A land of heroes, rich history, and breathtaking scenery. Nobody expected Macedonia and its identity to cause such a schism between neighbouring countries. And perhaps it was fate? The following are chronologically organised historical events that have been confirmed by various sources. This content should help to clear up some misconceptions about this country and its identity, as well as explain how the current political situation came about. The establishment of Macedonia, or, to be politically correct, North Macedonia. Why should a country’s name be changed if its identity is so important? And why do several of Macedonia’s neighbours state unequivocally that their history has been stolen? The reader should feel free to question anything, but if they do, they should do thorough research. We are confident that we will be on the same page after this. Were previous generations witnesses to a new type of political engineering – the engineering of a new state and nation?
Chronology of Macedonianism
| Date | Place | Event type | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | Macedonia | History | Serbia sends its archaeologist and writer Stefan Verkovic to study Macedonia in more detail. He traveled for a long time, studied songs, collected poems and legends, and then published the Slovenian Veda and the Folk Song of the Macedonian Bulgarians, in which he clearly stated that Bulgarians lived in Macedonia. Until the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878-79, all documents of Serbian origin unanimously recognized the population of Macedonia as Bulgarian in its vast majority. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992. |
| 1868 | Macedonia | Propaganda | The idea of "Macedonism" as a weapon of Serbian propaganda in Macedonia was born. A committee of four members was formed - Archimandrite Nikifor Ducic, Professor Panta Sreckovic, Milos Milojevic and Serbian scientist and statesman Stojan Novakovic. The task of the committee was to work for the opening of Serbian schools outside the borders of the Principality of Serbia. In 1880. the Serbian government set up two more committees - a central one in Belgrade, headed by Milos Milojevic, and another one in Vranje, headed by a Serb from Macedonia, Despot Badzovic. He prepared a special primer for the Serb-Macedonian school of the Macedonian dialect and proposed its publication. In this way, he practically became a conductor of Macedonism as a means of instilling Serbian consciousness in the students. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1879 - 1883 | Prizren | Propaganda | The Russian consul in Prizren, Yastrebov, began touring the villages and convincing the villagers that they were Serbs and that their language was more like Serbian than Bulgarian. About 300 people were thrown into Turkish prisons during the uprisings in Kresna and Kichevo. The Russian consul says he will support them only if they identify themselves as Serbs. | The efforts of Russian diplomacy, its struggle against the unification of the Bulgarian people - Iv. K. Bozhinov, 1914 |
| 1886 | Belgrad | Propaganda | The St. Sava Society was founded, which organized special schools for children from Macedonia in Serbia and developed a lively propaganda activity among Bulgarians from Macedonia who came to work in Serbia. Brochures, calendars and small gifts distributed in Belgrade were distributed free of charge in Macedonia. | The Balkan States and the Macedonian Question - Anthony Giza, Sofia, 2001 |
| 1912 | Tetovo | Murders and torture | The priest Petar Andreev, with the congregation of the village Tetovo, was killed by the Serbian commandos because he did not mention the name of King Peter during the liturgy. | Revolutionary struggles in Azot (Veles region) and the valley - Stefan Avramov, 1929 |
| 1912 | Prilep | Murders and torture | On December 5, teacher Atanas Lyutviev was killed for raising a glass in honor of the King of the Bulgarians, he was strangled and burned in the furnace of the city school. 48 people from the city and 146 from the villages were publicly beaten. Deputy Bishop Ivan Antonov and 32 other citizens and teachers were arrested. Another 16 male and 7 female teachers were forced to leave the town because they refused to accept Serbian service. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1912 | Palanka | Torture | The Serb commander and the district chief in the town of Palanka, cursing, spitting and threatening, ordered the priest Hriston Dimchev not to enter his parish until he accepted to become a Serb priest. All villagers are threatened that if they do not accept Serb priests, they will be tried in military courts and have their livestock confiscated. The wife and 12-year-old daughter of Zafir Dosev in the village of Shlegovo were raped by Serb soldiers. Many villagers were tortured, stripped naked, doused with cold water and kept in the cold all night. Several people from the village of Tarnvets were tied to stakes and beaten with rifle butts. | The Situation in Macedonia - Association of Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, 1913 |
| 1912 | Macedonia | Torture | Serbian authorities set fire to Vitan Stoykov's inn and store in Kratovo and burned all his furniture and goods. Serbian soldiers took the tiles from the roofs of the houses, loaded them on cattle and sold them to the people from whose houses they had removed them. From the house of grandfather Traiko in the village of Opila his furniture was taken, then he was beaten. Everywhere the Serbian authorities supplied their entire army with food, which they forcibly took from the population. The houses were burned and all food and fodder from the villages of Gorno, Sredno and Dolno Orizari, Kraklen Kukurecheni, Mogila, Sekireni Armatush, Ivanovtsi, Moglentsi, Pashino, Serbtsi, Logavardi and Berantsi were confiscated. The orchards in the villages of Krastofor and Vodenitsite, as well as in Ohrid and its surroundings, were cut down for fuel. Serbian authorities conducted a new census in Macedonia and recorded the entire Christian population and part of the Turkish population as Serbian. Thus, according to Serbian census lists, the population consists only of Serbs and Turks. | The Situation in Macedonia - Association of Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, 1913 |
| 1912 | Macedonia | Murders and torture | More than 100 Bulgarians are imprisoned in Kumanovo, about 40 of them for reading Bulgarian newspapers. The prison in Veles is overcrowded with Bulgarians, some of whom have disappeared without a trace. In Kostur Prison, 66 Bulgarians are imprisoned. In Lerin prison - 76 Bulgarians. In Skopje Prison, more than 200 Bulgarians are imprisoned. | The Situation in Macedonia - Association of Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, 1913 |
| 1912 | Macedonia | Torture and rape | On April 7, the wife of Stefan Malinov from the village of Krukla was raped by two Serb soldiers. On April 6, in the village of Kostur, Tsvetana Simeonova and Lena Mancheva were captured by several soldiers, raped and held all night and released only the next day. On April 8, two women from the village of Durachka Reka were captured, taken to a house in Palanka and raped all night by four Serb officers. In Palanka, virgins and widows were forcibly removed from poorer houses to be taken to a brothel. | The Situation in Macedonia - Association of Macedonian Emigrant Organizations in Bulgaria, 1913 |
| 1912, May und June | Belgrad | Propaganda | Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pasic, more than four months before the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians attacked the Turks, instructed his foreign agents to inform them that Belgrade considered the Macedonian territories to be Serbian and intended to join them. | The war returns - Henri Posy, 1933 |
| 1912, 29 Feb | Sofia | History | The Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia sign a Treaty of Friendship and Union, in which Serbia in the secret agreement to the treaty in Article 2 undertakes not to claim the territories of Macedonia, except for the disputed territory north of Skopje Montenegro and Shar. Most of Macedonia, Serbia recognizes as part of the Bulgarian land. | Memories from Years of Struggles and Victories - Ivan Ev. Geshov, Sofia, 2008 |
| 1912, Sep - 1913, July | Balkan Peninsula | History and propaganda | The First Balkan War between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro on one side and the Ottoman Empire on the other. Victory of the Allies. Thrace and eastern Macedonia came under Bulgarian rule, Serbia conquered Kosovo and northwestern Macedonia, and Greece conquered southwestern Macedonia with Thessaloniki, Epirus and some islands in the Aegean Sea. Soon after the disputes over the division of Macedonia, the Second Balkan War (Inter-Allied War) began between Bulgaria on one side and Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Ottoman Empire on the other. The peace treaty of Bucharest ended the war. Bulgaria was forced to cede southern Dobruja to Romania and renounce its claims to Macedonia. In May 1913. Serbian troops, led by tyrants such as Dobrica Matkovic, Mihailo Mihajlovic and Kovacevic, began a fierce persecution against the Bulgarian population, whose only fault was that they did not want to give up their nationality. In Macedonia, the population consists mainly of Bulgarians, mixed in separate areas with minority groups of Greeks, Albanians, Zintsars, Turks and Jews. | The Balkan War 1912-1913 - State Military Publishing House, Sofia, 1961 |
| 1913 | Macedonia | Murders and torture | The conquest of all Bulgarian monasteries began - the expulsion of the Bulgarian clergy and their replacement by a Serbian one. All teachers and priests who refused to register as Serbs were expelled and driven out of Bulgaria; Serbian priests were installed in the churches, Serbian teachers in the schools, and Bulgarian textbooks were destroyed. All Bulgarian hierarchs were expelled, and in June of the same year the metropolitans - the Neophyte of Skopje, Meletius of Veles, Arseniy of Bitola, and Kozma of Debar. The Serbian authorities seize, destroy and prohibit the existence of more than 200 ecclesiastical and municipal administrations, 641 Bulgarian elementary school, 8 full-fledged secondary schools, 43 classrooms with 1,013 teachers and 37,000 pupils, 761 Bulgarian churches, 45 monasteries and five dioceses with 833 priests. , 14 hierarchical deputies and five metropolitans, 38 community centers and over 200 large and small public and private libraries, as well as the two Bulgarian printing houses in Skopje and Bitola. | P. Petrov, Mr. Temelski. Church and ecclesiastical life in Macedonia, Sofia, 2003 |
| 1913 | Palanka | Rape | Tasija Mitova from the village of Uzem was overtaken near Dimov Khan by 12 Serbian soldiers who raped her almost to death. 20 Serbian soldiers forcibly entered the house of Krastana Stoyanova from the village of Varovishte, forced her to feed them and raped her several times. The wife of Petko Mitzov from the village of Podarzikon was raped by 4 Serb soldiers in her house. Kana Ivanova was raped by three Serbian soldiers in her house. Risa Mialkova from Kratovo was raped in front of her 12-year-old daughter after an hour of desperate resistance. | Documents on the anti-Bulgarian actions of the Serbian and Greek authorities in Macedonia in 1912-1913 - Ljubomir Miletic, Sofia, 1929. |
| 1913 | Macedonia | Propaganda | Serbian propaganda in Macedonia intensified after the appointment of the well-known nationalist historian Stojan Novakovic as Serbian ambassador in Constantinople. Through his efforts, the circulation of Serbian publications increased significantly. Part of the text of textbooks and school aids designed specifically for Macedonia are written in the Macedonian dialect. He pushed the propaganda of Serbianism and later of "Macedonianism" written by him. Obsessed with anti-Bulgarian rage and filled with determination to "Bulgarianize Vardar Macedonia," he flatly refused to acknowledge the existence of Bulgarian folklore, the Bulgarian language, and the common history of Bulgaria and Macedonia. Novakovic initiated the introduction of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet in Macedonia in place of the Bulgarian alphabet. In Vardar Macedonia there are so-called counter troops under the command of Serbian officer V. Trubic, who pursue and kill IMRO supporters and set fire to entire villages if they find an organizational unit there. | The Balkans and the Macedonian Question - Anthony Giza |
| 1913 | Resen | Murders and torture | Students Vladimir Milovski, Boris Chukalev, Asen Lyapchev, Krum Popov, Nikola Tatarchev and Kiril Miloshev were beaten mercilessly for singing Bulgarian folk songs and wearing their school uniforms. Mihail Tatarchev, Kosta Strezov, A. Miloshev, Eftim Lyapchev, Lazar Strezov, Georgi Tatarchev, St. Milovski, St. Georgiev, Kr. Dulyanov, Kr. Strezov, G. Burudjiev, Hristo Nikolov, the deputy hierarch priest Tarpo Popovski, the teachers G. Traichev, Kl. Hadzhov, D. Andreev. 496 Bulgarians were arrested. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Ohrid | Murders and torture | Metropolitan Boris was outwardly replaced by the Serbian Metropolitan Barnabas. The Serbs arrested all the teachers and some citizens, tortured them and locked them in a dark and narrow cellar to suffocate them. Todor Dzhambazov was severely beaten. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Kichevo | Murders and torture | All teachers and priests were arrested because they refused to sign declarations that they were Serbs. 106 villagers from Kichevo district were arrested. Hieromonk Sophronius Priest Petrov, abbot of Prechesta Monastery, was shot, and Hieromonk Theophanes, a monk at Prechesta Monastery, was crucified, along with Hristo Nikolov and his comrade Ruse. Arrested, severely tortured and martyred are: Yakim Jonchev from Podvis village, Ivan Sarbinov from Lahchani village, Tarpo Moysov from Popovets village, Mishe Naidov and Konstantin Troyanov from Tsyar village, Kiro Vassilev from Yavorets village, Maxim Mickov from Osoy village, Naum Belichov and Petar Silev from Tsyar village. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Debar | Murders and torture | The priests Apostol Mirchev from the village Tresanche, Pavel Teodosiev - deputy of the hierarch in Galichka district, Naum Peichinov from the village Yablanitsa, and the citizens Yanaki Tomov from the town Galichnik, Strezo Ferikov from the village Nerezi, Alexo Zhutev from the village Piskupshina were killed. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Krushovsko | Murders and torture | From the Serb soldiers Dolgach, Blazhe and Boge, in the village Ostriltsi Stoyan Velev was killed, in the village Zhurche Hristo Talev died from beatings, in the village Rastovina Andrey Bogoev was killed, and Krastyo Zlatanov, Stefan Andreev and Petar Georgiev were interned in Bitola, Zlatan Naidov was killed in Kochishte village, Andre Hristov and Nikola Naidov were interned in Bitola, Necho Grozdanov was killed in Mrenoga village, Stoyko Blazhev was killed in Gorno-Divyatsi village, and Ivan Naidov was mutilated by severe beatings. Citizens Krastyu Zhitoshanov, Sterio Velev and his wife, Ivan Tanev, Stoyan Yosifov, Donka Ivanova, and Dimitar Krastev, who refused to remove the Bulgarian inscription on his store, were beaten. Atanas Yankulov was killed. Priest Naum Meshkov, teachers Mihail Stanoev, Tashko pop Hristov, Steryu Blazhev, Dimitar Atanasov and citizens Pavle Pantov and Georgi Karev were arrested. Teacher Stefan Popov, teacher Petar Mirchev, priest Yordan Pop Nikolov and priest Nikola Georgiev were interned. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Velgoshti | Murders and torture | The Serbs gathered all the other men in the village of Velgoshti, lined them up in small rows next to each other and took out one of every five and shot him. In this way 15 people were shot. Teacher Dimitar Ivanov from Ohrid, priest Georgi Angelov from Slatino village, Ivan Doichinov and Hristo Bayramov from Ohrid, Stoyan Galabov from Velmei village, Kosta Lyatkov and Lazar Grigorov - a former teacher from Velgoshti village - were shot. Priests Georgi Ikonomov, Georgi Bandev, Ivan Savev, Petar Ribarov, Haralambi Donev, Anton Avtov, Akhil Karadimchev and Deacon Georgi Snegarov were imprisoned and severely tortured for two months. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913 | Galichnik | Murders and torture | The bishop's deputy, Pavel Teodosiev, was beaten with sandbags, after which he was interned and tortured in a Skopje prison for refusing to name the Serbian leader in the church. Priest Apostol Mironov from the village of Tresonche was taken from his house at night, dragged to a nearby forest, where he died after being disarmed and having his skull bashed in. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913, 16 June | Veles | Murders and torture | Serbian authorities captured Ivan Avramov Chuparov, a Veles priest from the village of Papradishte, in Azot and after severe torture cut him into pieces, then threw his remains into the Vardar River. Citizens later found his remains and buried them. On the same day, authorities arrested citizen Hristo Andov and killed him after severe mistreatment. | Revolutionary struggles in Azot (Veles region) and the valley - Stefan Avramov, 1929 |
| 1913, 21 April | Capari | Murders and torture | About 50-60 Serbian soldiers, led by an officer and the district chief of Bitola, entered the village of Tsapari, took out one person from each house and separated 8 of them: Naum Vassilev, 28 years old, Traiche Tashkov, 70 years old, Riste Kotev, 30 years old, Iovanche Petrev, 25 years old, Nase Naidenov, 48 years old, Riste Kolev, 55 years old, Lazar Vassilev, 50 years old. and Petar Kolev, 24 years old. They were all severely beaten, pushed to the ground, two soldiers sat on their feet and heads while the district chief beat them unconscious with a whip. Lazar Vassilev and Traiche Tashkov were left on their deathbeds in the village, the others were taken to Bitola prison. This also happens in the villages of Gyavato, Srbtsi, Lera, Ramna and Dolintsi. | Documents on the anti-Bulgarian actions of the Serbian and Greek authorities in Macedonia in 1912-1913 - Ljubomir Miletic, Sofia, 1929. |
| 1913, May und June | Capari | Murders and torture | Georgi Dimitrov was beaten 40 times with a stick and 25 times with a wire whip on his bare back and abdomen. Marko Kolev, Miter Chorbev and Goshe Angelov were arrested and ugly tortured in Bitola prison, where they were from June 9 to July 15. Priest Spiro Dimitrov, priest Nikola Petrov and former teacher Naum Vassilev were arrested. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913, 29 Apr | Capari | Murders and torture | The chief of the Bitola district, Janja Konstantinovic, together with Mihailo Mihajlovic, a member of the Black Hand, 60 guards and a company of soldiers, besieged the village of Tsapari, gathered all the men and forced them to hand over all the weapons they had hidden in the village. Finding none, they subjected the village priests, chiefs and a large part of the peasants to inquisitorial tortures and ordeals, and then locked them up in unknown dungeons. Victims - Hristo Velov, Traiche Tashkov, Laze Vassilev, Hristo Kolev, Nase Gechev, Ivanche Traikov, Petre Parkev, Apostol Shatev, Naum Vassilev. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1913, 8 Apr | Skopje | Torture | Spiro Georgiev was taken by a Serb soldier to the House of National Defense, a Serb terrorist organization founded in 1908. to assimilate the Bulgarian population in Macedonia. The organization is led by Milorad Ristic, Zika Lazic and Milan Nedic. Spiro was taken to the basement, where he was beaten unconscious with trees all night. The next day he was taken to his house wrapped in a blanket because he could not move from the beatings. His entire family was forced to declare themselves Serbs. | Documents on the anti-Bulgarian actions of the Serbian and Greek authorities in Macedonia in 1912-1913 - Ljubomir Miletic, Sofia, 1929. |
| 1913, 8 Apr | Skopje | Torture | Archimandrite Metodij Dimov, rector of the priest school in Skopje, is brutally beaten in the face and chest with wooden sticks and fists by Serbian Major Voja Popovic and four other Serbian committees. He is beaten with a tree and drowned to keep from crying until he loses consciousness. | Church Gazette, issue 31 of April 27, 1913 |
| 1915 | Prizren | Murders and torture | Towards the end of the war between Bulgaria and Serbia, after the retreat of the Serbian troops, the Bulgarian soldiers found about 70 Bulgarian prisoners in the dungeons of "Kaleto". They were all exhausted from hunger, crippled from torture and sick with frostbite on their hands and feet. Among them lay the decomposing corpses of four other Bulgarians. They were all in the Gevgelija prison, originally about 800 people, including children aged 12-16. At the beginning of the hostilities, they were taken to prisons in Gilane, Skopje and Pristina. Hungry, naked and barefoot, many of them died during the long and difficult journey. | Serbian atrocities. Extraordinary number. 8 -Publ. in the magazine I know everything. |
| 1915, 26-31 March | Maleshevsko | Murders and torture | The Serbian army blockaded the village of Vladimirovo and captured all males, regardless of their age. The prisoners were tortured by tying their arms and legs together and fastening them with specially made trees, like vices. The shackles were so strong that the martyrs could not make a sound, only moans. Many of them had ripped stomachs and hot sweat was running from their heads. 7 people died as a result of the torture. Their graves were discovered only after the arrival of the Bulgarian troops. Victims - priest Ivan Mitzov Zarlev, priest Ivan Mirchev, Lazar Bakalov, Natse Krastev, Mite Karlan, Mite Kushov, Ivan Chaushov. | The Serbian regime and the revolutionary struggle in Macedonia, 1912-1915 - K. Parlichev, 1917 |
| 1917, 15-16 May | Bosilegrad and surroundings | Murders and torture | Serbian Lieutenant Kosta Milovanovic Pecanac entered the territory of the Kingdom of Bulgaria in the Bosilegrad region with a squad of 200 -250 rebels and plundered the peaceful Bulgarian population for two days. In the villages of Gorna Lyubata and Dolna Lyubata, 25 people, including children, were slaughtered and shot. Several women were also raped. Some of the victims were brutally tortured before being killed. Chetniks engaged in looting, arson, and pillaging. In Bosilegrad, four adults were killed and two children were burned alive in their homes. This continues in the villages of Dolna and Gorna Lisina, Topli dol, Dolna and Gorna and Razhana. In this raid, 32 people were killed, 2 children burned and the property of 317 households destroyed. | Ivan Nikolov - Chairman of the Bulgarian Cultural Information Center "Bosilegrad |
| 1918 | Veles | Murders and torture | Teacher Andreya pop Arsov was killed, along with Georgi and Pavel Chikbaevi and other Azot activists who tried to resist the propaganda. | Revolutionary struggles in Azot (Veles region) and the valley - Stefan Avramov, 1929 |
| 1919, 1 Jan - 1926, 1 Jan | Macedonia | Murders and torture | 263 murders, 178 defamations and rapes, including 43 against girls under 18, 1342 houses burned, 4850 people arbitrarily arrested, 5445 people of all ages brutally tortured. | Journal of Macedonia, issue 372, January 5, 1928. |
| 1923, 2 March | Garvan, Bezirk Radovica | Murders and torture | Under the leadership of the governor of Stip County, Dobrica Matkovic, 28 Bulgarian peasants were slaughtered and shot by a platoon of Serbian soldiers. All the men, including children and old people, were gathered from the field in the square, and the soldiers began searching the houses, accompanied by the rape of the women. Twenty-eight villagers were taken out of the village and shot with machine guns. The victims, including three children aged 13 to 18, were left unburied for six days for edification. One woman, Tsveta Tomeva, died after seeing the bodies, and the victims numbered 29. Dobrica Matkovic continued the repression and genocide of Bulgarians, and in the following months another 26 villagers from different villages were killed without any trial or hearing, only on the simple charge that they had supported the revolutionary organization. The victims-Atanas Kolev-13 years old. Bogatin Georgiev-23 Vasil Simeonov-27 Georgi Donev-31 Georgi Milev-32 Dimitria Kolev-37 Dimitar Ivanov-41 Don Vassilev-29 Efrem Trayanov-30 Eftim Petrushev-20 Ivan Vasilev-35 Kostadin Zdravev-18 Kostadin Tsvetkov-31 Mite Zdravev-19 Mone Vassilev-12 Tane Ivanov-50 Mr.. Kotsev-28 Petre Georgiev-40 Petrush Atanasov-21 Petrush Velyanov-35 Petrush Ivanov-47 Stevko Trayanov-39 Stands Kotsev-34g. Stoyan Filipov-25 Tase Eftimov-52 Trayan Tasev-23 Hristoman Potsev-57 Yane Potsev-59 Tsveta Tomeva-65 | The Present Situation in Macedonia under Serbian and Greek Rule and the League of Nations - Prof. Dr. Iv. Georgov, Sofia, 1925 |
| 1926 | Bistrica | Torture | Exarchate priest Andon Priest Arsov from the village of Bistritsa, with the parish of the villages of Bistritsa and Zreshnevo, was expelled from his native village at the age of 75 and exiled to Bulgaria. | Revolutionary struggles in Azot (Veles region) and the valley - Stefan Avramov, 1929 |
| 1926 | Macedonia | Rape | Svoboda Arnaudova Kazandjieva from Shtip, 17, was raped by Serbian Captain Ivkovic, who is on duty in the same town. On June 23, he dragged the girl to the area behind Hissarya and forced her to drink a glass of sublimate solution, then pushed her half-dead into the waters of Bregalnitsa. She was rescued by several butchers who were at the nearby Shtip slaughterhouse. They took her to the hospital. | Ivan Mihailov from Novo Selo, Schip - Memoirs IV, 1924-1934 |
| 1926 -1928 | Macedonia | Murders and torture | Mina Stankovic compiles a special "divorce application form" forcing Bulgarian women to separate from their husbands and marry Serbs. Where there were no racial ties, the Serbs wanted to create kinship. Seventeen-year-old Darinka Boyanina from the village of Ratevo was shot on January 19, 1926, for refusing to marry a Serb. The wife of Maxim Radovski, a disabled emigrant from the village of Radovo, Krushevo region, was forcibly married to a Serb, and his parents were imprisoned and tortured there. | Macedonia under the yoke. 1919-1929 - Ivan Hadzhov, Sofia, 1931 |
| 1927 | Macedonia | Rape | Dragutin Ristic forcibly kidnapped the wife of Vasil Vangelov from the village of Nakolets and raping her in his room for several days. Her children - one aged nine and the other three - were left on the street. | Ivan Mihailov from Novo Selo, Schip - Memoirs IV, 1924-1934 |
| 1927 | Macedonia | Murders and torture | Targeted actions against Bulgarian students, led by Velimir Prelich. Boris Andreyev, student of veterinary medicine, native of Veles, was burned with red-hot irons on his chest and arms and led out of the city at night and forced to testify in front of a dug grave with revolvers pointed at him. in the revolutionary organization. Kiril Vangelov, pharmacy student and Mr. Kimov, a native of Shtip, lost his mental faculties due to the unbearable torture. Toma Petrov, a law student in Skopje, is on his deathbed after a fight. Petar Panzov, a philosophy graduate and teacher in Ipek, a native of Veles, has buried flesh in battle. Todor Yordanov from Kochani, a student in Belgrade, when he realized he would be arrested to escape torture, threw himself on the tracks as the express train passed in front of Zemun station, opposite Belgrade. | Ivan Mihailov from Novo Selo, Schip - Memoirs IV, 1924-1934 |
| 1928 | Galichnik, Resen | Murders and torture | Elementary school students singing Macedonian and Bulgarian songs. Serbian soldiers saw them and arrested them. For ten days the young children were detained as dangerous destroyers of the state system. On September 25, a young man Evtim Stoyanchev from the village of Resen was brutally killed. In his murder, his fingers, nose and ears were cut out one by one, his eyes were taken out and bullets were put into their holes. | Macedonia under the yoke. 1919-1929 - Ivan Hadzhov, Sofia, 1931 |
| 1928 | Ajalare, Sushitsa, Stanevtsi und Dolna Gagnitsa | Murders and torture | 20 villagers from villages near Alexandrovo railroad station were arrested by Mijatovic and guard Mustafa and accused of involvement in an attack on the Skopje-Kumanovo line. Troyan Bozhinov, Angelko Blazhev, Petar Manev, Kotse Blazhev, Doncho Stoyanov, Kole Sokolov, Todor Tsvetanov, Mitar Krastev, Mitar Markov, etc. were constantly beaten with fists, kicks, sandbags, their heads were banged against the wall . . They were tied to the stairs with a chain on their arms, legs and chest, their testicles were tied with a wet rope and a jug with water was tied to it, they were doused with cold water and beaten with a whip. In the evening they were taken naked into the cold and immersed several times in the Vardar River. They were kept hungry for days. A burning red pepper was put in their noses. | Macedonia under the yoke. 1919-1929 - Ivan Hadzhov, Sofia, 1931 |
| 1928, 18 Jan - 27 Feb | Kochani | Murders and torture | Nikola Paunov, Dimitar Paunov and Grigor Stoyanov were taken to the regional department in the village of Kostin-dol. Their wives and children, as well as their 75-year-old grandmother Dafka, were brutally beaten. The three men were put one by one into a wooden chest that covered only their abdomens. Two Serbs held their legs and heads while the others beat them. In this way, the pain of the beatings was transferred to the abdomen, which rested on the chest. After the beatings, on February 22, the three Bulgarians were slaughtered. On February 27, three Serb soldiers came to the village of Borovo-Bardo in front of Arsen Levkov's house to pick him up. Arsen's wife bursts into tears and the soldiers start shooting through the windows. They kill Arsen, his wife and son Stamen and then stab them to death. A 10-year-old girl of the family survives, who is found the next day hidden in the bushes by the villagers. | Journal of Macedonia, issue 465 of April 30, 1928. |
| 1928, 5 Apr | Kochani | Murders and torture | Yordan Dimitrov Shopov, mayor of the village of Beli, was taken outside the city by Serb soldiers, where he was killed in a particularly brutal manner. His arms and head were cut off, and traces of numerous axe blows were found on his head, which was thrown into a nearby ditch. | Journal of Macedonia, issue 465 of April 30, 1928. |
| 1928, May | Bitola | Murders and torture | 15 Bulgarians were arrested and tortured - Dr. Asen Tatarchev from the town of Resen and Pano Naumov, deafened as a result of the beatings, Hristo Angelov went mad, Vangel Garbev, former mayor of the village of Gyavoto, priest Sofroni Andreev from Berovo, Hristo Lazarov, Hristo Rizov, Dimitar Gochev and others. On May 22, Alexander Shekerinov, the municipal treasurer of the village of Trool, was brutally murdered. He was stabbed in more than 70 places on his head and body and disfigured beyond recognition as he returned alone to his village from St. Nicholas. He leaves behind a wife and two children. | Journal of Macedonia, issue 467, May 2, 1928. Ivan Mihailov from Novo Selo, Schip - Memoirs IV, 1924-1934. |
| 1929, Dec | Macedonia | History and propaganda | Grigor Anastasov - a lawyer from Kavadarci, Dimitar Shalev - a former deputy mayor in Skopje and Dimitar Iliev - a former judge and lawyer from Veles, on behalf of the Bulgarian people, have sent a petition to the UN that very accurately describes and confirms the situation in Macedonia so far: The Yugoslav government destroyed all Bulgarian cultural institutes - 641 schools, expelled 1,013 teachers, converted 761 Bulgarian churches to Serbian, expelled and destroyed 833 priests, and banned all Bulgarian newspapers and magazines in Macedonia. Use of the native Bulgarian language is banned, all Bulgarian names are replaced with Serbian endings, and newborns are baptized only with names from a list specially compiled by Serbian church authorities. Singing Bulgarian folk songs is forbidden, and young girls are forced to marry Serbian men. | Macedonia under the yoke. 1919-1929 - Ivan Hadzhov, Sofia, 1931 |
| 1931, 11 Aug | between Bezika and Nazalopzi | Murders and torture | The body of a twelve-year-old girl from annexed Macedonia, whose parents fled to Bulgaria when she was 6 years old, was left for 4 days on a hill, a hundred meters from the wire nets, in a temperature of 40 ° in the shade. . He was killed with a machine gun the moment he sent kisses with his hand to his mother, who is on the neighboring hill in Bulgarian territory. | The war returns... - Henri Posy, 1933 |
| 1937 | Yugoslavia | History and propaganda | Josip Broz-Tito became the head of the Yugoslav Communist Party, the ruling political party in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the period 1945-1990, taking an anti-Bulgarian position and accepting the idea that Macedonians should be convinced that they were a separate nation. He ordered that Serb partisans be sent to Macedonia to mingle with the Macedonians and that the leadership be taken over by proven anti-Bulgarian Serbs, the most brutal of whom were Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo and the Serb Lazar Kolishevski. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1943, May | Vardar Macedonia | History | The General Directorate of Statistics conducts a census. Bulgarians make up 76% of the population, and there is no district where the Bulgarian share is less than 50%. The second largest ethnic group is Turks, who make up 10% of the population. Close behind are Albanians - 8%, Gypsies and Pomaks with 2% and a total share of 1.3% are Tsintsari, Kusovlas, Russians, Serbs, Croats, Karakaks, Greeks and Armenians. There are no "Macedonians." According to the Serbian government's plan for internal colonization in Vardar Macedonia, about 280 Serbian colonies were established, consisting of 4,200 families. | Macedonian Review, Issue 1, 2008 - The ethnic composition of the population in Vardar Macedonia, Magdalena Lyubenova-Bakalova |
| 1945 | Yugoslavia | History and propaganda | After the Second World War, Vardar Macedonia became part of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, as a separate unit, under the name People's Republic of Macedonia. There, Macedonianism flourished in full force, elevated by the Serbian Serbo-Communists loyal to Tito to the rank of state doctrine. Unprecedented repressions against everything Bulgarian and against all persons with Bulgarian national self-consciousness began. They were pushed into prisons and concentration camps and killed without trial or sentence. Until the beginning of the 1990s, the so-called Law on Macedonian National Honor operated there, providing for imprisonment for anyone who dares to feel Bulgarian. The importation and possession of Bulgarian literature or the press is treated as a crime. The artificial "Macedonian" language is becoming more and more important, and dozens of pseudo-scholars are harnessed to compose "a separate history of the Macedonian people". | The Balkans and the Macedonian Question - Anthony Giza |
| 1945 | Yugoslavia | Murders and torture | The rulers loyal to Tito, under the watchful eye of Svetozar Vukmanovic - Tempo, started the physical liquidation of all who dared to demonstrate their Bulgarian feelings. The repressions get an organized character with the so-called "Bloody Christmas", when according to prepared lists of Lazar Kolishevsky in only one night (January 7) without trial and verdict more than 100 people were shot on the square in Skopje, more than 900 people were arrested and imprisoned in "Kaleto". They have been held there for more than a month without bread, water and blankets. Almost all of them died of hunger and cold. More than 1,270 people were killed in three days just because they were Bulgarians. Thousands of Macedonians were loaded onto trucks and killed in ravines and forests, most notably mayors, teachers and priests. | Bloody Macedonian Christmas - Veselin Angelov, 2003; Is there a Macedonian nation - Stoyan G. Boyadzhiev, Sofia, 1991 |
| 1945-1946 | Yugoslavia | Murders and torture | The new rulers, Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo, Lazar Kulishevski and Alexander Rankovic, start mass repressions and murders of prominent and vigilant patriots in Macedonia. There are mass murders in Prilep, Bitola, Skopje, Veles, Kumanovo, Shtip, Maleshevski villages, Kavadarci, and the number of victims is over 140. Bulgarians who call themselves "Macedonians" and take Yugoslav citizenship enjoy all rights, and those who remain loyal to their homeland perish in the camps. Under Tito, more than 30,000 Bulgarians died in Yugoslavia and more than 200,000 were sent to prisons and camps. The dictatorship destroys everything that does not act Serbian, and anyone who dares to call himself Bulgarian disappears without a trace. Victims - Dimche Toplichanets - 43 years old, Ordan Debelomeso - 70 years old, Traiche Electrical Engineering from the village of Selce, Kotse Kyurkchiev, Alexander Hadzhizdravev, Pancho Hadzhizdravev, Hristo Ivanov Sarchar, Iliya Risteski Lajo, Doncho Severski - Nikola Simonov, Nikola Stoyanov. Iliya Orovchanets, Itsko Radeski, Milan Gyurlukov, Dr. Bogdan Popgyorchev - 40, Blagoy Georgiev - 36, Dimko Krepiev - 60, Lazar Krepiev - 64, Pere Toropan - 50, Rade Toropan, Dimko Natsev - 52nd , Panche Karakolev, Asen Varnaliev and many others. etc. | The new national liberation struggle in Vardar Macedonia, 1944-1991 - Dimitar Gotsev; Victim generation - Blaga Bozhinova, 2020; Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia, 1992. |
| 1946 | Yugoslavia | History and propaganda | The Department of State Security (UDBA) or the so-called Yugoslav secret service. The UDBA, i.e. the power, coerces and kills people morally, materially and physically by all possible methods. Some are "accidentally" imprisoned, others "accidentally" put into concentration camps - and tens of thousands. | On the other side of the coin - Dr. Asparuh Popisakov, The Genocide of the Macedonian Bulgarians in Tito's Yugoslavia, published in the Macedonian Tribune newspaper, USA, 1979. |
| 1946 | Idrizovo prison - 20 km from Skopje | Murders and torture | The most common means of breaking the prisoner's will was solitary confinement. Georgi Gotsev from the village of Pancharevo, Delchev region, was in prison for 11 years in the most severe conditions. He was locked up in such a solitary confinement tomb, which was a narrow room, without any light, 70 cm wide and 2 meters long and filled up to the knees with ice water, he could neither sit nor lie down. He stays in it until he is completely exhausted, then he is dragged out and pulled by his legs, his head hits the stone floor and he loses consciousness. Dr. Vasil Ivanov spent three and a half months in solitary confinement, and during the examination he was kept on his feet for 10 days, from October 16 to 26, without food, without sleep, only in hellish hallucinations. Dr. Chulev, who fell ill with tuberculosis and died, Dr. Tatarchev and Nikola Pavlov from Tetovo, who went blind, were also constantly in the hospital. The executioners in prison were Boro Chushkarot from Kumanovo, Pero Tikvarot, Stoimen Orlov from Negotino, Jovan Planinski, Risto from Kumanovo, Done Ilievski from Kichevo, Tomo Bukle from Kichevo, Radko Panov, Tode Vardzhiyski. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1948 | Idrizovo prison - 20 km from Skopje | Murders and torture | 1,000 people from prison were sent to cut stones in a quarry in Doboj, Bosnia. For 9 months they lived in barracks, worked in the cold at minus 25 degrees, were given only 200 grams of bread a day to eat. Those who did not meet the daily standard of broken stones, which was too high, were put in a dungeon with water next to their chests, from which the dead were taken. Many died of exhaustion or severe colds. To spread terror among the prisoners, the executioners placed the bloody corpses of those killed next to them while they fed them to watch and frighten them. About 800 people died there. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1948 - 1949 | Yugoslavia, concentration camp "Gerovo" | Murders and torture | After refusing to declare herself a "Macedonian" to the Yugoslav secret service (UDBA) and accept Yugoslav citizenship, Blagorodna (Blaga) Bozhinova was arrested on charges of espionage in the interest of Bulgaria. She was thrown into one of the worst Yugoslav concentration camps, Gerovo (Croatia, registered by the United Nations). She remained in the camp for 16 months, during which she was locked in an underground bunker, kept half-naked in the cold, shackled, brutally beaten and repeatedly raped by Dushko, Mile, Kiril Strogov, Voyslav (Voyo) and other executioners. She was given glucose injections and forced to eat to avoid starvation before her oppressors ended the torture. He miraculously survived after 1956. returned to Bulgaria and wrote her books Confession of Tito's "Paradise" and "Victim Generation". | Confession from Tito's "Paradise" - Blaga Bozhinova, Sofia, 1992 |
| 1948 - 1949 | Yugoslavia | Torture | Georgi Petrov was charged with anti-state propaganda against Yugoslavia and imprisoned in Kaleto prison in Skopje and later transferred to Gerovo camp. He was beaten with a rubber truncheon, starved for a whole week, remained locked up in a bunker for 9 months, was subjected to the torture of "suffocation" invented by Dushko - his head was wedged between two chests, a cane was put in his mouth, and on top of that he was flooded with buckets full of water until he drowned, breathing water instead of air. | Confession from Tito's "Paradise" - Blaga Bozhinova, Sofia, 1992 |
| 1948 - 1949 | Yugoslavia, concentration camp "Gerovo" | Murders and torture | Strahil Kozov from the village of Levunovo, Petrich region, was arrested in Skopje at his workplace. He was imprisoned for eight months in the Gerovo concentration camp in Yugoslavia. Together with many other Bulgarians, he is in a bunker 30 meters underground. Dushko, Mile, Kiril Strogov, Voyslav (Voyo) and the other guards were tortured to drown him - his head was wedged between two boxes, a cane was put in his mouth and a bucket of water was poured on him so that he drowned by breathing water instead of air. He slept on bare cement in minus 20 degrees. He became seriously ill with echinococcus in his liver, so he was taken out of the bunker. He died as a result of the torture he suffered. | Confession from Tito's "Paradise" - Blaga Bozhinova, Sofia, 1992 |
| 1951, 13 Aug | Strumica | Torture | 11 UDBA agents attacked the five students Boris Belev, 22, physics student, Stevo Topchev, 19, law student, Georgi Kosturanov, 21, medical student, Mirko Petsev, 23, law student, Georgi Yaramov, 22, geology student, and pushed them into two police cars. They were taken to the dungeons of the department and tortured and tormented all night. In the morning they were taken to the area on the Yugoslav-Serbian border near the village of Ormanli, where they were shot. The executioners collected the remains of the martyrs in sacks, loaded them onto mules and threw them into a ravine on the border with Greece. Serbian authorities, on duty, issued the version that the five students had been shot while trying to flee to Greece. But pierced eyes and bodies disfigured beyond recognition showed the truth. | The five students from Strumica - Macedonian Nation newspaper, 2009 |
| 1951, Apr | Yugoslavia | Torture | Asparuh Popisakov was arrested on April 21 and held incommunicado. Fed only turnips for 20 days, then only boiled wheat for 20 days, only seaweed for 20 days, only a spoonful of noodles in plenty of water for 20 days. He was beaten in the face with fists and kicks, beaten unconscious with a club on the head and the whole body, his head was beaten against the wall. | On the other side of the coin - Dr. Asparuh Popisakov, The Genocide of the Macedonian Bulgarians in Tito's Yugoslavia, published in the Macedonian Tribune newspaper, USA, 1979. |
| 1951, Dec | Idrizovo prison - 20 km from Skopje | Murders and torture | At 8 p.m., several UDBA officers, led by Tsevkata and the police, entered all the cells in turn, took out about 65 people and took them to the snow by the Vardar River. There they were stripped naked and ordered to go into the river and take out a damaged tractor. Dr. Vasil Ivanov refuses to follow the order and is brutally beaten unconscious. The others, trembling, get into the water, start to take out the machine in pieces, but they cannot stand it, some of them fainting from cold in the water. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1953 | Yugoslavia | Torture | Milo Hristov Daskalov from Petrich was arrested and charged with espionage. After 9 months in Skopje prison, he was taken to Sremska Mitrovica prison. He was repeatedly beaten, whenever he fainted he was woken up with buckets of water and beaten again. He was left to starve and without water he could neither move nor see. In Sremska Mitrovica the prisoners were lined up from left to right, one had to go in front of the others, who lined up to beat, kick and push him with all their might, who did not try to put himself in his place. After a year and a half, he was released from prison very ill. | Confession from Tito's "Paradise" - Blaga Bozhinova, Sofia, 1992 |
| 1954 | Yugoslavia, concentration camp "Gerovo" | Murders and torture | Georgi Proikov from the village of Belasitsa, Petrich region, was arrested and imprisoned in the Gerovo camp in a cell from which he did not come out for 11 months. Due to the severe conditions and torture, he contracted tuberculosis and started spitting out blood, after which he was returned to Bulgaria along with 80 other prisoners. | Confession from Tito's "Paradise" - Blaga Bozhinova, Sofia, 1992 |
| 1956 | Yugoslavia, Concentration Camp "Goli Otok" | Murders and torture | Veniamin Milanov Toshev was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was taken to Goli Otok, an island in the Adriatic Sea, where one of the most brutal concentration camps in Tito's Yugoslavia was established. There, prisoners were subjected to unheard-of torture - standing on their knees for days on end on a finely crushed stone, under the strong rays of the sun in the greatest heat. When the prisoner loses consciousness and faints, he begins to beat until he regains consciousness and rises to his knees again; carrying boxes full of stones weighing up to 90 kg tied to the neck with wire; putting salt into fresh and unhealed wounds; Beating with bags full of sand all over the body; walking barefoot in shoes with sharp nails; pulling teeth one by one and pulling out fingernails with pliers; picking up human feces from the ground by hand. | Goli otok - the island of death - Venko Markovski, 2015 |
| 1989 | Serbia | Propaganda | The Socialist Republic of Serbia demands the return of the lands taken from them after the Second World War and the rights of the Serbian colonists and their descendants who occupy the most fertile parts of Vardar Macedonia. They do not give up their assimilationist policy through colonization. Serbia insisted that its bishops return to the Macedonian dioceses and stubbornly kept the monastery of St. Prohor Pcinski, which had belonged to Macedonia for centuries. | Macedonianism and the Macedonian resistance against it - Kosta Tsarnushanov, Sofia 1992 |
| 1991 | Macedonia | History and propaganda | The people of Vardar Macedonia have never exercised their right to self-determination within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For almost 80 years, no one in the Republic of Macedonia has had the right to call themselves Bulgarians. The Republic of Macedonia is a state created on the basis of an officially practiced genocide. More than 120,000 people pass through the Goli Otok camp on the Adriatic Sea and the Idrizovo dungeon near Skopje, the largest in the Balkans. | Is there a Macedonian nation - Stoyan G. Boyadzhiev, Sofia, 1991 |
| 1995 | Macedonia | History and propaganda | After 40 years of emigration, Metodi Dimov returned to Bitola, but was arrested, charged with Bulgarian propaganda and expelled from the country by the authorities. In an already sovereign and independent Macedonia, supported by the people in a referendum, there is still the UDBA, which has terrorized the population for 50 years and continues to do so. After almost 6 hours of interrogation, during which they try to convince him that there are no Bulgarians and no Bulgarian language in Macedonia, he realizes that Serbomania, injustice and a distorted truth still prevail there. | The Voice of Truth - Metodi B. Dimov, Sofia, 1996 |
| 2021 | Macedonia | History and propaganda | A memorial in the village of Klepac near the town of Prilep in northern Macedonia has been replaced and the names inscribed on the stone plaque have been changed. | News and Medias in Albania and Bulgaria |
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