Jane Sandanski and the Macedonian identity

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Soldier of Macedon
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2008
    • 13670

    #61
    Hans Lothar Schteppan winner of K. P. Misirkov for his lifes work By Goran Momirovski Translated and edited by Risto Stefov [email protected] September 5th, 2008 http://a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=97241 The former German Ambassador to Macedonia Hans Lothar Schteppan at an interview for A1 says that

    Sandanski.....well known in Solun...was greeted with honours when he arrived.....however, when General Georgi Todorov, Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian 7th Rila Division, proposed a toast on the occasion of “liberating” Macedonia and annexing it to Bulgaria, Sandanski stood up and said “I will drink to a free and autonomous Macedonia, for which the united Balkan nations fought and suffered so much”. Sandanski’s toast infuriated and shocked the Bulgarian officers who stormed him, cursing and threatening, ready to cut him into small pieces with their swords.
    At the conclusion of the First Balkan War a Russian journalist, V. Vodovozov, came to Macedonia to investigate the situation and learn more about the Macedonian Question. Late in July 1913 he attended a meeting in Sofia where Macedonia was the main subject of discussion. In attendance also were Macedonians including Nejchev, Ljapchev, Todorov, Kiril Popov and others who voiced their opinions. But only Petko Todorov spoke of autonomy for Macedonia and called the Treaty of March 13th, 1912, offensive. The others also spoke of autonomy but as a last resort and even asked the foreign journalist to prepare the ground work for it. Sandanski too was in attendance and when Vodovozov asked him why he did not speak in favour of an independent Macedonia, Sandanski said “You can see how these gentlemen treat the issue of autonomy; it would be distasteful to speak of independence for Macedonia in their presence in such circumstances. When the 'liberators' declared war on the Ottomans, not many Macedonians had realized that the destiny of their fatherland had already been decided without their knowledge or consent. Macedonians assumed the war would be fought to liberate and create an independent Macedonian state. It was forbidden to speak and write about Macedonia in Bulgaria, especially about its independence and today's situation is a result of such politics. When Albania became independent and began to establish its statehood, Macedonia was condemned to be divided and destroyed which of course is beginning to happen."
    The above are quotes from a Risto Stefov article. Does anybody know which sources he used to obtain them?
    In the name of the blood and the sun, the dagger and the gun, Christ protect this soldier, a lion and a Macedonian.

    Comment

    • AMHRC
      De-registered
      • Sep 2009
      • 919

      #62
      Originally posted by Soldier of Macedon View Post
      http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...lun#post128641


      The above are quotes from a Risto Stefov article. Does anybody know which sources he used to obtain them?
      I don't know where he got them from; but the original sources (Vodovozov & Pavel Deliradev) can be found in a small collection put together by Манол Пандевски: Јане Сандански 1872-1915, Скопје, 1985.

      Comment

      • Karposh
        Member
        • Aug 2015
        • 863

        #63
        Originally posted by Soldier of Macedon View Post
        Thanks to some of our MTO members and friends we were able to obtain the relevant page number and translation of the Stavridis text, which was based on discussions with Todor Panica relating to the identity of Jane Sandanski. Here is the page:
        English (rough) version:

        THE THEORY OF SANDANSKI

        What meaning did the preaching of Sandanski have? Descending from Pirin Macedonia (today Bulgaria), he belonged to the so-called slavophone Macedonians. But he had lots of great education and leadership skills and without anything else, will, determination, courage and fight for his struggle. He preached that as the Greek nation and the Serb and Bulgarian freed itself from Turkish slavery, it was time to also free the "Macedonian nation" and become a fully independent state. He preached that all citizens of Macedonia, absolutely all, are neither Bulgarians nor Greeks, nor Vlachs, even if some like him speak Macedonian, some Greek or Vlach, which is a mix of Latin, Greek and Turkish, but all residents of Macedonia are only Macedonians, original descendants of the ancient Macedonians, of Philip and Alexander, whom were also not Greeks, but a separate Macedonian nation and even fought against the Greeks and won.


        In light of some recent discussions I have had with a Pirin Macedonia native, I needed to give this topic a bump so I can highlight a few home truths. Firstly, it is evident that in Goce and Yane's time, when the propaganda from the neighbouring states was at a peak, it was thanks to individuals like Goce and Yane that kept the Bulgarian chauvinists at bay and prevented the rapid spread of the Bulgarian cancer taking hold of more and more Macedonians souls.

        I encourage people to go through this whole thread as I have done. It is truly fascinating stuff when you consider much of the bull shit we are fed about Yane's ethnic origins by Bulgarians today. Despite constant Bulgarian vandalism of Yane Sandaski's Wikipedia entry, where he is presented as a Bulgarian, the evidence provided within these posts tells another story. It is clear, Yane was a great Macedonian warrior, proud and self aware of his place in the world – A Macedonian and nothing else. And yet, he was noble enough to include all manner of nationalities within his close circle of friends (his cheta) – “Among us are Bulgarians and Albanians, Serbs and Macedonians. We even have a Jew with us.“ (Yane Sandanski quote from Madam Tsilka's 1901 unpublished memoirs about the story of her being kidnapped with Miss Stone).

        The Pirinec I chatted to was a fence sitter with regards to Macedonia and Macedonians. No different to the Grkomani of Greece or the Yugo-Fyromians of RoM. He simply couldn't bring himself to say he was a Macedonian (and Macedonian only) when I questioned him but had to qualify it with a “Bulgarian” prefix. In his defence, I suppose the fact that his mother is a Bulgarian from northern Bulgaria and his dad a Macedonian from Pirin Macedonia, his loyalties are somewhat divided. He did try to sell me some crap that most of the Pirin Macedonians feel like him but I would rather speak to many more Pirin Macedonians before I am willing to give up on them altogether by simply taking his word for it.

        Todor Panica, in the quoted example above was a Bulgarian and a close friend of Yane's and he had absolutely no problem with calling a spade a spade. According to Panica, Yane Sandanski was a Macedonian who was fighting on behalf of the Macedonian nation.

        Comment

        • vicsinad
          Senior Member
          • May 2011
          • 2337

          #64
          Here is a short article I wrote on Jane Sandanski, in honor of his memory on the anniversary of his murder (April 22, 1915).

          Jane Sandanski's Path to the VMRO

          Jane Sandanski, with a rifle in his hands and a dagger tucked in his belt, waited for his orders. The snow had many weeks ago melted from the mountain peaks into the valley floors, which were now blanketed with colorful flowers, and the warm air mass from the Aegean Sea had nestled comfortably over his country. After two years of service in the Bulgarian military, the twenty-three-year-old Macedonian stood alongside two hundred of his compatriots, ready to invade Ottoman Macedonia to battle against the Sultan’s troops for Macedonia’s liberation.1 It was summer of 1895 and Macedonia’s miserable existence as a slave province to the Turkish Sultan fueled Jane’s quest for vengeance.

          Joining this armed band, which Macedonians called a cheta, was Jane’s first momentous deed for the Macedonian Cause. The cheta was formed by the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee, commonly referred to as the Macedonian Committee. The Macedonian Committee had sprouted in Sofia, Bulgaria just a few months earlier. Its membership included Macedonian refugees – forced out of their homeland by the oppressive Turks and ruthless bashibazouks (hordes of Muslim scavengers who pillaged villages, murdered men and raped women following Turkish military campaigns) – as well as Bulgarian soldiers and military officers. The Macedonian Committee’s leader, Trajko Kitanchev, hailed from Podmochani, a village near the shores of Lake Prespa in Macedonia, just about the furthest Macedonian village from the Bulgarian border.

          Born in 1858, Kitanchev was already a hardy veteran of the Macedonian liberation movement by the time he founded the Macedonian Committee. At a young age, he was sent to school in Constantinople – the capital of the Ottoman Empire – where one of his classmates was Dimitar Blagoev (a Macedonian from the village of Zagorichani who would eventually establish the first social democratic political party in the Balkans). Moreover, his teacher was Petko Slavejkov, one of Bulgaria’s most celebrated poets and folklorists. From a young age, intelligent minds and ambitious men surrounded Kitanchev, which undoubtedly provided inspiration for this capable Macedonian.2

          Kitanchev eventually found himself at the Kiev Seminary in Russia in the latter half of the 1870s and returned to the Balkans in 1880. When he began teaching at the Bulgarian Men’s High School in Salonica, Macedonia, he would often find himself in passionate and animated arguments with the American Missionaries who had arrived in the Balkans to convert the Orthodox Christians to Protestantism. More relevantly, he and other Macedonians living in Salonica resolved to publish newspapers as a method of dispersing their ideas to the Macedonian people. Their program included “chronicling all of the events in the civilized world, especially the Slavonic world,” and printing articles about “folklore, customs, and fairy tales” as well as news from European Turkey and Bulgaria. In Salonica, they realized that there was a need for a Slavonic paper (in this case, Bulgarian, as Macedonian was not a codified language) in order to compete with Greek, Turkish and European propaganda. However, the Turkish government shut down this venture before it could amount to anything.3

          In 1884, Kitanchev resettled in Sofia, where Petko Karavelov, a member of the Liberal Party, governed the nation as Prime Minister. Kitanchev was a member and supporter of this political party, and when he visited Tarnovo, Bulgaria in 1886, he acquainted himself with another Liberal Party leader: Stefan Stambolov. The two became close friends and Kitanchev even supported Stambolov in his quest to become leader of Bulgaria; first by joining in Stambolov’s overthrow of Prince Alexander of Bulgaria (a Western-installed monarch) in 1886, and then joining him in deflecting alleged Russian interference in Bulgaria’s internal affairs. However, Stambolov’s rise coincided with the accession of Prince Ferdinand (a German prince from Vienna) to the Bulgarian throne. Kitanchev’s relationship with Stambolov deteriorated as Ferdinand’s and Stambolov’s rule evolved into a dictatorship that promulgated an openly anti-Macedonian policy. Kitanchev was soon dismissed from his role in the Inspector’s Office,4 and both Bulgarian rulers found themselves enemies of the Macedonian people, especially for suppressing Macedonian political activity.5

          It is not a surprise, then, that Kitanchev’s Macedonian agitation and injection into Bulgaria’s political scene was not without more drastic consequences. In March of 1891, Hristo Belchev, Bulgaria’s Finance Minister, was assassinated. His assassination was a case of mistaken identity: the real target was Stambolov. Many of the actual murderers escaped unscathed; but in the Balkans, any crime could be used as an excuse to trigger a witch-hunt against all of one’s political opponents. Thus, eleven of Stambolov’s enemies – both Macedonian and Bulgarian – were tried and convicted for Belchev’s murder in July. Four were sentenced to death and seven were sentenced to varying prison terms, including Karavelov, the ex-prime minister, and Kitanchev, who was handed a three-year sentence.6 Kitanchev served his three-years’ hard labor in Haskovo.7

          Stambolov’s government fell in May of 1894, which was partly attributed to a split between him and Prince Ferdinand and the latter’s desire to capitalize on the Macedonian Movement as a way to expand his dynasty.8 Since ascending to the throne, Ferdinand always desired annexation of Macedonia. For many years, he had naively believed that the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) would assist him in that endeavor; but in 1893, they made it clear that their interests resided in keeping the Sultan in possession of Macedonia in order to circumvent Russia’s intrusion into the Balkans. Still, Ferdinand would dress many of his Bulgarian bodyguards in traditional Macedonian costumes and refer to them as his “Macedonian Bodyguard” and “my own Macedonians.”9 Stambolov, on the other hand, pledged loyalty to the wisdom of the Triple Alliance.

          Thus, Stambolov’s government fell and Kitanchev was freed. Around Christmastime, Kitanchev and several dozen Macedonians met in Sofia to discuss the formation of a Macedonian organization to oversee the many Macedonian emigrant and refugee societies throughout Bulgaria and Romania. They chose the name Brotherhood Union and straightaway drafted bylaws and goals for the organization. In March of 1895, the Brotherhood held its first congress, from which the Macedonian Committee was born with Kitanchev officially at its head.10
          While the Macedonian Committee was fashioned as a new committee, it actually was a continuation of previous loosely-affiliated attempts to create an international Macedonian organization that aimed for Macedonian autonomy. Stephan Lazar Eugene Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich (a self-proclaimed Serbian prince and socialist seeking a Balkan federation)11 had co-founded the first Macedonian Committee outside of the Balkans that advocated for an independent Macedonia. This group formed in Vienna, Austria in 1886. Other organizations prior to that had never truly strived for an autonomous Macedonia. “The Bulgarian Exarchate,” he said, “organized for a Greater Bulgaria, the Slavonic Church for a Greater Serbia, the Phanariotes for a Greater Greece. The ideals of my Committees were entirely different.”12
          Lazarovich’s Vienna Macedonian Committee aimed for autonomy of both Albania and Macedonia. “I started the movement by merely collecting some refugees in Vienna who sold Turkish delight,” said Lazarovich. “In the same year, with the help of Captain Stephanos, who is a Macedonian, I started similar groups at Bucharest and Athens, in 1887 at Sofia and Belgrade.” These committees (numbering up to 3,000 people each) were stationed in large towns throughout Macedonia and the Balkans, where Macedonian peasants, shepherds and brigands would visit during the winter and learn about the idea of autonomy for Macedonia. These men then helped organize local movements and committees in Macedonia through the early 1890s.13
          Stambolov’s government in Bulgaria, however, fiercely opposed the creation of a Macedonian organization in Sofia that centered on autonomy for Macedonia. He not only prevented the formation of these committees, he contributed more resources to the Bulgarian Exarchate (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), which sought to Bulgarianize Macedonians by disseminating propaganda inside Macedonia so that a future Macedonia would be keen on joining a Greater Bulgaria.14
          But with Stambolov’s fall, Kitanchev and other Macedonians in Sofia were able to reorganize Lazarovich’s original committee into a powerful force. It is no surprise, then, that this new Macedonian Committee’s statutes were nearly identical to that of Macedonian committees throughout the Balkans.15

          The Macedonian Committee’s statutes stressed that it was an organization of Macedonians working for Macedonia’s political autonomy. Their methods for achieving this aim included circulating propaganda, instituting campaigns in other Balkan countries to unite them in achieving Macedonia’s autonomy, holding rallies and protests, and “agitation”.16 (One rendition of the statutes lists giving “moral and material help to…the Macedonia-Adrianople Slavs in their struggle against oppression” as another primary method to achieve its aims.)17 The Macedonian Committee’s most visible method to the outside world, however, involved sending chetas into Macedonia to provoke the Turkish army.

          In Dupnitsa, the Bulgarian town where Jane grew up as a Macedonian refugee, a local branch of the Macedonian Committee was quickly established after the conclusion of the Sofia congress. The town elected Kostadin Zmijarev as its chairman and scores of Macedonians flocked to the group, including Jane.18

          The Bulgarian government reacted to the formation of the Macedonian Committee and its chetas by resolving “to take every precaution to prevent the passage of armed bands into Macedonia.”19 While many doubted the Prince’s sincerity, because anarchy in Macedonia benefited his goals of stirring war in Turkey and absorbing Macedonia into Bulgaria, Ferdinand publicly denounced the Macedonian Committee’s efforts. This further aggravated the Macedonians in Bulgaria and in May, 1,000 Macedonians attended a Macedonian Committee meeting to finalize the statutes and resolve on concrete actions. They insisted that their goal was to win Macedonia “a political autonomy guaranteed by the Great Powers” and that Prince Ferdinand’s recent remarks urging them to reconsider would only encourage them to work “more energetically than ever” to accomplish their aims.20

          The news that the Macedonian Committee was organizing chetas to conduct arm raids into Macedonia quickly reached Dupnitsa. Jane’s desire to fight for Macedonia’s freedom nudged him to join one of these chetas. His cheta was led by a man named Stojio Kostov from the village of Skrizhevo (near Drama, Macedonia). The cheta consisted of two hundred men, of which twelve were former officers in the Bulgarian army. Some of these officers included Toma Davidov, Dimitar Zhostov,21 and Dimitar Dumbalakov22 (the latter two originated from eastern Macedonia while Davidov was a Bulgarian).

          The cheta was referred to as the Serres cheta, as it had its eyes set on reaching Serres, Macedonia. The Bulgarian officers, unlike the eager Macedonian refugees, had no burning desire to venture too far into the interior of Macedonia. Instead, when Jane crossed over into Macedonia with Stojio’s cheta in June, they only swooped as far as the border village of Dospat.23

          Dospat was a Muslim village at the junction of Bulgaria, Thrace and Macedonia, with the nearest large Macedonian town being Nevrokop about fifty kilometers west. The village converted en masse to Islam in the 17th century because, in part, they were a warlike tribe that yearned to hold onto their right to bear arms. Since then, they had evolved into fanatically devout Muslims.24 Up until the Bulgarian and Macedonian rebellions in the 1870s, Dospat’s peasants had enjoyed significant political autonomy from the Sultan.25 As certain reforms were proposed to give Christians more rights and freedoms, many Muslims became increasingly dissatisfied in what they viewed as decreasing privileges for themselves. Dospat in particular became known for spawning notorious Muslim bashibazouks who terrorized Christians in Macedonia, Thrace and Bulgaria (when it was part of the Ottoman Empire). One report describes how an infamous bashibazouk from the village raided and destroyed the village of Batak in Bulgaria in 1876 during an uprising.26 Still, Dospat’s residents were not ethnically Turkish and refused to intermarry with the Turks, and they continued to speak their Slavic tongue; but they hated their Christian neighbors more than they disliked their Turkish overlords.27 Naturally, Dospat proved to be a convenient and easily justifiable target for Stojio’s cheta. Jane and others were to avenge decades of cruelties and atrocities.

          From Dupnitsa, Jane marched with Stojio’s cheta along the Macedonian-Bulgarian border for several days and nights until arriving at the outskirts of their target. They camped in the forest through much of the night, when Jane and his compatriots were given the orders to invade Dospat. Two hundred Macedonians descended upon the Muslim peasants, from different directions,28 unleashing decades of stifled aggression and hatred for the wrongs committed against their mothers, sisters, fathers and neighbors.

          On their way down, one group of komitas (cheta members)29 found several shepherds asleep beneath some trees. They killed some of them with their blades but took four younger ones as hostages. After restraining them, the komitas marched them into Dospat and demanded that they reveal the house of the Mullah Sharif, Dospat’s chief Muslim. But the sly captives instead pointed out a different house that did not belong to Mullah Sharif, which infuriated the komitas.30

          The cheta began their rampage, shooting fear and panic into the villagers, who very quickly learned that these were Macedonian Committee men because of the caps that many wore atop their head, which bore their notorious slogan, “Freedom or Death!”31 They had little time to organize a resistance and those who did were hunted down.32 The komitas torched over three hundred houses as they plowed through the village.33 As peasants fled their burning homes, the komitas shot at them merciless, killing twelve in this manner.34 Several bashibazouks and other peasants sought refuge in a mosque on the other end of the village, but a few komitas had no shame: they threw dynamite into the mosque, crumbling it to the ground and crushing those who hid in it.35 About another dozen or so were taken to a neighborhood of the village and beheaded.36
          Jane later noted that only a few of the inhabitants were killed,37 while a journalist who investigated the scene reported that forty-one of the sixteen hundred inhabitants were killed, including about twenty women and girls.38 During the Dospat resistance, about ten komitas were killed.39

          Jane and his comrades watched Dospat burn for almost two hours40 and on their retreat in the early daylight they could only see “blackened stones and fragments of charred timber” in their wake, along with scorched animal and human bones. The only recognizable structure was the minaret of the destroyed mosque; but the unpleasant smell of burnt flesh must have left an uncomfortable impression on Jane.41
          Soon, however, the komitas were frantically scrambling as Turkish troops stationed in a nearby town and bands of Muslims from surrounding villages pursued them vigorously. Severe fighting ensued, preventing Jane and his comrades from penetrating deeper into Macedonia, and they were forced back into Bulgaria. Thirty of Stojio’s komitas perished in those battles42 and another thirteen were captured by the Turks, including a surgeon in the Bulgarian army.43 Moreover, while most of Stojio’s komitas were flocking back into Bulgaria, he and his assistant commander, Krsto Zahariev, took about fifteen komitas with him to kidnap a wealthy Turk from a village near Drama. Stojio died in this attack on the Turk’s estate and Zahariev took the komitas back to Bulgaria.44

          Meanwhile, Bulgarian peasants from Batak, just a few kilometers north of Dospat, feared retaliatory incursions by Muslims and Bashibazouks, so they immediately blamed the atrocities on “Macedonians and other persons acting under the orders of certain politicians in Sofia.”45 They referred to the Macedonians as “aliens and strangers, with whom the local population had no sympathy.”46

          The peasants living near the border with Turkey had good reason to fear. Aside from their not-so-distant memories of the Bulgarian uprisings in the 1870s, the Muslim inhabitants in this region of Turkey reacted violently toward any Christian they came across in the days following the assault on Dospat. A colony of Greek shepherds, known as Karakachans, was pillaged by Muslims from Barutin and some men were slaughtered and kidnapped. Shepherds in another settlement were also robbed, while two men were taken prisoner and two women were raped. Seven men from a nearby village were likewise kidnapped.47 The Turkish troops, however, acted with restraint.
          While Dospat was completely destroyed, Western newspapers exaggerated the accounts of mass murder and torture. One report put the number of murdered at one hundred;48 another said that three hundred had perished;49 and other reports insisted there was evidence of mass torture and rape. In August, British Parliamentarian Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett asked Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, George Curzon, whether it was true that all the women and children of Dospat had been massacred, and Curzon replied that he had “no authoritative information” to confirm that.50 When official correspondence came back, the low death number was confirmed, which was partly attributed to the fact that the cheta’s attack happened right before dawn, when many peasants had already ventured off into the mountains to tend to their flocks of sheep or into the fields to harvest their crops.51 Moreover, no eyewitness testimony by Dospat’s peasants attested to any sort of torture or rape.52

          Stojio’s cheta was not the only one to cross into Macedonia that summer. The Macedonian Committee sent several bands in hopes of inspiring the Macedonian people into taking coordinated action, or at least in instigating harsh reprisals by the bashibazouks and Turkish troops so to attract the attention of the Great Powers. As early as June, the Macedonian Committee announced that its insurgents were battling with Turkish troops in three different locations.53 However, their efforts that year did not have the desired effect.

          Throughout the summer, chetas arrived in the districts of Strumica, Melnik, Drama and Nevrokop.54 The most intensive fighting erupted in the Pirin districts, particularly in and around the towns of Melnik and Nevrokop (Dospat being 50 kilometers west of Nevrokop). In Melnik (a strategic town of nearly 7,000 inhabitants),55 a government building, telegraph office and several houses were destroyed.56 The cheta invading Melnik consisted of about sixty-five komitas. On their approach to the town, the Turkish guard was alerted to their presence and immediately began preparing for defensive measures. The komitas, however, bypassed Melnik and sped toward Nevrokop. This relaxed the Turkish authorities in Melnik and they telegraphed Nevrokop’s Turkish garrison to prepare for a cheta’s arrival.57

          The cheta then returned to Melnik more carefully. On their way, charcoal workers informed them that Turkish soldiers were no longer watching the narrow passes. Thus, the komitas entrenched themselves in one of these passes and placed guards to alert them of any suspicious activity. Several of the komitas then proceeded to the administration office where they killed nine guards in their sleep. Another group of komitas killed the telegraph operator and burned down the telegraph station. This was the signal for the komitas to advance their takeover of Melnik. Local prisoners were released and some Turkish guards thrown into the prison, and the administration office was torched. Unbeknownst to the komitas, it contained twenty-four loads of ammunition, triggering a massive explosion.58

          Melnik’s Turkish soldiers were located on the other end of town, and upon hearing the explosion, mobilized toward the upper end of town. The komitas rushed into different positions, some in alleyways and others in houses of Turks, where they ordered the occupants into the basements. The Turkish troops arrived, one hundred in total,59 and were immediately fired upon by the komitas. After a few attempts to charge forward, the soldiers retreated with scores of them scattered dead on the streets.60 As the komitas emerged from their hiding spots, some Turks fired at them through the windows of their homes. The cheta set all such houses on fire – about forty in total.61

          The cheta that wreaked havoc on Melnik was eventually chased into the Malesh Mountains in early August, but scores of komitas were still reported to have been reorganizing throughout the Pirin region.62 Indeed, they did reorganize. With 3,000 rifles confiscated from the army barracks in Melnik, they proceeded to capture Petrich, which was some twenty-five kilometers west into the interior of Macedonia.63 Some in the cheta abandoned their patriotic obligations and looted a nearby Greek monastery.64

          This cheta was led by Boris Sarafov and this raid into Macedonia was the beginning of his quick ascent to leadership in the Macedonian movement. He would soon reveal his character flaws and gain a poor reputation among many Macedonians living in Macedonia, which would also elevate him to one of Jane’s most hated enemies. The two men did share some commonalities, however. Sarafov was born in 1872, the same year as Jane, and was from the same general region as Jane: Sarafov was born in Libjahovo (now Ilinden), about 15 kilometers south of Nevrokop, and Jane was born in Vlahi, about 45 kilometers northwest of Nevrokop. (This region is referred to by Macedonians as the Pirin region of Macedonia and is located in present day southwestern Bulgaria, called the Blagoevgrad Province.) Of course, they both were also two of the Macedonian Committee’s earliest adherents.

          Both men served in the Bulgarian army, but Sarafov was made Lieutenant of the First Bulgarian Infantry by the age of twenty.65 He met Kitanchev in 1893, and Kitanchev suggested that Sarafov begin organizing Bulgarian officers (especially those with Macedonian roots) into fraternities that would contribute to the Macedonian movement for liberation. Sarafov heeded Kitanchev’s orders and soon rounded up several Bulgarian officers willing to lead volunteers into battle against the Turks.66 With enough military officers aboard, Kitanchev
          and Sarafov believed their Macedonian endeavors would be successful.

          However, most of the chetas were dealt a significant blow that summer. Intelligence officials in Bulgaria reported that in late July, insurgents had begun pouring into Bulgaria disorganized and “in a pitiable condition.” Most of the chetas had been defeated and scattered by the Turks, with many young men wounded or killed.67 Some bashibazouks followed the komitas into Bulgaria, where they clashed with Bulgarian border patrols. Moreover, the komitas were disarmed by these border patrols and sent to Sofia, demonstrating Bulgaria’s unwillingness to officially support the Macedonian Committee’s actions.68 Reports in August highlighted that many peasants inside Macedonia –Christian and Muslim alike – had reported the hiding-places of the komitas to the authorities. The cheta leaders were unpleasantly surprised that the Macedonians were “refusing to join the rising.” Being that the Macedonian Committee had nearly exhausted its money and supplies, there was no sense in remaining in Macedonia to continue fighting losing battles.69

          Aside from physical losses, this intrusion into Macedonia did not earn Macedonians sympathies from the outside world. The entire ordeal was blasted as “an artificial movement” orchestrated by politicians in Bulgaria.70 Some blamed it on earnest yet unwise Macedonian agitators, but others clearly viewed the Macedonian Committee as Prince Ferdinand’s prodigy. One commentator even observed that “Bulgaria must justify her existence before she seeks to extend her borders, and Prince Ferdinand must learn this lesson.”71 Moreover, the local Macedonians did not join the chetas in battle against the Turks, and the Turkish troops responded with a “calm and moderate attitude” and were found (by the West, at least) to be innocent of committing excesses.72 (Although the Turkish troops eventually committed excesses in retaliation – such as by beating, torturing and arresting nearly three dozen Macedonians in the Nevrokop district – such events took place several weeks or months after the chetas had dispersed and were not widespread.)73 Thus, the Macedonian Committee failed in its objectives of creating rebellion in Macedonia, causing the Sultan to overreact, and earning the sympathies of the Great Powers. This policy enacted by the Macedonian Committee – eventually to be known as Sarafovism74 – suffered a severe blow, irrespective of how hard the Macedonian Committee tried to paint it as a success.

          Regardless of this failure by the Macedonian Committee, the journey back into his native land was Jane’s first significant and tangible involvement in the Macedonian Cause, a Cause that both troubled and inspired him since childhood. When Jane was five, the Russo-Turkish War broke out. Since the sixteenth century, Russia and Turkey had engaged in no less than ten wars with one another. Some wars had been brief, lasting no longer than a year (such as the Russo-Turkish War of 1710-1711). Others preoccupied their armies for several years (such as the fourteen-year war that began in 1686).

          The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 was certainly a natural progression of this centuries-long hostility between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. For centuries, Russia had resisted the Turks’ northward thrust. Now, however, the Ottoman Empire was on the decline and Russia seized the opportunity to finally remove the Turk from Europe and establish its own stronghold in the Balkans. Moreover, Balkan nationalism had been on the rise for several decades, with Greece having gained its independence and Serbia and Romania their political autonomy from Turkey. Other European Christian peoples in Turkey began fighting for their national aspirations, as well. In the 1860s, Cretans revolted; and then in the 1870s, the Christians in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria took up arms. Tens of thousands of civilians died during the Turkish suppression of these rebellions, which prompted Russia to join with Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro in a bloody defeat of the Turks. Bulgaria won its political autonomy and Serbia and Romania became independent. By the end of 1878, Turkey’s European lands had dwindled to Thrace, Macedonia, Albania and Thessaly.

          During this Russo-Turkish war, Jane’s father, Ivan, moved his family to Gorna Dzhumaja (now called Blagoevgrad), a town about fifty kilometers north of Vlahi and just five kilometers south of the Bulgarian border. He felt his family would be safer in the town rather than in a village vulnerable to Muslim raids and retributions. After Bulgaria received its political autonomy, the Turkish army left Bulgaria. The Macedonians in Gorna Dzhumaja fled for Dupnitsa, the closest town inside Bulgaria, while many Turks from Dupnitsa fled to Gorna Dzhumaja.75

          For Jane and his family, the burdens of poverty combined with the tragedy of continuous war and fear of Turkish cruelty amounted to their permanent resettlement in Dupnitsa. Ivan was wise to do so, because in the Kresna-Razlog Uprising (which took place in Pirin Macedonia in 1878-1879), their native village of Vlahi was scorched.76 And Vlahi was repeatedly attacked: at the turn of the 20th century, one Muslim raid into Vlahi resulted in the murder of forty women and children.77 Had Ivan kept his family in Vlahi, those could have been his descendants.
          The Macedonians in Macedonia instigated many small, and often unsuccessful, uprisings throughout the decades following the Russo-Turkish War of 1878. Those who settled in other countries as refugees – such as in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia – never stopped agitating for Macedonians’ well being and autonomy. These individuals inevitably influenced Jane and other Macedonian youth who were becoming entrenched in Bulgarian society but had longed to reacquaint themselves with their motherland.

          In the 1880s, Major Kosta Panica, considered a leader of the Macedonian movement in Bulgaria and a pro-Russian, was executed on Prince Ferdinand’s orders for plotting to kill Stambolov.78 At his trial, Panica declared that he plotted Stambolov’s death “to secure Russian intervention in the favor of the Macedonian liberation from the Turkish yoke.” Panica’s friends and other Macedonians vowed to avenge his death, as well as to finish the deed of ridding Bulgaria of Stambolov and the Prince. They even erected a sign at the spot of Panica’s execution warning Bulgaria’s leaders that “this is where Stambolov and Prince Ferdinand will be shot.”79 “We know for an absolute fact,” said Stambolov shortly after Belchev’s murder in 1891, “that in Netschbunar – a suburb of Sofia – there is a band which is being drilled in the use of arms. This is ostensibly for Macedonia…We know, however, that these people have taken an oath to murder me, in order to avenge Panica and the four men who were hanged after the Belchev trial.” Stambolov specifically listed Naum Tufekchiev and three other men as those Macedonians plotting his murder.80

          The ringleader of this Macedonian band of assassins was indeed Tufekchiev, who was also responsible for orchestrating the assassination attempt on Stambolov that resulted in Belchev’s death.81 Shortly after Belchev’s death, Tufekchiev assassinated a Bulgarian agent in Constantinople,82 and his hate for Stambolov only grew after his brother was tortured to death by Bulgarian authorities.83 Not only was Tufekchiev a Macedonian assassin, he was considered an anarchist, arms merchant,84 and expert bomb-maker that Russian anarchists and rebels would consult with on bomb-making techniques.85
          It was thus inevitable that Tufekchiev and his compatriots would finally introduce Stambolov to his demise. Just over a year after resigning from his prime minister post, and just as the Macedonian Committee had begun pumping its chetas into Macedonia, Stambolov was shot and stabbed to death – over twenty times – by Tufekchiev and three others.86 Thus, as the Macedonian Committee chetas descended into Macedonia, a notorious enemy of the Macedonian people was brutally executed.

          However, just days after Stambolov’s death, an ironic twist of fate struck the core of the Macedonian movement: Trajko Kitanchev dropped dead. The official report stated the cause of death as heart disease, but a Macedonian newspaper in Bulgaria claimed that Turkish operatives in Bulgaria poisoned him. Irrespective of the true cause of death, Tufekchiev, who was vice-president of the Macedonian Committee in addition to his other roles, was temporarily elevated to leader of the Macedonians in Bulgaria.87 New elections were held within a week and Tufekchiev’s good friend, Minko Ivanov (from Razlog, Macedonia) was voted the new president of the organization. Because Tufekchiev and Ivanov were socialists and anarchists that mightily supported Russia’s policy in the Balkans,88 it lobbed Prince Ferdinand into a tight spot.

          The day after Kitanchev’s death, Prince Ferdinand and his followers celebrated the Prince’s eighth year as ruler.89 Despite pressure from Macedonians and Bulgarian leftists to cozy up with Russia and act more aggressively against Turkey, he slid back into entertaining certain Stambolov policies. A few weeks before Kitanchev’s death, Ferdinand called the chetas’ actions “senseless and injurious” and that the Macedonians had already received many benefits and concessions from the Sultan.90 In reaction to this, on the eve of Ferdinand’s celebration, Stambolov’s grave was desecrated by a Macedonian who broke the cross bearing his name and destroyed several wreaths. Had the police not arrived, the man would have completely exhumed the former prime minister’s remains.91

          The Macedonian Committee persisted with its policy of Sarafovism. Over the next few years, Jane would occasionally join chetas making raids into Macedonia to stir up a Turkish reaction. The Macedonian Committee was convinced that the most opportune time for having a significant impact arrived during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. This war resembled a pattern of wars in the nineteenth century against the Ottoman Empire: Christians in Thessaly, Epirus and Crete, provinces still officially under Ottoman control, rebelled. While Macedonia was not the center of Greek operations – as many Macedonians hesitated to side with the Greeks – Greek soldiers tried to arouse Macedonians into rebelling.

          The war officially ended in May with a Turkish victory. However, back in Sofia, two Bulgarian Army officers, Jordan Venedikov (a Macedonian)92 and Georgi Morfov (Bulgarian) convinced some leaders in the Macedonian Committee to organize chetas to invade Macedonia. They insisted that the uneasy state of affairs between the Greeks and Turks could provoke a massive Macedonian rebellion if the Macedonians were to send in insurgents from Bulgaria. The captains even suggested that the Bulgarian Army would then very rapidly intervene on the Macedonians’ behalf.93

          Krsto Zahariev, Stojio’s assistant commander in 1895, formed a cheta of nearly thirty komitas. The men were armed with guns supplied by Venedikov and Morfov. When the cheta arrived in Dupnitsa, Jane bought himself a gun and joined the cheta. He marched with them back into the Pirin Mountains that he once called home.94

          As soon as they entered an area known as Debeli Rid, a contingent of one hundred and fifty Turkish soldiers attacked them. Zahariev’s cheta fought off the Turks without losing a single komita and then moved toward Nevrokop. Along the Bansko River, the cheta fought another contingent of Turkish troops, this one containing two hundred and fifty soldiers. The cheta fought bravely and every komita survived. They then proceeded to Lopovo, where they clashed with a smaller group of Turks and lost one young man. In this skirmish, Jane was wounded in the left arm.95

          Despite their successes, the Bulgarian army never lived up to its promise and the local Macedonians refused to rise up against the Turks. Jane was rushed back to Dupnitsa to seek treatment for his injury.96 His brother Todor, who had also joined the cheta, was asked to escort Jane back to Dupnitsa. But Todor had little desire to see Jane join the cheta in the first place and showed Jane some tough love. “Let those who brought him here take him back,” he said. Jane held no grudge against his brother for this and went back to Dupnitsa without him. Upon arrival in Bulgaria, he was arrested for partaking in banditry after he confessed to having carried weapons into Ottoman territory. His prosecutors insisted that he be imprisoned somewhere in Bulgaria’s interior to ensure that he would not again cross into Macedonia as a komita. But the Dupnitsa police sympathized with Jane and let him remain in Dupnitsa.97

          Jane was glad to have escaped imprisonment, but he was dismayed by Bulgaria’s inaction. Despite the cheta’s successes, Venedikov’s and Morfov’s promise of Bulgaria’s intervention never transpired. It is unclear if the two officers had misled the cheta or if they themselves were misled by their superiors. Either way, the Macedonians did not rise, and Jane became suspicious of those on the Macedonian Committee. He thus swore to himself that he would not march into Macedonia as a komita until he better understood the Macedonian movement and political situation. He was generally aware of the Macedonian Committee’s objectives and methods, which were increasingly concerning; but he had also heard rumblings of a secret Macedonian organization in Macedonia that was quickly gaining the support of the occupied Macedonians.98 He resolved himself to expending his efforts to discovering the hidden force behind the liberation movement in Macedonia.

          Jane first heard about the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in 1896.99 The murmurs regarding the secretive organization’s existence and operations were inconsistent and incomplete, though. For most Macedonians living outside of Macedonia, accurate information about this clandestine revolutionary force rarely revealed itself; and even when it did, it was muddled by exaggerations and biased annotations. A few years would pass before Jane became acquainted with IMRO’s ideologies and operatives. In the meantime, he abstained from partaking in the Macedonian Committee’s raids into Macedonia and instead inserted himself in Dupnitsa’s local affairs.
          The modern town of Dupnitsa sprouted in the 15th century around the site of a Turkish inn.100 In the 1890s, Dupnitsa’s population hovered above 7,000 and was the center of important trade in the Kyustendil region of Bulgaria.101 Being that Dupnitsa resided just a few kilometers from Macedonia’s border, Macedonians constituted a healthy portion of the town’s population. Keeping accurate tally of these Macedonians proved difficult, however. Even though many had settled in Dupnitsa permanently, others only considered Dupnitsa as a temporary refuge before dispersing to other parts of Bulgaria and Europe, or venturing back into Macedonia.

          Following the Turkish suppression of the Macedonian rebellion in May of 1879, many of Gorna Dzhumaja’s residents fled into Dupnitsa, leaving Gorna Dzhumaja practically deserted.102 The Macedonians in Gorna Dzhumaja and its environs brought with them everything they could carry; they felt that their possessions and lives would no longer be secure in Gorna Dzhumaja once the Turks reconquered the town.103 Sometimes, Macedonians fled their homes for nearby villages or the mountains only through the duration of the destruction of their homes. In these instances, they would only take the essentials to ensure their survival and then venture back to the village when it was safe. However, Jane’s father would not risk his family’s safety and never anticipated to return to Macedonia as long as it was enslaved. Thus, Jane settled at Dupnitsa as a permanent refugee.

          Jane’s childhood in Dupnitsa was not exceptionally exciting. But the possibility of growing up to become a komita and fight for Macedonia’s freedom greatly inspired him, as well as many other Macedonian children during that time. To some degree, Jane achieved that dream when he joined the Macedonian Committee’s chetas; however, that experience left Jane more unsettled and unsure about Macedonia and his beliefs than before he joined. He thus took a hiatus from the sword and rifle and submersed himself into other Macedonian endeavors.
          The principal activity consuming his spare time was his efforts with Mladost (Youth), a local group of Macedonians and some Bulgarians. He took an active role in the group almost immediately upon returning from his 1897 excursion into Macedonia.104 Mladost’s primary mission centered on fostering the intellectual and moral values of its members. The group had other objectives, as well, such as distributing material aid to its less fortunate members (those who were poor, unemployed, or ill). To be a member of Mladost, one had to be younger than thirty-six and older than twenty.105

          Many of Jane’s friends and acquaintances joined this youth society. Some notable members included Hristo Jarkov, Dimitar Manojlov, Aleksandar Mladzhov, Nikola Zlatkov, Hristo Markov and a man named Bantov.106 Members generally held socialist views or resided on the left side of the political spectrum. Some joined for the comradery, while others were extremely politically active and used the group to strengthen their views. For example, Mladzhov was also a member of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in Bulgaria,107 which was created and led by Dimitar Blagoev (Trajko Kitanchev’s schoolmate in Constantinople), and Markov108 was regarded as an outspoken socialist and teacher, whose name we will encounter again shortly.
          Mladost would often organize evening socials and regular lectures for its members and others. They also instituted a reading-room club,109 for which Jane volunteered as the librarian.110 Before his stint as Mladost’s librarian, he managed the buffet held regularly on Mladost’s premises. The group entrusted Jane with this position because he was deemed to be “a most trustworthy person.”111 As the years progressed, Jane would continue to prove that it was hard to find a more trustworthy and reliable man than Jane, especially concerning finances.

          Ivan Dimitrov, a teacher and socialist member of Mladost,112 profoundly influenced Jane and the other members, particularly in the arena of excessive consumption, wasteful spending, and women’s rights. For example, one Mladost initiative urged its members and peasants to forego arranging extravagant weddings for their children. The group asserted that such celebrations led to the financial doom of families, keeping them in perpetual debt. Mladost emphasized that a married couple’s happiness and success depended on mutual love and personal values and characteristics, not on expensive wedding traditions. Thus, the group prohibited its members from participating in costly and unnecessary wedding customs, such as hiring musicians, requiring the bride to give presents to guests, and parents serving rakija (fruit brandy) to guests upon proving that the bride was a virgin. They also encouraged non-members to reconsider needlessly spending money on these and other customs and to remain thrifty.113

          Two events especially solidified Jane’s dedication to Mladost’s ideologies and objectives. The first was the Vinica Affair in 1897. While Jane may have refrained from joining chetas after he was wounded, the Macedonian Committee still organized and dispatched incursions into Macedonia. On November 14, 1897, one of these chetas ventured to the small town of Vinica, which was just outside the larger town of Kochani in northeastern Macedonia. Once there, they murdered and robbed a Turkish bey (chieftain) named Kiazim Aga.114 It was widely known that Kiazim was wealthy and stored much of that wealth in his home. So, on the evening of November 14, several dozen Macedonian komitas swooped down on Vinica. Most remained on the outskirts to fend off any potential retaliation,115 but fifteen komitas dressed in Turkish uniforms116 surrounded Kiazim’s home and demanded the Turk come outside. As soon as he stepped outside, he was shot. Some komitas then began to torture his mother so she would disclose the location of the money. She refused, however, and was hacked into pieces. The komitas then approached Kiazim’s wife, who revealed the hidden wealth in exchange for her life.117

          But this was just the beginning of the Vinica Affair. The Turkish authorities detained Ivan Petrov, the mayor of Vinica, and his son Georgi (an IMRO member) for questioning.118 Petrov could no longer bear watching the Turks torture his son, so he revealed the hiding spot of a cache of weapons.119 (Another version claims that the wife of an arrested peasant disclosed the whereabouts of the weapons.)120 These weapons were located in the home of a potter named Risto, behind one of the walls. Unbeknownst to Petrov, the potter was not just hiding weapons: with the stash of rifles, ammunition and dynamite bombs were IMRO’s business correspondences that contained lists of local IMRO members and receipts for rifles from peasants in various villages.121

          The Turks, for the first time, realized that a secret Macedonian organization was operating within Macedonia’s limits. They knew of the Macedonian Committee in Bulgaria, which they had continuously demanded of the Bulgarian government to squash it. Beyond lists of members and those in possession of weapons (it was illegal for Christians to bear arms in the Ottoman Empire), the authorities gained invaluable insight to IMRO’s operations. Each village’s branch of IMRO was headed by a priest or teacher that would swear in members in a ceremony which involved kissing a revolver and a dagger, and that should he betray his oath to IMRO he would be murdered. Further, once IMRO had enough members and weapons inside Macedonia, the Macedonians would rise against the Sultan, first by destroying the Turkish quarters of towns, government buildings and military barracks. They were then to retreat to the mountains as the Turks committed atrocities, which would attract the intention of the Great Powers. Macedonia would then be granted autonomy.122

          Still, the murder, which led to the unraveling of IMRO’s secrets, instigated a severe reaction by the Turkish authorities. The Sultan’s army surrounded several villages, one after another, indiscriminately torturing and arresting people. In the environs of Kochani, over five hundred people were imprisoned, including several priests and thirty teachers,123 as well as Hristo Matov, a teacher and IMRO leader in Skopje.124 The tortures were gruesomely cruel. In Kochani, Mihail Kandzhulov’s legs were broken after the Turks inserted sharp splinters under his nails, Vatzo Zahariev was forced to walk barefoot on a hot stove, and Jordan Hadjikino’s arms were broken. The schoolmaster in Kratovo had hot iron rods forced into his mouth; Peter Muftiski of Shtip was tied to a horse’s tail and beaten to death; and the priest Nicola of Zernovci was hung upside down for seventeen hours and then repeatedly immersed in ice-cold water with a wet cord tied around his head. Several others were killed, and one peasant even committed suicide after being subjugated to tortures.125 In a few of this villages, several women were raped, as well. Nearly two hundred people were beaten or tortured and ten were killed.126

          This Turkish crackdown caused a minor exodus of Macedonians from Macedonia into Bulgaria. The son of Ivan Petrov escaped into Bulgaria,127 as did over three hundred others.128 Most of them arrived in Dupnitsa. Jane was deeply moved by the suffering of his fellow Macedonians and thus took charge in ensuring their welfare. Mladost created a commission to provide clothes, food and housing for those pouring into Dupnitsa, and this commissioned was headed by Jane.129 He personally met with the affected individuals to ensure their needs were being addressed.

          The second event to greatly impact Jane resulted from the convergence of internal and external Bulgarian politics. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister at this time was Konstantin Stoilov, a conservative and a political opponent of Stambolov. He assumed his ministerial position in 1894, after Stambolov’s fall, and unlike Stambolov, he was not vehemently opposed to the Macedonian Committee or the Macedonians’ goals in Macedonia. As a matter of fact, he instilled Dimitri Rizov, a Macedonian from Bitola and political opponent of Stoilov, in a government position as Bulgaria’s consul-general to Macedonia. Rizov was an ally of Major Panica, and a staunch enemy of Stambolov, and had been exiled from Bulgaria by Stambolov after Panica was executed. But Stoilov granted him amnesty and used Rizov to influence and indirectly control the Macedonian organizations, both inside and outside of Macedonia. One of his long-range goals was to help free Macedonia and incorporate it into a Balkan federation.130

          However, Stoilov still thought that he could exert some control over the Macedonians’ internal musings, which annoyed many. What truly upset the Macedonians, though, was when he journeyed to Constantinople and met with the Turkish Sultan and Grand Vizier (prime minister). He discussed with them the situation (and expansion) of the Bulgarian Exarchate in Macedonia, as well as connecting Bulgarian railway lines to Turkish railway lines.131 At the same time, Stoilov assured the Sultan that his government wanted to remain on good terms with the Turkish government and would thus not tolerate the Macedonian Committee’s intrusions into Macedonia.132 Further, Prince Ferdinand ignored commenting on the Turkish cruelties in Macedonia following the Vinica Affair and even accepted presents from an envoy that the Sultan had sent to Sofia.133

          These facts, especially Stoilov’s official visit to Constantinople, triggered harsh reactions by Macedonians throughout Bulgaria, but especially in Dupnitsa. Mladost immediately called a meeting to protest these developments. Spas Harizanov, Jane’s uncle, chaired the meeting and gave a speech, along with Hristo Markov. A few higher-ranking individuals in town that were anti-socialist and despised Mladost and its aims, contacted officials in Sofia and warned them that Mladost was inciting the people to create a rebellion. An inspector for the Ministry of Education investigated the matter and dismissed Markov from his teaching post in Dupnitsa.134

          Markov’s expulsion elicited widespread protests in Dupnitsa. On his departure from the town, hundreds followed him to the bridge on the outskirts of town. There, Jane gave a passionate and powerful speech to the gathered crowd. Because Markov was poor and had no money to hire a carriage to transport him to his next destination, Jane organized a fundraising campaign to generate enough money to ensure Markov’s welfare. When enough money was raised, they called for a carriage. Markov recalled, “with his muscles of steel and great stature, Jane lifted me high into the air and deposited me in the carriage as though I were a feather.”135

          The Bulgarian army soon thereafter recruited Markov into its ranks. They shipped him to Tsaribrod, which was then located in western Bulgaria but after 1912 conceded to Serbia. The region had been occupied by the Serbian army in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885,136 contained a mixed population of predominantly Serbians and Bulgarians, and was the entrance point of the Oriental Express into Bulgaria.137 It was thus a strategic location for a military outpost and only one hundred kilometers north of Dupnitsa.
          Markov’s officer in charge at the barracks was widely known as the disciplinarian for his strict and tyrannical behavior. This officer purposely discriminated against Markov because of his socialist and anti-government views. For example, he gave Markov the oldest and dirtiest army kit and confined him to the barracks, assigning to him menial duties that were not assigned to any other conscript with his educational attainment.138

          In a correspondence to Jane, Markov explained his pitiful condition and degrading treatment. Jane could not bear to know his good friend was being treated cruelly, and set out on the one hundred kilometer journey by foot. After several days of traveling, Jane finally arrived in Tsaribrod only to begin weeping “like a mother who had found her lost child, or brother, in direst bondage” upon setting his eyes on the wretched and weak disposition of Markov. Soon, Jane’s tears were overcome by rage and proceeded to give Markov’s superior a taste of his own medicine. But Markov calmed Jane before he did something rash and Jane respected Markov’s pleas. Although Jane himself was not wealthy and only had two Turkish levas on him, he gave the poor Markov one of them and then made the journey back to Dupnitsa with his remaining leva.139

          Markov was not the only teacher to be removed from his duties and relocated. Jane was thus elected the new chairman of Mladost, upon the departure of other leaders, including Dimo Hadzhidimov.140 Hadzhidimov was a Macedonian from the village of Gorno Brodi, just outside of Serres.141 Only a few years younger than Jane, the two became close friends thourgh their work in Mladost and Edinstvo (Unity), a Macedonian emigrant society based in Dupnitsa.142
          Like Jane, Hadzhidimov fled his village at a young age and was counted as one among the many hundreds of refugees living in Dupnitsa. 143 Hadzhidimov was the eighth child of his father, also named Dimo. During the 1876 Kresna-Razlog Uprising, when Hadzhidimov was just one year old, his father and brother Ivan were imprisoned in the dungeons of Serres and then exiled to Salonica for the remainder of the Uprising.144 Upon the flinging back of Macedonia under Ottoman privation in 1878, the Hadzhidimov family resettled in Dupnitsa, where Jane and Hadzhidimov arrived just a few months apart.145 At the age of sixteen, Hadzhidimov attended pedagogical school in Kyustendil, Bulgaria, a city forty kilometers west of Dupnitsa and near the borders with Macedonia and Serbia. Here, he is immersed in both patriotic and socialist ideals and becomes acquainted with many progressive Macedonians from northern Macedonia, such as Kratovo and Kumanovo.146

          Hadzhidimov excelled as a student, but was also quite rebellious. He disdained the formalism of education. “A terrible anguish enters me when I find myself overly overdressed in the didactic ceremonies,” he said. “I am personally a supporter of free learning, uncompromised by the numerous rules that regulate the living childhood soul.” He thus initiated a student group who aspired to become self-educated, and at meetings he would share all the information he had learnt from books that he borrowed from priests, scientists and others.147

          In June of 1894, Hadzhidimov returned to his adoptive town, Dupnitsa, and began volunteering as a teacher.148 He then co-founded a Marxist organization along with Ivan Dimitrov, Georgi Pancharevski, and Trajko Petrunov. The group only lasted one year.149 Three years later, he helped form Mladost and appealed to the youth to join by preaching the importance of education. “It is no secret to anyone,” said Hadzhidimov, “that the main driving force that moves humanity to happiness and progress is universal education and upbringing.”150 As part of the government crackdown on the teachers’ “socialist rebellion” in Dupnitsa, Hadzhidimov was sent to teach at a school in Bistritsa, just outside of Sofia.151

          While in exile, Hadzhidimov continually wrote to Jane. In Jane he saw the spirit of a revolutionary and wanted to help Jane cultivate his moral and intellectual potential. He wanted to ensure that Jane truly embraced the socialist and patriotic ideals that he so passionately stood
          for. Jane would read aloud Hadzhidimov’s letters with his cousin, Ivan Harizanov, and the two would discuss the contents and ideas that Hadzhidimov wrote about.152 Not only were the two good friends, but they both were involved members of Mladost and Edinstvo, which had helped them form ideological and fraternal bonds.

          As mentioned, Edinstvo was a fraternal society of Macedonian emigrants. Among others involved in this group included Ivan Dimitrov, who was known for his patriotic speech for Macedonia just as much as his socialist revolutionary speech.153 Jane was one of the most active members Edinstvo.154 One year, both he and Hadzhidimov were in the running to lead the society, but they both lost. In the autumn of 1899, they managed to attain leadership positions: Jane as vice president and Hadzhidimov as president, and Georgi Pancharevski as president and Hristo Danailov as treasurer.155 Georgi Zashov and David Davidov were elected advisers.156

          Hadzhidimov had a profound effect on Jane’s ideologies. Although younger than he, Jane viewed Hadzhidimov as his own sort of teacher who enlightened him on many socialist and leftist viewpoints. As the years progressed, the two would continually work side-by-side on important Macedonian issues. But Jane’s Macedonian enlightenment, however, came in 1899 by the way of a man name Nikola Maleshevski.157

          Maleshevski was born in 1850 in Berovo, Macedonia, about fifty kilometers southwest of Gorna Dzhumaja. Thus, by the time he introduced Jane to the truth about the Macedonian movement inside Macedonia, he was already a seasoned veteran of the Macedonian Cause. He fought in the Macedonian rebellions in the late 1870s and after their defeat, he emigrated to Dupnitsa, as did so many other Macedonians. He served as Edinstvo’s secretary for a few years, and in this way became familiarized with the Macedonian Committee in Sofia, as Edinstvo was the Macedonian society in Dupnitsa that worked with the Macedonian Committee.158 Maleshevski was also IMRO’s agent in Dupnitsa starting in 1896,159 and over the years had become acquainted with the Macedonian scene there, deciphering between those who were intellects, those made of leadership quality, and those who were untrustworthy.

          Maleshevski saw a leader in Jane. Being that Maleshevski worked closely with Gjorche Petrov and Goce Delchev, two of IMRO’s most important figures, he invited Delchev to Dupnitsa to meet with Jane. Upon his arrival, Delchev immediately set out for Jane’s home. Here, he explained IMRO and its aims in more detail to Jane.160
          Delchev did not create IMRO. It was founded by six Macedonians who happened to be working and living in Salonica. These men – Damjan Gruev, Andon Dimitrov, Ivan Hadzhinikolov, Hristo Tatarchev, Hristo Batandziev, and Petar Poparsov – originated from different regions of Macedonia but all recognized the need for an internal organization that would help secure Macedonia’s autonomy. They held their initial organizational meeting in December of 1893, which set the stage to establish IMRO as a patriotic Macedonian and politically socialist organization, and from there, their efforts spawned the largest Macedonian movement in history.

          However, Delchev was immediately attracted to IMRO and became the group’s largest figure. He was born in Kukush, Macedonia about forty-five kilometers north of Salonica. As a youth, he thought of himself as an anarchist and socialist as well as a patriotic Macedonian. In 1894 he attained a teaching position in the environs of Shtip, Macedonia, which is where he met Gruev, who then introduced Delchev to IMRO.
          In Jane’s home, Delchev detailed the history and objectives of IMRO. He explained how the six-year-old organization had already built a revolutionary movement within Macedonia so large and domineering, that it rivaled the Ottoman government as an alternative form of governance. He explained how its leaders were democratically chosen at annual congresses, and about how IMRO served as courts for the peasants to receive justice, of which was impossible to do in the Ottoman courts. He talked about how IMRO had branches in nearly every town and village and that they were preparing people in the use of arms and military strategy. Delchev then expressed his disdain for the Macedonian Committee in Sofia, and how he did not trust them nor desired their continual injection into Macedonia’s internal affairs.161

          Jane at once found his calling. Delchev’s words and understanding of the entire Macedonian scene greatly moved and inspired Jane into aligning himself with Delchev’s views and IMRO. He was thoroughly impressed with Delchev’s passion and knowledge, and from thereon out dedicated himself to championing the Macedonian Cause according to Delchev.162



          1 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 11-12.
          2 Jordan Ivanov, Ed., The Writings of Traicho Kitanchev, Sofia, 1898, Pg. 8-13.
          3 Jordan Ivanov, Ed., The Writings of Traicho Kitanchev, Sofia, 1898, Pg. 10-37.
          4 Jordan Ivanov, Ed., The Writings of Traicho Kitanchev, Sofia, 1898, Pg. 41-47.
          5 “Clever Macedonian Game”, The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) 16 Jun 1906, Sat Page 9
          6 See “Murder Conspirators Sentenced at Sofia”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (St. Louis, Missouri), July 20, 1892, Pg. 5. The four prisoners condemned to death were Milanov, Popov, Gheregiev, and Karagulov. Other prison sentences were handed out to Velekov, Dvudjov, Bobekuv, Lieutenant Vassieliev, Stakov, and Lepavetzou.
          7 Kulturen Zhivot, Macedonian Review: Volume 6, Skopje, 1976, Pg. 53.
          8 “The State of Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 24 Sep 1895, Tue Page 3
          9 “Some Facts About Macedonia – II”, The Pall Mall Gazette (London, Greater London, England) 21 Aug 1895, Wed Page 3
          10 Jordan Ivanov, Ed., The Writings of Traicho Kitanchev, Sofia, 1898, Pg. 51-55.
          11 Lazarovich claimed to be a direct descendent of Stefan Nemanja, a 12th century Serbian emperor. See “Title Flawless, Says Princess”, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, California) 13 Oct 1912, Sun Page 24. About his noble title, he said the following: “I am not a constitutional prince, but a prince by courtesy. My great-great-grandfather was the
          head of a little province in Serbia, but was driven out of the country 150 years ago – exiled, in other words.” See “Lazarovich Title is Discredited”, The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, California) 12 Oct 1912, Sat Page 9. Cedomir Mijatovic, a Serbian diplomat, wrote that Lazarovich had no right to call himself a Serbian prince as he could not prove his lineage. Mijatovic was a good friend of King Milan of Serbia, who advocated closer relations with Austria, while Lazarovich despised both King Milan and Austria. See Cedomir Mijatovic, Memoirs of a Balkan Diplomatist, (Cassell & Company, London: 1917), Pg. 297-308. Lazarovich’s wife in 1909 claimed the attacks against her husband’s claim to nobility were due to his opposition of the Serbian King’s policies. One of those attacking him was a Serbian professor at Columbia University, named Pupin, who was raising relief money in 1912 for the Balkan Wars and sending the money directly to the Serbian government while Lazarovich was raising money and sending it to the American Red Cross’ efforts in the Balkans. See “Servian Princess Clashes With Pupin”, The New York Times (New York, New York) 30 Nov 1912, Sat Page 4 In 1912, on the onset of the Balkan Wars, Lazarovich wrote: “A new sort of a republic is what I hope the Balkan states will show the world at the conclusion of the great war we are now engaged in. I call it a ‘new kind of republic’ because it will not be the orthodox centralized republic like America, but a ‘federated’ republic – a republic with ‘home rule’ for states, as it were. Under such a regime, each of the Balkan states would retain independence in local affairs, but would join the other states in the handling of foreign policy question.” See Prince Stephan-Lazar-Eugene Lazarovich Hrebelianovich, “Wolves Prowl Behind Balkan Victor”, The Wichita Beacon (Wichita, Kansas) 11 Nov 1912, Mon Page 5.
          12 “The True History of the Macedonian Rising”, Black & White, Vol. 26, (H.S. Wood, London: 1903), Pg. 388.
          13 “The True History of the Macedonian Rising”, Black & White, Vol. 26, (H.S. Wood, London: 1903), Pg. 388.
          14 “The True History of the Macedonian Rising”, Black & White, Vol. 26, (H.S. Wood, London: 1903), Pg. 388.
          15 “The True History of the Macedonian Rising”, Black & White, Vol. 26, (H.S. Wood, London: 1903), Pg. 388.
          16 Jordan Ivanov, Ed., The Writings of Traicho Kitanchev, Sofia, 1898, Pg. 51-53.
          17 Frederick Moore, “The Macedonian Committees and the Insurrection”, Luigi Villari, ed., The Balkan Question: The Present Condition of the Balkans and of European Responsibilities, (E.P. Dutton & Company, New York: 1905), Pg. 187.
          18 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 29.
          19 “The Macedonian Question”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 11 Apr 1895, Thu Page 10
          20 “The Macedonian Question”, The Morning Post (London, Greater London, England) 17 May 1895, Fri Page 5
          21 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12.
          22 Milan Grashev, ed., Macedonia, No. 7, October 1903, Pg. 21-23.
          23 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12.
          24 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          25 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          26 Linus P. Brockett, Porter C. Bliss, The Conquest of Turkey: Or, the Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, 1877-8, (Hubbard Bros, Philadelphia: 1878), Pg. 241
          27 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          28 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          29 Komita actually denotes “a committee man” or “a man of the committee.” In both the Macedonian Committee and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), the band members were often referred to as komitas. However, the word chetnik better describes what a member of a cheta was called. However, because komita is more widely used for Macedonians, and chetnik eventually because notoriously associated with the Serbians in the early 20th century, the author will use komita to describe the Macedonians.
          30 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          31 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          32 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12.
          33 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          34 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          35 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          36 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          37 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12.
          38 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          39 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          40 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12.
          41 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          42 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 30.
          43 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          44 Hristo Silianov, Macedonian Liberation Struggles, Sofia, 1933, Pg. 57-58
          45 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          46 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          47 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          48 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          49 “Three Hundred Perished”, La Cygne Journal (La Cygne, Kansas) 30 Aug 1895, Fri Page 2
          50 “Alleged Massacre of Mussulman Villagers”, August 22, 1895, The Parliamentary Debates: Commencing with the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XXXVI, London, 1895, Pg. 570
          51 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 12 Sep 1895, Thu Page 10
          52 “The Destruction of Dospat”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 01 Oct 1895, Tue Page 7
          53 “Reported Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 24 Jun 1895, Mon Page 3
          54 “The Macedonian Rising”, Belfast News-Letter (Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland) 18 Jul 1895, Thu Page 7
          55 “Trouble in the Balkans”, Western Mail (Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales) 30 Jul 1895, Tue Page 6
          56 “The Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 03 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          57 Christ Anastasoff, The Tragic Peninsula: A History of the Macedonian Movement for Independence Since 1878, Blackwell Wielandy, St. Louis: 1938), Pg. 58-60.
          58 Christ Anastasoff, The Tragic Peninsula: A History of the Macedonian Movement for Independence Since 1878, Blackwell Wielandy, St. Louis: 1938), Pg. 58-60.
          59 Stephen F. Whitman, Eugene P. Lyle, “Boris Sarafoff: Emancipator”, Everybody’s Magazine: Volume 8, (Ridgway-Thayer Company, New York: 1903), Pg. 441.
          60 Stephen F. Whitman, Eugene P. Lyle, “Boris Sarafoff: Emancipator”, Everybody’s Magazine: Volume 8, (Ridgway-Thayer Company, New York: 1903), Pg. 441.
          61 Christ Anastasoff, The Tragic Peninsula: A History of the Macedonian Movement for Independence Since 1878, Blackwell Wielandy, St. Louis: 1938), Pg. 58-60.
          62 “The Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 03 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          63 “The Fighting in Macedonia”, Sheffield and Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England) 06 Aug 1895, Tue Page 5
          64 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 30.
          65 Stephen F. Whitman, Eugene P. Lyle, “Boris Sarafoff: Emancipator”, Everybody’s Magazine: Volume 8, (Ridgway-Thayer Company, New York: 1903), Pg. 440.
          66 Christ Anastasoff, The Tragic Peninsula: A History of the Macedonian Movement for Independence Since 1878, Blackwell Wielandy, St. Louis: 1938), Pg. 58.
          67 “The Situation in Turkey”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 26 Jul 1895, Fri Page 5
          68 “The Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 03 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          69 “The Macedonian Rising”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 01 Aug 1895, Thu Page 5
          70 “The Situation in Macedonia”, The Pall Mall Gazette (London, Greater London, England) 24 Jul 1895, Wed Page 11
          71 “The Situation in Macedonia”, The Pall Mall Gazette (London, Greater London, England) 24 Jul 1895, Wed Page 11
          72 “The Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 03 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          73 “The State of Affairs in Macedonia”, The Pall Mall Gazette (London, Greater London, England) 16 Sep 1895, Mon Page 7
          74 Stephen F. Whitman, Eugene P. Lyle, “Boris Sarafoff: Emancipator”, Everybody’s Magazine: Volume 8, (Ridgway-Thayer Company, New York: 1903), Pg. 440.
          75 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 25.
          76 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 11; Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 29.
          77 E.J. Dillon, “The Reign of Terror in Macedonia”, The Contemporary Review: Volume 83, (Horace Marshall & Son, London: 1903), Pg. 314.
          78 A. Hulme Beaman, M. Stambuloff, (Frederick Warne, New York: 1895), Pg. 166.
          79 Duncan Perry, Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895, (Duke University Press, USA, 1993) 160-168.
          80 The Annual Register for the Year 1895, (Longmans, Green, and Co., London: 1896), Pg. 296
          81 Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art: Volume 80, (London: 1895), Pg. 104
          82 Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1895, Volume 20, (D. Appleton and Company, New York: 1896), Pg. 100
          83 Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art: Volume 80, (London: 1895), Pg. 104
          84 The Armenian Review: Volume 442, (Hairenik Association: 1990), Pg. 64.
          85 Timothy E. O’Connor, The Engineer of Revolution: L.B. Krasin and the Bolsheviks, 1870-1926, (Westview Press: 1992), Pg. 71-73.
          86 Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1895, Volume 20, (D. Appleton and Company, New York: 1896), Pg. 100
          87 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 17 Aug 1895, Sat Page 5
          88 “The Macedonian Movement”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 20 Aug 1895, Tue Page 5
          89 “Bulgaria”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 16 Aug 1895, Fri Page 5
          90 “Reported Rising in Macedonia”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 24 Jun 1895, Mon Page 3
          91 “Bulgaria”, The Times (London, Greater London, England) 16 Aug 1895, Fri Page 5
          92 The author could not absolutely verify Venedikov’s identity because in his memoirs, Jane did not make clear which Venedikov made the suggestion alongside Morfov. There were two Venedikov brothers, named Jordan and Dimitar, who were both involved in the Macedonian Committee at this time. Both were Macedonians from Banja (Pirin Macedonia). Dimitar was an organizer of the Bulgarian officer brotherhoods that Sarafov and Kitanchev had established, an adviser to Trajko Kitanchev in 1895, and briefly worked with Gjorche Petrov, an Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) operative, on the Macedonian revolutionary movement inside Macedonia. His younger brother Jordan also joined the Macedonian Committee in 1895 and led a cheta that year into the region of Strumica. In some sources, Morfov’s name is associated with Jordan while in other sources Venedikov’s first name is not given.
          93 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          94 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          95 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          96 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          97 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 29.
          98 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          99 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 12-13.
          100 A. Ishirkov, Bulgarien, Land und Leute: Teil II, (Leipzig: 1917), Pg. 114.
          101 Jean Erdic, En Bulgarie et En Roumelie: Mais-Juine, 1884, (Alphonse Lemerre: Paris, 1885), Pg. 276.
          102 “Bulgaria”, The Observer (London, Greater London, England) 25 May 1879, Sun Page 5
          103 “The Bulgarias”, Daily News (London, Greater London, England) 14 Aug 1879, Thu Page 5
          104 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 13.
          105 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 37.
          106 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 13.
          107 The Workers’ Newspaper: Vol. II, No. 33, Kazanlak (Bulgaria), April 30, 1899, Pg. 4.
          108 Hristo Markov was born in Tran, Bulgaria, which is located in northwestern Bulgaria on the border with Serbia, about 90 kilometers north of Macedonia. See Lyubomir Panaiotov, Yordan Nikolov Shopov, The Freedom Movement in Macedonia and Adrianople, Vol. VII, (Bulgaria: 1983), Pg. 13.
          109 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 36.
          110 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 13.
          111 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 37.
          112 Ivan’s younger brother, Stanke, would become a high-ranking member of the Bulgarian Communist Party from the 1920s through his death in 1944. See Military History Commission, Historical Military Collection: Vol. 57, No. 4-6, (Bulgaria: 1988), Pg. 199.
          113 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 36, 37.
          114 Vance Stojcev, Military History of Macedonia: Vol. I, (Military Academy of ‘General Mihailo Apostoloski’, Skopje: 2004), Pg. 276.
          115 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          116 Mémoire de l'organisation intérieure, La Macédoine, et le vilayet d'Andrinople (1893-1903), (Sofia: 1904), Pg. 9.
          117 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          118 Mémoire de l'organisation intérieure, La Macédoine, et le vilayet d'Andrinople (1893-1903), (Sofia: 1904), Pg. 10.
          119 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          120 Hristo Silianov, The Macedonian Liberation Struggle, Vol. I: The Ilinden Revolution, (Sofia, 1933), Pg. 75.
          121 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          122 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          123 D. Markoff, “The Atrocities in Bulgaria,” The Observer (London, Greater London, England) 20 Feb 1898, Sun Page 7
          124 Hristo Silianov, The Macedonian Liberation Struggle, Vol. I: The Ilinden Revolution, (Sofia, 1933), Pg. 75.
          125 D. Markoff, “The Atrocities in Bulgaria,” The Observer (London, Greater London, England) 20 Feb 1898, Sun Page 7
          126 Mémoire de l'organisation intérieure, La Macédoine, et le vilayet d'Andrinople (1893-1903), (Sofia: 1904), Pg. 9-11.
          127 “Dark Incidents of the Macedonian Agitation”, The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) 02 Feb 1898, Wed Page 10
          128 H.N. Brailsford, Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future, (London: 1906), Pg. 127.
          129 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 38.
          130 Hermenegild Wagner, With the Victorious Bulgarians, (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston: 1913), Pg. 48-53.
          131 “Austria and Bulgaria”, The Standard (London, Greater London, England) 16 Aug 1897, Mon Page 5
          132 “Bulgaria and the Macedonian”, The Literary Digest, Vol. XI, No. 13, (Funk & Wagnalls Company: New York), July 27, 1895, Pg. 25.
          133 “Oppression in Macedonia”, The New York Times (New York, New York) 25 Feb 1898, Fri Page 5
          134 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 38.
          135 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 38.
          136 “Servia”, Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia and Registers of Important Events of the Year 1885, Vol. X, (D. Appleton and Company, New York: 1889), Pg. 728
          137 “Quarantine Notices”, The Board of Trade Journal of Tariff and Trade Notices and Miscellaneous Commercial Information, Volume XIV, January—June 1893, (London: 1893), Pg. 107.
          138 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 38, 39.
          139 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 38, 39.
          140 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 39-40.
          141 Konstantin Pandev, Dimo Hadzhidimov, Sofia, 1975, Pg. 4.
          142 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 39-40.
          143 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 39-40.
          144 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 22, 23.
          145 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 26.
          146 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 31.
          147 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 32.
          148 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 33.
          149 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 34.
          150 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 37.
          151 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 40.
          152 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 39-40.
          153 Macedonian Research Institute, Macedonian Review: Vol. 28-29, Sofia, 2006, Pg. 42.
          154 A. Paskaleff, La Question Macedonienne: 1917-1919, Sofia, Pg. 155, 160.
          155 Konstantin Pandev, Dimo Hadzhidimov, Sofia, 1975, Pg. 11,12; “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L.
          Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 13.
          156 Bojan Kastelov, Dimo Hadzhidimov: Life and Works, (Sofia: 1985), Pg. 60.
          157 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 42.
          158 “Nikola Maleshevski”, Macedonian Nation, January 18, 2012, http://mn.mk/makedonski-legendi/5542-Nikola-Malesevski . Last accessed November 6, 2018.
          159 Hristo Silianov, Macedonian Liberation Struggles, Sofia, 1933, Pg. 45.
          160 Mercia MacDermott, For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yane Sandansky, (Journeyman, London: 1988), Pg. 42.
          161 See Victor Sinadinoski, The Macedonian Resurrection: The Story of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, (USA: 2017).
          162 “Memoirs of Jane Sandanski”, recorded on January 14, 1904, from L. Miletic, Materials on the History of the Macedonian Liberation Movement, Book VII, Sofia, 1927. Pg. 14.
          Last edited by vicsinad; 04-24-2020, 10:04 PM.

          Comment

          • vicsinad
            Senior Member
            • May 2011
            • 2337

            #65
            Also, from The Washington Post, August 30, 1908:

            Sandanski’s Proclomation to the Macedonians

            “Countrymen all, you have given many dear victims…Don’t let yourselves be deceived again by the criminal agitation which will not fail to be opened by the Bulgarians against your alliance with the Turkish people. Fate has decided! There is no withdrawal of us now!

            “But who of you would go back to that hideous life of lawlessness and corruption? Let us pledge our oaths that we shall take death before returning to the shameful life of slaves. Death to tyranny! Long live Liberty! Long live understanding among the peoples!”

            Comment

            • Liberator of Makedonija
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2014
              • 1595

              #66
              Great read Vic, loved it. Few things I wanted to touch on:

              1. Any more information on this Vienna committee formed in 1886? First time I am hearing of it

              2. What is this "Slavonic Church" that agitated for a Greater Serbia? It is my understanding that Serbia had two national churches at the time and weren't really a force in Macedonia

              3. Never knew the extent of what transpired in Dospat, truly grim scenes from the sounds of it. Can understand why Jane later promoted the 'internal' ideology of secularism and cooperation.

              4. What you wrote about Mladost, especially in regards to their rejection of elaborate weddings, is practically identical to the laws instated by Jane in his district during his time as the local vojvoda.
              I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

              Comment

              • vicsinad
                Senior Member
                • May 2011
                • 2337

                #67
                Liberator, Thanks and good questions.

                1. I have read more information on it, but I'd have to dig. I have not uncovered a lot (in English or otherwise) confirming Lazarovich's claims to all of these committees -- mostly only his and his wife's words. His wife was an American and claimed to have traveled Europe with him and met many people related to the Macedonian movement and those trying to organize a Balkan federation.

                2. Lazarovich was opposed to King Milan of Serbia, so I'm assuming that Lazarovich is referring to the Metropolitanate of Belgrade.

                Comment

                • Liberator of Makedonija
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 2014
                  • 1595

                  #68
                  Originally posted by vicsinad View Post
                  Liberator, Thanks and good questions.

                  1. I have read more information on it, but I'd have to dig. I have not uncovered a lot (in English or otherwise) confirming Lazarovich's claims to all of these committees -- mostly only his and his wife's words. His wife was an American and claimed to have traveled Europe with him and met many people related to the Macedonian movement and those trying to organize a Balkan federation.

                  2. Lazarovich was opposed to King Milan of Serbia, so I'm assuming that Lazarovich is referring to the Metropolitanate of Belgrade.
                  Thanks for all that
                  I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X