Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour

Statute of the Court, published in the Nova Makedonija newspaper, No. 28, from 3 January 1945.

The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was a statute passed by the government of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (SR Macedonia) at the end of 1944. The Presidium of Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) established a special court for the implementation of this law, which came into effect on 3 January 1945. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} This decision was taken at the second session of this assembly on 28–31 December 1944. ^[5]

The tribunal was to judge "the collaborators of the occupiers who have put down the Macedonian national name and the Macedonian national honour", as part of an attempt to differentiate an ethnic and political Macedonian identity separate from neighboring Bulgaria and the historical Ottoman Empire Bulgarian community,^{[ citation needed ]} of which both had been part, ^{[6] [7]} though the statute of the court does not mention Bulgaria or Bulgarians. Although some researchers believe that it continued to be in force until 1991, it is much more likely that it was abolished in February 1948. Bulgarians faced discrimination in Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia after 1944. ^[8]

History

Background

During the World War II, Bulgaria annexed the Yugoslav province called Vardar Banovina, encompassing most of modern North Macedonia. The Bulgarians were greeted by most of the locals as liberators from Serbian rule, because pro-Bulgarian sentiments among them then prevailed. ^{[9] [10] [11] [12] [13]} After Bulgaria sided with the Axis powers, it lost the war and the last Bulgarian troops withdrew from the region in November 1944. At the end of the World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia the Macedonian national feelings were already ripe, although it is not clear to what extend the Macedonian Slavs considered themselves to be different from the Bulgarians. ^{[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]} To wipe out the remaining Bulgarophile sentiments, the new Communist authorities took heavy measures. The task was also to break up all the organisations that opposed the idea of Yugoslavia.

Purpose

The purpose of the law was to distinguish the new Macedonian nation from Bulgaria, as differentiation from Bulgarians was seen as a confirmation that Macedonians were a separate ethnic community.^{[ citation needed ]} In Yugoslav Macedonia it was forbidden for the locals to proclaim Bulgarian identity, and also the use of standard Bulgarian language was prohibited. ^[19] Per Dejan Djokić to proclaim Bulgarian identity was allowed only after 1944 in the Strumica region. ^[20] The area is part of the so-called Western Outlands, ^[21] that were part of Bulgaria till 1919. ^[22] Though per Georgy Fotev only migrants from the Serbian part of the Western Outlands were allowed to declare themselves to be Bulgarians. ^[23] In the period between 1945 and 1991, when North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia, there was migration of Bulgarian population from SR Serbia to the SR Macedonia, ^[24] which numbered per unofficial estimate at 20,000. ^[25]

Implementation and function

On January 3, 1945, the newspaper Nova Makedonija published the newly adopted Law on the Trial of Crimes against Macedonian National Honour. ^[26] The law provided for a number of sanctions: deprivation of civil rights, imprisonment with forced labour, confiscation of property, and in cases where it was deemed that the accused might be sentenced to death, it was envisaged that they would be handed over to a "competent court". ^[27] The law also applies to territories that have been occupied by Italy and Albania. The law is a precedent in European legal history, as such legislation was not adopted in the People's Republic of Slovenia, which was subjected to forced Italianization and Germanization during the war.^{[ citation needed ]} The Macedonian Serbs were not tried on it either, despite some of them were cooperating with the Axis Forces.^{[ citation needed ]}

Impact

The act allowed the sentencing of Yugoslav citizens from SR Macedonia for collaboration with the occupational authorities during WWII, for pro-Bulgarian leanings and for agitating against Macedonia's position in Yugoslavia. ^{[28] [29]} Bulgarian sources claim that in early 1945, around 100,000 Bulgarophiles were imprisoned and over 1,260 were allegedly killed due to the Law. ^{[30] [31]} Some victims tried due to their Bulgarophile leanings were Spiro Kitinchev, Dimitar Gyuzelov and Dimitar Chkatrov. ^{[32] [33]} The first president of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia, Metodija Andonov-Čento, was tried due to agitating against Macedonia's position in Yugoslavia. ^[34] These were highly publicized show-trials, rather than being committed to justice. ^[35] While occasional trials continued throughout the period the law was in force, the bulk of them took place in the late 1940s. ^[36] The law influenced new generations to grow up with strong anti-Bulgarian sentiments, ^{[37] [38]} which increased to the level of state policy. ^[39]

Modern period

Due to the inconsistent and confusing legal regulation of that law, it is not very clear until when it was in force. Although some researchers believe that it continued to be in force until 1991, when the present North Macedonia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia, ^{[40] [41] [42]} according to a legal analysis of Macedonian non-governmental activists, it is much more likely that it was abolished in February 1948. ^[43] This people that stuck to their Bulgarian identity met great hostility among the authorities and the rest of the population. With the fall of Communism the hostility decreased, but still remains. In this way over time, a Bulgarian component to the ethnic identity of the Slavic-speaking population in Vardar Macedonia has disappeared. ^{[44] [45]}

See also

• Bloody Christmas (1945)
• Macedonian Bulgarians
• Bulgarians in North Macedonia
• Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations
• Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour
• Law for Protection of the Nation
• Haralampi Perev

References

1. Kostov, Chris (2010). Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996. Peter Lang. pp. 84–85. ISBN   9783034301961. Furthermore, between April and August of 1945, the Court for the Defence of the Macedonian National Honour was set up by Yugoslav authorities, and its targets were Macedono-Bulgarian intellectuals who openly expressed their Bulgarian identity. Writers, lawyers, journalists, doctors, teachers, priests and other prominent people received death sentences or prison terms. Mayors and other administrators during the Bulgarian regime were sentenced to death. 1,260 prominent Macedono-Bulgarians were killed by these farce processes. In 1946, Dimitar Gyuzelev, Yordan Chkartov and Dimitar Chkartov were sentenced to death, whereas seventy-four other Macedono-Bulgarian nationalists led by Angel Dimov were sentenced to jail for plotting to join Vardar Macedonia to Bulgaria.
2. Stojčev, Vanče (1996). Bugarskiot okupaciski sistem vo Makedonija, 1941-1944 [Bulgarian occupation system in Macedonia, 1941-1944] (in Slovenian). Grigor Prličev. ISBN   9789989661310. Подоцна, Президиумот на АСНОМ формирал и Суд за судење на злосторствата против честа на македонскиот народ и за казнување лица што ја извалкале македонската национална чест за време на окупацијата.[Later, the Presidium of ASNOM established a Court to try crimes against the honor of the Macedonian people and to punish persons who tarnished the Macedonian national honor during the occupation.]
3. Битовски, Крсте; Панов, Бранко (2003). Историја на македонскиот народ, Том 3[History of the Macedonian people, Volume 3] (in Slovenian). Institute of National History. ISBN   9989624763. Президиумот на АСНОМ со посебно решение формирал Суд за судење на престапите против македонската национална чест.[The Presidium of ASNOM with a special decision established the Court for trial of the offenses against the Macedonian national honor.]
4. Makedonski arhivist, Volumes 11-12 [Macedonian Archivist, Volumes 11-12] (in Slovenian). Društvo na arhivskite rabotnici i arhivite vo SR Makedonija. 1981. Судот за судење по престапите против македонската национална чест е формиран со решение на Президиумот на Народното собрание на Македонија (ACHOM).[The Court for Trial of Offenses against the Macedonian National Honor was established by a decision of the Presidium of the National Assembly of Macedonia (ACHOM).]
5. Гласник на Институтот за национална историја, Volume 19 [Bulletin of the Institute of National History , Volume 19] (in Slovenian). Institute of National History. 1975. p. 59. На 30 декември 1944 година со решение на Президиумот на АСНОМ се создава суд за судење на престапи извршени против македонската национална чест.[On December 30, 1944, with a decision of the Presidium of ASNOM, a court was created to try crimes committed against the Macedonian national honor.]
6. Кочанковски, Јован,Битола и Битолско во Народноослободителната и антифашистичка воjна на Македонија (1941–1945), том 2: 1944–1945[Kochankovski, Jovan, Bitola and Bitola region in the National Liberation and anti-fascist war of Macedonia (1941–1945), Volume 2: 1944–1945]. p. 427.
7. To make sure that not only those sympathizers of the Bulgarian orientation who had committed war crimes could be held responsible, the new crime of "violation of the Macedonian national honour " was introduced and a special court set up. According to a Macedonian historian: "this court... put on trial those violations of national honour which cannot be qualified as treason, or as support of the occupier in his war crimes." For more see: Stefan Troebst, Das makedonische Jahrhundert: von den Anfängen der nationalrevolutionären Bewegung zum Abkommen von Ohrid 1893-2001; ausgewählte Aufsätze; (2007) Oldenbourg, p. 255, ISBN   3486580507.
8. Unfortunately within Yugoslavia there were privileged peoples, and others who were treated as secondary-class people. Albanians in Yugoslavia, most of whom belonged to the Autonomous Province of Kosovo, did not experience the staus of equal population in Yugoslavia; Bulgarians were treated the same, most of whom lived in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The Republican government in Macedonia influenced by the Federal one has directly influenced Macedonia in the manner of discrimination against national minorities such as Albanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Roma, Ashkali, Turks, etc., while the: Serbian, Montenegrin, Macedonian people have been the most privileged ones within the Republic, as well as in the Yugoslav Federation. The communist regime in Yugoslavia denied any minority efforts for equality and prosperity. The most vocal in the quest for rights were Albanians and Bulgarians, who faced torture, draconian punishments, internment, and even murder in Yugoslav concentration camps. Yugoslavia, namely the Socialist Republic of Macedonia from 1945 until 2001, was the most dictatorial regime in the history of Southeast Europe for Albanians and Bulgarians; unfortunately the Bulgarian community in Macedonia, even with the new constitution, has not resolved its political, cultural, educational status etc. For more see: Sinani, Arsim & Veli, Kryeziu. (2023). Yugoslav Totalitarian Society, Discrimination Against Albanian and Bulgarian Minorities in Macedonia. Balkanistic Forum. 32. 167-185. 10.37708/bf.swu.v32i3.9.
9. In Macedonia, eyewitnesses recall and newsreel footage shows that the local Macedonian population went out to greet the Bulgarian troops who had helped remove the Yugoslav yoke, and that they waved Bulgarian flags. Keith Brown, The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Keith Brown; Princeton University Press, 2018; ISBN   0691188432, p. 134.
10. At first, many Macedonians greeted the Bulgarians with enthusiasm. Hilde Katrine Haug, Creating a Socialist Yugoslavia: Tito, Communist Leadership and the National Question, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN   0857721216, p. 105.
11. Many Slavs in Macedonia, perhaps the majority, still harboured Bulgarian consciousness... The initial reaction among the population was to greet the Bulgarians as liberators. Dejan Djokić, Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, ISBN   1850656630, p. 119.
12. Although a pro-Bulgarian inclination, fed by the Serbian assimilationist policy, has been always strong among the Macedonians, it reached its peak in 1941, at a time when the Bulgarian troops were welcomed as 'liberators. Dimitris Livanios, The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, OUP Oxford, 2008, ISBN   0191528722, p. 179.
13. ...indeed, the incoming Bulgarian troops were hailed as liberators from Serb rule. (Miller 1975; Svolopoulos 1987a; Kotzageorgi-Zymari 2002; Crampton 2008, 258–62; Livanios 2008, 102– 27). Evanthis Hatzivassiliou and Dimitrios Triantaphyllou as ed. NATO's First Enlargement: A Reassessment, Routledge, 2017, ISBN   113479844X, p. 51.
14. "The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians." The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Loring M. Danforth, Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN   0-691-04356-6, pp. 65-66.
15. "Yugoslav Communists recognized the existence of a Macedonian nationality during WWII to quiet fears of the Macedonian population that a communist Yugoslavia would continue to follow the former Yugoslav policy of forced Serbianization. Hence, for them to recognize the inhabitants of Macedonia as Bulgarians would be tantamount to admitting that they should be part of the Bulgarian state. For that the Yugoslav Communists were most anxious to mold Macedonian history to fit their conception of Macedonian consciousness. The treatment of Macedonian history in Communist Yugoslavia had the same primary goal as the creation of the Macedonian language: to de-Bulgarize the Macedonian Slavs and to create a separate national consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia." For more see: Stephen E. Palmer, Robert R. King, Yugoslav communism and the Macedonian question, Archon Books, 1971, ISBN   0208008217, Chapter 9: The encouragement of Macedonian culture.
16. "Nodoubt,the vast majority of the Macedonian peasants, being neither communists nor members of IMRO (United), had not been previously affected by Macedonian national ideology. The British officials who attempted to tackle this issue in the 1940s noted the pro-Bulgarian sentiment of many peasants and pointed out that Macedonian nationhood rested on rather shaky historical and philological foundations and, therefore, had to be constructed by the Macedonian leadership." Livanios, D. (2008), The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949.: Oxford University Press, ISBN   0191528722, p. 206.
17. As David Fromkin (1993, p. 71) confirms: "even as late as 1945, Slavic Macedonia had no national identity of its own." Nikolaos Zahariadis (2005) Essence of Political Manipulation: Emotion, Institutions, & Greek Foreign Policy, Peter Lang, p. 85, ISBN   0820479039.
18. Per Stefan Troebst Macedonian national language, national literature, national history and national church were not available in 1944, but they were accomplished in a short time. The south-east-Slavic regional idiom of the area of Prilep-Veles was codified as the script, normed orthographically by means of the Cyrillic Alphabet, and taken over immediately by the newly created media. And the people have been patching up the national history ever since. Thus, they are forming more of an "ethnic" than a political concept of nation. For more, see: One Macedonia With Three Faces: Domestic Debates and Nation Concepts, in Intermarium; Columbia University; Volume 4, No. 3 (2000–2001).
19. In the interwar period, Serbian was imposed as the official Macedonian language and the use of Bulgarian was forbidden. The Macedonian partisans established a commission to create an "official" Macedonian literary language (1945), which became the Macedonian Slavs' legal "first" language, with Serbo-Croatian a recognized "second" and Bulgarian proscribed. For more see: D. Hupchick, The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, (2002) Springer, p. 430, ISBN   0312299133.
20. However, in Macedonia today there remain those who identify themselves as Bulgarians. Hostility to them remains, even if less than in Communist Yugoslavia, where it was forbidden to proclaim Bulgarian identity with the partial exception of the Strumica region. For more see: Dejan Djokić, Yugoslavism. Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992 C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, ISBN   1850656630, p. 122.
21. "Western outlands" ("Западните покрайнини" in Bulgarian) is a term used in Bulgaria for the municipalities of Dimitrovgrad and Bosilegrad in Serbia, and Strumica in Macedonia - awarded to Serbia, i.e. to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, after World War I. For more see: Nikolai Petrović et al., Bulgarians in Serbia and Serbian-Bulgarian Relations in the Light of Serbia's European Integration. Policy Study. Belgrade, ISAC Fund, 2013. p. 6.
22. Dimitar Bechev (1919) Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia, Edition 2; Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN   1538119625, p. 235.
23. Георги Фотев, Другият етнос (1994) Акад. изд-во "Марин Дринов", БАН, София, ISBN   9544303197, стр. 130.
24. Богослав Јанев, Босилегратчани во Македонија, Скопје: Здружение на граѓани. "Босилеградско", 2006, Куманово: Графотекс. ISBN 9989-57-472-3.
25. Александър Димитров, Колко са българите в РС Македония? Глас, Прес 10 март 2021 г.
26. За да се узакони извънсъдебната разправа, на 20 ноември 1946 г. комунистическият официоз „ Нова Македония “ публикува приетия Закон за съдене на престъпленията против македонската национална чест. For more see: Велизар Енчев, Югославската идея: исторически, политически и международни аспекти на доктрината за национално освобождение и държавно обединение на южните славян, изд-во Захарий Стоянов, 2009, ISBN   9540902673, стр. 325.
27. Стефан Карастоянов, Балканите - политикогеографски анализи (2002) География и геополитика, Унив. изд. "Св. Кл. Охридски", ISBN   954-07-1678-0, стр. 124.
28. Moulakis A (December 24, 2010). "The Controversial Ethnogenesis of Macedonia". European Political Science . 9 (4): 495–510. doi:10.1057/eps.2010.72. S2CID   147272841 . Retrieved December 20, 2020. Residual Bulgarian sympathizers were persecuted under the 'law for the protection of Macedonian national honor.
29. The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was passed in 1945. The act allowed the sentencing of citizens for collaboration, pro-Bulgarian sympathies, and contesting Macedonia's status within Yugoslavia. The latter charge was used to sentence Metodij Andonov-Čento who opposed the authorities' decision to join the federation without reserving the right to a secession and criticised it for not putting enough emphasis on Macedonian culture. For more see: Communist dictatorship in Macedonia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1992). Communist crimes. Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
30. Bulgarian sources assert that thousands lost their lives due to this cause after 1944 , and that more than 100 , 000 people were imprisoned under the law for the protection of Macedonian national honour 'for opposing the new ethnogenesis'. 1,260 leading Bulgarians were allegedly killed in Skopje, Veles, Kumanovo, Prilep, Bitola and Stip... For more see: Hugh Poulton, Who are the Macedonians? C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN   1850655340, p. 118.
31. John Phillips, Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. (2004) I.B. Tauris (publisher), ISBN   186064841X, p. 40.
32. Together with the mass murders without trial and sentences in the end of 1944 and all throughout 1945, the communist authorities organize legal processes against the leading Bulgarian intelligentsia. Among the first accused are: D. Gyuselev, doctor of philosophy from Doiran; eng. D. Tchkatrov from Prilep; eng. Spiro Kitintchev from Scopje; Dr. Robev from Bitola ... and thousands of their coactivists and followers from the whole Vardar Macedonia... Now, to the "Macedonian court" people are brought under the "Law for the Macedonian honour". Every one who considers himself Bulgarian or thinks that the history, language and the nationality of the Slavonic population in Macedonia are Bulgarian, automatically is attacked by the strict prosecution paragraphs of this anti-Bulgarian law with the accusation that he works against "the people and the state", that he is enemy of "new Yugoslavia", of the brotherhood and unity of the "Yugoslav people" and so on For more see: Гоцев, Димитър, Новата национално-освободителна борба във Вардарска Македония 1944-1991 г., София, Македонски научен институт, 1998, p. 37.
33. За да се даде някаква законна форма на жестокото гонение на българщината, бе измислен един странен Закон за съдене на престъпленията против македонската национална чест. Неговата цел бе: да накаже всички проявени българи, като ги обхване с формулата "за... по всевъзможни начини на соработуванье со окупаторот...", та по тоя начин "го извалкаа македонското национално име и македонската чест". Изразът "по всевъзможни начини на сътрудничество с окупатора" обхваща всяка проява на българско съзнание като например: а) неописуема радост при пристигането и посрещането на българските войски през май 1941 г. в Македония; б) устройване на народностни тържества по случай годишнини на заслужили за българската кауза дейци – възрожденци, революционери и др.; в) изнасяне на беседи за важни исторически събития за българския народ изобщо или за местните българи изгонване на гръцките владици, изграждане на черкви и училища и пр.; г) чествуване на заслужили живи дейци и т.н. С други думи – всичко, което обхваща проявите на национален живот на българщината в Македония. Това става още по-ясно, като се има предвид член 2 от закона, който подчертава, че по този закон ще бъдат съдени лица, чиито дела "не могат да бъдат квалифицирани като предателстно или като помагане на окупатора при вършенето на военни злодеяния". Тогава кои са тия дела на сътрудничество с "окупатора"? Само националните. За такива дела се осъждат хората до 10 години затвор, принудителна работа и конфискация на имотите. 26. Съдебни процеси срещу проявени местни дейци на българщината. Б) Първите процеси срещу най-изтъкнатите национални дейци. В глава 22 обстойно разгледахме дейността на националните сили срещу македонизма през Втората световна война. Там пролича голямото родолюбие на тия сили, начело на които стояха споменатите многократно дейци д-р Димитър Гюзелов, доктор по философия от Дойран, Димитър Чкатров от Прилеп, инженер, и видният скопски общественик и икономист Спиро Китинчев от Скопйе, женевски възпитаник. На 28 май започна и трая до 2 юни 1945 г. съдебен процес срещу тримата патриоти и техните съратници под шаблонното обвинение "соработници на окупаторот". Тъй като в гл. 19 и 22 подробно се запознахме с тяхната дейност през сюблимните дни на разгрома на кралска Югославия и през следвашите три и половина години на българското управление в Македония, тук ще отбележим само, че за цялото си народностно дело получиха смъртни присъди. И не само те. За да се получи по-пълна представа за тях като български патриоти и за мащаба на тяхното жертвоприношение пред олтара на българщ/span>
34. "Macedonia, FYR (Yugoslavia)". Macedonia, FYR (Yugoslavia) | Communist Crimes. Retrieved 2021-01-10. The Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour was passed in 1945. The act allowed the sentencing of citizens for collaboration, pro-Bulgarian sympathies, and contesting Macedonia's status within Yugoslavia. The latter charge was used to sentence Metodij Andonov-Čento who opposed the authorities' decision to join the federation without reserving the right to a secession and criticised it for not putting enough emphasis on Macedonian culture. For more see: Communist dictatorship in Macedonia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1992).
35. 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 ˇSatev, 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.
36. Bulgarian sources assert that thousands have lost their lives since 1944, with over 100,000 being imprisoned under 'the law for the protection of Macedonian national honour' for opposing the new ethnogenesis. However, while occasional trial continued throughout the life of Communist Yugoslavia, the vast bulk took place in the late 1940s. For more see: Dejan Djokić, Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, ISBN   1850656630, p. 122.
37. Yugoslav Communists recognized the existence of a Macedonian nationality during WWII to quiet fears of the Macedonian population that a communist Yugoslavia would continue to follow the former Yugoslav policy of forced Serbianization. Hence, for them to recognize the inhabitants of Macedonia as Bulgarians would be tantamount to admitting that they should be part of the Bulgarian state. For that the Yugoslav Communists were most anxious to mold Macedonian history to fit their conception of Macedonian consciousness. The treatment of Macedonian history in Communist Yugoslavia had the same primary goal as the creation of the Macedonian language: to de-Bulgarize the Macedonian Slavs, and to create a national consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. For more see: Stephen E. Palmer, Robert R. King, Yugoslav communism and the Macedonian question, Archon Books, 1971, ISBN   0208008217, Chapter 9: The encouragement of Macedonian culture.
38. The Serbianization of the Vardar region ended and Yugoslavization was not introduced either; rather, a policy of cultural, linguistic, and "historical" Macedonization by de-Bulgarianization was implemented, with immediate success. For more see: Irina Livezeanu and Arpad von KlimoThe Routledge as ed. History of East Central Europe since 1700, Routledge, 2017, ISBN   1351863428, p. 490.
39. In Macedonia, post-WWII generations grew up "overdosed" with strong anti-Bulgarian sentiment, leading to the creation of mainly negative stereotypes for Bulgaria and its nation. The anti-Bulgariansim (or Bulgarophobia) increased almost to the level of state ideology during the ideological monopoly of the League of Communists of Macedonia, and still continues to do so today, although with less ferocity... However, it is more important to say openly that a great deal of these anti-Bulgarian sentiments result from the need to distinguish between the Bulgarian and the Macedonian nations. Macedonia could confirm itself as a state with its own past, present and future only through differentiating itself from Bulgaria. For more see: Mirjana Maleska. With the eyes of the "other" (about Macedonian-Bulgarian relations and the Macedonian national identity). In New Balkan Politics, Issue 6, pp. 9–11. Peace and Democracy Center: "Ian Collins", Skopje, Macedonia, 2003. ISSN 1409-9454.
40. Вплоть до начала 90 - х годов действовал закон о македонской национальной чести, предусматривающий тюремное заключение каждого, кто "осмеливался ощущать себя болгарином". For more see: Валентина Владимировна Марьина как редактор, Национальная политика в странах формирующегося советского блока, 1944-1948, (2004) Российская Академия Наук, изд. Наука, ISBN   5020098647, стр. 492.
41. Вардарска Македония влиза в състава на Федеративната народна република Югославия като отделна единица под името Народна (по-късно Социалистическа) република Македония. Там с пълна сила се развихря македонизмът, въздигнат от верните на Тито скопски сърбокомунисти до ранга на държавна доктрина. Веднага след създаване на НР Македония там започват небивали репресии срещу всичко българско и срещу всички лица с българско национално самосъзнание. Те са натиквани в затвори и концентрационни лагери и са избивани без съд и присъда. Чак до началото на 90-те години там действа т.нар Закон за македонската национална чест, предвиждащ затвор за всеки, който се осмелява да се чувства българин. For more see: Антони Гиза, Балканските държави и македонския въпрос, Македонски научен институт, превод от полски - Димитър Димитров, София, 2001, стр. 129.
42. As admits Bozhidar Dimitrov, a well-known opponent of the Macedonian national identity and who is now deceased, there is no such law now. In 2009, [Bulgarian historian then Minister responsible for the Bulgarians abroad] he addressed the Committee for human rights, religions, complaints and petitions [in Bulgarian Parliament] when he filed a petition in support of the harassed Bulgarians in then Republic of Macedonia. Among other things, Bozhidar Dimitrov said the following at the Bulgarian parliament. "In Macedonia there has been (I investigated about how long it was into force – from June 1945 until 1991) a Law of Macedonian national conscience". For more see: Razvigorov claims falsely without checking first as Macedonia has no law on Macedonian national honor. 16 January 2020, Fact-checking; Meta.mk.
43. Управување со Дигиталната Безбедност и Анонимност, Жарко Ѓуров и Лилјана Ацковска. Закон за Македонската национална чест - UDBAMK: This Law is officially considered to have been valid for only 6 months from December 30, 1944 till July 1, 1945, but in fact its official legal significance in the legislative sense is that it was in force until a decision for its abolition was not published in the Official Gazette no.3. in February 1948. In fact, this official newspaper specifically states that a "Law confirming the decisions and laws adopted before November 4, 1946" is being passed. That in fact means that the abolition of the "Decision to establish a court to try the crimes committed against the Macedonian national honor", although adopted on July 1, 1945, did not enter into force until February 3, 1948.
44. After WWII in Macedonia the past was systematically falsified to conceal the fact that many prominent "Macedonians" had supposed themselves to be Bulgarians, and generations of students were taught the pseudo-history of the Macedonian nation. The mass media and education were the key to this process of national acculturation, speaking to people in a language that they came to regard as their Macedonian mother tongue, even if it was perfectly understood in Sofia. For more see: Michael L. Benson, Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Edition 2, Springer, 2003, ISBN   1403997209, p. 89.
45. Once specifically Macedonian interests came to the fore under the Yugoslav communist umbrella and in direct confrontation with the Bulgarian occupation authorities (during WWII), the Bulgarian part of the identity of Vardar Macedonians was destined to die out – in a process similar to the triumph of Austrian over German-Austrian identity in post-war years. Drezov K. (1999) Macedonian identity: an overview of the major claims. In: Pettifer J. (eds) The New Macedonian Question. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London; ISBN   978-0-333-92066-4, p. 51.