Zhamila Kolonomos

[BalkanCollector]

I've just stumbled upon this amazing group of medals, orders and plaques from a Yugoslav-Jewish woman Partisan from Macedonia. The whole collection is now owned by the US Holocaust MEmorial Museum. I'll be posting their photos separately since there are around 80 of them.

Here's their description of Zhamila:

"The Macedonian region, including Bitola where Jamila and her family lived, was occupied by Bulgaria. Jamila worked with resistance groups to fight the occupation and was forced to hide at night for her safety. On March 9, 1943, from her hiding place, Jamila witnessed the roundup and deportation of the Jewish community of Bitola. After a month in hiding, she went to the mountains and joined a partisan detachment. In August 1943, Jamila’s group became part of the Macedonian Partisan Battalion, which liberated a prisoner camp in Greece. In June 1944, a separate Macedonian brigade was formed. In August, Jamila was injured during a battle. On October 30, Jamila’s group liberated the towns of Ohrid and Struga, and a month later Macedonia was liberated. In December, Jamila served as an official at the Second Congress of Anti-Fascist Youth in Skopje. Jamila married a fellow partisan Chede Filipovski. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Jamila returned to Bitola and discovered that her entire family had been deported and murdered at Treblinka killing center. In June Chede was killed in a motorcycle accident. In June 1947, Jamila married Avram Sadikario."

I will start with medals and orders first since those are my favourite.

 

Here's the photo of her:

Lake Ohrid, Macedonia, circa November 1944:

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Order for Bravery

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Spomenica 1941.

From the US Holocaust Memorial Museum: "Of the 27,629 medals awarded, only 12 of them went to Jews who, like Jamila, were from Bitola."

Order of the Partisan Star with Rifles (3rd class)

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Order for Merits for the People 2nd class

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Order of Brotherhood and Unity 1st class

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Order of the Republic with Silver Wreath (2nd class)

 

 

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Order of Labour with Golden Wreath (2nd class)

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Order for Merits for the People with Golden Star (1st class). This is the last order/medal. I'll be posting her plaques soon.

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SUBNOR plaque (Federation of Veterans' Association of the People's Liberation War)

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AFŽ (Anti-fascist Front of Women) of Macedonia plaque 

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Plaque for the 40 years of formation of Partisan Detachments Pelister-Dame Gruev and Jane Sandanski

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Plaque for 25 years of formation of Macedonian-Kosovar Brigade

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Kurir Jovica plaque (Courier Jovica)

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Association of Fighters of Macedonia

 

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Association of fighters of People's Liberation and Anti-fascist War in Macedonia 1941-1945

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UNICEF Yugoslavia plaque

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Plaque for merits for the city of Skopje

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Plaque of the children of Macedonia

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Institute for national history (Skopje) plaque

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JUGOHROM plaque

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And finally the last plaque...Association of marksmen of Yugoslavia