AT FLORINA

'WE found Florina one of the most interesting towns in the Balkans. Long under the rule of the Turk, it possessed a distinctly Oriental aspect which gave it charm. It nestled at the foot of some high hills which had been the scene of heavy fighting in the dispute for its possession. The town itself had suffered little, if any, in the fighting. Its long main street followed a valley, turning and twisting. Booths and bazaars lined the thoroughfare and in places vines had been trained to cover it. There were innumerable tiny Turkish cafés, yogart shops, little shops where beaten copperware was hammered out, other booths where old men worked on wooden pack-saddles for burros. There were artisans in silver and vendors of goat's-wool rugs. The streets were always alive with "the passing show," for the normal population of fifteen thousand souls had been greatly augmented by the influx of refugees from Monastir. There was an air of unreality about the place, an indefinable theatricalism which gave one the sense of being part of a play, a character, and of expecting, on rounding a corner, to see an audience and then to hear the playing of the orchestra.
It was while on duty at the hospital at Florina that I made the first run into Monastir. My journal for December 2 reads:

"At one o'clock this afternoon received orders to proceed to Monastir en raison de service. My passengers were two corporals. It has been a cold, overcast day, the clouds hanging low over the snow-capped mountains. A cold, penetrating wind hit us in the face as we drew away from the hospital.

"Where the Florina road joins the main caravan road to Monastir, we passed from Macedonia into Serbia. Here we turned sharply toward the north. The flat fields on either side were cut up with trenches, well made, deep ones, from which the enemy was driven less than a fortnight before, and shallow rifle pits which the French and Serbs had used in the advance. Even now, so soon after their evacuation, they were half filled with water. Everywhere there was evidence of big gun-fire and in one place where we crossed a bridge the ground for yards about was an uninterrupted series of craters. For the first time in the war I saw piles of enemy shells and shell cases showing that his retreat had been unpremeditated and hasty. In one place stood a dismantled field piece.

ROBERT WHITNEY IMBRIE*

*From Behind the Wheel of a War Ambulance. Courtesy of Robert M. McBride & Company of New York.

http://www.ourstory.info/library/2-ww1/AFShist/AFS1j.htm

ΕΚΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΗΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΩΝ ΑΔΕΛΦΩΝ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΜΟΝΑΣΤΗΡΙ

Εκδήλωση προς τιμήν των ευεργετών αδελφών Δημητρίου, οι οποίοι είχαν ιδρύσει πολλά εκπαιδευτήρια στο Μοναστήρι. Τα αδέλφια Θεοχάρης και Ιωάννης Δημητρίου, αν και εγκατεστημένοι στην Αλεξάνδρεια, έχτισαν στη γενέθλια γη στο Μοναστήρι το Κεντρικό Παρθεναγωγείο και το Ελληνικό Δημοτικό Νοσοκομείο, παρέχοντας ετήσια επιχορήγηση για τη συντήρηση των ιδρυμάτων. Παράλληλα χορήγησαν χρήματα για την ανακαίνιση πολλών ακόμη δημοτικών σχολείων. Στη φωτογραφία διακρίνεται πλήθος κόσμου, που έχει συγκεντρωθεί για να τιμήσει τους ευεργέτες. Διακρίνονται πολλά παιδιά, εκπρόσωποι του κλήρου, προεξάρχοντος του μητροπολίτη, και της ελληνικής κοινότητας, καθώς και κάποιες γυναίκες. Στο στολισμένο μετάλλιο, το οποίο κρατούν μικρά παιδιά, αναγράφεται 'ΤΟΙΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΙΣ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΑΙΣ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΙΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ Η ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΣ ΕΥΓΝΩΜΟΝΟΥΣΑ'.

Demonstration in honor of benefactor brothers Dimitriou, who established many schools in Monastiri. Those brothers, Theoharis and Ioannis DImitriou, were living in Alexandria, the built in mother earth Monastiri the Central Girls in Alexandria and the Greek municipal hospital, providing annual funding for the maintenance of institutions. They also granted money for the renovation of many more elementary schools. In the photo distinguished crowd of people which concentrated to honor the brothers. Many kids are in the crowd, representatives of the clergy, and from the Greek committee, and women. In the decorated medal, which hold it the small children, there is an inscription that says ‘ The Greek committee is grateful to the benefactor brothers Dimitriou’

ΝΟΣΟΚΟΜΕΙΟ ''ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΜΟΣ'' ΤΟΥ ΜΟΝΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ





Άποψη του Ελληνικού Νοσοκομείου ''Ευαγγελισμός'' της πόλης του Μοναστηρίου. Μπροστά από το κτίριο είναι συγκεντρωμένο πλήθος Μοναστηριωτών. Το κτίριο του Νοσοκομείου ήταν δωρεά των Αδελφών Δημητρίου ή Πινίκα, πρωτοϊδρύθηκε το 1829 και συντηρούνταν από τον ευεργέτη Αδάμ Νικαρούση. Το πρώτο αυτό κτίριο κατεδαφίστηκε το 1900 και στη θέση του ανεγέρθη το καλλιμάρμαρο Νοσοκομείο ''Ευαγγελισμός''. Ειδική γιορτή προς τιμήν των δωρητών του νοσοκομείου γινόταν κάθε χρόνο ανήμερα της γιορτής του Αγίου Δημητρίου.



Στην πάνω δεξιά γωνία διακρίνεται, μέσα σε μετάλλιο,
πορτραίτο ενός άνδρα πιθανότατα ενός από τους ιδρυτές αδερφούς.