Venko Markovski
Encyclopedia
Venko Markovski, in Bulgarian
and Macedonian
Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; (March 3, 1915, Skopje
—January 7, 1988, Sofia
) was a Bulgarian
and Macedonian
writer, poet and Communist
politician.
, Kingdom of Serbia
, then occupied by Kingdom of Bulgaria
, (now Republic of Macedonia
), Markovski completed his secondary education
in Skopje, later studying Slavic
Philology
in Sofia
. Markovski was a member of the Macedonian Literary Group founded in Skopje
in 1931, the Macedonian Literary Circle in Sofia
, Bulgaria
(1938–1941). He is an important figure in contemporary Macedonian
literature
after has published in 1938, what was to be the first contemporary book written in non-dialectal Macedonian language, "Narodni bigori". As the most of the left-wing politicians from Macedonia he has changed his ethnic affiliations from Bulgarian to Macedonian during 1930s, after the recognition of the Macedonian ethnicity from the Comintern
. However such Macedonian activists, members of the Bulgarian Communist Party, never managed to get rid of their pro-Bulgarian bias.
During the WWII, in 1941 he was sent as Communist activist to the concentration camp "Enikyoi" by the Bulgarian police. Between 1943 and 1944 he was a Yugoslav partisan
in Macedonia, together with his wife and five-year old son, Mile. He wrote some of the most popular partisan marches songs of the Yugoslav partisans. Markovski participated in the National Liberation War of Macedonia and was an active political figure in Socialist Macedonia. In the period between 1944-1945 he was present for three commissions for the codification of the Macedonian alphabet
. Markovski openly supported the Cominform
and was subsequently imprisoned at the internment camp in Idrizovo
following Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform. In January 1956, Markovski was once again imprisoned, this time serving a five-year hard labor sentence at the notorious labor camp
on the island of Goli otok
in the Adriatic sea
under the name "Veniamin Milanov Toshev" for publishing—what the authorities considered—an anti-Titoist poem "Contemporary Paradoxes" in Serbo-Croatian
and for his leanings towards the Soviet Union
(see Informbiro
).
In 1965, he left Yugoslavia supposedly in search of medical treatment in Bulgaria
where he would remain until his death in 1988. In 1968 his family were expelled to Bulgaria. Markovski was accepted by the people of Bulgaria and soon began publishing in Bulgarian. Among many poems, dedicated to the ideal of Communism
, he wrote a number of sonnets, publishing three books of sonnet crowns
, dedicated to various historical figures. Markovski also wrote "Saga of Testaments", a history of Bulgaria in verses (with a total of 44,444 verses). Venko Markovski was a member of the Bulgarian Writers' Union, and a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1979), and was awarded highest Bulgarian orders, among them Hero of the Socialist Labour (1975), and Hero of Bulgaria (1985). He was member of several Parliaments from 1971 until his death in 1988. Because of his works written in Bulgarian, Markovski was declared a traitor of the Macedonian nation
and in 1975 was under the protection of the Bulgarian secret service as it was believed an assassination was being planned by the Yugoslav secret police, the UDBA
. After coming back to his Bulgarian roots and considering his involvement with the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
, Markovski stated in an interview for Bulgarian National Television
only seven days prior to his death, that the ethnic Macedonians and the Macedonian language
are a result of a Comintern
conspiracy.
Venko Markovski died on January 7, 1988, in Sofia at the age of 72. He was married and had two children, among them the writer Mile Markovski (1939–1975).
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
and Macedonian
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...
Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; (March 3, 1915, 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...
—January 7, 1988, 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...
) was a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
and Macedonian
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...
writer, poet and Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician.
Biography
Born on March 15, 1915 in SkopjeSkopje
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...
, Kingdom of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned King in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Karađorđevic dynasty from 1817 onwards . The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de...
, then occupied by Kingdom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
, (now 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...
), Markovski completed his secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
in Skopje, later studying Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
Philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
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...
. Markovski was a member of the Macedonian Literary Group founded 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...
in 1931, the Macedonian Literary Circle 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...
, 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...
(1938–1941). He is an important figure in contemporary Macedonian
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...
literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
after has published in 1938, what was to be the first contemporary book written in non-dialectal Macedonian language, "Narodni bigori". As the most of the left-wing politicians from Macedonia he has changed his ethnic affiliations from Bulgarian to Macedonian during 1930s, after the recognition of the Macedonian ethnicity from the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. However such Macedonian activists, members of the Bulgarian Communist Party, never managed to get rid of their pro-Bulgarian bias.
During the WWII, in 1941 he was sent as Communist activist to the concentration camp "Enikyoi" by the Bulgarian police. Between 1943 and 1944 he was a Yugoslav partisan
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
in Macedonia, together with his wife and five-year old son, Mile. He wrote some of the most popular partisan marches songs of the Yugoslav partisans. Markovski participated in the National Liberation War of Macedonia and was an active political figure in Socialist Macedonia. In the period between 1944-1945 he was present for three commissions for the codification of the Macedonian alphabet
Macedonian alphabet
The orthography of Macedonian includes an alphabet , which is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script, as well as language-specific conventions of spelling and punctuation....
. Markovski openly supported the Cominform
Cominform
Founded in 1947, Cominform is the common name for what was officially referred to as the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties...
and was subsequently imprisoned at the internment camp in Idrizovo
Idrizovo
Idrizovo is a community in the outskirts of the city of Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia.With the establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia following the Second World War, a internment camp was built in the area wherein political prisoners could be detained. Today, the...
following Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform. In January 1956, Markovski was once again imprisoned, this time serving a five-year hard labor sentence at the notorious labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
on the island of Goli otok
Goli otok
Goli otok is an island off the northern Adriatic coast, located between Rab's northeastern shore and the mainland, in what is today Croatia's Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. The island is barren and uninhabited...
in the Adriatic sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
under the name "Veniamin Milanov Toshev" for publishing—what the authorities considered—an anti-Titoist poem "Contemporary Paradoxes" in Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
and for his leanings towards 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....
(see Informbiro
Informbiro
Informbiro was a period in the history of Yugoslavia characterized by conflict and schism with the Soviet Union...
).
In 1965, he left Yugoslavia supposedly in search of medical treatment 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...
where he would remain until his death in 1988. In 1968 his family were expelled to Bulgaria. Markovski was accepted by the people of Bulgaria and soon began publishing in Bulgarian. Among many poems, dedicated to the ideal of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, he wrote a number of sonnets, publishing three books of sonnet crowns
Crown of sonnets
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to some one person, and/or concerned with a single theme....
, dedicated to various historical figures. Markovski also wrote "Saga of Testaments", a history of Bulgaria in verses (with a total of 44,444 verses). Venko Markovski was a member of the Bulgarian Writers' Union, and a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1979), and was awarded highest Bulgarian orders, among them Hero of the Socialist Labour (1975), and Hero of Bulgaria (1985). He was member of several Parliaments from 1971 until his death in 1988. Because of his works written in Bulgarian, Markovski was declared a traitor of the Macedonian nation
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...
and in 1975 was under the protection of the Bulgarian secret service as it was believed an assassination was being planned by the Yugoslav secret police, the UDBA
UDBA
The Department of State Security was the secret police organization of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Although it operated with more restraint than other secret...
. After coming back to his Bulgarian roots and considering his involvement with the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, Markovski stated in an interview for Bulgarian National Television
Bulgarian National Television
The Bulgarian National Television or BNT is the public broadcaster of Bulgaria. The company was founded in 1959 and began broadcasting on December 26 of the same year. It began broadcasting in color in 1970...
only seven days prior to his death, that the ethnic Macedonians and the 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...
are a result of a Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
conspiracy.
Venko Markovski died on January 7, 1988, in Sofia at the age of 72. He was married and had two children, among them the writer Mile Markovski (1939–1975).
In Macedonian
- Narodni bigori (1938)
- Oginot (1938)
- Ilinden (1940)
- Lunja (1940)
- Elegii
- Goce
- Čudna e Makedonija
- Glamji
- Klime (1945)
- Nad plamnati bezdni
- Skazna za rezbarot
- Goli Otok (2009)
In Bulgarian
- Orlitsata (1941)
- Istinata e zhestoka (1968)
- Legenda za Gotse (1968), a play
- Kravta voda ne stava (1971, 1981, 2002), a response to the book "History of the Macedonian Nation"
- Predaniya zavetni (1978, also in RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) - Pismo do drugarkata (1979)
- Sudbovni machenitsi (1981), sonnet crown
- Buntovni voshtenitsi (1983), sonnet crown
- Vekovni varvolici (1984), sonnet crown
- Goli Otok: The Island of Death (1984, published in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
)