International Relations and Foreign Policy

Relations between Bulgaria and R Macedonia 

Books, Brochures and Articles

BOOKS, BROCHURES AND ARTICLES

Recently the “Sineva” (Azure) Publishing House released the second volume of the documentary collection One Life in Letters (from the Archives of Grigor Vassilev), S. 1999; 477 p. In said volume, part of the large correspondence of the eminent public figure, politician and close upholder of the Macedonian Liberation cause, Grigor Vassilev, is published. It includes letters sent to T.Alexandrov, G. Atanassov, I. Vaptzarov, B. Drangov, T. Karaiotov, D. Krapchev, An. Liapchev, Hr. Matov, Prof. N. Milev, P. Penchev, Hr. Silianov, Prof. Al. Stanishev, Dr Hr. Tatarchev, N. Tomalevsky, D. Hadjidimov, Ior. Chkatrov, K. Shtarkelov etc. This correspondence is testimony of the close relationship of Gr.Vassilev with the activists of VMRO. They seek and appreciate his advises and assistance for the solution of difficult issues regarding the Liberation Movement. Gr. Vassilev himself takes part in important VMRO missions – together with L. Miletich, Iv. Georgov and others in Western Europe after the First World War. From the published letters it is seen that the organization counts largely on Gr. Vassilev’s collaboration in the process of the Liberation struggle; his sorrow due to the unsettled Macedonian question is also a relevant subject in them.

The volume is cleverly prepared by Tzocho Biliarsky, a good connoisseur of the Macedonian Liberation Movement and its organizations. The compiler succeeds in revealing Gr.Vassilev’s stand of an eminent patriot and social activist.

In V.Tarnovo, at the end of 1999, a phototype edition is published – entitled Stanislavov (Lesnovsky) Prologue Of The Year 1330, 343 p. The compilers of the edition are Roumiana Pavlova (editor too) and Vesselka Jeliazkova. The original of the prologue is kept in the Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, in Belgrade. It was written in the Lesnovo monastery, Macedonia, by the monk Stanislav – from his name derives the respective denomination of Stanislavov prologue. It consists of 320 parchment panels and it is one of the few literary monuments in a state of good preservation since the Middle Age epoch, a testimony of the medieval Bulgarian culture from Macedonia. It is interesting with its readings on the Bulgarian and Slav saints – such as Ivan Rilsky, Ilarion Maglensky, Mihail Voin and others. 

In the preface, written by R. Pavlova, a scientific presentation of the prologue referring to all what has been written on it by now, at world-wide scientific level. This valuable book once again refutes the writings of the Skopie’s Serbo-communist historiography about a “certain Macedonian” culture in the Middle Ages and proves the continuity of the Bulgarian cultural life.

The Macedonia library publishes a brochure by Hristo Grigorov, entitled Ichko Boichev. Life and Revolutionary Activity (1882-1960), S., 1999, 64 p. The author of the brochure is grandson of the voivode (leader) Ichko Boichev. On the grounds of preserved archives and literature, he tells us enthusiastically about his adherence to VMORO, his participation in the Ilinden-Preobrajensko uprising in 1903, in the detachments of the organization after the rout of the uprising and his nomination as a voivode of Gorna Djoumaia, his participation in the Balkan wars 1912-13. Ichko Boichev’s activity as activist of VMRO is interesting too. After the 9 of September 1944, he is repressed undeservedly by the communist regime and interned because of his disagreement with its Macedonian policy.

The brochure includes a bibliography of the documents and the literature consulted as well as the facsimiles of some documents. This booklet, dedicated with love and appreciation to the Macedonian Liberation Movement, deserves to be read by every one. It radiates the authentic patriotism of the great voivode and his self-abnegation in the name of the liberation ideal of the Macedonian Bulgarians.