Looting of Antiquities and Works of Art

GREEK OFFICE OF INFORMATION
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York 20, New York

LOOTING OF ANTIQUITIES AND WORKS OF ART

The Bulgars sacked numerous churches in the regions occupied by them and sent the church furniture and ornaments to Bulgaria. The churches of the areas of Serres, Zichne, Drama, Kavalla, Komotine, Xanthe, Alexandroupolis, suffered most and among them the famous monastery of Rikosifolinisse of the region of Drama, and Stavropigadaki the Monastery of John the Precursor, of the region of Serres.

Bulgarian confiscation in Kavala - WW II

"WWII - Roberts Commission" 

UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION OFFICE        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
610 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
Circle 5-8060                                                          January 5th, 1942 

Greece

As soon as Western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia were handed over to the Bulgars by the Germans, all merchants and craftsmen were forced to relinquish their shops or workshops to newly arrived Bulgars. At Cavalla, a prosperous tobacco market town, 700 concerns of all kinds were forcibly expropriated and Bulgars brought over from Sofia established themselves in the seized properties. Greeks who left during the war have not been allowed to return and their property, including articles of clothing, has been confiscated. 

Macedonia Documents

Source: US National Archive










Discovered by

Marsyas Periandrou.

Interrogation of Freiherr von Weichs

WWII Nurnberg Interrogation Records

C O N F I D E N T I A L

Ref No PWB/SAIC/5

30 May 45

PWB - CPT - HQ 7th Army

German Intelligence Section Special Interrogation Series No 5. 

(This Report is published in cooperation with Seventh Army Interrogation Center) 

Field Marshal Freiherr von Weichs, former commander of the Balkan Army,
(Army Group F)

Von Weichs explains that his stuff was dissolved in March 1945, and that he himself was superannuated.

C O N F I D E N T I A L

Ref No SAIC/FIR/55

12 Oct 45

PART II -- GERMAN BALKAN POLICIES DURING WORLD WAR II

b. BULGARIA

(1) Memories of the Old Days

"Led by the energetic pro-German Czar BORIS, Bulgaria was a country which Germany fondly considered as her old ally of World War I. Memories of old friendships were renewed as ties were formed in the latest alliance in the old struggle for the Balkans. It is true, that alight pressure was necessary in order to induce Bulgaria to join the forces of the Three-Power Pact. Political convictions of the nation's majority, however, demanded this step."

(2) Balkan Powder Keg
"Ever since the time of second Balkan war, Bulgaria has nursed a hatred against the Serbs and Greeks, from whom she demanded the territories of Macedonia and Thrace. An age-old feeling of animosity  and a deep distrust also existed in Bulgaria's relations with Turkey, its former ruler and oppressor."

Source: US National Archive

Epistola Apostolica of Pope Giovanni XXIII

ACTA IOANNIS PP. XXIII
EPISTULA APOSTOLICA

Ad Venerabiles Fratres Slavicarum Nationum Antistites, pacem et communionem cum apostolica sede habentes: undecimo exeunte saeculo ab adventu Ss. Cyrilli et Methodii in Magnam Moraviam.

VENERABILES FRATRES,
SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM

"...Quodsi quis inquirat, quibusnam praecipuis ex causis tam ferax fructuum Ss. Cyrilli et Methodii apostolica opera exstiterit, facile intelleget hoc quam maxime contigisse, propterea quod ii fuerunt « pauperes in hoc mundo, divites in fide homines divites in virtute, pulchritudinis studium habentes, Petri Sedi astricti et deditissimi et omni, qua potet, nominis significatione plane pleneque catholici et apostolici. Quas quidem laudes fel. rec. Decessor Noster Pius XI hisce verbis dilucide expressit: « Quare ... miremur, si Cyrillus ac Methodius — quos Orientis filios, patria Byzantinos, gente Graecos, missione Romanos, apostolatus fructibus Slavos appeIlare licet — omnia omnibus facti sunt, ut catholicae Ecelesiae unitati omnes lucrarentur?..."

English - "Cyril and Methodius, are children of the East, citizens of Byzantium, Greeks by nationality..."

Notification of Monastir Commission 1912

NOTIFICATION OF MIXED ELECTORAL COMMISSION FROM MONASTIRI (Bitola) - 1912

ΚΟΙΝΟΠΟΙΗΣΙΣ

Ή έν Μοναστηρίω επί των βουλευτικων έκλογων Επιτροπή έκ Μουσουλμάνων, Ελλήνων καί Βουλγάρων κοινοποιεί είς τούς αξιοτιμους εκλέκτορας ότι κοινή αποφασει καθωρισθησαν ώς υποψήφιοι βουλευταί διά τό σαντζάκιον Μοναστηριου οί έξης άξιότιμοι Κυριοι:

1) Κενάν Ζιά Βέης, 2) Γεώργ. Θεοχαρείδης, 3) Άναστάσ Χρίστωφ καί 4) Έμανιυήλ Λιάπτσε, ούς εύρσκει ότι μετ άξιοπρεπείας, φρονησιως καί θερμου πατριωτισμού θα υπηρετήσωσι τά ύψιστα συμφέροντα τής κοινής ήμών πατριδος τού κραταιού Όθωμανικού κράτους.

Έν Μοναστηρίω τή 17η Μαρτίου 1912
Ή έπι τών έκλογων ΜΙΕΤΗ ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΗ

NOTIFICATION

Electoral mixed commission of Monastiri, as coalition of Muslims, Greeks and Bulgars, informs the honorable voters, that with general agreement for Monastiri sanjak are determined the following persons for MP candidates:

1) Kenan Ziya Bey, 2) Georgios Theoharides 3) Anastas Hristov and 4) Emanuil Lyapcev. They promise that with dignity, skill and great patriotism, will take care of vital interests of our common and glorious homeland of Ottoman Empire.

Monastir, 17 March 1912
Mixed electoral commision of Monastiri

Photographs from US Archives

Exclusive photos from US Archives - or forgery attempt?

After removal of the ban for certain military data, on official web-pages of US archives, were attached some materials and photos from WW II. Now, we can see free, two air perspective photos from bombing of Nazi forces stationed in Greek region of Macedonia. Bombing was carried in 1943, by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Nazi forces were stationed at Axis air base at Sedes, 15 km east of Thessaloniki, Macedonia (Northern Greece). This military airport at Sedes, was target during the USAAF bombing.

In addition, photos could be seen together with envelope in which were stored:



TRANSCRIPT OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT:

WAR THEATRE #12 - Sedes Airfield/Salonika, Macedonia. Rec'd Nov. 29. 1943 from Bur. of Pub. Rel. Copied 1/31/44

Bombs from Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Air Forces fell on the Sedes airfield. (over)

Bombing aerial

INDEXED 27115 A.C.
A26691



TRANSCRIPT OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT:

Copied 1/8/44 from original furnished by Intelligence Div., AAF. Used in Dec. 1943

Issue of "Impact". UNCLASSIFIED

A26690

INDEXED 26602 A.C.

Like giant funeral pyres, hangars & planes send up columns of smoke. Forty nine Consolidated B-24’s unloaded 538 five hundred-pound bomb on Sedes Field. At least 14 aircraft were destroyed on the ground & a fuel camp was set on fire. The bomb fall plot (right) shows a heavy concentration of bursts on the landing area & on the 3 hangars & all other buildings, most of which were set on fire. This 9th AF mission was the 1st attack of USAAF on a target in Greece Macedonia.

War Theatre #12 - Salonika, GREECE Macedonia



TRANSCRIPTION OF THE TEXT:

Bombs from Flying Fortresses of the Northwest African Air Forces fell on the Sedes airfield, 8 miles southeast of Salonika, Greece. Hits were made on aircraft fuel storage dumps, hangars, and administration buildings. (NAAF Photo)

Conclusion: On the second picture encrypted as A26690, it can be seen that at two places word 'Greece' is cross out, and on its place is added 'Macedonia'. Other cross-outs of the text of this photo are made with marker, with the exception of replacing the word 'Greece' with 'Macedonia', is done with pen. Is this forgery or not... it isn't known. On the first photo (code: A26691) it is written Macedonia, as a geographical region of Greece. It is confirmed with the outer text from the envelope.

To verify out claims, we will use small article from the Australian Newspaper "The Mail":

"THE MAIL" Australian Newspaper
Adelaide: Saturday, June 26, 1943

U.S. BOMBERS SMASH GERMAN BASE

LONDON, Saturday. - Americans had a field day in the Mediterranean on Thursday.

They wrecked the Axis air base at Sedes, near Salonika (Greece), and sent 300 planes over Sardinia, where they blasted railways, airfields, and shipping. In this attack, they shot down 20 Axis aircraft for the loss of nine.

About 50 Liberators dropped more than 100 tons of bombs on Sedes, which the Germans have been using as an air training, centre and a main rear supply base.


[THE MAIL Newspaper, Vol. 32 - No. 1,622, 26 June 1943]

Author: M.P.

Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II (1980)

Epistula Apostolica
EGREGIAE VIRTUTIS

Mercoledì, 31 dicembre

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
Ad perpetuam rei memoriam

1. Egregiae virtutis viri Cyrillus et Methodius iam mentibus animisque omnium iterum subeunt hoc anno, in quo bini saeculares rerum eventus accidunt omnino insignes. Simul enim annus centesimus abit ex quo Litterae Encyclicae “Grande Munus”, die XXX Septembris, anno MDCCCLXXX, promulgatae sunt, quibus nimirum Leo XIII, Pontifex ille magnus, post horum virorum personas atque industriam apostolicam in cunctae Ecclesiae memoriam revocatam, Liturgicam illorum celebritatem instituit, et in Calendario Ecclesiae catholicae inscribi iussit; simul XI centenarius dies incidit Litterarum “Industriae Tuae”, a Decessore Nostro Ioanne VIII Principi Svatopluk mense Iunio datarum, anno DCCCXXX, quibus videlicet usus Slavicae linguae in sacra Liturgia et laudabatur et suadebatur, “ut in eadem lingua Christi Domini Nostri praeconia et opera” enarrarentur.

Cyrillus autem et Methodius fratres, Graeci, Thessalonicae nati, ea nempe in urbe, in qua beatus Paulus et degit et operatus est, ab usque suae vocationis initio arctas rationes institutionis spiritualis ingeniique culturae cum Patriarchali Ecclesia...

Lettera Apostolica
EGREGIAE VIRTUTIS

Traduzione italiana della lettera del Papa

1. Alle illustri figure dei santi Cirillo e Metodio si rivolgono di nuovo i pensieri ed i cuori in quest'anno in cui ricorrono due centenari particolarmente significativi. Si compiono infatti cent'anni dalla pubblicazione della lettera enciclica «Grande Munus» del 30 settembre 1880, con la quale il grande pontefice Leone XIII ricordava a tutta la Chiesa le figure e l'attività apostolica di questi due santi e, al tempo stesso, ne introduceva la festività liturgica nel calendario della Chiesa cattolica (Leonis XIII «Acta», vol. II, pp. 125-137). Ricorre inoltre l'XI centenario della lettera «Industriae Tuae» (cfr. «Magna Moraviae Fontes Historici», t. III, Brno 1969, pp. 197-208), inviata dal mio predecessore Giovanni VIII al principe Svatopluk nel giugno dell'anno 880, nella quale veniva lodato e raccomandato l'uso della lingua slava nella liturgia, affinché «in quella lingua fossero proclamate le lodi e le opere di Cristo nostro Signore» (cfr. «Magna Moraviae Fontes Historici», t. III, Brno 1969, p. 207).

Cirillo e Metodio, fratelli, greci, nativi di Tessalonica, la città dove visse e operò san Paolo, fin dall'inizio della loro vocazione, entrarono in stretti rapporti culturali e spirituali con la Chiesa patriarcale di Costantinopoli, allora fiorente per cultura e attività missionaria alla cui alta scuola essi si formarono (cfr. «Costantinus et Methodius Thessalonicenses, Fontes»). Entrambi avevano scelto lo stato religioso unendo i doveri della vocazione religiosa con il servizio missionario, di cui diedero una prima testimonianza recandosi ad evangelizzare i Cazari della Crimea.

- English: "Brothers Cyril and Methodius were Greeks, native of Thessaloniki..."

(Source: Letters of Holy Father - John Paul II)

Unscheduled Special Assignment - G. B.

Foreign Military Studies, 1945-54

B-708

Guenther Blumentritt

Neustadt, November 1947

Unscheduled Special Assignment

"Culminating Points"

"When Alexander the Great crossed over to Asia Minor after unifying Greece he was victorious..." (Page 2)

Source: US National Archive

International Role of the Anglo-Saxons

Foreign Military Studies, 1945-54

International Role of the Anglo-Saxons
by
Guenther Blumentritt, General der Infanterie a.D.

Translator: Suelzenfuss

MS# B-386

"This law has little to do with the 'nature of a State'! Macedonia was to become a Greek Empire in Asia Minor;..." (pg. 6)

Sources: US National Archive

Interrogation of Franz von Papen

WWII Nurnberg Interrogation Records



Franz von Papen (1879-1969) was a German nobleman, General Staff officer and right-wing politician. He served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934. He belonged to the group of close advisers to President Paul von Hindenburg in the late Weimar Republic. It was largely Papen, believing that Hitler could be controlled once he was in the government, who persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in a cabinet not under Nazi Party domination. However, Papen and his allies were quickly marginalized by Hitler and he left the government after the Night of the Long Knives, during which some of his confidants were killed by the Nazis.

He persuaded Adolf Hitler, to not give Thessaloniki to Bulgarians. He was the saviour of Thessaloniki from Bulgarian occupation and terror in WW II.

Quotes from his interrogation, 19 September 1949 at Nurnberg:

"...and it was a very bad thing, because we had been very good with Greece all the time, and there certainly was no German who had any bad feelings about the Greek people. This war, I suppose, was made very much against the heart of most people who took part in it; but when it was done, it came to the negotiations about the distribution of Yugoslavia and Greece. It happened that I was in the headquarters of Hitler, after the ending of that campaign, when King Boris of Bulgaria was present to talk with him about the matter that Bulgaria should have the Yugoslav territory from Macedonia, and so on. So it came that I could say I could have avoided the matter, and Hitler asked my opinion about it, and I did two things; I strongly advised against Hitler to give the Saloniki area to Bulgaria, as the Bulgarians wanted. I said to him that Greece could never live without Saloniki, and it shouldn't be taken from her; and the second was that I pleaded that so-called Greek Corridor, that separated Bulgaria from Turkey--"

Source: US National Archive

Balkan 1941 by Helmuth Greiner

WWII Foreign Military Studies, 1945-54

MS # C-065g

Helmuth Greiner
Ministerialrat A.D.
Keeper of the War Diary
in Hitler's Headquarters
(Aug 1939 - Apr 1943)

BALKAN 1941

Translator: A. HALL
Editor: L. SCHAEFER
Reviewer: Major F.D. CRONIN

___________________________________________________________

The Author

Helmuth GREINER
Ministerialrat fm OKW*
Born: 30 April 1892
Leipzig, Saxony

Helmuth GREINER joined the army in December 1913, entering the 132nd Prussian Infantry Regiment as an officer candidate, and in July 1914 was promoted 2d lieutenant with commission dated 23 June 1912. In World War I he served at the various fronts from the outbreak of war to June 1917, with two brief breaks to recover from wounds. In June 1917 he was detached to serve as military attache on the staff of the German Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, from which he was transferred to the Historical Division of Army General Staff, Berlin, in January 1919, remaining there until discharged from the Army in March 1920, with rank of captain. Less than a month later GREINER was appointed archivist in the Military History Section of the Historical Branch of the Reich Archives at Potsdam. He remained in this service until 1935, and it was during this period that he continued his studies in national economy and history at the Berlin University from 1921-1924. Also during this period he did a great deal of writing on the German official history of World War I and was promoted Archivart.

On 1 April 1935 GREINER was re-called for service in the Wehrmacht, promoted Regierungsrat (equivalent to major in rank) and attached to the re-organized Historical Division of the Reichs Archives, a branch of the Military History Research Institute of the Army. On 18 August 1939, he was transferred to the National Defense Branch, which later was re-designated Wehrmacht Operations Staff (Wehrmachtsfuehrungstab), in HITLER'S headquarters, as Keeper of the War Diary. Promoted Oberregierungsrat on 1 May 1936 and Ministerialrat on 1 October 1940, GREINER was removed from his post on 22 April 1943 because of his known anti-nationalsocialist sentiments. Following this he was detached to the Office of the German General Attached to Italian Armed Forces Headquarters in Rome for a brief spell, 15 June - 31 July 1943.

From that date to the end of the war, GREINER was not employed, being considered politically unreliable. He was captured by US forces at Oberhof, Thuringia on 4 April 1945.

In addition to his career in the civil service and the Wehrmacht, GREINER is a well-known writer on military subjects in the historical vain, his published works including, VETERANS OF WORLD WAR I, a collection of essays by soldiers of the war; THE 1916 CAMPAIGN IN RUMANIA, written for the Swedish General Staff; THE 1916 INVASION OF BELGIUM AND THE FIRST MAJOR BATTLES; THE FRENCH MOBILIZATION IN 1914; THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION; GUERILLA WARFARE IN 1870-71 and FRENCH MOBILIZATION PLANS, 1885-1914, some of which were written specifically as instruction manuals for use in training.
_________________________________
* Administrative official attached to Wehrmacht Command, equivalent in rank to a colonel.

Source: US National Archive

Secret Document - Seeds of future war

Ardelia Hall Collection: OMGUS Records

S E C R E T

No. 105. 22nd December 1944.

PWE/OSS DAILY INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY FOR GERMANY AND AUSTRIA



Greece: Seeds of future war. New comment was issued at home in response to the debate. Greenword's warning that Greece meant sowing seeds of future war was taken up. Eden's statement on Britain's altruistic motives was denounced as hypocrisy, but here German propaganda was forced to add to its denunciation of Britain's power politics that in Greece, Britain was probably acting "on behalf of Moscow". DNB for the first time plays up the story of Bulgarians who have crossed the Greek frontiers; it reports consternation in Athens at Marshal Tito's claims to Macedonia, and objection to the "far reaching plans for Greek nationalists brought into power by the British". It does not mention the proposed Yugoslav-Macedonian Federation.

Source: US National Archive

German excavations in Palatitsa (WWII)

Ardelia Hall Collection: Munich Administrative Records



EXCAVATIONS, GERMANS (4)

PALATITSA (West Macedonia)

In Spring 1942 a 10-day unauthorised excavation was carried out by "Cpl-Archeaologist" EXNER and brought to light 4-6 brick-?u?fed Hellenistic tombs. Hellenistic pottery (inet fusiform unguentaries) is known to have been found and handed over to the German Hil Command in Thessaloniki. Dr. SCHONEBECK was cognizant of these excavations.

Source: US National Archive

French Tobacco Commision in Greece

"State Department Records - France"

Form 457

ECONOMIC AND TRADE NOTES No. 891

FRENCH TOBACCO COMMISION IN GREECE

Attention: B.D. Hill, Tobacco Specialist

Interrogation of D. Wisliceny - 17 Nov 1945

"WWII Nuernberg Interrogation Records"



OFFICE OF THE U.S. CHIEF OF COUNSEL
FOR THE PROSECUTION OF AXIS CRIMINALITY
INTERROGATION DIVISION SUMMARY

Interrogation of Dieter WISLICENY
By: Lt. Col. S. Brookhart, 17 November 1945, p.m. Nuremberg
___________________________________________________________

PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS IMPLICATED, AND SUBJECTS

1. WISLICENY

a. Persecution of Jews
(1) Sources of information re Jewish deportations from Hungary, Germany, Bohemia-Moravia, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia, Greece, Bulgaria (5-13)

2. KALTENBRUNNER

a. Persecution of Jews
(1) Relationship with Eichmann (2-3)
(2) Relationship with Mueller (2)

3. EICHMANN

a. Persecution of Jews (2-3, 7-9)

[On pg. 105]

[On pg. 150]


Conclusion (Analysis) - Another proof that term "Macedonia" was officialy used in Greece before 1988.

Sources: The National Archives

U.S. Secret Document - Sep. 2 1944

"WWII War Diaries"

UNITED STATES FLEET
United States Naval Forces in Europe
20 Grosvenor Square
London, W. 1



Serial: 002901

Sep 2 1944

Secret

From: Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe.
To: Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet.

Subj: War Diary - Forwarding of.

Ref: Cominch restricted serial 7152 of 29 Oct. 1943.

Enc: (1) War Diary of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe for the month of August, 1944.

J.G. BRAY, Jr.,
BY DIRECTION

[Pg. 34]

WAR DIARY FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1944
GENERAL SITUATION
AT WAR

"...The Bulgarian Army is on the march home. Signs have multiplied in the past 12 hours that three years of unparalleled brutality in Macedonia and Thrace are coming to an end and that the Bulgarian Command has issued orders withdrawing from these territories at least 11 divisions which have been assisting the Germans to garrison Greece and Jugoslavia..."

Sources: The National Archives

Macedonians in US Army in WW II

WWII "Old Man's Draft" Registration Cards. Click on the documents to see in full size!