Deportations from Macedonia and their Place in Bulgarian-Macedonian Relationships

Authors

  • Stefan Detchev New Bulgarian University

Keywords:

Bulgarian-Macedonian relations, Holocaust, historical narratives, antisemitism, Bulgarian nationalism, Macedonian nationalism

Abstract

The proposed article reveals how the very deportation of Jews from Macedonia in March 1943 is intertwined and strongly depends on the ideas and memory in the two neighboring countries - the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia - for the period of 1941-1944, the Holocaust itself, the subsequent time of communist rule, and the transition period after late 1980s and the beginning of 1990s. It shows how a peculiar beginning of the entry of the problem of the deportation of the Jews into the diplomatic quarrel along the Sofia-Skopje axis appeared in 1998. The following first decade of the new 21st century was distinguished by the strong and tangible presence of various Jewish worlds and narratives about the Jews of Macedonia and the old borders of Bulgaria during the Second World War. As a result the narratives about the deportation of Macedonian Jews and the salvation of Bulgarian ones fight each other. In recent years the international Jewish community, more often indirectly than directly, has played an important role in rounding, smoothing and refining both positions - the Bulgarian and the Macedonian one – with necessary corrections in both narratives.

Author(s): Stefan Detchev

Title (English): Deportations from Macedonia and their Place in Bulgarian-Macedonian Relationships

Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023).

Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities - Skopje

Page Range: 92-103

Page Count: 12

Citation (English): Stefan Detchev, "Deportations from Macedonia and their Place in Bulgarian-Macedonian Relationships,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1-2 (2023): 92-103.

Author Biography

Stefan Detchev, New Bulgarian University

Stefan Detchev is an Associate-Professor in history and anthropology at New Bulgarian University. His interests cover history of political culture, nationalism and identity, history of sexuality, food and foodways. Among his major publications are “Who are the Bulgarians? “Race”, science and politics in fin-de-siècle Bulgaria – In: We, the people. Politics of National Peculiarities in South-East Europe (2009); Politics, Gender and Culture: Articles and Studies on Modern Bulgarian History (2010, in Bulg.); In Searching of the Bulgarianness: The networks of national intimacy XIX-XXI (2010) Beltween Slavs and Old Bulgars: “Ancestors,” “Race” and Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century In: Geary, P., Klaniczay, G., Manufacturing Middle Ages. Entangled History of Medievalism in nineteenth-century Europe, Joep Leersen Series “National Cultivation of Culture”. (2013); Shopska salat”: The Road from an European Innovation to the National Culinary Symbol”, In: From Kebab to Ćevapčići. Eating Practices in Ottoman Europe” Interdisziplinäre Studien zum Östlichen Europa. (2018); “The Hidden History. Polemics (2019, in Bulg.); Public Catering in Communist Bulgaria – 1950s-1980s – Food and History, vol. 18, 1-2, 2020; Stambolov after Stambolov: History, Politics and Memory 1895-2020 (2022)

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Published

2023-12-12

How to Cite

Detchev, S. . (2023). Deportations from Macedonia and their Place in Bulgarian-Macedonian Relationships. Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 20(1-2), 92-103. Retrieved from https://identitiesjournal.edu.mk/index.php/IJPGC/article/view/531