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Ourselves and Others: The Development of a Greek Macedonian Cultural Identity since 1912

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An interesting presentation of the complex poly-ethnic history of Greek Macedonia. Nonetheless, the portrayal of the Greek state as operating a somewhat cultural genocide seems to prevail throughout most of the essays found in this book. Yet, the question of why the so-called "minority" Hellenic culture became the dominant force does not seem to be fully addressed. It seems that the admission of a dominant Greek presence throughout Macedonian history is currently not the norm and out of flavor in the world of academia.

The most important thing to remember about the "Macedonian conflict" is that the Greek position has changed dramatically over the past decade. Official Greek government policy was that Macedonia did not exist. When Greece took over Aegean Macedonia in 1913, they killed, tortured and ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Macedonians. They changed the names of people, villages, and landmarks from Macedonian to Greek in their attempts to eradicate the Macedonian name. Two things to remember:

1. It is ironic that Greeks now "love Macedonia" when they tried to eradicate its very existence.

2. If Macedonia has always been Greek, why did the Greek government deny its existence until the 1980's?