Combining archival sources with life histories, this work aims to clarify the contentious debate over ethnic identities and nationalist ideologies in Greek Macedonia. It demonstrates that, contrary to official rhetoric, the current people of Macedonia derive from profoundly diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Throughout the last century, a succession of regional and world conflicts, economic migrations, and shifting state formations has engendered an intricate pattern of population movements and refugee resettlements across the region. Unravelling the complex social, political and economic processes which these disparate peoples have undergone, within an all-encompassing Greek national identity, this text seeks to provide a corrective to the Macedonian picture. It also offers an analysis of the often volatile conjunction of ethnicities and national identities in the 20th century.