Ivan Katardžiev ( bg, Иван Катарджиев; mk, Иван Катарџиев) (January 6, 1926 – December 1, 2018) was a Macedonian historian. He was regarded as the country's most important expert on the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...

and the Macedonian history under

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

as well as the early years of independence. He was also director of the Institute for National History.

Biography

Katardžiev was born in 1926 in Ploski, Bulgaria, in the region also known as

Pirin Macedonia Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is the third-biggest part of the geographical region Macedonia located on t ...

. In the 1950s he was head of the University Library of Skopje, the Diaspora Office and served as secretary of the Institute for National History of Macedonia. In recent years Katardžiev criticized the then Macedonian ruling party, the VMRO – DPMNE, for rehabilitating several Ottoman-era revolutionaries, who had previously been blacklisted during Yugoslav rule for being

Bulgarophiles Bulgarophiles ( bg, българофили; Serbian and Macedonian бугарофили or бугараши ; ; ro, Bulgarofilii) is a term used for Slavic people from the regions of Macedonia and Pomoravlje who are ethnic Bulgarians. In Bulgari ...

. In October 2014 the Lustration Commission of Macedonia named Katardžiev as an informer of the

Communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

UDBA The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...

during the 1950s. They accused him of spying on history students who originated from Bulgarian Macedonia. Katardžiev at the time was head of the University Library in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

as well as the Diaspora Office. Katardžiev denied the claims, and said he was pressured himself by the police between 1955 and 1960. On December 1st 2018, Katadžiev died in

at aged 92. Почина академик Иван Катарџиев, врвен научник за Македонската историја

Works

* ''The Serres District from the Kresna Uprising to the Young Turks Revolution'' (1968) * ''Time of the Maturation: The Macedonian National Question between the Two World Wars, 1919–1930'' (1977) * ''The Struggle for the Development and Affirmation of the Macedonian Nation'' (1981)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katardziev, Ivan 1926 births 2018 deaths Macedonian historians People from Sandanski Bulgarian emigrants to Yugoslavia