After the Communist defeat the majority of communists fled to Albania before making their way to the rest of the Eastern Bloc. The majority of the remaining partisans in the
Democratic Army of Greece had been evacuated to
Tashkent in the
Soviet Union, while others were sent to
Poland,
Hungary and
Romania. A commune of ex-communist partisans had been established in village of
Buljkes in
Vojvodina,
Yugoslavia. It was in Tashkent that the Headquarters of the Greek Communist Party were reestablished. Special preparations were made for the defeated army and accommodation and supplies were readied. Many of the refugee children were placed in Evacuation camps across Europe. They often ended up in places from Poland, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. The largest group was to end up in Yugoslavia. Here special evacuation camps and Red Cross field hospitals were set up for the children. Most were placed in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Over 2,000 homes were prepared for the children in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia and many were placed into foster care rather than into orphanages and evacuation camps. Across the Eastern Bloc the refugees were often educated in three and often four languages; Greek, the newly codified Macedonian language, the host countries' language and Russian.
Yugoslavia Half of all the refugees from the Greek Civil War were sent to Yugoslavia. Many of the early refugees entered Yugoslavia directly while later refugees had to pass through Albania after the border was closed. The majority of the refugees were settled in the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia while many were settled in the
Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, where Slav-Macedonians still constitute a minority today. The Yugoslav branch of the
Red Cross was able to settle 11,000 children across Yugoslavia. Throughout Yugoslavia room was made in specially designed homes by the Red Cross for the refugees. The ten children's homes held approximately 2,000 children. The remaining 9,000 were placed with families in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The first group of refugees to come to Buljkes came from Kumanovo on May 25, 1945. The group included 1454 refugees, mainly partisans. By June 1945 another group of 2,702 refugees had been transferred to Vojvodina. In the spring of 1946 a group of refugees from Greek Macedonia numbering around 250 people had left the camp.
Eastern Bloc Wherever the evacuees found themselves across the Eastern bloc, special provisions were made for them. Across the Eastern Bloc the ethnic Macedonian refugees were taught the newly codified Macedonian language and the host country's language; many often learned Russian. found their way to the
Lower Silesia area in Poland. This group included both Greeks and Slav
Macedonians. On 25 October a group of Greek refugee children originally sent to Romania were relocated to Poland. A proportion of these found their way to
Lądek-Zdrój. Another camp had been established in
Krościenko. Facilities in Poland were well staffed and modern with assistance from the
Red Cross. Many of these remained refugees in the
Lower Silesia area while a large proportion was eventually spread across Southern and Central Poland, and soon concentrations of refugees sprung up in
Gdańsk and
Zgorzelec. Many Greeks decided to return to Greece after the 1982 Amnesty Law allowed their return, whereas a large proportion of Slav Macedonians ended up leaving Poland for the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. A book about the Macedonian children in Poland () was published in Skopje in 1987. Another book, "The Political refugees from Greece in Poland 1948–1975" () also was published. In 1989 the Association of Macedonians in Poland (, ) was founded in order to lobby for the Greek government to allow the free return of Civil War refugee children to Greece.
Czechoslovakia The first refugee children to come to
Czechoslovakia were at first quarantined, bathed and placed into an old German camp. Here the refugee children were given food and shelter as they were sorted into age groups. Surrogate mothers from Greek Macedonia were assigned to the younger children while the older children were placed into school. The Czech teachers who were trained in psychology did their best to train the children. In Czechoslovakia they were taught Czech, Greek, Macedonian and Russian. Friction between the Greek and ethnic Macedonian children led to the relocation of the Greek children. Eventually the children were joined by older Partisans and ex-communist members. By 1950 and estimated 4,000 males, 3,475 females and 4,148 children had been evacuated to Czechoslovakia. By 1960 both Greek and Macedonian communities had been established. Unlike in other communist states the majority of the refugees had chosen to remain in Czechoslovakia. Much of the Greek population left in the 1980s to return to Greece. In the early 1990s a branch of the
Association of Refugee Children from the Aegean part of Macedonia was founded in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The former Greek refugees were later recognized as a national
minority by the Government of the Czech Republic.
Bulgaria Although the
People's Republic of Bulgaria originally accepted few refugees, government policy changed and the Bulgarian government actively sought ethnically
Macedonian refugees. It is estimated that approximately 2,500 children were sent to Bulgaria and 3,000 partisans fled there in the closing period of the war. There had been a larger flow of refugees into Bulgarian as the Bulgarian Army pulled out of the Drama-Serres region in 1944. A large proportion of Macedonian speakers emigrated there. The "Slavic Committee" in Sofia () helped to attract refugees that had settled in other parts of the Eastern Bloc. According to a political report in 1962 the number of political emigrants from Greece numbered at 6,529.{{cite book
Romania A large evacuation camp was established in the Romanian town of
Tulgheş. It was here that many of the younger children were reunited with their parents. It is thought that 5,132 children were evacuated to Romania along with 1,981 men and 1,939 women. Of all the children evacuated to the Eastern bloc the largest number were evacuated to Romania. Special provisions were established for the children. They were taught in the Russian, Greek and Macedonian languages along Romanian. Many of the Greek refugee children returned to Greece after the Amnesty Law released in 1982, while the Slav-Macedonian refugee children were subsequently officially recognized as a
minority group.
Hungary A large group of refugees was also evacuated to
Hungary in the years 1946–1949. This included 2,161 males, 2,233 females and 2,859 children. The first group of approximately 2,000 children was evacuated to Hungary and placed into military barracks. Another group of 1,200 partisans was transferred from
Buljkes to Hungary. An initial refugee camp had been established in the Hungarian village of
Fehervarcsurgo. Authorities soon split the groups by the village of origin. They were then "adopted" by the Hungarian community. A Greek village was founded in central Hungary and was named
Beloiannisz, after the Greek Communist Fighter,
Nikos Beloyannis. They were sent across the country but still received support from the Red Cross and an education in Hungarian, Slav-Macedonian, Greek and Russian. Many chose to leave Hungary in search of relatives and family. Others chose to relocate themselves to the Socialist Republic of Macedonia while many ethnic Greeks returned to Greece after 1982.
German Democratic Republic It has been estimated that around 1,200 child refugees found their way to
East Germany. At the time it was claimed that all of these children were "Greek" but no distinction was made regarding the ethnicity of the children. There were also ethnically Macedonian and Albanian children who had also been sent to the country. Unlike the rest of Eastern Europe the Macedonian language was not taught to the children in Germany, since the majority were Greek Macedonians. Mostly, the Greek children would end up returning to Greece.
Refugees in the West A large proportion of the adults who had left Europe ended up in the United States, Canada and Australia. Thousands would go on to establish themselves in the hope of returning to Europe. The 1950s witnessed the arrival of over 2,000 refugee children in Canada alone.{{cite book == Aftermath ==