Padev: Macedonians were anti-Bulgarian everywhere - World War II

 Michael A. Padev originated from Bulgaria, but in his early he moved to the USA - where he also completed a college degree and later made a career. Before World War II he reported from Sofia for the Times of London and Manchester Guardian. He left a number of works on the subject of communism in the Balkans.

In his 1944 work "Flight from the Balkans", Padev describes some impressions of Macedonia when the country was occupied by German ally Bulgaria.

In one passage we read:

"Once we reached Macedonia, what struck us most was the ease and zest with which the Macedonian underground battled against the Bulgarian occupying authorities . There was a curfew in Skopje from seven in the evening. We stayed there a week and not a night went by without fighting in the streets. It was the same in Bitolj which the Bulgarian nationalists claim as 'the most Bulgarian of all Macedonian towns.' We found the people there as anti-Bulgarian as they are everywhere in Macedonia. They had organized several groups which at intervals retired into the mountains for ' training. They were extremely well organized and in contact with all the guerrillas in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece."

 

 

Source used: M. Padev, Escape from the Balkans. London, 1944.

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