Ivan Mihailov
Encyclopedia
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman
and interwar
Macedonia
, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) after 1924.
(now part of Štip Municipality
, Republic of Macedonia
) in the Ottoman Empire
. Mihailov studied at the Bulgarian Men's High School
in Thessaloniki
up until the Second Balkan War
when the school was closed by the new Greek
administration, he later continued his studies at a Serbian
school in Skopje
. He was offered a scholarship by the Serbian Ministry of Education to pursue a degree at a Europe
an university but declined, later enlisting in the Bulgarian army, which had by that time occupied a significant portion of the region. After the end of World War I
, Mihailov emigrated to Bulgaria
, settling in Sofia
. Here he began studying law at the Sofia University
, at which time he was contacted by IMRO activists and offered to work as a personal secretary for IMRO's leader at that time, Todor Aleksandrov
.
was assassinated in unclear circumstances and IMRO soon came under the control of Mihailov, who had become a powerful figure in Bulgarian politics. IMRO's leadership was quick to blame Aleksandrov's murder on communists, while many postulate that Mihailov may have actually been responsible for the murder. These events created friction between factions within the organization and led to several high-profile murders, including that of Petar Chaulev
(who led the Ohrid uprising in 1913) in Milan
and eventually that of Aleksandar Protogerov
. During the interwar period
IMRO, led by Mihailov, took action against several former members of IMRO's Sandanist (left-wing) faction. Gjorche Petrov
was killed in Sofia in 1922, Todor Panitsa
(who had previously killed the right-wing Boris Sarafov
and Ivan Garvanov
) was assassinated in Vienna
in 1924 by Mihailov's future wife Mencha Karnichiu
. Dimo Hadjidimov, Georgi Skrizhovski, Aleksandar Bujnov, Chudomir Kantardjiev and many others were killed in a series of consecutive murders all taking place in 1925. The election of Mihailov as leader of IMRO marks a period of intensification of the armed struggle of the organization in Aegean
, and especially in Vardar Macedonia
. A total of 63 terrorist acts and attacks on bridges, warehouses, Serbian police stations and military targets were undertaken between 1922 and 1930, the number of assassinated Serbian officials and collaborators numbered in the thousands.
IMRO had de facto
control of Pirin Macedonia and acted as a "state within a state", which it used as a base for hit and run attacks against Yugoslavia with the unofficial support of axis Bulgaria and later Fascist Italy
, also establishing close links with the Croatia
n Ustaše movement
. Numerous assassinations were carried out by IMRO activists in many countries, the majority of which occurred in Yugoslavia
. The most spectacular of these was the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou
in Marseilles in 1934, in collaboration with Ante Pavelić
. IMRO's constant fratricidal killings and assassinations abroad provoked some within Bulgarian military after the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934
to take control and attempt to crush the organization. In 1934, Mihailov fled to Turkey
and ordered his supporters not to resist the Bulgarian army and to accept the disarmament peacefully, potentially avoiding a civil war or foreign invasion. Many inhabitants of Pirin Macedonia met this disbandment with satisfaction because it was perceived as relief from an unlawful and quite often brutal parallel authority. Mihailov had nine life-sentences and three death-sentences in Bulgaria. Although IMRO's main goal had always been the creation of an independent Macedonian state, some previous Bulgarian governments tolerated it as its goal was the liberation of Macedonia
from Greek
and Yugoslav
occupation which they considered Bulgaria
n land. As a result of this, IMRO had built an extensive network in Pirin Macedonia and in the other parts of Bulgarian territory, which was used to provide financing for the organization and an operational base from which the offensives into Yugoslavia and Greece were conducted. While in exile, IMRO was kept alive by members in various countries worldwide, but ceased to be an active force in Macedonia except for brief moments during the Second World War.
, Poland
and Hungary
and finally settled in the Croatian capital Zagreb
, which at that time was part of the Independent State of Croatia
, a fascist
puppet-state. In 1941 during the World War II
the most of Vardar Macedonia
and a half of Aegean Macedonia
, were annexed by Bulgaria and along with various other regions became Greater Bulgaria
. Mihailov refused to return to Bulgarian-occupied part of Macedonia and remained in Croatia until the end of the war. With his help in 1943 some armed detachments - Ohrana
, which included Bulgarian
Slav-speakers in Italian
and German
occupied Greek Macedonia were organised. It was apparent that Mihailov had broader plans which envisaged the creation of a Macedonian state under a German control. It was also anticipated that the IMRO volunteers would form the core of the armed forces of a future Independent Macedonia in addition to providing administration and education in the Florina
, Kastoria
and Edessa
districts.
, where he spoke to Hitler and Himmler and other top German leaders. From the scant available German information, it is apparent that Mihailov received consent to create three battalions consisting of volunteers armed with German weapons and munitions. Moreover, these battalions were to be under the operative command and disposal of Reichsfuhrer of SS Heinrich Himmler
. Additionally, in Sofia talks were held between high-ranking functionaries of the SS and the IMRO Central Committee members. Despite the confidential character of the negotiations between Mihailov and the Sicherheitsdienst
, the Bulgarian government obtained certain information about them. On September 2nd, Bulgaria ordered the withdrawal of its troops from Macedonia. Detailed German telegrams indicate that on September 3rd, Mihajlov was flown from Zagreb to Sofia. A German telegram from 1:07am on September 5th indicates that Hitler re-ordered the establishment of a puppet state in Macedonia. Mihajlov was transported to Skopje on the evening of September 5th "to see what can saved". Another telegram repeating the Fuehrer's order came in at 2am on September 6th. On September 6th, Mihajlov declined the offer to lead an independent 'puppet state' for inability to get local support. The German diplomats in Skopje reported to Berlin that the attempt to establish a puppet state had failed. On September 8th, Germany closed its Consulate in Skopje, and Mihajlov with his wife, together staff from the German consulate, left Skopje. Within a week, the attempt to form a Nazi puppet state went from an idea to failure.
the ruling Bulgarian Communists declared the population in Bulgarian Macedonia as ethnic Macedonian and teachers were brought in from Yugoslavia to teach the locals in the recently-codified Macedonian language
. The organizations of the IMRO in Bulgaria were completely destroyed. Former IMRO members were hunted by the communist Militsiya
and many of them imprisoned, repressed, exiled or killed. On the other hand, former Mihailovists were also persecuted by the Belgrade
-controlled authorities on accusations of collaboration with the Bulgarian occupation, Bulgarian nationalism, anti-communist and anti-Yugoslav activities, etc. Josip Broz Tito
and Georgi Dimitrov
worked on a project to merge Bulgaria and Yugoslavia into a Balkan Federative Republic under control of the Balkan Communist Federation
. These policies were reversed after the Tito-Stalin split
in June 1948, when Bulgaria, being subordinated to the interests of the Soviet Union
took a stance against Yugoslavia. After the Second World War many former "Ohranists
" were convictеd of a military crimes as collaborationists. Also, after the Greek Civil War
many of these people were expelled from Greece and tortured as Bulgarians.
Gradually Ivan Mihailov was established as a legal political figure and author of the ideology of the Bulgarian national liberation movement in Macedonia. This fact allowed for a close political alliance between Ivan Mihailov and the Macedonian Patriotic Organization
in the USA, Canada
and Australia
in the late 1940s. Mihailov became the emigrants’ ideological leader, and the MPO supplied the people and funds for the political struggle. With the help of the United Nations
and various humanitarian organizations, the human rights of Bulgarians repressed by Tito in Yugoslavia were protected. In order to provide a basis for the Bulgarian emigrant movement and create a historical record, Ivan Mihailov started writing his memoires from the 1950s to the 1970s, which the MPO’s Central Committee published in four large volumes. These works provide serious proof of Bulgarian national interests from the 50s to the 70s. After the change of Bulgarian policy toward the Macedonian Question in the late 1950s, Mihailov was largely forgotten about and according to some sources even in the 1970s and 1980s the Committee for State Security
supported his pro-Bulgarian and anti-Macedonistic political activity. However in September 1989, Boris Vishinsky, a Skopje journalist, decided to try and interview Mihailov. He expressed his hope for such an interview on Radio Vatican, which contacted Anton Popov, a journalist at the same station. Popov was one of the persons abroad that Ivan Mihailov trusted most. Sensing the impending collapse of Yugoslavia, he consented to such an interview, but only provided written answers. It then came as a real shock for many in Bulgaria
when in 1990 at the end of the cold war, the popular TV anchor Kevork Kevorkyan contacted Mihailov, thought by many to be long since deceased, and recorded a long interview with him. After the long years of official propaganda he was still thought of as an "enemy of the people" by many. This was Mihailov's last interview. He died in Rome on September 5, 1990.
Although the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was no longer active, Mihailov remained the leader of the Macedonian Liberation Movement and was supported by the Macedonian Patriotic Organization of US and Canada, of Fort Wayne, Indiana
. He wrote four books of memoirs and regularly wrote articles for The Macedonian Tribune, the oldest continuously published Macedonian émigré newspaper. Until the end of his life Mihailov continued his interest in the fate of the Macedonians
(whom he considered ethnically Bulgarian) and was committed to autonomous or independent Macedonian state.
In Bulgaria Mihailov is regarded as an important revolutionary from the third generation of freedom fighters who continued the struggle for political autonomy or independence in the Bulgarian populated parts of Macedonia after the partition of the most of the region of Macedonia between Serbia
and Greece after the First World War. His memory is honoured and his name is taken from streets and schools in whole Bulgaria. In the Republic of Macedonia
, Ivan Mihailov has been regarded as traitor of the Macedonian people
. The Constitutional court of the Republic of Macedonia banned a pro-Bulgarian organization bearing the name of Ivan Mihailov as separatist.
Radko Knoll
on Rugged Island
in the South Shetland Islands
, Antarctica is named after Ivan “Radko” Mihaylov.
He was a follower of the idea about an independent United Macedonia
n multiethnic
state with prevailing ethnic Bulgarian element, something as "Switzerland on the Balkans". According to his personal secretary Vida Boeva he was constantly canvassing by means of petitions, letters of protest, memoirs addressed to the UN etc. By the name of Macedonian Patriotic Organisation emphasizing that the Macedonian Republic was a colony of Serbia, under other name, as a Macedonian nation. He declared also that Macedonia is Bulgarian and the Slavs in Macedonia are Bulgarian. All these people that had the power in Macedonia were serbophils or grecophils. He believed that the Macedonians are part of the Bulgarian nation and the founders of IMRO were people who accepted the San Stefano Bulgaria
. The Bulgarianness of Mihailov is recognized by several Macedonian historians like academician Ivan Katardzhiev, director of the Historical Sciences section in the Department of Social Sciences in the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
and the director of the Macedonian State archive Ph.D.
Zoran Todorovski. According to Katardjev the policy of Mihailov for establishment of an independent Macedonian state meant a Macedonian state of the Bulgarians in Macedonia. That denotes a second Bulgarian state, but not a national ethnic Macedonian state. Katardjev stated Michaylov's view about the term "Macedonian" was, that this is a generalizing, regional term, including different ethnicities as Bulgarians, Aromanians, Albanians but not ethnic Macedonians. Katardjiev defines all Macedonian revolutionaries from the period before 1930s as "Bulgarians" and asserts that separatism of some Macedonian revolutionaries toward official Bulgarian policy was only a political phenomenon without an ethnic character. Todorovski asserts that "All of them declared themselves as Bulgarians....".
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) after 1924.
Early years
Ivan Mihailov was born on August 26, 1896, in the village of Novo SeloŠtip municipality
Štip is a municipality in eastern Republic of Macedonia. Štip is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. This municipality is part of the Eastern Statistical Region.-Geography:Štip Municipality covers an area of 583.24 km²...
(now part of Štip Municipality
Štip municipality
Štip is a municipality in eastern Republic of Macedonia. Štip is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. This municipality is part of the Eastern Statistical Region.-Geography:Štip Municipality covers an area of 583.24 km²...
, Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
) in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Mihailov studied at the Bulgarian Men's High School
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki
The Sts. Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki was the first Bulgarian high school in Macedonia. One of the most influential Bulgarian educational centres in Macedonia and Southern Thrace, it was founded in autumn 1880 in Ottoman Thessaloniki and existed until...
in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
up until the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
when the school was closed by the new Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
administration, he later continued his studies at a Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
school in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
. He was offered a scholarship by the Serbian Ministry of Education to pursue a degree at a Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an university but declined, later enlisting in the Bulgarian army, which had by that time occupied a significant portion of the region. After the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Mihailov emigrated to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, settling in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
. Here he began studying law at the Sofia University
Sofia University
The St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia or Sofia University is the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria, founded on 1 October 1888...
, at which time he was contacted by IMRO activists and offered to work as a personal secretary for IMRO's leader at that time, Todor Aleksandrov
Todor Aleksandrov
Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov also transliterated as Todor Alexandrov also spelt Alexandroff, was a Bulgarian freedom fighter and member of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees since 1897 and later of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary...
.
Leader of the IMRO
On August 31, 1924, Todor AleksandrovTodor Aleksandrov
Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov also transliterated as Todor Alexandrov also spelt Alexandroff, was a Bulgarian freedom fighter and member of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees since 1897 and later of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary...
was assassinated in unclear circumstances and IMRO soon came under the control of Mihailov, who had become a powerful figure in Bulgarian politics. IMRO's leadership was quick to blame Aleksandrov's murder on communists, while many postulate that Mihailov may have actually been responsible for the murder. These events created friction between factions within the organization and led to several high-profile murders, including that of Petar Chaulev
Petar Chaulev
Petar Chaulev, also called Petre Chashule was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman Macedonia. He was a local leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization ....
(who led the Ohrid uprising in 1913) in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and eventually that of Aleksandar Protogerov
Aleksandar Protogerov
Alexandar Protogerov was a Bulgarian general, politician and revolutionary as well as a member of the revolutionary movement in Macedonia, Thrace and Pomoravlje. He was among the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and later joined the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary...
. During the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
IMRO, led by Mihailov, took action against several former members of IMRO's Sandanist (left-wing) faction. Gjorche Petrov
Gjorche Petrov
Gyorche Petrov Nikolov , born Georgi Petrov Nikolov , was one of the leaders of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement .- Biography :...
was killed in Sofia in 1922, Todor Panitsa
Todor Panitsa
Todor Panitsa was a Bulgarian revolutionary figure active in the region of Macedonia. He was one of the leaders of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. He took part in the struggles of the Bulgarians in the beginning of the 20th Century...
(who had previously killed the right-wing Boris Sarafov
Boris Sarafov
Boris Petrov Sarafov was a revolutionary from the region of Macedonia, one of the leaders of Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization...
and Ivan Garvanov
Ivan Garvanov
Ivan Garvanov was a Bulgarian revolutionary and leader of the revolutionary movement in Macedonia and Eastern Thrace. He was among the leaders of the Bulgarian Secret Revolutionary Brotherhood and later of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees...
) was assassinated in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1924 by Mihailov's future wife Mencha Karnichiu
Mencha Karnicheva
Melpomena Dimitrova Karnicheva , popularly known as Mencha was a female revolutionary of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation...
. Dimo Hadjidimov, Georgi Skrizhovski, Aleksandar Bujnov, Chudomir Kantardjiev and many others were killed in a series of consecutive murders all taking place in 1925. The election of Mihailov as leader of IMRO marks a period of intensification of the armed struggle of the organization in Aegean
Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia is a term that refers to the Greek region of Macedonia. It is currently mainly used in the Republic of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a United Macedonia. The term is also used in Bulgaria as the more common synonym for Greek Macedonia, without the connotations...
, and especially in Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia is an area in the north of the Macedonia . The borders of the area are those of the Republic of Macedonia. It covers an area of...
. A total of 63 terrorist acts and attacks on bridges, warehouses, Serbian police stations and military targets were undertaken between 1922 and 1930, the number of assassinated Serbian officials and collaborators numbered in the thousands.
IMRO had de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
control of Pirin Macedonia and acted as a "state within a state", which it used as a base for hit and run attacks against Yugoslavia with the unofficial support of axis Bulgaria and later Fascist Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
, also establishing close links with the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Ustaše movement
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
. Numerous assassinations were carried out by IMRO activists in many countries, the majority of which occurred in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. The most spectacular of these was the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou
Louis Barthou
Jean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
in Marseilles in 1934, in collaboration with Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
. IMRO's constant fratricidal killings and assassinations abroad provoked some within Bulgarian military after the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934
Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934
The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, also known as the 19 May coup d'état , was a coup d'état in the Kingdom of Bulgaria carried out by the Zveno military organization and the Military Union with the aid of the Bulgarian Army...
to take control and attempt to crush the organization. In 1934, Mihailov fled to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and ordered his supporters not to resist the Bulgarian army and to accept the disarmament peacefully, potentially avoiding a civil war or foreign invasion. Many inhabitants of Pirin Macedonia met this disbandment with satisfaction because it was perceived as relief from an unlawful and quite often brutal parallel authority. Mihailov had nine life-sentences and three death-sentences in Bulgaria. Although IMRO's main goal had always been the creation of an independent Macedonian state, some previous Bulgarian governments tolerated it as its goal was the liberation of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
from Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Yugoslav
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
occupation which they considered Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n land. As a result of this, IMRO had built an extensive network in Pirin Macedonia and in the other parts of Bulgarian territory, which was used to provide financing for the organization and an operational base from which the offensives into Yugoslavia and Greece were conducted. While in exile, IMRO was kept alive by members in various countries worldwide, but ceased to be an active force in Macedonia except for brief moments during the Second World War.
1934 - 1944
After 1934, Mihailov lived in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and finally settled in the Croatian capital Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, which at that time was part of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, a fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
puppet-state. In 1941 during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the most of Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia
Vardar Macedonia is an area in the north of the Macedonia . The borders of the area are those of the Republic of Macedonia. It covers an area of...
and a half of Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia is a term that refers to the Greek region of Macedonia. It is currently mainly used in the Republic of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a United Macedonia. The term is also used in Bulgaria as the more common synonym for Greek Macedonia, without the connotations...
, were annexed by Bulgaria and along with various other regions became Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria is term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern Bulgarian irredentist nationalist movement which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia...
. Mihailov refused to return to Bulgarian-occupied part of Macedonia and remained in Croatia until the end of the war. With his help in 1943 some armed detachments - Ohrana
Ohrana
Ohrana ; were armed collaborationist detachments organized by the former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization structures, composed of Bulgarian in Nazi-occupied Greek Macedonia during World War II and led by Bulgarian officers. from Macedonia...
, which included Bulgarian
Macedonians (Bulgarians)
Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians , sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians or Macedo-Bulgarians is a regional, ethnographic group of ethnic Bulgarians, inhabiting or originating from Macedonia...
Slav-speakers in Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
occupied Greek Macedonia were organised. It was apparent that Mihailov had broader plans which envisaged the creation of a Macedonian state under a German control. It was also anticipated that the IMRO volunteers would form the core of the armed forces of a future Independent Macedonia in addition to providing administration and education in the Florina
Florina
Florina is a town and municipality in mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. It is also the Metropolitan seat for the region. It lies in the central part of Florina peripheral unit, of which it is the capital. Florina belongs to the periphery of West...
, Kastoria
Kastoria
Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...
and Edessa
Edessa, Greece
Edessa , is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region of Greece. It was also the capital of the defunct province of the same name.-Name:...
districts.
Attempt to create a Nazi Puppet State
In August 1943, Ivan Mihailov left Zagreb incognito for Germany where he was to visit the main headquarters of Hitler and the headquarters of the SicherheitsdienstSicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
, where he spoke to Hitler and Himmler and other top German leaders. From the scant available German information, it is apparent that Mihailov received consent to create three battalions consisting of volunteers armed with German weapons and munitions. Moreover, these battalions were to be under the operative command and disposal of Reichsfuhrer of SS Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
. Additionally, in Sofia talks were held between high-ranking functionaries of the SS and the IMRO Central Committee members. Despite the confidential character of the negotiations between Mihailov and the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
, the Bulgarian government obtained certain information about them. On September 2nd, Bulgaria ordered the withdrawal of its troops from Macedonia. Detailed German telegrams indicate that on September 3rd, Mihajlov was flown from Zagreb to Sofia. A German telegram from 1:07am on September 5th indicates that Hitler re-ordered the establishment of a puppet state in Macedonia. Mihajlov was transported to Skopje on the evening of September 5th "to see what can saved". Another telegram repeating the Fuehrer's order came in at 2am on September 6th. On September 6th, Mihajlov declined the offer to lead an independent 'puppet state' for inability to get local support. The German diplomats in Skopje reported to Berlin that the attempt to establish a puppet state had failed. On September 8th, Germany closed its Consulate in Skopje, and Mihajlov with his wife, together staff from the German consulate, left Skopje. Within a week, the attempt to form a Nazi puppet state went from an idea to failure.
During the Cold War
In 1944, he was forced to flee again, this time to Italy. The Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov ordered the assassination of Mihailov. The new regimes in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece persecuted his followers as fascists and traitors. After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the ruling Bulgarian Communists declared the population in Bulgarian Macedonia as ethnic Macedonian and teachers were brought in from Yugoslavia to teach the locals in the recently-codified Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
. The organizations of the IMRO in Bulgaria were completely destroyed. Former IMRO members were hunted by the communist Militsiya
Militsiya
Militsiya or militia is used as an official name of the civilian police in several former communist states, despite its original military connotation...
and many of them imprisoned, repressed, exiled or killed. On the other hand, former Mihailovists were also persecuted by the Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
-controlled authorities on accusations of collaboration with the Bulgarian occupation, Bulgarian nationalism, anti-communist and anti-Yugoslav activities, etc. Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
and Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...
worked on a project to merge Bulgaria and Yugoslavia into a Balkan Federative Republic under control of the Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
. These policies were reversed after the Tito-Stalin split
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
in June 1948, when Bulgaria, being subordinated to the interests of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
took a stance against Yugoslavia. After the Second World War many former "Ohranists
Ohrana
Ohrana ; were armed collaborationist detachments organized by the former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization structures, composed of Bulgarian in Nazi-occupied Greek Macedonia during World War II and led by Bulgarian officers. from Macedonia...
" were convictеd of a military crimes as collaborationists. Also, after the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
many of these people were expelled from Greece and tortured as Bulgarians.
Macedonian Patriotic Organization
Macedonian Patriotic Organization is a political organization founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the United States in 1922 by immigrants from Greek Macedonia. It was originally called the Macedonian Political Organization but changed its name in 1952. From 1926 it has published the newspaper...
in the USA, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the late 1940s. Mihailov became the emigrants’ ideological leader, and the MPO supplied the people and funds for the political struggle. With the help of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and various humanitarian organizations, the human rights of Bulgarians repressed by Tito in Yugoslavia were protected. In order to provide a basis for the Bulgarian emigrant movement and create a historical record, Ivan Mihailov started writing his memoires from the 1950s to the 1970s, which the MPO’s Central Committee published in four large volumes. These works provide serious proof of Bulgarian national interests from the 50s to the 70s. After the change of Bulgarian policy toward the Macedonian Question in the late 1950s, Mihailov was largely forgotten about and according to some sources even in the 1970s and 1980s the Committee for State Security
Committee for State Security
The Committee for State Security , popularly known as State Security was the name of the Bulgarian secret service during the Communist rule of Bulgaria and the Cold War ....
supported his pro-Bulgarian and anti-Macedonistic political activity. However in September 1989, Boris Vishinsky, a Skopje journalist, decided to try and interview Mihailov. He expressed his hope for such an interview on Radio Vatican, which contacted Anton Popov, a journalist at the same station. Popov was one of the persons abroad that Ivan Mihailov trusted most. Sensing the impending collapse of Yugoslavia, he consented to such an interview, but only provided written answers. It then came as a real shock for many in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
when in 1990 at the end of the cold war, the popular TV anchor Kevork Kevorkyan contacted Mihailov, thought by many to be long since deceased, and recorded a long interview with him. After the long years of official propaganda he was still thought of as an "enemy of the people" by many. This was Mihailov's last interview. He died in Rome on September 5, 1990.
Legacy
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. He wrote four books of memoirs and regularly wrote articles for The Macedonian Tribune, the oldest continuously published Macedonian émigré newspaper. Until the end of his life Mihailov continued his interest in the fate of the Macedonians
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
(whom he considered ethnically Bulgarian) and was committed to autonomous or independent Macedonian state.
In Bulgaria Mihailov is regarded as an important revolutionary from the third generation of freedom fighters who continued the struggle for political autonomy or independence in the Bulgarian populated parts of Macedonia after the partition of the most of the region of Macedonia between Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Greece after the First World War. His memory is honoured and his name is taken from streets and schools in whole Bulgaria. In the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Ivan Mihailov has been regarded as traitor of the Macedonian people
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
. The Constitutional court of the Republic of Macedonia banned a pro-Bulgarian organization bearing the name of Ivan Mihailov as separatist.
Radko Knoll
Radko Knoll
Radko Knoll is a rocky hill rising to 102 m on the north coast of Smyadovo Cove in the northwest of Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Situated 780 m south of Cape Sheffield....
on Rugged Island
Rugged Island (South Shetland Islands)
Rugged Island is an island long and wide, lying west of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Surface area . The island's summit San Stefano Peak rises to above sea level. Rugged Island is located at...
in the South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...
, Antarctica is named after Ivan “Radko” Mihaylov.
Mihailov's view about the Macedonian Question
There are different political opinions about Mihailov's activity in Bulgaria, but scholars agree that he was a defender of the statement about the strong Bulgarian character of the Slav-speaking population in the region of Macedonia.He was a follower of the idea about an independent United Macedonia
United Macedonia
United Macedonia is an irredentist concept among ethnic Macedonian nationalists that aims to unify the transnational region of Macedonia in southeastern Europe, which they claim as their homeland, and which they assert was wrongfully divided under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, into a single...
n multiethnic
Multiethnic society
A multiethnic society is one with members belonging to more than one ethnic group, in contrast to societies which are ethnically homogenous. In practice, virtually all contemporary national societies are multiethnic...
state with prevailing ethnic Bulgarian element, something as "Switzerland on the Balkans". According to his personal secretary Vida Boeva he was constantly canvassing by means of petitions, letters of protest, memoirs addressed to the UN etc. By the name of Macedonian Patriotic Organisation emphasizing that the Macedonian Republic was a colony of Serbia, under other name, as a Macedonian nation. He declared also that Macedonia is Bulgarian and the Slavs in Macedonia are Bulgarian. All these people that had the power in Macedonia were serbophils or grecophils. He believed that the Macedonians are part of the Bulgarian nation and the founders of IMRO were people who accepted the San Stefano Bulgaria
Treaty of San Stefano
The Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78...
. The Bulgarianness of Mihailov is recognized by several Macedonian historians like academician Ivan Katardzhiev, director of the Historical Sciences section in the Department of Social Sciences in the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most eminent academic institution in the Republic of Macedonia.-History:The Academy of Sciences and Arts was established by the Macedonian Assembly on 22 February 1967 as the highest scientific, scholarly and artistic institution in the country...
and the director of the Macedonian State archive Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
Zoran Todorovski. According to Katardjev the policy of Mihailov for establishment of an independent Macedonian state meant a Macedonian state of the Bulgarians in Macedonia. That denotes a second Bulgarian state, but not a national ethnic Macedonian state. Katardjev stated Michaylov's view about the term "Macedonian" was, that this is a generalizing, regional term, including different ethnicities as Bulgarians, Aromanians, Albanians but not ethnic Macedonians. Katardjiev defines all Macedonian revolutionaries from the period before 1930s as "Bulgarians" and asserts that separatism of some Macedonian revolutionaries toward official Bulgarian policy was only a political phenomenon without an ethnic character. Todorovski asserts that "All of them declared themselves as Bulgarians....".
External links
- "The Conspirator Rediscovered", Interview with Ivan Mihailov in Storia Illustrata, by Antonio Pitamitz. pp. 46–51. Translated by Cali Ruchala.
- Ivan Mihailov, Unpublished Memoirs, Diaries and Materials
- Ivan Mihailov, Quo Vadis, Bulgaria?
- Ivan MIhailov, Articles
- Ivan MIhailov's biography