19143 Macedonian Refugees 



mansion over a hot spring beyond Livenovo. Unlike 

 most of the others in the Balkans, it stood alone 

 and was probably the most elaborate residence be- 

 tween Sofia and Salonica. During the second war the 

 owner fled, and the Greeks naturally set it on fire. 



Now, crossing the picturesque and intricate Kresna 

 Pass by which the Struma, already a large, swift 

 stream, breaks through the Rhodopes, we came 

 finally to the Bulgarian town of Petritch on the edge PetHtch 

 of the newly established frontier. Though rough- 

 stoned, dirty, crowded, and half burned, it neverthe- 

 less appeared beautiful in the distance, with its mag- 

 nificent plane trees, the branches of which are trained 

 to arch over the street. During their occupation 

 Greek soldiers looted everything in the market place, 

 lived on the villagers, paid no bills, and burned the 

 big public school in pure wantonness after the Treaty 

 of Bucharest had been signed. 



Besides its own inhabitants, themselves largely 

 homeless, Petritch was flooded with several thousand 

 refugees from the Salonica district. Prices, we were 

 told, had become three times as great as before the 

 war, while all business was practically suspended. 

 Nobody could recall a time in the history of Mace- 

 donia when conditions had been so bad. But worse ^nun- 

 was vet to follow. In 1917 in The Illustrated London '^^^ 

 News I saw a photograph taken from an airplane nity 

 during the British bombardment of Petritch. Why 

 the town should have been attacked I do not know, 

 but one can easily imagine the effect on the wretched 

 people. 



We had met refugees all along the road from the 

 outskirts of Sofia, where a considerable village of 

 temporary huts had been built for them. Those at 



c 5893 



