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Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour

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Statute of the Court, published in the Nova Makedonija newspaper, No. 28, from 3 January, 1945.

Decision for creation of a court for trial of crimes committed against the Macedonian national honor

Art.1 A special court is created for the trial of the offenders against the Macedonian national honor, who on the territory of Macedonia will try every person who during the occupation, committed a crime against the Macedonian national honor.

Art.2 This court will try those crimes committed against the national honor, which can not be qualified as a betrayal, or as an aid to the occupier in committing war crimes.

Art.3 The court for trial of the offenders against the Macedonian national honor sentenced to deprivation of national honor, which includes deprivation of civil honor; light or heavy forced labor and confiscation of property. Deprivation of national honor can be temporary or lifelong, and forced labor can last up to 10 years.

Art.4. In case it is determined after the interrogation that a crime has been committed for which a death sentence has been committed, the court for committing the crimes against the Macedonian national honor will declare itself incompetent, and will send the case to the competent court.

Art.5. The anti-fascist assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM), ie. The Presidium will issue the necessary legal decisions in which the court will try the trial of the crime against the Macedonian national honor, the order of the court and the procedure.

Art.6. The court for trial of the offenders against the Macedonian national honor is elected by the Presidium of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia, and consists of 30 members who judge in a composition of 3 members.

Art.7. The Presidium of ASNOM appoints a public prosecutor in the courts of national honor.

Art.8. This decision enters into force on the day of its publication.

The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was a statute passed by the government of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (SR Macedonia) at the end of 1944. The Presidium of Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) established a special court for the implementation of this law, which came into effect in 1945.[1][2][3][4] This decision was taken at the second session of this assembly on 28–31 December 1944.[5]

The tribunal was to judge "the collaborators of the occupiers who have put down the Macedonian national name and the Macedonian national honour", as part of an attempt to differentiate an ethnic and political Macedonian identity separate from neighboring Bulgaria and the historical Ottoman Empire Bulgarian community, of which both had been part.[6][7] Although it was little used after 1950, the Law remained in effect until 1991 and the independence of the present North Macedonia from the former Yugoslavia.

During the World War II, Bulgaria dictate a regime and the entire population of the occupied Macedonia was declared as Bulgarian, and was strictly forbidden to declare any Macedonian nationality. Contrary to international legal norms, Bulgaria actually annexed the occupied territory of Macedonia.[8] In Macedonia, as a part of Communist Yugoslavia, to proclaim Bulgarian identity was allowed only in the Strumica region.[9] The area is part from the so called Western Outlands,[10] that were part a part of Bulgaria till 1919.[11]

Number and percentage of the Bulgarian ethnic minority in Macedonia from 1948-2002[12][13][14]
Ethnic

group

census 1948 census 1953 census 1961 census 1971 census 1981 census 1991 census 1994 census 2002
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Bulgarians 889 0.1 920 0.1 3,087 0.2 3,334 0.2 1,984 0.1 1,370 0.1 1,682 0.1 1,417 0.1

History

Purpose

The purpose of the law was to distinguish the new Macedonian nation from Bulgaria, as differentiation from Bulgarians was seen as a confirmation that Macedonians were a separate ethnic community. In Yugoslav Macedonia it was forbidden for the locals to proclaim Bulgarian identity, and the use of the standard Bulgarian language was prohibited. [15] Only migrants from the so-called Western Outlands were allowed to declare themselves to be Bulgarians.[16]

Implementation and Function

On November 20, 1946, the official communist newspaper Nova Makedonija published the newly adopted Law on the Trial of Crimes against Macedonian National Honour.[17] The law provided for a number of sanctions: deprivation of civil rights, imprisonment with forced labour, confiscation of property, and in cases where it was deemed that the accused might be sentenced to death, it was envisaged that they would be handed over to a "competent court". [18]

Impact

The act allowed the sentencing of Yugoslav citizens from SR Macedonia for WWII collaboration with the Bulgarian authorities which had occupied the Macedonian territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as one of the Axis powers, for pro-Bulgarian sympathies, and for opposing the new Macedonian nation-building process.[19][20] This was seen as contesting Macedonia's status as part of the newly communist Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and as fighting for the conception of an Independent Macedonia envisioned by the IMRO.[21][22] Around 100,000 pro-Bulgarians were imprisoned for violations of the Law, and over 1,260 were killed in early 1945.[23][24] These were highly publicized show-trials, rather than being committed to justice.[25] While occasional trials continued throughout the period the law was in force, the bulk of them took place in the late 1940s.[26] The law influenced new generations to grow up with strong anti-Bulgarian sentiments,[27][28] which increased to the level of state policy.[29] Some victims were activists who tried to realize in different ways the idea of an Independent Macedonia, potentially influenced by Bulgarophile leanings. These included Metodija Andonov,[30] Spiro Kitinchev, Dimitar Gyuzelov and Dimitar Chkatrov.[31][32]

Modern Period

This law was repealed only in 1991,[33][34][35] though an anti-Bulgarian policy has continued in the new Republic of Macedonia, albeit with less intensity. Over time, a Bulgarian component to the ethnic identity of the Slavic-speaking population in Vardar Macedonia has nearly disappeared.[36][37] According to Bulgarian MEP Andrey Kovachev, being a Bulgarian in North Macedonia is a blow to the heart of the concept of a Macedonian nation. Per him, there is still silence about a number of anti-Bulgarian historical events, including this law.[38]

According to the Bulgarian historian Stefan Dechev these acussations by the Bulgarian historiography have no scientific and real basis, to claim that dozens were killed, that 23,000 Bulgarians were killed in the Ohrid region only, and another 150,000 Bulgarians imprisoned in Macedonian prisons. He characterizes all this as fantasies, which do not deserve any comment.[39]

See also

References

  1. ^ Kostov, Chris (2010). Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996. Peter Lang. p. 84-85. ISBN 9783034301961. Furthermore, between April and August of 1945, the Court for the Defence of the Macedonian National Honour was set up by Yugoslav authorities, and its targets were Macedono-Bulgarian intellectuals who openly expressed their Bulgarian identity. Writers, lawyers, journalists, doctors, teachers, priests and other prominent people received death sentences or prison terms. Mayors and other administrators during the Bulgarian regime were sentenced to death. 1,260 prominent Macedono-Bulgarians were killed by these farce processes. In 1946, Dimitar Gyuzelev, Yordan Chkartov and Dimitar Chkartov were sentenced to death, whereas seventy-four other Macedono-Bulgarian nationalists led by Angel Dimov were sentenced to jail for plotting to join Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria.
  2. ^ Stojčev, Vanče (1996). Bugarskiot okupaciski sistem vo Makedonija, 1941-1944 [Bulgarian occupation system in Macedonia, 1941-1944] (in Slovenian). Grigor Prličev. ISBN 9789989661310. Подоцна, Президиумот на АСНОМ формирал и Суд за судење на злосторствата против честа на македонскиот народ и за казнување лица што ја извалкале македонската национална чест за време на окупацијата. [Later, the Presidium of ASNOM established a Court to try crimes against the honor of the Macedonian people and to punish persons who tarnished the Macedonian national honor during the occupation.]
  3. ^ Битовски, Крсте; Панов, Бранко (2003). Историја на македонскиот народ, Том 3 [History of the Macedonian people, Volume 3] (in Slovenian). Institute of National History. ISBN 9989624763. Президиумот на АСНОМ со посебно решение формирал Суд за судење на престапите против македонската национална чест. [The Presidium of ASNOM with a special decision established the Court for trial of the offenses against the Macedonian national honor.]
  4. ^ Makedonski arhivist, Volumes 11-12 [Macedonian Archivist, Volumes 11-12] (in Slovenian). Društvo na arhivskite rabotnici i arhivite vo SR Makedonija. 1981. Судот за судење по престапите против македонската национална чест е формиран со решение на Президиумот на Народното собрание на Македонија (ACHOM). [The Court for Trial of Offenses against the Macedonian National Honor was established by a decision of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Macedonia (ACHOM).]
  5. ^ Гласник на Институтот за национална историја, Volume 19 [Bulletin of the Institute of National History , Volume 19] (in Slovenian). Institute of National History. 1975. p. 59. На 30 декември 1944 година со решение на Президиумот на АСНОМ се создава суд за судење на престапи извршени против македонската национална чест. [On December 30, 1944, with a decision of the Presidium of ASNOM, a court was created to try crimes committed against the Macedonian national honor.]
  6. ^ Кочанковски, Јован,Битола и Битолско во Народноослободителната и антифашистичка воjна на Македонија (1941–1945), том 2: 1944–1945 [Kochankovski, Jovan, Bitola and Bitola region in the National Liberation and anti-fascist war of Macedonia (1941–1945), Volume 2: 1944–1945]. p. 427.
  7. ^ To make sure that not only those sympathizers of the Bulgarian orientation who had committed war crimes could be held responsible, the new crime of "violation of the Macedonian national honour " was introduced and a special court set up. According to a Macedonian historian: "this court... put on trial those violations of national honour which cannot be qualified as treason, or as support of the occupier in his war crimes." For more see: Stefan Troebst, Das makedonische Jahrhundert: von den Anfängen der nationalrevolutionären Bewegung zum Abkommen von Ohrid 1893-2001; ausgewählte Aufsätze; (2007) Oldenbourg, p. 255, ISBN 3486580507.
  8. ^ Florian Bieber, Wolfgang Hoepken and rest (2017). Jugoslavija u istorijskoj perspektivi. Belgrade: Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji. p. 154. ISBN 978-86-7208-207-4.
  9. ^ However, in Macedonia today there remain those who identify themselves as Bulgarians. Hostility to them remains, even if less than in Communist Yugoslavia, where it was forbidden to proclaim Bulgarian identity with the partial exception of the Strumica region. For more see: Dejan Djokić, Yugoslavism. Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992 C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, ISBN 1850656630, p. 122.
  10. ^ “Western outlands“ (“Западните покрайнини” in Bulgarian) is a term used in Bulgaria for the municipalities of Dimitrovgrad and Bosilegrad in Serbia, and Strumica in Macedonia - awarded to Serbia, i.e. to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, after World War I. For more see: Nikolai Petrović et al., Bulgarians in Serbia and Serbian-Bulgarian Relations in the Light of Serbia’s European Integration. Policy Study. Belgrade, ISAC Fund, 2013. p. 6.
  11. ^ Dimitar Bechev (1919) Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia, Edition 2; Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 1538119625, p. 235.
  12. ^ Kostovska, Lidija (2016). Statistical yearbook of the Republic of Macedonia (PDF). Skopje: State Statistical office of the Republic of Macedonia - Skopje. p. 64.
  13. ^ For more detailed census results, pelase see: Demographics of North Macedonia#Ethnic groups
  14. ^ Barnett R. Rubin, Victor A. Friedman (1996). Toward comprehensive peace in Southeast Europe. Observing the Observers. New York: The twentieth century fund. p. 90.
  15. ^ In the interwar period, Serbian was imposed as the official Macedonian language and the use of Bulgarian was forbidden. The Macedonian partisans established a commission to create an “official” Macedonian literary language (1945), which became the Macedonian Slavs' legal “first” language, with Serbo-Croatian a recognized “second” and Bulgarian proscribed. For more see: D. Hupchick, The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, (2002) Springer, p. 430, ISBN 0312299133.
  16. ^ Георги Фотев, Другият етнос (1994) Акад. изд-во "Марин Дринов", БАН, София, ISBN 9544303197, стр. 130.
  17. ^ За да се узакони извънсъдебната разправа, на 20 ноември 1946 г. комунистическият официоз „ Нова Македония “ публикува приетия Закон за съдене на престъпленията против македонската национална чест. For more see: Велизар Енчев, Югославската идея: исторически, политически и международни аспекти на доктрината за национално освобождение и държавно обединение на южните славян, изд-во Захарий Стоянов, 2009, ISBN 9540902673, стр. 325.
  18. ^ Стефан Карастоянов, Балканите - политикогеографски анализи (2002) География и геополитика, Унив. изд. "Св. Кл. Охридски", ISBN 954-07-1678-0, стр. 124.
  19. ^ Moulakis A (December 24, 2010). "The Controversial Ethnogenesis of Macedonia". European Political Science. 9 (4): 495–510. doi:10.1057/eps.2010.72. S2CID 147272841. Retrieved December 20, 2020. Residual Bulgarian sympathizers were persecuted under the 'law for the protection of Macedonian national honor.
  20. ^ Wieland C (2000–2001). "One Macedonia With Three Faces: Domestic Debates and Nation Concepts" (PDF). InterMarium. 4 (1). Columbia University Press. Retrieved December 20, 2020. Since the foundation of the Yugoslav republic this construction was conducted in haste and hurry: "National language, national literature, national history and national church were not available in 1944, but they were accomplished in a short time. The south-east-Slavic regional idiom of the area of Prilep-Veles was codified as the script, normed orthographically by means of the Cyrillic Alphabet, and taken over immediately by the newly created media." And the people have been patching up the national history ever since. Thus, they are forming more of an "ethnic" than a political concept of nation.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  21. ^ Roudometof, Victor (2002). Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 104. ISBN 9780275976484. Additionally, some 100,000 people were imprisoned in the post-1944 period for violations of the law for the "protection of Macedonian national honor," and some 1,260 Bulgarian sympathizers were allegedly killed.
  22. ^ The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was passed in 1945. The act allowed the sentencing of citizens for collaboration, pro-Bulgarian sympathies, and contesting Macedonia’s status within Yugoslavia. The latter charge was used to sentence Metodij Andonov-Čento who opposed the authorities’ decision to join the federation without reserving the right to a secession and criticised it for not putting enough emphasis on Macedonian culture. For more see: Communist dictatorship in Macedonia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1992). Communist crimes. Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
  23. ^ Bulgarian sources assert that thousands lost their lives due to this cause after 1944 , and that more than 100 , 000 people were imprisoned under the law for the protection of Macedonian national honour 'for opposing the new ethnogenesis'. 1,260 leading Bulgarians were allegedly killed in Skopje, Veles, Kumanovo, Prilep, Bitola and Stip... For more see: Hugh Poulton, Who are the Macedonians? C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1850655340, p. 118.
  24. ^ John Phillips, Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. (2004) I.B. Tauris (publisher), ISBN 186064841X, p. 40.
  25. ^ To make the population understand better that the Vardar river was now flowing against Bulgaria, show trials were also used: courts were established in early 1945, to try offences against ‘Macedonian national honour’. During these highly publicized trials, with Lazar Mojsov acting as the public prosecutor, many real (or imaginary) collaborators and pro-Bulgarians were sentenced to death for having betrayed their motherland. These parodies of justice, however, caused very soon a considerable amount of dissatisfaction in Macedonia. In August 1945,Pavel ˇSatev, then minister of justice, confided to a British official that the courts had to be dissolved; he also felt obliged to acknowledge that the main problem was the lack of ‘properly trained jurists’. For more see: Dimitris Livanios, The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, OUP Oxford, 2008, ISBN 0191528722, p. 202.
  26. ^ Bulgarian sources assert that thousands have lost their lives since 1944, with over 100,000 being imprisoned under 'the law for the protection of Macedonian national honour' for opposing the new ethnogenesis. However, while occasional trial continued throughout the life of Communist Yugoslavia, the vast bulk took place in the late 1940s. For more see: Dejan Djokić, Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, ISBN 1850656630, p. 122.
  27. ^ Yugoslav Communists recognized the existence of a Macedonian nationality during WWII to quiet fears of the Macedonian population that a communist Yugoslavia would continue to follow the former Yugoslav policy of forced Serbianization. Hence, for them to recognize the inhabitants of Macedonia as Bulgarians would be tantamount to admitting that they should be part of the Bulgarian state. For that the Yugoslav Communists were most anxious to mold Macedonian history to fit their conception of Macedonian consciousness. The treatment of Macedonian history in Communist Yugoslavia had the same primary goal as the creation of the Macedonian language: to de-Bulgarize the Macedonian Slavs, and to create an national consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. For more see: Stephen E. Palmer, Robert R. King, Yugoslav communism and the Macedonian question, Archon Books, 1971, ISBN 0208008217, Chapter 9: The encouragement of Macedonian culture.
  28. ^ The Serbianization of the Vardar region ended and Yugoslavization was not introduced either; rather, a policy of cultural, linguistic, and “historical” Macedonization by de-Bulgarianization was implemented, with immediate success. For more see: Irina Livezeanu and Arpad von KlimoThe Routledge as ed. History of East Central Europe since 1700, Routledge, 2017, ISBN 1351863428, p. 490.
  29. ^ In Macedonia, post-WWII generations grew up "overdosed" with strong anti-Bulgarian sentiment, leading to the creation of mainly negative stereotypes for Bulgaria and its nation. The anti-Bulgariansim (or Bulgarophobia) increased almost to the level of state ideology during the ideological monopoly of the League of Communists of Macedonia, and still continues to do so today, although with less ferocity... However, it is more important to say openly that a great deal of these anti-Bulgarian sentiments result from the need to distinguish between the Bulgarian and the Macedonian nations. Macedonia could confirm itself as a state with its own past, present and future only through differentiating itself from Bulgaria. For more see: Mirjana Maleska. With the eyes of the "other" (about Macedonian-Bulgarian relations and the Macedonian national identity). In New Balkan Politics, Issue 6, pp. 9–11. Peace and Democracy Center: "Ian Collins", Skopje, Macedonia, 2003. ISSN 1409-9454.
  30. ^ "Macedonia, FYR (Yugoslavia)". Macedonia, FYR (Yugoslavia) | Communist Crimes. Retrieved 2021-01-10. The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was passed in 1945. The act allowed the sentencing of citizens for collaboration, pro-Bulgarian sympathies, and contesting Macedonia's status within Yugoslavia. The latter charge was used to sentence Metodij Andonov-Čento who opposed the authorities' decision to join the federation without reserving the right to a secession and criticised it for not putting enough emphasis on Macedonian culture. For more see: Communist dictatorship in Macedonia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1992).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ Together with the mass murders without trial and sentences in the end of 1944 and all throughout 1945, the communist authorities organize legal processes against the leading Bulgarian intelligentsia. Among the first accused are: D. Gyuselev, doctor of philosophy from Doiran; eng. D. Tchkatrov from Prilep; eng. Spiro Kitintchev fom Scopje; Dr. Robev from Bitola ... and thousands of their coactivists and followers from the whole Vardar Macedonia... Now, to the "Macedonian court" people are brought under the "Law for the Macedonian honour". Every one who considers himself Bulgarian or thinks that the history, language and the nationality of the Slavonic population in Macedonia are Bulgarian, automatically is attacked by the strict prosecution paragraphs of this anti-Bulgarian law with the accusation that he works against "the people and the state", that he is enemy of "new Yugoslavia", of the brotherhood and unity of the "Yugoslav people" and so on For more see: Гоцев, Димитър, Новата национално-освободителна борба във Вардарска Македония 1944-1991 г., София, Македонски научен институт, 1998, p. 37.
  32. ^ За да се даде някаква законна форма на жестокото гонение на българщината, бе измислен един странен Закон за съдене на престъпленията против македонската национална чест. Неговата цел бе: да накаже всички проявени българи, като ги обхване с формулата "за... по всевъзможни начини на соработуванье со окупаторот...", та по тоя начин "го извалкаа македонското национално име и македонската чест". Изразът "по всевъзможни начини на сътрудничество с окупатора" обхваща всяка проява на българско съзнание като например: а) неописуема радост при пристигането и посрещането на българските войски през май 1941 г. в Македония; б) устройване на народностни тържества по случай годишнини на заслужили за българската кауза дейци – възрожденци, революционери и др.; в) изнасяне на беседи за важни исторически събития за българския народ изобщо или за местните българи изгонване на гръцките владици, изграждане на черкви и училища и пр.; г) чествуване на заслужили живи дейци и т.н. С други думи – всичко, което обхваща проявите на национален живот на българщината в Македония. Това става още по-ясно, като се има предвид член 2 от закона, който подчертава, че по този закон ще бъдат съдени лица, чиито дела "не могат да бъдат квалифицирани като предателстно или като помагане на окупатора при вършенето на военни злодеяния". Тогава кои са тия дела на сътрудничество с "окупатора"? Само националните. За такива дела се осъждат хората до 10 години затвор, принудителна работа и конфискация на имотите. 26. Съдебни процеси срещу проявени местни дейци на българщината. Б) Първите процеси срещу най-изтъкнатите национални дейци. В глава 22 обстойно разгледахме дейността на националните сили срещу македонизма през Втората световна война. Там пролича голямото родолюбие на тия сили, начело на които стояха споменатите многократно дейци д-р Димитър Гюзелов, доктор по философия от Дойран, Димитър Чкатров от Прилеп, инженер, и видният скопски общественик и икономист Спиро Китинчев от Скопйе, женевски възпитаник. На 28 май започна и трая до 2 юни 1945 г. съдебен процес срещу тримата патриоти и техните съратници под шаблонното обвинение "соработници на окупаторот". Тъй като в гл. 19 и 22 подробно се запознахме с тяхната дейност през сюблимните дни на разгрома на кралска Югославия и през следвашите три и половина години на българското управление в Македония, тук ще отбележим само, че за цялото си народностно дело получиха смъртни присъди. И не само те. За да се получи по-пълна представа за тях като български патриоти и за мащаба на тяхното жертвоприношение пред олтара на българщината, ще дадем кратки биографичии бележки за всекиго от тях. For more see: Коста Църнушанов (1992) Македонизмът и съпротивата на Македония срещу него, София, Университетско изд-во "Св. Климент Охридски", 1992, стр. 149.
  33. ^ Вплоть до начала 90 - х годов действовал закон о македонской национальной чести, предусматривающий тюремное заключение каждого, кто "осмеливался ощущать себя болгарином". For more see: Валентина Владимировна Марьина как редактор, Национальная политика в странах формирующегося советского блока, 1944-1948, (2004) Российская Академия Наук, изд. Наука, ISBN 5020098647, стр. 492.
  34. ^ Вардарска Македония влиза в състава на Федеративната народна република Югославия като отделна единица под името Народна (по-късно Социалистическа) република Македония. Там с пълна сила се развихря македонизмът, въздигнат от верните на Тито скопски сърбокомунисти до ранга на държавна доктрина. Веднага след създаване на НР Македония там започват небивали репресии срещу всичко българско и срещу всички лица с българско национално самосъзнание. Те са натиквани в затвори и концентрационни лагери и са избивани без съд и присъда. Чак до началото на 90-те години там действа т.нар Закон за македонската национална чест, предвиждащ затвор за всеки, който се осмелява да се чувства българин. For more see: Антони Гиза, Балканските държави и македонския въпрос, Македонски научен институт, превод от полски - Димитър Димитров, София, 2001, стр. 129.
  35. ^ As admits Bozhidar Dimitrov, a well-known opponent of the Macedonian national identity and who is now deceased, there is no such law now. In 2009, [Bulgarian historian then Minister responsible for the Bulgarians abroad] he addressed the Committee for human rights, religions, complaints and petitions [in Bulgarian Parliament] when he filed a petition in support of the harassed Bulgarians in then Republic of Macedonia. Among other things, Bozhidar Dimitrov said the following at the Bulgarian parliament. “In Macedonia there has been (I investigated about how long it was into force – from June 1945 until 1991) a Law of Macedonian national conscience”. For more see: Razvigorov claims falsely without checking first as Macedonia has no law on Macedonian national honor. 16 January 2020, Fact-checking; Meta.mk.
  36. ^ After WWII in Macedonia the past was systematically falsified to conceal the fact that many prominent ‘Macedonians’ had supposed themselves to be Bulgarians, and generations of students were taught the pseudo-history of the Macedonian nation. The mass media and education were the key to this process of national acculturation, speaking to people in a language that they came to regard as their Macedonian mother tongue, even if it was perfectly understood in Sofia. For more see: Michael L. Benson, Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Edition 2, Springer, 2003, ISBN 1403997209, p. 89.
  37. ^ Once specifically Macedonian interests came to the fore under the Yugoslav communist umbrella and in direct confrontation with the Bulgarian occupation authorities (during WWII), the Bulgarian part of the identity of Vardar Macedonians was destined to die out – in a process similar to the triumph of Austrian over German-Austrian identity in post-war years. Drezov K. (1999) Macedonian identity: an overview of the major claims. In: Pettifer J. (eds) The New Macedonian Question. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London; ISBN 978-0-333-92066-4, p. 51.
  38. ^ А. Ковачев: Да си българин в Македония, е удар в сърцето на концепцията за македонска нация. Интервю на Ана Кочева от 06.08.2012г.
  39. ^ Dechev, Stefan (17 January 2020). "За Коминтерна и Македония. Така е, но не точно". Свободна Европа (in Bulgarian).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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