Wasil Aprilov

Wasil Aprilov

Wasil Ewstatiew Aprilow ( Bulgarian Васил Евстатиев Априлов ; *  July 21, 1789 in Gabrovo , † October 2, 1847 in Galați ) was a Bulgarian doctor who studied in Vienna and is known in Bulgaria primarily as a promoter of the school and church system, as well as one of the activists of the Bulgarian National Revival .

biography

Wasil Aprilow was born on July 21, 1789 in the town of Gabrovo in the Balkan Mountains . He came from a respected family of craftsmen, whose prosperity enabled him to receive a solid education. He received his school education first in Moscow , later at a German high school in Kronstadt , and finally he studied medicine in Vienna. After graduating, he lived in several countries, from 1811 he worked as a trader in Odessa and soon rose to become a wholesale merchant.

For a long time he maintained close relationships with the Greek circles in Odessa, thereby becoming an admirer of Greek education and culture and an advocate of Hellenism . He sponsored Greek schools and supported Greek freedom fighters who traveled to Greece from Odessa to support the Greek uprising from 1821 to 1829.

A change in his views, the reflection on his national Bulgarian identity was stimulated by the Russian scholar Yuriy Wenelin , who was mainly through his work " The Bulgarians of then and now in their political, ethnographic, historical and religious relationship with the Russians " ( russian Древние и нынешние болгаре в политическом, народописном, историческом и религиозном их отношении к россиянам , 1829) of the Bulgarians acquired with other publications great services for the early exploration of the history, lifestyle, culture and language as well.

After his transformation, Aprilov became the most important representative of the Bulgarian National Revival of the 1830s and 1840s. He was one of the first to recognize the danger of Hellenistic hegemony efforts . To combat them he founded together with Nikola Palausow (1776-1853) and with the support of the scholar Neofit Rilski in his hometown Gabrovo the first secular school, the " Gabrovo comprehensive school " (Bulgarian Габровско взаимно училище ). It was based on the experiences of the Russian school system, was built up according to the Lancaster school and soon became the model for the development of the Bulgarian school system in the 19th century. Even after its establishment, Aprilow remained the main sponsor.

In the years that followed Aprilow, together with other Bulgarian merchants from Odessa, built a scholarship for outstanding Bulgarian boys and girls, who were given the opportunity to further their education in Russia (especially Odessa, Kiev and Moscow) and Western Europe. Aprilow also supported the publication of publications in Bulgarian or about Bulgaria. He himself wrote several works, including a. “Morning Star of New Bulgarian Education” (Bulgarian “Денница на новобългарското образование”), 1841, which was first published in Russian in Petersburg. In this work Aprilov attacked the Serbian claim that the Cyrillic alphabet was first spread among their people . Through his works Aprilov raised awareness of the glorious past of the Bulgarians, described the development of Bulgarian culture and education, established the need for secular education, and fought for literature written in the vernacular. At the same time Aprilov smoothed Russia's cultural influence on the Bulgarians. During the development of the New Bulgarian language , Wasil Aprilow, like Petar Beron and Najden Gerow, regarded the Eastern Bulgarian dialects as the basis for the formation of a uniform written language.

Wasil Aprilow, through his sponsorship, laid the first beginnings of Bulgarian ethnography . Through his suggestions or mediation, the Bulgarian intelligentsia collected ethnographic and folkloric material, including Bulgarian folk songs, fairy tales and stories. Some of his close confidants were Neofit Rilski, Sacharij Kruscha and Rajno Popowitsch . Aprilow published the collected materials in Russian.

Wasil Aprilov died in Galați on October 2, 1847, while returning from a trip from Bucharest to Odessa. A large part of his legacy went to Aprilow for the construction of the First Bulgarian Gymnasium - the Aprilow Gymnasium, which was also built in his hometown. He was initially buried in Galați, but after the completion of the Aprilow Gymnasium, he was buried in its courtyard. Today many schools and other educational institutions in many cities in Bulgaria bear his name. He has also been the namesake of Aprilov Point , a headland on Greenwich Island in Antarctica, since 2006 .

• See also: Bulgarian Rebirth

literature

• Jürgen Elvert: The Balkans: a European crisis region, past and present . Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-515-07016-8 , p. 52
• Marin Pundeff: Aprilov, Vasil Evstatiev . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 1. Munich 1974, p. 89 f.
• Claudia Weber: In Search of the Nation: Culture of Remembrance in Bulgaria from 1878-1944 . LIT Verlag, Berlin / Hamburg / Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-7736-1 , pp. 39–46

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Further information on Jurij Wenelin and his works
2. ↑ ^{a b} Weber, Claudia : In Search of the Nation: Culture of Remembrance in Bulgaria from 1878-1944

Web links

• Mihail Arnaudow on Wasil Aprilow (Bulgar.)
• Wasil Aprilow at www.bridica.com