The Belicica massacre (September 19th 1944)

About Belichica village

Belichica village is located in the Mavrovo national park in north-western Macedonia, in the Mavrovo-Rostushe municipality. Althought is located above the Mavrovo settlement, it can be accessed after you switch off the road Mavrovo-Debar, at Trnica district.

The massacre of Belichica

This bloody event is described in the book of Nesho Markovski, who was one of the survived partisans that failed to defend the village from the Balists (Balist - Albanian form of fashist).

THE MASSACRE OF BELICHICA - Belichica in flames. Titled like this, the author starts to describe the morning of September 19^th 1944 (by the end of the second World War) - the great-albanian massacre over the Macedonian village Belichica. It all happended in the dawn of September 19^th 1944, when the Tetovo Partisan detachment was attacked by 300 armed till teeth, Balists, lead the evil reputed by Akjif Rechani. Outnumbered, the Partisans were unable to fight down the enemy. As they saw that, there was no more ressistance, they headed towards the village, the villagers and the dead partisans as hungry hyenas. At the end their leader Akjif Rechani, hooked up over the amount of garbage in the Upper area (Gorno Maalo), was shouting on loud: "S'ka Mal Belichic / There's no more Belichica".

And then their barbarian started to show its real face. They've started the orgies over the dead and the helpless. They started to burn down the houses. They have deprived of individuality using rocks and knifes, cut of their teeth, took away their personal items, shot their corps and took their clothes as a "war trophy". The rest hardly wounded partisans, were shoot to death.

Regarding the murder of the partisan Borche Kochovski, the author notes that they've tried to drag out information from him, but instead of speaking, he kept himself silent. At the end he just shouted: "Can't you see, there look at it, there is the day when you will be jugded by the People's Court. Your verdict is already stated... Long live liberated Macedonia!", after what he got immediately shot. Savo Tasevski, wounded, was througn into a house on fire, while others were shooting at him. Afterwards, the balists entered the houses, and took care of the rest - women, children. They have started, what they came for - to destroy the village.

The houses, one by one were turned into fire. Belichica was in flame. The village was burning along with its residents. The old and ill Liska Jovanovska was shoot in bed. Ana Bibovska tried to escape, but unsuccessfully. They killed her in her house along with Paraskeva Trajkovska and burned the house down afterwards. Kalina Jovanovska, the most beautiful girl in Belichica, who was brave and an active Communist, died dignified. It took long for Anestija Bogucheska and Natalija Bogucheska motherinlaw and daughterinlaw, to resist the balists, protecting their three minor children. Both died one by another.

It was not enough for the balists, so they ramed Anestija's body on a pile. The old Sara Bogucheska did tried to take shelter in the barn for the two nieces Cenija and Grozda. As soon they found them, they burned down the barn, and 10 balists were shooting until the barn burned down. Solomonija Jovanovska had the same destiny - burned in its own barn. Lenka and Todor Gjurchinovski, mother and son, we also brutally killed and thrown to burn to ashes in their house on fire.

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