2
The Campaign Committees after the
Establishment of the
Bulgarian Administrative Rule
The
campaign committees and mostly
the CC faced many essential economic tasks for accomplishment. One
of the
first was providing food for the population and normalizing of
life. The
functioning of the industry had to be restored as well as the existing
administrative offices, factories, workshops, schools, etc. Of
course, the
greater part of the tasks in connection with the restoration of the
normal life
was a responsibility of the municipalities, the formation of which was
a task
of the campaign committees.
The CC
organized the dispatch of
wheat flour from Bulgaria
to
Skopje and the region as well to the
parts in
distress in Vardar Macedonia,
for example, Galichnik, Mavrovo and others. Greater part of the food
was
transferred by irregular ways for the starving people in the regions
occupied
by the Italians.42
With a
letter from May 31, 1941 to
Stephan Chaprashikov43 the CC insisted food to be sent to Macedonia
immediately - at least 10 000 t grain food. One part of that quantity
were for
the Bulgarians in the areas, occupied by Italy and the
transportation had to
be secured by the Bulgarian authorities. As an important request was
the food
to be given only to the Bulgarians by the Italian administration. The
CC
announced that the supply with essentials had to be arranged as soon as
possible, i.e. sugar, salt, petrol, soap and oil - and the distribution
had to
be organized by coupons to avoid speculation.44
The Bulgarian government
understood and responded to the request of BCCC. Echelons with
food were set
off Vardar Macedonia.
Only in June in Skopje
100 wagons were delivered. In August 200 000 Leva were granted for the
poor.
From the army canteens served food to the population. Notwithstanding
the lack
of essentials the state provided goods mostly for that region as
compared to
the population in the other parts of the country. Pensions were
given to the participants
in the struggle for liberation against the Turkish, Serbian and
Greek tyranny.
The Bulgarians were returned the lands settled with Serbian
colonists. The
prices of tobacco, as well as of the wool and of the other agricultural
goods
rose. The government took care for the development of industry and
crafts,
transport, education and health service. Eight hours working day
was
introduced and children's labour was forbidden.45
On April
30, 1941 the Council of
Ministers gathered on a session about the regions affected by the war.
On the
basis of Art. 1 and 2 from the Law on Assistance to Those Affected by
Social
Disasters, Skopje region, Pirot
district,
Tsaribrod and Bossilegrad as part of Sofia
district. For assistance of the extremely poor population in those
regions the
Council of Ministers granted money subsidies: to Skopje Regional
director - 2
000 000 Leva and to Sofia
one - 500 000 Leva. That money was for provision of food, products,
etc. for
the population as per the local needs. The amount of 400 000 Leva was
granted
to the Administration for purchase of grain, as well for the delivery
of corn
in those regions.46
On May 13,
the Council of Ministers
discussed that question again. It was assigned to the Bulgarian
Agricultural
and Cooperative Bank to grant a 5 000 000 Leva loan, guaranteed by the
state,
to the Commissioner of Supplies to ensure essentials to the
population in
those regions. As it was obvious, the Bulgarian administration in the
newly
liberated areas started operation by providing material support to the
population in disaster that was not a fault of Bulgaria.47
Obviously
the Bulgarian administration in the newly liberated parts started
operation
with material support for the population in disaster not to the fault.
The food
supplies for the
population in Macedonia
caused some difficulties in the economy of the country. In the 1941
annual
report of the commissariat of 9lh Infantry Pleven Division,
for
example, was written that the newly liberated Bulgarian lands -
Dobrudzha, West
Thrace, Macedonia
and the Western
Territories
(Zapadni Pokrainini) - were
systematically sacked by their former rulers. That impeded the
economic life
in the old boundaries of the country, as it imposed urgent
measures for
providing the population with essentials.48
The old
emigration in Bulgaria
from Macedonia
also rendered assistance.
The brotherhoods raised funds and other things for help.
At their
meeting on May 12, 1941
the Veles Brotherhood took a decision to help the poor citizens in
Veles.
Originally there were some ideas with the money raised to be bought
food. Later
the members of the brotherhood found out that for the transportation of
the
food they would have to pay a considerable amount of money. That was
why they
decided Ivan Popyordanov to take the cash of 60 000 Leva to Veles and
with the
assistance of the members of the campaign committees to give them
out to the
poor. They considered that that amount of money sent from Bulgaria
would
cover sufficient quantities of food.49
Besides the
food supplies for the
population, the CC proposed to the government to undertake as soon as
possible
the construction of roads, railways, as well as public buildings -
schools,
etc. thus ensuring work for thousands of workers in miserable
position. Care
was taken for the clerks and the intellectuals. BCCC insisted for help
until
they find suitable work. Having in mind that the clerks and the
intellectuals
had worked in a foreign environment and were not well informed
about the
Bulgarian laws, BCCC proposed clerks form Bulgaria
to be sent in Macedonia
and to “adapt the local intellectuals to work faster”. According to
BCCC, that
was “an honorable service".50
The
financial matters especially
bothered the members of the campaign committees. They proposed the
prices in
Vardar Macedonia to be in Leva to prevent speculation as it could
have
negative impact on the clerks, workers and the ,.insignificant citizen"
and to prevent the import of great quantities of banknotes from
Yugoslavia. In
general, they insisted serious measures to be taken for the
preservation of
the economy of the region, already affected by the Serbian and Greek
tyranny;
the repayment of people's savings to start even in partial installments
as they
suffered most. As regards the Serbian colonists, the members of the
campaign
committees were adamant - they had to be deported as soon as possible
and their
properties to be returned to the Bulgarians that owned them. As a
whole, BCCC
insisted for a grand in its dimensions work for a maximum use of
the “tough”
Macedonian Bulgarian, his strenuous labour, his honesty and
thriftfulness, the
beautiful and fertile land, the natural resources (Document No. 42).51
In the letter to
Chaprashikov, the Central Committee insisted the educational and
cultural work
to be promoted in Vardar Macedonia
and a Faculty in Agriculture to be opened besides the existing one in
Philosophy. The concept of the members was to accomplish a direct
contact
between the students from the old and the new boundaries. BCCC did
not have
any illusions about the condition of the intellectuals. It was evident
that the
oppression had badly damaged their characters. “As it was known that
even in
the social life of Bulgaria the lack of strength of character has
played a
fatal and horrible role, steps should be made for cultivation of
hardness, modesty,
diligence, love to the nation and the Motherland, in other words -to be
created
conscientious, respectable and patriotic citizens of liberated
Macedonia, now
in the warm embrace of Mother Bulgaria."
BCCC
insisted the Bulgarian
authorities to pay special attention to the organization of the medical
care as
the Serbian and the Greek regimes did not protect the health of the
Bulgarian
population.
One of the
first tasks before the
Bulgarian campaign committees was the assistance for-the
liberation of the
Macedonian Bulgarians - soldiers in the Yugoslav army and then
prisoners of
war in German camps as well as of everyone from the prisons of Versailles
Yugoslavia.
That
concerned the whole Bulgarian
society and mostly the Headquarters of the army. A special
Military Captives
Office was created for that purpose. The Ministry of War got in touch
with the
German and Italian headquarters and insisted the question to be
arranged -the
Bulgarian prisoners of war to be returned to the Bulgarian
military
authorities. For that reason the campaign committees made lists with
the names
of the prisoners of war and sent them to the Ministry of War.52
On
its part the ministry sent information to BCCC. According to that
data, as at
May 27, 1941 were released and sent to their homes the following
Bulgarians -
prisoners of war: from the camp in Slivnitsa - 3101 people, from the
camp near
Vidin - 120 people, from the camp near Petrich - 487 people, from the
camp near
Nikopol -2361 people, from the camp near Rousse - 812 people, Until
that date
10 475 people in total were liberated and sent back to their native
places.
That, however, were only the prisoners of war on the territory of Bulgaria.
Along with that the Headquarters of the army ordered to the military
attaches
in Athens, Belgrade, Budapest and Rome to discover and liberate from
the camps
in the respective countries all Bulgarians - prisoners of war:
Commissions
headed by Bulgarian military officers were sent to the camps and they
liberated: 300 people from the camps in Hungary, 1147 people from the
camp in
the town of Timishvar, 204 people from the camp in the town of Nish, 36
people
from the camp at Panchevo, 507 people from the camp at Dedine (near
Belgrade),
totally - 2194 people. Or until May 27, 1941 were liberated 12 669
prisoners of
war - Macedonian Bulgarians in total. (Document No. 39).53
The
campaign committees gave their
contribution to the liberation of the prisoners of war especially
from the
camps in Macedonia.
Their members negotiated for the liberation of the people. Of course
that
happened with the active intervention of the Bulgarian government.
The precise
Germans would not easily agree easily to liberate the prisoners of war.
But in
any case the interference of the campaign committees in that
activity was
obvious. Dr. Hristo Grouev from the town of Strouga, for example,
turned with a
request to the CC for the liberation of several thousand people
Bulgarian
prisoners of war from Macedonia that were in camps in Albania. The
Italians
did not permit, as the doctor explained, the relatives of the
prisoners of war
to meet them. Even the Bulgarian consulate in Tirana was not in a
position to
help (Document No. 40).54
Active
participation in raising
funds for the prisoners of war took the Macedonian Women's Union with
the BCCC
for Macedonia.
Care for the liberated prisoners and their sending to the native places
took
also the emigrants’ organizations in Bulgaria - The Union of the
Macedonian
Cultural Educational Charitable Brotherhood, the Macedonian Women's
Union, the
Macedonian Scientific Institute, Ilinden society and Macedonian
Adrianople
Volunteers' society.55 For example, on their meeting on
April 28,
1941 the trustees of Raiko Zhinzifov Veles Charitable Brotherhood in
Veles
accepted donations from the colony in town for supporting of the
prisoners of
war as well for the poor citizens that suffered from the battles. The
funds
raised amounted to 65 500 Leva the spending of which entrusted to Ivan
Popyordanov.56
At first were liberated
the prisoners of war from Kale camps near Skopje
and after that in the whole of Macedonia
- not only from the Vardar area, but from Aegean region, the camps in Yugoslavia.
The committees were actively involved actively in the liberation
of the
Bulgarians from Macedonia
-
prisoners in Yugoslavia
and Greece.
The
Bulgarians from Western Trace
and Aegean Macedonia, interned to the islands and in Pelopones
also were
liberated from the German and Italian camps for prisoners of war. Part
of them,
mostly those from the islands, were sent to Kavala and Salonica, others
to Athens
where the Bulgarian
legation ensured their transportation by trucks to Salonica. On July 4,
1941
were sent the last 80 people, who were found in the prisons in Naflipon.57
The prisoners of war in Austria,
Italy, Germany and Hungary were liberated as
well.
A great
number of Serbs, Croatians,
Montenegrins, people from Bosnia
and Slovenia
were liberated together with the Bulgarians with the assistance of the
campaign
committees. For that purpose the campaign committees sent official
letters to the
German commandantship, to the Italian minister plenipotentiary in Sofia and
others. CC was
in permanent contact with the Bulgarian military and political
authorities
mostly with General N. Mihov, commander-in-chief.58
From the
prisoners was required
firstly oral and then written declaration that they were Bulgarians.
That
requirement was set by the German commendatories that were against the
liberation of prisoners of war from other nationalities from
former Yugoslavia.
The
number of the Yugoslavian soldiers, captured on the territory
of Vardar Macedonia
was about 100 000 people.59
A great
number of petitions for
liberation of the captured Bulgarians from Macedonia,
former soldiers in the
Yugoslav army, were preserved in the Central Military Archives. Below
we show
only one example. The father of the Yugoslav General Mihaylo Apostolski
- Mite Apostolov Matovski from the
Shtip quarter of Novo Selo — famous stronghold of the Bulgarian spirit
- noted
in his plea that his son Mihail Mitev, operative major in the
Headquarters of
the Drava Division in the town of Liubliana was captured in the war
near the
town and was in Vestne camp near Milan, Italy. Matovski asked for the
liberation of his son and stated that he was “a Bulgarian, born by
Bulgarian
parents in the town of Shtip”.
Further he said, “I say that I am one of the first Bulgarians in Shtip,
I
worked for Bulgaria and for the Bulgarian nation and in the World War I
was a
volunteer in the Bulgarian army, I was wounded on the border with
Albania by a
hostile bullet and now I am handicapped." The father explained that his
son served in the Serbian army not from love to the country but “as we
are
extremely poor people, he tried to find temporary work with the
expectation that one day our country will be accessed to the
Motherland and
than he could serve to the beloved Bulgarian Tsar and state."
(Document
No. 41).60 There was a resolution on his plea: “Rome, for
liberation." The campaign
committees allowed the possibility for officers and soldiers from other
nationalities also to be liberated. However, there was not information
whether
any prisoner of war felt Macedonian and had refused to be freed from
captivity
for not being Bulgarian. A great number of Serbian captives, for
example,
refused to be liberated because they were Serbians, not Bulgarians.
One of the
important tasks of the
campaign committees was organizing the Bulgarian celebrations in
liberated Macedonia.
Of
course, they were a people's deed and the main organizer was the
administrative
power. The members of the campaign committees took part in the
administrative
power and also participated in organizing the feasts. Without going in
detail I
would examine some actions of the citizens in Vardar Macedonia
at that time and the role
of the campaign committees in it.
Special attention
deserved the celebration of May 24 in Skopje
where BCCC took active participation. According to the notice in the
Integrated
Bulgaria newspaper, many visitors form Sofia
arrived for the celebration. Members of Yunak union were present as
well. The
president of the Macedonian Scientific Institute in Sofia prof. Nikola Stoyanov, born in
Doyran,
had arrived too. BCCC organized an official meeting of the guests by a
brass
band, which was trained by BCCC to play Bulgarian marches. In the Tsar
Boris
III central square the guests were met by the municipality authorities
as well
as by the notable citizens among who was Dimitar Giuzelev. Many girls
and boys
were also present. With a moved voice the advisor of the BCCC Blagoy
Popankov
delivered a speech in the name of the citizens of Skopje
and especially in the name of Skopje
“Yunatsi”. The population mingled with the guests. Relatives, brothers
and sisters
met after long separation. The people in the square cried with joy. In
the same
evening, a little later in Skopje
arrived the
representatives of the Macedonian Adrianople's Volunteers'
Societies from Sofia, Plovdiv
and Pernik. The group consisted of 100 people and was led by Andro
Loulchev. On
the railway station in Skopje
the veterans in the struggle for liberation were met by the members of
the
renovated Volunteers’ Society - about 200 people with Pane Shosholchev,
the
Secretary Hristo Gligorov and the Cashier Kosta Panev at the head.61
Along with
the meeting farewell
party was organized for the representatives of the Macedonian
Bulgarians
leaving for Sofia.
A great number of children - students from Skopje,
Veles, Prilep, Bitola,
Ohrid, Kroushevo, Negotin, Kavadartsi and Gevgely started for the
celebration
in the capital. On the station a meeting took place. The Regional
Director
Anton Kozarov and the Deputy President of the Macedonian Women's Union
at BCCC
Ekaterina Voynova greeted the crowd.62 To take part in the
celebration arrived the old revolutionary Lazar Tomov - President
of Ilinden
Organization in Sofia. He took with himself the flag of Vardar Yunak
Society
that he had carried with him to Sofia
after the catastrophe in 1918.63
Impressive
were the celebrations in
liberated Skopje
in honour of the brothers from Salonica. Early in the morning the
central
square was full of people. The streets were decorated with flags ,
flowers and
the pictures of the brothers Cyril and Methodius. A platform for the
official
representatives and honorable citizens and guests was constructed
especially
for the feast. There were the Regional Director Anton Kozarov, the
mayor of
the town eng. Yanko Mustakov, the Deputy President of BCCC and mayor of
the
town Spiro Kitinchev, foreign councils, people's representatives Tasko
Stoilov,
Peter Doumanov, Geto Krastev, eng. Dimitur Chkatrov and Dimitur
Giuzelev,
representatives of the Bulgarian Writers' Union and many other.64 The
stone bridge was approached by a procession headed by the governing the
Skopje-Veles Bishopric, Sofronii, Bishop of Turnovo, surrounded by 15
local
priests. Boys carried gonfalons and the oldest icon of St. St.
Cyril and
Methodius from the Holly
Mother Church
that was preserved by miracle from devastation by the Serbian
suppressors.
After the
prayer and the palpable
speech of Bishop Sofronii the regional school inspector Hristo Zografov
delivered a speech full of signification and gratitude towards the
deeds of the
Saint Brothers. The crowd was deeply touched. Young people came with
quick steps
through the bridge. They carried by relay the sacred flame from the old
capital
- the town of Preslav.
Fanfares sounded and everybody shouted “Hurrah”. Bishop Sofronii took
the flame
and pronounced a blessing “In the name of the Holy Synod of the
Bulgarian
Orthodox Church I am blessing this holy flame and let it be spread in
all parts
of the liberated land.”65
The young
boys headed for another
sacred Bulgarian place -Ohrid. Afterwards 29 streets in Skopje
were given the names of Bulgarians from Macedonia, Colonel Boris
Drangov
str, Mara Bouneva str., etc. On the square in front of the platform
there were
29 people in line with bicycles, dressed in uniforms, who carried
plates with
the new names. When the name of the street was pronounced the man with
the
bicycle headed off to it, accompanied by ovations.65
The
manifestation of the students,
the villagers, the organizations and the military units started then.
First
came the little children dressed in white, green and red clothes.
Others had
self-made clothes of Bulgarian newspapers. Children carried crowns with
letters
from the Bulgarian alphabet. A truck passed with a group of students
sitting on
desks. Before them there were four blackboards with the letters “ú, ü, þ, ÿ”. Those were the letters that differentiated
the
Bulgarian
alphabet from the other Slavonic alphabets. Among a storm of applauses
and
shouts “Hurrah” passed the students from the old boundaries, the
Yunatsi from Sofia, members of
Macedonia-Adrianople's Volunteer Groups
from Pernik, Sofia, Plovdiv
and Skopje.
Excellent impression made the brass band of the students from the
secondary
schools. Small group of white-haired old men also passed caring a
modest
placard “1888-1908. Teachers of the Exarchate.” After them passed
workers from
the Skopje
tobacco
monopoly. Girls with national costumes followed. With rapture were met
the peasants
from the region. They carried enormous flags. Some of them were dressed
very
poorly. Some of the women wore slippers, others were barefooted. The
old people
were moved to tears. They passed with spread hands as if they wanted to
embarrass the long yearned and achieved freedom. The manifestation
finished and
left unforgettable memories in the citizens of Skopje.67
They were
convinced that the years of oppression had passed and that the
Bulgarian
society was united before the ideal for liberation and accession of the
lands.
The celebrations of May 24 were organized in a similar way in the other
regions
of Macedonia.
Even before the end of
the celebrations in Skopje, on 26 May
1941 in
the Holy Mother
Church was
organized a memorial meeting for
Colonel Boris Drangov. Like many other young Bulgarians from Macedonia,
Drangov had dedicated himself to the military service. He thought that
only as
a soldier he could work for the liberation of the oppressed Macedonia.
He
was a highly respected officer in the Bulgarian army and was a good
teacher,
too. He actively participated in the wars for national liberation
and
unification in 1912-1918. On May 26, 1917 he was killed by the
Bulgarian
enemies. Colonel Drangov was buried in his native town in the yard of
St.
Dimitrii Church in the presence of all citizens.68 The
Serbs,
however, did not leave his remains in peace.
The memory
for the perished Boris
Drangov was alive in the people's memories despite the attempts of the
Serbian
regime in Vardar Macedonia
his name to be sunk in oblivion. In 1934 the Serbs demolished his grave
which
was moved by his relatives in Skopje
cemetery. The establishment of the Bulgarian authority in the
region allowed
the merited respect to the remains of that hero. On May 26, 1941 the
citizens
of Skopje
at
the head with BCCC officially celebrated the 24th
Anniversary from
the death of Drangov. In Holy Mother Cathedral in Skopje there was a service in which
Bishop
Sofronii took part. The people that came into the church were so
numerous that
some of them stayed in the church yard, even in the nearer streets. His
family
was also present, as well as the mayor of Skopje eng. Moustakov and the
whole
municipal administration, the Deputy Regional director, representatives
of the
Boris Drangov Committee, an honorable unit of guardsmen, officers,
followers
of Ilinden Organization, volunteers from the Macedonian Adrianople's
Volunteers
Groups and many other guests.69