REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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Remembrance in Time
AMNLM’s documents, the medieval Bulgarian state of King Samuil and the anti-
Ottoman struggles in the 19 th c. under the leadership of IMARO are supporting elements
of the new national history. They should symbolize continuity and tradition but under
new national identity.
In the first years of the establishment of the communist regime a new version of the
Macedonian history is manifested. In some respect it is a mild version of the negative
attitude towards Bulgaria and the Bulgarian history. D. Vlahov and P. Shatev are
representatives of this trend. In their publications and social appearances the tight
connections of the “Macedonian history” with Bulgaria are acknowledged. This causes
severe reaction of the central party authorities led by “Tito and his Macedonian
commissar Lazar Kolishevski” [11][xiv].
Macedonization is imposed by the party authorities in extremely brutal way and this
leads to the arrest of Pavel Shatev in 1949, his internment in Bitola and tragic death. At
the same time Dimitar Vlahov is put under permanent surveillance by the secret services.
All his social appearances are under control and his publications are censored under the
direct supervision of the department of agitation and propaganda of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Macedonia since 1945 [xv].
History and language are powerful tools of the cultural debulgarization and the
imposing of the Yugoslav cultural and political monopoly. The creation of the
Macedonian language and the history of the “Macedonian nation” is implemented in one
and the same way. They ensue from the party-state and are politically and legally
approved thus turning into a steady norm.
This is eloquently formulated in May 1945 in a statement of Blaže Koneski who is later
proclaimed in Yugoslavia as the “creator” of the Macedonian language – “The future is
ours. And this means that the past is ours also.” [1][xvi]
In the first years after World War II the problem for the nation becomes the starting
point for the political constitution of the past. The nation exists and therefore its origin
must be explained. This inevitably requires historical evidence for differentiation with
Bulgaria and the Bulgarians. The orthodox historical separatism of Yugoslav communists
finds expression in passing dividing lines in the history between the Bulgarian and the
“Macedonian nation”. These lines are on different levels but have one and the same
purpose – to make impossible any community or any mutual penetration. The external, in
its nature, geographic division examines the past as history of earth and passes the
Macedonian natural borders as borders of history. This division is necessary in order to
prove the historical rights of the People’s Republic of Macedonia as an heir of the
national liberation struggles of the Macedonian nation and to justify its role as Piemont to
all “Macedonians”.
Another form of the separation are the internal dividing lines. Historical processes,
facts, events and individuals from the Macedonian history are defined according to their
attitude towards the “fact” of the Macedonian nation existence. The division determines
two opposite processes which are in constant conflict. The one expresses the consistent
efforts of the “Macedonian nation” for freedom and national state, and the other is
manifested in the activity of those circles of the Macedonian society which are connected
with the “great Bulgarian propaganda” and the “conquest interests” of Bulgaria. Marxism
of Yugoslav communists gives this division dogmatic class character. Thus the
“Macedonian bourgeoisie” serves as an excuse for the Bulgarian dimensions of the
Macedonian history in the 19 th c. and is loaded with historical responsibilities for the
“successes” of the “Bulgarian propaganda”.