Emmanouil Pappas (village)
Emmanouil Pappas () is a village in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality of Emmanouil Pappas. It is situated in the foothills of mountain Menoikio, 17 km east of Serres, and 101 km northeast of Thessaloniki. The former name of the village was Dovista (Δοβίστα in standard Greek or Ντουβίστα/Duvista in the local dialect). It was renamed Emmanouil Pappas in 1927, after the hero of the Greek War of Independence in Macedonia who was born there in 1773.
Emmanouil Pappas (village)
The inhabitants of Emmanouil Pappas could not enjoy their freedom for a long time because their village, like the rest of Eastern Macedonia fell during World War I again under Bulgarian occupation ( a period known in local historical memory as "Thefteri Voulgaria"-literally "Second Bulgaria") after the events of the National Schism in 1916. Bulgarian rule is much harsher this time. The Bulgarians, being confident that the region will remain in their possession after the war, are engaged in an orgy of repression and persecution of the native Greek populations, in order to force them either to be Bulgarized or to leave their homeland. Thus, many Greek civilians residing in Bulgarian-occupied areas decide to flee to the territory to the west of Strymonas river that still remained under Greek rule. Greek schools are shut down and replaced by Bulgarian ones while the Greek language is banned in the churches and Holy Service is held only in Bulgarian, by Bulgarian priests. However, the most inhumane measure is the so-called "hostageship", the displacement of Greek civilians aged 17–60 years to different regions of Bulgaria and the present-day Republic of Macedonia (which was then also under Bulgarian occupation), where they are forced to perform hard labour and die by the thousands, due to the unacceptable living conditions, malnutrition, exhaustion, diseases etc. A committee of the American Red Army that came in Eastern Macedonia to provide humanitarian aid when the war ended, estimated that the total number of displaced to Bulgaria (and other Bulgarian-occupied areas) Greek civilians from Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace during the Bulgarian occupation of these areas during World War I was nearly 200,000, of whom around 60,000 died and never came back, while many of those who returned were in such wretched health condition that had become incapable of any work. Among these 200,000 hostages or "ta dourdouvakia", as they are known in local tradition (Greek corruption of the Bulgarian phrase трудов войник/troudov voinik=labour soldier, as they were called by the Bulgarians), there were about 200 inhabitants of Emmanouil Pappas, of whom 110 died in Kicevo (today Republic of Macedonia) and Karnobat (Bulgaria). Their names are written in the memorial in honour of the fallen in the wars, in the central square of the village.
The above-mentioned report of the Committee of the American Red Cross also mentions that humanitarian aid (food, clothing, etc.) was distributed in Dovista and the neighbouring villages.
Another not so known aspect of the history of the village during World War I, is that apart from the Bulgarian garrison there was installed and Turkish force too, which had set up a temporary hospital (in the school building) with Austrian military doctors, according to the memoirs of the German Air Force Lieutenant Georg Wilhelm Heydemarck.