On this day, the first martyr and symbol of the Macedonian Struggle, Pavlos Melas, diestranslated

The greatest figure of the Macedonian struggle Pavlos Melas came from the great and historic family of the Melas of Epirus. He was born on March 29, 1870 in Marseille, where his father Michael Melas (1833-1897) was active as a merchant. In 1886 he entered the Evelpidon School and graduated as second lieutenant of the Artillery on August 8, 1891. The following year he married Natalia Dragoumis (1872-1973), daughter of the banker and politician Stefanos Dragoumis, with whom he had two children, the military officer Michael Mela (1894-1950) and chemist Zoi Melas – Ioannidis (1898-1996).

In February 1904 he crossed the border and settled in Kozani under the pseudonym Mikis Zezas. He returned to Athens and later accompanied by several Macedonians, Laconians and Cretans, crossed the border again and camped in the area of ​​Kastoria. He posed as a livestock dealer so he could keep moving. This is how he succeeded and organized the guerrilla of the Greeks in the Turkish-occupied Macedonian land from Kastoria to the Monastery. He repulsed with the weak forces he formed the Bulgarian plans in the region and established the Macedonian Committee. All this since February of...