page_title: World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia
section_title: Communist repressions
hierarchical_section_title: World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia / 1944 and aftermath / Controversy / Communist repressions
caption_attribution_description: Македонски: Лазар Колишевски (1914 - 2000), народен херој English: Lazar Koliševski (1914 - 2000), People Hero of Yugoslavia from the Republic of Macedonia This media file is produced by Wikipedian in Residence in Category:Wikipedian in Residence at DARM in 2016.
context_page_description: World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia started with the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Under the pressure of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, part of the Macedonian communists began in October 1941 a political and military campaign to resist the occupation of Vardar Macedonia. Officially, the area was called then Vardar Banovina, because the very name Macedonia was prohibited in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was occupied mostly by Bulgarian, but also by German, Italian, and Albanian forces.
  Initially it was no organised resistance because the majority of the Macedonian Slavs were pro-Bulgarian oriented. It started to grow only in 1943 with the capitulation of Italy and the Soviet victories over Nazi Germany. The role of the Bulgarian communists, which avoided organizing mass armed resistance, was also a key factor. Their influence over the Macedonian Party organization remained dominant until 1943, when it became obvious that Germany and Bulgaria would be defeated.
  At that time Tito's special emissary Svetozar Vukmanović arrived in Macedonia. Vukmanović had to activate the struggle and give it a new ethnic Macedonian facade.
context_section_description: After the liberation the Presidium of the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM), which was the governing body of Macedonia, made several statements and actions that were contradictory to the decisions of the Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), the Yugoslav executive authority. Tito's General Headquarters sent orders asking the forces of the MNOV to participate in the fighting in the Syrmian Front  for the final liberation of Yugoslavia. President Metodija Andonov-Čento and his associates debated whether to send the troops to Srem and help liberate Yugoslavia or to advance the troops under his command toward Greek Macedonia in order to "unify the Macedonian people" into one country. On December 16, the Gotse Delchev Brigade's artillery platoon stationed at the Skopje Fortress, and one of its infantry platoons at Štip revolted against the order to be sent to the Srem front. They wanted to head to Thessaloniki as presumable capital of an imagined Independent Macedonia. Svetozar Vukmanovic accused them of had fallen under Bulgarian influences. After they refused to disperse on both places, dozens were shot down and many were arrested on his order. Andonov-Čento and his close associates were trying to minimize the ties with Yugoslavia as far as possible, which was contrary to the decisions of AVNOJ. As result Andonov-Čento was replaced by Lazar Kolishevski, who started fully implementing the pro-Yugoslav line. Čento himself was later imprisoned. The fabricated charges against him were of being a Western spy, a traitor working against the SR Macedonia as part of SFR Yugoslavia,  being in close contacts with IMRO terrorist, supporting a pro-Bulgarian plan of an Independent Macedonia, etc.
  The new leadership of the People's Republic of Macedonia headed by Lazar Kolishevski confirmed the decisions of AVNOJ, and Macedonia joined Yugoslavia.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia eventually all became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . The Macedonian national feelings were already ripe at that time as compared to 1941. Subsequently, to wipe out the remaining bulgarophile sentiments, the new Communist authorities persecuted the right-wing nationalists with the charges of "great-Bulgarian chauvinism". The next task was also to break up all the organisations that opposed the idea of Yugoslavia. So even older left-wing politicians, who were at some degree pro-Bulgarian oriented, were purged from their positions, then isolated, arrested and  imprisoned on fabricated charges, as foreign agents, demanding greater independence, forming of conspirative political groups and the like. Besides, many people went throughout the labor camp of Goli Otok in the middle 1940s. The number of the victims is estimated from 50 000, up to 100 000 including those killed, imprisoned, deported, sent to forced labor, tortured, etc.
caption: Lazar Kolishevski became in late 1944 the Prime Minister of the SR Macedonia. He started a policy fully implementing the pro-Yugoslav line and took hard measures against any opposition.
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