Krste Petkov Misirkov (, ; ; ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian, folklorist and ethnographer from the region of Macedonia.
In the period between 1903 and 1905, he published the book titled On Macedonian Matters and the journal Vardar in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a standard Macedonian language based on the central Western Macedonian dialects. Misirkov is regarded as the forefather of the Macedonian nation and for his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language". A survey conducted by the newspaper Vreme in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) in the 2000s found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century".
He was one of the founders of the pro-Bulgarian Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Circle established in 1900 in Saint Petersburg. In 1902, he was among the founders of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society. After 1905, he began publishing predominantly articles, written from a Bulgarian nationalist perspective in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-affiliated press. In his diary written during the Balkan Wars, he espoused a Bulgarian nationalist stance. During the First World War, he became a member of the local parliament in Bessarabia as a representative of the Bulgarian minority there. After the First World War, he switched back and forth between the Bulgarian national cause and the Macedonian one. Because Misirkov expressed conflicting views about the national identity of the Macedonian Slavs at different points in his life, his national affiliation and legacy have been disputed between Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
Biography
Early years
Krste Petkov Misirkov was born on 18 November 1874 in the village of Postol in the Salonica vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Pella, Greece). He completed his primary education in a Greek school in his native village. Due to the poor financial situation of his family, he became a farmer. Misirkov was granted a scholarship by a Serbian association, Society of Saint Sava. He then continued his education in Belgrade at the evening school of the Society of St. Sava in 1889. Due to the reaction of the students against the assimilationist tendencies of the Serbian government, a group of them was expelled, including Misirkov. He continued his education in Sofia in 1890. In early 1891, he returned to Belgrade again, to the Theological School. Due to a rebellion in the school and its disbandment, Misirkov went to study in Šabac. In 1892, after graduating, he transferred back to Belgrade to study in the "Teachers' School". In 1893, Misirkov became a founder and member of an association of Macedonian students called "Vardar", which was banned by the Serbian authorities in 1895.
Russian Empire and Bulgaria
In 1895, Misirkov graduated from the Teachers' School and was appointed as a teacher in Pristina. However, Misirkov did not take this position and went to Odesa to continue his education. Since his diploma from Belgrade was not recognized, he studied for two more years at the Poltava Theological Seminary, which he graduated in 1897. After finishing the Theological Seminary, Misirkov repeatedly pleaded to pursue Slavic studies, sending applications for stipend to the Ministry of Education in Sofia, Nizhyn Lyceum of Prince Bezborodko, and Moscow's city authorities, but each was rejected due to exhausted funds or closed admissions. In all documents he consistently declared himself as Macedonian Slav. In 1897 he managed to enroll in University of Saint Petersburg, first at the Military Medical Academy and then at the Faculty of History and Philology. He published his first scientific contribution as a student writer in the journal Living Antiquity in 1898.
On 15 November 1900, Misirkov and other students in Russia created Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Circle in Saint Petersburg. The main objective of the circle was the political Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions guaranteed by the Great Powers. In a letter sent to the President of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee on 28 November of the same year, the founders of the circle stated that "there is no Bulgarian who is not interested in the situation and fate of that part of our homeland, which continue to groan under the yoke of the tyrant". In 1902, he was among the founders of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society. He graduated in 1902. He enrolled in postgraduate studies in Slavic philology with the thesis "On the Question of Nationality and the Causes of the Popularity of Krali Marko". Due to financial constraints, Misirkov could not continue his post-university education, which is why he accepted the Bulgarian Exarchate's offer to be appointed as a teacher at the Bitola Boys' High School. Having taken up this position, Misirkov simultaneously became a home tutor for the children of the Russian consul in Bitola, Aleksandar Rostkovsky, who was his close friend. After the consul's assassination, he went to Russia, where he prepared his book On the Macedonian Matters. He traveled again to Sofia to publish the book. Because of its content, the Bulgarian police confiscated the book and destroyed most of its copies, and expelled Misirkov to Russia. As a result, Misirkov's ideas remained mostly unknown to people, since they failed to reach broader audience. Per historian Tchavdar Marinov and political scientist Alexis Heraclides, after writing his book, Misirkov "oscillated between extreme Macedonian nationalism – sometimes . . . with clear pro-Serbian elements – and Greater Bulgarian irredentism". After 1903, he had an anti-Serbian stance.
After 1905, Misirkov halted his advocation of Macedonian separatism and opposed the Serbian position on the Macedonian Question. In that period, he published pro-Bulgarian articles. On 18 April 1907, Misirkov began to cooperate with the Sofia magazine "Macedonian-Adrianople Review", edited by Nikola Naumov, which was de facto organ of the IMRO. On 1 October 1909, he printed the article, "The foundations of a Serbian-Bulgarian rapprochement" in the magazine, "Bulgarian Collection", edited by Bulgarian diplomats and officials in St. Petersburg. During this period, a Slavic Festival was held in Sofia in 1910 with Misirkov invited to attend as its guest of honor.Крсте Петков Мисирков Записки за България и Руско-Българските отношения: бележки за събитията на деня (5 юли-30 август 1913 г.) редактор Цочо Василев Билярски, "Анико", 2011, ISBN 954824716X, стр. 30.
Balkan Wars and World War I
When the First Balkan War had begun, Misirkov went to Macedonia as a Russian war correspondent. In Macedonia, he could follow the military operations of the Bulgarian Army. Misirkov published some articles in the Russian press demanding that the Ottomans be driven out of Macedonia. The Greek authorities expelled him from Thessaloniki and in 1913 after the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, Misirkov went back to Russia, where he worked as a teacher in the Bulgarian-language schools in Odesa. Later, he was appointed as a teacher of the Bulgarian language school in Chișinău. While working as a teacher in Chișinău, Misirkov sent а letter to the Bulgarian academic Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan with a request to be assigned as a professor at Sofia University, self-identifying as a Bulgarian:Н. Велев, Из политико-обществената дейност на Кръстю Петков Мисирков. Сп. „Исторически преглед”, кн. 5, 1968, с. 70–86. "As a Bulgarian, I would willingly return to Bulgaria, if there is a need of a scientific research of the fate of the Bulgarian lands, especially Macedonia..."К. П. Мисирков – дневник 5 юли – 30 август 1913, София-Скопие, 2008, Държавна агенция „Архиви“ на Република България-Държавен архив на Република Македония, стр. 168. A shorter letter with similar content was sent to another professor at Sofia University – Vasil Zlatarski, with the request to be assigned as a chosen at the newly established department for history of Macedonia and the other western Bulgarian lands.K. P. Misirkov – Diary 5 July to 30 August 1913, Sofia-Skopje, 2008, Published by State Agency "Archives" of the Republic of Bulgaria & State Archive of the Republic of Macedonia, p. 168 During the Balkan Wars, Misirkov was politically active as a Macedonian Bulgarian. Misirkov proposed several ways to resolve the Macedonian Question, from autonomy for Macedonia to the inclusion of Macedonia within Bulgaria. He stayed at the Klimentovo farmstead, near Okhtyrka, Kharkov province, from where he wrote his diary.
Misirkov published articles in Russian in the newspaper Macedonian Voice in 1913 and 1914. In a letter dated 19 August 1914 to Nikolai Ivanovich Guchkov, chairman of the Slavic Committee in Moscow, he called Serbia's policy "predatory" and referred to "enslavement of the Slavic Bulgarian people". After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Bessarabia became a democratic republic, and he was elected as a member of the local parliament Sfatul Țării to represent the Bulgarian minority. Throughout the war, he engaged in pro-Bulgarian propaganda. After the First World War, he switched several times from the Bulgarian national cause to the Macedonian one and vice versa.
Last years in Bulgaria
After being expelled by the Romanian authorities, Misirkov returned to Sofia at the end of 1918, where he spent one year as a head of the Historical Department of the National Museum of Ethnography. Due to his poor financial situation, he moved to the interior of Bulgaria. He proceeded to work as a teacher and director of the high schools in Karlovo and Koprivshtitsa. In Karlovo, he was a founder of the Archaeological Museum, was elected as editor of the Student Library and head of the Historical and Archaeological Society. Per academician Nikola Traykov and a former friend of Misirkov, academic Petko Stoyanov, IMRO wanted to assassinate Misirkov, but decided not to after Stoyanov convinced a representative of the organization.Промемория на Никола Трайков за разговор с проф. Петко Стоянов за Кръстю Мисирков, София, 8 март 1963 г . In this period, Misirkov also advocated a Bulgarian identity for the Macedonians as a choice preferable to Serbian. He also resumed his journalistic activity and published many articles on the Macedonian Question in the Bulgarian press, such as Bulgarian nationalist ones, as well as expressing Macedonian national ideas in some articles. Misirkov died on 26 June 1926 after a short illness and was buried in the graveyards in Sofia. The Ministry of Education issued a financial support of 5,000 levs for his burial.
Works
On the Macedonian Matters