Sister Augustine Bewicke on the Macedonian autonomy, 1919

January 4, 1919

Sister Augustine Bewicke on the Macedonian autonomy

St. Paul’s Hospital, Salonika Dear Sir, Please excuse the liberty I take in writing you, it is because the final settlement in the Balkans is of vital interest to the Catholics in these countries. – I have been 33 years in this Mission, the Uniate Catholic Mission, which at the beginning of the Second Balkan War counted about 10,000 Catholics. The Treaty of Bucharest, which divided Macedonia without any regard to justice, was the cause of these poor people being dispersed on account of their Slav language, which was forbidden in Churches and schools. – The Bishop had his residence in Salonika, he has now been in exile more then 3 years, his priests are dispersed, his flock is indeed without pastors, nor do we have any hope of his return to any place under Greek or Serbian rule. – The Greeks will not admit the Slav language in Churches or schools; the inhabitants of Macedonia are in the great majority Slavs; they call themselves Macedonians, and what they desire and what we ardently desire for them is an autonomy under European control. – I whatever way Macedonia might be divided, the people would be always discontented, and would fight again as soon as possible. The only hope I can foresee is in strong autonomy, which neither Greeks nor Bulgars nor Serbs would dare attack; then the Macedonians, who are really intelligent and docile when they are well treated. would peacefully develop this beautiful fertile country… Surely Europe will not leave Macedonia under people whom the Macedonians hate, and whom they will continually fight…

Taken from Public Record Office (London) – FO 608/44. Peace Conference (British delegation), 1919.

Protest from the Macedonians of the IMRO to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

April 10, 1919

Protest from the Provisional representative of the IMRO to the Paris Peace Conference

To His Excellency, Monsieur Clemanceau, President of the Council: It is duty of my honor, as a delegate of the Macedonian Committees to the High Peace Conference, to protest against the maneuvers of certain suspicious persons who claim to speak in the name of Macedonia and represent some so-called “Executive Committee of the Macedonian Societies”. Let me be allowed to indicate that the Macedonian emigrants to Bulgaria have over the past 30 years created quite a small class of Macedonians Bulgarized to such a point that they sacrifice completely the interests of their native land to those of Bulgaria. People who have two homelands are generally suspicious; what to say, on the other hand, about those who do not hesitate to propose as delegates to the Conference two persons such as Aleksandrov and Protogerov, adherents to the Kaiser and Ferdinand, and organizers of the massacres in Nish? Indeed, there is noone else who could more compromise the cause of “Autonomous Macedonia” before the Aeropagus of the victors! Hence I have the honor to point out that the only Macedonian Societies free from any Bulgarian political influence, or any other, and representing loyally the whole of Macedonia, without distinction of language or religion, are the Macedonian Committees, which starting from the 1893 constituted the IMRO… It is in their name, and by no means in the name of Bulgaria or the Bulgarians, that I have already had the honor to request and now I am requesting again from Your Excellency to grant me an audience so that I may present to You the desires of the Macedonian people…

Archimandrite Paul Christoff, General Vicar of Thrace, delegate of the Macedonian Committees.

Macedonian Nationalism by Misirkov, 1925

Macedonian Nationalism

We, the Macedonian intelligentsia, undoubtedly bear the greatest responsibility for the situation facing our country today. There are, however, certain extenuating circumstances which might justify us in the eyes of our unfortunate fellow-countrymen, especially those who have been driven from their homes and are now forced to wander, unwelcome and unwanted, in various part’s of Bulgaria.
For a full thirty years the Macedonians have been waging a heroic battle to release themselves from the yoke of Turkey. But at the same time the foreign propagandists have been infecting our country and demoralizing part of the population. The Macedonian intel-ligentsia have largely devoted themselves to revolutionary activity; but there have been some who have found other ways possibly no less important than that of the revolutionary struggle to ensure the success of Macedonia’s endeavors.
My book On the Macedonian Matters, published in 1903 in Sofia, and my article On the Importance of the Moravian or Resavian Dialects for the Historical Ethnography of the Balkan Peninsula, have shown that some of the Macedonian intellectuals are seeking and have found, another way of fighting, i.e. an independent Macedonian scientific way of thinking and a Macedonian national Consciousness.
I do not regret having declared myself in favor of Macedonian separatism twenty-eight years ago. Separatism was for me, and remains, the only way out, the best means by which the Macedonian intelligentsia could pay back and continue to repay their debt towards their people.
In 1912, when I was asked by my fellow villagers what should be done if our village remained under Greek control, I answered: no matter under whose control this village may remain, you will stay where you are, you shall not move anywhere.
Maybe from the great-Bulgarian point of view my advice was not sufficiently patriotic, but from the Macedonian point of view this was the only proper advice.
But when the Greeks forced many Macedonians to flee to Bulgaria I should, as a Bulgarian, have been glad that the Bulgarian people had lost their land just as long as they had been spared from Hellenization.
But I am not glad that they were forced to move. Nor can I look at this question through the eyes of Mr. Mih. Madzharov (one of the editors of Mir B.K.) who says that the underground and the city industry of Bulgaria benefited from the arrival of the refugees.
Here my Macedonian patriotism overcomes my Bulgarian patriotism. The Macedonians are necessary to Macedonia; it is only with the Macedonians that Macedonia can belong to the Macedonians, never without them.
The Macedonians should either remain where they are and let the devil take care of them if he likes or, if it is their fate to be forced to move, they should move from one part of Macedonia to another, but this should still be Macedonia and not Bulgaria, Serbia, or Greece. If they are driven out of the Greek part of Macedonia, the Macedonians should move into the Serbian part of Macedonia and form military settlements to await the day when they might return to their homes.
You may say that a Bulgarian cannot reason like this. Yes, but a Macedonian can and should reason like this.
I hope it will not be held against me that I, as a Macedonian, place the interests of my country before all… I am a Macedonian, I have a Macedonian’s consciousness, and so I have my own Macedonian view of the past, present, and future of my country and of all the South Slavs; and so I should like them to consult us, the Macedonians, about all the questions concerning us and our neighbors, and not have everything end merely with agreements between Bulgaria and Serbia about us – but without us …
Note: This article was written after an agreement signed between Greece and Bulgaria in 1923, according to which a great number of Aegean Macedonians would be turned out of their homes and driven into Bulgaria during winter, under the worst possible conditions, when the Bulgarians had not made even the most rudimentary preparations for receiving, housing, and feeding tens and even hundreds of thousands of Macedonian refugees.

K. Misirkov: Macedonian Nationalism, “Mir”, 7427, 12. III 1925, 1.

The self-determination of the Macedonians by Misirkov, 1925

The self-determination of the Macedonians

My article Macedonian Nationalism, which appeared in Mir on 12 March this year, aroused the ire of the paper “Svobodna rech”, which described me as “a man who still does not even know his own nationality”, a “simple-minded thinker who is capable of writing nonsense, of sinking even lower”, and who is “well-known for having once served in the Serbian propaganda service” and for lending his support to the theories of the Belgrade professor Cvjic concerning the existence of a separate Macedonian nationality”. As a result of these slanders against me in “Svobodna rech” many of my own townsfolk turned in fury upon me, and there were even some people who thoughtlessly claimed that they knew that in my student days I had attended assemblies of both the Bulgarian and the Serbian students and that this was why I had been driven out of the Bulgarian assemblies.
Similar senseless accusations were made in “Svobodna rech” and, as was only to be expected, these false rumors spread around Karlovo. This, however, did not greatly disturb me, as would have been clear to anyone who had read my article in “Mir” and who knew anything about my past… I knew full well that I would be attacked for my Macedonian Nationalism and that my article could certainly not be published in “Ilinden”. Nevertheless, although I was far from sure that it would be printed in “Mir”, I wrote out the article and sent it to this journal. And two days after it had appeared, “Svobodna rech” made me out to be a man who does not know his own nationality.
I was fully aware that I will be attacked for my “Macedonian nationalism”, that this article has no chance to be published in “Ilinden”, and I was not even sure that they will print it in “Mir”. I still wrote the article and sent it to the newspaper “Mir”. On the second day after its printing “Svobodna rech” named me a man that does not know his ethnicity.
Unfortunately “Svobodna rech” cannot make me give up my “lowly reasoning”. I still find that Macedonia today is butchered, that Greeks took their best parts, and have chased away the Macedonian population and replaced them with Asiatic new-comers that today are piled up next to the Serbian and Bulgarian border, the same as once the Byzantine Emperors were establishing next to the Bulgarian border military settlements of the Asiatic colonists: Armenians and Paulikians. I also find that if Serbs and Bulgarians do not find peace, and Macedonians are not included in voluntary cooperation with both Bulgarians and Serbs for safeguarding against the Greek wave that slowly, but surely moves from south toward north, all of us: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians will drown in the non-Slavic see that surrounds us from all sides. I think that only in agreement and cooperation between Serbs, Macedonians and Bulgarians is the salvation for all of us. Serbs and Bulgarians were fighting, Greeks and Romanians were profiting: they lost Macedonia, Trace and Dobrudza.
The most important condition for a cooperation between Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians, however, is the freedom of self-determination of Macedonians. And that is why, regarding this last issue, I emphasized the principle of the Macedonian patriotism and nationalism, as a fully neutral and satisfying for all: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians alike; but for now it is more correct to say that it is equally unsatisfying for all: Serbs, Bulgarians and Macedonians.
Since it is primarily us Macedonians that are suffering from the Serb-Bulgarian conflict, it is our duty to search for means and ways of resolving that conflict. That is forcing us “to know” up to the current day our nationality and to tell both Serbs and Bulgarians: forget about your big-Serb and big-Bulgarian ideas, give up enforcing your nationalism and patriotism on us, since it basically is putting your interests up front instead of ours. Let us have our own understanding for our relations toward you and your conflict about us and our fatherland, as well as for the means that will bring us to a general South Slav benefit. Let us have our own Macedonian national feelings and to create Macedonian culture, as we did that during the ages when our fatherland was not part of the same state with yours.
As Macedonians we will be more useful for all: for Macedonia, for Bulgaria and for Serbia and in general for the whole South Slav community, than as Bulgarians and Serbs.
As a Bulgarian I would have said long time ago: What Macedonia! It is good for me here too. I don’t need to think for what is already lost. But as Macedonian, in Bulgaria I feel as in a foreign land, although between brothers, I’m not at home, in my fatherland. My fatherland is there, where I have been born and where I should leave my bones, where my son should go at least, if I am not allowed to go myself.
The awareness and the feeling that I am Macedonian should stand higher than everything else in the world. Macedonians should not let themselves been assimilated and to lose their individuality living among Bulgarians and Serbs. We can acknowledge the closeness of the Serb, Bulgarians and Macedonian interests, but we need to evaluate them from the Macedonian stand point of view.
Uncompromising and unlimited love toward Macedonia, the constant thinking and working for the interests of Macedonia and the full conservativism in the manifestations of the Macedonian national spirit: the language, the national poetry, mentality and customs – those are the main characteristics of the Macedonian nationalism, demonstrated through “lowly reasonings of a man that still does not know his nationality”.
But we are not egoists. We don’t think only about ourselves. We are ready to make a good service to both Serbs and Bulgarians, but only if that service is voluntary and not forced.
How we can serve Serbs: we will all die, and we will not let the Greek foot to cross the current border of the Serb and Bulgarian Macedonia. But we will do that as Macedonians, and not as Serbs. We will fight with Greeks because they are our only historic and age old enemies. Our complete Macedonian national history is full with fights against Greeks. There is no fight with Bulgarians and Serbs recorded in the Macedonian history. Bulgarians and Serbs have respected the national rights of the Macedonians in the middle ages, and it was only Greeks that were destroying our national spirit and were de-nationalizing us. They even to the current day are chasing us away from our native fireplaces, and are reminding us that we have an age old obligation to chase the un-invited guests from our grand father’s and great grand-father’s lands.
That is the Macedonian national feeling, which is the historic call of every Macedonian that can be fulfilled only as a free and equal citizen of Yugoslavia, allowed to think and feel and talk and act as Macedonian.

K. Misirkov: The self-determination of Macedonians, “Mir”, 7427, 25. III 1925, 1.

Macedonian Culture by Krste Misirkov, 1924

Macedonian Culture

Our confidence, not only in the preservation of our nation but also in the ultimate triumph of the ideal of all Macedonians to achieve independence, is founded as we mentioned earlier not so much on the weakness of our enemy, or on aid from abroad, as on the knowledge of our people and of their past.

Some, however, may ask whether there really exists a Macedonian national culture and a Macedonian history which could be compared to that of the Serbs (read in here “and Bulgarians” – B.K.) and which would serve as foundation for the Macedonian an ideal of an independent Macedonia? Fortunately, we are able to give a positive answer to this: Macedonian national culture and history, being different from those of Serbia and Bulgaria, exist primarily because they have not been submitted to systematic and unbiased study. Both the Serbs and the Bulgarians, with great partiality and self-interest, chose to take from Macedonian culture and history only those aspects which attested to glory of the Serbian or Bulgarian national name, and simply ignored the questions of crucial importance either because they did not concern them or because they ran counter to the national ideals of the Serbian or Bulgarian historical researchers and their fellows.
I said that this was fortunate for Macedonian national culture and history because the Macedonian people were thus armed with an invincible weapon in their battle for human rights land a free national life on an equal footing with the other cultured nations.
Unfortunately, the independent study of Macedonian culture and history was begun only a short while ago by the Macedonians themselves, who, at the end of the last century began to lose faith in the scholars of Belgrade and Sofia with their more or less unanimous contention that the Slavs, during the Middle Ages, were a disorganized and unenlightened people who were spared from Hellenization thanks only to the state which had been first founded by the Turanian Bulgarians and later included in the Serbian state of Nemanjich.
But such assertions were equally erroneous in Belgrade and in Sofia, being backed as they were by the authority of Jagich and Marin Drinov.
We Macedonians have found this to be an error which resulted in a misconception on the part of both the Bulgarians and the Serbs, not only of the history of Macedonia and the Macedonians during the Middle Ages, but also of the history of the Serbs and Bulgarians.
We are able to show that the case was quite the contrary, that it was in fact the Macedonians who were the most active of all the South Slavs, more so even than the Turanian Bulgarians, throughout the entire Middle Ages right up to the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula by the Turks; we can also show that it was the Macedonians who waged the longest and hardest battle for their spiritual and political emancipation during the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Our failures, both in the Middle Ages and in more recent times, were the result of circumstances, which had nothing in common with the national awareness, and alleged lack of organization of the Macedonians.
The age long struggle of the Macedonians for cultural advance and national preservation, beginning 400-500 years before the emergence of the Serbian state of Nemanjich and continuing through the rise and decline of this state, taken together with the epic struggles for religious and political freedom, has gone to the making of Macedonia’s national culture and of our national history.

K. Misirkov- Macedonian, Macedonian culture, “Mir”, XXX, 7155, 19.IV.1924, 1.

Мисли на големиот македонски син Јане Сандански

„Да живееш значи да се бориш: робот за слобода, а слободниот - за совршенство"

 „Не бугарска Македонија сакаме ние, туку Македонија на Македонците, Македонија ослободена од тиранијата."

„Јас не го чекам брзото ослободување на Македонија. Тоа може да не дојде дури и во моите денови, но јас сакам да го запазам народот и да го организирам, и ако тоа се случи тој ќе ја добие својата слобода."

“Ние треба да работиме за будење на сознанието кај македонските маси дека се тие самостоен народ, дека имаат право на слободен живот и дека треба да се борат за извојување на својата слобода, без да се потпираат на туѓа помош, зашто оние што би дошле да не ослободат, ќе дојдат всушност, да не поробат".

,,Вие (врховистите) ја сакате слободата на Македонија и Одринско како етапа на идните Ваши завојувања и анексии, додека кај нас слободата е легната во основата како цел. Ете каде лежи големата разлика меѓу нас - Внатрешните и Вас - Врховистите"!

“Да, Македонија не треба да бара помош надвор од себе, туку во самата себе. Нејзината слобода не ќе биде подарок, туку крвав откуп, платен со илјадници жртви, какви што ние дадовме и продолжуваме да даваме".

“Првпат агитирав во смисла да се постави Организацијата самостојно, да се почувствува населението слободно, на тој начин што ќе се отстранува од турските власти и што ќе се концентрира власта во рацете на Организацијата, така што населението на дело да види малку слобода, да ја осети таа слобода и да ја засака".

,,Ние не сакаме да ја замениме турската тиранија, турските султани со други тирани, па ни со бугарска тиранија и бугарскиот кнез. Ние се бориме Македонија да стане автономна, независна, слободна држава, Македонија на Македонците!".

“Ние не ја мразиме Бугарија и нејзиниот народ, туку се спротиставуваме на нејзината политика, која е спротивна на нашите идеали и интереси".

"Да пиеме за слободна и автономна Македонија за која се бореа и дадоа скапи жртви сојузените балкански народи"

"Ние водиме борба против вас, врховистите, затоа што сакате да ја потчините Организацијата и да ја направите орудие на бугарскиот дворец. Со вашата оружена интервенција во Џумајско, вие на ослободителната борба и придадовте карактер на вештачко движење кое се инспирира од вас од официјална Бугарија, а не од внатрешността и од самиот поробен народ. Со тоа вие и го убивате престижот и оставате впечаток дека ние сме орудие на бугарската држава, и со сето тоа мy пречите на ослободителното дело. Ние решително им се спротивставивме на вашите офицери зашто го знаеме нивното воспитување, нивните интимни замисли. Тие се луѓе што дале клетва за верност на бугарскиот кнез и на бугарската држава, и тие не можат да бидат ништо друго освен нивни слепи и послушни орудија. А пак ние не сакаме да ја замениме турската тиранија, турските султани со други такви, па ни со бугарската тиранија и бугарскиот кнез. Ние сакаме Македонија да биде автономна, независна, слободна, Македонија на Македонците. Вие ја барате слободата на Македонија како средство, како етапа на идни освојувања и присоединувања, додека кај нас слободата, автономијата на Македонија се положени во основата, како цел. Ете каде лежи големата разлика меѓу нас, внатрешните и вас-врховистите. Ако ги пуштевме вашите другари-офицери во ТМОРО, тие ќе ја водеа оружената борба, тие ќе ги имаа во своите раце четите, бојните јатки, Организацијата, и по таков начин, при слободна Македонија тие ќе му се наложеа на македонското население, тие ќе му диктираа да го бара приклучувањето на Македонија кон Бугарија, како што стана со Источна Румелија во 1885 година. Ние ја месевме погачата, вие ќе ја јадевте."
  
"Ние сакаме Македонија да биде автономна, независна, слободна, Македонија на Македонците. Вие ја барате слободата на Македонија како средство, како етапа на идни освојувања и присоединувања, додека кај нас слободата, автономијата на Македонија се положени во основата, како цел. Ете каде лежи големата разлика меѓу нас, внатрешните и вас-врховистите. Ако ги пуштевме вашите другари-офицери во ТМОРО, тие ќе ја водеа оружената борба, тие ќе ги имаа во своите раце четите, бојните јатки, Организацијата, и по таков начин, при слободна Македонија тие ќе му се наложеа на македонското население."

"Ние имаме своја аграрна програма тесно поврзана со нашата општа политичка програма: првата се изразува низ барањето за доделување на земја на селаните, а втората, политичката, се содржи во барањео од Македонија да се создаде автономна област во рамките на отоманското царство. А најмногу од се друго се плашиме од тоа нашите "мили пријатели" Бугарите, Србите и Грците, да не дојдат да не "ослободуваат", зошто тие, всушност, ќе дојдат да не поробат."

“Од несреќата од Версајскиот договор нашиот народ ќе ја има, наспроти сите неволји, барем таа добра страна, што ќе се ослободи еднаш засекогаш од опекунството на една политика, која е секогаш готова да го жртвува секое парче од неговата земја и ќе раскине дефинитвно со одродени македонски синови, кои наоѓајќи се далеку од неговата несреќа, одамна заборавиле дека дошле од македонската земја, упорно ја потпомагаат таа политика на тргување со нашата татковина, меѓу другото, и во знак на благодарност за добриот живот и поминот на кој предавнички се радуваат поради нејзиното богато покровителство. Да извлечеме реална поука од сето тоа и да се подготвуваме уште од сега за блиското остварување на чистиот македонски народен идеал".

The Macedonian can be called neither Bulgarian nor Serb, but simply Macedonian

I said that I would rather call your Bulgarophones Macedonians. You call those people
Bulgarophones, owing to their language which is similar to Bulgarian. But, is it Bulgarian,
is it the same language spoken in Sofia? No. Macedonian is just as similar to Serbian as it
is to Bulgarian. I am not a linguist and I would not allow myself a personal judgment, but
disinterested Balkanologists have asserted to me that Macedonian is more similar to
Serbian than Bulgarian. It is possible that there are linguists who assert the opposite. But it
is a fact that the Macedonian language is spoken neither in Sofia nor in Belgrade. It is an
individual Slav language, just as we have the Romansch in Switzerland, spoken in Grisons,
apart from Italian. To my mind, the Macedonian can be called neither Bulgarian nor Serb,
but simply Macedonian.

taken from this book, R. A. Reiss, Sur la situation des Macedoniens et des musulmans dans les nouvelles
provinces grecques. Paris, 1918, pp. 6-7.

A picture of Voden (Edessa) in Macedonia from 1916-1918

Here is a picture of Voden the town was not renamed to Edessa at this time, 1916-1918. The town was renamed in the 1930s by the Greek Government.

Rene Picard: The Autonomy of Macedonia, 1916

July 20, 1916

Rene Picard: The Autonomy of Macedonia

The idea of Macedonian autonomy is familiar to all those who are acquainted with Balkan
history and politics. If we asked the Christians of Macedonia they would answer that
autonomy was the most desirable solution for them.
There is and, in fact, there has always been a Macedonian spirit in Macedonia.
Geographically, Macedonia has its own unity. Its borders are the following: to the south -
Mt Olympus, the mountains on the north bank of the River.. Bistrica, Lake Prespa and
Lake Ohrid; to the west -the Drim from Debar; to the north-west and north -the Sar
Mountains, the highlands north of Skopje, the defile of Kumanovo, the mountains that
mark the Serbo-Bulgarian frontier of before 1912; to the east -the Rhodope Mountains.
The borderline with Thrace on this side is not clear. The regions of Drama and Kavalla can either be adjoined to Macedonia or separated from it; the plain of Drama is populated
mostly by Turks; the town of Kavalla, like all the ports, has a strong Greek colony. To the
south, the Chalcidice Peninsula is geographically Macedonian, but ethnographically
Greek; the line of lakes separates it by a natural border from the rest of Macedonia.
Within these borders Macedonia has the natural basins of Skopje, Bitola, Veles, Serez,
Drama and Salonika with the mountains that separate them and the narrow valleys that
unite them. The Christian population in the country side is Slav. It is known to be neither
quite Bulgarian, although it is closer to the Bulgarians, nor quite Serbian. The Bulgarians
themselves admit that the Macedonians differ from the other Bulgarians: they possess a
more lively spirit, are more fond of politics and intrigue, more inclined to eloquence and
the arts, also more cunning; in a word, they are a little Hellenized. The Macedonian
politicians in Sofia are feared; many Bulgarians of old Bulgaria would be glad to see the
Macedonian Bulgarians return to Macedonia. They accuse them of taking everything away
from them, their jobs and privileges. Many Balkan people think that there will be no
stability in the Balkans until Macedonian autonomy comes into existence. In any case, it is likely that the creation of Macedonian autonomy would quickly develop a Macedonian
spirit and patriotism.
The autonomy of Macedonia and the constitution of a Balkan federation would have most
ardent advocates among the citizens of Salonika, especially among the majority of the
Jewish population. The annexation to Greece caused their ruin. Salonika was a particularly important port from, which the Austro-German products brought from Triest were distributed all over the peninsula; the new border, having separated Salonika from its background, delivered a terrible blow to it. The Greeks, who already have other ports, are not able to support Salonika. The geographical position of Salonika at the debouchement of the great natural route from the Danube to the Aegean Sea via Nish has always made this port to be of primary economic importance, and this economic importance will ensure it an equivalent degree of political importance. One can be certain that either there will never be a Balkan federation, or Salonika will be its port as well a sits intellectual and economic centre. One can very well see Salonika in the future as a free city, the capital of autonomous Macedonia and the centre of the Balkan federation.
To hold such an important point, although provisionally and awaiting the settlement of all the Balkan questions and the strengthening of the new status of the peninsula, would be of considerable advantage for the allies. They would have a means of pressure upon their friends of all degrees, as well as upon their enemies. We shall have many friends after our victory, and at that moment we shall have to take precautions against them.
What will become of Macedonia? This is the whole problem of the Balkans.

Taken from Les archives du Ministere des affiars etrangeres (Paris). Guerre 1914-1918, Balkans, Dossier generale, pages 158-165.

The German Linguist Albrecht Wirth recognized the Macedonians in 1914

“Ursprünglich gibt es zwei große Zweige der Südslawen: Serben und Slowenen; dann könnte allenfalls die Mazedonier als eigener Stamm gelten. Durch Mischung der Slowenen mit einem anarischen/awarischen Volk entstanden die Bulgaren.”


[English]
Originally there are two big branches of the south Slavic people, Serbians and Slovenians, then if necessary the Macedonians could be seen as a further branch . Through a mix between the Slovenians and an Avaric tribe, the Bulgarians were created.

 “Die Bulgaren können im Königreich mit 3,2 Millionen angenommen werden, zusammen mit den Mazedonier 4 Millionen.”

[English]
The Bulgarians in the Kingdom are about 3.2 million people, together with the Macedonians 4 million people.

 “In einem hat Fallmerayer, der seine Gegner an Greift weit überragte, vollkommen recht: dass schon im achten Jahrhundert, ganz Griechenland bis zum Kap Matapan von Slawen bewohnt war und dass selbst Sparta und die Hänge des Tajgetos Hauptsitze slawischer Stämme wurden. Auch das wird von ihm annehmen, dass es noch zu seiner Zeit, also um das Jahr 1840, so manche Gegenden gab, namentlich Attika selber, in denen Albanisch besser als Griechisch verstanden wurde.”

[English]
In one point is Fallmerayer  absolutely right, who over top his enemies. That in the 8th century whole Greece and to the Cap Matapan were inhabited by the Slavic people, that in Sparta and the hillside of Tajgetos headquarters of the Slavic people existed. Also can we adopt from him, in his time about 1840, that in some regions (especially Attica), where the living people there could better understand the Albanian language than the Greek one.

From the book “Der Balkan. Seine Länder und Völker in Geschichte, Kultur, Politik, Volkswirtschaft, und Weltverkehr” by Albrecht Wirth, Stuttgart 1914.

Macedonians drafted into the US Army, World War I, 1917

Here are 10 World War I draft registration cards from the United States Army. Please notice whom they drafted, Macedonians from Macedonia that were living in USA.
Pay extra attention to the below noticed paragraphs:

#5 Where were you born?
#6 If not a citizen, of what country are you a citizen or subject?
#10 Race (specify which)?

Dimitar Rizov speaks about his Macedonian nationality, 1912

1912

Bulgarian statesman Dimitar Rizov on his nationality

…In the golden months of the successful beginning of the war against the Turks, he spoke to me as a convinced Yugoslav (South Slav). He explained to me, I being a Croat, the real situation of matters in Macedonia and said that it was shame that the first free Slav state had not been founded in Macedonia, which would equally attract to union the Bulgarians and the Serbs, and would be a bond and not a cause of discord between the Serbs and the Bulgarians…He told me that the Macedonians, to tell the objective truth, were neither Bulgarians nor Serbs, but Macedonian Slavs who spoke in their own individual Macedonian language or dialect. …”Our people”, he said, “were only ‘Macedonian Christians,’ and then, when Greek propaganda developed they become ‘Macedonian Christian Slavs’. It was all the same to us which Christian country would help us to free ourselves from the Turks. I was born in Bitola. There were several grammar-schools in Bitola: Turkish, Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian. It was all the same to us, the Slavs, which Slav grammar-school we attended. For example, alongside many of my friends who later became Bulgarians, I attended the Serbian grammar-school. It is true that the teachers in the grammar-school told we were Serbs, just as those in the Bulgarian grammar-school were told that we were Bulgarians, but we kept our own counsel, and that was what our parents told us at home: it does not matter, let them talk, but we are Macedonian Christian Slavs…”

Taken from Ivan Meshtrovic, famous Croatian sculptor, Uspomene na politichke ljude i dogagjaje. Zagreb 1969, pages 25-26 and 39.

Memorandum on the Independence of Macedonia, 1913

March 1, 1913

Memorandum on the Independence of Macedonia submitted by the Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg to the Conference of the representatives of the Great Powers in London.

…it is more suitable for all the neighbors of Macedonia that this country remain undivided, since by any division, sections of our living compatriots will remain under foreign authority and will perish. The Macedonians have won their right to self-determination over their whole recent history, as well…
The Serbs and the Bulgarians deliberately say nothing about these huge Macedonian victories and permit nobody to write about them…
As a result of all this, the Macedonian Colony in St.Petersburg, fulfilling its sacred duty towards its fatherland and conscientiously applying the slogan “Macedonia to the Macedonians”, protests and cannot remain indifferent when the allied Balkan states (Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece) – our brothers in blood and faith – aim to dismember our fatherland….
Here is what is needed for the Macedonian people;
1. Macedonia should remain a single, indivisible and independent Balkan state with it geographic, ethnographic, historical, economic and political borders.
2. A Macedonian national assembly should be established on the basis of general elections in Salonika in the soonest possible time, which would work out in detail the internal structure of the state and determine its relations with the neighboring states.

Taken from Makedonskii Golos, St. Petersburg 1913-1914.

A Political Survey of Macedonia and the Macedonians, 1913

1913

Nace D. Dimov: A Political Survey of Macedonia and the Macedonians.

In examining the Macedonian question from the political point of view, I shall not deal with the old times…
Condemned at first to Roman rule, and then to Byzantine oppression, and finally to Turkish slavery, the terrible name of Macedonian found shelter from generation to generation in Macedonian hearts only…
In the same towns and villages, the priests that receive salary from the Bulgarian Exarchate call themselves Bulgarians, those that receive salary from the Serbian Metropolitan office call themselves Serbians…
Besides, the Macedonians were always allies and participants both in the liberation of the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians…
From all that has been previously mentioned, I dare say that the Macedonians have a one hundred percent right to autonomy and not to being subjected to dismembering among the Greeks, the Serbs and Bulgarians. Disregarding this fact, the Serbian, Greek and Bulgarian governments, aiming to extend their frontiers into Macedonians territory, spare no means and exterminate the Macedonians who refuse to call themselves Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians…
The Macedonian people will not reconcile themselves either with those who aspire to deprive them of their language, customs and the natural desire to be free masters of their own house. Hence, only if the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians renounce their aspirations will Macedonia live in a friendly way…

Taken from Nace D. Dimov, Istoricheskii ocherk Makedonii i makedonskih slavjan – Peterburg, 1913

To the Governments and the Public of the Allied Balkans States, 1913

June 7, 1913

To the Governments and the Public of the Allied Balkans States

The Macedonians have continually, over the centuries, risen up and fought for independence and freedom, and by their persistent struggle aided the liberation of Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria…
More then on hundred thousand Macedonian fighters have fought shoulder to shoulder with the allied armies…
Instead of Macedonia, celebrated by Alexander of Macedon, consecrated by the Apostle St. Paul, dignified by the activity of the holy brothers SS. Cyril and Methodius…
instead of united, integral and free Macedonia, European diplomacy, and alongside it, you, too, our brothers – allies and liberators, are tearing us into pieces and defiling our sacred ideals…
Remember, brother Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks, that you were reborn to start a new life only after 14 bloody wars of Russia against the Ottoman Empire…
Remember that a dismembered Macedonia will be an eternal apple of discord among you. Remember that also in the past times of history one after another state perished in the struggle for Macedonia and do not continue the bloody list of the dead in the present time…
Macedonia should be an independent state within its ethnographic, geographical, cultural and historical boundaries, with a government accountable to a national assembly…
…a national representative body should be established…in the city of Salonika, elected by general vote. Brother allies and liberators! We hope that our words will reach your hearts and minds…
St. Petersburg
Signed by the authorized representatives

Taken from Makedonskii Golos, St. Petersburg, pages 52-55.

What did Bulgaria represent for Macedonia, 1913

September 5, 1913

Dimitrija Chupovski: What did Bulgaria represent for Macedonia

The Bucharest Conference of the Balkan states completely destroyed Article 23 of the Berlin Congress which stipulated the introduction of reforms in Macedonia as a self-governing province of Turkey. At the time this stipulation gave wings to the hopes of the Macedonians for the possibility of creating an autonomous Macedonia and proved to be a counter-balance to the stipulations of the Treaty of San Stefano, which defaced Macedonia by its inclusion within the boundaries of Greater Bulgaria. However, regardless of the stipulations of the Berlin Congress, the Treaty of San Stefano constantly instigated the Bulgarians to actions for creating a Greater Bulgaria at the expanse of Macedonia and they continually spent millions of rubles for agitation in Macedonia by opening their own, purely Bulgarian, schools and churches. As a result of this, Bulgaria began regarding itself as the only future liberator of Macedonia, comparing its role in the cause of the liberation of Macedonia with the role of Russia in the liberating Russo-Turkish War. We, however, cannot agree at all with such a comparison….Russia was Bulgaria’s liberator, and accordingly, to compare its role with the role of Bulgaria in the present war is, at the very least, absurd and ridiculous for our contemporaries, before whose eyes this tragicomedy was being acted. The role of Bulgaria as regards to Macedonia was from the very beginning criminal; it was first to violate…the article of the Berlin Treaty which bound Turkey to introduce reforms in Macedonia. Moreover, carrying out unbearable, extremely chauvinist, propaganda among the Macedonians through its Constantinople Patriarchate, Bulgaria was the first to cause rivalry and the introduction of similar propaganda by the Greeks and the Serbs, thus instilling discord among the Macedonians. During the whole 30 years of its existence as a state, Bulgaria has carried out anti-Macedonian policy. Flattering and attracting the Macedonians to its side. at the same time it persecuted them with ferocity and hatred and strove to destroy in them any idea of an autonomous Macedonia; while doing so, the Bulgarians did not shrink from using any means. Thus, in 1888, the Bulgarian Government destroyed the ‘Macedonian Literary Society’ under the presidency of Georgi Pulevski….Two years later, in that same Sofia, the Bulgarian Government closed the evening schools, specially opened for the emigrant Macedonian craftsman, and the heads of those schools. Macedonian patriots – Damjan Gruev, Delchev, Petre Pop Arsov and many others – were expelled from Bulgaria. In addition, let us consider just those persecution to which the so-called Internal Macedonian Organization was exposed, working on the spiritual revival of Macedonia and its political liberation. Its members were persecuted both by the Bulgarian government and the Exarchate, the local instrument of those governments. In order to paralyze the successes resulting from the activity of the Internal Macedonian Organization, the Bulgarian government formed with Macedonian emigrant a requisite counter-Macedonian organization (made of the dregs(?) of society), known under the name of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee, the task of which was to trumpet to the whole world that Macedonia is a purely Bulgarian country. Who does not know the shameful role of this Committee shown through its activity on the partition of Macedonia as a whole and of the Macedonian intelligentsia in particular? Guided by the Bulgarian government through its teachers and generals of the type of Mihajlovski and Conchev, this Committee acted against the Macedonian liberation movement and worked with all means on the annexation of Macedonia to Bulgaria. Still more criminal was the role of Bulgaria in this shameful ‘liberation’ war. Did not Bulgaria hold long negotiations concerning the division of Macedonia with its present occupiers? Did it not, according to the treaty of 29th February 1912 with the Serbs, give to them the whole western section of Macedonia and thus violate its integrity? Did not Bulgaria, which attracted Greece, too, to the Serbo-Bulgarian alliance, start to divide Macedonia? Could it not know that the Greeks might join the alliance only because they had in mind the acquisition of the southern section of Macedonia? Is not Bulgaria to be blamed for the partition of Macedonia, hiding the real aim of the war from the representatives of the Macedonian people, which it had to reckon with. On the contrary, starting the war, it declared to the Macedonians that it was fighting against Turkey alongside the allies for their liberation. Allowing the Macedonians to organize themselves into military units, Bulgaria committed a hunderdfold crime, because it did not allow them to fight against Turkey in their native land, but directed them to Thrace, towards the shore of the Sea of Marmara, under the walls of Adrianople and the trenches of Chataldzha, which weren’t needed, except for a bunch of Bulgarian glory-hunters; and the happened at the same time when the allied Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks were conquering Macedonia. How can we explain this criminal act of the Bulgarians towards the Macedonians, if not by the fear that those same Macedonians with arms in their hands would defend their homeland equally from any encroachments upon its independence? But in fact Bulgaria thus ruined not only Macedonia but also all its future. Shedding now crocodile tears for the lost Macedonia, did Bulgaria at the proper time make any attempt to preserve the indivisibility of Macedonia, which it likes to call its younger sister? How can some Bulgarian patriots claim that Bulgaria was in respect to Macedonia that biblical mother which appeared before Solomon’s court? Would not a mother worthy of setting an example rather prefer to renounce her own son in only he could thus remain intact? However, as we all know, Bulgaria was the first to agree to the partition of Macedonia. Why has not Bulgaria up to this moment acted like a real “native mother” with her unselfishness, with motherly generosity towards Macedonia, with a project for its autonomy? This is exactly the attitude of Bulgaria which could have ensured the integrity and indivisibility of Macedonia, peace among the Balkan peoples and would have preserved the dignity of the “native mother” herself – Bulgaria. What hindered it, having included the item about the autonomy of Macedonia in the treaty, from raising at the proper time the question about the realization of that item? Nobody hinder it at all, but it did not make any attempts itself to raise this question. It did not make this attempt after the end of the first half of the war, when it realized that its allies of yesterday, the Serbs and the Greeks, having occupied Macedonia, would not like to leave it. And instead of submitting a project for autonomy, it decided to go to war, in order to gain as great as possible a section of Macedonia for itself. Even following the defeat, when the question was posed not for Macedonia but for Bulgaria itself – I am referring here to the Conference of Bucharest, where Bulgaria was “generously” offered an eighth or tenth part of Macedonia – here, too, it preferred to take that part, and did not follow the example of the biblical mother, renouncing its share of the child. I repeat, the following of this, there are some people again who compare the present position of Bulgaria to the position of Russia in the liberating Russo-Turksih War, with a desire in this way to represent it in the role of the same unselfish liberator as Russia was with regard to Bulgaria itself, refusing to see that the main reason for the misfortunes of Macedonia were precisely the Bulgaria aspiration towards this long tortured land.

Taken from Dimitrija Chupovski, Makednoskii Golos, pages 130-133.

Мислите на нај големиот син на Македонија - Гоце Делчев

"Ќе удри утринската зора и за нас."

"Јас го разбирам светот како поле за културен натпревар меѓу народите."

"Ние се бориме за слободна и независна Македонија со широки права на сиромашното население."
  
"Труд и постојамство, тоа е силата, со помош на која човек станува највелик при секоја иницијатива."

"Браво, јуначе, дојди да ти ја стиснам раката и да те поздравам, такви и се потребни на мајка Македонија."

"Делото на ослободувањето на еден народ, е пред се негово сопствено дело, на неговите сопствени раце."

"Ослободувањето на Македонија се крие во внатрешното востание. Кој мисли инаку да се ослободи Македонија, тој се лаже и себеси и другите."

"Да ја чуваме чистотата на ослободителното движење и на Организацијата - тоа е првиот услов за нашиот успех!"

"Внатрешната организација не се стреми само да им дава оружје на луѓето, ами и да го разбие нивниот ропски дух."

"Јас не сакам востание со луѓе што ќе ме напуштат при првиот неуспех; јас сакам револуција со граѓани кадарни да ги понесат сите искушенија на една долготрајна борба, каква, поради жестоките политички услови, ќе биде и нашата; - или ќе водиме говеда на касапница."

"Но тоа е патот за ослободувањето на народите од туѓо его. По него оделе Грците, Србите, Бугарите. По тој пат треба да одиме и ние, Македонците, за да се ослободиме од Турците."

"Јас не познавам друг народ кој повеќе страдал од предавствата на своите синови - изроди како македонскиот. Историјата не памети друг таков пример кога еден ист народ по традиција, јазик и вера се разделува на разни спротивни страни, една од друга потуѓа."

"Дали може да има друго место за еден Македонец, освен Македонија? Дали има народ понесреќен од македонскиот? И дали има некаде пошироко поле за работа, отколку во Македонија?"

"Македонија има свои и нтереси и своја политика.Тие им припаѓаат на сите Македонци.Оној што сака да работи на присоединувањето на Македонија кон Бугарија,Грција или Србија,тој може да се смета за добар Бугарин,Грк или Србин но не и за добар Македонец."

Manifesto for Macedonian HUMAN RIGHTS in Greece, 1984

The Manifesto written in Greek:

Translation into English:

MANIFESTO
FOR THE MACEDONIAN HUMAN RIGHTS
MOVEMENT for the Human and ethnic Rights of the Macedonians of Macedonia,
In the area of Aegean-K.O.E-M.A.D THESSALONICA
We the MACEDONIANS OF MACEDONIA of the AEGEAN, organized in a massive organization with the name K.O.E-M.A.D., Central organizational Comity for the MACEDONIAN Human Rights, with our base in Thessalonica and with a network of subcommittees which represent the permanent or temporarily residence abroad MACEDONIANS in EUROPE, AMERICA, CANADA and AUSTRALIA address this DECLARATION to the Government of Greece and at the same time copies of it we send to all existing parties, to the Greek and International press, to the embassies and the consulates of foreign countries that have bases in Greece, to the International Organizations, to the Governments of the Balkan Nations and to all our sub-committees of our movement abroad.
DECLARATION OF THE DEMANDS OF MACEDONIANS OF MACEDONIA OF AEGEAN TO THE GREEK TERRITORY, FOR THE HUMAN AND ETHNIC RIGHTS.
TO THE PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT OF GREECE-ATHENS
Our Organization that is named Central organizational Comity for the Macedonian Human rights of the MACEDONIANS OF MACEDONIA OF AEGEAN (K.O.E-M.A.D) based in Thessalonica submits to the Greek Government and the political parties the following demands:
1. Recognition of the fundamental human and ethnic rights and complete freedom to the Macedonians of the Aegean within today’s Greek borders.
2. The right of education to be given to the Macedonian people in their mother tongue, to organize freely educational institutions, schools, the operation of churches, educational ceremonies and activities, participation in radio television information programs and publication of books, newspapers in the Macedonian language.
3. A law to be voted in the Greek Parliament for the Free repatriation of the Macedonians abroad in their birthplace, so they can participate actively in the educational, economical and social life of their country, so they can with their talent and specialties, contribute massively in the rebuilding and progress of Greece.
4. We demand from the Greek Parliament and Government to vote in for a special law, with which it will be declared that the Macedonians have an inalienable
Right, with out any pressure, blackmail or intimidation, openly and publicly to speak their own mother language “MACEDONIAN” to express their customs, traditions and culture with speeches, books, newspapers, dances and songs.
5. To enlighten the public opinion of Greece about the inalienable right of protection of human and ethnic rights of a population, which comprise minority or majority within a Nation guarantied with UN agreement and Helsinki that these rights are kept in tacked . These declarations Greece has signed and accepted as a member of International Organizations.
6. (STAMP MAKE IT HARD TO TRANSLATE)….emand from the Government, The Greek parliament, the Political Parties and all….bodies to take measures so soon the human…are recognized of MACEDONIANS OF MACEDONIAN of the AEGEAN complete acceptance of all the above and taking of practical actions for their implementation.

Thessalonica 14 SEP 1984

The Manifesto written in Macedonian:

Pulevski on the Bulgarian propaganda in Macedonia, 1879

June 8, 1879
Georgi Pulevski to Despot Badzovic
…The Bulgarians here are playing tricks with us and are turning the water to their mill alongside divine Nathaniel, who is a Macedonian, but rather inclined towards the Bulgarians…

Arhiv Srbije (Beograd) Fond: Ministarstvo prosvete, P. nbr. 981/8.VI.1879; Razgledi XIV/10 (1972), p. 1132.

Irish patriot Roger Casement mentions Macedonia

Roger Casement

As the Irish patriot Roger Casement (executed by the British after the 1916 uprising in Ireland) put it:
“I know of two tragic histories in the world – that of Ireland and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.”
Casement was speaking primarily of the Macedonians who then inhabited the lands that fell within the borders of the ancient Macedonian homeland.

From the book “Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation” by John Shea, 1997, page 8.