Dame Gruev (Dame – short from Damjan) is a Macedonian national hero born in village Smilevo on January 19, 1871.
He is one of the leaders of the national liberation movement of the Macedonian people in the late 20th century. A revolutionary, teacher, ideologue, one of the organizers and founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.
On December 23, 1906, Dame Gruev and his detachment were discovered by the Turkish authorities near the village of Rusinovo, and confronted by the Ottoman forces he was killed in the nearby peak Petlec, together with his friends and co fighters Sando Kitanov and Georgi Karchev.
At first the revolutionaries were buried in the churchyard in village Rusinovo and later in 1950s the remains of Dame Gruev were transferred in his native village Smilevo.
Dame Gruev (19.01.1871 – 23.12.1906)
Near the grave of Dame Gruev in the memorial in the center of village Smilevo are also the graves of the Smilevo revolutionaries Georgija Pavlev Churanovski (Ѓорѓија Павлев Чурановски), Veljan Iliev Chipurovski – Pencho (Велјан Илиев Чипуровски – Пенчо), Ivan Badev (Иван Бадев) and Kozma Borisov (Козма Борисов).
