ABOUT

About Ajtos
taken from the book Lerin in Mourning by Atanas Tane Naumovski available courtesy of Pollitecon Publications

Ajtos had its name forcibly changed by the Greek government to Aetos. It is within the Lerin region and is about 15 kilometres in a straight line southeast from Lerin and 12 km southwest from Sorovich.

Ajtos is 21 degrees 31 minutes longtitude and 40 degrees 40 minutes latitude and 965 metres above sea leave and has an area of 15 square kilometres.

The village borders on the following places: to the east with Ljubetino, to the southwest with the village Gorentsi, to the northwest with the village Spantsi. To the west of the village is the unpassable mount ain Asanova Chuka. The river Neveshka flows through the village with the well-known sound.

Before the start of the Greek Civil War in 1945, there were about 1,200 residents. All of the villagers were of Macedonian background and were employed in raising livestock, timber getting, agriculture and other necessary trades and occupations.

During the Greek Civil War in the period 1946-1949 the residents of the village actively took part in the organization of NOF and in the armed forces of DAG, which were led by KPG, with more than 200 active fighters. During the time of those bloody battles during which brother fought brother 52 villagers gave their lives.

They were the following:

1. Adzhibabov, D Leftr
2. Boshkov, M Petse
3. Burnarov, Harish Tome
4. Burnarov, N Stavre
5. Gigov, D Vane
6. Gogov, K Kali
7. Darvari, T Nicha
8. Dafov, Stefo Kire
9. Drilov, Bodzhe
10. Gjegov, B Petse
11. Gjegov, T Kocho
12. Gjulev, S Kocho
13. Gjulekov, G Vasil
14. Zharchev, D Risto
15. Zharchev, P Tome
16. Zahuilevski, Micho
17. Karagunov, Gele Kocho
18. Kolev, Z Vasil
19. Kolev, M Risto
20. Lalov, Gjorgi Petse
21. Lalev, S Andrea
22. Mavrov, P Tome
23. Matkarov, V Petre
24. Machkatov, Metodi
25. Minchev, B Kole
26. Mishev, K Vasil
27. Misheva, K Stojanka
28. Nikolovski, Kicho
29. Novoselcka, K Menka
30. Olev, Kuzi
31. Olev, M Gele
32. Paljorkin, K Iljo
33. Papanikolov, Stevo
34. Petsov, Iljo Blagoja
35. Petsov, Iljo Kocho
36. Petsov, Blagoj Vasil
37. Petsov, D Stavre
38. Rimchev, S Blagoj
39. Robev, S Trifi
40. Robev, R Pandil
41. Robev, R Miti
42. Robev, Gele Kole
43. Robev, Gele Tase
44. Rukov, P Kole
45. Sakulev, Pande
46. Sterjov, Lazo Sterjo
47. Sterjov, R Naum
48. Sterjov, R Mitse
49. Stilov, M Ilo
50. Chekulev, K Bodzhe
51. Shkipov, T Vasil
52. Shopradanov, P Bodzhe

From all of the above named fallen fighters who gave their young lives there were 50 men and 2 women-heroines.

In the Greek Civil War and after the great emigration and forced emigration from Ajtos, the number of residents fell. This can be seen from the last official census in 1991 in Greece according to which there were 819 residents in the village.

FAMILY NAMES

Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Ajtos (although it is NEVER complete).

In the first column is the original Macedonian version of the name. In many cases individuals and families that have emigrated to other countries have had their names 'localized' to the local language (in Australia/Canada/USA they have been shorted - Ivanov to Evans, Branov to Brown). In the European countries they have adjusted to include "-ski" or "-sky" (examples are Popovski from Popov, Mangovsky from Mangos).

In the second column is how it would be written in Macedonian (NOTE: you will need to have the "MAC C Times" Truetype font installed on your system to properly read it. For more information on how to get this done please visit Biser Balkanski - How To Install Macedonian fonts on your computer .

The third column is the Hellenized (ie. "Greek") version assigned by the Greek government in the years which followed the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. In a majority of the cases the changes did not appear until after 1920. In many cases as with the village names, an attempt was made to spell the last names in the Greek alphabet sound-for-sound but it was later decided to make them sound more "Greek" (examples were "Dimov" to "Dimopoulos", "Iliev" to "Iliadis").

For those unaware, the Treaty of Bucharest "divided the spoils" of Macedonia amongst the three neighbouring countries - Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. Amongst the worst of what was to follow happened in Greece - family names were given "Greek" versions, village names were renamed, churches were re-Christened under Greek saints, tombstones and epitaphs along with any visible signs of the Macedonian language were erased and re-written in Greek.

POPULATION

HISTORY

LINKS

• Google maps - Ajtos
• Wikipedia - Ajtos, Kajlarsko

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