Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
The First Balkan War started in 1912. In the year that followed young Dimitraki and his friends in the village wanted in some way to fight the Bulgarians and the Turks. Many years later, when we were hunting in upstate New York, Dimitraki (now my Dad) and I rested under the shade of a giant tree by a fieldstone wall. He told me more stories of his youth, then, quietly, of his near execution as a would-be assassin.
Dimitraki was a twelve year old boy when he plotted with his friends to assassinate the Ottoman Kaimakam in Kastoria. He was leader of a band of boy revolutionaries and wanted to kill the man who ruled the life of the Greeks under the Ottomans. The boys decided that they would act when sent by their parents to Kastoria to trade and buy goods. On that day they stalked the lordly Kaimakam to his home, hid behind the garden wall that bordered an unpaved, muddy wagon road on the lake's shore and, like their heroes, the andartes, waited for an opportunity to strike.
As the late afternoon light faded, the Kaimakam appeared on his second floor balcony to enjoy the view of the lake (photo / 47). Dimitraki took aim with his muzzle-loaded pistol and fired. He missed, the bullet striking the frame of the door next to the Kaimakan's head. Within minutes the would-be assassin was run down and caught. His comrades escaped.
There was no question of what would happen to Dimitraki. The next morning Ottoman officials tried and sentenced him to immediate execution by hanging. However his father's long friendship with the Kaimakam, desperate promises to control the boy, and delivery of a purse filled with gold Turkish Lira (48) saved Dimitraki's life.
A few months later on 10 August 1913 the Kaimakan was humbled. The Treaty of Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War; the southern part of Macedonia and the Island of Crete were united with the Kingdom of Greece. Dimitraki, his family, Mavrovo and Kastoria had the Turkish Yoke lifted from their shoulders.
King George I of Greece traveled north from Athens to the ancient Byzantine capital in Greece, Thessaloniki, at the end of the First Balkan War (December 1912). His son, Crown Prince Constantine, had distinguished himself by leading the victorious Greek army against the Turks and capturing Thessaloniki before the Bulgarians arrived. Tragically, in March of 1913 just as King George achieved much of what he had hoped for the Greek nation he was shot and killed while on a walk in Thessaloniki.
The murderer, one Alexander Schinas, was described as mentally deranged and perhaps an alcoholic. It was said that he shot the King because he was refused money. Rumors that he was a Bulgarian assassin were not corroborated. Still, he may have been a political operative for the Bulgarians or Young Turks.
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