Ivan Mihailov

For the Bulgarian boxer, see Ivan Mihailov (boxer). For the Bulgarian footballer, see Ivan Mihaylov (footballer).

Ivan Mihaylov
Иван Михайлов
President of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
In office
24 December 1924 – 1934 (together with Aleksandar Protogerov till 1928)
Preceded byTodor Aleksandrov
Secretary General to the President of IMRO
In office
1928 (alone) – 1934
Personal details
Born(1896-08-26)26 August 1896
Novo Selo, Ottoman Empire
Died5 September 1990(1990-09-05) (aged 94)
Rome, Italy
EducationBulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki
Alma materSofia University
OccupationRevolutionary, politician
ProfessionLawyer
Signature

Ivan Mihaylov Gavrilov (Bulgarian: Иван Михайлов Гаврилов; Macedonian: Иван Михајлов Гаврилов;[note 1] 26 August 1896 – 5 September 1990), also known as Vancho Mihaylov (Bulgarian: Ванчо Михайлов; Macedonian: Ванчо Михајлов), was a Bulgarian revolutionary in interwar Macedonia and the last leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).[1]

Under Mihaylov, IMRO became notoriously anti-communist[2] and identified itself closely with Bulgarian nationalism, thus eliminating not only the enemies of the Bulgarian national idea in Macedonia but also its left-wing opponents within the Macedonian liberation movement. Mihaylov changed the organization's tactics from guerrilla campaigns to individual terrorist acts. Numerous attacks were carried out by IMRO against Yugoslav officials under his leadership, the most spectacular of which was the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia, in collaboration with Croatian Ustaše.[3] He actively cooperated with revanchist powers, such as Mussolini's Fascist Italy, Admiral Horthy's Hungary and Hitler's Nazi Germany.[4][5][6][7][8] During the last stage of the war, he tried to realize IMRO's plan to create an Independent Macedonia but ultimately refused to move forward due to the lack of German military support and his reluctance to take a course that would lead to civil war.[9]

During the Cold War, Mihaylov lived in Italy while the emigrant Macedonian Patriotic Organization in the US and Canada worked under his guidance on the old IMRO's goal of an independent Macedonia. This was acknowledged by a CIA report from 1953, which dubbed the MPO as "the US branch of the IMRO" and asserted that it acted as a money-raising organ to support Mihaylov's activity.[10] At the beginning of the fall of communism and the breakup of Yugoslavia, only a month before his death in 1990, he kept insisting: "I am a Bulgarian from Macedonia" and "I would recommend to the young people in Macedonia to hold on to the fact that we have been Bulgarians for a thousand years."[11] Mihaylov was considered a Bulgarophile traitor and fascist in Communist Yugoslavia. He is still regarded as such in what is today North Macedonia,[12] while the organization he led is seen as a controversial Bulgarian organization because its ideas clash with the Yugoslav Macedonian historical narrative.[13][14] According to Bulgarian historian Chavdar Marinov, Mihaylov was regarded as a Nazi collaborator in Communist Bulgaria. He was later partially rehabilitated there, supporting the Bulgarian narrative that negates the existence of a widespread Macedonian national identity before the end of World War II and he has been fully rehabilitated today.[15]

Mihaylov is the author of four volumes of memoirs and a number of articles and pamphlets, such as "Macedonia: Switzerland of the Balkans", "Stalin and the Macedonian Question", as well as other materials describing the Macedonian struggle for freedom.[16]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Indeed, some Macedonian Slavs still combine Bulgarian ethnic sentiment with the desire for an independent multi-ethnic Macedonia. In 1989, for example, Ivan Mihailov, a self-professed “Bulgarian from Macedonia”, told Macedonian journalist Boris Vishinsky (2001) that he sought “an independent Macedonia with recognized historical ethnic groups”. For more see: Alexander Maxwell, “Slavic Macedonian Nationalism: From 'Regional' to 'Ethnic,'” in Ethnologia Balkanica; issue 11 (2007) p. 147.
  2. ^ Tchavdar Marinov, Communism and Nationalism in the Balkans: Marriage of Convenience or Mutual Attraction? p. 510 in: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Two (2013) edited by Tchavdar Marinov and Alexander Vezenkov, pp. 469–555, BRILL; ISBN 9004261915.
  3. ^ Moll, Nicolas (2012). "Kampf gegen den Terror". Damals (in German). No. 6. pp. 72–77.
  4. ^ From the moment he took power, he allied the VMRO very closely with the Bulgarian nationalist and revisionist right. He also cooperated actively with the other revisionist powers—Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy, Admiral Horthy's right-wing Hungary, and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany - and with right-wing movements, such as the Croatian Ustasha. For more see: Andrew Rossos (2013) Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, Hoover Press, 2013, p. 162, ISBN 081794883X.
  5. ^ Frederick B. Chary (2011) The History of Bulgaria, The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations, ABC-CLIO, pp. 70-71; 114-116, ISBN 0313384479.
  6. ^ Ryan Gingeras, The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization: "Oriental" terrorism, counterinsurgency, and the end of the Ottoman Empire, pp. 372-373 in The Oxford Handbook of the History of Terrorism (2021) edited by Carola Dietze and Claudia Verhoeven, pp. 367-384; Oxford University Press, ISBN 019985856X.
  7. ^ Michael Palairet (2016) Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 2), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 192-194; 196; 200; 208; 213; 223, ISBN 1443888494.
  8. ^ Dimitris Livanios (2008) The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, Oxford Historical Monographs, OUP Oxford; pp. 28-30; ISBN 0191528722.
  9. ^ Stefan Troebst (2017) Zwischen Arktis, Adria und Armenien: das östliche Europa und seine Ränder: Aufsätze, Essays und Vorträge 1983-2016; Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, pp. 130-131; ISBN 3412507571.
  10. ^ Background Whereabouts and Activities of Ivan Mihailov, 16 April 1953 Archived 25 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ Ivan Mihaylov: I am Bulgarian from Macedonia, Interwiev, Sertember 1989. (in English)
  12. ^ Виктор Цветаноски, Ванчо Михајлов умирал и тврдел дека македонска нација не постои. Која е контроверзната тетовка што ја слават Бугарите? (5) Утрински весник, 27.02.2007 г.
  13. ^ In Macedonia, the interwar VMRO has traditionally been portrayed as Bulgarian, and as a champion of the ideal of a ‘Greater Bulgaria’ that included Macedonia. In turn, thus, SDSM politicians and mainstream historians have accused the VMRO-DPMNE of falsifying history and of taking a pro-Bulgarian stance. The acknowledgement of Bulgarian influence on Macedonian history is highly problematic to many Macedonians because it clashes with the Yugo-Macedonian narratives. Especially after the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, the cornerstone of Macedonian national identity and historiography had been the notion of a distinct, non-Bulgarian, Macedonian national consciousness, leading to a profoundly anti-Bulgarian stance in politics and historiography. For more see: Paul Reef (2018) Macedonian Monument Culture Beyond 'Skopje 2014'. From the journal Comparative Southeast European Studies. De Gruyter Oldenbourg. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2018-0037
  14. ^ "Why Ivan Mihailov's Memory Still Disturbs Present-day Balkan Politics". BTA. 20 April 2022.
  15. ^ Frosina Dimeska, WWII Bulgarian Nationalist ‘Glorified to Undermine Macedonian Identity’: Interview with the historian Chavdar Marinov, BIRN, April 21, 2022.
  16. ^ Иван Гаврилов Михайлов, Избрани произведения, редактори: К Гергинов, Цочо Билярски; Военноиздателски комплекс "Св. Георги Победоносец", 1993, стр. 5; ISBN 9545090472.