Dimitar Vlahov (; ; 8 November 1878 – 7 April 1953) was a politician from the
region of Macedonia and member of the left wing of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement (also known as
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...
(IMRO)). As with many other IMRO members of the time, historians from
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
consider him an ethnic
Macedonian and in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
he is considered a
Bulgarian. Vlahov declared himself until the early 1930s as a Bulgarian and afterwards as an ethnic Macedonian. However, such Macedonian activists, who came from
IMRO (United) never managed to get rid of their pro-Bulgarian bias.
Life
He was born in Kılkış (Bulgarian/Macedonian
Kukush, in present-day
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
) and attended the
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki. After that he emigrated to the
Principality of Bulgaria
The Principality of Bulgaria () was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.
After the Russo-Turkish War ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed ...
and graduated from
secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in
Belogradtchik. Vlahov also studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where he also took part in socialist circles. However, he graduated in these subjects from
Sofia University
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria.
Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...
. Here he enrolled in the
Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party
The Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (; BRSDP) was a Bulgarian leftist group founded in 1894.
History
In July 1891, on the initiative of Dimitar Blagoev, the social democratic circles of Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Kazanlak ...
. In 1903, Vlahov entered a military service in the reserve officer's school in
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
. Then he worked as a teacher in the
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki where he was active in
IMRO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it init ...
. During this period, he was arrested by the
Ottoman authorities. In 1905, Vlahov was released and went back to
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
where he worked as a teacher in
Kazanlak
Kazanlak ( , known as Seuthopolis () in ancient times, is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town in Stara Zagora Province, Bulgaria. It is located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan Mountains, Balkan mo ...
.
In 1908, after the
Young Turks
The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...
revolution he began working in the
Bulgarian secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
again. In the following years, Vlahov was politically active as a deputy in the
Ottoman Parliament
The General Assembly (; French romanization: "Medjliss Oumoumi" or ''Genel Parlamento''; ) was the first attempt at representative democracy by the imperial government of the Ottoman Empire. Also known as the Ottoman Parliament ('' Legislation o ...
as a representative of the
People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section). After the dissolution of this party in 1911, he became a member of the
Ottoman Socialist Party and in 1912 he was again elected as a deputy to the Ottoman Parliament. During the Balkan Wars, on the recommendation of
Simeon Radev, he was appointed head of the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sofia. He was then sent as Bulgarian consul to
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
in the Ottoman Empire. During the First World War, as a reserve officer, he was appointed governor of the Shtip and Prishtina districts, then under Bulgarian rule. Later he represented the
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria (), also known as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom (), usually known in English as the Kingdom of Bulgaria, or simply Bulgaria, was a constitutional monarchy in Southeastern Europe, which was established on , when the Bulgaria ...
in high diplomatic and administrative positions in
Odessa
ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
,
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
and
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
.
When IMRO was re-established in 1920, Vlahov was elected as an alternate member of its Central Committee, representing the left wing. At that time he was secretary of the
Varna Chamber of Commerce.
Todor Alexandrov
Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Тодор Александров Попорушов; 4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), anglicised as Todor Alexandrov, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, Bulgarian army officer, pol ...
urged him to establish contact between IMRO and
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
.
Krastyo Rakovski
Christian Georgiyevich Rakovsky ( – September 11, 1941), Bulgarian name Krastyo Georgiev Rakovski, born Krastyo Georgiev Stanchov, was a Bulgarian-born socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat and statesman; he was a ...
, his best man and a prominent figure in the
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
, served as his messenger. On behalf of IMRO, Vlahov left in July 1923 for
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. Thus, in 1924, IMRO started negotiations in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
with the Comintern on collaboration between the communists and the
Macedonian movement in establishing a united
Macedonian revolutionary movement. Vlahov assisted in the adoption of the so called
May Manifesto on the formation of a
Balkan Communist Federation and cooperation with the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. After the subsequent rift between the Organization and the Comintern, the new leadership led by
Ivan Mihailov excluded him from IMRO and he was sentenced to death. In 1925, he was one of the founders of
IMRO (United) in Vienna. He also became a member of the
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БΚП), Romanised: ''Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiya''; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria f ...
. At the end of the 1920s he worked in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Germany and
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
as a Comintern publicist. During this period he was pursued by IMRO and several failed assassination attempts were organized against him. In 1930, he criticized the theory about the ethnicity of the Macedonian Slavs by Serbian geographer
Jovan Cvijić
Jovan Cvijić ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Цвијић, ; 1865 – 16 January 1927) was a Serbs, Serbian geographer, Ethnology, ethnologist, university professor and academic.
He was the president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, S ...
and viewed the majority of the Macedonian population as Bulgarian. In 1932 members of IMRO (United), put for the first time the issue of the recognition of a separate
Macedonian nation
A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
in a lecture in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. The question was also studied in the highest institutions of the Comintern and in the autumn of 1933, Dimitar Vlahov arrived in Moscow and took part in a number of meetings related to the Macedonian Question and the recognition of a Macedonian nation.
Thus on 11 January 1934, the Political Secretariat of the Comintern adopted a special
Resolution on the Macedonian Question in which the existence of a separate Macedonian nation was recognized. Vlahov's intervention seemed key in the adoption of this resolution, since it is uncertain if the Comintern had a clear perspective of the identity issues in Macedonia. He accepted the decision without a reaction. According to historian
Elisabeth Barker, due to this reason, there was widespread belief that he was a communist agent.
From 1936 to 1944, Vlahov lived in the Soviet Union.

In November 1943, Vlahov participated in the Second Session of the
and was elected in the presidium representing
Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia ('';'' ) is a term describing the region of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is currently mainly used in the North Macedonia, Republic of North Macedonia, including in the Irredentism, irredentist context of a ...
. In November 1944 he returned to the newly liberated Skopje in the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...
within new
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, where he worked in high state and political positions and became a member of the
Communist Party of Macedonia. On 26 November, at the First Conference of the National Liberation Front of Macedonia, he was elected its president, and at the Second Session of
(ASNOM) in December he was elected a member of the Presidium of ASNOM. At the Third Session of ASNOM in April 1945 he became a member of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Macedonia. Also, he was elected as vice-president of the Presidium of the
National Assembly of Yugoslavia
The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was c ...
in 1945 and remained on that position until 1953.
Lazar Kolishevski and the pro-Yugoslav circle gradually pushed Vlahov out of his power positions in SR Macedonia. Vlahov was dismissed, because he communicated much better in Bulgarian than in Macedonian and had little political support in SR Macedonia, among other reasons. Later his name was removed from the
Macedonian anthem. Vlahov in his 1950 book ''Macedonia-Comments of the History of the Macedonian People'', claimed that modern Macedonians came from a fusion of Slavs with the
ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians (, ) were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Vardar, Axios in the northeastern part of Geography of Greece#Mainland, mainland Greece. Essentially an Ancient Greece, ancient ...
, that
Samuel of Bulgaria
Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, th ...
's empire was a Macedonian state, and that
Cyril and Methodius
Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Population of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries, missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs ...
were Macedonians' gift to Slavism, among other assertions.
In July 1950, Vlahov was elected in the Committee of Foreign Affairs for members of the Federal Council as part of the Presidium of the
National Assembly of Yugoslavia
The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was c ...
. Vlahov died in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
in 1953.
Gallery
File:Dimitar Vlahov-1.png, Vlahov as a member of the Ottoman Parliament
File:Metodija Andonov-Čento and Dimitar Vlahov.jpg, Metodija Andonov-Čento
Metodija Andonov-Čento (; ; 17 August 1902 – 24 July 1957) was a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian revolutionary, Macedonian Partisans, partisan, statesman, the first president of the Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of M ...
(second from left), Víctor Manuel Villaseñor, United Nations Representative (center), Dimitar Vlahov (second from right) and others, in Bitola, February 1946
File:Dimitar Vlahov, banket vo negova cest vo Njujork.jpg, Banquet in honor of Vlahov organized by the Macedonian People's League in New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, 1946
File:Prijem članova Prezidijuma Narodne skupštine FNRJ.jpg, Vlahov (third from right) alongside the Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
, Moša Pijade
Moša Pijade (, alternate English transliteration Moshe Piade; – 15 March 1957), was a Serbian and Yugoslavia, Yugoslav painter, journalist, Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Communist Party politician, World War II participant, and a close ...
, Ivan Ribar
Ivan Ribar ( sr-cyr, Иван Рибар, ; 21 January 1881 – 2 February 1968) was a Croatian politician who served in several governments of various forms in Yugoslavia. Ideologically a Yugoslavism, Yugoslavist and Communism, communist, he w ...
and other members of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Yugoslavia in March 1953
Footnotes
External links
Biography of Dimitar Vlahov, Skopje, 1966 Gustav Vlahov (Macedonian)
(Bulgarian)
* [http://strumski.com/biblioteka/?id=736 "Такрир подаден от българските депутати: Далчев, Дорев, Павлов, Влахов и арм. Вахан Папасиян до Отоманския парламент", публикувано във в. "Вести", брой 129(юли), Цариград, 1909 година] A declaration of the Bulgarian senators in the Ottoman parliament - 1909 (in Bulgarian)
Димитър Влахов от Кукуш, Егейска Македония - "Спомени от Солун", публикувано в сп. "Илюстрация Светлина", книга I, год. XIII, София, 1905 годинаin Bulgarian
"Мемоар на българските депутати против поведението на Младотурския режим към българското население", публикувано във в. "Дебърски глас" брой 10, София, 1910 годинаMemoire of the Bulgarian deputies in the Ottoman parliament against the treatment of the Bulgarian population by the Young Turk regime. (In Bulgarian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlahov, Dimitar
1878 births
1953 deaths
People from Kilkis
People from Salonica vilayet
Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United) members
Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party politicians
Bulgarian Communist Party politicians
League of Communists of Macedonia politicians
Members of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia
Diplomats for Bulgaria
Bulgarian Comintern people
Bulgarian expatriates in the Soviet Union
20th-century Bulgarian educators
Recipients of the Order of National Liberation