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Bozhidar Dimitrov

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Bozhidar Dimitrov

Bozhidar Dimitrov Stoyanov (Bulgarian: Божидар Димитров Стоянов,[1] born 3 December 1945) is a Bulgarian historian working in the sphere of Medieval Bulgarian history, the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria and the Macedonian Question. He is the director of the National Historical Museum, formerly a Bulgarian Socialist Party member, and currently a politician affiliated with the GERB political party.

Biography

He was Minister without portfolio responsible for Bulgarians abroad in the GERB government (July 2009 – February 2011).[1]

Born in Sozopol to a family of Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace (now part of Turkey), he was given access to the Vatican Secret Archives in the 1980s, regarded as a great achievement considered the political situation of the time. As the director of the National Historical Museum, he had an indirect conflict in 1997–1998 with the President Petar Stoyanov regarding whether to return the Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya rough copy to the Zograf Monastery or leave it in Bulgaria.

Being a member of the Supreme Party Council of BSP, he declared himself openly against the party in 2005 by not supporting BSP Mayor of Sofia candidate Tatyana Doncheva and instead favouring the independent Boyko Borisov. Because of this he was taken down from the post of BSP municipal councillors leader in Sofia. Before the 2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election, Dimitrov formally left BSP and joined Borisov's GERB. He was the party's proportional vote candidate for Burgas Province and won the election with 35.92% ahead of Volen Siderov.[2]

Dimitrov is the author of 30 treatises and over 250 articles and papers in the sphere of his research, as well as several books (including The Ten Lies of Macedonism and Twelve Myths in Bulgarian History). He has specialized in palaeography in Paris and also hosts the patriotic history-related Pamet Balgarska (Bulgarian Memory) show on Kanal 1.

Dimitrov believes that the Bulgars played a more important role in the formation of the contemporary Bulgarians as a people than previously believed.

Controversy

Dimitrov defends scientific positions that clash with the official Macedonian politics,therefore, some of Dimitrov’s works are controversial as they challenge the efforts of pro-Serbian nationalist involvement in the 'nation-building' processes in Macedonia. Political circles claim that Dimitrov's facts are based on "inconsistent historical interpretation" and can be challenged, but they are popular in Bulgaria and he enjoys an authority among Bulgarian intellectual and political circles.[3][4]. The topic of medieval, or even earlier Macedonian ethnicity with the attributes ascribed to it by modern Macedonian scholars is not viewed seriously by international research scientists. The emergent Macedonian ethnicity at the end of the 1940s as a product of Yugoslav state politics and Communist Internationalism is not identical with the ancient Macedonian people[5][6][7][8][9]. The theses of Bozhidar Dimitrov are that modern day pseudo-scholars, for political purposes, annex portions of Bulgarian medieval history, and persons of Bulgarian historical significance and proclaim them 'Macedonian,' as it is in the case of Tsar Samuil.[10] There are great number of destroyed artifacts and defaced monuments of the medieval Bulgarian culture on the territory of modern day Macedonia[11];such redactions of history have attempted to blot out the true origin of the artifacts, in order to be used as illustrations to unreal claims for independent medieval evolution of a Macedonian ethnicity. To-date no serious historian has challenged the statements made by Dimitrov, and there are number of publications to support each one of his scientific claims[12]. All arguments in defense of the medieval Macedonian history come from politically indoctrinated modern "research." Until 1944 there was no question of the historic identity of the ethnicity inhabiting modern-day Macedonia.[13]. The circles of the scholars supporting the stake in the "inconsistencies" in Dimitrov's theory have yet to produce explanation as to why all folklore texts, and documents associated with the everyday life of the people from the time of the Otoman occupation that lived in what is modern-day Macedonia, had to be translated from Bulgarian language to Macedonian, and there is no on-line publication sponsored by the Macedonian circles, neither in the original text, nor in the translated version; there are several publications of the original lyrics in more than one Bulgarian sites (without need for translation).[14][15].

The Ten Lies of Macedonism

Bozhidar Dimitrov's book, The Ten Lies of Macedonism (2000, 2003 and 2007), is a polemical statement, based on historical documents, and is openly against the ideology of "Macedonism", i.e. the form of ethnic Macedonian nationalism that asserts an allegedly "deep-rooted ethnic and cultural distinction" between ethnic Macedonians and Bulgarians. The book has caused considerable controversy and criticism from ethnic Macedonian sources. Dimitrov claims that it has reached best-seller status in the Republic of Macedonia.[16] The "10 lies" described by Dimitrov are:

First lie: the notion that contemporary ethnic Macedonians are descendants of ancient Macedonians.

Second lie: ethnic Macedonians are "pure Slavs" distinct from Bulgarians, who are "Tatars".

Third lie: medieval figures like Saints Cyril and Methodius were ethnic Macedonians.

Fourth lie: Samuel of Bulgaria was an ethnic Macedonian and the First Bulgarian Empire was a "Macedonian" state.

Fifth lie: the Archbishopric of Ohrid was a "Macedonian" church.

Sixth lie: the Bulgarian Exarchate conquered the ethnic Macedonian people.

Seventh lie: early 20th-century revolutionary movements such as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) worked for a "Macedonian" national goal.

Eighth lie: that Krste Misirkov is the number 1 ethnic Macedonian of the 20th century.

Ninth lie: the "heroic struggle of the Macedonian people against Bulgarian occupiers in 1941-1944".

Tenth lie: on the rejoicing of the Macedonian people for their second inclusion in Yugoslavia in 1944 and the 250,000 ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria. [17]

Publications

  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. The True History of Liberation 1860–1878. Sofia: Standart News Ltd., 2010. 183 pp. ISBN 978-954-92377-9-5 (First edition in 2006, ISBN 978-954-91652-5-8.) Template:Bg icon
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov, co-author. Bulgarian Policies on the Republic of Macedonia: Recommendations on the development of good neighbourly relations following Bulgaria’s accession to the EU and in the context of NATO and EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2008. 80 pp. ISBN 978-954-92032-2-6 (Trilingual publication in Bulgarian, Macedonian and English)
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. The Ten Lies of Macedonism. Sofia: Kom Foundation, 2007. 107 pp. ISBN 978-954-91652-9-6 (First edition in 2000 in Bulgarian, ISBN 978-954-90700-1-9.)
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. Macedonia – Holy Bulgarian Land: Who Are the Successors of Alexander the Great and Roxana? Sofia: Kom Foundation, 2007. 80 pp. ISBN 978-954-8745-06-2 Template:Bg icon
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. Seven Ancient Civilizations in Bulgaria: With Maps & Color Illustrations. Sofia: Kom Foundation, 2006. 112 pp. ISBN 978-954-9464-07-8
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. 12 Myths in Bulgarian History. Sofia, Kom Foundation, 2005. 148 pp. ISBN 978-954-91652-1-0 Template:Bg icon
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. Bulgarians: The First Europeans. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridsky University Press, 2002. 108 pp. ISBN 978-954-07-1758-6
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. Bulgaria and the Vatican. Sofia: Bulgarian Diplomatic Review, 2002. 56 pp. ISBN 978-954-91062-4-4
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. The Bulgars and Alexander of Macedon. Sofia: Tangra Publishers, 2001. 138 pp. ISBN 954-9942-29-5 Template:Bg icon
  • Bozhidar Dimitrov. Venetian Documents on Bulgarian History During the 16th and 17th Century. Sofia: Borina Ltd., 1994. ISBN 978-954-500-036-2 Template:Bg icon

References

  • Georgieva, Kapka (31 December 2002). "Bulgaria won't perish as long as there's even a single Bulgarian alive" (in Bulgarian). Pravoslavieto.com. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
  • Parvanova, Lyudmila (21 September 2003). "Bozhidar Dimitrov — A Bulgarian Reborn" (in Bulgarian). Standart News. Retrieved 2006-06-26.

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Biographies: Bojidar Dimitrov". Republic of Bulgaria Council of Ministers. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
  2. ^ "ГЕРБ печели в Бургас, Божидар Димитров — мажоритарен депутат" (in Bulgarian). Burgas News. 2009-07-06. Retrieved 2009-07-25. [dead link]
  3. ^ Modernity and tradition: European and national in Bulgaria, Marko Hajdinjak, Maya Kosseva, Antonina Zhelyazkova, International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations, Sofia, ISBN: 978-954-8872-70-6, 2012.
  4. ^ Europe and the Historical Legacies in the Balkans, Raymond Detrez, Barbara
  5. ^ Loring M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, 1995, Princeton University Press, p.65, ISBN 0-691-04356-6
  6. ^ Stephen Palmer, Robert King, Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian question,Hamden, Connecticut Archon Books, 1971, p.p.199-200
  7. ^ The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939–1949, Dimitris Livanios, edition: Oxford University Press, US, 2008, ISBN 0-19-923768-9, p. 65.
  8. ^ The struggle for Greece, 1941–1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-85065-492-1, p. 67.
  9. ^ Who are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton,Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1-85065-238-4, ISBN 978-1-85065-238-0, p. 101.
  10. ^ http://www.cc.ece.ntua.gr/~conster/English/PageData/samuel.htm
  11. ^ http://www.cc.ece.ntua.gr/~conster/English/PageData/samuel.htm
  12. ^ http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ex3t8hX_92I&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dex3t8hX_92I
  13. ^ http://www.promacedonia.org/poklon/i_dujchev.htm
  14. ^ http://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/miladinovci/content.htm
  15. ^ http://www.time.mk/cluster/393bd3e65a/plaketi-za-struskite-lauerati.html
  16. ^ Interview with Bozhidar Dimitrov Template:Bg icon
  17. ^ The Macedonian language version is also freely available online.

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