Two facts should be
considered if the truth
about Serbian educational policy in Macedonia is to be understood: 1.
that the
Serbian schools and all other cultural and educational establishments
have as
their primary aim the denationalization and Serbianization of the
Macedonian
population, which is admitted also by Prof. D. Stanoevic in his article
'Radic
and Our Universities', published in the newspaper Politika of
December
19, 1925, and 2. that honest and good teachers are not sent to
Macedonia and do
not go there despite the great extra pay which they are offered.
The vast majority of
teachers
appointed at our schools are lechers, drunkards, good-for-nothings and
Russian
counter-revolutionaries. The latter, who can also be assigned to the
first
three categories, are the most dangerous for the pupils because of
their
servile behaviour to the headmasters and because of their weak
character. The
few honest and able teachers who come by chance to Macedonia, are
either moved
immediately to another job, or fall in with the low standards of their
colleagues. A large number of teachers are sent here as punishment for
dissolute habits and immoral actions. And here they give rein to their
unbridled conduct and dissipation. We had such a typical case in Veles,
where
the headmaster of the high school, S. Simic, tried to rape a school
girl who
had gone to his office on business. A great noise was made in the press
about
this shameful act, and that made the Belgrade authorities send an
inspector to
look into the case. The inspector from the Ministry arrived in Veles,
spent a
few days there, and then he departed. Some time later a royal decree
was
issued, according to which S. Simic, until then deputy headmaster, was
promoted
to first-class headmaster!
Everybody knows that the
teachers
drink heavily, and very often they go to school drunk or with a
hangover. This
is what a pupil told us:
'It is a common
occurrence
to
have a teacher drunk in class. The moment he enters the classroom he
begins to
swear, then he sits down at his desk and falls asleep. The period ends,
the
bell rings for a break, but there is nobody to dismiss us as the
teacher sleeps
like a log. At last the pupil on duty decides to wake him, and he
swears at us
and drives us out of the room.'
The headmasters and the
other
spineless teachers consistently try to corrupt the pupils and
recruit
informers and spies from among them, who are to keep watch on their
comrades
and report to the headmaster. These unscrupulous 'enlighteners'
even use the
pupils to fight their political enemies, as was the case with the
notorious
Simic, who made the pupils testify against a young man from Veles whom
he
detested, and the latter was brought to court and charged under the law
for the
protection of the state. Naturally, this blackmail was brought to light
also
thanks to the pupils who refused to commit perjury before the court,
and
revealed the whole baseness of this framed-up charge. It also came to
light in
court how they had been forced to give false evidence. Some of the
pupils were
made to repeat the class for their daring, others passed with a
supplementary
examination and all were given poor conduct marks.
The Serbian conquerors
use
a
variety of methods to achieve their aim - the Serbianization of the
Macedonian
population, and its young people in particular. I shall mention
those that are
practised most widely. Above all, a revolting Serbian chauvinistic
atmosphere
is being created and maintained at the schools. The pupils are
forbidden to
think and speak in their mother tongue, to receive letters in it (let
alone
write in it), to read books other than Serbian; every opportunity is
used to
extol the Serbian spirit and to abuse and humiliate everything
Bulgarian;
Serbian culture, military strength and courage are being constantly
praised;
the study of scientific subjects and modern languages is neglected, and
at
their expense, the heads of the pupils are filled for hours with the
Serbian
language, Serbian literature, history and geography. The natural
sciences are
not studied at all. The same applies to general history and foreign
literature,
with the exception of the brief study of Croatian literature. And
whatever has
to do with anything national Serbian is studied in the greatest detail,
for
four years in the senior classes. Long incomprehensible epics and poems
are
learned by heart, the heads of the young people are filled with
innumerable
facts and names which they will never need, while the most
important events of
world history and the most significant natural phenomena remain unknown
and
incomprehensible to them. The subjects given the pupils for home and
class work
are disgusting in their unscrupulous tendentiousness.
The Macedonian pupil has
to
think and write
about Kaimakchalan, the role of Southern Serbia in the unification of
the
Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, facts about Serbian culture in Macedonia,
Slivnitsa, etc., and that is done in such a way as to please the
teacher. In
his school activities the pupil is denied all independence, initiative
or means
of self-expression; he becomes an
apathetic creature who would enter life as a good-for-nothing, or at
best, a
servile job hunter if he does not learn something outside school
and if he
does not develop.
Excursions are usually
organized for the pupils to various parts of Yugoslavia where the young
Macedonians are lavishly treated. Two years ago a group of pupils from
Shtip
were entertained by the King himself in Belgrade, though afterwards
some
Serbians of pure blood expressed their indignation in the press that
the children
spoke 'pure Bulgarian', which was an expression of awful ingratitude.
The Serbian chauvinists
set
up various sports clubs, football and other sports clubs, make the
pupils give
concerts, shows, etc., and the disgusting demoralizing tendency of
Serbianization
is manifest everywhere.
Naturally, the Serbian
teachers do not always choose the means which would achieve their aims.
Instead
of achieving something, they very often make fools of themselves, and
put off
even the most manageable pupils with their methods. A characteristic
example is
the speech of the high school teacher A. Lazarevic, which he often
repeated to
his students: 'You are Macedonians and want to have an independent
Macedonia,
don't you? What you deserve is machine guns and bullets rather than
laws and
constitutions. Casting pearls before swine is the same as giving you
cultural
life. We will not give up Macedonia. We will never leave this place,
even
though we feel as if we were at the front during the war.' Such talk
always
produces the opposite result to what is desired...
Excerpts from a bulletin of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
on the condition and the morale of the population in Vardar and Aegean Macedonia
THE CULTURAL SITUATION IN GENERAL
RADOVISH. From No. 11 of
Feb.
10, 1926. Towards one o'clock on the same day we reached the Skopje
railway
station where the train stops for about half an hour. During that time
several
sweepers and a Serbian attendant came into our carriage and the
attendant
ordered them to sweep the carriage. As I had run out of cigarettes, I
asked in
Bulgarian one of the sweepers whether I could buy some at the station.
One of
the sweepers offered to buy me cigarettes as soon as he heard me speak
in
Bulgarian, paying no attention to the threats of the attendant who was
in
charge. From this I gathered that this sweeper was a pure Bulgarian
whose heart
started beating faster when he heard Bulgarian speech and he eagerly
began to
speak in Bulgarian...
The news of my arrival
in
Radovish from Shtip by car spread immediately and people thronged into
the
house to bid me welcome. Only a detached observer can describe the
enthusiasm
with which the townfolk greeted my arrival there. This joy of the
citizens gave
me even greater courage to start my work. My first concern was to
introduce
myself to Milan Nikolov, Chief Constable of the district. His wife was
from
Radovish and was an acquaintance of my wife's. This made it easier for
me to be
received by the district constable and stay longer in Radovish. On the
same day
I paid a visit to the military commander who was a lieutenant, and
the local
chief of the gendarmerie, who was a captain. The district constable
received me
on the third day after Christmas.
During the three
Christmas
holidays I paid visits to many of my fellow-citizens and was greatly
moved to
see them. When I heard their speech, when I saw their children and
heard that
they too spoke the same language as their parents, when I saw their
enthusiasm
and their hopes for an early liberation, I often couldn't help weeping
for joy.
Immediately upon my
arrival
three despicable creatures - all of them local people - were assigned
to spy on
me. They were Yosif Kolev, son of the Turkish bailiff, Pepo and SLAVE
TOUSHANOV. The townspeople, however, warned me from the start about
their
mission.
At the market-place, in the shops and everywhere else the people here talk in Bulgarian to one another. When they visit government offices they try to speak broken Serbian. The lower classes speak Bulgarian in the offices as well, because the authorities pay no attention to them. As to the peasants, they have not learned a single word in Serbian. As the office workers are the only Serbs in the town, they have even picked up some Bulgarian: when I talked to them they often used local phrases.
Some 35 Montenegrin families have settled in the town, but they do not mix with the townsmen. The only man to blame for this settlement of Montenegrins is the former presednik (chairman) PAROUSHAN GAZEPOV.
Morale has not sunk. All are rattled because of the Smilyan affair but this does not prevent them from expressing their sympathy for Bulgaria. Everywhere I was asked 'Won't you come?' which meant whether Bulgaria was not coming. Morale is stronger in the craftsmen's guilds than among the young between 18 and 22. In order to corrupt the young, the authorities are giving license to debauchery, drunkenness and gambling. On holidays they shout and sing in the streets all night long without anybody stopping them. Through debauchery, drunkenness and gambling the authorities are trying to smother any awareness of a loftier ideal. It is a consolation that when they marry, these young men mend their ways under the influence of the family, and I was told several facts to prove it. I was favourably impressed, however, to see these young men sing Bulgarian songs in the streets. I found yet another consolation in the fact that in my conversations with them I never heard anybody say he was satisfied with the existing situation. To my questions: 'How are you?', 'How are things going?' everybody, young and old alike, heaved a deep sigh the meaning of which I understood.
The
village population has kept up its morale better than the townspeople,
although
at first glance it seems more servile than the citizens.
The more prominent citizens and some old militants were frightened because the SMILYAN affair was at its height. No chetas should be sent now either to them or to Shtip either, until the storm is over, because the appearance of every cheta gives rise to new 'affairs' which dispirit the population. People said to me: 'Tell our men in Bulgaria that if the chetas are sent to help us, to uphold our morale, to keep our national consciousness awake, to help us preserve our mother tongue, we are aware of all that, we have cherished and will cherish it as the apple of our eye.' These were the words of some of the townspeople with whom I had more intimate conversations and who said: 'You are now amongst us, you have seen the situation and have convinced yourself that so far we have remained the same Bulgarians as before; this is how we are going to educate our children as well; tell this to our brothers and tell them also that they, too, should think of us and have our interests at heart.'
From all my
conversations, observations and
investigations I conclude the following:
I. The primary objective
of
the Serbian authorities is the denationalization of the population.
They employ
the following means to achieve this end:
a)
they lavish enormous funds on spying, bribery and enlisting the support
of
influential Bulgarians;
b)
they woo the more influential Bulgarians who are
not keen on
organizational work;
c)
they woo the local intelligentsia and endeavour to gain control over
the émigré
intelligentsia;
d)
they show off. Everything of better quality has been sent to Macedonia:
well-dressed
officers and soldiers, well groomed horses, well-paid and rabidly
chauvinistic
officials, exclusively Serbs or Montenegrins, etc., etc.;
e)
they crack down on any manifestation of Bulgarian spirit without being
too nice
about the means: arrests, convictions, beatings, fines, etc.;
f)
they strengthen the 'Oudrouzhenie’ (Societies) Against the Bulgarian Rebels;
g)
they strengthen the anti-cheta units;
h)
they open cultural establishments.
II.
Firmness and national awareness of the local population who believe in
a
brighter future.
III.
Preserved language, customs and manners.
IV.
A certain decline among the adolescents who are susceptible to the
negative
influence of the authorities through debauchery, spying, gambling,
and
V.
The need to keep in mind the state of consciousness from an
organizational
point of view.
Allow me to recommend the following two measures:
1.
To ensure that in each town there be an experienced person entrusted
with the
task of maintaining the national awareness of the population and of
constantly
recruiting fellow-workers to keep up the national spirit in the
countryside.
2.
To spare no efforts in our work among the youth, using young people as
channels
of influence.
On my way back I stayed
for
three days in Shtip, where I found a higher level of national awareness
than in
Radovish. Everywhere the population speaks Bulgarian. Serbian is spoken
only at
the cafes, visited by Serbian officers and officials. In spite of
the fact
that there are quite a few officers and officials in Shtip the
population has
remained impervious to their influence. I found an opportunity to meet
patriotic Bulgarians whose names I will not mention and from whom I
learned
that the village population, too (with the exception of the peasants of
Burlev
Chiflik), has the same patriotic spirit and national awareness as the
townsfolk. 'Open our breasts and you will see "Bulgaria" written
inside' - such were the eloquent words of these patriotic citizens. I
was
asked: 'What are the prospects for an early liberation?' I told them
that
Bulgaria and our men who are at the head of the Organization have not
forgotten
them, but that they should have patience because, as they knew, the
Great War
had ended in a disaster for Bulgaria, many territories had been
detached from
her - Tsaribrod, Bossilegrad, Dobroudja, etc., and at first Bulgaria
was unable
to raise her voice, whereas the clouds were beginning to clear now and
Bulgaria's voice was now being heeded in the League of Nations, etc. At
that
point one of the townsmen took off his hat and said: 'Even if Bulgaria
were to
become as small as my hat, we would find comfort in the fact that her
name would
still be glorified. Danger would threaten when her name would no longer
be
glorified and then we, Macedonians, would be doomed to extinction.'
These words
spoken by the man I had been talking to were very strong and I realized
how
great was his love for Bulgaria.
Here, as in Radovish,
all
their cultural establishments are stagnating. Most active in the Oudrouzhenie
(Society) Against the Bulgarian Bandits are Mihalche Kalamatiev and
Tsiklev.
The former is considered to be the chairman of this Oudrouzhenie
(Society) for
the entire region of Bregalnitsa. The people of the town believe
Kalamatiev to
be more dangerous than S. Mishev.
Kalamatiev has been
touring
the villages and in a speech at a meeting of peasants has urged them to
renounce any national consciousness. His speeches at Sveti Nikole have
been
particularly remarkable.
While I was still there
I
learned that Kalamatiev and Tsiklev had been dismissed from the
leadership of
the Oudrouzhenie (Society); an official announcement about this
was expected
from Belgrade. Their dismissal was received with great relief on the
part of
the townspeople. I shall give a report personally about the reasons for
the
dismissals. I met Kalamatiev and talked with him just at the time of
his
dismissal which accounted for the look of anxiety on his face. He
avoided
discussing political questions. I met the Zupan (governor) of
the
district of Bregalnitsa who is an educated, clever and cunning
policeman. To
his question about life in Bulgaria, I told him that it was all right.
He
wanted to find out whether there were again assassinations as before. I
told
him that everything was normal. I asked him about his opinion of a
rapprochement
between Bulgaria and Serbia. He answered outright that this would be
hard to
achieve, mainly because of Macedonia. The Bulgarians say,' he went on,
'that
even if Macedonia does not become ours, then at least - here he paused
and I
continued: - 'it should have autonomy.' At this he sighed and went on:
'Yes,
yes, Mr. ..., autonomous Macedonia; but we see everywhere your
30-year-long
influence and we not only see it but we feel it as well. Let us, too,
remain in
Macedonia for 30 years, if we could hold out all that time, and then we
may
talk about plebiscites and autonomy for Macedonia.' In this respect he
cited as
an example France's refusal to hold a plebiscite in Alsace and
Lorraine, as
suggested by Germany, because the population of these provinces,
although
French, had been Germanized under Germany's influence.
VELES. When I entered
the
town the shops were closed because the St Sava Day was being
celebrated. The
people of the town were strolling along the streets in large groups. I
remained
with the impression that the population here was more freedom-loving
than that
of Shtip. In the evening the men, women and children of the town were
strolling
along the right bank of the Vardar and they spoke only in Bulgarian. I
spoke to
many friends and acquaintances in Veles who quite imprudently talked to
me in
Bulgarian. They took me to the 'Zagreb' cafe, a large modern
establishment.
There they told me: 'Look around yourself. We are all Bulgarians here.
There is
not a single Serb. The Serbs have been ordered to keep away from us
like goats
from sheep and have been compelled to go to the "Belgrade" cafe only.'
In fact, to my great surprise, I did not see a single Serb and I felt
as though
I was in Bulgaria. I questioned them about their conditions, about the
way they
felt under the new government, etc., and received the same answer from
everybody: 'The Serbs fear us and we have imposed our will on them
in all
respects, but there is one thing to be regretted: the young have got
into bad
ways - debauchery, drunkenness and gambling.' I asked them not to
neglect these
young people and to advise them to give up these vices. I recommended
the
setting up of temperance societies and in general, to keep in touch
with the
young and to exert beneficial influence upon them.
From what I saw in Veles
I
can say that the population there is on a much higher level than even
the Shtip
population.
GEVGELI. From No. 44 of
June
30, 1927. After an exchange of greetings my uncle, father of Hristo, a
Serbianized young man, said: 'Whatever happened, happened at our
expense; they
come wearing sandals and they leave with top hats.' His son Hristo, the
Serbianized, came, too, and very politely invited me. He helped me
through the
registration formalities and in the legalization of my stay in
Gevgeli. The
only thing I was not allowed to do was to wear the cockade of my
railwayman's
cap. I met the people who had been recommended to me, I gave the
password the
Old Man told me and they received me very kindly. They told me that the
population was behaving very well but there was a great deal of terror,
especially in the villages. Formerly, before the old anti-rebel unit
which
consisted entirely of Serbs, was disbanded, life in the town had also
been full
of danger.
On June 10 Tosho Mitov
took
me to Palyosha at the butcher's. Tosho told me that three or four days
before
Easter a congress had been held in the village of Palyurtsi, chaired by
the
governor of Bitolya and attended by all the more prominent farmers. The
aim of
the congress was to discuss ways of fighting the Bulgarian 'bandits'.
Various
opinions had been put forward, none of which had been endorsed by the
governor.
The opinion of one Turk was adopted: 'We can fight them as soon as arms
are
issued to us.' At the end they posed for a photo but many tried to
conceal
their identity and did not want to have their picture taken.
On St Saviour's Day
there
was
a fair in town, so I had the opportunity to meet many peasants from the
countryside. Among the other acquaintances I saw Georgi Ikonomov, aged
24, from
the village of Kovanets, who had been sentenced to death for giving
shelter to rebels
and had been later pardoned. He is now chief of the militia in his
village and
remains a good Bulgarian. I saw again Palyosha and he showed me where
he had
been wounded. The King had given him a cigarette case as a present and
had told
him that he could kill all those, whom he suspected, but he did not
harm
anyone, although he knew the people who had given shelter to Ivan
Markov: the
brothers of Georgi Hadjimitrov, Hristo I. Angov, Letter Komitkin, Tosho
Mitov
and Lazar Kostov.
I also met Lazar Kostov
and
Lefter Komitkin, both good Bulgarians. Lefter advised me that when
chetas are
sent, they should ask for the cooperation of the more prominent
people such as
Mitov, Nakov, etc., and, as for himself, he said he was ready at any
moment. I
also visited the village of Bogoroditsa where I met acquaintances of
mine.
Kolyo Doichinov, a Hellenized man, used to get Dnevnik
newspaper from
Soloun every week.
In the village of
Stoyakovo
I
met a priest who had once been Hellenized and who had told me: 'Good
evening!
Why, you, lost chickens, you've scattered'! I answered him: 'Well,
Father, God
willing, we might gather again as soon as you come to your senses.'
The National
Representative
for the Gevgeli district is Anton Beshirov, a Serbianized man from
Gevgeli. All
people in the town are praising him and Palyosha. The town had been
preserved
thanks to these two men. Pure Macedonian is spoken everywhere. Old
Bulgarian
revolutionary songs are sung in the town.
BITOLYA. From No. 3 of
December 20, 1926. There are four national societies: SRNAO, ORUNA,
HANAO and
MANAO, which were set up first in Serbia and thereafter in Macedonia.
1. SRNAO stands for the
initials of the Serbian National Organization. It does not admit
members from
any other nationality or race. It is a strictly confidential
national society,
or party. Its main goal is to preserve morale and educate people in the
nationalistic spirit of great Serbia.
2. - ORUNA stands for
the
initials of Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists. This organization is
set up
on a federative basis and endeavours to bring writings closer together
and to
win equal rights by legal, constitutional means. Since the membership
of this
society was drawn from all nationalities -Croats, Slovenes, Dalmatians,
Bosnians, Herzegovinians and Macedonians -the Serbs began to grow
apprehensive
of this union of nationalities and that is why they disbanded it and
set up
another, purely Serbian one, under the same name. Offended by that, the
Croats
set up their own Croat National Society - HANAO - in opposition to
ORUNA; The
membership of HANAO is exclusively Croatian and the organization itself
exists
only within Croatia. I hear that the two organizations - SRNAO and
HANAO - are
in sharp conflict.
MANAO is the Moslem
National
Organization, founded in Bosnia by soma Moslems in order to
uphold the
national Moslem spirit among the Bosnians.
PRILEP. From No. 91 of
January 27, 1927. The Chema Ruka (Black Hand) organization does
not
exist in the town, nor does any other Serbian nationalistic
organization; it is
rumoured, however, that there is a secret branch of the Natsionalna
Otbrana
(National Defence) organization.
The national spirit has
been preserved both
among the urban and the rural population. Young and old alike consider
themselves Bulgarian, speak Bulgarian and sing only Bulgarian folk and
patriotic songs. There is absolutely nothing Serbian with the exception
of some
Serbian words which have been diligently avoided recently. All folk
customs
have been preserved. The memories of the past are alive, the names of
the
fighters who fell in the struggle are mentioned with tenderness.
Nothing has
been forgotten; on the contrary, the' stupendous struggles for
Macedonia's
liberation seem to be standing out in bolder relief in their
consciousness. Out
of the holidays only the day of the Saints Cyril and Methodius is
solemnly
celebrated, but not in the same way as formerly. The Serbians are
trying to
impose the most ceremonious celebration of St Sava's Day as a national
holiday,
but people take no part in the festivities and the Bulgarians deride
this
holiday. There are no educational organizations. There are only
nationalistic Sokol
(Falcon) sports and football organizations. The membership of the Sokol
organization consists of both Bulgarians and Serbians, while there are
two
football organizations - 'Macedonia' - consisting only of Bulgarians,
and
'Yugoslavia' - consisting only of Serbian officials and officers.
There is no Omladina
(Youth) society.
The IMRO has a great
fascination for the population. All are living with the memories of the
past
and strongly believe that the IMRO will continue the struggle and will
be
ultimately successful.
The members of the IMRO,
i.e.
its former functionaries, keep up their spirit. Some rural leaders
cannot reconcile
themselves with the present situation and conversations on such topics
bring
tears of sadness... Former leaders have seldom yielded to the Serbs,
but the
rest of them have grown old.
Neither the school, nor
the
army are in a position to ensure the Serbian assimilation. As soon as
the child
gets out of school and enters the marketplace, the Serbian
language is already
forgotten; the same is true of the soldier when he leaves the barracks.
At the
beginning he may gabble some Serbian, but afterwards, because of the
derision
on the part of the other young people, he leaves off Serbian and
resumes
speaking Bulgarian. At night the urban population turns in very
early; the
pubs are not frequented by Bulgarians. Only those trusted by the police
- the
drunkards and merry-makers - are free at night. There is also a variety
bar
where Serbian singers perform, but it is frequented only by Serbs and
some
degraded Bulgarians. Generally speaking, high morality has been
preserved.
The population hates the
Serbs; it lives with the hope of better days. Serbian newspapers
are only read
when they carry something about Bulgaria or about the Macedonian
question. The
population is greatly depressed when Bulgaria is mentioned
in unfavourable terms. All good news
from Bulgaria gladden and all bad news hurt them. At present people are
particularly well aware of the bad situation in Serbia and this brings
them
great joy. Their hope rests with the IMRO. Families have Bulgarian
books and
read them, while Bulgarian newspapers seldom arrive. The newspaper of
the IMRO
is distributed among them from time to time.
OHRID. From No. 5,
January
27, 1927. The clerks are usually Serbs and when Serbs are lacking,
Bulgarians
are also appointed. They endeavour to establish close contacts
with the
population, but the overwhelming majority are alien in their sentiments
and
keep apart; however, some have already been influenced. The
population is
perfectly aware that it is treated as a conquered people and for the
officials
Macedonia is California, as people put it. Corruption among the
officials is
widespread, but there are also people who serve the pan-Serbian idea
and thus
cannot be corrupted. All the important and responsible
administrative posts
are held by Serbs who are also propagandizers of the pan-Serbian idea.
Particularly useful are the Bulgarian officials, in whom the population
sees
its defenders.
MAKEDONETS. Outside the
school all factors operate along three lines.
1. To compel the
population
to say that it is Serbian by forcing all officially to call
themselves Serbs.
However, those who have been influenced are few -the majority remain
good
Bulgarians and Ohrid can be justly said to have remained a bastion of
the
Bulgarian spirit. If anyone dares ask to be registered in the proper
official
documents as a Bulgarian, he is persecuted.
2. To convince the
intelligent and more alert Bulgarians that they belong to a special
Macedonian
nationality, without being either Serbs or Bulgarians, but they are not
influenced even by that. In actual fact, many Bulgarians formally
say: we are
'Macedonians', but this statement is meant for the Serbs and the
Macedonians
who are not trusted. Many of those who are not familiar with history,
innocently believe in this and agree to say that they are Macedonians
-neither
Bulgarians, nor Serbs, without realizing that the Wallachians and
Greeks, the
Jews and the Albanians are also Macedonians, but all of them are not
Macedonians by nationality and remain Greeks, Wallachians, Turks, Jews,
Albanians, etc.
3. Those who cannot be
forced to renounce
the fact that they are Bulgarians are required at least not to
demonstrate
their Bulgarian nationality, because officially they have been
registered as
Serbs and the Serbs have tried to influence in a better way such
stubborn
intelligent Bulgarians, telling them that no one forbids them to call
themselves Bulgarians, but that they should not set a bad example in
this way
to those, at least, who do not feel themselves Bulgarians and encourage
them to
call themselves Bulgarians, too. They have been told that they cannot
allow the
question of the minorities to be raised from within.
All have been forced to
add
the ending 'ich' after their Bulgarian surname because the
characteristic 'ov'
of the Bulgarians remains; but from a psychological viewpoint this is
dangerous
because the population gets used to being called 'ich', the national
awareness
is gradually dwindling, and people begin to grow indifferent to their
nationality. It is sufficient for the Serbs first to blunt the
Bulgarian
national awareness and to make Bulgarians indifferent to this feeling
and then
to work for the cultivation in their souls of a Serbian national
awareness,
too. No matter how little success has been achieved along this line as
well,
this is still a success for the Serbs.
Before the Macedonian
population the Serbs claim that the Macedonian dialect is a Serbian and
not a
Bulgarian dialect, but the population mocks this, particularly the
older people
who say that if our dialect was Serbian and not Bulgarian, why then
don't we
understand the Serbs but understand very well when a Bulgarian of Old
Bulgaria
talks to us?
The Serbian officials
deliberately allow their children to speak the local dialect because in
this
process the Bulgarian children, too, learn some Serbian words and thus
start
speaking in a Serbo-Bulgarian language. The Serbs consider this,
too, a
success, while the population is pleased that the Serbian children
speak
Bulgarian, without perceiving in this the danger that their children
have also
learnt without noticing it some Serbian words and use them even in
their
conversations with their parents.
Even the teachers do not
forbid the pupils to speak the local dialect during breaks; initially
they are
even satisfied when the children begin to use only a few Serbian words
to
enrich their vocabulary and to show off before their parents that they
know
more. Children gradually find it easier to explain some purely
scientific
school subject in Serbian. And the Serbian words, used by children,
gradually
infiltrate the speech of their parents as well. Precisely here the
greatest
enemy of the Bulgarian spirit is time.
In their desire to
present
the Macedonian dialect as a Serbian dialect, the Serbs take as an
example
individual Serbian words, which are also used by the Macedonian
population and
are not current in Bulgaria, e.g. koukya (house), etc. with
other
examples confusing the minds of many people.
The Serbians do not
allow
the
use of the literary Bulgarian language and the population, even the
intelligentsia, is afraid to speak in it; when someone speaks it people
gladly
listen, but there will always be someone reminding you: adapt your
language
lest you are punished by the Serbs. Under such an oppression
literary
Bulgarian is rarely heard. Even good Bulgarians will remind you that
you should
say 'God help you', instead of 'Good morning'. Serbian, however, is
patiently
listened to.
The Serbs try to
introduce
Serbian customs but the population resists them and keeps its own
customs.
Failing in this undertaking, whenever there is a similarity between the
local
Bulgarian customs and the Serbian ones, the Serbs proclaim these
customs to be
Serbian rather than Bulgarian, just as the Macedonians were Serbs.
Thus, for
instance, the population had a service for 'Slava' (an ethnographic
custom) in
the same way as the Serbs, therefore it is allegedly Serbian. However,
there is
a difference between the Serbian 'Slava' and the 'Slava' festivity in
Macedonia; but precisely here things are becoming mixed up and under
the
influence of the Serbian 'Slava' people begin to treat for 'Slava' and
to say:
we have SLAVA. However insignificant that success may be, the Serbs
nevertheless avail themselves of such little successes. The Serbs are
also
beginning to mark some local saints of the people, e.g. the Saints
Cyril and
Methodius, whose Day has only recently started to be celebrated, but
the
population notices that change and gives it its own interpretation.
The Serbs tolerate the
singing of Bulgarian
folk and revolutionary songs and the population sings them with
pleasure; the
Serbs think that in time these songs will be forgotten and replaced by
Serbian
songs, particularly by the younger generations. Although seldom, young
people
also sing Serbian songs.
Most of the Serbs are
convinced that the Macedonians are Serbs and that the Macedonian
population
calls itself Bulgarian due to the Bulgarian propaganda, because this
has been
instilled in them both at school and everywhere else. Therefore they
wonder
when you talk to them about Tsar Samuil,, about Basil Bulgaroctonus,
about
Paissi, the Patriarchate of Ohrid, the Miladinov brothers, G.
Purlichev, etc.
They are most uneasy when Serbian scholars, who have recognized the
Macedonian
population to be Bulgarian, are mentioned. That is why work should
continue
along this line even among the Serbs themselves.
The Serbs call even the
Mohammedan population Serbs of another religious creed; however, this
does not
make them less desirous of deporting the Turks.
The TERROR, perpetrated
by
the Serbs, is very brutal, the population is very frightened and does
not dare
resort to overt underground struggle, although there are enough people
ready to
launch it. If, however, the official recognition by the Serbian
authorities of
some people's right officially) to call themselves Bulgarian could be
won, the
question of the legal struggle for the recognition of the Bulgarian
nationality
would be very easy.
In any case, we should
overcome the fear from the open struggle (1) for national rights; (2)
for the
abolition of the ending 'ich'; (3) openly and officially to call
themselves
Bulgarians, and (4) to have their own schools and churches. These
rights have
been guaranteed by the Serbian Constitution (Statutes), by the penal
law and by
the treaty on the minorities.
The authorities and the
Serbs
show particular patience and tactfulness in Serbianizing the
population. In
many cases they openly say that they do not expect particular results
from the
old generation, but the growing generations were theirs. They foretell
the
Macedonian Bulgarians the fate of the Morava Bulgarians. A Morava
Bulgarian has
told a citizen of Ohrid that his fellow citizens would grow accustomed
to the
Serbian name like them. The Serbs' patience, tactfulness and the
diverse
measures, taken by them to assimilate the population, have made a
strong
impression. And yet their influence is weak, BUT IT DOES EXIST. The
population
is looking for a way out of this situation.
Everything is aimed at
annihilating the Bulgarian spirit: by the end of 1918, after the
demobilization, about 800 people from Ohrid and the district were
interned.
Despite the severe measures the population's spirit is high and few
have
yielded to Serbian influence.
The following measures
should
be taken to increase the national influence: (these measures have been explained by the
man, who
provided the reporter with information).
The following societies
exist
in the town of Ohrid: hunters', sports, temperance, schoolchildren's,
Adriatic
guard, the Mutual aid, St Clement society to make the town more
beautiful, and
a women's charity society. These societies have been founded at the
instigation
of the authorities. There is a local propaganda committee in the town
and the
district, headed by the district governor, which is in charge of the
persecution of the IMRO.
TIKVESH region, from No.
34,
February 3, 1927. The songs about the fighters Dobri Daskalov and Pepo
Samardjiev who perished are still sung to this day and their names are
still
revered.
KOSTOUR, from No. 4,
February
1, 1927. The people above 25 live with the hope of better days, but
this
question seems to be non-existent for the youth. The national holidays
are not
celebrated. The past glorious deeds and heroic exploits are only
commented in
whisper and in intimate talks and meetings. The Bulgarian language is
not
persecuted as earlier; Bulgarian speech can be heard as before at the
markets
in Kostour, Hroupishta and elsewhere. Out of school and at play
children freely
speak their mother tongue. Two or three years ago the teachers brutally
punished every child who would dare speak Bulgarian even in the street.
Here
and there in the villages, where there are younger teachers, something
like
teams for sports' exercises have been organized among the pupils. Folk
songs
are dying out. The old ones have been forgotten and there is no one to
compose
new ones.
KRATOVO, from No. 110,
February 17, 1927. Vanche Venza Alimounov, former organization leader,
is
Chairman of the Oudrouzhenie (Society) against the Bulgarian
Rebels;
Mite Vakov, who boasted that last summer he had been to Bulgaria with a
passport, is vice-chairman and secret agent; Vanche Gligorov, a
merchant, is
the Society's treasurer; he is well disposed towards the IMRO;
Dimiter Andon
Popov, a grocer, is its secretary, also well disposed towards the IMRO.
The peasants are hostile
to
the IMRO and that is why when a cheta is discovered and they are
called to
join, they run like wild beasts.
RESEN, from No. 1,
February
26, 1927. The population has overcome its fear and is speaking
everywhere in
its mother tongue. Bulgarian songs are sung during visits and at
weddings.
LERIN, from No. 10,
March
14,
1927. The population has a high spirit and every day awaits the
liberation of
Macedonia by the movement for autonomy, which is much talked about,
even in
Greek circles. Bulgarian is invariably spoken at the market;
particularly in
the villages, where Bulgarian songs are sung; even the Greek refugees
have
learnt Bulgarian and speak it with the local Bulgarians.
The population cannot
organize festivities as in the good old days when, for instance, horos
were
danced, songs were sung, etc.; all this is now gone.
On February 22, the
Greeks
handed out declarations in the villages by which they made everyone
declare
under oath whether he was Bulgarian or Greek; those, who said they were
Bulgarians, were arrested and beaten.
ЦПА, Ф. 226, оп. 1, а.е. 84, л. 37-44. the original is in Bulgarian.
An open letter from the Macedonian Students' Society in Skopje to Serbian public figures,
asking them to protest against the arrest of students and against the policy of Serbianization of the Macedonian Bulgarians
Dear Sir,
On May 29, 1927 two
Serbian
secret police agents followed Dimiter Gyuzelev, born in Doiran, a
student of
philosophy at the faculty there, from the post office to his home,
pointed
their revolvers at him, arrested him, and took him to prison. At his
lodgings
they found a copy of a Macedonian Bulgarian newspaper published abroad,
scholarly literature and prose in Bulgarian. That was enough for them
to
subject the poor student to inhuman torture in order to force from him
a
confession as to whether he took part in the dissemination of Bulgarian
newspapers and other publications. Several times Dimiter Gyuzelev was
taken
home on a stretcher and in a closed car as he was unable to move as a
result of
the brutal torture he was subjected to in order to make him say what he
had
hidden and where. At the beginning of June 1927 all Bulgarian
Macedonian
students in Zagreb and Ljubljana were arrested and then freed after a
prolonged
interrogation and a search of their lodgings, because nothing
compromising was
found there. However, in the middle of June and in August the three
police
authorities carried out more indiscriminate arrests of Macedonian
students in
Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje, Bitolya, Shtip and Veles. According to some
sources,
40 students have been detained, and all are imprisoned in Skopje. The
police,
the prosecution and the press say nothing about what they are charged
with. Let
us mention several other cases to show the ways in which the Serbian
authorities treat the young Macedonian students in the Skopje prison.
Boris
Andreev, bom in Veles, a student of veterinary medicine in Zagreb, was
subjected to these kinds of torture: he was beaten up until he lost
consciousness, needles were driven under his nails, etc., which we
mentioned in
our appeal of June this year. In addition, his chest and arms were
burnt with
hot iron, and during the night he was taken out of town and threatened
with
murder in front of an open grave, in order to give the evidence which
the police
needed. Kiril Vangelov, pharmacist, and Kiril Dimov from Shtip, lost
their
minds from the beatings. Toma Petrov from Skopje, a law student in
Belgrade,
is on his deathbed as a result of the tortures he endured. Being aware
of the
horrible tortures which awaited him, if he was caught, Todor
Popyordanov from
Kochani, a student of medicine in Belgrade, threw himself under the
fast train
at Zemlino station when he learned that he was wanted by the police.
Dear
Sir,
You know that after our
homeland was
conquered, the Serbian authorities expelled all Bulgarian teachers,
priests,
bishops, physicians, lawyers and journalists who were born and
lived in
Macedonia, in order to Serbianize the Macedonian Bulgarians more
easily. The
Serbian authorities believed that by exercising physical terror against
the
older people, imposing a barrack-room discipline and severity on the
younger
people, and disseminating deceptions among school children, they would
manage,
in the course of 10 to 15 years, to make the Macedonian Bulgarians
Serbian.
They relied to a great extent on the schools in their hopes and were
confident
that the children would leave school imbued with the Serbian spirit.
Serbian
chauvinism, which was thwarted in its expectations, is now taking its
victims
from among those who have preserved their national consciousness
despite going
through all the assimilation efforts of the
Serbian schools and university.
Dear Sir,
Being aware that the
right
of national
self-determination is an intrinsic part of the spiritual life of every
individual, and that as early as the 18th century human conscience
condemned
the inquisition methods of legal prosecution and punishment, we ask you
to
defend our fellow students, who were arrested and tortured by the
Serbian
authorities, in the way you think most appropriate, and to raise your
voice in
protest against this encroachment on the most essential and inalienable
rights
and freedoms of the individual and citizen.
On behalf of the Macedonian students
Signature: illegible
ЦПА, ф. 226, оп. 2, а.е. 30, л. 1-3; the original is in Bulgarian.
Siegfried Jakoby, secretary to Einstein, in an article 'Macedonia - What I Saw There' writes about the Bulgarian character of Macedonia
Things in Macedonia
cannot
be
measured by European standards, because they cannot be applied there. I
personally have always considered that a great mistake is made by those
people,
who after a few weeks of stay in a country, and especially if they do
not know
the local language well, think that they know everything that they need
to know
in order to have an idea of the country, and especially of the nature
of the
political situation there, and even immediately to express their firm
and fixed
opinions. This great error is very often committed by people from
Central
Europe in connection with the beautiful land of Macedonia. Different
people who
have traveled throughout Macedonia write books in which there are no
descriptions of their impressions and experiences, but already a fixed
and
complete conception according to their investigations. A conception,
which, of
course, due to lack of knowledge of the local language, is based only
on
superficial phenomena, or on chance exchanges of opinion with chance
interpreters, and not on a full knowledge of what is really the case.
I hoped to avoid this
mistake, and I
declared in advance in Berlin to my Bulgarian-Macedonian friends that I
would
make a trip through Macedonia only when I had an interpreter with whom
I could
make myself understood with a few words. And so it happened that I had
the
opportunity to travel throughout Macedonia quite well and without any
drawbacks.
Macedonia is a country
populated by pure Bulgarians; the Serbs there now are only settlers and
colonists. The Macedonian Bulgarians are by no means an amorphous
half-savage
mass living there by chance but are pure Bulgarians, with a national
consciousness created long ago, who, for almost a century, have been
fighting -
cut off from Bulgaria - for their political and spiritual freedom. And
during
the years after the War it is possible to see in Macedonia how
valorously the
Macedonian Bulgarians there are fighting for their sacred rights. The
Macedonian Bulgarians are fighting with an idealism without parallel,
and
whoever calls these militants 'brigands' and 'gangsters', is a
deliberate liar
and a schemer.
Fate has ordained that
Macedonia should be
the arena and spectator of constant struggle, whipped up by national
religious
and political passions. Before the war, every year, the European press
frequently reported these struggles and even now, from time to time,
news
appears in the European press which does not always correspond with the
truth.
There are constant reports that the Bulgarians are 'breaking' the peace
in
Macedonia and they were a 'misfortune' for it. In the country I was
able to
find out that all this biased information was not true and that
just the
opposite was true. If today someone goes to Skopje, he will not be able
to hear
that the majority of the population speaks Bulgarian. It stands to
reason that
the people do not dare speak Bulgarian publicly, because otherwise the
citizens
will either be shot en masse or will be thrown into prison. It is
forbidden to
teach in Bulgarian in the schools,
as well as in the churches and monasteries, and there the services are
held in
Serbian.
The centre of Macedonia
are
the districts of Ohrid, Prilep, Prespa, Moglena, Ostrovo, Kostour,
Veles,
Skopje, Voden, Melnik. There the population is pure Bulgarian -
not only the
language, but the entire spiritual life is Bulgarian. In these places I
spoke
with hundreds of peasants, workers and intelligentsia and all
immediately
assured me that they were Bulgarians and that they wished to be
Bulgarians in
their own land. All over Macedonia I was able to see that the
population is
peaceloving and very weary from the recent wars; but they told me - we shall have to take to
arms again
because we are being tortured and are not left in peace. The
Macedonians are
Bulgarians and their duty is to work for the liberation of this land,
it is
their duty to their children.
These thoughts here are
expressed in a
short article, but once again I should like to point out that whatever
I have
seen and heard in Macedonia I would like to make public without any
political
combinations before European public opinion.
The impressions recorded
above are the first I had there. War, unrest, bloody uprisings, dark
slavery,
murder, violence, persecution fill the pages of this Macedonian book.
When is
it that the word 'peace' will finally be inscribed on the last page of
this
terrible struggle? 'Peace', 'free Macedonia', 'Macedonia for the
Macedonians'?
When these words are printed then we shall have a happy and free
Macedonia and
the population of the land will look forward to a happy and peaceful
future.
Veritas, Macedonia under oppression 1919-1929, Sofia, 1931, pp. 511-512; the original copy is in Bulgarian
In an article entitled 'Horrifying and Shameful Statistics' the paper Makedonsko Delo
reports on the number of Bulgarian schools and churches closed by the Serbs
Under this title, the
Belgrade newspaper Politika, on the 14th of this month, gives
'horrifying and shameful statistics' about the Slovene schools closed,
or
turned into Italian ones, in the lands occupied by the Italians. Thus
from 1918
up till now, the Italian i authorities have gradually closed all
schools, and
now out of 222 primary schools only a few have remained and out of the
high
schools not one has remained.
And the newspaper Politika
is angry at the fact that the League of Nations tolerates such a
scandal and
does not plead the case of the Yugoslav minorities in Italy, the more
so, as it
is well known that Yugoslavia had given to the minorities 'the greatest
rights
in every respect'. Indeed, we too are ready to remonstrate with the
League of
Nations, but before doing so, we shall give the following statistics:
after
taking over Macedonia, the Serbian authorities at one blow closed 641
Bulgarian
schools with 1,013 teachers and 37,000 students, 761 Bulgarian churches
with 6
bishops and 833 priests, tens of library clubs and other cultural
institutes.
As can be seen, those horrifying and shameful statistics refer to the
Serbian
state, which, according to Politika, has given rights to the
minorities.
It is shameful cynicism to cry over your own minorities, when you
yourself are
trampling on and stifling other nations.
As for the misfortune of
our
brothers in fate, the Slovenians under the barbarous regime of
Mussolini, we
express our heartfelt sympathy with them, because we well know what it
means to
live under the pressure of the chauvinistic and assimilationist madness
of an
oppressor.
And there is only one
way
to
liberation: the common mass revolutionary struggle and the union with
all oppressed
peoples.
Newspaper Makedonsko Delo. Vienna, No. 34, 1927; the original is in Bulgarian.
From an article in the German press on the situation of the Bulgarians in Macedonia under Serbian domination
Many German newspapers
have
published an
article from the agency Telegraphen Union which, among other things,
states the
following:
'However, the biggest
worry
for the economy of Macedonia is the lack of an outlet to the sea. In
Macedonia
a person is convinced of the obvious fact that in 1913 it was very
unreasonable
to divide this country among Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria, and that the
after-effects of this division were exacerbated as a result of the
peace
treaties of 1919. For centuries, Soloun was the natural port of
Macedonia. Today
it is severed both from Macedonia and from Albania.
Moreover, from the
political
and national point of view, this 'change of regime' has done
practically
nothing to bring the population and the government closer
together, nor have
tolerable conditions been created for cultural and political
development. The
turning of Bulgarians into Serbs has not succeeded, and it is
especially
typical that young Macedonians finishing their education in Serbian
higher
schools preserve their Bulgarian Macedonian feeling and remain
irreconcilable
to the Serbs. And, taking into consideration the fact that the
population there
is, in general, conservative, it is easy to understand the
disillusionment of
the Serbs. Village schools have a rather superficial influence on
the youth,
and, in the course of three or four years, they forget almost
everything they
study in school with the exception of reading and writing. But since
both Serbs
and Bulgarians have one and the same alphabet -the Cyrillic one - there
is
nothing to prevent former Serbian students from writing Bulgarian words
with
the same alphabet.
After seven years of
rule
by
terror, there has been created a situation which is best summed up in
the
answers given to my question by a Serbian gendarme in Shtip, and a
rich peasant
from the same locality. To my question as to the nationality of the
population
from the district of Shtip, the former answered:
'They now call
themselves
Serbians. But
this is not true. They are all Bulgarians.'
The
latter had answered:
'For six years now they
have
been impressing upon us that we are Serbians. All right, we agree to be
Serbians, but if some change occurs, then in 24 hours we shall become
Bulgarians.'
I
repeat. The national consciousness of the population is very strong,
indelible
and it is cultivated by the intelligentsia.
In terms of cultivating
national feelings, a very important role was played by the Internal
Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization — the 'Committee' as they call it in
Macedonia -
whose influence is even now very strong. This, I would call it, mystic
faith in
the power of the mysterious all-knowing and ubiquitous Committee
working for
the fulfillment of the Macedonian national idea and fighting for
autonomy of
the country, is as indelible and sacred as the national feeling itself.
I am
not sure whether every Macedonian knows who King Dusan was, and what he
did,
but I can guarantee that they all know who Dame Grouev, Gotse Delchev
and Todor
Alexandrov (the hero of the Macedonian movement) were and they
honour their names.
Finally the Serbs had to
retreat on one point: they found themselves forced to allow the use of
the
Bulgarian Macedonian dialect not only in private communication and in
the
streets (before this was punished) but in spoken contact with the
authorities.
The authorities say that the language of the Macedonians is not
Bulgarian but a
Serbian dialect. This, however, is a kind of self-deception. There is
no need
for a person to be a philologist; it is sufficient to know the Yugoslav
languages in order to realize right away that the Macedonian
language is a
Bulgarian dialect. If it were to be considered a Serbian dialect, it
could be
said equally correctly that the Czech language was a Serbian dialect.
The Serbs
have not gone further. But this concession is enough to prove that the
Bulgarian Macedonian consciousness is invincible.
Veritas, Macedonia under oppression 1919-1929, Sofia, 1931, PP. 509-510; the original copy is in Bulgarian
Letters to the Representation Abroad of the IMRO about the situation of
the Bulgarian population in Macedonia under Serbian rule, and other matters
For some time the names
of
the killers of
old Mishe Gavrilov and his son Hristo have been known in our town. From
the
very beginning it was clear from which circles they came, but today the
moral
and physical killers are known with certainty.
The murder was ordered
by
Zhika Lazich through Srnyakovich, and the physical killers are Stoyan
Sudikliiski,
Sane Dolanetsa, an enemy of the armed detachments, and several
policemen. The
policemen were ordered to stay in front of the Kezhovitsa baths, and
they fired
into the air when the first shot of the killers was heard. This shot
was needed
to deceive the citizens while the killers hid for some time in the
office of
the governor of the province. However despite all measures which the
authorities took, there are citizens who have witnessed this crime.
Today the
killers are going free shamelessly telling their friends of their
loathsome
crime of October 31, 1927.
Hristo Bouyukliicheto
was
killed by a group of gendarmes on the road from Shtip to
Tsarevoivillage.First
they kidnapped Baroukchiev instead of him, and were going to kill him,
but when
they realized their mistake they set him free, and caught the victim
they were
looking for. Hristo realized when they took him out of the town that
they were
going to drown him, he tried to resist, and refused to walk. He was
stabbed
with a bayonet, and was thus killed.
A young man from Berovo
named Simeon, was
likewise killed by the gendarmes near the town, while 'he was
being taken to
Tsarevo village for interrogation'.
Four peasants from
Sassa,
Kochani district,
were bayonetted by the gendarmes even before being arrested and
brought to
trial for helping the rebels and for participation in the IMRO.
The butchers receive
rewards for these
killings and rob their victims. While drinking in the taverns, they
describe
their crimes.
Earlier old Spiro
Razvigorov,
the father of the deceased Mishe Raz-vigorov, was arrested in
connection with
the attempt on General Kovachevich's life. After the interrogation,
when he was
cursed and spat at, they let him go home.
At the same time the
following people were detained, and then released: Povche Gichev
(watchmaker)
and Dimiter Kovachev-Djoklev. The latter was beaten up until he
practically
lost his mind by the notorious torturer of the Shtip prison, Marko
Zernogoreza,
nicknamed the Comitadji.
We hear that the
authorities
could not find evidence of the participation of the teacher Nedkov in
the
assault on Kovachevich, and they are now going to try him for other
things,
i.e. for his work as a tax collector in the village of Orizari, Kochani
district, during the war, and for his interview given to the Journalist
Orisher. Gramkov, who was sentenced by the Serbians to 12 years
imprisonment,
is known to be innocent. The peasant who had to prove that the former
had
maintained contacts with the IMRO, was tortured and beaten to death.
However,
when in the courtroom he had to identify Gramkov, he said: 'Gentlemen,
judges,
do not make me commit a sin, and become the cause of this young man's
death! I
do not know Gramkov and I have never seen him in my life.' Despite
this,
however, Gramkov was sentenced to 12 years penal servitude. This
is how people
are being killed, sentenced and arrested in our parts.
A
letter from Prilep
The beginning of May 1928
The 'do-gooder' Vassil
Turbich, arrested in
connection with the murder in the Bitolya district.
The 'do-gooder' Vassil
Turbich who recently
sent an inquiry through the newspapers to Koroshets, the Minister of
the
Interior, in our defence, is carrying out his 'good deeds' in secret.
We, the
people of Prilep, know him very well as a rebel in the past and as a
robber of
other people's property and 'national' representative at present.
Lately this
'do-gooder' has become cunning enough to purge his district of the
intelligentsia in a very peculiar manner in agreement with the big
shots in Belgrade.
When he wants to get rid of somebody who stands in his way, he whispers
to him
secretly: 'Run away, or you are going to be killed.' So far he has
given this
message to 7 men in the town, and we are waiting to see how many more
will
receive it. Naturally, the victims flee to Belgrade, expecting that
there they
will be left in peace, and leave all their property behind. This method
of
purging people works very well, and probably Turbich, as a member of
the
'Zabrana' Union will be rewarded for it.
This is the truth about
the
assault against the district police chief, which was staged by himself.
The aim
of laying the bomb was to arrest Iliya Antonov, the teacher and the
mayor of
the village of Bouchin. The latter had moved to one town where he
thought he
would be safer.After those two and several other men were arrested, the
'inquest' was concluded. Iliya Antonov and the mayor of Bouchin were
put in 40
kg heavy chains and they will be put on trial as members of the IMRO
and for
'participation in the assault'.
Ivan
Boyadjiev, who was
killed, had been warned about it by Turbich. It is interesting to know
why,
since he knew he was going to be killed, Turbich did not name the
source of his
information.
We know the following
about
the murder of
Mitsko, the mayor of Bach, Bitolya district: his wife saw the senior
policeman
who asked him to go out in the night and killed him. As she knows the
killer
very well, she immediately went to Bitolya to lodge a complaint with
the
governor, but instead of receiving protection, she was advised to
'keep her
mouth shut'. These are the highly praised administrators in
Macedonia —
professional murderers from the gendarme up to the governor.
Dear Mr. Georgiev,
I have been planning to
write
to you for a long time, but I have been busy, and have no time to write
to you
in detail. I shall be brief today, but will write to you about
everything in a
few days. I have even written two letters containing information from
our
comrades, and if you think it fit, you may publish them in the
newspaper. They
are not well put together but, anyway, you are going to edit them, and
that is
why I am sending them as they are. I am also sending the picture, and
the last
parcel for the parents of the victims will be dispatched today. The
gardeners
in the main towns of the Ortash and Prossyakov districts have been
given 10
pictures each to have at their disposal in the event of their needing
them. The
gardeners from the Ortash district are looking for 2 revolvers. Shall
we buy
them here or are you going to send them? Please, write to tell us if we
can
send 18 pictures to the hospital there at the beginning of this month.
I sent
them some last month but I have not sent them any this month. There are
some
people who are asking for grants. We are going to support them for the
time
being, and I shall give you their names in my next letter
I would like you to give
me
permission to meet a gardener but it will not be for some time yet, and
I shall
write to you about it later.
A lot of information is
coming about the situation in the monastery, shall
I
write to you about it in detail? What I mean is letters like these
which I send
to you.
I got a letter from Mr.
Deyanov, and I have begun work in connection with Kyustendil. If I get
more
detailed information I shall answer you.
I have not heard from
you
for a long time and
I do not know whether you are in Sofia. Please write to let me know
whether you
have received the present letter.
One of these days I
shall
write to you
about everything in detail.
Many greetings and my respects,
Robert Kreimst
P.
S. Haven't you any news to give us?
ЦПА, ф. 226, оп. 2, а.е. 38, л. 18, 19,24; the original is in Bulgarian.
From the memorandum on the situation of the oppressed nations on the Balkans handed to
the Third Congress of National Minorities in Geneva on behalf of the IMRO (united)
.... Macedonia is a
country
of 65,000
square kilometres and its boundaries to the east are the River
Mesta and the
Rhodope Mountains, to the north and north-east and north-west are the
mountains
Rila, Osogovo, Cherna Gora and Shar, and to the west - the mountains
Korab and
Bigia, and to the south – the
mountains Pindus and Olympus, the River Bistritsa and the Aegean Sea.
Its population is
2,300,000.
Before the Balkan war of 1912 Macedonia was part of the Turkish state.
In spite
of the fact that up till 1908 the Macedonian population was
deprived of
political liberties - which it acquired after the revolution of the
Young Turks
on July 24th, 1908 - this population, even during the bloody regime of
the
Sultan Abdul Hamid, enjoyed cultural rights. All the nationalities of
this
country had their schools, libraries, cultural institutes,
churches. Soon
after the wars of 1912-1913 - initially the Balkan states - Bulgaria,
Serbia,
Montenegro and Greece - formed an alliance against Turkey, while later,
they
fell out over the division of the spoils, and fought among themselves,
namely,
Serbia, Montenegro and Greece, which were joined by Romania and their
recent
adversary Turkey, against Bulgaria - after these wars, as we were
saying, at
the congress in Bucharest in June 1913 Macedonia was divided between
Serbia,
Greece and Bulgaria and about half its territory was given to Serbia,
4/10 to
Greece and 1/10 to Bulgaria. After the World War, certain changes in
its
division took place, and the district of Strumitsa was taken from
Bulgaria and
given to Serbia.
The situation in the
three
parts of Macedonia, which was 'liberated by the Balkan Christian
states' is as
follows:
In Macedonia under
Serbian
oppression, all governments in Belgrade, regardless of the general
tenor of
their home and foreign policy, have followed one and the same policy as
regards
the Macedonians: to change the national character of the country, to
assimilate
and denationalize its population. In order to achieve this goal, the
governments have resorted to most disgusting means, and this they have
done in
front of the representatives of the Great Powers. The Macedonian
people, i.e.
all nationalities living there and on whose behalf we are speaking:
Bulgarians,
Albanians, Turks, Jews, Wallachians, Greeks, Gypsies, are deprived of
all
political and civil rights. All Serbian governments have treated them
and are
treating them as Serbs, thus: the Bulgarians as pure Serbians, i.e. not
only as
regards nationality, but also as regards religion, the Turks and
Albanian
Mohammedans - as Serbs of the Mohammedan religion, the Jews as Serbs of
Jewish
religion, while the Greeks and the Wallachians, being a small minority
of
several tens of thousands, due to political considerations, in view of
friendly
relations with Greece and Romania, are treated as the only minorities
in the
country.
The Macedonian people
are
outlawed. Arrests, extraditions, beatings, tortures, heavy sentences,
very
often capital punishment, murder, these are ordinary phenomena
there. Mass
murder is not rare, either. In 1923, 29 peasants from the village of
Garvan
(Radovish district) were shot with machine-guns. Prisons, not only in
Macedonia, but throughout Yugoslavia, are full of
Macedonians. In Yugoslav prisons there are a total of
7,500 Macedonians, many of them in preliminary detention. Terror in
this part
of Macedonia is one of the means
by which the Serbian government rules and not only through its army,
police and
gendarmerie, but also through the former and present members of armed
detachments
as Pekjanets, Trbic, Kalamatiev and hundreds of other killers. In order
to
change the ethnical character of the country the Serbian governments
have
settled Serbs in the lands of the Macedonian peasants, and they are not
only
expropriators of the lands of the Macedonian peasants, but also agents
of an
imperialist policy of denationalization. These colonists are to the
Macedonian
population what the Kurdjalis were a century ago in the Balkans. The
Serbian
MP's from the Democratic Party, which is now in the government,
declared not
long ago: 'Macedonia is being governed as it was 600 years ago.'
As for the state of the
Macedonian people in terms of culture, we shall give just a few
statistics
which speak more eloquently than anything else: When this part of
Macedonia was
under Turkey, the Macedonians of Bulgarian nationality had 641 schools,
including 40 grammar schools and 4 high schools, 1,013 teachers, 37,000
students and 761 churches with 839 priests. Today all this is
non-existent. The
Turkish nationality had its own schools; the Albanians also. Today
almost all
Turkish schools are closed, and there are no Albanian schools.
If we look at the
economic
situation of
Macedonia under Serbian domination, we shall see that towns, which
were
previously developing rapidly and the population of which lived in
comparative
well-being, are today in complete decline. Many towns, with the
villages around
them, are deprived of their natural outlets; such towns are Bitolya,
Debur,
Prilep, Tetovo, Gostivar, Kichevo, Veles, Kavadartsl, Shtip, Radovish,
Strumitsa, Doiran, Gevgeli, Koumanovo and even Skopje.
The Serbian governments
are
doing their best to destroy the Macedonian population economically. The
majority of peasants have no land. The agrarian reform worked out by
the
Serbian government seven years ago is not being implemented.
Furthermore, the
government is depriving the Macedonian peasants of their land and is
giving it
to colonists, and former cabinet ministers, deputies, former and
present
officials and members of armed detachments. But this is not all. It
exploits
the labour of the tobacco-producers by buying the tobacco from the
producers
through its monopoly organization at 5 to 12 dinars, while the best
tobacco
which costs the producers themselves a minimum of 30 dinars to produce
is being
purchased for 24 dinars a kilogram. The same thing happens with other
agricultural products. The labour of the peasants, who represent 92% of
the
population, is being appropriated in various ways: through ordinary
robbery,
through making them sell their produce at prices below production cost,
through
various taxes and fines and, finally, bribes, which are something
normal there.
The economically ruined peasantry influences the conditions of the
population
in the towns. In the towns large masses of workers are out of work and
they are
actually starving. The majority of workshops are closed. Between
January and
March, over 600 shops closed. Artisans and tradesmen are undergoing an
unheard-of crisis. They do not receive credits from the state banks,
and thus
they are forced to take loans from various money-lenders to whom they
pay 120%
interest. Even those Macedonian tradesmen who support the Serbian
governments
are deprived of state credits.
The policy of the
Serbian
governments
in Macedonia is a policy of lawlessness, terror and robbery. These
governments
look on Macedonia as a colony; they treat the Macedonian population in
the way
the big imperialist countries treat the colonial peoples.
If we analyze the way
the
Macedonian people live under Greek domination, we shall see that
the situation
is the same: it is under the same system and suffers the same
treatment. The
Greek governments drove the Turks out of Macedonia after robbing them;
they
create difficulties to the Jews in order to make them leave the
country; they
drive out the Bulgarians. They drive them out in two ways: unlawfully
by
maltreating them, arresting them, punishing them most severely by
exiling them
to the islands or killing them. The incidents in Soloun,, Kavala,
Drama, Lerin,
Boutim and Turlis, where 17 Macedonian peasants were shot dead, are
well known
and there is no need to dwell on them here. Bulgarians are also being
persecuted on 'legal grounds', i.e., according to a criminal, cruel and
barbaric
treaty, signed between the Bulgarian and Greek governments and
providing the
so-called voluntary emigration of the population. According to
this Treaty,
tens of thousands of Macedonians were driven away from their homes and
left
naked and poor. These unfortunate people, who had earned their living
in their
own towns and villages, have been for years roaming Bulgaria in poverty
and
misery, dying of disease, and sometimes even of hunger; they are
exhausted and
without any means of livelihood, and the Bulgarian government which
pretends to
take care of them and which has secured an international loan for the
refugees,
is actually using the misfortune of the refugees for its own ends.
There is no difference
between the attitudes of the Greek and Serbian governments, as regards
the
Macedonian nationalities. These nationalities in Greece, such as
remain, are
being treated as slaves. Lack of political rights, economic oppression,
administrative arbitrariness and terror, exile, imprisonment,
murder - this is
the situation in which the nationalities find themselves. In this part
of
Macedonia there are various boards like the one called 'Macedonian
Fist'; they
are stooges of the government, like Captain Stefan and his acolytes,
who go
from village to village terrorizing and killing the population. Here
there is
also corruption among the officials, gendarmes, police, officers. Here,
too,
there are colonizers but to greater degree. Of the Greek peasants,
workers,
artisans, merchants and intelligentsia who were driven out of Asia
Minor, East
Thrace and Bulgaria - a total of 1,400,000 people- half have settled in
Macedonia. The Greek governments make use of those refugees for
political
purposes. They had to settle them somewhere, but instead of taking the
land of
the local population and driving them away, they should have taken the
lands
from the big landowners, churches and monasteries, and they should have
taken
funds for their settlement from the Greek capitalists. The Greek
governments
settled refugees, but always to the disadvantage of the local
population of
Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Turks, Jews. We should add: we are not
against
the Greek refugees; they are not enemies of the local population they
are the
brothers of the Macedonian peasants, workers, artisans, merchants,
intelligentsia. But we protest against the Greek government's policy of
denationalization, assimilation and oppression towards the local
non-Greek
nationalities, against the oppression of the local Greeks, since they
use the
wretched refugees to achieve their own aims and, in this way, they whip
up
enmity among the different nationalities in Macedonia.
The condition of the Macedonian people, in
terms of culture, is the same as it is in Macedonia under Serbian
domination.
We shall give some statistics about the situation. As far as the
Bulgarian
nationality goes, in 1912 the Macedonian Bulgarians in this part of
Macedonia
had: 349 schools, including 20 secondary schools and 6 high schools,
750
teachers, 19,000 students, 378 churches and 300 priests. All these are
now
non-existent. Turkish schools and mosques are also non-existent. In
Macedonia
under Greek domination, in accordance with the criminal agreement
in Lausanne
for exchange of population, there are no Turks left.
If we analyze the situation
in that part of Macedonia which is under Bulgarian domination, we shall
see
that here the situation is different from that of Macedonia under
Serbian and
Greek domination. The Macedonian Turks and Greeks who lived here
previously
have been driven out. The population of this part of Macedonia, being
of
Bulgarian origin, have cultural rights. They have their own schools,
churches,
etc. And this is the only difference between the situation of the
Macedonians
under Serbia and Greece and of the Macedonians under Bulgaria. In every
other
respect, the situation in this part of Macedonia does not differ from
that in
the parts under Greece and Serbia and, in some respects, it is even
worse.
The political regime existing
in Macedonia under Bulgarian rule is one of the most tyrannical in the
world.
The present regime throughout
Bulgaria is tyrannical and criminal but, in the part of Macedonia under
Bulgaria, it is barbaric in the literal sense of the word. This is
neither more
nor less a satrapy of the Bulgarian government which is exerting all
power
mainly through Macedonians organized in an organization called the
Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, headed by Ivan Mihailov and
General
Protogerov.
In Macedonia
under the rule of the bloodthirsty fascists, the population has neither
civil nor political
rights. Freedom of the press, of assembly, association and speech —
these are
unheard of in these parts. These rights are being enjoyed only by a
group of
people supported by the Bulgarian government, people who are exploiting
the
population which is being treated worse than the slaves in Asia and
Africa.
Newspapers legally published in Bulgaria are forbidden here. Every
one who
does not support the rule of the Bulgarian fascists and their stooges -
Protogerov and Ivan Mihailov - is persecuted. In this area the
population has
absolutely no opportunity for expressing its own will. During the last
elections, on May 29 this year, in this part of Macedonia the tickets
of the
Bulgarian opposition parties were not accepted, and the only tickets
for which
the people were allowed to vote here was the ticket of the government
of
Lyapchev, imposed on them by the killers Ivan Mihailov and Protogerov.
And, in
order to mislead public opinion in Bulgaria, and especially abroad,
they called
their ticket that 'of the entire community'.
During the last
few years, many crimes have been committed in this part of the country.
In 1923
after the coup, when the government of Stamboliiski was overthrown, 100
Macedonians were killed; in September of the same year, 110 people were
killed,
and, in 1924, again in September, 160 people - the most active leaders
of the
population during the Turkish domination - were killed; in May 1925 -
80
peasants, workers and artisans from the district of Nevrokop were
killed
because they were suspected of being the political friends of the
eminent
Macedonian revolutionary, Todor Panitsa, who was killed by the same
gang in the
Burgtheater in Vienna; in August the same year, 28 peasants from the
district
of Gorna Djoumaya were killed. Murder has become an ordinary thing in
this
part. To say nothing of the beatings, rapes, arrests and tortures to
which the
population is subjected every day.
As for the
economic situation of the Macedonian Bulgarians in this part, they live
under
the most tragic conditions. Poverty, hunger, unemployment, high prices
of
essential imported goods, low purchase prices for the main crops -
tobacco, in
particular - which are fixed by the tobacco companies, whose chief
agents in
robbing the population are people belonging to the gang of Protogerov
and Ivan
Mihailov, this is the position of the Macedonians under Bulgarian rule.
Newspaper Balkanska Federatsia, Vienna, No. 74/75, Sept. 1, 1927; the original is in Bulgarian.
For three months a terrible
tragedy has been taking place in the dark subterranean cells of
the Skopje
prison: almost 80 Macedonian youths, half of them students at different
universities in Yugoslavia, are being subjected to unspeakable
torture. The
cream of young Macedonia is today writhing in the bloodstained hands of
the
murderers from Belgrade. Rotting flesh in living bodies, broken ribs,
splinters
under the nails, bleeding wounds - this is the condition of the
young
Macedonian prisoners. Moreover, moral torture, threats of shooting
beside a
newly dug grave, Jesuitical lies, - this completes the tragic plight of
the
arrested.
Why were they
arrested and why are they being submitted to such monstrous tortures?
The
answer to this question is very clear.
The tyrants in
Belgrade know that Macedonia is a foreign land, that it is inhabited by
a
nation alien to them and that for many years it has been carrying on a
struggle
for liberation and independence. When they came to our homeland for the
first
time they knew this truth and they tried to find ways of changing this
situation, of turning Macedonia, which they needed so much, into a
Serbian
province. They also knew that the older Macedonians, reared in struggle
and
living it, would not so easily bow their heads and would not so easily
become
'real Serbians'. That is why they paid the greatest attention to the
young
people, to the children just growing. And the oppressors started: they
converted the schools into places where the policy of Serbianization
was
carried out, where by kindness, gifts, prizes and all sorts of
Jesuitical
methods, they are trying to poison the young! souls with Greater
Serbian
chauvinism; many Sokol organizations, football teams, etc., were
founded under
the control of experienced Serbianizers, where Greater Serbian leprosy
was
systematically introduced; they increased the number of scholarships,
free
excursions throughout Yugoslavia, receptions and dinners given by the
King and
cabinet ministers; and all over Macedonia brothel and taverns have been
opened,
and the authorities systematically encourage profligacy, junketting,
etc. All
this is being done in order to direct young people into paths that will
most
easily distract them from their everyday grievances and the needs of
the
enslaved people, as well as to ensnare them in the web of
Serbianism and
chauvinism.
However, the
oppressors miscalculated. In spite of their manipulations, the
Macedonian youth
did not give in. The Serbian imperialists are full of rage because
yesterday's
children, whom they hoped would help them make Macedonia Serbian, are
maturing
as young people with a Macedonian consciousness irrespective of
whether they
are Bulgarians, Wallachians, etc. The Serbian rulers cannot accept the
fact
that their last hopes in connection with the young people are dying;
they
tremble at the thought that these young people will join the struggle
and will
continue the cause of the liberation of their enslaved people. And,
since there
remains no other way - the tyrants have resorted to mass terror and
bloody
bacchanalias.
This is the
basic reason for the sadistic fury with which the Belgrade
torturers have
lately hurled themselves upon the Macedonian youth. They easily found a
pretext
for their hellish plans: a provocateur 'revealed' an organization and
named
several victims in Skopje, who were arrested and the 'questioning'
started...
Unfortunately, 4 days later, other provocateurs and foreign agents
organized a
senseless attack, which was most welcome for the Serbians: they widened
the
arrests, increased the tortures, since they wanted at all costs to
establish
that the arrested youths were accessories to the attack. Thus began the
horrifying
tragedy, which to this very day, is going on within the thick walls of
the
Skopje prison.
The endless suffering and
cries of the desperate victims are heard afar. Professors from Zagreb,
Ljubljana and Belgrade have visited the prisoners and witnessed the
tortures to
which they have been subjected. But the tyrants from Belgrade gagged
them with
their blood-stained paws, and as yet they cannot .say anything to
tell the
world about the barbaric deeds of the arrogant rulers. The cries of the
victims
have gone beyond the boundaries of Yugoslavia. And protests have been
heard
from afar: the cream of French science, literature and politics have
raised
their voices in defense of the arrested young people. The five thousand
strong
Macedonian emigration is deeply moved and is energetically defending
its
unfortunate children. The protests will continue and must continue
until there
is an end to the horrors of the Skopje prison.
And let the
tyrants know that they cannot bury the thousands of Macedonian
youths in one
prison. Let them know that prisons create not only martyrs but also
heroes,
fanatical fighters, who will work with even greater enthusiasm and
self-sacrifice for the cause of the people.
Newspaper Makedonsko Delo, Vienna, No. 50, Sept. 25, 1927; the original is in Bulgarian.
The newspapers
have given full information about the trial. What should be noted is
that, at
the first sitting, when it was announced that the defendants would
speak openly
and bring the Macedonian problem before the court, the entire nation
awaited
the trial with great sympathy and impatience. As the paper Makedonsko
Delo
wrote, the trial was postponed at the request of some of the defence
lawyers
who wanted the chairman to be changed, a very well based request, since
the
chairman was biased. But the defendants would not agree to this, they
discharged their lawyers and fully supported the chairman. This came as
a
surprise to all. The explanation is as follows: V. Trbic and the mayor
of Shtip
D. Karadjovhad gone to see the defendants in prison and tried to
persuade them
to behave as Yugoslavs and not as Macedonian Bulgarians, to admit that
to a
certain extent they were guilty and regretted their action. If they
behaved in
this way, most probably the majority would be acquitted, a few would
get a
light sentence and would later be amnestied or pardoned.
These promises
were the reason for the lack of militancy in the behaviour of the
defendants.
Some of them spoke of some vague South Slavdom, while others declared
outright
that they were Serbs and that Macedonia was Serbian. All agreed with
the
defence of the lawyers which was based on the same principle. This
behaviour
of theirs impressed the people unfavourably. The disillusionment
and despair
now are far greater than before the trial. The government did not
fail to
plead their own cause, even through the mouths of the defence. The
speeches for
the defence were, in the majority of cases, hymns to the idea of
Greater
Serbia. The inhuman terror and torture to which the defendants had been
subjected were not sufficiently exposed in court. Some of the
defendants went
so far as to say that they had not been beaten up.
The interest of
the people towards the trial was great. Many streets around the court
house
were full of people. The defendants were passed through other streets
on the
way to the court and the police drove the people away with whips. The
people
are full of indignation and disgust at this Draconian sentence,
but there is
also great disillusionment and regret at the behaviour of the
defendants, which
was lacking in seriousness and maturity. This was a blow to the entire
Macedonian intelligentsia and the entire Macedonian people.
Newspaper Makedonsko delo, Vienna, No. 56, Dec. 25, 1927; the original is in Bulgarian.
1 The trial of a group of Bulgarian intelligentsia from Vardar Macedonia, mainly students, members of the Secret Youth Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (SYMRO).
50
The newspaper Makedonsko Delo, in a report entitled 'By the Shar Mountains there is also terror and violence',
gives information about the persecution of the Bulgarians in Macedonia under Serbian domination
As all over Macedonia, here, too, in our
district the situation is very bad, the economic crisis is serious.
Thanks to
the good harvest last summer, and to the fact that masses of people go
to other
places to work, the population here is still able to make both ends
meet. Of
course, there is no question of buying clothes or other things, because
the
money-lenders and the usurers take everything. Also, the corrupt
officials will
do no work unless they are bribed. As a matter of fact, it is not
possible to
make a distinction between taxes and bribes, because the officials go
so far
that nobody knows what is for their own pockets and what is for the
state.
The political atmosphere is
very heavy. Up till now, since we have not been subjected to attacks by
gangs,
the situation has been bearable. But here, too, conditions have
changed. All
who call themselves Serbs and the new Serbian settlers are
required to spy on
the population. Almost every family has someone in the 'black list'. In
this
list are the names not only of the more alert citizens, but of all who
were
Exarchists in the past. The authorities are trying to set the Albanians
and
Turks against the Bulgarians and, with their help, stifle the
'Bugarashi', whom
they bitterly hate. But it is doubtful whether they will succeed, since
the
Mohammedans in these parts have suffered quite a lot from the
oppressors from
Belgrade. They feel that the Government only intends to use them, and
that
tomorrow it will turn against them, just as it did previously.
Every evening Serbianized
people and settlers hide under windows and even climb over walls to
eavesdrop
at different houses. Each is assigned a person to spy on, and
later he reports
to the authorities. Besides, people considering themselves
Serbians and
settlers are organized in the armed militia.
To it are recruited only
those who are most loyal and devoted to the government.
Three weeks ago, there was a rumour that
three members of the Committee had-passed through our region. Of
course, this
was only a rumour; most probably someone was having a joke, but the
entire
police, army and gendarmerie were alerted. And nothing happened.
Here, we also have a 'people's' militia. It
consists of Turks and Albanians. They don't rely on the Bulgarians.
Usually the
'people's' militia guards bridges, passes, etc., and is controlled by
strong
detachments of gendarmerie. These latter usually stand sentinel at
naturally or
artificially fortified points.
I said the pressure was strong. But this
also has another side, because a law of physics says: the stronger the
pressure
from outside, the stronger the resistance from inside. The knife which
Belgrade
is twisting in Macedonia has two edges... And in the end, Belgrade will
be
vanquished...
Newspaper Makedonsko Delo. Vienna, No. 58, Jan. 25, 1928; the original is in Bulgarian.
on the plight of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia under Serbian and Greek rule
A number of events in
Macedonia and
South-East Europe in the past year, which are still fresh in the memory
of all,
have once again confirmed that the situation in the Balkans, created by
the
treaties of 1919, is based on extremely insecure foundations. It is
becoming
ever clearer to all that no real calm and lasting peace can exist where
injustice and oppression reign over whole nations. This is especially
true of
our homeland, Macedonia, lacerated and enslaved, deprived of all
national, political
and cultural rights - even of those which were solemnly promised to it
in the
international treaties - and subjected to an inconceivable moral and
physical
terror which compels the oppressed population, in its efforts to
secure its
existence and its rights, to resort to revolutionary means of struggle,
made
inevitable under the conditions obtaining in the country.
In order to put an end
to
this situation, which is a source both of the sufferings of the
Balkan peoples
and of a great danger to peace, the Sixth Regular Annual Congress of
the
Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria considers it its
duty to
declare, that, as events for several decades now have shown, there is
only one
way and that is to put into effect the formula advanced by the great
British
statesman and humanitarian Gladstone: 'Macedonia for the Macedonians'.
In the
name of this great and lofty aim the Congress calls on the governments
of the
Great Powers to intervene, so that Macedonia be granted
self-government,
assuring them that they will make thereby an invaluable
contribution to Balkan
and European peace and will help to redress a glaring injustice.
In the past year, too,
the Greek government
did not do absolutely anything to recognize and secure to the Bulgarian
population in Macedonia its national and cultural rights envisaged
under the
treaties on the protection of the minorities, the observance of which
is an
irreversible undertaking of international significance. On the
contrary, while
continuing morally and physically to oppress the Macedonian population
and to
apply the method of compulsory emigration, the Greek government
invariably
aspires at an aim, which is exactly the opposite of the principles
which gave
rise to the stipulations on the protection of the national
minorities. Having
rejected the protocol, solemnly signed in Geneva, having also failed
the
obligations undertaken by virtue of the so-called 'questionnaire' of
Mr. Chamberlain,
today Greece does not even try to remember the famous 'Primer' which
was a
mockery with the sufferings of the Macedonian Bulgarians and with the
treaties
on the protection of the minorities and their guarantor - the League of
Nations. Instead, last year an attempt was made, though without
success, to
insult again the most cherished feelings i of the Macedonian Bulgarians
by
requesting the so-called liquidation of church and school property in
Macedonia
on the basis of an arbitrary and far-fetched interpretation of a
convention
which, in any case, has caused endless harm to the Bulgarian population
under
Greek rule.
In view of all this and
still
trustful of the lofty mission of the League of Nations to see to it
that the
treaties on the minorities are implemented and to defend the oppressed
and
enslaved, the Sixth Regular Annual Congress of the Macedonian Emigrant
Organizations in Bulgaria requests the League of Nations:
1. To secure the
cessation
of
the moral and physical oppression of the Bulgarian population in
Macedonia
under Greek rule.
2. To ensure the serious
and
effective protection of this population under the treaties on the
minorities,
the implementation of which is under the supervision and guarantee
of the
League of Nations. In this respect, in our opinion, an institute should
be
created which should observe and secure on the spot the genuine
fulfillment of
the obligations which the Greek government has assumed and which it
cannot
abrogate either by domestic legislation or by their tacit repudiation.
3. To give a real
opportunity
to the refugees to go back to their homeland and to ensure their life,
property, honour and national rights and to return to them their
property in
the settlements they have left not voluntarily but under undue pressure
and
violence.
The Serbian regime in Macedonia is still inspired by the efforts of the Serbian state to exterminate by means of moral and physical oppression the nationalities, in this region, the Bulgarians in the first place, and to obliterate for the purposes of an insane chauvinistic dream, the Macedonian individuality, clearly shaped by the centuries and by reality. The past year was marked by a new and considerable increase of Serbian terror along these lines. Coercion on the conscience and the souls acquired even more brutal forms and more horrible dimensions. At the same time arrests, trials, beatings and assassinations become more frequent. Suffice it to mention the noisy trial of the students in Skopje, with all the horrors, not to mention a number of other recent trials (in Shtip, Kavadartsi, Bitolya, etc.) or the still more numerous forthcoming trails (in Bitolya with Doctor Assen Tatarchev as the chief defendant, in Skopje with Mayor Dimiter Shalev as the chief defendant, again in Skopje - about the gramophone records with Bulgarian songs, in Shtip, in Veles, etc.). But what is without precedent, even in the history of Serbian atrocities in Macedonia, and perhaps even in the darkest periods of human history, are the assassinations, organized in the past year by the Serbian authorities of inoffensive and absolutely innocent Macedonian Bulgarians, murdered only because they were friends with certain fighters for Macedonian freedom. Thus, Mishe Gavrilov and Hristo Mihailov respectively the father and brother of Mr. Iv. Mihailov, member of the CC of the IMRO, were assassinated in Shtip, Hristo Grigorov was assassinated in Gevgeli, Toma Kouyumdjiev in Strumitsa, Georgi Angyushev in Negotino (Tikvesh).
The intensification of
Serbian terror and atrocities in the past year has inevitably led
to
resistance on the part of the oppressed population and to a series of
revolutionary acts on the part of the IMRO or of selfless sons and
daughters of
our nationality. The assaults at Pchinya, Gevgeli, Oudovo, Shtip,
Alexandrovo
(not far from Skopje), etc., as well as the exploit of Mara Bouneva in
the
centre of Skopje, were an expression of the protest and indignation of
a
nation, brought to the utmost limit of its patience due to unbearable
violence
and atrocities, mercilessly practiced by a government, which not only
does not
intend to fulfill its obligations under the treaties on the protection
of the
minorities, but even exerts all its force to crush every striving for
human and
national freedom among the population. The hopes of some people who in
certain
recent statements made in Belgrade saw the possibility of the
establishment of
a more tolerable regime in Macedonia, were utterly belied. On the
contrary, in
spite of all failures and frustration of their own efforts so far, the
Serbian
authorities in Macedonia have taken measures amounting in practice to a
complete
military occupation.
Taking into
consideration
all
this and in view of the serious eventual consequences of this
state of
affairs, the Sixth Regular Annual Congress of the Macedonian Emigrant
Organizations in Bulgaria has decided to request the League of Nations:
1) to take steps to put
an
end to Serbian terror and to ensure the observance of the national
and
cultural rights of the Bulgarian and other nationalities in Macedonia
under
Serbian rule which — we can say this without any exaggeration - need a
real and
effective international protection more than any other national
minority in
Europe. An unbiased enquiry with the participation of representatives
of
disinterested states made on the spot and in the absence of the Serbian
administration, would easily ascertain the solid grounds of the
Macedonian
complaints and the justice of the Macedonian demands;
2) to establish in
Macedonia
a special organ to control on the spot the implementation of the
treaty on the
minorities;
3) to ensure the
repatriation
of the numerous Macedonian refugees, guaranteeing their personal
security and
the enjoyment of their human and
national rights.
The Sixth Regular Annual Congress of the Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, taking into consideration that:
1)
Bulgarian public opinion invariably and in all cases manifests
fraternal
sympathy with the Macedonian liberation movement;
2) in spite of this,
individual people, guided by excessive and unjustified pessimism or
partisan
motives, sometimes try to inculcate delusions and accuse the
Macedonians that
by their struggle they infringe on or endanger the vital interests
of the
Bulgarian state;
3) the Bulgarian
governments persist in
their inertness and do not take any steps for the protection of the
enslaved
Bulgarians in Macedonia although there are explicit agreements to that
effect
and although Bulgaria itself most frequently suffers many of the
consequences
of the present intolerable situation in Macedonia, the Congress, taking
all
this into consideration, decides:
1. It calls on public
opinion
in Bulgaria never and under no circumstances to yield to any
anti-Macedonian
insinuations which misguided individuals may try to spread among the
free
Bulgarian people, and always to keep in mind that Macedonia's struggle
is not
only a struggle for political liberties but also a struggle for the
national
self-preservation of the Macedonian Bulgarians, i.e. of almost
one-third of the
entire Bulgarian population.
2. It calls on the
Bulgarian
governments to intercede in defence
of the human and national rights of the enslaved Bulgarians, ensuring, through tireless and
systematic preparations, the early or more distant success of their
efforts in
this direction, made before the foreign governments and European public
opinion.
MACEDONIAN ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS AND TO THE CHAMPIONS OF THE MACEDONIAN CAUSE
The Sixth Regular Annual
Congress of the Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria conveys
ardent
and cordial greetings to all fighters for Macedonian freedom and to the
entire
population in the enslaved country, which stoically and firmly
continues to
resist the efforts of the imposed foreign rule and heroically fights to
break
the shackles of slavery. The Macedonian expatriates bow their heads to
the
heroic exploit of so many known and unknown heroes, who over
there, in the
heart of our beautiful country, have written a new glorious page in the
annals
of the Macedonian aspirations for freedom.
The Congress also
ardently
greets all Macedonian organizations and institutions in Bulgaria,
America and
elsewhere, which assist the liberation movement or aid the
Macedonian
expatriates to meet their economic and cultural needs.
At the same time the
Congress
considers it its pleasant duty to address respectful greetings to all
those
noble men who, knowing the truth about Macedonia, spare no efforts and
time to
defend its just cause, whenever they find a suitable occasion to do so.
We
express our warm and invariable gratitude to them, as well as to all
humane and
peace-loving people, who raise their voice in defense of wretched
Macedonia.
In view of the
declarations
of prominent Serbian statesmen who have recently been raising so
zealously the
slogan 'The Balkans to the Balkan Peoples,' as the foundation of an
all-Balkan
solidarity and as the only salutary principle of the peaceful
development of
the Balkan peoples, the Sixth Regular Annual Congress of the Macedonian
Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria finds it necessary to state the
following:
1. The Macedonian
emigration
to Bulgaria considers that it truthfully expresses the ideas of our
enslaved
people outlined in long revolutionary and legal struggles when it
points out
that the realization of the formula 'The Balkans to the Balkan Peoples'
would
be only possible if all Balkan peoples are equal and free, and mutually
observe
their legitimate rights. For this purpose an autonomous or independent
Macedonia should be established within its ascertained
geographical frontiers.
In this way justice
would
be
done to the principle of Macedonia's autonomy, expressed by the first
apostles
of the Macedonian liberation movement - a principle to which the
Macedonian
emigration in Bulgaria adds that the realization of the idea of a
Balkan
federation or confederation is conceivable only under the
afore-mentioned
conditions. Therefore, the above-quoted statements of Serbian statesmen
who are
the champions of a regime, unparallelled by its brutality and efforts
at
denationalization, are nothing but the guise of crude chauvinism, of
the
ambition to subordinate the Balkans to Belgrade.
The Sixth Regular
Congress
of the
Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, noting and taking into
consideration that:
1) the Convention on
voluntary emigration, signed against the will and the interests of the
refugees, has been applied from the very beginning and up to this day
in
Bulgaria with regard to the Greeks in an atmosphere of tolerance and
freedom,
while in Macedonia under Greek rule its application is accompanied
by terror,
blackmail, single or group assassinations and results in a mass influx
of
refugees to Bulgaria;
2) the evaluation of the
quantity and quality of the property of Greeks who emigrated from
Bulgaria took
place under the most favourable conditions, while for our compatriots
in
Macedonia this evaluation took place under the most adverse conditions,
some of
them artificially created by the Mixed Greek-Bulgarian Commission;
3)
the
tariffs for the
assessment of property established by the Mixed Greek-Bulgarian
Commission are
unfair as regards the property of our compatriots, refugees;
4) in the application of
the
rules on the tariffs the Mixed Greek-Bulgarian Commission and its
sub-committees
have not been observing uniformity in their work and in the evaluation
of
property in Bulgaria and Macedonia, and thus in fact the tariffs are
applied
only in Bulgaria, while property in Macedonia is evaluated at a rate
which does
not even come up to the amount paid for one-year rent;
5) the refugees are
actually
plundered and the state treasury is defrauded as
a result of these acts of the Main Mixed Greek-Bulgarian
Commission and its
sub-committees, in which the neutral members representatives of the
League of Nations have the final say;
6) the Bulgarian
government
and its representatives on the commissions entrusted with the
application of
this convention which is fatal to our nationality, have not defended
the
interests of the refugees and those of the state treasury with
sufficient
vigour, tactfulness and understanding;
7) the temporary
certificates
received by the refugees for their already undervalued property,
are further
devalued on the market because even the
Bulgarian National Bank
considers them as
documents, the payment of which is not guaranteed;
8) the recent decision
of
the Main
Greek-Bulgarian Commission to reduce the exchange rate of the drachma
and the
agreement of the Ministers of Finances of Bulgaria and Greece to extend
the
term of reimbursement of the bonds from 12 to 30 years constitute a
further
devaluation of the property, injuring the interests of the
refugees,
1) whereas the
application
hitherto of the
Convention on voluntary emigration has proved to be a privilege for the
Greek
emigrants, it was also a means of plundering our compatriots by virtue
of an
international treaty through the brutal driving away and blackmailing
of the
Bulgarian population in Macedonia;
2) it does not recognize
the
liquidation of the property of our compatriots as lawful and just,
because the
application so far of the rules on the tariffs represents a brazen
violation of
the right and inviolability of foreign-owned property;
1) the repeated
extension of the
time-limits for filling applications to leave, because they aim the
depopulation of Macedonia of all Macedonian Bulgarians;
2) the activity of the
Bulgarian representatives on the Mixed Commission and on the
sub-committees,
because they have failed to defend the right of the Macedonian
Bulgarians, have
made possible the ruin of our refugees and have defrauded the state
treasury;
and
decides:
1) to draw the attention
of
the Bulgarian
public, of the members of Parliament and the Bulgarian government
to the above
findings and to request them to take the necessary steps;
2) to request the
Bulgarian government to do
its best for
the revision of all past decisions of the Mixed Greek-Bulgarian Commissions on
the evaluation and liquidation of the property of our
compatriots and in the future closely to follow and control the work
and
decisions of these commissions;
3) to ask the Bulgarian
government immediately to take the necessary measures to stabilize the
rate of
exchange of the provisional certificates by issuing regular bonds,
reimbursable
within 12 and not within 30 years.
Resolution of the Sixth Regular Annual Congress of the Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, Adopted at Its Sessions held on November 5, 6, 7 and 8, 1928 in Sofia, Sofia, 1928, pp. 5-9; the original is in Bulgarian.
A report to the National Committee of the Macedonian Brotherhoods in Bulgaria
on the development of education in Koumanovo district
The construction of the
church of St Nikola
in the town of Koumanovo began in 1843. Its initiator was the young man
Georgi
Ivanov Borozanov, assisted by several older men: Ivan Borozanov, Tasso
Novosselski, Dimiter Karamanov, Giyo Chorobenski, the priest Nesho and
his
brother, and other men, all Bulgarians, and the services were never
held in
Greek, only in Slavonic. In the yard, opposite the altar before the
construction of the church there was a very old school; the cemetery
was also
in this yard from time immemorial. The initiators of the construction
of the
church and other young people had studied at that school. They were
educated in
the Slav-Bulgarian language, they wrote with goose quills and used the
letters 
which we have seen in the
notebooks of our
fathers and grandfathers who went to that school, but we do not
remember the
names of the teachers from stories of our relatives.
After the construction
of
the
church, a new one-storey school was built near it with its own large,
walled in
yard, and it existed until 1910. From 1860 to 1863 the teacher Simeon
Filipov
from Shtip, a man of independent thinking, taught there. Up to his
arrival the
children had used primers with azbuki, vedi, etc., and spelt our words
like
this: buki az = ba, vede az = va, etc. and when Simeon Filipov
came he began
to teach them a, be, ve, etc., and they spelt be a = ba, ve a = va,
etc.,
without using primers but cardboard letters and diagrams with letters
and
syllables, which were pasted on square boards, and the latter were
nailed to
well polished stakes fixed to both sides of the desks. The pupils wrote
with
metal pens and goose quills; they had ink horns on their belts and
studied
arithmetic, which was called rekam. They read a book called
encyclopaedia,
which was written in Bulgarian with Slav letters, studied the Book of
Hours,
the Psalter and the Gospel. After Simeon Pilipov, Konstantin Kratovets
(Kakavan) became a teacher in 1864. Then in 1865 and 1866 Mihail
Georgiev from
Kratovo was a teacher for 2 years, and in 1867 and 1868 - Arso
Koukouryak from
Kratovo, also for 2 years. In 1869 - Kostadin Prilepchanits; in 1870
and 1871
(2 years) the priest EfremSkevra from Shtip; from 1872 to the end of
1874 -
Mihail Hristov Popov from Vranya who had graduated from the Aprilov
High School
in Gabrovo, and in 1885 he was replaced by Arso Petroushov, and Kotse
Ivanov
Borozanov, both from the town of Koumanovo. From 1876 to 1881 Mihail
Hristov
Popov from the town of Vranya again taught at the school, and at the
end of
1881 he was detained by the Turkish government in Kanli-koule - Soloun,
and
spent 6 years in prison. In 1872 the children began to be taught in the
pure
Bulgarian language with the primer and reader of D. V. Manchev from
Plovdiv.
They studied arithmetics, spelling and writing in special notebooks
with metal
pens, and also Bulgarian history with textbooks, religion, catechism
and
geography, using maps distributed by Manchev. There were maps of the
earth's
hemispheres and the five continents, as well as a map of the Balkan
Peninsula
from which they studied towns, rivers and mountains in detail. The
school and
the teachers were entirely supported by the income of the church of St
Nikola;
the teacher Mihail Hristov Popov received 5,000 grosh a year, the other
teachers before him were also paid by the church but it is not known
how much.
There were rumours that in the last two school years (1879-1880 and
1880-1881)
Mihail Hristov Popov received a salary also from the Exarchate but
whether this
is true and how much he received, is not known for certain. In the
1881-1882
school year the teachers were Peter Trendafilov and Ivan V.
Novosselski, from
the town of. Koumanovo. They took the place of their teacher M. H.
Popov, who
had been arrested. They received 600 grosh each for the 7 months in
which they
had classes, only to keep the school going. They were also paid by the
church.
Todor Bozhkov from Veles and Ivan V. Novosselski from the town of
Koumanovo
were teachers in the 1882-1883 school year. The former was paid 50
Turkish
lires a year by the Exarchate, and the latter - 2,000 grosh a year by
the
church. Todor Bozhkov, teacher of the Exarchate with an annual salary
of 50
Turkish lires, and Peter Bozhkov, also from Veles, with an annual
salary of
2,000 grosh paid by the church of St Nikola, were teachers in the
1883-1884 and
1884-1885 school years. From 1885-1886 to 1888-1889 Peter Trandafilov
and
Alexander Dimov Borozanov, teachers of the Exarchate from the town of
Koumanovo, who had graduated from the Bulgarian high school in Soloun,
were
teachers with an annual salary of 35 lires. At the beginning of
1886-1887 the
number of the staff was increased with the appointment of Dimiter
Ouzounov from
the town of Ohrid as a senior teacher with an annual salary of 75
Turkish lires
from the Exarchate. During the 1887-1888 school year D. Ouzounov taught
school
for two months and then he died in the town of Koumanovo and was
replaced by
Ivan Kraev from the town of Skopje, a teacher of the Exarchate with an
annual
salary of 50 Turkish lires, until the beginning of the 1888-1889 school
year.
During the 1888-1889 school year the teachers Ivan Kraev, Alexander
Dimov
Borozanov and Peter Trendafilov were arrested by the Turkish
authorities and
courtmartialled in Skopje; Hristo Kenin from the village of Bogdantsi,
Gevgeli
district, was appointed in their place, and during that school year he
taught
alone.
(Avksenti
Georgiev
Borozanov can provide information concerning the following years.)
The first girls' school
in
the town of
Koumanovo was opened in the 1882-1883 school year by Alexandra
Martinova from
the town of Veles. She was appointed by the Exarchate, but her salary
is not
known. She was succeeded in 1883-1884 and 1884-1885 school years
by Katerina
Nikolova Papoushkova from Skopje, followed by Tima Dimitrova from
Skopje in
1885-1886 and Efrossina Yotova from Ohrid from 1886-1887 to the
1891-1892
school year. All teachers were appointed by the Exarchate but we do not
remember their salaries. The girls' school was separate from the boys'
school.
It was in that school building in which Simeon Shtipyanets taught in
1860 and
other teachers after him before the girls' school was set up in 1882.
(Avksenti
Georgiev
Borozanov can provide further information also about this school.)
On the initiative of Georgi Ivanov Borozanov and other men from Koumanovo, in 1882 the foundations were laid of a new two-storied school building in the church yard to the north-west of the church of St Nikola. It was financed by the Church and School Board and by donations from the citizens. Later this caused the death of Georgi Ivanov Borozanov, who was killed by the Turk Alit Pyadajik and two friends of his who were bribed by the Greek bishop of Skopje. It happened in March 1881. After G. I. Borozanov's murder the school building remained unfinished for a long time and was completed by the citizens in 1882 on the initiative of Hadji Zafir Tassev Novosselski, and classes began in it in the 1882-1883 school year, and the old school building near the church yard became a girls' school.
1. The village of
Malino.
The teacher Ivan
from the town of Koumanovo taught the children in the Slav language in
1870. He
was paid by the schoolchildren's parents in money and in kind.
In 1871 and 1872 (two
years)
Andon Damyanov, born in the village of Kokoshine and graduated in
Shtip, was a
teacher in this village. He taught the children in Bulgarian with books
he
bought in Shtip.
2. The village of
Kokoshine.
Andon Damyanov was a teacher in Kokoshine (his native place) from 1873
to 1881.
He taught in Bulgarian, provided books from Shtip, and was paid by the
pupils
in money and in kind.
3. The village of Sopot.
Apostol Markov was a teacher there in 1871 and 1872 (two years). He was
born in
Ohrid, taught in Bulgarian and was paid by his pupils in money and in
kind.
4. The village of
Nemenitsa.
Hadji Pop Krustyo, born in the same village, taught in Slavonic from
1864 to an
unknown date; he was paid by the pupils in money and in kind.
5. Monasteries: Prohor
Pchinski on the river Pchinya near
the
village of Starets, the Karpina Monastery of the Virgin Mary near the
village
of Orga, the Gradish Monastery of the Virgin Mary near the village of
Gradishte
and others, were the centres of education during Turkish times up to
1890.
6. We avail ourselves of
the opportunity of
recording the following story:
There is a small room
cell-like, with a small window, in the attic to the right, i.e., the
southern
part of the church in the Prohor Pchinski Monastery, where books and
scrolls
were kept written by hand in print letters on hare skin. An old rickety
staircase led from the interior of the church to this room, and one had
to be
very careful not to fall down. Some curious worshippers and children
used to
climb these stairs to see these books of hare skin; we used to handle
them,
look at them, and very surprised in our ignorance, we used to say:
See what they used to
write
on in those times, when there was no paper. This script is very old, it
was
printed by hand with a pen and we cannot read it. A student from
Koumanovo at
the Bulgarian High School in Soloun learnt about the value of the
parchment
manuscripts and told his teacher Georgi D. Popov, who taught Bulgarian
at the
same school, about it. The latter ordered him to go to the monastery in
the
summer holidays and take as many of those valuable documents of
Bulgarian
literature and history as he could. The student did as his teacher had
told
him, and went to the monastery, but to his great surprise, the
manuscripts
were no longer there. The abbot answered his question:
'When the Serbians
conquered
the town of Vranya in 1877 and the monastery was in their hands, they
took all
manuscripts, stuffed them in two sacks, loaded them onto a horse, and
sent them
to Serbia. After the conclusion of the peace treaty the monastery
remained once
again in Turkish hands, but the hare skin books were no longer there.'
Everybody can guess the fate of these valuable parchments; the Serbians
destroyed them because they could not benefit from them, and said
nothing about
them; if they had been to their advantage they would have rent the ears
of the
world with boosting. For us, the Bulgarians, this is an irrevocable
loss and a
thing of the past, but we mention it here as a reminder of the
sacrilege
committed by our enemies.
P. Trendaf., Timok Str. 47
ЦПА, ф. 226, оп. 1, а.е. 89, л. 37-39; the original is in Bulgarian, handwritten.
A statement from the Macedonian National Committee to the League of Nations
in connection with the resumption of the trial of 15 Bulgarians in Bitolya
On the 23rd of this
month,
in the town of
Bitolya, on the territory of SCS Kingdom, the trial was resumed of 15
Bulgarians, Serbian citizens, who were arrested a year ago and are
accused of
being members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization: Dr. Assen
Tatarchev, physician from the town of Resen, Vangel Gurbev, former
mayor of the
village of Gyavato, district of Resen, priest Sofroni Andreev and
priest Nikola
Andreev from Berovo, district of Bitolya, Hristo Rizov, merchant
from Bitolya,
and others.
This trial had already
opened
on the 27th of February this year, when the court questioned the
defendants and
the witnesses. It then became clear to the court that almost all the
defendants
had been subjected to terrible torture by the police and the organs of
investigation in order to extract the confessions which these organs
required.
Thus Dr Tatarchev had been beaten many times and, as a result of the
blows, he
had become deaf; the defendant Hristo Angelov had gone mad as a result
of
beating; the defendant Pano Nahumov had become deaf as a result of
beating; the
defendant Hristo Lazarov described the ways in which he had been
tortured and
tore his clothes off before the court to show the scars and asked for
expert
medical examination; Dimiter Gochev also showed his wounds, etc.
Detailed
information on all this was given in the newspaper Politika,
published
in Belgrade, in issues for February 27th and 28th, 1928.
The entire accusation
was
based solely on some report by the voivoda Peter Traikov, which report
the
Serbian authorities had got hold of through the good services of the
Albanian
authorities. The court was not in the possession of the original of
this
report, but had a copy of it. Under these circumstances,
even for a court that
has
not
given much proof of being independent it was impossible to arrive
at a
verdict, and the court deemed it necessary to adjourn th trial for a
later
date, in order to obtain the original copy of the document which was
the only
basis for the accusation and in order to summon some new witnesses.
Meanwhile,
the Albanian Press Bureau announced on the 11th of this month that it
was
authorized to declare that 'the Albanian authorities did not know
anything
about such documents, or their existence.' It is clear that the only
proof on
which the Serbian authorities have based their accusation against the
15
Bulgarians is a document, the authenticity of which is in no way
confirmed.
In spite of all this,
and
in
spite of the revelations that torture was used to extract evidence from
the
defendants, we, taking into consideration the bitter experiences of
many other
trials of the same nature in Macedonia, fear that the trial in Bitolya
will not
end without a larger or smaller number of the defendants getting heavy
sentences, despite their obvious lack of guilt.
Indeed, this trial is
only
one of the many expressions of a system aiming at terrorizing and
exterminating
the Macedonian intelligentsia. The affair with the Macedonian students
which
ended with 9 defendants receiving heavy sentences and about which we
had the
honour to send to the most honoured League of Nations a detailed report
on
December 21st, 1927, file No. 4027, was the most glaring example of the
forms
which this system is taking and the aims which are being pursued. Since
then,
many trials have confirmed this.
Thus, in Shtip, Metodi
Agapiev, former mayor of the village of Sokolartsi, district of
Kochani,
Haralampi Davidkov, mayor, and Stefan Hristov, a clerk to the village
council,
were accused of collaborating with the IMRO and were sentenced. Again
in Shtip,
on March 21st, 1928, Kotse Shekerinov and Dimiter Natsev received four
years
for distributing Bulgarian newspapers and one leaflet in connection
with the
election campaign.
Again in Shtip, in March
this
year, 20 local people, among whom there were eminent citizens and two
women,
were put on trial, on the pretext that they had helped the assailants
who
killed the Serbian General Kovacevic. Doncho Zhivadinov, former deputy
mayor of
the city of Shtip, Kolyo Delipetrov, merchant, and Pancho Burdarov,
baker, were
sentenced to death; Ilya Velkov got 20 years solitary confinement, in
heavy
chains; Georgi Zlatkov - 15 years; Anton Stamenkov - 12 years; Stamenko
Donchev
- 15 years; Atanas Rashkov - 12 years; Traiko Koutev - 20 years; and
Mihail
Baroukchiev - 12 years. Also two women were sentenced: Kata Nousheva -
5 years,
and Yana Doneva - 4 months.
During the second half
of
March this year, in Skopje, there was a big trial against 14 eminent
citizens
from Skopje and from other towns in Macedonia. Among the defendants
were
Dimiter Shalev, deputy mayor of the city of Skopje, Hristo Traikov,
former
deputy of the Skupshtina in Belgrade, Toma Petrov, a student of law,
brothers
Gyorchev from Veles, etc. Here, too, as in other trials, the court was
told
that many of the defendants had been tortured in order to obtain
confessions of
the kind the Serbian authorities needed. Thus, the defendant Slavko
Nanchev
said that he had been taken out of the prison at night and led to the
place
called 'Gazi-baba,' where there are cemeteries, and there, before an
open
grave, he was made to confess whatever the police and the organs of
investigation dictated to him. The student Toma Petrov declared that
the Grand
Zupan, Vildovic, had tried to persuade him to accuse some of his fellow
citizens and had threatened him that, if he did not do as he was told,
not only
he himself, but his family as well, would be exterminated. The chief
defendant,
Dimiter Shalev, declared before the court that he was being persecuted
only
because 'he was a member of an old Exarchist family and because he had
graduated from a Turkish high school and a Bulgarian University.'
Detailed
information on this was given by the Serbian newspapers Politika
and Vreme
on March 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th this year. The final sentences were:
Milan
Hadji Panzov - 10 years solitary confinement, and Georgi Gyorchev - 5
years
imprisonment, while the others were declared not guilty.
From December 12th to
15th,
1927, in Bitolya, there was a trial involving a great number of
Bulgarians
accused of helping the IMRO and of taking part in the assassination of
Spas
Hadji Popovic during the summer of 1926. This assassination remains, to
a great
degree, a mystery and at the time there were mutual accusations in the
Belgrade
press on the part of the Grand Zupan of the town of Bitolya and of the
deputy
Vassil Trbic. The latter stated unambiguously that the assassins
were from the
circle of the Grand Zupan.
In spite of this, on
December
15th, 1927 the Serbian court issued the following sentences: Vassil
Nikolov
Lipitkov, a 70-year-old man - death sentence; Pavel Stoyanov, Fidan
Moysov and
Dimiter Todorov - 14 years solitary confinement; Nikola Atanasov
Abdouramanov -
20 years solitary confinement, in heavy chains; Mato pop Petrov and
Mitsko
Romanov - 5 years each of solitary confinement.
But there is an even
more
remarkable fact
in the case. The Court of Appeal
instead of upholding or reducing the sentence, as is usually the case,
gave
death sentences to Nikola Atanasov Abdouramanov, Dimiter Todorov and
Philip
Moysov as well as Vassil Nikolov Lipitkov.
So far, we have noted
here
only these political trials where the number of the defendants is quite
considerable and which have had the character of mass persecution, or
have
raised some noise, due to the eminent social status of some of the
defendants.
There are, however, many more trials, some of which have ended and
others will
begin. Thus, in Kavadartsi, several young people were sentenced for
collecting
Bulgarian folk songs. A court case has been started against 23 peasants
from
the villages of Ayvatovo, Alexandrovo and Tanevtsi in the district of
Skopje,
accused of helping Macedonian revolutionaries. There is another trial
involving
three Bulgarians and three Albanians from the villages around Skopje,
accused
of the same thing, etc.
Your Excellency,
The aim of all these
trials
becomes still clearer when placed in juxtaposition to the constant
assassinations organized by the Serbian authorities. We had the sad
duty twice,
in letters dated February 24, 1928, and March 31 of the same year, file
numbers
903 and 1942, of sending you a long list of the names of the victims of
this
extermination organized by the organs of the government. Unfortunately,
since
then the system has continued and the black line of our compatriots,
who were
killed, is growing longer every day. Thus, on March 31st the same year
the
eminent citizen, Ivan Boyadjiev, was assassinated in Prilep. In an
interpellation to the Minister of the Interior, the deputy Trbic said
that the
assassination had taken place after Ivan Boyadjiev had been all evening
with
the commander of the gendarmerie in Prilep ‘and that the assault was
committed
in front of the gates of the barracks of the gendarmerie, the seat of
the
police of the district and the city council.'
On the 29th of March in
the
village of
Vitolishta, district of Prilep, the mayor of the village, Kolyo Dinov,
was
attacked and seriously wounded. The assailants were not caught, neither
were
they sought.
On April 3rd, in
Kichevo,
the eminent
merchant Georgi Nikolov was attacked and wounded; the Serbian
press says that
the wounded man had once been 'the leader of the Exarchists.' The
assailants
were not sought by the authorities.
Again, on April 3rd, in
the
village of Beli, district of Kochani, the mayor of the village, Yordan
Dimitrov, was attacked and killed when he was coming back from Kochani.
The
assassins were not caught.
Other nationalities are
not
exempt. Turks
and Albanians are being also killed. Thus, on the 6th of this month, in
Gevgeli, the Turkish notable, Ismail Ahmed, was assassinated.
It is not possible to
give
exhaustive information of this martyrology (blood register). The number
of our
assassinated compatriots is very great, much greater, as is stated in a
document from the inner parts of Macedonia. This is an appeal of
Macedonian
citizens, published in the magazine Rad in Belgrade, and the
newspaper Borba
in Zagreb, which we deem appropriate to append to this appeal in
translation,
so that it can be seen that the actual situation in our homeland is
still more
terrible than we paint it in our many statements and complaints.
Your Excellency,
Taking in consideration
all
these indescribable sufferings of our compatriots in our native
homeland, we,
the Macedonian refugees, overwhelmed with emotion and pain, consider it
our
duty to turn once again to the League of Nations and appeal for its
serious and
speedy intervention in order to put an end to a situation which with
each
succeeding day is becoming more unbearable and more dangerous. If
the cry for
help, coming from the hearts of the Macedonians is not heard, and if
violence
is not stopped by the means available to your high institution, as well
as to
the Great Powers, we, who follow events very closely, are afraid that
the evil
may acquire such dimensions that it will result in serious and
irreparable
consequences.
Veritas, Macedonia Under Oppression 1919-1929, Sofia, 1931, pp. 460 464; the original is in Bulgarian.
A petition from the Macedonian National Committee to the League of Nations
on violations of the Treaty for the Protection of Minorities on the part of the SCS Kingdom
The information we have
about the position
of our compatriot Macedonians in the SCS Kingdom is more and more
alarming. Far
from improving, the situation is deteriorating every day. To the
general
atmosphere of oppression and constant terror and to the facts described
in the
above-mentioned documents and appeals, let us add that, according to
reliable
information received from our homeland, recently, in the district
of
Bregalnitsa, between the villages of Orizari and Vinitsa, four
peasants, whose
names are still unknown, were murdered. In Shtip, Dobri Palikroushev
and two
young men, aged 19 and 21, were killed. In Shtip prison Kosare
Razvigorov, from
Shtip, was slain.
The situation in
Macedonia
has become so unbearable that this is already often being admitted by
eminent
political figures in the Belgrade Parliament, the most recent case
being at the
session on the 4th of this month. However, up till now the government
of SCS
has not taken any measures to improve the situation, nor are there
any hopeful
signs that such measures are envisaged by the government. On the
contrary, all
orders from Belgrade in connection with Macedonia merely lead to an
increase in
the general atmosphere of oppression and lawlessness, to a crueler
terror
against the conscience and individuals, to a further consolidation of
the
military regime, to a fuller extermination of more eminent townsfolk
and
peasants through a system of assassinations, trials and every other
means of
violence. What is more, the constant efforts of Serbian propaganda
abroad to
deny even the existence of Bulgarians in Macedonia is a pointer to the
real
feelings and intentions of the Belgrade government which is considering
ways of
oppressing Macedonia more efficiently and more cruelly with a view to
denationalizing it. There is no doubt for everyone more intimately
acquainted
with the situation that this latter aim of the Serbian policy is
unattainable
and that Macedonia will never become Serbian. But oppression and
violence
inevitably provoke resistance and opposition. Deprived of national and
political rights, deprived of any lawful means for self-defense, the
Macedonian
population is deeply stirred by discontent and unrest and, while at the
moment
everything is quiet, tomorrow it may explode into an irresistible
movement. We
can catch the reverberations of muffled underground war between the
government
and the population, a war which is daily becoming hotter and which is
full of
dangerous surprises.
Your
Excellency,
On December 9th, 1919,
as
is
well-known, representatives of the Serbian-Croatian-Slovene State
signed the
Treaty for Protection of Minorities in Paris.
Article 1 of this treaty
states: 'The
Serbian-Croatian-Slovene government undertakes to acknowledge as a
basic law
the stipulations contained in Articles 2 to 8 of this chapter. No law,
regulation
or official act of the government shall contradict these stipulations,
or
supersede them.'
In accordance with
Article
9,
the SCS Kingdom undertakes to assist citizens who do not speak the
official
language, to educate their children in their own language and at the
end it
states:
'The stipulations of
this Article apply only to the lands annexed by Serbia and the
Serbian-Croatian-Slovene Kingdom from January 1st 1913 onwards.' It is
obvious
that the reference here is that part of Macedonia which was
appropriated by
Serbia in 1913, because only the northern half of Macedonia and the
sandjak of
Novi Pazar were conquered by Serbia in 1913, while the other lands were
acquired by the SCS Kingdom after the Great World War. In 1913 Serbia
found in
the part of Macedonia which she annexed a Bulgarian pedagogical school
in
Skopje, a Bulgarian high school for classical languages in Bitolya, a
Bulgarian
school for priests in Skopje, five-grade girls' schools in Skopje and
Bitolya;
three-grade Bulgarian schools in all other towns, primary Bulgarian
schools in
all towns and villages, or a total number of 641 schools, 1,013
teacher, 37,000
pupils. These schools were closed by the Serbians and the teachers
were
expelled. In 1913 Serbia found in the annexed part of Macedonia
Bulgarian
bishops, under the Bulgarian Exarchate, in the bishoprics of Debur,
Ohrid,
Bitolya, Skopje, Veles and Strumitsa. They were expelled and replaced
by
Serbians; 761 churches were seized and 833 priests were driven out,
deprived of
their parishes or forced to submit to the Serbian church hierarchy. On
top of
all this, the SCS Kingdom had built an insurmountable wall between the
population of Macedonia and its refugees so that brother cannot visit
his
brother, neither can they even communicate by letter.