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Todor Aleksandrov

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In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Aleksandrov and the family name is Poporushov.
Voivode

Todor Aleksandrov
A portrait of Aleksandrov with an autograph and dedication to Peyo Yavorov (Sofia, 1912).
Native name
Тодор Александров Попорушов
Birth nameTodor Aleksandrov Poporushov
Born4 March 1881
Novo Selo, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died31 August 1924(1924-08-31) (aged 43)
Sugarevo, Tsardom of Bulgaria
Allegiance IMRO
 Tsardom of Bulgaria
Service / branch Bulgarian Army
UnitMacedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps
Battles / wars
Alma materBulgarian Pedagogical School of Skopje
Children2

Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov (Bulgarian/Macedonian: Тодор Александров Попорушов; 4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), anglicised as Todor Alexandrov, was a Macedonian Bulgarian[1][2][3] revolutionary, Bulgarian army officer, politician and teacher. He initially favoured the annexation of Macedonia to Bulgaria,[4] but later switched to the idea of an Independent Macedonia as a second Bulgarian state on the Balkans.[5] Aleksandrov was a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) and later part of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO), as well as its leader.

In North Macedonia, his persona is controversial, but there have been efforts to rehabilitate him. Though, this has caused political and public controversies. [6]

Life

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Aleksandrov in uniform of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan Wars.
Todor Aleksandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov as Bulgarian Army officers during the First World War.

Aleksandrov was born in Novo Selo, Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia), on 4 March 1881.[7][8][9] He was the second child and the only son of Aleksandar Poporushov and Maria Hadzhiyaneva. His father was a Bulgarian Exarchate teacher. He completed his secondary education in Štip.[10] In the 1890s, he studied at the Bulgarian Pedagogical School in Skopje.[10] He worked as a schoolteacher in Kočani, Štip, and Burgas. In 1903, he became a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation in Štip, being recruited by Hristo Matov.[9] Among his supporters, he came to be known as "Old Man" or "Uncle Todor". He was arrested by the Ottoman authorities on 3 March 1903 and sent to Skopje under police escort. He was sentenced to five years in prison. In April 1904, he was released after an amnesty.[9][10] He rose up to the rank of leader of the Skopje district in 1907.[8] Aleksandrov organised dynamite attacks against the Ottoman Empire in 1909.[9] In 1911, he became part of Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation's Central Committee.[8] He took part in the Balkan Wars as a military commander.[9] In this period, he favoured the annexation of Macedonia by Bulgaria.[7] During World War I, along with Aleksandar Protogerov, he took over the region of Štip.[11] When he was a Bulgarian military officer, he also participated in the violent suppression of the Toplica Uprising in 1917.[9] He had received the Order of Military Merit.[12]

After World War I, he proposed an autonomous Macedonia with Salonika as the capital.[7] In 1919, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) was restored, with him, Aleksandar Protogerov and Petar Chaulev being part of the Central Committee. However, Aleksandrov was recognised as the leader and many people called it "Aleksandrov's VMRO."[13] IMRO's left-wing distrusted him and questioned the authenticity of his autonomist agenda, seeing him as a proponent of the Bulgarian annexationist agenda.[2] Yugoslav authorities regarded him and Protogerov as war criminals.[14] Both him and Protogerov were arrested by the Bulgarian Agrarian authorities after they came to power in August 1919,[15] who charged them with war crimes, but they managed to escape with the help of Bulgarian officers on 13 November 1919.[15][16] Afterward, they established a stronghold of the IMRO in the Petrich district, which they ran like an independent state. Taxes were also imposed on the locals and funds were given by the Italian authorities, who were supporting them against Yugoslavia.[17] Before the 1920 Constitutional Assembly election in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia), he encouraged people in Vardar Macedonia to vote for communist candidates.[18] The Minister of Interior Aleksandar Dimitrov ordered the arrest of the IMRO leaders, but they went underground.[17] During Dimitrov's campaign against the IMRO, Aleksandrov ordered IMRO left-winger and Bulgarian Agrarian National Union ally Gyorche Petrov's assassination.[2][9] His bands made attacks into Vardar Macedonia, controlled by Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.[7] After IMRO's participation in the 9 June 1923 overthrow of Bulgarian prime minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski, his men led by Ivan Mihailov, tortured and murdered him.[15] In August, under his orders, IMRO revolutionary Yordan Tsitsonkov assassinated Bulgarian Agrarian politician Rayko Daskalov.[9] IMRO also participated in the suppression of the 1923 September uprising, organised by the Bulgarian Communist Party.[8]

He was not satisfied with the new Bulgarian government led by Aleksandar Tsankov and turned to Soviet Union's support. As Aleksandrov's envoy, Dimitar Vlahov negotiated with the Comintern.[9] In 1924, in Vienna, he signed the May Manifesto along with Protogerov and Chaulev, declaring IMRO's fight for an independent Macedonia in an alliance with the communists.[2] He had also made an agreement with the communists against an uprising, but they had violated it in September 1923.[15] Failing to secure Aleksandrov's cooperation, the Comintern decided to discredit him and published the contents of the Manifesto on 28 July 1924 in the "Balkan Federation" newspaper. Todor Aleksandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov promptly denied through the Bulgarian press that they have ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery.[13] The Democratic Alliance-led government also pressured him to revoke his signature on 1 August.[8] Shortly after, Aleksandrov was assassinated in unclear circumstances on 31 August 1924 in the Pirin Mountains.[9][19] He had a wife called Vangelia and two children, Aleksandar and Maria.[20] IMRO blamed a pro-communist faction for the assassination, but others blamed circles close to the Bulgarian throne.[15] The Bulgarian government blamed the left-wing for his assassination.[13]

Legacy

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The Macedonian historiography in the Yugoslav era regarded Aleksandrov as part of a group of "bulgarianised renegades of the Macedonian revolutionary and liberation movement".[21] The historiography then also considered his IMRO as fascist.[22] Aleksandrov also had negative reception in the People's Republic of Bulgaria due to his participation in the suppression of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1923, but he was partially rehabilitated in the 1980s.[23] After the independence of present-day North Macedonia, efforts were made by Macedonian politicians and historians to rehabilitate Aleksandrov.[24] Most Macedonian historians have regarded him as "the biggest traitor to the Macedonian cause" due to his pro-Bulgarian views for a long time, while other historians have called him out for his alleged involvement in many assassinations of other IMRO members and other political and military figures of the time. On the other hand, other historians have referred to him as "the soul and the brain of the Macedonian resistance" and as "Macedonia’s Robin Hood", attributing to him remarkable organisational skills and will.[25][26] VMRO-Union of Macedonian Associations also was inspired by his legacy.[23] A boulevard in Sofia, Bulgaria, was named after him in the 1990s.[27]

A local association of Bulgarians raised a monument of the revolutionary on 2 February 2008 in the city of Veles.[25][27] After the local administration refused to provide a place for the bust, it was raised in the yard of a local Bulgarian resident.[28] In the following night the resident received a number of threats and the monument was twice thrown down by unknown individuals.[29] Soon after, the monument was removed at the insistence of local authorities, as an unlawful construction. This incident caused Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov to call upon the Macedonian government to review the history of Aleksandrov's deeds on his meeting with Branko Crvenkovski in the town of Sandanski.[30] In June 2012, a new statue called "Macedonian Equestrian Revolutionary" was erected in Skopje. As a consequence, an outcry among older residents erupted almost immediately when they noted the anonymous rider's similarity to the historical figure.[25][26] Earlier the same month the opposition Social Democrats took to the streets to protest the changing of hundreds of street names, including a bridge that was to be named after Aleksandrov.[31] In October, a few months after the setting of the monument, a board appeared on it with the name of Todor Aleksandrov.[32]

In March 2021, the new Skopje municipal council majority by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia decided to rename the names of many local sites. Thus, the bridge named after Aleksandrov and the street named after the organisation he led - IMRO, were renamed.[33] The former Skopje Mayor from VMRO-DPMNE Koce Trajanovski reacted that his successor Petre Šilegov has deleted part from the Macedonian history at the request of Bulgaria.[34] A monument of Aleksandrov was erected in his birthplace of Novo Selo, Štip, in August 2024.[35] He had been honoured by VMRO-DPMNE governments between 2006 and 2017.[9] Aleksandrov Peak on Graham Land, Antarctica, is named after Todor Aleksandrov.

Memorials

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  • Monument of Aleksandrov in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.
    Monument of Aleksandrov in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.
  • Monument of Aleksandrov in Burgas, Bulgaria.
    Monument of Aleksandrov in Burgas, Bulgaria.
  • Monument of Aleksandrov in Veles, Macedonia, demounted in 2008.
    Monument of Aleksandrov in Veles, Macedonia, demounted in 2008.
  • Bust of Todor Aleksandrov in Sofia, Bulgaria.
    Bust of Todor Aleksandrov in Sofia, Bulgaria.

See also

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References and notes

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  1. ^ "Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) | History, Leaders, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Ivo Banac (2015). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Cornell University Press. pp. 321–325. ISBN 9781501701931.
  3. ^ Rumen Daskalov; Tchavdar Marinov, eds. (2013). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. Brill. pp. 308, 485. ISBN 9789004250765.
  4. ^ Dmitar Tasić (2020). Paramilitarism in the Balkans Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917-1924. OUP Oxford. p. 165. ISBN 9780191899218.
  5. ^ James Pettifer, ed. (1999). The New Macedonian Question. Springer. p. 68. ISBN 0230535798.
  6. ^ In 2021, the name of the Todor Alexandrov Bridge in Skopje, which was given to it in 2012 and provoked protests then, was changed back again. For more see: Зоре Нацева, Град Скопје ги врaќа старите имиња на Ленинова, Железничка, Мексичка, 4 Јули и други. Инфомах, March 25, 2021. Archived November 7, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b c d Wojciech Roszkowski; Jan Kofman, eds. (2008). Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 14–15, 883. ISBN 9780765610270.
  8. ^ a b c d e Raymond Detrez (2010). The A to Z of Bulgaria. Scarecrow Press. pp. xxix, 10–11. ISBN 9780810872028.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dimitar Bechev (2019). Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. xxix–xxx, 37–38, 70, 192. ISBN 9781538119624.
  10. ^ a b c Дечо Добринов. Последният цар на планините (Очерк за Тодор Александров) (in Bulgarian). Macedonian Scientific Institute. pp. 11, 13, 17.
  11. ^ Milovan Pissari (2013). "Bulgarian Crimes against Civilians in Occupied Serbia during the First World War" (PDF). Balcanica (44). Institute for Balkan Studies: 373. doi:10.2298/BALC1344357P.
  12. ^ Македоно-одринското опълчение 1912-1913 г. : Личен състав по документи на Дирекция "Централен военен архив" (in Bulgarian). Главно управление на архивите. 2006. p. 16. ISBN 954-9800-52-0.
  13. ^ a b c Andrew Rossos (2013). Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. Hoover Institution Press. pp. 149, 156, 159. ISBN 9780817948832.
  14. ^ John Horne; Robert Gerwarth, eds. (2012). War in Peace Paramilitary Violence in Europe After the Great War. OUP Oxford. p. 150. ISBN 9780199654918.
  15. ^ a b c d e Hugh Poulton (2000). Who are the Macedonians?. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 80, 82–83. ISBN 9781850655343.
  16. ^ John Paul Newman (2015). Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War: Veterans and the Limits of State Building, 1903-1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 95. ISBN 9781107070769.
  17. ^ a b John D. Bell (2019). Peasants in Power Alexander Stamboliski and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, 1899-1923. Princeton University Press. pp. 199–200. ISBN 9780691656861.
  18. ^ Diana Mishkova; Roumen Daskalov, eds. (2013). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Two: Transfers of Political Ideologies and Institutions. Brill. p. 528. ISBN 9789004261914.
  19. ^ John Neubauer; Marcel Cornis-Pope, eds. (2004). History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries - Volume 2. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 359. ISBN 9789027234537.
  20. ^ Цочо Василев Билярски (1991). Живот легенда (in Bulgarian). Унив. изд-во "Св. Климент Охридски".
  21. ^ Boeckh, Katrin; Rutar, Sabine, eds. (2017). The Balkan Wars from Contemporary Perception to Historic Memory. Springer International Publishing. p. 301. ISBN 9783319446424.
  22. ^ Spyridon Sfetas (2021). "Directions of the Recent Historiography of Skopje". Macedonian Studies Journal. 2 (1): 104.
  23. ^ a b John R. Lampe; Mark Mazower, eds. (2004). Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-Century Southeastern Europe. Central European University Press. pp. 115, 119. ISBN 9789639241824.
  24. ^ Cvete Koneska (2016). After Ethnic Conflict: Policy-making in Post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. Taylor & Francis. p. 67. ISBN 9781317183976.
  25. ^ a b c "Nameless Statue Causes Stir in Macedonia". Balkan Insight (BIRN). 28 June 2012.
  26. ^ a b "New Statue Awakens Past Quarrels in Macedonia". Balkan Insight (BIRN). 13 July 2012.
  27. ^ a b Tchavdar Marinov (May 2010). "Historiographical Revisionism and Re-Articulation of Memory in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (PDF). Sociétés politiques comparées: 3. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011.
  28. ^ Paul Reef (2018). "Macedonian Monument Culture Beyond 'Skopje 2014'". Comparative Southeast European Studies. 66 (4): 472–473. doi:10.1515/soeu-2018-0037.
  29. ^ "ВМРО откри паметник на Тодор Александров в Македония" (in Bulgarian). news.ibox.bg. 2 March 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  30. ^ "Македония и България са с обща история, обяви Първанов" (in Bulgarian). news.ibox.bg. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  31. ^ Martin Laine, Hero or villain? "New Skopje statue sparks controversy", Digital Journal, 29 June 2012. [dead link‍]
  32. ^ ""Војводата на коњ" и официјално Тодор Александров". Утрински вестик (in Macedonian). 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  33. ^ "Советот на град Скопје ја усвои одлуката за промена на имињата на улиците, опозицијата најавува судска разврска". Meta.mk (in Macedonian). 31 March 2021.
  34. ^ "Коце Трајановски: Шилегов го брише Тодор Александров на барање на Бугарија". Faktor.mk (in Macedonian). 26 March 2021.
  35. ^ "Тодор Александров доби споменик во родното штипско Ново Село, на 100 годишнината од неговата смрт" (in Macedonian). Telma. 31 August 2024.
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