Dimitar Chkatrov was Bulgarian activist in

Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia (Macedonian language, Macedonian and ) is a historical term referring to the central part of the broader Macedonian region, roughly corresponding to present-day North Macedonia. The name derives from the Vardar, Vardar River and i ...

. He was born in

Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...

, then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1900. Chkatrov began to study at the Bulgarian primary school in his hometown, but after the establishment of Serbian rule following the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he completed his education in a Serbian school. In the first half of the 1920s, Chkatrov studied civil engineering at the University of Belgrade. He took an active part in the resistance against the policy of

Serbianization Serbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", srbizacija, србизација or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", posrbljavanje, посрбљавање; ...

in Yugoslav Macedonia. In 1927, a trial was organized in Skopje against a group of Bulgarian students. They were arrested after a failure in the

Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization The Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization (, ; MMTRO/MYSRO) was a secret pro-Bulgarian youth organization established by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), active in Macedonia between 1922 and the 1940s. MMTRO ...

. Dimitar Chkatrov was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he was shot in the chest, and was returned to prison to serve his sentence. Chkatrov participated in the establishment of the Bulgarian Action Committees in Prilep in 1941. After the accession of most of Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria in the same year he was closely involved in the establishment of civic Bulgarian national clubs. In 1945 Dimitar Chkatrov was arrested by the new Yugoslav communist authorities and accused of being

pro-Bulgarian Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, while in No ...

fascist collaborator. He was sentenced to death by firing squad. Chkatrov was shot in 1945 near Skopje, together with his friend Dimitar Gyuzelov.Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , p. 43.

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