**Nikola Vaptsarov** (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Никола Вапцаров) was a Bulgarian poet and communist activist from the city of Bansko, today Bulgaria. After his death, in 1952, he won the International Peace Award.

Vaptsarov only managed to make one collection of poems before his execution in 1942 by the Bulgarian goverment, it was titled *Motorni Pesni* (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Моторни Песни, lit. 'Motor Songs') which only contained 20 poems and was published in 1940. During World War II, he organized communist activities against the Bulgarian goverment. As a result, in 1942, he was captured, sentenced and killed by firing squad in Sofia.

Biography
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He was born in Bansko (today in Bulgaria). Trained as a machine engineer at the Naval Machinery School in Varna, which was later named after him. His first service was on the famous Drazki torpedo boat. In this period, he embraced Marxism and spread the communist ideology during the 1930s. In April and May 1932, Vaptsarov visited Istanbul, Famagusta, Alexandria, Beirut, Port Said, and Haifa as a crew member of the Burgas vessel. In 1934, he joined the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Photo of Nikola Vatsarov (sitting on the left) with other members in the Macedonian Literary Circle
Later, he went to work in a factory in the village of Kocherinovo – at first as a stoker and eventually as a mechanic. He was elected Chairman of the Association, protecting the rights of workers in the factory. Vaptsarov was devoted to his talent and spent his free time writing and organizing amateur theater pieces. He got fired after a technical failure in 1936. This forced him to move to Sofia, where he worked for the state railway service and the municipal incinerating furnace. He continued writing, and a number of newspapers published poems of his. The poem *Romantika* (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Романтика) won him a poetry contest.

In the late 1930s, he co-founded the Macedonian literary circle, which promoted the idea of a separate Macedonian nation. In 1940, he participated in the so-called "Sobolev action," gathering signatures for a pact of friendship between Bulgaria and the USSR. The illegal activity earned him an arrest and an internment in the village of Godech. After his release in September 1940, Vaptsarov got involved with the Central Military Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. His task was to organize the supply of guns and documents for the communist resistance. He was arrested in March 1942. On 23 July 1942, he was sentenced to death and shot the same evening along with eleven other men.

Motor Songs
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Front cover of the collection "Motor Songs" published in 1940. (Bulgarian: Моторни Песни, spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as Моторни Пѣсни)
His only published poetry collection is *Motor Songs* (1940). Consisting of 20 poems and divided into four sections:

* Section 1 - The section is titled *"Songs for the Human"* and contains 8 poems. The most known poems from this section are *"Memoir"*, *"Songs"* and *"Songs for the Human"*
* Section 2 - The section is titled *"Songs for the Fatherland"* and contains 6 poems, the most notable ones being *"Fatherland"*, *"Ilinden"*, *"King Marko"* and *"Mother"*
* Section 3 - The section is titled *"Songs"* and contains only 2 poems
* Section 4 - The section is titled *"Songs for one side"* and contains 4 poems

Legacy
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Post-war People's Republic of Bulgaria celebrated him as an activist and revolutionary poet, while his poetry collection was seen as an example of "proletarian" literature. Soviet-bloc countries also widely published his work. In 1949, the Bulgarian Naval Academy renamed itself *Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy*. On 1953, he received the International Peace Award posthumously. Lawrence & Wishart published his *Selected Poems* in London in the 1950s, translated into English by British poet Peter Tempest. He was one of the most frequently translated Bulgarian poets. Vaptsarov Peak in eastern Livingston Island, Antarctica, is named after him. Today, his childhood home in Bansko and residence in Sofia are both museums. North Macedonia and the Macedonians in Bulgaria also honor him.