Page 404 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

404 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Bulgarian Central Campaign Committee in Skopje 1941

DIMITRE MINCHEV

ladies and Gentlemen, dear colleagues,
First of all I want to present before you the warm regards of the Bulgarian military histo-
rians to the participants of that Congress, and mainly to our hosts - the Italian Commission
of Military History.
Now, when talking in my paper about Skopje (Vardar Macedonia), which currently is
called “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, I want to make it clear, that a matter of
discussion will be the Bulgarian population in this district. Usually they were and are called,
even in Bulgaria “Macedonians”, but we are well aware, that they have nothing to do with
the ancient Hellenic population of Macedonia, and that they are Bulgarians, born and living
in Vardar Macedonia.
The Bulgarian population in Vardar Macedonia accepted with satisfaction the defeat of
Versailles Yugoslavia in 1941, by the German army. In the demolition of Yugoslavia they
saluted the end of their 23-year long Serbian occupation. No wonder then, that the Bulgar-
ians from Vardar Macedonia, mobilized in the Yugoslav army, refused to fight, laid down
arms, and surrendered to the Germans, seeing in them liberators. the situation was similar to
the WWI, when Bulgarians from Macedonia, mobilized in the Serbian army surrendered en
masse to the Austro-Hungarian army.
The hostilities against Yugoslavia began on April 6, 1941, but the lack of Bulgarian troops,
and of official Bulgarian powers caused certain political vacuum, in which the so called
Central Campaign Committee (CCC) arose. The idea for creating such a committee arose in
conversations among some representatives of the former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization (united). These were the historical figures Pavel Shatev (the only one alive at
that time from the Salonika outrages), Alexo Martulkov, Hristo Ampov, Stephan Stephanov
and Vassil Hadjikimov.
In the course of the talks it became clear, that the problem of organizing the Bulgarian
population in Vardar Macedonia could be solved by two active figures - Stephan Yanakiev
Stephanov and Vassil Hristov Hadjikimov. They had both suffered, and would suffer again
for the liberation of their native territories. Like many other Bulgarians from Vardar Mace-
donia, they would be imprisoned after the war by Tito’s authorities. Hadjikimov stayed in
prison for more than 11 years. Stephan Stephanov perished in an attempt to escape from
prison. According to them the political goals could be achieved only by following two basic
missions: destroying the Serbian authorities in Vardar Macedonia, and uniting the Bulgarians
in an organization.
The arrival of Stephanov and Hadjikimov in Skopje appeared to be just the spark, which
enflamed the hearts of the people for patriotic activities. On April 13, 1941 a session was
held. According to the N1 minutes, a “Central Committee of the Macedonian Bulgarian
Committees” (CCMBC) was founded. Its official name was: Bulgarian Central Campaign
Committee for Macedonia (BCCCM). The Committees that would be formed in the different