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Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov ( Bulgarian/
Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...
: Тодор Александров Попорушов; 4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), anglicised as Todor Alexandrov, was a
Macedonian Bulgarian Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians (), sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of ethnic Bulgarians, inhabiting or originating from the region of Ma ...
revolutionary,
Bulgarian army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...
officer, politician and teacher. He initially favoured the annexation of Macedonia to Bulgaria, but later switched to the idea of an Independent Macedonia as a second Bulgarian state on the Balkans. Aleksandrov was a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) and later part of the Central Committee of the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation 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 initi ...
(IMRO), as well as its leader. In
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 ...
, his persona is controversial, but there have been efforts to rehabilitate him. Though, this has caused political and public controversies.


Life

Aleksandrov was born in Novo Selo,
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 ...
(now
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 ...
), on 4 March 1881. He was the second child and the only son of Aleksandar Poporushov and Maria Hadzhiyaneva. His father was a
Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...
teacher. He completed his secondary education in Štip. In the 1890s, he studied at the Bulgarian Pedagogical School in
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
. He worked as a schoolteacher in
Kočani Kočani ( ) is a town in the eastern part of North Macedonia, situated around east from Skopje. It has a population of 24,632 as of 2021 and is the seat of the Kočani Municipality. Geography The town spreads across the Northern side of the K ...
,
Štip Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...
, and
Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...
. In 1903, he became a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation in Štip, being recruited by Hristo Matov. Among his supporters, he came to be known as "Old Man" or "Uncle Todor". He was arrested by the Ottoman authorities on 3 March 1903 and sent to Skopje under police escort. He was sentenced to five years in prison. In April 1904, he was released after an amnesty. He rose up to the rank of leader of the Skopje district in 1907. Aleksandrov organised dynamite attacks against the Ottoman Empire in 1909. In 1911, he became part of Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation's Central Committee. He took part in the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
as a military commander. In this period, he favoured the annexation of Macedonia by Bulgaria. During
World War I 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 ...
, along with
Aleksandar Protogerov Aleksandar Protogerov (; 28 February 1867 – 7 July 1928) was a Bulgarian Army general, politician and revolutionary. He was among the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organizat ...
, he took over the region of Štip. When he was a Bulgarian military officer, he also participated in the violent suppression of the
Toplica Uprising The Toplica Uprising () was a mass uprising by Serbian rebels against the Bulgarian occupation forces that took place in Bulgarian-occupied Serbia during the First World War. The rebels were motivated by grievances against the Bulgarian author ...
in 1917. He had received the Order of Military Merit. After World War I, he proposed an autonomous Macedonia with
Salonika 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 ...
as the capital. In 1919, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) was restored, with him, Aleksandar Protogerov and Petar Chaulev being part of the Central Committee. However, Aleksandrov was recognised as the leader and many people called it "Aleksandrov's VMRO." IMRO's left-wing distrusted him and questioned the authenticity of his autonomist agenda, seeing him as a proponent of the Bulgarian annexationist agenda. Yugoslav authorities regarded him and Protogerov as war criminals. Both him and Protogerov were arrested by the Bulgarian Agrarian authorities after they came to power in August 1919, who charged them with war crimes, but they managed to escape with the help of Bulgarian officers on 13 November 1919. Afterward, they established a stronghold of the IMRO in the Petrich district, which they ran like an independent state. Taxes were also imposed on the locals and funds were given by the Italian authorities, who were supporting them against Yugoslavia. Before the 1920 Constitutional Assembly election in the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...
(Yugoslavia), he encouraged people 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 ...
to vote for communist candidates. The Minister of Interior Aleksandar Dimitrov ordered the arrest of the IMRO leaders, but they went underground. During Dimitrov's campaign against the IMRO, Aleksandrov ordered IMRO left-winger and ally Gyorche Petrov's assassination. His bands made attacks into Vardar Macedonia, controlled by Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. After IMRO's participation in the 9 June 1923 overthrow of Bulgarian prime minister
Aleksandar Stamboliyski Aleksandar Stoimenov Stamboliyski (; 1 March 1879 – 14 June 1923) was a Bulgarian politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria, Prime Minister of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria from 1919 until 1923. Stamboliyski was a memb ...
, his men led by
Ivan Mihailov Ivan Mihaylov Gavrilov (; ;He is credited in English-language sources as ''Mihailov'', while the Bulgarian and Macedonian transliteration schemes render it as ''Mihaylov'' and ''Mihajlov'', respectively. 26 August 1896 – 5 September 1990), ...
, tortured and murdered him. In August, under his orders, IMRO revolutionary Yordan Tsitsonkov assassinated Bulgarian Agrarian politician Rayko Daskalov. IMRO also participated in the suppression of the 1923 September uprising, organised by 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 ...
. He was not satisfied with the new Bulgarian government led by
Aleksandar Tsankov Aleksandar Tsolov Tsankov (; 29 June 1879 – 27 July 1959) was a leading Bulgarian politician during the Interwar period, period between the two World Wars. Biography A professor of political economy at Sofia University from 1910 onwards,Phili ...
and turned to
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 ...
's support. As Aleksandrov's envoy,
Dimitar Vlahov 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 ...
negotiated with 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 ...
. In 1924, in Vienna, he signed the
May Manifesto The "May Manifesto" of May 6, 1924 was a manifesto in which the objectives of the unified Macedonian liberation movement were presented: independence and unification of partitioned region of Macedonia, fighting all the neighbouring Balkan monarchi ...
along with Protogerov and Chaulev, declaring IMRO's fight for an independent Macedonia in an alliance with the communists. He had also made an agreement with the communists against an uprising, but they had violated it in September 1923. Failing to secure Aleksandrov's cooperation, the Comintern decided to discredit him and published the contents of the Manifesto on 28 July 1924 in the "Balkan Federation" newspaper. Todor Aleksandrov and
Aleksandar Protogerov Aleksandar Protogerov (; 28 February 1867 – 7 July 1928) was a Bulgarian Army general, politician and revolutionary. He was among the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organizat ...
promptly denied through the Bulgarian press that they have ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery. The Democratic Alliance-led government also pressured him to revoke his signature on 1 August. Shortly after, Aleksandrov was assassinated in unclear circumstances on 31 August 1924 in the
Pirin The Pirin Mountains ( ) are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with the highest peak, Vihren, at an altitude of . The range extends about from the north-west to the south-east and is about wide, spanning a territory of . To the north ...
Mountains. He had a wife called Vangelia and two children, Aleksandar and Maria. IMRO blamed a pro-communist faction for the assassination, but others blamed circles close to the Bulgarian throne. The Bulgarian government blamed the left-wing for his assassination.


Legacy

The Macedonian historiography in the Yugoslav era regarded Aleksandrov as part of a group of " bulgarianised renegades of the Macedonian revolutionary and liberation movement". The historiography then also considered his IMRO as fascist. Aleksandrov also had negative reception in the
People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; , NRB; ) was the official name of Bulgaria when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; ) together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agraria ...
due to his participation in the suppression of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1923, but he was partially rehabilitated in the 1980s. After the independence of present-day
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 ...
, efforts were made by Macedonian politicians and historians to rehabilitate Aleksandrov. Most Macedonian historians have regarded him as "the biggest traitor to the Macedonian cause" due to his pro-Bulgarian views for a long time, while other historians have called him out for his alleged involvement in many assassinations of other IMRO members and other political and military figures of the time. On the other hand, other historians have referred to him as "the soul and the brain of the Macedonian resistance" and as "Macedonia’s Robin Hood", attributing to him remarkable organisational skills and will. VMRO-Union of Macedonian Associations also was inspired by his legacy. A boulevard 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 ...
, Bulgaria, was named after him in the 1990s. A local association of
Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, 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, ...
raised a monument of the revolutionary on 2 February 2008 in the city of Veles. After the local administration refused to provide a place for the bust, it was raised in the yard of a local Bulgarian resident. In the following night the resident received a number of threats and the monument was twice thrown down by unknown individuals. Soon after, the monument was removed at the insistence of local authorities, as an unlawful construction. This incident caused Bulgarian president
Georgi Parvanov Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov (, ) (born 28 June 1957) is a Bulgarian historian and politician who was President of Bulgaria from 2002 to 2012. He was elected after defeating incumbent Petar Stoyanov in the second round of the November 2001 pres ...
to call upon the Macedonian government to review the history of Aleksandrov's deeds on his meeting with
Branko Crvenkovski Branko Crvenkovski (, pronounced ; born 12 October 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as the President of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from 2004 to 2009. He previously served as Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1992 to 1998 and from ...
in the town of
Sandanski Sandanski ( ; , formerly known as Sveti Vrach, , until 1947) is a town and a recreation center in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Blagoevgrad Province. Named after the Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandanski, it is situated in Sanda ...
. In June 2012, a new statue called "Macedonian Equestrian Revolutionary" was erected in
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
. As a consequence, an outcry among older residents erupted almost immediately when they noted the anonymous rider's similarity to the historical figure. Earlier the same month the opposition
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
took to the streets to protest the changing of hundreds of street names, including a bridge that was to be named after Aleksandrov. In October, a few months after the setting of the monument, a board appeared on it with the name of Todor Aleksandrov. In March 2021, the new Skopje municipal council majority by the
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, – LSDM) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in North Macedonia, political party, and the main Centre-l ...
decided to rename the names of many local sites. Thus, the bridge named after Aleksandrov and the street named after the organisation he led - IMRO, were renamed. The former Skopje Mayor from VMRO-DPMNE Koce Trajanovski reacted that his successor Petre Šilegov has deleted part from the Macedonian history at the request of Bulgaria. A monument of Aleksandrov was erected in his birthplace of Novo Selo, Štip, in August 2024. He had been honoured by
VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...
governments between 2006 and 2017. Aleksandrov Peak on
Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...
,
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
, is named after Todor Aleksandrov.


Memorials

File:Todor-Alexandrov-Monument-Kyustendil.jpg, Monument of Aleksandrov in
Kyustendil Kyustendil ( ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of ...
, Bulgaria. File:Todor Alexandrov in Burgas.JPG, Monument of Aleksandrov in
Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...
, Bulgaria. File:Todor Alexandrov Veles.JPG, Monument of Aleksandrov in Veles, Macedonia, demounted in 2008. File:Todor-Aleksandrov-monument.jpg, Bust of Todor Aleksandrov in Sofia, Bulgaria.


See also

*
Vardar Banovina The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( Macedonian and ; ), was a province ( banate) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. History It was located in the southernmost part of the country, encompassing the whole of today's North Mace ...
*
History of Bulgaria (1878–1946) After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the 1878 Treaty of Berlin set up an autonomous state, the Principality of Bulgaria, within the Ottoman Empire. Although remaining under Ottoman sovereignty, it functioned independently, taking Alexand ...


References and notes


External links


An internet site, dedicated to Todor Aleksandrov
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksandrov, Todor 1881 births 1924 deaths People from Kosovo vilayet Macedonian Bulgarians Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Bulgarian revolutionaries Bulgarian schoolteachers Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire Bulgarian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Bulgarian people imprisoned in the Ottoman Empire Assassinated Bulgarian people People murdered in Bulgaria Deaths by firearm in Bulgaria People assassinated in the 20th century Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)