Macedonia History

 Professor Victor Friedman is one of the world’s foremost experts on Balkan languages, and has been studying them for almost four decades, since 1993 as a linguist at the University of Chicago. Professor Friedman has a special place in his heart for Macedonia, which he first visited in 1971. This year finds him back in the country, as the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Grant from the US Department of Education and a research grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.(All opinions expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the funding organizations.) Balkanalysis.com Director Christopher Deliso caught up with Professor Friedman recently in Skopje for an interview. Their engrossing and wide-ranging conversation, covering everything from linguistic history, politics and lobbying to national identity and multiculturalism, is reproduced below for our readers. Christopher Deliso: Victor, thanks for taking the time to discuss your ideas and your research, ...

 The Macedonian people and Macedonia have a rich centuries-old tradition and a large number of important events that are permanently engraved in the collective national memory of the Macedonian people, confirming and reflecting the uniqueness of the Macedonian people and their centuries-old identity. To refresh the memories of some of them, the oldest Macedonian daily newspaper Nova Makedonija regularly publishes the column "Dates to Remember", where every month they highlight events related to Macedonian history and prominent Macedonian actors. Today we are devoting to the events in Macedonian history in the month of October. As you will see, the month October is almost entirely focused on the Second World War... October 1, 331 BC - Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.  It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Achaemenid Empi...

  Is there a connection between Scotland and Macedonia? Interestingly, we have to mention here that we talk about connections that some of the Scots themselves trace with the ancient Macedonians. So we can discover the following statement on the homepage of the well known scottish Gordon Clan: The origin of the Gordon clan in Scotland was not Gaelic. The Gordon clan is originally from Normandy, where their ancestors are said to have had large possessions. From the great antiquity of the race, many fabulous accounts have been given of the descent of the Gordons. Some derive them from a city of Macedonia, called Gordonia (close to modern day Gevgelija) .  Some Scottish sources seem to testify to an origin from the city of "Gordonia" (near Gevgelija, near the Macedonian-Greek border). Sir Walter Scott also tells us that the Scottish forces under William Wallace would "resemble those of the Macedonian phalanx": The favourite Scottish order of battle somewhat resembled t...

  Macedonian historians on the course and results of the war Generally little is known in the West about Yugoslavia during World War II, and next to nothing about Macedonia. In this respect, Shoa.de hopes for a certain “aha effect” when it publishes several translations from a lengthy documentation that the Skopjе daily newspaper “Utrinski vesnik” published as a supplement to its weekend edition of May 7th and 8th, 2005. It is about two aspects:  First, about the "tough nut" Yugoslavia, which was apparently easily "cracked" by German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops in April 1941, but which afterwards proved to be almost insurmountable thanks to the partisan struggle under Marshal Tito.  And secondly: In the course of this struggle, the oldest cultural nation of the Slavs, the Macedonians - who gave the world the Slavic cultural donors Cyrill and Method, Clement and Naum etc. - after centuries of occupation by Byzantium, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Serbia ...

  It has been a while since the historian Stephen G. Miller sent out a "cry for help". Macedonia is Greek, and it must stay that way - was his story!  In a circular letter he tried to persuade other historians and academics to jump on his horse. At first, some did so, but nowadays his attempt is almost forgotten. Only almost, because some Greek nationalists still use his (poor) action at the time and the website he founded as the basis for their "arguments". But Miler's attempt was criticized among scholar. Open criticism hit him in the German media. Uwe Walter sharply criticized this call in a column in the FAZ, the German historian described Miller's call as an "embarrassing historical-political call". The British academic of Swiss origin Andreas Willi also criticized Miller's approach and the "arguments" he put forward. And indeed, politics was the motivation for the American PHD Miller to write this (embarrassing) appeal. His appe...

  What is at least "sensational" for many who are not from the Kičevo area, is everyday life and tradition for the people of the town and surroundings. Various legends relating to Alexander the Great king of Macedon have been translated throughout Kičevo's generation, so that children will know who he is from an early age. Which kept his routes, what he said, where he drank water, whom he met, what they spoke ... legends. Where there is smoke, there is a fire - they say in Macedonian vernacular. This is the house of the Višovci family in the village of Velmevci on the road from Kičevo to Demir Hisar. It's in the centre of the village. Nice, domestic, conspicuous. The house was completed on June 13, 1911 after the facade was completed. This great wall painting of the Macedonian king was drawn in one section. Not only that he was sung about in poems and songs, our ancestors also dedicated a representative painting to the revered king of Macedon from the old days even in...

 Anastas Kocarev, also known in the world of science as Anastas Kotzareff (Ohrid, May 5, 1889 - Geneva, Switzerland, March 29, 1931) was a Macedonian doctor and oncologist. Kocarev was one of the first to work and research on the research and treatment of cancer. In 1915 he founded the society "Macedonia" in Geneva, in 1918 he united further Macedonian associations and societies from Zurich and Lausanne in the common Macedonian society for an independent Macedonia. He advocated "a separate and independent Macedonia" and for a Balkan federation. He worked with Nobel Laureate Marie Curie on the problem of diagnosing and treating cancer with radium. Picture: Anastas (sitting ont he left) with his cousins in Ohrid He was one of the pioneers of radiation therapy, but also of radiography. He was the first in the world to take an X-ray on a photographic plate of a patient suffering from cancer. He is most likely the only Macedonian next to Mother Teresa who came very close...