Yane Sandanski

Yane Sandanski
Macedonian revolutionary
Born	May 18, 1872 Vlahi, Ottoman Empire, present-day Bulgaria
Died	April 22, 1915 Popovi livadi location, Bulgaria

Yane Ivanov Sandanski or Jane Ivanov Sandanski (May 18, 1872, Vlahi, Ottoman Empire - April 22, 1915 near Melnik, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian revolutionary, one of the leaders of the BMRC since 1895 (SMARO from 1902 and IMARO from 1906) in the Serres region and head of the extreme leftist wing of the organization. Sandanski was born in the village of Vlahi near Kresna (present-day Bulgaria) on May 28, 1872. His father Ivan participated as a flag carrier in the well known Kresna Uprising. After the crush of the uprising, in 1879 his family moved to Dupnitsa, Bulgaria, where Sandanski received his elementary education. Until 1895 Sandanski was a Bulgarian state employee.

Yane Sandanski was a prominent revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Movement in Macedonia and Thrace. Since the start of his revolutionary activity, he became well known because he protected the villagers from the tyranny of the Ottomans. He organised courts and taught self-defence. Sandanski lived and fought in the Pirin region, and that is why the people gave him the name "Pirin Tsar" (Pirinski Tsar). He was also active in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, and in 1908 when he supported the movement of Young Turks. He was one of the leaders of the one of the left political parties in Macedonia in 1909–1910 - People Federative Party (Bulgarian section) which headquarter was in Solun. His dream was creating a Balkan Federative Republic according to the plans of the Balkan Socialist Federation and Macedonia as a part ot that Federation.

With the fall of the Ottoman Empire Macedonia was partitioned between Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. Sandanski supported the Bulgarian army in the Balkan wars of 1912–1913. Sandanski was killed near the Rozhen Monastery on April 22, 1915, while travelling from Melnik to Nevrokop, by local IMARO band from Nevrokop's region. Yane Sandanski is mentioned in the National Anthem of the Republic of Macedonia as one of the greatest Macedonian heroes whose idea was creating independent Macedonian State. He is paid tribute to every year by the members of UMO Ilinden-Pirin, an ethnic Macedonian political party in Bulgaria, in the Rozhen Monastery.

Sandanski is considered an ethnic Macedonian by a minority of historians in the Republic of Macedonia.

Quotes

• "The Macedonian revolutionaries, who after a long and ruthless struggle with the Turkish tyranny lived to see their dream — winning their Fatherland's liberty, cannot permit its falling under Serbian and Greek dominance. They will not refrain even from the most formidable terrorist means in order to achieve their most cherished dream — Free Bulgarian Macedonia!" (interview for Italian newspaper Seculo, Tirana, 1912)[1]

From an interview with the Serbian writer Branislav Nusic:

• B.N.:"...So, you are not allowed to enter Bulgaria?"

Y.S.: "I dare not go to Bulgaria, but I don't need it. Here is my Bulgaria" (speaking about Macedonia) (Политика, 21, VII 1908, Београд)[2]

External links

• Mercia MacDermott. For Freedom and Perfection. The Life of Yane Sandansky
• Memoirs of Yane Sandanski (original edition in Bulgarian in the form of text)
• Memoirs of Yane Sandanski (original edition in Bulgarian in the form of .jpg photocopies)
• Memoirs of Yane Sandanski (translated into contemporary Macedonian)

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