Mirka Ginova

Mirka Ginova
Mirka Ginova
Born	1916 Vodena, Greece
Died	27 July 1946 Giannitsa, Greece
Nationality	Macedonian
Other names	Irini Gini

Mirka Ginova (Macedonian: Мирка Гинова; Vodena, Greece (today Edessa) 1916 - Giannitsa, Greece 26 July 1946) was a partisan during World War II and Greek Civil War. She was a Macedonian woman freedom fighter, leader, and pioneer during the war; Mirka fought against the Axis occupiers of Greece, going down in history as the first woman shot in Greece for political and reasons. Over the course of her lifetime, she organized protests and numerous acts of resistance against the German-Italian occupiers in Greece. As a member of the National Peoples Liberation Army, or ELAS, she worked diligently to bring in new Slavic Macedonian recruits. Mirka formed two closely related organizations to NOFS for the Voden Region after being voted in charge of the women's movement; the AFZ (Women's Antifascist Front) and the NOMS (Peoples Liberation Youth Alliance). She was brutally by a firing squad. In North Macedonia Mirka Ginova is posthumously remembered as a heroic freedom fighter that sacrificed her life fighting for the rights of the Macedonian people.

Biography

Early life

Ginova was born in the village of Rusilovo in Voden Region, 1916. Her mother passed away from influenza when she was not even two years old. She finished elementary school in the village of Pyrgoi at Katranitsa. She was rejected after applying to a school for home economics in the city of Voden; however, this did not discourage her as she aimed for a school in Lerin and was accepted. Despite her family struggling financially, her father, Konstantin Ginov, saw her desire for knowledge and enrolled her in Kostur, where she graduated. Mirka graduated as a schoolteacher after going to Kostur and began looking for opportunities. However, she struggled to find a job, due to both the Metaxas regime and her own ethnicity as a Macedonian. Before the Greco-Italian war (28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941) she finally found a job in a village in Edessa, Greece as a school teacher.

Partizan activity

Bust of Mirka Ginova in Bitola

With the beginning of the Axis occupation in Greece, the situation in Macedonia became even worse, both for the Macedonians and Greeks. Ginova was affiliated with the ranks of the youth organization of EPON (United Panhellenic Organization of Youth) during the spring of 1943, and the OKNE (Young Communist League of Greece).. Ginova then joined the KPG (Communist Party of Greece) and the EAM. Her excellent speeches and blunt passion and patriotism for the cause of fighting against the Italian and German occupiers resulted in her popularity rising with Macedonian youths and members of the various organizations. In late 1943, she joined the partisans, who were residing in the mountains of Kajmakchalan and Kozhuf fighting against the pro-Bulgarian Ohrana. Because of her popularity and extreme success in recruiting Macedonian youths into the ranks of ELAS, many individuals participated in the Voden Battalion, formed in the summer of 1944. In 1945 she joined the TOMO movement, and after the outbreak of the Greek Civil War, Ginova joined the National Liberation Front. Eventually, during a conference, the decision was made to change TOMO to NOF, better known as Peoples Liberation Front. A new ruling body was also elected to run the NOF, including Mirka Ginova as in charge of the women's movement.

On 6th July 1946, close to the town of Edessa, Ginova had formed a small partisan group. Soon Ginova was captured unexpectedly alongside some of her companions. After being brutally tortured and eventually confirming her identity as the infamous Irini Gini, she was sent to court in Giannitsa. The trial was held in the city school on 25 July 1946. The military court has sentenced her to death of a firing squad. She died on 26 July 1946 along with other members of her squad who were also sentenced to death. She was the first woman in modern Greece to be executed.