Mirka Ginova

Mirka Ginova
Mirka Ginova
Born	1916 Edessa
Died	27 July 1946 Giannitsa, Greece
Nationality	Slavomacedonian
Other names	Irini Gini

Mirka Ginova (Macedonian: Мирка Гинова; Edessa, 1916 - Giannitsa, 27 July 1946) was a partisan during World War II and Greek Civil War.

Early life

Ginova was born in 1916 in the village of Rusilovo. Her mother died when she was not even two years old. She finished elementary school in the village of Pyrgoi. Although, relatively poor, after finishing elementary school, her father, Konstantin Ginov saw her desire for knowledge, he enrolled her in a schoolteacher school, where she graduated. After graduating, Ginova had a troubled time finding a job, because of the Metaxas regime. Before the Greco-Italian war (28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941) she finally found a job in a village in Edessa as a school teacher.

Revolutionary activity

Bust of Mirka Ginova in Bitola

With the beginning of the Axis occupation in Greece, the situation in Macedonia became even worse, both for the Slavomacedonians and Greeks. Ginova joined the ranks of the youth organisation of EPON (United Panhellenic Organization of Youth), and the OKNE (Young Communist League of Greece). She later joined the partisans in 1943. In 1945 she joined the TOMO movement, and after the outbreak of the Greek Civil War, Ginova joined the National Liberation Front.

Death

On 6th July 1946, close to the town of Edessa, Ginova had formed a small partisan group. During an action of about 400 Greek soldiers, the group was surrounded. In the aftermath of the battle Ginova was captured, and after being tortured she was sent to court in Giannitsa. The trial which was held in the city school on 25 July 1946, the military court has sentenced her to death of a firing squad. She died on 27 July 1946 along with other members of her squad who were also sentenced to death. She was the first woman in modern Greece to be executed.