Krste Misirkov

Krste Petkov Misirkov was born on 18 November 1874 in the village of Postol in the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece). He started his elementary education in the local Greek school, where he was studying until the sixth grade elementary school, but the bad financial situation of his family could not support his further education at that point and he left the school. At that period Serbian government began to promote its variant of "Macedonism" and to recruit young people in order to "Serbianize" them.[10][11][12] After some period, Misirkov applied and was granted a scholarship by the Serbian "association St. Sava ".[13]

Misirkov spent some time in Serbia, where he was studying in Serbian, and soon after he realized that the propaganda was the main goal of the Serbian association.[10] The politics practiced by the association forced Misirkov and the other Macedonian students to participate in a student's revolt against the Saint Sava society. As a result of that, Misirkov and other companions moved from Belgrade to Sofia. Since he faced up with similar situation in Bulgaria, i.e., another propaganda,[10] Misirkov again went to Serbia to continue his education, but without any success because he was rejected by the "St. Sava" association. Since he was willing to get higher education, he was forced, by a chain of events, to enroll a theological school for teachers. Similar to the association "St. Sava", this school as well had its own propagandistic goals and that resulted in another revolt of the students.[14] As a result of it, the school stopped working and the students were sent throughout Serbia. Misirkov was sent to Šabac, where he finished the last, fourth, class of secondary education, but this time in the local gymnasium.[13] In both, Serbia and Bulgaria, Misirkov and his friend were treated as Serbs or Bulgarians[10][13] in order to be accepted in the educational system. After the gymnasium, even though he graduated, Misirkov enrolled in another secondary school for teachers in Belgrade, where he graduated in 1895. During this time, particularly in 1893, Misirkov founded an association of students called "Vardar". Its charter included, among other things, the aim of studying and spreading a knowledge of their country as regards its geographical, ethnographic and historical aspects and the cardinal principle of its program was that Macedonia should belong to the Macedonians.[10][13] This idea was inspired by the "Lozari".[13] Afterwards he was appointed as a Serbian teacher in Pristina. Misirkov refused and left for Odessa to continue his studies.

His educational qualifications obtained in Belgrade were not recognized in Russia. Misirkov had to study from the very beginning in the Seminary at Poltava. In 1897 he was able to enter the Petersburg University. Here he entered at first the Bulgarian Students Association. About that part of his life, Misirkov writes in the article "School and socialism"[15] – In 1897 I went to Petrograd University and for five years was among the Bulgarian studentship as Bulgarian and member of the Bulgarian Student Society.[16] Misirkov carried out here his first scholarly lecture on the ethnography and history of the Balkan Peninsula before the members of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society.

On 15 November 1900, when Misirkov third year student in the Faculty of History and Philosophy, along with other students in Russia created а Petersburg circle. The main objective of the circle is political autonomy of the population of Macedonia and Thrace, declared by IMARO implemented and guaranteed by the Great Powers. In a letter sent to the President of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee on 28 November, circle founders state that there's no Bulgarian who is not interested in the situation and fate of that part of our homeland, which continue to groan under the yoke of the tyrant. At that time Misirkov still considers the Slavic population of Macedonia and Thrace as Bulgarian.[17]

In 1901, he moved to the University of Odessa. Of great importance to Misirkov was the founding of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society in Petersburg.[18] Its creation was influenced by the Macedonian Club founded in Belgrade. After the Club was closed, its chief founders left for the Russian capital, where they organized the new Macedonian Society. This foundation in 1902 became the most important Macedonian institution abroad. In the same year this Society sent a special Memorandum to the Great Powers, in which the Macedonian Question was examined from the national point of view. It was proposed also Macedonian literary language to be codified. The question was also examined of establishing a Macedonian Church under the Ohrid Archbishopric. The aim of this Memorandum was that the Macedonians should be recognized as a separate nation and that Macedonia should be granted full autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. During this time he also examined the medieval period in Macedonia and his works contributed to the understanding of the 14th-century local ruler Krali Marko.

Misirkov's application sent to the Yugoslav authorities where he asks for a job in Macedonia

This plaque in Odessa, Ukraine indicates the house where the Macedonian national activist lived and worked in the period 1909–1913.

Questionnaire filled by Misirkov as a member of Sfatul Țării in Bessarabia.

Later Misirkov abandoned the University and left for Ottoman Macedonia.

Facing financial obstacles to continue his postgraduate education, he accepted the proposal of the Bulgarian Exarchate to be appointed teacher in a high school in Bitola. There he became friendly with the Russian consul in Bitola. He began to plan opening of local schools and publishing textbooks in Macedonian language.[10] But the Ilinden Uprising in 1903 and the assassination of the Russian Consul changed his plans and he returned to Russia. There Misirkov published different articles about the Ilinden Uprising and the reasons why the Consul was assassinated. Soon afterwards he wrote the brochure "The Macedonian matters" and published it in Sofia. This book, was written in the Central Macedonian dialect,[19] and Misirkov attacked in his writings the Bulgarian Exarchate, the Ilinden Uprising and the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) as Bulgarian creations. As result, he was persecuted by IMARO, and it is believed its members destroyed a lot of copies of his book.[20] However, he says that Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, Boris Sarafov and other IMRO members are Macedonian national separatists.[21]

In 1905 he left for Berdiansk in Southern Russia. There he resumed publication of the journal "Vardar" and worked as Bulgarian teacher.[22] In many of his next articles after 1905 Misirkov exposed pro-Bulgarian views and even categorically renounced the point of his book "The Macedonian matters".[23][24][25] On 18 April 1907 Misirkov began to cooperate with the issued in Sofia magazine Macedonian-Adrianople Review, edited by Nikola Naumov, which was de facto organ of the IMARO. On 24 April 1909 K. Missirkov printed in Odessa in a separate booklet his work "South Slavic epic legends of the marriage of King Volkashin in connection with the question of the reasons for the popularity of Krali Marko among the South Slavs". On 1 October 1909 he printed the article, "The foundations of a Serbian-Bulgarian rapprochement" in the Magazine "Bulgarian collection" edited by Bulgarian diplomats in St. Petersburg. By the time, a Slavic Festival was held in Sofia in 1910 and Missirkov was attend as its guest of honor. In 1910–1911, he translated from Bulgarian to Russian the book of the Bulgarian geographer Prof. Atanas Ishirkov "Bulgaria".

When the First Balkan war was declared, Misirkov went to Macedonia as a Russian war correspondent. There he could follow the military operations of the Bulgarian Army. Misirkov published a series of articles in the Russian press and some articles demanding that the Ottomans should be driven out of Macedonia. In 1913 after the outbreak of the Second Balkan war Misirkov went back to Russia, where he worked as a teacher also in the Bulgarian schools in Odessa.[26] Here he wrote his diary, which was found in 2006. Later he was appointed teacher of the Bulgarian school at Kishinev. While working as a teacher in Kishinev, Misirkov sent а letter to the Bulgarian academic Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan with a request to be assigned as a professor at Sofia University. That request clearly indicates his self-identification at that time – As a Bulgarian, I would willingly return to Bulgaria, if there is a need of a scientific research of the fate of the Bulgarian lands, especially Macedonia.. A shorter letter with similar content was sent to another professor at Sofia University – Vasil Zlatarski with the request to be assigned as a chosen at the newly established department for history of Macedonia and the other western Bulgarian lands.[27]

At that point, Misirkov made contacts with the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society, which started publishing the magazine "Macedonian Voice" in Russian. Misirkov was publishing in this magazine for some period under the pseudonym "K. Pelski".[13]

After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Bessarabia became a democratic republic, and he was elected a member of the local parliament Sfatul Țării as a representative of the Bulgarian minority. At the same time, Misirkov worked as a secretary in the Bulgarian educational commission in Bessarabia.[26] In March 1918 was declared the union of Bessarabia with Romania. On 21 May 1918 Misirkov openеd a Bulgarian language course in Bolhrad. Then he took a secret trip to Bulgaria in order to procure textbooks for the students, but after his return in November he was arrested by the Kingdom of Romania authorities, still at war with Bulgaria; afterwards, he was extradited to Bulgaria.

Еxpelled by the Romanian authorities, at the end of 1918 Misirkov returned to Sofia, where he spent one year as a head of the Historical department of the National Museum of Ethnography. Then, he worked as a teacher and director of the high schools in Karlovo and Koprivshtitsa.[22][26] During this period (but before 1923) the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) apparently marked Misirkov as harmful to its cause and supposedly considering his assassination, but reconsidered after he met with a representative of the organization.[28] He also resumed his journalistic activity and published many articles on the Macedonian Question in the Bulgarian press. Misirkov died in 1926 and was buried in the graveyards in Sofia with the financial support of 5000 levs from the Ministry of Education, as an honoured educator.[29]

One of the most important work of Misirkov is the Macedonian book On the Macedonian Matters (Orig: За македонцките работи)[30] published in 1903 in Sofia, in which he laid down the principles of the modern Macedonian language.[31] This book was written in a Macedonian dialects from the area between Prilep and Bitola. It argued in favor of national separation, the establishment of autonomous national institutions within the Ottoman empire, and the standardization of a distinct Macedonian language. Misirkov attacked both the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) as agents of the Bulgarian interests in Macedonia. According to this book, the Macedonian literary language should be based on dialects from the central part of Macedonia, which were used in the book itself. On the other hand, Misirkov appealed to the Ottoman authorities for eventual recognition of a separate Macedonian nation. He admitted there was not such one, and most of the Macedonian Slavs called themselves Bulgarians, but it should be created, when the necessary historical circumstances would arise.[32][33][34][35][36][37]

Besides On Macedonian Matters, Misirkov is author of the first scientific magazine on Macedonian language. The magazine Vardar was published in 1905 in Odessa, Russian Empire. The magazine was published only once, because of the financial problems that Misirkov had been facing with at that time. "Vardar" has been published on Macedonian language, and the orthography that has been used is almost same as the orthography of the standard Macedonian language.[38] The magazine was meant to include several different scientific disciplines, mostly concerned with Macedonia.

Misirkov's On the Macedonian Matters commemorated as one of the key points of Macedonia's history, at the Makedonium memorial in Kruševo

During his life, Misirkov published many articles for different newspapers and magazines. The articles deal with Macedonia, Macedonian culture, ethnology, politics and nation on one hand and with the Bulgarian nation, politics and ethnography on the other. Misirkov published his articles in Macedonian, Russian and Bulgarian and he published them either in Russia or in Bulgaria. Most of the articles were signed by his birth name, but there are articles that are signed with his pseudonym K. Pelski.

In 2006, a handwritten diary by Misirkov written during his stay in Russia in 1913 was discovered. It was declared authentic by Bulgarian and Macedonian experts and was published in 2008.[39] The content of the diary clearly shows that at the time, Misirkov was a Bulgarian nationalist. It has given rise to new public discussion over Misirkov's stances on Bulgarian and Macedonian ethnicity.[40][41] The manuscript, includes 381 pages written in Russian language. Misirkov wrote it in Kotovsk's nearby village of Klimentove, where he lived and worked at the time. It contains also articles and excerpts from the Russian press of that time.

In several publications Misirkov made an attempt to determine the border between the Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian language, including in the Bulgarian dialect area nearly all of Torlakian and Macedonian dialects.[42] Misirkov pointed there, that the population in Pomoravlje is autochthonous and Bulgarian by origin, excluding any later migrations during the Ottoman rule from Bulgaria.[26] According to Krste Misirkov, Krali Marko epic songs in Serbia, the so-called Bugarstici[43] are a result from Bulgarian musical influence over the Serbian folk music.[44]

In Bulgaria, Misirkov is regarded as a controversial educator with scientific contribution to Bulgarian dialectology and ethnography. He graduated from the Belgrade University as a student of Prof. Stojan Novaković and was influenced by his ideas.[53] At that time, Novaković was a prominent proponent of the Macedonism, thereby promoting Serbian interests in the region of Macedonia.[54] Afterwards Misirkov met several times with him and Novaković's diplomatic activity in St. Petersburg played significant role for the foundation of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society.[55] However, after 1906 Misirkov rejected these ideas,[56] opposng the Serbian theory about the "floating mass" of the "Macedonian Slavs"[57][58] and even developed a kind of Serbophobia.[59] In this period he became evidently bulgarophile and argued that the Slavic population of Macedonia was not "a formless paste" but a "well baked Bulgarian bread",[60][61] even though in his book and part of his articles writes about the existence of a separate Macedonian nation. Later in 1913, in his diary from the Balkan wars, he explicitly identifies himself as Macedonian Bulgarian. Bulgarian historians believe 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 one.[62] Bulgarians also note that Misirkov worked as a Bulgarian teacher in Russia, was Bulgarian deputy in Bessarabia, chose Bulgarian citizenship, lived and died in Bulgaria and worked there until his death in 1926. Nevertheless, Bulgarian scholarship points out that despite Misirkov in many cases defending the cause of Bulgarian nationalism, he several times switched during the 1920s, from Bulgarian to Macedonian one, and vice a versa.[63] According to Bulgarian observers, after the breakup of Yugoslavia in Republic of Macedonia also have arisen polemics about the identity of Misirkov.[64][65]

In North Macedonia, Misirkov is regarded as the most prominent Macedonian publicist, philologist and linguist who set the principles of the Macedonian literary language in the early 20th century. In some of his writings he identifies the Macedonians as separate nation and the Macedonian as a separate South Slavic language. Also, Misirkov is the author of the first scientific magazine in Macedonian and because of his contributions to the Macedonian national cause, he is regarded as the greatest Macedonian of the 20th century. In his honor, many books and scientific works have been published and the Institute for Macedonian language "Krste Misirkov" is named after him.

There is not an important debate about Misirkov's ethnicity in Macedonia, since he is always regarded as Macedonian as it is obvious in most of his major writings. Since he was not allowed to live and work in Macedonia by the Yugoslav authorities,[66] unwillingly he remained in Bulgaria where he got Bulgarian citizenship since he needed it for his job. Regarding Misirkov's signature under the phrase "Macedonian Bulgarian", the Macedonian historians and linguists argue that it means nothing but a Macedonian person with a Bulgarian citizenship, in a political sense, or just a Macedonian person living in Bulgaria.[67] However, the fact is that Misirkov gained Bulgarian citizenship after World War I (1915–1918)[68] and has declared as Bulgarian Macedonian in 1913, which is against the claims of the Macedonian historians and linguists.[69][70] On the other hand, some Macedonian scholars, like PhD Vlado Popovski, the academician Blaže Ristovski and others, say that Misirkov’s usage of the term "Macedonian Bulgarian" was only a tactic, because in 1914 and many times after that, he repeated his views about the Macedonian national existence.[71]