In all the countries occupied by the Axis forces, a common feature was the formation of pro-German governments and the phenomenon of collaboration with the occupier. In many cases, the brutality displayed by them against the civilian population surpassed that of the Germans, who realized that armed collaboration with the Greeks would stoke the internal Greek division. Furthermore, as they participated continuously in the Germans' cleansing operations against the communist resistors, they helped to "save valuable German blood."

The Resistance in Greece was massive and particularly active. The most significant among the many resistance organizations was the National Liberation Front (EAM), which had in Macedonia the Group of Macedonian Divisions (OMM). It included the Chem Division of ELAS and within it the 16th ELAS Regiment of Vermio, whose men clashed with both the Germans and their armed collaborators. Some of them, such as Konstantinos Kollintzas, distinguished themselves for their administrative ability and bravery.

With the end of World War II and the defeat of the Axis powers, unlike the rest of Europe, the Resistance in Greece did not emerge as a "founding myth" for the formation of a new post-war national identity, due to the fierce civil confrontation that began during the Occupation, continued in the Civil War, and persisted as a political regime at least until 1974. A large part of the resistance actions of the Left, which was under persecution, remained in obscurity for decades, until in the 1980s EAM was recognized as a resistance organization.

The book aims to widely disseminate events and figures that acted in the local and broader context of occupied Macedonia, contributing to the preservation of memory and the reconstruction, as much as is possible, of the larger picture concerning the Occupation and the Resistance in the region of Macedonia.