In his tribute to Professor Liubomir Miletich, Hristo Silyanov described
him as a man with two great passions in life "Knowledge and Macedonia".
They became the ideals of an entire generation of his compatriots, who
were also forced to live beyond the borders of their oppressed homeland.
As one of those leading members of a small but growing intelligentsia,
he became the spokesman of a generation which championed the freedom of
Macedonia through legal means.
Liubomir Miletich was born on January
14, 1863, in Shtip. His father Georgi Miletich, was a local Bulgarian schoolteacher
whose family had immigrated from Novi Sad in Serbia. According to Miletich,
his family origins could be found in Odrin. His great grandfather, Mile
Voivoda, a Bulgarian forced to flee from the Turks, made his way to Austria.
Through the years he lost contact with its Bulgarian roots. When Miletich
was born, the Bulgarian Revival was well under way and life was not easy.
The spiritual oppression of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the
political oppression of the Turks gave rise to a fierce struggle for self-preservation.
As an educator, Georgi Miletich was at the forefront of this movement.
His duties took him to many towns in Macedonia such as Veles, Shtip, Koukoush
and Strumitsa, as there were few qualified teachers. Unfortunately, the
Turkish government, often influenced by the Greeks, held this enlightened
generation of Bulgarians under suspicion. Georgi Miletich soon fell prey
to this policy when, in 1868, he was arrested for suspected of involvement
in a freedom-fighting detachment. Luckily, due to the assistance of an
influential Bulgarian, he was released, escaping imprisonment and exile
in Asia Minor. For Georgi Miletich it signalled a change for him and his
family. He was able to secure a position in the company building the Vardar
Railway Line from Skopye to Salonika and moved his family to Salonika and
on to Sofia where they settled permanently. Liubomir was a young boy when
he left Macedonia but he harboured a love for his homeland that never left
him. As soon as he was old enough, he began to organize his compatriots
and to work actively for the freedom of the homeland that he did not live
to see liberated.
Miletich completed his primary education
in Sofia. Bulgaria, by this time newly liberated, was unable to provide
for the needs of its rising generation beyond the elementary level. The
years of Turkish domination had left the country far behind its western
counterparts. Therefore, it was necessary for anyone who wished to further
his education to go abroad. Many young Bulgarians travelled to Zagreb where
they studied at the Croatian University founded by Bishop Straussmeyer,
a man who was instrumental in helping many young Bulgarians to receive
their education. Zagreb had become a centre for the Bulgarian intelligentsia.
It is not surprising then that Miletich should find his way to Zagreb.
After finishing his secondary education, he received a scholarship to study
Slavic philology. It was his good fortune to study under the famous scholar
Leopold Gaitler. In 1885, he married a Croatian and that same year left
for Prague where he hoped to complete his doctorate. He was unable to do
so, as he was called back to Bulgaria to teach in the new established school
of higher learning in Sofia. (Sofiz - later the University of Sofia.
In spite of the many duties and responsibilities
imposed upon him, he found time to take an active part in the activities
of the Macedonian immigrant organizations in Sofia. During his youth, he
was a member of the "Vurhovni Makedonski Komiteti" (Supreme Macedonian
Committees) under the leadership of General Nikolaev and Yosif Kovachev
(from Shtip)4. He was among many Macedonians who were in the forefront
of political and cultural life in Bulgaria. Soon his published works began
to appear in "Periodichesko Spisaniye" (published by the Bulgarian Literary
Brotherhood in Braila). In 1888, when an advanced teaching course was started
at Sofiz, the precursor to the University of Sofia, he was appointed one
of the first instructors.
Having attained a taste of freedom,
he understood the necessity of helping his compatriots in Macedonia. During
the 1890's, the plight of Macedonia was uppermost in his mind. With his
colleague, Dr. Ivan Georgov (from Veles) he travelled several times to
the capitals of the great powers to plead on behalf of Macedonia. At the
same time, his literary work flourished. He and his colleagues A. Teodorov
(Balan), B. Tsonev and Dimitar Matov, began to publish "Bulgarski Pregled",
an endeavour which lasted six years. It included many original stories
and poems written by them. Miletich was also an eager contributor to "Zbornik
za narodni umotvoreniya, nauka I knizhnina" (edited by Shishmanov) and
to the Bulgarian literary society, which later became the Bulgarian Academy
of Sciences.
When the revolutionary struggle broke
out in Macedonia there was great concern by Macedonians abroad in Bulgaria
for those they had left behind in Macedonia. Through the legal organizations,
every possible effort was made to aid Macedonia. The endless flow of refugees
was a constant reminder of the need for urgency. On his own initiative,
Miletich travelled to Prague to appeal to the Czechs. During that same
year, 1903, he and Professor Ivan Georgov made a journey to Europe visiting
Petersburg, London, Paris and Rome. In London they spoke to the newly formed
Balkan Committee. Shortly afterward, a special relief committee was formed.
Soon a delegation which included Brailsford, his wife Lady Grogan and others
was sent to Macedonia in an effort to ease the conditions of the suffering
population.
After the suppression of the Ilinden
Uprising, thousands fled to Bulgaria, among whom were counted many heroic
freedom fighters. Miletich was the first to realize the historical significance
of this event, for he new that they carried with them the living history
of this tragic era. He visited many of them, recording their memoirs in
their own dialects. These memoirs were published during the thirties in
eleven books providing a first hand record of the Ilinden uprising.
Professor Miletich realized the importance
of public opinion, especially with regard to Macedonia. After the Young
Turk revolution and during the Balkan wars, he and Professor Georgov travelled
to Europe meeting influential officials and writing articles in European
newspapers propagating the idea of an autonomous Macedonia. During the
first Balkan war, as a solider assigned in Salonika with the Bulgarian
army, he was delegated by Macedonian leaders to draft a memoir to King
Ferdinand on the situation of the Bulgarians in those parts of Macedonia
supposedly liberated by the Serbs and Greeks.
By the end of the Balkan wars, events
in Macedonia had reached tragic proportions. The avarice of the feuding
Balkan countries had left Macedonia partitioned and in ruins while the
population was left to suffer greater injustices. In Serbia and Greece
all Bulgarian schools and churches were closed and the Bulgarian language
outlawed. Both countries pursued an overt policy of denationalization and
assimilation. The Macedonian intelligentsia in the occupied parts of Macedonia
were forced to become martyrs. Most important was the fact that they were
unable to take positions of leadership to improve their lot. Therefore,
the burden fell upon those Macedonians who were living in Bulgaria. The
need for an enlightened public opinion compelled Miletich and several other
influential community leaders to meet and discuss how they might accomplish
this end. The meeting turned out to be fruitful, the participants deciding
that a newspaper would be published in French. It was known as "L'echo
de Bulgarie"(renamed La Bulgarie in 1923 and La Parole Bulgare in 1937).
Naturally, the head of the editorial board was Miletich. In the meantime,
both Serbia and Greece did not remain idle. They too tried to use their
influence in Europe. One example of this policy is the Serbian visit to
Russia to enlist their support. Miletich was sent again to defend the Bulgarian
position. Upon his return to Bulgaria after the Second Balkan war he returned
to find Bulgaria full of refugees from Macedonia. Unable to remain idle
with his countrymen in such a state, he took part in all undertakings to
relieve their suffering. He did so in the way he knew best; by investigating
and recording the atrocities which had been committed in Macedonia. His
role with respect to the Carnegie Commission is of utmost importance. He
knew many of the members of the Commission personally. His reputation was
known to them as well, so that when they embarked on their investigation,
his material was an invaluable addition to their findings. Much of the
information which he had collected was included in the voluminous report
of the Carnegie Commission (Enquete dans les Balkans - Paris 1914). During
the winter of 1913-1914, he visited refugees from both Macedonia and Thrace,
recording the horrifying details of events. In 1916, as a member of the
commission inquiring into the lands freed by Bulgaria, he was able to visit
his native Macedonia. Accompanied by the photographer from the national
museum, Georgi Traichev, he was able to collect many pictures that later
went into the publication of "Makedoniya v Obrazi" (Macedonia Illustrated
- also in English and French).
Professor Miletich continued his work
for many years. During the twenties, he visited Europe many times as a
private citizen and as a delegate to the League of Nations, often engaging
in sharp disputes. In his memoirs, Ivan Mihailoff tells of an incident
he personally heard about while visiting at the home of Miletich. At one
international conference, Professor Ibrovats, the Serbian delegate, while
defending the Serbian claims to Macedonia declared:
In Macedonia the population is Serbian. Why even the name of Professor
Miletich is Serbian!
to which Miletich responded:
Even I, Miletich the Serb [see ref 5], maintain that the Slavic population
of Macedonia is Bulgarian
Without a doubt, one of his most important activities was the establishment
of the Macedonian Scientific Institute. Silyanov says of him: "He made
the Institute a centre of learning and literature, something like a Macedonian
Academy of Sciences." The official publication of the Institute was "Makedonski
Pregled" (Macedonian Review) in which were included invaluable studies
on history, geography, ethnography, dialectology and the economic life
of Macedonia. The Institute produced many valuable works on Macedonia and
united the Macedonian intellectual community through many trying times.
There were fourteen important literary works and sixteen issues of "Makedonska
Biblioteka", as well as books containing the memoirs of the leading freedom
fighters, where were collected by Miletich and published while he was the
editor.
Although he led a full and eventful
life, it was not without its tragedies. Yet looking at the accomplishments
of Miletich, one would never guess that it was so. Three of his six children
during their youth. When his youngest son took ill, he was forced to mortgage
his home so that he could take him to Switzerland to undergo the necessary
treatment. But his was not a generation interested in financial gain. Many
young Macedonians similarly gave up opportunities for material wealth in
order to serve Macedonia. His commitment and devotion to the Macedonian
cause was a shining example to those who came after him. He left an inexhaustible
source of materials that would otherwise would have been lost forever.
His legacy is one which should not be forgotten.
Sources