Paskal Mitrevski
Paskal Mitrevski (Macedonian: Паскал Митревски) (1912–1978), also known as Paskal Mitrovski or Paschalis Mitropoulos, was a Greek-born communist partisan from the Greek province of Macedonia (Aegean Macedonian) and former President of the Macedonian National Liberation Front.
Early life
Mitrevski was born in the Kastorian village of Čuka (Chuka) renamed "Arhangelos".
Involvement with the National Liberation Front
In 1943 Mitrevski joined the Slavic-Macedonian National Liberation Front until it was disbanded in 1944. On April 23, 1945 he founded the Narodno Osloboditelen Front or National Liberation Front (NOF) along with Mihajlo Keramitčiev, Georgi Urdov, Atanas Korovešov, Pavle Rakovski and Minčo Fotev. He soon became the representative of NOF to the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and Democratic Army of Greece. On September 13, 1946, Mitrevski wrote a letter in which he stated "We did not leave a single issue unresolved or in the dark" in regards to the Macedonian issue and the existence of the National Liberation Front.[1] By this time Mitrevski had entered talks with Markos Vafiadis regarding the complete merger of the Communist Party and the National Liberation Front. This was achieved but the National Liberation Front remained a semi-autonomous entity within the KKE.
Mitrevski was a staunch supporter of the NOF and criticised the regional leadership of the KKE. Eventually a rift occurred between Mitrevski and Mihajlo Keramitčiev and many factions of the National Liberation Front were divided. This was in turn over the dismissal of NOF leaders such as Vangel Ajanovski-Oče and Lambro Colakov from the Executive Council by General Ioannidis. In turn this matter was taken to the Politburo of the party on February 20–21, 1948 where Mitrevski and the leader of the "Anti-Fascist Women's Front" (Macedonian: Антифашистички Фронт на Жените, Antifašistički front na Ženite), Vera Nikolova, publicly criticised each other. As it was obvious that the party was in serious internal strife, Mitrevski proposed that Stavros Kochopoulos become leader of the party rather than Mihajlo Keramitčiev, who had the support of rival factions. Soon mistrust and suspicion grew about Mitrevski's role in NOF and the Communist Party. Many claimed that he was "motivated solely by his own personal ambitions". He attended the general meeting of the politburo on July 10 which adopted a motion denouncing the NOF and indirectly the Macedonian contribution to the war effort; Mitrevski refuted these claims but to no avail. The fits which had occurred between him and Keramitčiev was seen as potentially fatal to the party and he was removed as leader of NOF on August 8, 1948. Stavros Kochopoulos officially became president while Vangel Kojčev was made secretary. By December, however, it had been decided by Nikos Zachariadis that the membership of the secretariat should be expanded and Mitrevski was reinstated.[2] On the initiative of Zachariadis, Mitrevski was reinstated as President of the National Liberation Front on April 1, 1949.
Minister in the Provisional Government
Four days after his reinstatement as President of the National Liberation Front on April 5, 1949, Paskal Mitrevski was appointed as the Minister for Food in the Provisional Government along with Krste Kačev who was appointed as the Director of National Minorities in the Ministry of the Interior.[3] By mid 1949 only one of the three major factions in the NOF was in support of Mitrevski. After the collapse of the Democratic Army of Greece, Mitrevski fled to Bureli, Albania. He was arrested on October 3, 1948 on accusations that he was an "agent of Tito".