There are stories from World War II that do not only tell about battles and weapons, but about people who, in the most difficult times, choose to remain human.
Today's story takes place at a time when Bulgaria has severed diplomatic relations with Germany and is already at war with its former ally, who is taking concrete actions to neutralize the Bulgarian units withdrawing from Macedonia.
This is recalled by the National Museum of Military History.
On September 9, 1944, most of the 15th Infantry Ohrid Division was surrounded in the Bitola region. Over 5 thousand Bulgarian officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers were captured and taken to a camp.
A month later, when from October 8, 1944, the Bulgarian army was already conducting offensive operations in Macedonia, the German troops began a retreat in the direction of Bitola - Ohrid - Debar. On October 13, a German motorized column arrived in Ohrid, with 25 Bulgarian soldiers from the captured 55th Infantry Regiment. Taking advantage of the weak security, they managed to escape. And then the people of Ohrid did something incredible - they opened their homes and hid them.
The German commandant Captain 2nd Rank Meyer Baumgarten set an ultimatum: the soldiers had to be surrendered by 9 p.m., otherwise the quarter “Varos“ will be destroyed by cannon fire.
After a request from the mayor Iliya Kotsarev, a new condition comes - by 2 pm the next day, the people of Ohrid must collect a ransom. Initially, half a kilogram of gold for each soldier, and later the amount was reduced to 10 kilograms in total. But the people do not surrender a single one. They begin to bring everything they have - wedding rings, necklaces with gold beads, earrings, bracelets, gold watches. They also collect 840 gold napoleons, but the gold is not enough.
Then priest Toma Kavaev, accompanied by the church abbots, places on the pile the gilded cross from the ancient church “St. Clement“, where the relics of Clement of Ohrid are kept.
And he says: “St. Clement has protected us and will protect us again.“