Todor Aleksandrov

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Aleksandrov and the family name is Poporushov.
Voivode

Todor Aleksandrov
A portrait of Aleksandrov with an autograph and dedication to Yavorov (Sofia, 1912).
Native name
Тодор Александров Попорушев
Birth nameTodor Alexandrov Poporushev
Born4 March 1881
Novo Selo, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died31 August 1924
Sugarevo, Tsardom of Bulgaria
Allegiance IMRO
 Kingdom of Bulgaria
Service/branch Bulgarian Army
UnitMacedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps
Battles/wars
Alma materBulgarian Pedagogical School of Skopje
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki
Spouse(s)Vangelia Aleksandrova
ChildrenAlexander Aleksandrov
Maria Aleksandrova

Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov, best known as Todor Alexandrov (Bulgarian/Macedonian: Тодор Александров), also spelt as Alexandroff (4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), was a Bulgarian revolutionary, army officer, politician and teacher. He favored initially the annexation of Macedonia to Bulgaria,[1][2][3] but later switched to the idea of an Independent Macedonia as a second Bulgarian state on the Balkans.[4][5][6] Alexandrov was a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) and later of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO).[7][8][9]

In North Macedonia, Aleksandrov, who was previously dismissed by the post-WWII Yugoslav Macedonian historiography as a controversial Bulgarophile and national traitor,[10] was added to the country's historical heritage as an ethnic Macedonian.[11] Though, this has caused political and public controversies.[12]

  1. ^ Wojciech Roszkowski, Jan Kofman (2016) Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781317475941, p. 883.
  2. ^ Dmitar Tasić (2020) Paramilitarism in the Balkans Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917-1924, OUP Oxford, ISBN 9780191899218, p. 165.
  3. ^ Robert Gerwarth, John Horne, War in Peace. Paramilitary Violence in Europe After the Great War. (2013) OUP Oxford, ISBN 9780199686056, p. 150.
  4. ^ J. Pettifer as ed., The New Macedonian Question, St Antony's Series, Springer, 1999, ISBN 0230535798, p 68.
  5. ^ Marina Cattaruzza, Stefan Dyroff, Dieter Langewiesche as ed., Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War: Goals, Expectations, Berghahn Books, 2012, ISBN 085745739X, p. 166.
  6. ^ Spyros Sfetas, The Birth of ‘Macedonianism’ in the Interwar Period p. 287. in the History of Macedonia, ed. Ioannis Koliopoulos, Museum of the Macedonian struggle, Thessaloniki, 2010; pp. 286-303.
  7. ^ Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question by Victor Roudometof, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002; ISBN 0275976483, pg. 99.
  8. ^ Crown of Thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918–1943 by Stephane Groueff, Rowman & Littlefield, 1998, ISBN 1568331142,p. 118.
  9. ^ Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900–1996 (by Chris Kostov), Peter Lang, 2010; ISBN 3034301960, pg. 78.
  10. ^ "Nameless Statue Causes Stir in Macedonia". Balkan Insight (BIRN). 28 June 2012.
  11. ^ Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 140.
  12. ^ In 2021, the name of the Todor Alexandrov Bridge in Skopje, which was given to it in 2012 and provoked protests then, was changed back again. For more see: Зоре Нацева, Град Скопје ги врaќа старите имиња на Ленинова, Железничка, Мексичка, 4 Јули и други. Инфомах, March 25, 2021.