Mirka Ginova

Mirka Ginova
Mirka Ginova
Born	1916 Edessa
Died	27 July 1946 Giannitsa, Greece
Nationality	Macedonian
Other names	Irini Gini

Mirka Ginova (Macedonian: Мирка Гинова; Edessa, 1916 - Giannitsa, 26 July 1946) was a partisan during World War II and Greek Civil War. She was a Macedonian woman freedom fighter, leader, and pioneer during the war; Mirka fought against fascist occupiers of Greece, going down in history as the first woman shot in Greece for political and monarcho-fascism reasons. Over the course of her lifetime, she organized protests and numerous acts of resistance against the German-Bulgarian occupiers in Greece. As a member of the National Peoples Liberation Army, or ELAS, she worked diligently to bring in new Macedonian recruits. Mirka formed two closely related organizations to NOFS for the Voden Region after being voted in charge of the women's movement; the AFZ (Women's Antifascist Front) and the NOMS (Peoples Liberation Youth Alliance). She was brutally executed by a firing squad alongside her associates, including Tome Mijangov and Petre Pop Dimitrov, after a fatal verdict delivered by the Monarchists accusing them and the Macedonian freedom movement of wanting to separate Aegean Macedonia from Greece. Mirka Ginova is posthumously remembered as a heroic freedom fighter that sacrificed her life fighting for the rights of the Macedonian people.

Early life

Ginova was born in the village of Rusilovo in Voden Region, 1916. Her mother passed away from influenza when she was not even two years old. She finished elementary school in the village of Pyrgoi at Katranitsa. She was rejected after applying to a school for home economics in the city of Voden; however, this did not discourage her as she aimed for a school in Lerin and was accepted. Despite her family struggling financially, her father, Konstantin Ginov, saw her desire for knowledge and enrolled her in Kostur, where she graduated. Mirka graduated as a schoolteacher after going to Kostur and began looking for opportunities. However, she struggled to find a job, due to both the Metaxas regime and her own ethnicity as a Macedonian. Before the Greco-Italian war (28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941) she finally found a job in a village in Edessa as a school teacher.

Revolutionary activity

Bust of Mirka Ginova in Bitola

With the beginning of the Axis occupation in Greece, the situation in Macedonia became even worse, both for the Macedonians and Greeks. Ginova was affiliated with the ranks of the youth organization of EPON (United Panhellenic Organization of Youth) during the spring of 1943, and the OKNE (Young Communist League of Greece).. Ginova then joined the KPG (Communist Party of Greece) and the EAM. Her excellent speeches and blunt passion and patriotism for the cause of fighting against the German Bulgarian occupiers resulted in her popularity rising with Macedonian youths and members of the various organizations. While she was with these organizations, Ginova organized various resistance movements and campaigns in the Ostrovo Region. In late 1943, she joined the partisans, who were residing in the mountains of Kajmakchalan and Kozhuf. Because of her popularity and extreme success in recruiting Macedonian youths into the ranks of ELAS, many individuals participated in the Voden Battalion in Kajmakchalan. The Voden Macedonian Battalion was formed in the summer of 1944. As shown in various battles such as the battle of Muaren-An, Ginova fought against the enemies face to face, equipped with a rifle in hand. She refused to surrender her arms after Germany fell, instead opting to continue the war against the new Greek government that was massacring the Macedonian population. In 1945 she joined the TOMO movement, and after the outbreak of the Greek Civil War, Ginova joined the National Liberation Front. Eventually, during a conference, the decision was made to change TOMO to NOF, better known as Peoples Liberation Front. A new ruling body was also elected to run the NOF, including Mirka Ginova as in charge of the women's movement. Now that she was organizing serious resistance movements against the Monarchists and was in a powerful position in NOF, Mirka became marked as a target by the Greek police and gendarmes.

Death

On 6th July 1946, close to the town of Edessa, Ginova had formed a small partisan group. An incident regarding two NOF carriers and their skirmish with the Greek police in that area started a chain of events eventually leading to Ginova's death.This led to the Greek army realizing that Partisans may be present in the area surrounding Vlkojanevo. The soldiers captured some goad herders and put pressure on them reveal the location of the NOF group in the woodlands. Although the ambush was eventually avoided, several other events involving Dmitir Limbov and informants being let off led to an approaching group of enemy soldiers, armed with the knowledge that they discovered the presence of the Partisans. Before any plans or thoughts could be put into place, the enemy soldiers started firing and the group was surrounded. A group of about 20 individuals, including Ginova, succeeded in penetrating the enemy ring after the battle. Ginova was captured unexpectedly alongside some of her companions due to taking a different path. After being brutally tortured and eventually confirming her identity as the infamous Irini Gini, she was sent to court in Giannitsa. The trial was held in the city school on 25 July 1946. The military court has sentenced her to death of a firing squad. She died on 26 July 1946 along with other members of her squad who were also sentenced to death. She was the first woman in modern Greece to be executed.