Dimitrios Tsitsimis (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Δημήτριος Τσιτσίμης) was a

chieftain of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

Biography

Tsitsimis was born in the late 19th century in Üstrümce, then

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(now

Strumica Strumica (, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedonian (PDF) in so ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

). He was a tobacco trader in the profession but quickly took action to contribute to the

. He initially joined Georgios Karaiskakis' armed group, a local of

Bogdanci Bogdanci ( ) is a small town in North Macedonia, close to the border with Greece. It is located at around , and is the seat of Bogdanci Municipality. Location The space of the Gevgelian ravine that comprise the space of the Bogdanci field is loca ...

, who became a coleader. He then set up his own small armed group and became leader. He acted in the regions of Strumica,

Gevgelija Gevgelija (; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica-Evzoni), the point which links the motorway f ...

, nearby

Doiran Lake Doiran Lake (, ''Dojransko Ezero''; , ''Límni Dhoïráni''), also spelled Dojran Lake is a lake with an area of shared between North Macedonia () and Greece (). To the west is the city of Nov Dojran (Нов Дојран), to the east the vil ...

and

Kilkis Kilkis () is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2021 there were 24,130 people living in the city proper, 27,493 people living in the municipal unit, and 45,308 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional un ...

. For some time he was the leader of the militia of the village Gabrovo of Strumica."Αφανείς Γηγενείς Μακεδονομάχοι", επιστημονκή επιμέλεια Ιωάννης Σ. Κολιόπουλος, Εταιρεία Μακεδονικών Σπουδών (ΕΜΣ), University Studio Press, Thessaloniki, 2008, p. 182 He was pursued by the Bulgarian

komitadji Komitadji, Comitadji, or Komita (plural: Komitadjis, Comitadjis, or Komitas) ( Bulgarian, Macedonian and , , , , pl. , , ) was a collective name for members of various rebel bands ( chetas) operating in the Balkans during the final period of th ...

s and the Ottoman authorities but was never caught. During the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

he participated as a volunteer and undertook various missions in

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( ; , ) is one of the thirteen Regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece, consisting the central part of the Geographic regions of Greece, geographical and historical region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. With a ...

, as a detector and guide of the

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

. After the end of the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

and the migration of the Greeks of Strumica, he settled in Kilkis where he continued to practice his profession, tobacco trading. He was the first Greek mayor of Kilkis. He was also the director of the first group of scouts of Kilkis. For his national action, he was awarded several times by the

Greek state Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. His military equipment and his weapons are displayed at the Macedonian Struggle Museum in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

References

Sources

* Κωνσταντίνος Βακαλόπουλος, Ο Μακεδονικός Αγώνας (1904-1908), Η ένοπλη φάση, Thessaloniki, 1987
Περιφερειακή Εφορεία Προσκόπων Κιλκίς, Ο Προσκοπισμός στο Κιλκίς

Κοινωνία Πολιτών Ν. Κιλκίς, 27 Οκτωβρίου 2008, Ιωάννης Τσιτσίμης, "Η χαμένη τιμή του καπετάν Μίκη Ζέζα, Στη μνήμη του οπλαρχηγού Β΄, Στρώμνιτσας, Δημήτρη Τσιτσίμη"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsitsimis, Dimitrios Greek people of the Macedonian Struggle Greek Macedonians People from Strumica Macedonian revolutionaries (Greek) Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars