2
Formation of the Bulgarian Central Campaign
Committee
(BCCC) in Skopje
At that
time the situation in Macedonia was
favorable for the creation of an organization of the type considered by
Stephanov and Hadzhikimov. The hatred towards the yesterday rulers was
replaced
by the unhidden joy for their defeat on the battlefield. The
Bulgarian army
was expected-with eagerness. In that situation local authorities
were formed
spontaneously even before any instructions were received. The
requirements of
the historical moment always have created the needed personalities. The
arrival
of Stephanov and Hadzhikimov appeared as the expected spark so the
hearts of
the people to be inflamed. The locals were eager for patriotic
activities.15
It was
logical that with their
arrival in Skopje Stephanov and Hadzhikimov would contact their old
friends:
the lawyer Blagoy Popankov, the trader Ilia Atanassov and the doctor
Delcho
Zografski. They resided in the house of Atanas Atanassov - a relative
of
Hadzhikimov. Stephanov and Hadzhikimov together with other
activists got down
to work before the military actions were concluded. Despite their
popularity
among the population of Skopje
they had some difficulties. People were scattered in the villages
because of
the bombings. The Germans had just stopped bombing Skopje
and the Yugoslav aviation started bombing the bridges over the river Vardar. Under the thunder of the bombs Stephanov
and
Hadzhikimov ran from house to house and got in touch with Ivan
Piperkov, Dr.
Alexander Georgiev, Strahil Kotsev and of course with Spiro Kitinchev.
The time
when the said events took place was turbulent, the situation changed
with days
and hours. The question of power was felt in the air. It was obvious to
everyone that the Serbian army would be driven away and together with
it will
go the hated Serbian authorities. The population could not help to be
agitated.
Thus on April 8 at 9 p.m. in Galichin Inn - opposite Saint Dimitur
church a meeting
was held, where the question: “What had to be done?" was put up. What
actions should be undertaken in those crucial days in order not to
omit, as it
had already happened, the precise moment for liberating Macedonia.
On that
meeting were present mainly
followers of the idea for the liberation through independence of
Macedonia,
namely: Dimitur Giuzelev, Dimitur Chkatrov, Toma Klenkov, Ivan Piperkov
and
other popular activists of IMRO as well as members of Yugoslav
Communist Party
(YCP) - Kotse Stoianov, Angele Petkovski and Ilia Neshovski, invited by
Traiko
Popov. The latter despite a communist, member of YCP, was an active
follower of
the idea of IMRO for the creation of a free and independent Bulgarian
Macedonian state.16 On that meeting were present the
followers of
Ivan Mihaylov - D. Tsilev, T. Chundev, D, Kurtov, Simon Andrev, Isak
Kalaidzhiev and Nikola Kolarov.17 With the lack of agreement
for the
accession of Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria the opinion of the
meeting logically
tended to the less greater of the two misfortunes - independent
Macedonia.
Representatives of the German authorities were invited on that meeting
as they
were regarded as liberators by the local population. The most
respectful figure
among the Skopje activists was Spiro
Kitinchev -
follower of Mihaylov who was actually the main organizer.18
On the
meeting Dimitur Chkairov hold one hour speech with which he
appealed for the
creation of a committee, that would proclaim Macedonia
an independent state under the protection of Germany.
The pure Bulgarian
patriotism of the followers of IMRO of Ivan Mihaylov was out of
suspicion. That
organization, developing the ideas of Gotse Delchev and Todor
Alexandrov, saw
the solution of the Macedonian question not only in the establishment
of autonomous,
but of an independent and free Macedonia.
The reason of setting that goal was to create awareness of the
difficulties in
international aspect about the unification of the Bulgarian lands.
This
unification had always met the opposition of the Great Powers as well
of the
Balkan countries. That was why the slogan for an independent
Macedonia had
enjoyed numerous followers and on the basis of that idea worked IMRO In
that
respect things led to an open Bulgarian political separation. In 1941,
already
in war conditions, Ivan Mihaylov continued to work for the
implementation of
that idea, but faced the reaction of the official Bulgarian authorities.
The
participants in the meeting
parted without making any special decisions, except of the
conclusion for a
meeting to be convened with greater part of the members for appointing
the
leaders and working out a programme and a statute of the committee.
They printed
leaflets for the citizens of Skopje, with the signatures of Spiro
Kitinchev,
Dimitur Chkatrov, Dimitur Giuzelev, Toma Klenkov, Ivan Piperkov and
others,
appealing for mobilization and resistance to the Serbian administrative
authorities remaining in Skopje.19 Nevertheless, one
gets the
impression that the followers of Ivan Mihaylov acted hesitantly as a
whole. The
reason was in the disagreement among them after the beginning of the
World War
II. At the change of the foreign policy situation some of the activists
revised
their ideas of the liberation of Macedonia. In 1940 the
Macedonian
brotherhoods already wanted accession of Macedonia
with Bulgaria and
not “independent
Macedonia” - a
slogan raised
by Mihaylov even after the capitulation of Yugoslavia. Some of the
leaders,
followers of Mihaylov, like the Stanishev brothers, N. Stoianov and
many other
stand on the positions of the Bulgarian government for accession of
Macedonia.
That was why there were contradictory positions at the meeting, which
impeded
the final decision and gave birth to rumors. Perhaps not accidentally
in his
diary B. Filov wrote about that meeting, calling it “committee”: “On 11
April... Antoni Nikolov (a director of the Vecher state newspaper)
shared with
me the rumor about a committee in Skopje,
which
wanted to proclaim the accession of Macedonia
to Bulgaria.”
It seemed that the official Bulgarian authorities had no direct
information about
that problem but relied on rumours. However, the following sentence
spoke of
Filov's lack of orientation about the intentions of Stephanov and Hadzhikimov: “I spoke with Popov and
we decided to use the situation and if the rumor turns not to be true
to
provoke a similar decision.” The Bulgarian government together
with the prime
minister had no idea that on 9 April Hadzhikimov and Stephanov were
already in Skopje
and worked for the
realization of that idea.
On the same
day - April 11, Bogdan
Filov had several talks about that and some other matters related to
the
destiny of Macedonia.
He summoned Gabrovski and Sevov and analyzed with them in detail the
creation
of a committee in Skopje, which to
proclaim the
accession to Bulgaria.
That declaration should be used for foreign policy purposes.
They
decided to assign that task to
Danail Krapchev, who had already decided to travel to Macedonia,
Of course,
they had to obtain permission by the Tsar, who was obviously not
informed about
the mission of Stephanov and Hadzhikimov.
At that time they performed their noble deed without asking
for
anyone's agreement. When the Tsar gave his permission, Filov met Danail
Krapchev. The latter was ready to take the responsibility of the
mission but by
the words of B. Filov, “he was not very sure of the success; as if he
did not
have enough connections there. He recommended more people to be
involved."20
As one could see from Filov's memoir, where Danail Krapchev was
powerless, Stephanov and Hadzhikimov were successful.
The name of
Danail Krapchev is well
known to Bulgarian historians and readers. He was a prestigious
journalist, at
that time a director of Zora newspaper - one of the widely read
newspapers. He
was born in Prilep in one of the most active followers of the idea for
unification to Bulgaria.
In his newspaper Krapchev constantly published articles in which
he
popularized the idea of unification of the Bulgarian lands.
The arrival
of Stephanov and
Hadzhikimov tipped the balance against the idea of independent Macedonia.
They
explained that riot that type of Macedonia
was needed; the situation imposed the need of actions for accession of
Vardar Macedonia to
Bulgaria
and demonstrating before
the Great Powers the affiliation of the Macedonian population as part
of the
Bulgarian nation.21
After several days of
consultations, discussions and persuasion, on April 13 in the house of
Spiro
Kitinchev in Skopje where from the participants in the first meeting
were
present only Ivan Piperkov and Spiro Kitinchev, was discussed the
situation
for the liberation of Macedonia from Serbian and Greek rule. The
meeting took
place in the yard. It was pointed out that one of the first tasks of
the newly
formed organization was to regulate the relations with the German
authorities.
The question about the name of the organization was raised. All present
said at
once “committee" - that word had gained permanent place in the
Bulgarian's
mind from the time of the struggle against the Turkish enslavers.
However,
Hadzhikimov insisted that the committee had to be called also
“campaign"
because it was formed in the name of some action, namely - taking power
and accession
of Vardar Macedonia
to Bulgaria.
All
further operations of the committee should be subordinated to that main
task.
In the end the official name on the seal of the committee was CENTRAL
CAMPAIGN
COMMITTEE OF MACEDONIA (CCCM). The other committees were called
local campaign
committees (LCC).
The
committees covered all Macedonia in
its ethnographic Bulgarian borders. The stipulation that was made
in Art! of
the Resolution of the meeting, namely the territory, liberated from
Serbian and
Greek rulers, meant not only the territory of Vardar, but also of
Aegean Macedonia
On its turn that meant regulation not only of the relations with the
Germans,
but with Italian authorities as well, that Art. 2 was stipulated
only the
German authorities. In the discussions everybody was unanimous
that after the
respective regulation and the arrival of the Bulgarian army the
function of
the campaign committees would change and should adapt to Bulgarian laws
so ,,in
local terms the work for the benefit of Macedonia to continue"
(Document
N. 1).22
At the
meeting the management
bodies were appointed with the stipulation the Central Committee to be
simultaneously
local committee for Skopje
and the region. A Central Committee with 32 members was chosen. It
appointed
an Executive Committee with the following members: Stephan Stephanov,
President, Spiro Kitinchev, Deputy President, Vassil Hadzhikimov,
Secretary-Organizer, Krum Organdjiev, Cashier,
and Blagoy Popankov, Ivan Piperkov, Dr. Alexander Georgiev and
Ilia Atanasov -
Advisors. Member of the CC was also Toma Drangov, brother of the famous
officer
from the Bulgarian army Boris Drangov, perished in the World War I.23
The
dynamics of time imposed the
committee to operate actively. Immediately after the meeting, the CC
had a
session and took up its first task - to organize the taking of the
power. A
decision was made a delegation of representatives of the committee to
insist
before the German authorities to concede the power to the Bulgarian
community,
that was majority in the region. Odd enough, but at that Lime the
Germans had
left the local Serbian community bodies to govern in Skopje
and Bitola.
In
parallel with this, the CC decided funds to be raised for presents for
the
German soldiers who resided there for Easter. The committee did not
only want
to show its gratitude for the long expected liberation from Serbian
rulers, but
to predispose the German military authorities to concede the power to
the
Bulgarian community (Document N. 2).24
One of the
first tasks of the CC
was to publish a declaration, proclaiming in the whole of Macedonia
its
constitution and policy. The declaration said:
BULGARIANS!
Macedonia is free! Free is Macedonia
forever!
The end of
the rule under which Macedonia
suffered until yesterday had come. The centuries-long enslavement
of Macedonia
- Greek,
Turkish, Serbian, spiritual and political, and in XX C. economic
and social as
well, had finished forever,
A great
ideal, THE LIBERTY, for
which Macedonia
had fought for centuries lead century-old fight with unprecedented
heroism and
numerous sacrifices is now reality.
The efforts
of Tsar Boris III to
put that great deed to an end were accomplished successfully and
finally. The
leader of one great world revolution, the leader of the German nation
ordered
to his brave and victorious armies together with his ally Italy to gain the freedom of our
amiable
Motherland, of our great martyr Macedonia.
Macedonia is free and is already in the
Bulgarian national community.
The
Bulgarian people in Macedonia
are deeply touched and full of joy and
gratitude towards the Tsar of the Bulgarians - Tsar Boris III, towards
the
mighty leader of the German Reich, Adolph Hitler and the Duche - the
creator of
friendly Italy.
Long live
Tsar Boris III!
Long live
Adolph Hitler - the
mighty leader of the great German nation!
Long live
Benito Mussolini - the
Duche of the ally Italy!
Long live
the freedom!
The
Bulgarian Central Campaign
Committee for Macedonia!''
Below
followed the signatures of
the BCCC members.
By means of the
declaration the policy of the committee was announced: accession to Bulgaria.
Despite that the Bulgarian official authorities were not yet
established, in a
week or two that would happen. That was why the declaration said: “Macedonia
is
already free and is in the Bulgarian national community."25
The policy
chosen by the BCCC for
direct accession of Macedonia
to Bulgaria
was not accidental. That line of action in fact had always been one of
the two
options after 1878 - of course more favourable for the Bulgarians
from Macedonia.
That course which at first was adopted by the followers of the Supreme Macedonian-Odrin committee, met
the strong opposition of IMRO and also of other revolutionary
groups that were
for independent Macedonia
(Ivan Mihaylov), or for autonomous Macedonia under the aegis
of the
United Nations, or within a Balkan federation. At the beginning of the
war,
however, after the peaceful integration of South
Dobrudzha
through diplomatic negotiations the positions of the groups was
reinforced.
They were for peaceful unification of the lands populated with
Bulgarians
without other indirect ways for that - independence, autonomy and
etc. On a
meeting of the presidents of the legal Macedonian organizations in Bulgaria
that
took place on July 15 1940 the following declaration was worked
out:
“The
governing councils of the
Union of the Cultural Educational and Charitable Fraternities in Bulgaria, of the Macedonian
Scientific
Institute, of the Ilinden organization, of Macedonian Odrin
Volunteers and of
the Macedonian Women's Union
considered their
duty to announce the following
DECLARATION:
The
liberated part of the Bulgarian
people and the Bulgarians from and in Macedonia
gave numerous bloody sacrifices in numerous rebellions and wars
for the
liberation of Macedonia
from Turkish and later from Serbian and Greek rule.
Wherefore
today, when the destiny
and the political borders of the people in Europe would be determined
for ages,
we considered that the Macedonian question should be put up for
settlement
before the authoritative factors in Bulgaria and abroad so that:
MACEDONIA WHOLE AND INSEPARABLE
IN ITS GEOGRAPHICAL BORDERS WOULD RETURN TO MOTHERLAND BULGARIA
AND NO PARTITION WOULD BE
PERMITTED.
July 15, 1940"
The
declaration was signed by the
presidents of the above organizations.26 That was why
the
development of a policy in the break of World War II for accession to
Bulgaria
was the idea of several people as Stephan Stephanov and Vassil
Hadzhikimov, but
the official course of action was of all legal organizations of
the Macedonian
Bulgarian refugees that were about six hundred thousand people. Part of
IMRO
followers shared the same views as was already mentioned.
Even more,
immediately after the
announcement of the above declaration the members of those
organizations
initiated active actions for its implementation. Right after the
liberation of
Macedonia
they started going round the newly liberated lands and working among
the
population.27
In
connection with the liberation
of Macedonia,
Western
Thrace, Moravia and the Western
Territories (Zapadni
Pokrainini), in Bulgaria
were
prepared celebrations timed for April 20. With view to the situation
the Prime
Minister Bogdan Filov insisted that they were held a week earlier. Thus
on
April 13 manifestations took place in Sofia
and in the country, in which were participated by refugee's
organizations. At
the meeting on Alexander
Nevski Square in Sofia,
the colonel from the reserve Kosta Nikolov, president of the Union
of the Macedonian Fraternities, made an ardent speech. In front of the
Assembly
Hall in the name of the Macedonian Odrin volunteers a speech delivered
the colonel
from the reserve Petar Darvingov,28 organizer of the
volunteers and
Head of the Headquarters. Dimitur Yaranov and Stephan Badzhov also
spoke before
the legations of Germany
and
Italy.
During the same day there were celebrations in other towns in the
country. They
aimed on one hand to create favorable psychological climate in the
Bulgarian-German dialog about the Macedonian question, and on the other
hand,
public expression of the extended hand of the Motherland to the
Bulgarian
population in the territories, occupied by the Germans.29
The Management Board of
the Macedonian Scientific Institute in Sofia
took part in the celebration. In its name and in the name of the
refugees from Macedonia,
Professor Stephan Badzhov, member of the Management Board, stood
at the head
of the delegation before the German minister plenipotentiary in Sofia,
Baron
von Richtchofen. In his speech Professor Badzhov expressed the
gratitude of the
Macedonian Bulgarians to the German arms whose victories helped for the
liberation of their native lands (Document No. 3).30
The
beginning of Bulgarian press
was set in the lands, liberated from the Serbs. After 24 years the
Bulgarian
language appeared again in pure Bulgarian newspapers. The newspaper was
called Macedonia
and
most of the documents and the decisions of the CC were published in it.
The
newspaper had only several issues.31 Its first copy was
issued on
April 15, 1941, i.e. only two days after the establishment of BCCC.
Director
and publisher of the newspaper was Stephan Stephanov, Vassil
Hadzhikimov and
Boris Blagoev were editors.32
Not only
the declaration of BCCC
was published in the Macedonia
newspaper. In a special article on page 2 was given information
about the
foundation of the Bulgarian Central Campaign Committee for Macedonia.
In
it was announced that representatives of the Bulgarian population from
all
parts of the newly liberated territories had gathered in Skopje and had
discussed the situation after
the end of the Serbian rule. They expressed their desire ,,the
longing and the
interests of the Bulgarians enslaved till yesterday to be correctly
represented, interpreted and protected before the German
triumphant army, that
had occupied and liberated Macedonia, as well as before the army and
the rule
of the Bulgarian Tsar - liberator of Macedonia, Tsar Boris III, that
were
expected impatiently and with immeasurable joy." The article
announced
that the following decisions were taken at the meeting: Bulgarian
Central
Campaign Committee to be formed, which immediately to establish local
committees in the whole of Macedonia.
It was foreseen the funding to be based on donations. On the pages of
the
newspaper the CC appealed for financial support (document No. 4).29 The
following
appeal was in italic: “Only the organized struggle gives results.
Instead of
speaking - act. Unite round the Bulgarian Central Campaign Committee
for Macedonia."
The newspaper did not forgot to greet the Bulgarian population in Macedonia about the forthcoming
celebration of
Easter: “MACEDONIA
REVIVED! GREETINGS FOR EASTER!'33
BCCC
settled not only the problem
about the financial status of the newspaper. It took measures for the
restoration of radio Skopje that was
damaged on purpose by the Serbs in order not to be used by the
Macedonian Bulgarians.
For a short time the radio station was repaired and spread the news for
the
creation of the campaign committees.34
The Serbian
oppressive regime as
politics was liquidated, but the administrative authorities were not
eliminated
everywhere. In many places the old administrative bodies continued
operation.
The reasons for that were different. Obviously the Germans thought
that if the
old administrative structures did not show any resistance it was
preferred they
to continue operation and ensure the order.
On the
conference of the CC of the
Macedonian Bulgarian committees the representatives of the German
authorities
were not present, as they were on April 8 in Galichin Inn. That created
some
difficulties related to the replacement of the Serbian authorities’
power with
Bulgarian ones. The delegation sent by the CC to the German
commandantship
received the reply that evidence was required that the citizens of the
town
were Bulgarians and not Serbs for the change of the administration.35
That
requirement of the commandant
was a reason for conducting a specific referendum. For 24 hours
the Central
Committee bought cloth, sew tri-colored flags and decorated every
Bulgarian
house. The town resembled a festively decorated Bulgarian town. The
Bulgarian
tri-coloured flag has fluttered round the town, regardless of the fact
that
there was no official representative of Bulgaria there. The
committee
insisted the commandant to walk round the town with his car and see
that the
town was Bulgarian. Only then the BCCC for Macedonia
was officially recognized
by the German authorities. The city hall was on disposition of the
committee.
The Deputy President of BCCC - Spiro Kitinchev was elected as
mayor of the municipality36
and as his assistants - Blagoy Popankov, Blagoy Panchev, Kiril
Zhernovski and
Krum Organdzhiev. Kiril Penushliyski, Kiril Georgiev and others were
appointed
assistant staff.37
That success showed to
the members of the CC that taking the power was not easy and they
should have
to fight for it. At the same time they were convinced that the struggle
could
be successful, only if it was well organized and all political groups
acted
unanimously. The fight for the power in Skopje
had also shown that probably in other Macedonian towns many Serbian
authorities
had remained. That imposed immediate organizing of local committees.
That was
why the Central Committee issued a power of attorney to Vassil Hadzhikimov, the most active
member, empowering him to accept funding in their account. He took the
responsibility
to travel round Macedonia
and organize local campaign Committees (document No. 5).38
During the
following days until
April 16, 1941 two more meetings of the committee were held. On them
were taken
decisions on various organization matters, namely, Macedonian
Bulgarians,
soldiers in the Serbian army who were prisoners of war at the Germans
to be
found and released; cloth for flags to be bought - Bulgarian and German
- and
to be given to the poor Bulgarians for free; blank forms of the
committee to be
printed; a car to be hired for the secretary-organizer of the CC,
Vassil
Hadzhikimov to go round Macedonia and organize campaign committees
in the
regional centers; the person who had the right to incur financial
expenses to
be specified, etc. (documents No. 6 and 7).39
The
Bulgarian government did not
wait for a definite date to enter Macedonia. On April 17 an
honorable
unit of the Bulgarian army was sent to Skopje.
It was met joyfully by the citizens. In connection with that BCCC
sent a
telegram to Tsar Boris III to which he replied: “To you, the Bulgarians
from
liberated Macedonia,
I am
thankful from all my heart for the nice greetings you have sent me
about the
entering of the heroic Bulgarian army in Skopje,
and I am sending my sincere greetings and good wishes. The Tsar.”
(Documents
No. 8 and 9).40