After the occupation of Greece by Hitler's troops, the Germans handed over Eastern Macedonia to their Bulgarian allies. It was the third time that the long-suffering Eastern Macedonia fell into the hands of the Bulgarians and, as in the previous times, its inhabitants suffered from the barbaric conquerors who sought to bulgarize the Greeks by force. The Bulgarians committed terrible brutalities/ Their first target was the Church, which they fiercely persecuted. A generalized persecution of the Greeks followed.
The city of Drama also suffered greatly and from very early on. In a report of November 1941, the Greek authorities at the time recorded the Bulgarian crimes in Drama after the so-called uprising of the city on September 28 - October 2, 1941. The result of the said uprising was the destruction of the martyred Doxatos.
"Since the occupation of the city by the Bulgarian Army, the arrival of numerous Bulgarians from the Macedonian Committee was noticed and the systematic extermination of the intellectuals in general, the clergy and merchants took place. Quickly, almost the entire power fell into the hands of the Bulgarian Committee, the leader of which in Drama is the Bulgarian lawyer Sfetko Mudrov... Many have been spreading confidentially to their Greek friends since the month of June that something serious is going to be committed by the Bulgarians at the expense of the Greek element and recommending to them, as in case of alarm, shots or cheers, not to leave their houses. On the other hand, Bulgarian Civil Servants and Officers spread the word that all the Greeks of the East. Macedonians will emigrate and Bulgarians will settle there instead.
"...On the evening of Sunday, September 28, the lights went out and all the Bulgarian soldiers rushed to the barracks. The Greeks arrested in the houses of the gendarmes, armed commissars and soldiers were killed on the way or taken to the barracks, the Gymnasium or the Police. About 700 Greek citizens of Drama had gathered in the Artillery barracks. Among them were 1) Doctor Prokopiou, 2) Doctor Chronidis, 3) Alatopoulos, 4) Fessa, former Mayor of Drama after his two sons and many other merchants, intellectuals, scientists and a few works.
"When the above 700 Greeks arrived at the gathering place, they were ordered to raise their hands, after which they underwent a general physical search by the Bulgarian military, as they were stripped of all their valuables and certainly valuable objects, money, watches, rings, wedding rings, trench coats, undershirts, shoes, etc.
"When the systematic capture of these was completed, the 15 leaders of the phalanx were ordered, including a phalanx taken from the end of the phalanx and a carbonated beverage factory owner named Kostas, expressing his indignation towards the Bulgarian soldier who had physically searched him, to proceed towards the stables, while carrying out the order given to them, they fell into the fire of a deliberately placed machine gun and were all killed. The rest were locked up in the barracks after their hands had been tied.
"On the morning of the 30th of September, the bodies of the above 16 killed were dragged in front of the windows of the chambers where the others are being held and then they were taken to the Tobacco Institute where they were buried in pits prepared several days ago, the bodies were covered with transport lime there by car since September 26. Immediately after the transfer of the bodies, the Bulgarian Music Captain entered the cells and told the prisoners that those from the city of Drama have nothing to suffer as it was proven that no anti-Bulgarian events took place there. At the same time he loosened the bonds of some of the prisoners and distributed to many pieces of bread.
"In the evening, however, the detachment of Bulgarian soldiers took 5-10 prisoners from each cell, which they shot in the barracks. Among the gunmen were 1) Dimitriadis Dimitrios, 2) Velgidis Ioannis and Papadopoulos Dim. During the night, during the changing of the guard under comitatzides, 4-5 people from each ward are selectively killed among them at will.
"The 1st of October passed peacefully in Stratonas and only a few people from Drama or the surrounding villages were going there. On this day the bonds of the prisoners were removed and bread was distributed among them. In the afternoon of that day, the prisoners were ordered to leave the cells and gathered in the forecourt of the barracks, where they were separated by district on the grounds that they would be set free, but instead they were all locked up in a barracks stable, and the garrison was placed in Komitatzides.
"Around midnight on October 1st to 2nd, the leader of the Committees in Drama, lawyer Sfetko Mudrov, came to the barracks and staged an attempt to escape the prisoners from the stables in order to justify the following inhumane and brutal act. Approaching the stables, we distributed grenades to the guard comitatzis to whom he also demonstrated the handling, becoming aware of the above actions of the prisoner Antonios Vezirtzoglou. Subsequently, the Komitatzides shot the lamp of the stable to pieces and immediately after that they came throwing grenades into it causing them to explode on the one hand they created an unimaginable panic and on the other hand they killed 15 of the prisoners and injured many.
"After that, the lawyer Sfetko Mudrov entered the stable and with committee members removed the bodies from the stable. Then he asked who were injured from the grenades, those who did not declare that they were injured were taken out of the stable and killed by the commissars in front of him. After the killing of the injured was finished, he called by name for various teachers and intellectuals to come out of the stable, whom he handed over to commissars who executed them.
"On October 2nd, interrogations were held for the orchestrated escape attempt of the prisoners from the stable. The interrogation was carried out by the Bulgarian General, who chose 10 people from among the prisoners with whom he formed a Committee which they presented to the Military Commander. The above committee received an order from the Military Commander to hand over some of the prisoners who are communists in order to set the rest free.
"The Commission, after this, asked all the prisoners to name these known communists, and after collecting the data, it mentioned the names of known communists, two of whom were among the prisoners, while the others had not been arrested. The two communist prisoners were executed by order of the Military Commander on the spot. This was followed by a partial release of the prisoners, who were ordered to remain in their homes for 18/day.
"Bulgarian military officials and Komitatzides raised the number of Greeks executed in Drama under the Bulgarians to 2,000-3,000 men and the entire province of Drama to 5,000-6,000. About 70 children who were arrested because they tried to communicate with their parents who were imprisoned by the Bulgarians despite the orders of the Bulgarians were probably included among those executed. This is surmised from the fact that until October 28 no information about their fate existed in Drama. Among the Bulgarians who provided the above information is the Bulgarian employee of the Ephorate of Drama, Father Yankev, who also confessed that the Bulgarians and the Greek communists were cooperating.
"A heavy monetary penalty was imposed on the city of Drama. A Greek woman who wanted to return to Athens near her parents was obliged by the Financial Commissioner of Drama to pay 30,000 leva as a proportion of the 10,000,000 leva fine imposed on the city. This Ephorus declared to her that she should thank God for entering because there was an Order to slaughter the entire population of Drama in the event that even one shot was fired at a Greek.
"In addition to those mentioned above, the following citizens of Drama are also allegedly executed:
1) Athanasiadis Theofilos Director of the Chamber of Commerce of Drama.
2) Gialamboukis, former employee of the Ephorate.
3) Papakonstantinou Estiator
4) Myssene master tobacconist
5) 3 Papazisis brothers Confectioners
6) Tytos Dimitrios Law Student
7) Michael Soderas blacksmith
9) Polydevkis Kipinis
10) Andreas Papadopoulos
11) Minas Magioglou and his son Kosmas, 15 years old, factory manager of Alantopoiia. He was killed after his son, having previously been a slave, and they seized both the goods of his Factory and those of their shop. Afterwards, the killers attempted to rape his fifty-year-old wife, because as a result of the above inhumane events, she suffered a broken brake. Likewise, the two (2) daughters of the Treasurer of the Drama Zachariadou Butchers' Guild were also murdered, having previously been repeatedly harassed by Voulgaron. The bodies of both were found naked outside of Drama on the road to Vyssochanin".