 Even gravestones bearing Greek inscriptions were defaced.The Bulgarian government tried to alter the ethnic composition of the region, by aggressively expropriating land and houses from Greeks in favor of settlers brought from Bulgaria, and introduced forced labor and economic restrictions on the activities of Greek businessmen, in an effort to force them to migrate to the German and Italian-occupied parts of Greece.Thus people were deprived of the right to work by a licensing system that banned the practice of a trade or profession without permission.