Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria (1944)

***Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria*** () is an appeal from 29 notable Macedonian activists in Bulgaria, they were former activists of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United), the appeal was published in Sofia which is where it was written at the time during World War II. The whole point of the appeal was to get support from the Macedonians in Bulgaria to participate in the liberation of Pirin Macedonia, which was occupied by Bulgaria during the war. They also wanted to help participate in the National Liberation of Macedonia. The appeal is very famous between Macedonians in Bulgaria for showing a sign that Macedonians in Bulgaria existed back then despite the Bulgarian goverment denying their existence. OMO Ilinden Pirin, a Macedonian organization in Bulgaria would do a similar version with their own appeal in the 1990s. The entire appeal is saved in Macedonian archives. The Appeal also used the motto from multiple Macedonian organization at Bulgaria at the time which was _"Macedonia for the Macedonians"_.

The new Bulgarian power established after the September 9th coup, soon after that began to reorganize and/or close the Macedonian patriotic organizations that had existed until then, such as the Union of Macedonian Emigrant Organizations, the Ilinden Organization, the Macedonian Women's Union and the Union of Macedonian Youth Organizations. The fate of the signatories of the Appeal is different. Some of them soon after had high public and political positions in both countries, while others were repressed or isolated from political life. Overall the appeal had failed in what it tried to do, and that was to gain autonomy or independence for the Pirin Region in Bulgaria. However Georgi Dimitrov, the first president of the newly formed socialist Bulgaria actually planned to give the region independence but after his death his successor refused to.

## Structure

The appeal starts with _"Dear fellow citizens"_ (which is talking about the Macedonian population in Bulgaria) and then in detail explains the terror the Macedonian population has experienced throught its history, recounting stories of Ottoman rule and mentioning how heroic the Ilinden Uprising was. they then name multiple famous Macedonian revolutionaries, some of which are: Dame Gruev, Goce Delčev, Dimo Hadži Dimov, Gjorče Petrov. The appeal talks about the Macedonian question, a political debate on whether or not the Macedonians as a nation should exist.

The appeal ends with a call for unity with Yugoslavia and more local autonomy in Bulgaria, they also show support for the USSRs army and the Yugoslavian partisans. They wish for end of fascism in the Bulgarian goverment and to accept communism. There are 29 signatures and they are located at the end and they are:
|Number|Name|Location of Birth|Photo of the person|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|Pavel Šatev|Kratovo, Macedonia||
|2|Božin Dimitrov|unknown|N/A|
|3|Ivan Pop Jordanov|Veles, Macedonia|N/A|
|4|Ljuben Manolov|unknown|N/A|
|5|Hristo Kalajdžiev|Giannitsa, Aegean Macedonia|N/A|
|6|George Sarakinov|Sarakinovo, Aegean Macedonia||
|7|Aleksandar Martulkov|Veles, Macedonia||
|8|Lazar Popovski|Kosinec, Aegean Macedonia||
|9|Hristo Dalkalčev|Vladovo, Aegean Macedonia||
|10|Hristo Tenčev|Kukuš, Aegean Macedonia||
|11|Petar Šandanov|Ohrid, Macedonia||
|12|Peco Trajkov|Vrbeni, Aegean Macedonia||
|13|Lazar Ašlakov|unknown|N/A|
|14|Tuše Deliivanov|Kukuš, Aegean Macedonia||
|15|Georgi Dinišev|Dolni Todorak, Aegean Macedonia|N/A|
|16|Georgi Despotov|Kruševo, Macedonia|N/A|
|17|Angel Dinev|Smokvica, Macedonia|N/A|
|18|Krste Germov|Prilep, Macedonia||
|19|Filip Pop Todorov|Gorno Brodi, Greece|N/A|
|20|Dimitar Halvatdžiev|unknown|N/A|
|21|Ivan Palejkov|unknown|N/A|
|22|Nikola Konstantinov|unknown|N/A|
|23|Lazar Božinov|unknown|N/A|
|24|Goce Grkov|Kukuš, Aegean Macedonia|N/A|
|25|Vasil Hristov|Zeleniče, Aegean Macedonia||
|26|Boris Mihov|Veles, Macedonia|N/A|
|27|Tuše Vlahov|Kukuš, Aegean Macedonia||
|28|Stefan Nanov|Malovišta, Macedonia||
|29|Mihail Gerdžikov|Plovdiv, Bulgaria||

## Infobox (book)

- **image**: Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria 1944.jpg
- **name**: Appeal to the Macedonians in Bulgaria
_Апел до Македонците во Бугарија_
- **author**: former veterans of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United), IMRO (United)
- **publisher**: Bulgarian Communist Party
- **caption**: Photo of the Appeal written in Bulgarian
- **pub date**: September 28th, 1944
- **url**: [https://mk.wikibooks.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%B4%D0%BE_%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5_%D0%B2%D0%BE_%D0%91%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0_-_1944 The entire appel translated in Macedonian on the Wikibooks of the Macedonian Wikipedia]