Local liberation

In 1870 the Bulgarian Church was declared independent from the Greek one. The biggest organized uprising happened in April 1876. The cruelty suppression of the uprising provoked an international response. As a result, Russia declared war on Turkey which ended with Bulgaria’s partial liberation. The preliminary contract of San Stefano was signed on the 3^rd of March 1878 – today celebrated as the Bulgarian National Liberation day. This part of the exhibition will walk you through the struggles of this region to regain its liberation 30 years after Bulgaria initially earned its freedom in 1878.

The April Uprising of 1876 was an organized web of insurrections organized by Bulgarians against the Ottoman Empire. The attempt for an uprising in the Blagoevgrad region failed because of a betrayal. An important figure for Blagoevgrad, however, is Georgi Izmirliev. He was born here in 1851, studied here, and then moved to Tsarigrad to teach. At that time all Bulgarian teachers were inspired by Vasil Levski’s idea for a massive uprising. So he moved to Odessa and enrolled in military school. There, he was visited by one of the most respected BG revolutionaries, Hristo Botev, who convinced him to join one of the committees. There, he was appointed as an assistant to Stefan Stambolov in Gyurgevo. He traveled around villages in what is today the northern Bulgarian region and created revolutionary committees. He was only 25 years old when he was betrayed and imprisoned. He was hanged in Gorna Oryahovica in May 1876 and he remained in history as the forever young apostle. Today you can visit his house in the old neighborhood of Varosha near the center of Blagoevgrad.

In the Pirin region, Blagoevgrad was the only town that was briefly liberated from the Ottoman Empire in February 1878. The so-called first liberation was short-lived until the summer of 1879 when the clauses of the signed Berlin Treaty stated that the region should be returned to the Ottoman Empire territories. Many Christian families had to move out to the liberated part of Bulgaria.

The San Stefano contract, signed in 1878, appeared not to be suitable for the Major Powers in the West so they came up with the Berlin Treaty. This treaty divided Bulgaria into two parts – the Principality of Bulgaria, which was a tributary, and Eastern Rumelia, which was an autonomous region still under Ottoman Rule. Four other parts which were supposed to be Bulgarian territory were left beyond the Bulgarian borders.

They remained outside of Bulgaria forever, but on September 6 1885 the Principality of Bulgaria, was united with the province of Eastern Rumelia. The event had a positive effect on the confidence of the Bulgarian nation.

Bishop Nathaniel of Ochrid or MItropolit Natanail was the official representative of the Bulgarian exarchate. He was the chairman of the Gorna Dzhumaya Committee ‘Edinstvo’ which means Unity. The Committee was one of the two major centers for the transport of revolutionary bands in inner Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian people in the Macedonian region were not happy with the decisions from the Berlin treaty so they organized multiple petitions to express their desire to become part of Bulgaria. Since the petitions could not lead to a peaceful resolution, the people revolted. 

The first armored protest against the decisions of the Berlin Treaty was the Kresna-Razlog Uprising in 1878-79. Blagoevgrad and Kyustendil were organizational centers. Kostadin Bosilkov came to Blagoevgrad with Arsenii Kostencev in 1872. Both of them worked together on the organization of the Kresna-Razlog Uprising. They had some experience from previously organizing an attempt to join the April Uprising in the same region. This time, they worked together with Mite Markov, who was a local representative. The Kresna-Razlog Uprising was not successful because the three of them were caught but only Markov was publicly hanged for the betrayal of the Ottoman empire.

Internal Macedonia-Еdirne Revolutionary Organization or for short VMORO in Bulgarian, was created in Thessaloniki in 1893. The founders were Bulgarians from various regions in Macedonia. Their idea was to liberate the Bulgarians living in the Macedonian-Edirne region south of Bulgaria from the Ottomans and to unite it with Bulgaria. The Macedonian-Edirne region was called like that because its territory encompassed from the city of Ohrid, Macedonia through Edirne and all the way to the Black sea.

However, they were all intelligent teachers and doctors who faced the truth that due to political reasons unification was impossible. Instead, they set a new goal to make the Macedonian-Edirne region an autonomous state. IMORO was illegal because it existed on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. In 1895 the Supreme Macedonian-Edirne Committee or in short VMOK in Bulgarian was created on the territory of the Principality of Bulgaria as the legal brother of IMORO. Both the illegal and legal organizations had a common goal – to liberate Macedonia. Unfortunately, both organizations had differing visions in the ways to achieve that goal.

The Thessaloniki high school was established by the Bulgarian exarchate. Here you can see diplomas, textbooks, and notes from Bulgarian students of the school. Although it was established in Thessaloniki, after a fire in the beginning of the 20^th century, after the First World War the school was moved to its new and current home in Blagoevgrad and renamed to the High school of natural sciences and mathematics. 

(new) In fact, the Thessaloniki high school is where IMORO was created on the 23^rd of October 1893. Most of the students and teachers in the school were part of the movement and namely here the decision for the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 was taken.

Ellen Stone was an American protestant missionary in Bansko. She was kidnapped by IMORO who planned an ambush on one of her travels. The leaders of the organization looked for many ways to find funding for their missions so they demanded a ransom for her release. The Stone affair was completed successfully and Ellen was released. This was the first time in which America paid for a ransom! Ellen was so inspired by Yane Sandanski who was part of the organization and his mission for liberation, that she started to defend the Bulgarian mission after she was set free. In fact, she became the first documented case of Stockholm Syndrome in history.