Krste Misirkov

Krste Petkov Misirkov (Bulgarian Cyrillic: Кръсте/Кръстю/Кръстьо Петков Мисирков, Macedonian Cyrillic: Крсте Петков Мисирков) (born: 18 November 1874 in Postol (today Pella), Greek Macedonia - died, 26 July 1926 in Sofia, Bulgaria) was a philologist and publicist, mostly known for his work "On the Macedonian Matters". His writings are central to the issue of the existence, or not, of a "Macedonian nation" distinct from the Bulgarian nation. Historians from Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia claim that he expressed self-conflicting views in different points of his life. As a result, the ethnicity of Misirkov is a matter of dispute.

View in Bulgaria

At various points in his life Misirkov considered himself Bulgarian. In 1924 he wrote: "We [the Slavs of Macedonia] are more Bulgarians than those in Bulgaria". He advocated a Greater Bulgaria encompassing territories which belonged to Yugoslavia (today's Republic of Macedonia), and north eastern Greek Macedonia. In a separate publication in the Bulgarian newspaper "Mir" from 1919 he refers to the part of Macedonia occupied by Serbia as a "purely Bulgarian country", since the 6th century.

Krste Misirkov wrote in "On Macedonian Matters": "...We speak the Bulgarian language and we believed with Bulgarians is our strong power...The future of Macedonia is the spiritual union of the Bulgarians in Macedonia... The Macedonian Slavs are called Bulgarians...The biggest part of the population are called Bulgarians... All spoke that Macedonians are Bulgarians..."

He also wrote in an article in the "20th of July" newspaper in Sofia, 1919: "Whether we call ourselves Bulgarians or Macedonians, we have always maintained a separate, unified, and different nationality from the Serbs, and we have Bulgarian consciousness." "Who is against Great Bulgaria is against the Slavism. Bulgaria had been given the Cyrillic alphabet and Christianity to the Slavs, weapons against assimilation and tyranny..."

File:Misirkov-ZaMakedonskiteRaboti.jpg

Front cover of Za Makedonckite Raboti

Bulgarian history believes that his writings were significantly altered by the post-WWII Yugoslavian Communist regime to support the notion of a "Macedonian nation", distinct from the Bulgarian nation. They point to significant omissions from the officially published texts, and the addition of specific pro-Serbian statements not found in his original writings. Bulgarians also note that Misirkov was Bulgarian deputy in Bessarabia, choose Bulgarian citizenship, lived and died in Bulgaria and worked there for Greater Bulgaria until his death in 1926.

In his recently discovered 381 page diary, written in 1913 while he resided in Odessa, Misirkov identified as "Macedonian Bulgarian".^[1] Misirkov's diary was discovered in late 2006 in a Bulgarian antiquity shop. Its authenticity has been confirmed by Bulgarian and Macedonian experts. [2] [3] [4] His Bulgarian identity is shown too in the three last articles he wrote before his death: "Bulgarian school" - "Mir", XXXI,7457, 2 Mаy 1925 [5], "School and Socialism" - "Мir", XXXI,7476,26 May 1925 [6], "Church and school" - "Мir" XXXII,7541,13 August 1925[7]. Also he was buried with aid from the Government as Director of Bulgarian school.[8]

View in the Republic of Macedonia

According to historians in the Republic of Macedonia, Misirkov was the most prominent Macedonian publicist, philologist and linguist who allegedly set the principles of the Macedonian literary language in the late 19th century. In some of his writings he clearly identified the population of Macedonia as belonging to the Slavic populations, expressing the need for "we Slav peoples [...] to unite our own Macedonian Slav population".

In 1903, while in Sofia, he published the book Za Makedonckite Raboti (On Macedonian Matters) in which he laid down the principles of the modern Macedonian language. According to this book, the Macedonian language should be based on dialects around Veles. He also used those dialects in the book itself. Misirkov's principles played a crucial role in the future codification of the Macedonian language, right after World War II.

He seems to have returned to Macedonian positions towards the end of his life. His Slav Macedonian identity is clearly shown in one of his last articles before his death: "The awareness and the feeling that I am Macedonian should stand higher than everything else in the world. Macedonians should not let themselves been assimilated and to lose their individuality living among Bulgarians and Serbs. We can acknowledge the closeness of the Serb, Bulgarians and Macedonian interests, but we need to evaluate them from the Macedonian stand point of view. "K. Misirkov: The self-determination of Macedonians, “Mir”, 7427, 25. III 1925, 1.[9]

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