The Longest Journey

March 1903. The Ottoman Empire is in a process of disintegration. Only Macedonia is not still liberated in the Balkans. The Macedonian revolutionary movement is in full growth. The Turks are trying to keep their last bastion in Europe. The Macedonian people are being exposed to the most severe oppressions as it is due to the revenge of the Turks for supporting and protecting the komitas – Macedonian freedom-fighters. In such a case the Turks besiege a village where a weeding ceremony is taking place. They shoot at the peasants, round them up and most of them are being taken away. More than two hundred people are taken prisoner in the fortress. The Turks sentence them to from 15 to 101 years in prison. Then the prisoners are loaded on a ship and are transported to Asia Minor. On their way through the desert the Macedonians are exposed to various humiliations. A lot of them overeat and die. In October 1908, the prisoners arrive at the place where they are to serve the sentence.