Bloody Christmas (1945)

The Bloody Christmas (Bulgarian: Кървав Божик, romanized: Karvav Bozhik; Macedonian: Крвав Божиќ, romanized: Krvav Božikj) was a campaign in which several hundred people of Macedonian Bulgarian descent were killed as collaborationists by the Yugoslav communist authorities in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia in January 1945.^[1]^[2] Thousands of others who retained their pro-Bulgarian sympathies or views, suffered severe repression as a result.^[3] Many people with a pro-Bulgarian orientation or accused of having one were arrested and sentenced on fabricated charges.^[4]

^ The most poignant example of Communist Party of Macedonia excess was Bloody Christmas: a series of pro-Bulgarian Macedonian purges that started in January 1945. For more see: James Horncastle, The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, ISBN 1498585051, p. 107.
^ Bechev, Dimitar (2009) Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. p.287. ISBN 0810855658
^ Poulton, Hugh (2000) Who Are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. p.118. ISBN 1850655340
^ To make the population understand better that the Vardar river was now flowing against Bulgaria, show trials were also used: courts were established in early 1945, to try offences against "Macedonian national honour". During these highly publicized trials, with Lazar Mojsov acting as the public prosecutor, many real (or imaginary) collaborators and pro-Bulgarians were sentenced to death for having betrayed their motherland. These parodies of justice, however, caused very soon a considerable amount of dissatisfaction in Macedonia. In August 1945, Pavel Šatev, then minister of justice, confided to a British official that the courts had to be dissolved; he also felt obliged to acknowledge that the main problem was the lack of 'properly trained jurists'. For more see: Dimitris Livanios, The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, OUP Oxford, 2008, ISBN 0191528722, p. 202.

[1] The most poignant example of Communist Party of Macedonia excess was Bloody Christmas: a series of pro-Bulgarian Macedonian purges that started in January 1945. For more see: James Horncastle, The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, ISBN 1498585051, p. 107.

[2] Bechev, Dimitar (2009) Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. p.287. ISBN 0810855658

[3] Poulton, Hugh (2000) Who Are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. p.118. ISBN 1850655340

[4] To make the population understand better that the Vardar river was now flowing against Bulgaria, show trials were also used: courts were established in early 1945, to try offences against "Macedonian national honour". During these highly publicized trials, with Lazar Mojsov acting as the public prosecutor, many real (or imaginary) collaborators and pro-Bulgarians were sentenced to death for having betrayed their motherland. These parodies of justice, however, caused very soon a considerable amount of dissatisfaction in Macedonia. In August 1945, Pavel Šatev, then minister of justice, confided to a British official that the courts had to be dissolved; he also felt obliged to acknowledge that the main problem was the lack of 'properly trained jurists'. For more see: Dimitris Livanios, The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, OUP Oxford, 2008, ISBN 0191528722, p. 202.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Bloody Christmas (1945)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia