Page 297 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

297
aCta
Kastoria was particularly successful. In 1900, when he arrived in Kastoria, the situation in
the district appeared confused. Powerful Bulgarian bands roamed the the country-side and
many villages were joining the Exarchy. One by one the pillars of Hellenism were lost. Ger-
manos, however, would not be daunted by the adversities. Among the first acts was a visit to
Monastir and collaboration with the local Greek consul, Stamatios Kiouzes Pezas, for a joint
evaluation of the situation. This diplomatic officer was very active in his district as he mana-
ged to organize an effective network of informers. In successive reports, he kept the Greek
government abreast off all that transpired and drew its attention to the situation of the Greek
element. The mutual respect stemming from their initial acquaintance paved the way for
their future co-operation. From then on, assisting and complementing each other in amirable
concord, the two men pursued their difficult mission together, Pezas in Monastir through
his spies and his protests to the ottoman authorities and Germanos in Kastoria through his
encouraging tours and impressive actions. In Monastir, the Consulate Secretary Ion Dragou-
12
mes with the aid of distinguished city notables founded the Amyna (Defense) organization.
This organization was in contact with that of Germanos in the area of Kastoria as well as
with similar organizations in the other cities and minor towns of Western Macedonia that
he had also formed, through intensive and coordinated efforts. Similar systematic services
were later rendered by Dragoumes in Eastern Macedonia, during his brief term as director of
the Serres Consulate which resulted in his being considered as one of the first organizers of
Macedonian Hellenism in its reaction to the Bulgarian designs.
The heroic attitude on the part of Germanos encouraged those inhabitants faithful to the
Patriarchate and boosted their morale. With time, the villagers started to take heart and aban-
don their fatalistic attitude, while those who had left their villages for Kastoria, out of fear
started to return. the Greek speaking population had begun to organize according to the
instructions of the Metropolitan and the first cells of resistance were constituted as commit-
tees of local notables. He was also asking for officers, wishing to install within the locals
the conviction that free Greece was on their side. In the spring of 1903, four battle-hardened
and venturous Cretans , agreed to move to Western Macedonia and be the pioneers in the
13
rousing of Greece. Finally, one of them managed to deliver important secret correspondence
to Ion Dragoumes and Karavangeles. Soon, through the unremitting activity of the group of
the officers, the first Greek band for the support of Metropolitan Germanos’ organization was

12 Ion Dragoumes, son of Stephanos Dragoumes, was born in Athens on 2 September 1878. Having completed
a course of general education, he joined the Diplomatic Corps in 1899 and was appointed as Secretary of
the Monastir Consulate in 1902. He later served at the consulates of Serres, Philippoupolis, Alexandria and
Alexandroupolis and in 1907 he was appointed as Secretary of the Constantinople Embassy. His entire career
was committed to patriotic activity while, devoting his significant literary talents to writing literature with
a nationalist bent. In politics he believed in the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and believed that Greek
intellect gradually would lead to its Hellenization. Dragoumes opposed the policies of Venizelos, whose sup-
porters assassinated him in the street on 31 July 1920. This took place after the announcement of the attempt
on the life of Venizelos in Lyons, France. Euregenes Dimitrios, O Ion Dragoumes kai o Makedonikos Agon,
Institute of Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1961 [reprinted 1993], Paraschos K., Ion Dragoumes, Athens 1936,
Vakalopoulos Apostolos, Koryphaies morphes tou Makedonikou Agona, Ion Dragoumes, Paulos Gypares,
Barbounakes, Thessaloniki 1987.
13 For the contribution of Cretans in the struggle for Macedonia, Gyparakes Andreas, Kretes Makedonomachoi
1903-1908, Athens 1976.