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Competing Priorities, Ambiguous Loyalties: Challenges of Socioeconomic Adaptation and National Inclusion of the Interwar Bulgarian Refugees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Theodora Dragostinova
Theodora Dragostinova*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A. [email protected]
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Extract

From the estimated ten million refugees in interwar Europe, more than 250,000 were ethnic Bulgarians who found their way in the Bulgarian Kingdom following Bulgarian defeats in the Second Balkan War and World War One. For a country with a population of five and a half million in the mid-1920s, this refugee flow constituted a significant challenge from economic, political, social, and cultural viewpoints. Similarly to Germany, Hungary, and Austria, the refugee presence served as a constant reminder of national failure because Bulgaria lost territories, perceived as a part of the national homeland, to all of its neighbors. The Bulgarian state received refugees from the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania, and the interwar governments were compelled to deal with a large and diverse population that suffered harsh socioeconomic problems and psychological traumas. Due to the Convention for Emigration of Minorities between Greece and Bulgaria of 1919 as well as the Greek-Turkish War of 1921–1922 and the obligatory population exchange it initiated in the period 1922–1924, refugee flows in the Balkans lasted well into the mid-1920s. Hence Bulgarians were on the move throughout 1924 and 1925. Despite these strenuous circumstances, interwar politicians boasted the successful integration of the refugees. Immediately after World War One, the government provided temporary assistance to the newcomers. In 1926, an international loan allowed the agricultural settlement of the most destitute new arrivals, and all refugees were granted the rights of Bulgarian citizens. A second loan in 1928 guaranteed the continuation of vital infrastructure projects. By the end of the 1930s, both domestic and international agencies involved in the refugee accommodation viewed the process as a successfully completed mission.

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Nationalities Papers , Volume 34 , Issue 5 , November 2006 , pp. 549 - 574
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Copyright © 2006 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

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17. Refugees were considered people of Bulgarian ethnic origins from Macedonia, Thrace, Dobrudzha, the West Ends, and Asia Minor who had arrived in Bulgaria after 1912 and who were still in Bulgaria in December 1926. See the definition in Dârzhaven vestnik, 18 December 1926. For the 1903 refugees, see Genadi Genadiev, Bezhantsite vâv Varnensko, 1879–1908 (Varna: VMRO, 1998). A good collection of primary sources for this period is Vera Vasileva et al., eds, Migratsionni dvizheniia na bâlgarite, 1878–1941. Pârvi tom, 1878–1912 (Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo “Sv. Kliment Ohridski,” 1993).Google Scholar

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19. Glavna direktsia, Selskostopanskoto nastaniavane na bezhantsite, p. 58.Google Scholar

20. For a firsthand account, see Prof. Liubomir Miletich, Razorenieto na trakiyskite bâlgari prez 1913 (Sofia: Dârzhavna pechatnitsa, 1918). For an excellent summary, see Stoyko Trifonov, Trakiia. Administrativna uredba, politicheski i stopanski zhivot, 1912–1915 (Sofia: Kapitan Petko voyvoda, 1992).Google Scholar

21. Petâr Koledarov, Bâlgarshtinata v Mala Asiia (Sofia: s.n., 1939); Dimitâr Shishmanov, Neobiknovenata istoriia na maloaziyskite bâlgari (Sofia: Poni, 2001).Google Scholar

22. Trifonov, Trakiia, pp. 161–236; Stephen Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities. Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (New York: Macmillan, 1932).Google Scholar

23. Krâstiu Manchev, Natsionalniiat vâpros na Balkanite (Sofia: Akademichno izdatelstvo “Prof. Marin Drinov,” 1999), pp. 246–249.Google Scholar

24. For the resistance against the Serbian administration in Vardar Macedonia, see K. Pârlichev, Srâbskiiat rezhim i revoliutsionnata borba v Makedoniia 1912–1915 (Sofia: Al. Paskalev, 1915); Konstantin Paleshutski, Makedonskiiat vâpros v burzhoazna Iugoslaviia, 1918–1941 (Sofia: Izdatelstvo na Bâlgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1983.) For the Bulgarian population under Greek rule in Aegean Macedonia, see Daskalov, Bâlgarite v Egeyska Makedoniia; Georgi Genov, Sâprotivata na bâlgarite ot Belomorska Makedoniia sreshtu grâtskoto igo, 1912–1916 (Sofia: Veritas et pnevma, 1998).Google Scholar

25. Antonina Kuzmanova, Ot Nioy do Krayova. Vâprosât za Iuzhna Dobrudzha v mezhdunarodnite otnosheniia 1919–1940 (Sofia: Izdatelstvo “Nauka i izkustvo,” 1989).Google Scholar

26. Manchev, Natsionalniiat vâpros na Balkanite, pp. 224–225.Google Scholar

27. Ivan Altânov, Mezhdusâiuznicheska Trakiia (Sofia: Sâiuz na bâlgarskite ucheni, pisateli i hudozhnitsi, 1921); Anastas Razboynikov, Obezbâlgariavaneto na Zapadna Trakiia, 1919–1924 (Sofia: Trakiyski nauchen institut, 1940); Anastas Razboynikov and Dr. Spas Razboynikov, Naselenieto na Iuzhna Trakiia s ogled narodnostnite otnosheniia v 1830, 1878, 1912 i 1920 godina (Sofia: Karina M, 1999), pp. 231–243.Google Scholar

28. Razboynikov, Obezbâlgariavaneto na Zapadna Trakiia. Also see archival records in TsDA (Central State Archive, Sofia, Bulgaria), f. 322 k, op. 1, a.e. 390, which contains correspondence of the Bulgarian Embassy in Athens and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the Bulgarians in Western Thrace during 1922–1923.Google Scholar

29. During the peace treaty negotiations, the Commission on New States proposed the extension of the minority emigration to Yugoslavia and Romania but such an agreement was never reached. For the Convention, see Mixed Commission on Greco-Bulgarian Emigration, Memorandum on the Mission and Work of the Mixed Commission on Greco-Bulgarian Emigration (n.p., 1929); Andre Wurfbain, L'echange Grèco-bulgare des Minorites Ethniques (Lausanne: Payot & cie, 1930); Commission Mixte d'emigration Greco-Bulgare, Rapport des members nommés par le Conseil de la Société des Nations (Lausanne: Imp. Réunies, 1932); Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities; Sava Penkov, Bâlgaro-grâtski maltsinstveni problemi sled Pârvata Svetovna voyna (Sofia: s.n., 1946).Google Scholar

30. Mixed Commission, Memorandum, p. 2.Google Scholar

31. Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities; Mixed Commission, Memorandum. Google Scholar

32. The Mixed Commission observed, “the Bulgarian population manifested a sort of local solidarity with regard to the choice for or against migration. ‘If the other Bulgarian villages in Thrace go, we shall go,‘ said the Bulgars in Thrace in 1924. Whereas the Bulgars of West Macedonia, for instance, were practically unanimous not to emigrate.” The Convention was applied to Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace that had a common border with Bulgaria, but not to Western Macedonia. See Mixed Commission, Memorandum, p. 7.Google Scholar

33. For the issue of minority protection, see Tunta-Phergadi, Areti, Ellino-voulgarikes meionotites (Thessaloniki: IMHA, 1986); Iakovos Michailidis, “Minority Rights and Educational Problems in Greek Interwar Macedonia: The Case of the Primer ‘Abecedar,‘” Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1996, pp. 329–343; Dimitrov, Maltsinstveno-bezhanskiiat vâpros v bâlgaro-grâtskite otnosheniia. Google Scholar

34. The exchange was applied to approximately 900 localities in the region, 251 in Bulgaria, 501 in Greek Macedonia, and 259 in Greek Thrace. A total of 154,691 immigrants submitted declarations for migration and property liquidation; 101,800 were Bulgarians and 52,891 Greeks. By 31 December 1931, the Commission liquidated 69,000 dossiers and fixed the balance between Bulgaria and Greece at 7,334,873 US dollars in favor of Bulgaria. Commission Mixte d'emigration Greco-Bulgare, Rapport des members, pp. 60–66.Google Scholar

35. Dimitrov, Iliuzii i deystvitelnost. Google Scholar

36. The Fisheries School in Sozopol is one example. See Trakiia, 6 March 1924.Google Scholar

37. Mixed Commission, Memorandum, p. 11, note (x) defines comitadjilik as belonging to “revolutionary committees or bands” but admits that the term is “often employed very loosely.”Google Scholar

38. IAYE (Historical Archive of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Athens, Greece), 1922, 106.4.1. Letter from Colonel A.C. Corfe from 26 April 1921.Google Scholar

39. Some of the best-known historians are Georgi Aianov, Narodnosten lik na Zapadna Trakiia (Burgas: Kulturno biagotvoriteino druzhestvo “Trakiia”, 1942); Ivan Altânov, Mezhdusâiuznicheska Trakiia; Ivan Batakliev, Zapadna ili Belomorska Trakiia (Sofia: 1946); Dimitâr Iaranov, “Belomorska Trakiia i Primorska Makedoniia,” GSU-IFF, Vol. 34, 1937–1938, pp. 1–139; Ivan Ormandzhiev, Trakiyskiiat vâpros kato kumir na bâlgarskata dârzhava (Sofia: Trakiyski Vârhoven Izpâlnitelen Komitet, 1929); Anastas Razboynikov, Obezbâlgariavaneto na Zapadna Trakiia; Stoiu Shishkov, Trakiia predi i sled evropeyskata voyna (Plovdiv: Izdatelstvo “Hr. G. Danov,” 1922); Hristo Vakarelski, “Bit na trakiyskite i maloaziyskite bâlgari,” Trakiyski sbornik, Vol. 5, Part 1, 1935; Ivan Batakliev, Anastas Razboynikov and Ivan Ormandzhiev, Trakiia. Geografski i istoricheski pregled (Sofia: Pechatnitsa “Boris Kozhuk harov”, 1946); Beshevliev edited the Bulgarian newspaper Belomorski pregled when Bulgaria occupied Aegean (Greek) Thrace in 1941.Google Scholar

40. Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 164. In one example, the wealthy real estate owners in Salonica sold their property at market value before migration and transferred considerable money to Bulgaria. IAYE, 1923.21.4.1. Letter from the Greek representative in the Mixed Commission from 10 March 1923 concerning Bulgarian properties in Salonica.Google Scholar

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67. In the late 1920s, the Greek government linked its payments to the Bulgarian reparations and terminated payments when the Bulgarian government put a moratorium on the reparations. See Dimitrov, Iliuzii i deystvitelnost. Google Scholar

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77. Compare accounts in the newspapers Makedoniia and Trakiia in 1923–1924 and then 1926–1928. The focus shifts from criticism of the Greek and Yugoslav expulsion of Bulgarian minorities to the need of permanent settlement. Of course, the topic of the Bulgarian minorities never disappeared but it was treated with much more urgency in the first years.Google Scholar

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81. For a list of refugee associations and their press, see Georgi Markov et al., eds, Almanah na bâlgarskite natsionalni dvizheniia sled 1878 (Sofia: Akademichno izdatelstvo “Marin Drinov,” 2005), pp. 105–224.Google Scholar

82. IAYE, 1923, 21.4.1. Report of the Greek Representative in the Mixed Commission from 19 September 1923.Google Scholar

83. IAYE, 1921, 12.6. Report from the Greek representative in the Mixed Commission from 29 June 1921.Google Scholar

84. These declarations (6,000 solely from Greece) became an important issue in the negotiations between Greece and Bulgaria. See Mixed Commission, Memorandum; Dimitrov, Iliuzii i deystvitelnost. Google Scholar

85. IAYE, 1922, 107.3.2. Report of the Greek representative from 26 March 1922; IAYE, 1925, G/63.2. Report from the Greek Embassy in Sofia from 12 June 1925.Google Scholar

86. K. Popov, Bezhanskiiat vâpros (Sofia: s.n., 1925), pp. 12–13, quoted in Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 104.Google Scholar

87. Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 77.Google Scholar

88. Ibid., p. 99.Google Scholar

89. League of Nations, Scheme for the Settlement of Bulgarian Refugees, p. 37; Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, pp. 158–159.Google Scholar

90. In 1927, the Directorate initiated resettlement from the densely populated Plovdiv and Stanimaka areas into the less crowded Elhovo, Burgas, and Kârdzhali districts. Shivachev, “Bezhanskiiat vâpros v Plovdivski okrâg,” p. 186.Google Scholar

91. Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, pp. 158–160.Google Scholar

92. Kosatev, “Nastaniavane na bezhantsite v Burgaski okrâg,” pp. 61, 67.Google Scholar

93. Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 169.Google Scholar

94. Nezavisima Makedoniia, 4 July 1924.Google Scholar

95. Ibid., 12 August 1923, 2 May 1924, 15 August 1924 and 24 October 1924; Trakiia, 1 November 1923, 22 November 1923, 24 January 1924, 24 April 1924, 19 June 1924 and 19 August 1924.Google Scholar

96. Nezavisima Makedoniia, 12 December 1924.Google Scholar

97. Letter to the chief of the refugee bureau G. Petrov, most likely from March 1921, quoted in Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 48.Google Scholar

98. Trakiia, 24 January 1924.Google Scholar

99. Shivachev, “Bezhanskiiat vâpros v Plovdivski okrâg,” p. 189; Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, pp. 34, 51.Google Scholar

100. Many disputes emerged in regards to the properties of Greek emigrants, and incidents in the Burgas district show the stubborn resistance of local authorities to the refugee settlement. See Kosatev, “Nastaniavane na bezhantsite v Burgaski okrâg,” p. 61.Google Scholar

101. Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, pp. 158–159.Google Scholar

102. Ibid., p. 160.Google Scholar

103. Trakiia, 13 December 1928, found in Dimitrov, Nastaniavane i ozemliavane na bâlgarskite bezhantsi, p. 171. See also League of Nations, Scheme for the Settlement of Bulgarian Refugees, p. 13.Google Scholar

104. Trakiia, 19 June 1924 and 26 June 1924; Nezavisima Mekedoniia, 15 August 1924.Google Scholar

105. Trakiia, 26 June 1924.Google Scholar

106. Ibid., 16 October 1924 and 9 October 1924.Google Scholar

107. Ibid., 19 August 1924.Google Scholar

108. Rakshieva, “Istinskite trakiytsi.” For a similar development among the Asia Minor refugees in Greece, see Hirschon, Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe. For the Pontian Greeks, see Vergeti, Apo ton Ponto stin Ellada; Marantzidis, Giasasin Millet/Zito to ethnos. Prosphygia, katochi kai emphylios. Google Scholar

109. Trakiia, 19 August 1924.Google Scholar

110. For such assertions in the case of the refugees from Aegean (Greek) Thrace and their self-designation as the “true Thracians,” see Rakshieva, “Istinskite trakiytsi.”Google Scholar

111. Nezavisima Makedoniia, 15 August 1924.Google Scholar