944, when the Axis appeared to be losing the war, many Bulgarian Nazi collaborators, Ohrana members and VMRO regiment volunteers fled to the opposite camp by joining the newly founded communist SNOF.Plundered Loyalties: Axis Occupation and Civil Strife in Greek West Macedonia, 1941-1949, Giannēs Koliopoulos, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1999, , pp. 120–121. The organization managed to recruit initially 1,000 up to 3,000 armed men from the Slavophone community that lived in the western part of Greek Macedonia.Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, G - Reference, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , pp. 162–163.
Background
The "Macedonian Question," became especially prominent after the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent division of the Region of Macedonia between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia.
Bulgarian communities inhabited parts of southern Macedonia from the Middle Ages.A charter of Romanus II, 960 Pulcherius (Slav-Bulgarian population in Chalcidice Peninsula is mentioned), Recueil des historiens des Croisades. Historiens orientaux. III, p. 331 – a passage in English Georgii Cedreni compendium, op. cit, pp. 449-456 - a passage in English (Bulgarian population in Servia is mentioned) In the so-called Legend of Thessalonica (12th c.) it is said that the Bulgarian language was also spoken hi the market place of Thessalonica, Documents of the notary Manoli Braschiano concerning the sale and liberation of slaves of Bulgarian nationality from Macedonia (Kastoria, Seres, region of Thessalonica etc), From the Third Zograf Beadroll, containing the names of donors to the Zograf Monastery at Mt. Athos from settlements and regions indicated as Bulgarian lands, Evidence from the Venetian Ambassador Lorenzo Bernardo on the Bulgarian character of the settlements in MacedoniaВенециански документи за историята на България и българите от ХІІ-XV век, София 2001, с. 150, 188/Documenta Veneta historiam Bulgariae et Bulgarorum illustrantia saeculis XII-XV, p. 150, 188, edidit Vassil Gjuzelev (Venetian documents for the history of Bulgaria and Bulgarians, p. 150, 188 - Venetian documents from 14-15th century about Slaves from South Macedonia with Bulgarian belonging/origin) This continued also during 16th and 17th centuries, as recorded by Ottoman historians and travellers like Hoca Sadeddin Efendi, Mustafa Selaniki, Hadji Khalfa and Evliya Çelebi. The majority of Slavic-speakers after 1870 were under the influence of the Bulgarian Exarchate and its education system, and thus considered themselves to be Bulgarians.Известия Уральского государственного университета № 0049(2007), с. 138-153. Гуманитарные науки. Выпуск 13. Дмитрий Олегович Лабаури — Берлинский приговор 1878 г. и проблема македонского этноязыкового своеобразия. РГНФ.(Russian) Part of them were influenced by the Greek Patriarchate, which resulted in the formation of Greek consciousness. Greece, like all other Balkan states, adopted restrictive policies towards its minorities, namely towards its Slavic population in its northern regions, as a result of the aftermath of Second Balkan War and the potential threat that Bulgaria could pose in the fear of using the pro-Bulgarian oriented minority in Greece as a subversive fifth column. After the Balkan Wars and especially after the First World War more than 100,000 Bulgarians from Greek Macedonia moved to Bulgaria, as part of the population exchange policy between the two countries.
During the 1930s a new identity parallel to the Greek and Bulgarian ones began to arose in the region of Macedonia, the Slav Macedonian (Greek: Σλαβομακεδόνας) and was initially supported by IMRO (United).The Situation in Macedonia and the Tasks of IMRO (United) - published in the official newspaper of IMRO (United), "Македонско дело", Но.185, Април 1934 In 1934 the Comintern issued a declaration supporting the development of the new Macedonian identity,"Резолюция о македонской нации (принятой Балканском секретариате Коминтерна)" - Февраль 1934 г, Москва which was admitted by the Greek Communist Party. During the 1930s under the Metaxas Regime, the government endorsed violence by nationalist bands, which sowed the seeds of bitterness that kept brewing within the local Slavic-speaking population which found the opportunity to come into effect during the Second World War and the occupation of Greece by the Axis forces.
Bulgarian occupation and policy in Greece
In 1941 Greek Macedonia was occupied by German, Italian and Bulgarian troops. The Bulgarians occupied the Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace, an area of 14,430 square kilometers, with 590,000 inhabitants. The Bulgarian policy was to win the loyalty of the Slav inhabitants and to instill them a Bulgarian national identity. Indeed, some of these people did greet the Bulgarians as liberators, particularly in eastern and central Macedonia, yet the campaign was less successful in German-occupied western Macedonia.Loring M. Danforth. The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995. . p. 73. At that time most of them felt themselves to be Bulgarians, irrespective of ideological affiliation.The struggle for Greece, 1941-1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, , p. 67. However, in contrast with the population of Vardar Macedonia, smaller fraction of the Slav population collaborated in the Greek part of Macedonia, whether in the Bulgarian-occupied eastern section or the German and Italian-occupied zones. Nevertheless, Bulgarian expansionism was better received in some frontier districts, where strong pro-Bulgarian oriented Slav-speakers lived (in Kastoria, Florina and Pella districts).
Thessaloniki Bulgarian club During the same year, the German High Command approved the foundation of a Bulgarian military club in Thessaloníki. The Bulgarians organised supplies of food and provisions for the Slavic-speaking population in Greek Macedonia, aiming to gain the hearts and minds of the local population that was in the German- and Italian-occupied zones. The Bulgarian clubs soon started to gain support among parts of the population. In 1942, the Bulgarian club asked assistance from the High Command in organising armed units among the Slavic-speaking population in northern Greece.Hugh Poulton. Who are the Macedonians? C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1995, , p. 109 For this purpose, the Bulgarian army, under the approval of the Commander of the German forces in the Balkans - Field Marshal List sent a handful of officers from the Bulgarian Army, to the zones occupied by the Italian and German troops (central and west Greek Macedonia) to be attached to the German occupying forces as "liaison officers". All the Bulgarian officers brought into service were locally born Macedonians who had immigrated to Bulgaria with their families during the 1920s and 30s as part of the Greek-Bulgarian treaty of the Neuilly which saw 90,000 Bulgarians migrating to Bulgaria from Greece and 50,000 Greeks moving the opposite direction. Most were members of pro-Bulgarian IMRO and followers of Ivan Mihailov.These officers were given the objective to form armed Slavophone militias.
Kastorian Italo-Bulgarian Committee The initial detachments were formed in 1943 in the district of Kastoria by Bulgarian army officer Andon Kalchev with the support of the head of the Italian occupation authorities in Kastoria, colonel Venieri,Егеjски бури — Револуционерното движење во Воденско и НОФ во Егеjска Македоница. (Вангел Аjановски Оче), Скопје, 1975. стр.122-123 who armed the local villages to help combat the growing communist threat presented by the ELAS raiding the Italian occupation forces in the district. The name given to the bands armed was 'Ohrana' which in Bulgarian is defined as 'security'. The uniforms of the Ohranists were supplied by the Italians and were resplendent with shoulder patches bearing the inscription "Italo-Bulgarian Committee — Freedom or Death". The Kastorian unit was called the Macedonian Committee. The reasons of locals for taking arms varied. Some of the men were pre-war members of IMRO, and thus harbored deep nationalistic convictions, others because of pro-Nazi sentiments, some to avenge wrongdoings inflicted on them by Greek authorities during the Metaxas regime, and many took arms in order to defend themselves from the attacks of other Greek paramilitary and resistance movements as the latter saw them as collaborators with the Italian, Bulgarian and German forces.
Bulgarian collaborationist bands participated in reprisal missions together with the Nazi troops in the region. In one occasion together with the 7th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment they were responsible for a major massacre in the village of Klisoura near Kastoria, that cost the lives of 250 women and children.
Edessa and Florina Ohrana detachments
After their initial success in arming several villages in Kastoria, Kalchev went to the German occupied zone in order to start arming villages in Edessa region.IMRO Militia And Volunteer Battalions Of Southwestern Macedonia, 1943-1944 by Vic Nicholas In Edessa, with the help of the German occupation authorities, Kalchev created the Ohrana para-military unit. In 1943, Ohrana detachments counted a total of around 3,000 members and organized guerrilla activity. In the tradition of the IMRO Komitadjis, these bands pursued the local Greek population, including Greek-identifying Slavophones, Aromanians, and Pontic Greeks, seeing them as an obstacle to an all-Bulgarian Macedonia.IMRO Militia And Volunteer Battalions Of Southwestern Macedonia, 1943-1944. By Vic Nicholas The main leaders during the early phase of activity from 1941 to 1942 were Tsvetan Mladenov and Andon Kalchev in the Florina prefecture, where there were 600 men under arms.
Ohrana activity
In the summer of 1944, Ohrana constituted some 12,000 local fighters and volunteers from Bulgaria charged with protection of the local population."Macedonia and Bulgarian National Nihilism — Ivan Alexandrov" (Macedonian Patriotic Organization “TA” Australia Inc. 1993) During 1944, whole Slavophone villages were armed by the occupation authorities to counterbalance the emerging power of the resistance and especially of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS).