Memories of Abandonment and Ruination in Prespa, Greek Macedonia

Abstract

Ruins perform as archival sites and as spaces of history. And in most cases, they are sites for histories untold. In this paper, the ruins and abandoned villages of Prespa, Greek Macedonia, are examined through memory books of their former residents. The area bordering Albania and North Macedonia, the front line of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949) was abandoned by retreating combatants and civilians in the final days of the war. Their ruined homes and abandoned villages have held hidden, for many years, an untold and contested history. The dwindling population of indigenous endopyi live in silence, still fearful of recalling the events of the so-called dishonourable years. Since Prespa, after years of official forgetfulness, became visible as the location where the prime ministers of Greece and North Macedonia chose to meet and resolve the name dispute, it is time to give voice to unofficial accounts that emerge from ruins and to rescue from oblivion the narratives written by Prespa's former occupants who either have never been allowed to or have never had the opportunity to return.