Περίληψη : During the summer of 1906, an anti-greek movement manifested itself in Bulgarian cities and villages where there were Greek communities, especially on the coast of the Black sea and Eastern Romelia. Rallies were organized with pickets and resolutions of protest. As a result of this persecution, the Greek communities dissolved, their property was encroached and most Greeks migrated from Bulgaria. Χρονολόγηση July and August 1906 Γεωγραφικός Εντοπισμός Eastern Romelia Bulgarian cost of the Black Sea 1. Aims and media of the Bulgarian assimilation policy (1885-1904) After the annexation of the autonomous region of Eastern Romelia, until then under Ottoman control, to the Bulgarian principality (1885), the assimilation of the local Greek element was intended in many ways. The Bulgarian assimilation policy was mostly implemented by the National Liberal Party, which combined nationalistic and liberal ideals, depended on various patriotic societies and ruled the country between 1886 and 1894, as well as the period 1903-1908. The assimilation process was directed by the government and the administration, and manifested itself in the education, the selection of civil servants, the army and ecclesiastical matters. 1 For this purpose, the Bulgarian state issued a number of measures, such as: A) The decree regarding the implementation of article 10 of the 1891 Zhivkov law On public education. According to this article Bulgarian subjects children of various Christian professions, receive their primary education in the Bulgarian language. The Zhivkov law meant the abolition mainly of the Greek elementary education and much less the one of the other Christian communities. Due to intense protestation, by Greek communities and ecclesiastical authorities, as well as Greek diplomatic agents, article 10 was not implemented in regard to Greek schools before September 1906. 2 B) The Bulgarian authorities refused to acknowledge the Greek Orthodox communities as legal entities; consequently, communal properties were confiscated and patriarchal churches were expropriated. During the 1890s, patriarchal churches, monasteries, ecclesiastical and communal property are seized and never rendered back in various areas in Bulgaria. 3 The rise of Bulgarian nationalism during the late 19 th century, the oppressive measures against Greeks and the height of the Greek-Bulgarian dispute in Macedonia, lead to the anti-greek purges of 1906. During the second ruling of the National Liberal Party (1903-1908), the reduction in workers income caused strikes, student protestations and agitation in urban centres, heightened in the anti-greek persecution in the summer of 1906. 4 2. The 1906 anti-greek purge As early as 1905 the governmental newspapers, were clearing the ground for the anti-greek persecution, agitating spirits. Moreover, the anti-greek purge in Romania organised in 1905, involving deportations of Greek merchants, rallies and plundering of Greek establishments, contributed to the outbreak of relative purges in Bulgaria. 5 Prelude to the violent and tragic incidents of the summer of 1906 were the Varna incidents in April of the same year. In late April, during the opening of the Varna port, Bulgarian students attacked the Greek district, while incidents of the same type took place during the feast of Ss. Cyril and Methodius. 6 In the beginning of June 1906, the Bulgarian authorities prohibited the arrival of the new patriarchal bishop of Varna Neophytus, while during his rehabilitation and when he tried to approach the city port, he was stoned and abused by the mob. In fact, the enraged Δημιουργήθηκε στις 11/1/2017 Σελίδα 1/5
crowd reached the point of passing a donkey around town, which carried a sign on its back where the following words were written in Latin type: Metropolit Gaïdouris, Elenus, Elada ( Donkey Bishop, Elenus, Greece ). Characteristic of the extremities that took place was the circulation, later on, of an illustrated card with the picture of the donkey in question and the caption: Welcome of the Varna bishop. 7 The tension and disorder in the city generalised because of the provocative presence of Bulgarian-Macedonian gangs and the capture and pillaging of the Greek hospital, as well as the churches of St George, St Nicholas and St Paraskevi. On the walls of the Greek establishments in Varna, a form was put up reading: Bulgarian, this shop is Greek. Transactions prohibited. The pillage of Greek establishments was avoided thanks to the intervention of the European diplomats and constant pressure by the Greek residents on the prefect, who commanded the police to take action. 8 Following, the centre of anti- Greek campaign was transferred to Philippopolis (Plovdiv), lead by the Bulgarian Patriotic Liaison of Philippopolis and the association Bulgarian Philogenes ( Bulgarian Patriot ) founded by Petar Dragulev aiming to promote the national Bulgarian self-consciousness. This association had already organised anti-greek rallies in several cities, which had been carried out along with looting and destroying Greek property. On July 16 th, the rally and the intense anti-greek events in Philippopolis escalated into full-scale plundering, setting afire and vandalising Greek churches, schools, communal buildings, stores, factories and houses. The Bulgarians occupied five Greek churches, the bishop s residence and other buildings belonging to the Greek community, while the damages were colossal. 9 The purges dispersed to other urban centres with Greek population Stenimachos, Kavakli, Anchialos (Aktarpolee or present day Pomorie) etc. At the same time as the one in Philippopolis, an anti-greek rally took place in Burgas. As soon as the news of the Philippopolis events reached town, looting of Greek schools, churches and private properties commenced. On July 23 rd, Bulgarian groups occupied the Greek church and school of Eystathochorion (close to Burgas), where 140 Greek families lived. 10 2.1. The destruction of Anchialos The anti-greek movement had a tragic outcome in Anchialos, where during the late 19 th century the Greek-Bulgarian conflict had intensified, on the occasion of the St George monastery proprietorship. After the Burgas incidents, Bulgarian groups congregated there from Philippopolis and Varna and organised the raid of Anchialos. The Greek residents of the city, after to no effect having sought the protection of the Burgas prefect, decided to defend themselves in every possible way. They closed their establishments in the city, they emplaced an armed guard in its entrance and they fortified the St George monastery with 100 armed citizens. On July 20 th, the monastery was occupied by the Bulgarian army in order to safeguard it; the troops remained there until the 28 th. That day the Anchialos Bulgarian newspaper Край invited Bulgarians inhabiting neighboring areas to congregate in the city on Sunday, July 30 th in order to to liberate the Anchialos Bulgarians from the insufferable yoke of the Anchialos Greeks. The Burgas prefect, to whom the Greeks telegraphed, responded that he found no provocation preparative to national and legitimate struggle in the Край article. 11 After the army departed, Bulgarian groups from Burgas attacked the armed Greeks, assisted by Bulgarian clerks, and the conflict expanded into the whole city. In the afternoon, the Bulgarians set different parts of town on fire, forcing all the residents to flee to the beach. All of the city s districts were destroyed with the exception of the Christ one and the Bulgarian one. Churches, schools and the bishop s residence were burned down, while houses were plundered. There were many dead and an unconfirmed number of wounded. According to estimations by Greeks, there were up to 110 dead. Those who managed to escape fled on boat to Mesimvria, Sozopolis (Sozopol) and the Turkish coast, through which they reached Greece. The damage done to Greek communal and private property was colossal. 12 The same day, Greek property was destroyed in Aetos, Karnabat (Karnobat), Selimnus etc. In Mesimvria, the Greek leaders and the mayor, fearful of suffering the same as the Greeks of Anchialos, succumbed to the Bulgarian demands and signed a document of concession for the Greek church and subordination of themselves to the Exarchy s ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 13 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 11/1/2017 Σελίδα 2/5
After the 1906 incidents, many Greeks from Anchialos, Varna, Mesimvria, Burgas and other cities left as refugees heading mainly towards Greece. After the Second Balkan War and especially following the sign of the Treaty of Neuilly (1919), almost all of the remaining Greeks left. In 1930, the Hague International Court of Justice affirmed the demise of 83 Greek-orthodox communities in Bulgaria and of 299 Bulgarian-orthodox communities in Greece. 14 3. Conclusions Responsibility for these incidents does not lie only amidst the lower and middle classes of the Bulgarian society, but also the higher levels of political power. Although the rallies had already been declared to take place, the government did not take measures for them to be cancelled; in contrast, just days before the Minister of Internal Affairs traveled abroad, while the prefects were in absentia from their offices. Furthermore, the police and army authorities did not interfere drastically to prevent or stop the riots and aggravated assaults. As an answer to the protests by the Greek government and the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Bulgarian government expressed its desolation for the incidents, but also maintained that it could not keep order and restrain the madding crowd. Despite the Greek protests and the Bulgarian promises of the ringleaders being punished and the schools and churches being returned to the Greek communities, in essence matters became even worse. Schools, churches with very few exceptions and communal buildings were not returned to the Greeks. Under governmental decree, in September 1906 the article 10 of the Zivhkoc law was fully implemented, so the Greek primary education was yet again abolished, while very strict terms were lain regarding the operation of secondary schools. At the same time, the government proceeded in the dismissal of Greek municipality clerks and civil servants. 15 In any case, the Bulgarian government not only did not prevent the outburst of anti-greek persecution, but also manipulated it in order to achieve the dissolution of the Greek communities in Bulgaria. 16 The Bulgarian press in its majority justified the assaults as retaliation for the activities of Greek guerilla groups against Bulgarians in Macedonia. As the ВечернаПоща wrote the Greeks reached the extreme with their provocations and made the Bulgarian nation, the most tolerant nation in Europe, to lose its patience. 17 The National Party, leading opposition of the time, and the Socialists renounced the anti-greek movement and held the government responsible for the assaults and vandalisms. The opposition and socialist press maintained that the persecution was designed by Bulgarian nationalists with the support of at least some of the cabinet s ministers. Naturally, the official medium of the National Party approved of the resolutions of protest issued by the anti-greek rallies as an expression of the public opinion, but held that a change of method in external politics was necessary. 18 1. Crampton, R. J., Bulgaria 1878-1918. A History (New York 1983), pp. 297, 327; Назърска, Ж., Българската държава и нейните малцинства (1879-1885) (София 1999), pp. 81-180. 2. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 255-281; Κοτζαγεώργη, Ξ., Η εκπαιδευτική και πολιτιστική δραστηριότητα των Ελλήνων στην Ανατολική Ρωμυλία (αρχές 19ου αιώνα- 1906) (Θεσσαλονίκη 1992), pp. 170-171. 3. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 312-313, 325, 330. 4. Crampton, R. J., The Second Stambolovist ministry. Public order and internal unrest (1903-1908), Bulgarian Historical Review 10/1 (1982), pp. 37-40. 5. Τούσας, Α. Σ., Η βουλγαρική δολιότης και οι ανθελληνικοί διωγμοί εν τη Ανατολική Ρωμυλία (1900-1906) (Θεσσαλονίκη 1949), p. 20. 6. Μαραβελάκης, Μ., Βακαλόπουλος, Α., Αι προσφυγικαί εγκαταστάσεις εν τη περιοχή της Θεσσαλονί κης (Θεσσαλονί κη 1955), pp. 17-18. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 11/1/2017 Σελίδα 3/5
7. Παππαδάτης, Α. Ι., Ιστορία-αγώνες-δίκαια του Ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (Αθήνα 1948), p. 58. 8. Μαραβελάκης, Μ., Βακαλόπουλος, Α., Αι προσφυγικαί εγκαταστάσεις εν τη περιοχή της Θεσσαλονίκης (Θεσσαλονίκη 1955), pp. 18-19. 9. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 368-383, 424-428; Παππαδάτης, Α. Ι., Ιστορία-αγώνες-δίκαια του Ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (Αθήνα 1948), pp. 57-65; Σφέτας, Σ., «Οι ανθελληνικοί διωγμοί στην Ανατολική Ρωμυλία κατά το έτος 1906 στα πλαίσια της βουλγαρικής κρατικής πολιτικής», Βαλκανικά Σύμμεικτα 5-6 (1993-94), p. 83; Εφημ. Вечерна Поща 1763 (17/30 Ιουλίου 1906), 1764 (18/31 Ιουλίου 1906). 10. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 383, 414; Παππαδάτης, Α. Ι., Ιστορία-αγώνες-δίκαια του Ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (Αθήνα 1948), p.61. 11. Μαυρομμάτης, Δρ., Η Αγχίαλος μέσ από τις φλόγες (Αθήνα 1930), pp. 11-40. 12. Μαυρομμάτης, Δρ., Η Αγχίαλος μέσ από τις φλόγες (Αθήνα 1930), pp. 11-40; Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 414-417; Διαμαντόπουλος, Α. Ν., Η Αγχίαλος (Αθήνα 1954), pp. 138-139; Παπαναστασίου, Ι., Αι τρομεραί φρικαλεότητες της Αγχιάλου και των λοιπών εν τε τη Ανατολική Ρωμυλία και Βουλγαρία ελληνικών κοινοτήτων (Αθήνα 1907), p. 51; Σφέτας, Σ., «Οι ανθελληνικοί διωγμοί στην Ανατολική Ρωμυλία κατά το έτος 1906 στα πλαίσια της βουλγαρικής κρατικής πολιτικής», Βαλκανικά Σύμμεικτα 5-6 (1993-94), p. 84. 13. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 417-418. 14. Βογαζλής, Δ. Κ., «Ελληνικές θρησκευτικές κοινότητες στην Τουρκία, Βουλγαρία και Ανατολική Ρωμυλία», Αρχείον Θρακικού Λαογραφικού και Γλωσσολογικού Θησαυρού Ι' (1943-44) pp. 59-60; Ladas, S. P., The exchange of Minorities: Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (New York 1932), pp. 157-179. 15. Newpaper Вечерна Поща 1824 (Septemeber 17/29, 1906); Association Patriotique des Thraces à Athènes, Persécution des Grecs en Bulgarie et en Roumelie Orientale (Αθήνα 1906), pp. 12-13. 16. Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878-1914) (Αθήνα 1919), pp. 435-441. 17. Newspaper Вечерна Поща 1808 (September 1/14, 1906). 18. Βιβλιογραφία : Διαμαντόπουλος Α., Η Αγχίαλος, Αθήνα 1954 Μαραβελάκης Μ., Βακαλόπουλος Α., Αι προσφυγικαί εγκαταστάσεις εν τη περιοχή της Θεσσαλονίκης, Ίδρυμα Μελετών Χερσονήσου του Αίμου, Θεσσαλονίκη 1955 Crampton Richard, Bulgaria 1878-1918. A. History, New York 1983 Τούσας Αντώνιος, Η βουλγαρική δολιότης και οι ανθελληνικοί διωγμοί εν τη Ανατολική Ρωμυλία (1900-1906), Θεσσαλονίκη 1949 Παππαδάτης Αριστείδης, Ιστορία-αγώνες-δίκαια του Ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας, Αθήνα 1948 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 11/1/2017 Σελίδα 4/5
Назърска Жоржета, Българската държава и нейните малцинства (1879-1885), София 1999 Ladas Stephen, The exchange of Minorities: Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, New York 1932 Crampton Richard, "The Second Stambolovist Ministry. Public Order and Internal Unrest, 1903-1908.", Bulgarian Historical Review, 10/1, 1982, 37-49 Δικτυογραφία : Πρόσφυγες από την Ανατολική Ρωμυλία στην Αδριανούπολη και το Δεδέαγατς (Αλεξανδρούπολη) κατά τη διάρκεια του μακεδονικού αγώνα http://www.ems.name/makedonikos_agon_praktika/valsamidis.pdf Γλωσσάριo : exarchy An ecclesiastical province that does not belong to the nearest diocese, but is administrated either directly by the Patriarchate or by a patriarchal monastery. Πηγές Newspaper Вечерна Поща. Newspaper Мир Newspaper Работнически Вестник. Association Patriotique des Thraces à Athènes, Persécution des Grecs en Bulgarie et en Roumelie Orientale(Athens 1906). Παπαναστασίου, Ιωάννης, Αι τρομεραί φρικαλεότητες της Αγχιάλου και των λοιπών εν τε τη Ανατολική Ρωμυλία και Βουλγαρία ελληνικών κοινοτήτων (Athens 1907). Φώτιος, Ειρηνουπόλεως, Επίσημα έγγραφα και ιστορικαί σημειώσεις περί της βουλγαρικής πολιτικής και των βουλγαρικών κακουργιών προς εξόντωσιν του ελληνισμού της Ανατολικής Ρωμυλίας (1878 1914) (Athens 1919). Δημιουργήθηκε στις 11/1/2017 Σελίδα 5/5