About Prekopana
taken from the book Lerin in Mourning by Atanas Tane Naumovski available courtesy of
Pollitecon Publications
The village of Prekopana was made to change its name by the Greek government to Perikopi. The village is about 19 kilometres south of
Lerin. It is in the heart of the Nered Mountain under the Temen Vrv Peak, at 21 degrees 25 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 37 minutes
latitude. It is 1,440 metres above sea level and about 34 kilometres squared in area.
The village borders to the east with the villages Srebreno and Zelenich, to the south with the Kostur village Olishta, and to the west
with the Vicho Mountain.
Before the start of the Greek Civil War about 550 Macedonian residents lived in the village. The residents were employed in raising
livestock, timber getting and agriculture.
During the Greek Civil War, the residents actively took part in the organization of NOF and the armed forces of DAG with more than 55
active fighters. 14 gave their lives.
They were:
- Basotov, Gele
- Volchev, Gjorgi
- Gjanaki, Papa Gele
- Jovevski, Mitre
- Kalin, Kiro
- Kalin, Pando
- Karadakov, Gjorgi
- Klekov, Mitre
- Klekov, Petse
- Ljoljov, Dine
- Ljoljov Sotir
- Marino,v Gjorgi
- Minchev, N
- Murdzhov, Krste
- Muchev, Joti
- Chelov, Dosi
- Chelov, Dine-Chaushot
The details were obtained from Trifko Zaparenko from the same village.
After the Greek Civil War and emigration from and forced migration to the village, the number of residents fell significantly. The
1991 census in Greece recorded that there were 6 residents in the village.
Family Names of Prekopana Inhabitants
Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Prekopana (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.
| Original Macedonian Name | Po Makedonski | Hellenized Version |
|---|
| Basotov |
Basotov |
|
| Chelov |
^elov |
|
| Gjanaki |
\anaki |
|
| Jovevski |
Jovevski |
|
| Kalin |
Kalin |
|
| Karadakov |
Karadakov |
|
| Klekov |
Klekov |
|
| Ljoljov |
Qoqov |
|
| Marino |
Marino
|
|
| Minchev |
Min~ev
|
|
| Muchev |
Mu~ev |
|
| Murdzhov |
Murcov |
|
| Volchev |
Vol~ev |
|
| Zaparenko |
Zaparenko |
|
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the various lists. If you would like to add your family
please email me at tedn@macedonianvillages.com and specify the village and a list of family names.