Boris Sarafov
Boris Petrov Sarafow (even Boris Petrov Sarafov written Bulgarian Борис Петров Сарафов * 12. June 1872 in the village Libjahowo (now Ilinden , Bulgaria) near the town Newrokop (now Gotse Delchev , Bulgaria) in what was then the Ottoman Empire ; † 28. November 1907 in Sofia , Bulgaria ) was a Bulgarian military , freedom fighters, voivod and leader of the " Supreme Macedonia Adrian Opel Committee " (short Omok bulg. Върховния македоно-одрински комитет ), the " inside Makedono-Odrinischen Revolutionary organization " ( short IMORO, Bulgarian Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация ) and the Ilinden-Preobraschenie uprising . The actor Krastjo Sarafov was his brother.
biography
youth
Boris Sarafov was born on June 12, 1872 in the village of Libjahowo (today: Ilinden, Bulgaria) near the town of Newrokop (today: Goze Deltschew, Bulgaria), which at that time still belonged to the Ottoman Empire . His father Petar Sarafov was a Bulgarian teacher at the time of the Bulgarian Revival , his uncle Kosta Sarafov and his grandfather Archimandrite Chariton ( Krasto Karpusow ) were leaders in the struggle for an independent Bulgarian church in Newrokop and Serres ; all three sat for the Bulgarian Exarchate opposite the Greek-influenced Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . His brother was the famous Bulgarian actor Krastjo Sarafov .
Boris Sarafov attended the local school of the Exarchate and graduated from the Soluner Gymnasium for men in 1890. There he met Gotze Deltschew , Dame Gruew and Gjortsche Petrow , among others .
In 1890 he joined the Sofia Military School with Dimitar Dumbalakov , Ivan Poschcharliew and Christo Sarakinow . Together with Gotze Deltschew and Boris Draganow they founded a revolutionary group that worked closely with the group for the liberation of Macedonia founded by Dame Gruew at the University of Sofia . On August 2, 1893, Sarafov was promoted and served from there in the 15th Lom Regiment in Belogradchik , where he found new followers for his revolutionary work in Macedonia, including Christo Chernopeew , Tane Nikolow , Toma Dawidow , Bobi Stoychev . On January 1, 1894, Sarafov was transferred to the 1st foot regiment of Sofia, from where he came into contact with the "Supreme Macedonia-Adrianople Committee" of Trajko Kitantschew .
Membership in the Supreme Committee
In 1895 Boris Sarafov, who had already been promoted to first lieutenant in the Bulgarian army , became voivode in one of the Cheetas who took part in the so-called " Operation of the Cheetas " from June to August 1895 in Macedonia. He commanded the 4th Detachment , which consisted of 65 Komitaji , which included the Cheetas of Koljo Risow , Kotscho Mustruka , Ango Kostadinow , Krastju Balgarijata and Angel Malinski . His Tscheta crossed the border with the Ottoman Empire on June 17th and took Melnik on July 12th , after which it withdrew to Bulgaria on July 22nd.
After the failure of the campaign, he began in September 1895 a four-month training course at the St. Petersburg Military Academy. There he visibly wore the uniform of the 1st foot regiment of Sofia and propagated the revolutionary struggle for Macedonia among the Bulgarians present there. Despite the proposal of the Russian Empire, he refused to give up his Bulgarian citizenship and began to travel to Constantinople in 1896 , the Zográfou Monastery and the Hilandar Monastery to collect money for the Supreme Committee.
In Thessaloniki he met the leaders of the IMORO and from that moment began to plan joint actions with them and to collect weapons for the revolutionary fighters within Macedonia. In Bulgaria he passed on valuable information about the combat strength of the Ottoman army and its plan maps to the Minister of War Ratscho Petrov . The Bulgarian Minister of War and Prime Minister Konstantin Stoilow promised him up to 10,000 rifles for a Cheta. Boris Sarafov, who was serving in the 5th Danube Foot Regiment at the time, founded so-called officers' associations in the Bulgarian barracks together with General Ivan Zontschew in order to recruit officers for the fight in Macedonia.
In 1897 he made another attempt to collect money and weapons, traveling to the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, the USA, Serbia and Romania.
As the leader of the Supreme Committee
At the 6th Congress of the “Macedonian Brotherhoods in Bulgaria” in May 1899, Boris Sarafov was elected head of the Supreme Committee. With the support of IMORO, he decided to become more active both within the emigration and in the interior of Macedonia.
In May 1900 he signed a joint protocol together with the foreign representatives of the IMORO Gotze Deltschew and Gjortsche Petrow, according to which all Bulgarian officers are admitted to the structures of the IMORO. He helped create smuggling channels on the border, illegally transporting weapons and training Cheetahs.
After it was revealed in the Romanian press that Bulgaria actively supported the resistance in Macedonia, the two publicists Ştefan Mihăileanu and Kiril Fitowski were murdered in Bucharest on July 22, 1900 at the instigation of Boris Sarafov . This led to a crisis in the diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Romania, which went so far that both countries ordered a partial mobilization of their armies. At international urging, Sarafov was arrested along with other members of the Supreme Committee on the night of March 23-24, 1901.
During his imprisonment, he gave an interview for the London Times , in which he explains that the Macedonians are a nation of their own, to distinguish them from the Bulgarian or Serbian.
On August 2nd of the same year he was released and attended the 8th extraordinary Macedono-Odrinian Congress, at which he announced his resignation. He was succeeded by Stojan Michailowski and General Ivan Zontschew. Shortly thereafter, personal conflicts arose between Boris Sarfov and the actual leader of the "Supreme Macedono-Odrinian Committee" OMOK Ivan Zontschew, as well as between the IMORO and the OMOK. At the 9th, as well as the 10th “Macedono-Odrinian Congress”, Sarafov got into new confrontations with the supporters of Ivan Zontschew and then founded his own committee, headed by Christo Stanischew .
Cooperation with IMRO
From then on he entered the service of the IMORO and from then on collected money and weapons in Western Europe for their purposes. In December 1902, however, he rejected Mikhail Gerdschikow and Wultscho Atanasow's plan to have Ivan Zontschew murdered.
He was instrumental in the procurement of weapons and dynamite for the IMORO, with which the anarchist "Geneva Group" of the IMORO, the so-called Gemedjii (Bulgarian Гемиджиите), carried out their 1903 assassinations in Thessaloniki . In the Thessaloniki attacks, which took place between August 28 and 30, the Ottoman Bank was blown up, as was the French cruiser Guadalkivir, after which the assassins, led by Jordan Popjardanov, fought a three-day battle with the Ottoman military until finally on August 30th the last survivors were captured.
The Ilinden-Preobraschenie uprising
After the decision for the armed uprising in Macedonia was taken at the Thessaloniki Congress of IMORO, Boris Sarafov formed a Cheta of Bulgarian military and marched with them on January 26, 1903 across the border into Macedonia. They smuggled in 150 kilograms of dynamite, which was distributed to the regions. Sarafov himself set out for Kostur (today. Kastoria , Greece ). On March 28, 1903, the Tschetas were surrounded by Boris Sarafov, Ivan Popov , Wasil Chekalrov , Pando Kljschew and Lasar Poptraikow by Ottoman forces in Smardesch (today: Krystallopigi, Greece), but they managed to escape with the help of local village chetas.
As the auditor of the Cheetahs in the “Revolutionary Region of Bitola ”, Sarafov took part in the “Congress of IMORO in Smilewo (today: North Macedonia )” in May 1903. He was elected to the general staff of the uprising with an absolute majority, together with Dame Gruev and Atanas Losanchev elected. Together with Nikola Detschew he developed the "Disciplinary Code of the Insurgents". In this the rights, duties and penalties of the Chetniks, as well as the central and regional voivodes, were laid down during the Ilinden-Preobraschenie uprising .
Sarafov promised the insurgents that Bulgaria would immediately be ready to declare war on the Ottoman Empire after the uprising. At the beginning of the uprising, he wrote a proclamation about the beginning of the uprising. At the end of this proclamation he made a desperate appeal to the Bulgarian government, in which he called for Bulgaria's immediate intervention. However, due to the complicated foreign policy situation in which Bulgaria found itself at the time, the Bulgarian government was unable to provide direct assistance and respond to the appeal. During the uprising, the Cheta around Sarafov took part in battles against the Ottoman troops in Ochrid , Smilewo and Demir Hisar. After the decision to dissolve the Cheetas, Boris Sarafov withdrew to Bulgaria.
The assassination of Sarafov
Between 1903 and 1904, Sarafov again toured Western Europe and tried to popularize the ideas and work of IMORO there. It is believed that it was financed by the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I during this period . His correspondence is now kept in the " Hoover Institute ".
In the meantime, Sarafov is conducting negotiations with the “Serbian Military Propaganda”. As a result, the organization gradually began to split and Serbian Cheetas invaded the areas of Porechie and Azot, west of the Vardar River . He later wrote a letter to the Russian Count Ignatiev , in which he complained about the Serbian propaganda which, in his opinion, had tormented the Bulgarian population in Macedonia.
At the IMORO Congress in Rila in 1905, Jane Sandanski accused him of pro-Serbian acts and a dispute broke out between the two. Although Sandanski's supporters prevented the IMORO congress in 1906, Boris Sarafov was re-elected together with Ivan Garvanov and Christo Matov as foreign representatives in an extraordinary meeting of 23 delegates from the Revolutionary Areas on December 7th. The two opposing tendencies in IMORO, the moderate under Ivan Garvanov (called "Garwanists") and the liberal faction led by Sarafov, reached an agreement in early 1907 and ended their dispute. In the same year Sarafov helped the Armenian revolutionary Garegin Nschdeh to enter a Bulgarian officers' school.
The organization and deployment of Cheetas to Macedonia by the IMORO diplomatic mission met with strong opposition from the “Serres group” headed by Sandanski. In the resolution of the Revolutionary Region of Serres published in November 1907, the allegations against Garvanov and Sarafov also included the allegations that they "together with the Bulgarian government initiated the indiscriminate intrusion of masses of Cheetahs into the interior"
The resolution was signed by Jane Sandanski, Tschudomir Kantardthiew , Georgi Skrizhowski and Aleksandar Bujnow . As early as 1906, at the Congress of the Revolutionary Region of Serres in the Rila Monastery, the decision was made to eliminate Dame Gruew, Boris Sarafov, Ivan Garvanov and Christo Matov, this decision being made by Pere Toshev and the representatives of the organization in Bulgaria Gyortsche Petrow and Petar Poparsov was supported.
On November 28th Boris Sarafov was shot dead by Todor Panica together with Ivan Garvanov at their home . Panica was a close ally of Jane Sandanski and had already shot Mikhail Daew , another political opponent of Sandanski within the IMORO, a month earlier and took his place at the head of his area. Christo Matow survived the attack because he was late for the meeting of the three.
The execution of the two foreign representatives of IMORO by order of Sandanski left insurmountable hurdles in the unification process of the political wings within IMORO.
Today's view in Macedonia
In the Russian newspaper “Macedonian Voice” (Македонскій Голосъ) on June 9, 1913 (7 years after Sarafov's murder), the Macedonist editor Dimitar Tschupovsky published an interview with Boris Sarafov, which he published in the “Sankt Petersburg Nachrichten” (Санкт Весмероростыгт Весдерборборостес ) is said to have given on August 21, 1902. In this interview, Sarafov claimed that the Macedonians were a separate nation. Inferring from this, Dimitar Tschupowski wrote in a later edition that the morally responsible murderer of Sarafov, Jane Sandanski, was a Bulgarian agent and criminal.
The paradox of this story is that the modern Macedonian press describes Sarafov as a “Varhovist” (term for the members of the Supreme Macedonian Committee), a traitor and a pro-Bulgarian revolutionary, whereas Sandanski is an early Macedonian and fighter for an independent Macedonia is called. The Macedonian historian Blazhe Ristowski, however, pejoratively describes Sarafov as a “pure Bulgarian”. Boris Sarafov, on the other hand, considered himself and all Macedonians Bulgarians.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Encyclopedia “Bulgaria” Volume 6, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia 1988 Енциклопедия “България”. Том 6, Издателство на БАН, София, 1988.
- ↑ Memories from Macedonia, Arthur Smith (translated into Bulgar.)
- ↑ http://makedonika.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/boris-sarafov-the-macedonian-agitation-the-times-1901/ "The Times", London, April 12, 1901, pp. 3-4 .
- ↑ Atanasov, Dimitar, “Войводи с пагони”, Makedonia Press, 2003 p. 144
- ↑ Siljanov, Christ. "The fighting in Macedonia", Volume 1, Sofia 1933, page 223 (Bulgarian)
- ↑ Siljanov, Christ. "The fighting in Macedonia", Volume 1, Sofia 1933, pages 238, 241, 242 (bulg.)
- ^ Ilinden uprising 1903-1968, The memories of those involved in the struggle, edited by Jordan Anastasov, from the memories of Nikola Petrov Rusenski (Bulgarian)
- ^ "Register of the Ferdinand I, Czar of Bulgaria Papers, 1846-1956"
- ↑ Najdeh, Karekin, "Autobiography" - (Russian)
- ↑ freely translated from Bulgarian: "съвместно с българското правителство инспирираха безразборното нахлуване на масоъвитрешетива масоъвитрешетива"
- ↑ Blagov, Krum, “The 50 Biggest Attacks in Bulgarian History, 25. The Assassination of the Foreign Representatives of IMORO” (Bulgarian)
- ↑ newspaper "Macedonian Voice" ( "Македонскій Голосъ") Issue 1, June 9, 1913
- ↑ "Saint Petersburg News" ("Санкт -Петербургские Ведомосты") August 21 (September 2) 1902
- ↑ Newspaper "Macedonian Voice". ("Македонскій Голосъ"), issue 11, 1914 г.
- ↑ "Sandanski the greatest protector of Macedonian", W. Tzwetanowski, "Utrinski Vestnik" edition 1759, October 16, 2006 (in Macedonian) ( Memento of the original from August 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "Forum" magazine, Edition 130, June 5, 2003 (in Macedonian) ( Memento of February 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Boris Sarafow - Memories (in Macedonian) ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sarafov, Boris |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sarafov, Boris Petrow; Sarafov, Boris Petrov; Петров Сарафов, Борис (Bulgarian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bulgarian resistance fighter in Macedonia and leader of the IMRO |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1872 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Village Libjahowo (today: Ilinden, Bulgaria) |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 28, 1907 |
| Place of death | Sofia |