Geo Milev (born Georgi Milev Kasabov; , in Radne mahle – 15 May 1925, in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) was a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. Geo Milev is perhaps best known for his

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

poem ''Septemvri'', written during the Bulgarian Communist-led

September Uprising The September Uprising ( bg, Септемврийско въстание, ''Septemvriysko vastanie'') was a 1923 communist insurgency in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) attempted to overthrow Alexander Tsankov's new government e ...

Life

Geo Milev was born Georgi Milev Kasabov in Radne mahale, today

Radnevo Radnevo ( bg, Раднево ) is a town in southern Bulgaria, part of Stara Zagora Province, located in the eastern Upper Thracian Lowlands. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Radnevo Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has ...

, the first son in the family of school teachers Milyo and Anastasia Kasabovi. In 1897 the family moved to

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

, where his father started a publishing business in 1907. Geo Milev attended the town's high school from 1907 to 1911 before he went on to study at the Faculty of Philology of

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

. From 1912 Geo Milev continued his education at the Faculty of Philosophy of

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

, where he was introduced to German

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. On 30 July 1914, two days after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he traveled from Leipzig to London, where he spent several months sightseeing and improving his English and met the Belgian

Symbolist poet Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realism ...

Émile Verhaeren Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren (; 21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Litera ...

. On returning to Germany, Geo Milev was detained in Hamburg on 18 October 1914 on suspicion of being an English spy. He was released after eleven days and returned to Leipzig, where he worked on his university thesis on

Richard Dehmel Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (18 November 1863 – 8 February 1920) was a German poet and writer. Life A forester's son, Richard Dehmel was born in Hermsdorf near Wendisch Buchholz (now a part of Münchehofe) in the Brandenburg Province, Ki ...

. On 8 August 1915 he returned to Bulgaria without having obtained a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

. Beginning in 1916 he fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, where he was severely injured. After recuperating in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

he began to collaborate with the magazine ''Aktion''. Upon his return to Bulgaria he started to publish the Bulgarian

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

magazine ''Везни'' (''Scales''), in Sofia. He contributed to the publication as a translator, theatre reviewer, director and editor of anthologies.

Death

On May 15, 1925, in the course of government reprisals following the

St Nedelya Church assault The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist attack on St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of the Military Organisation of the Bulgarian Communist Party directed and supplied by the Soviet Mili ...

, Geo Milev, a member of the

Bulgarian Communist party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...

, was taken to a police station for a "short interrogation" from which he never returned. His fate remained unknown for 30 years. In 1954 during the trial of General Ivan Valkov and a group of former police and military executioners, one of the defendants confessed how victims of the 1925 purge had been executed and where they were buried. Geo Milev had been strangled with wire and then buried in a mass grave in Ilientsi, near Sofia. His skull was found in the mass grave. His body was identified by the glass eye he was wearing after he lost his right eye in World War I.

Family

His daughter was the writer and diplomat

Leda Mileva Leda Mileva (Bulgarian: Леда Милева) (5 February 1920 – 5 February 2013) was a Bulgarian communist, writer, translator and diplomat. She was the daughter of Bulgarian poet Geo Milev Geo Milev (born Georgi Milev Kasabov; , in Radne ...

Works

He published his most famous poem ''September'' in his magazine ''Пламък'' (''Flame'') in 1924. It describes the brutal suppression of the Bulgarian uprising of September 1923 against the military coup d'état of June 1923.

Selected bibliography

* Milev, Geo, ''September'', Brussel, 1984 : In Bulgarian * ''Жестокият пръстен'' (1920), The Cruel Ring * ''Експресионистично календарче за 1921'' (1921), A Little Expressionist Calendar for the Year 1921 * ''Панахида за поета П. К. Яворов'' (1922), The Commemoration Ceremony for the Poet P. K. Javorov * ''Иконите спят'', (1922), The Icons Sleep

Honour

Milev Rocks Milev Rocks ( bg, Милеви скали, ‘Milevi Skali’ \'mi-le-vi ska-'li\) is the group of rocks off the north coast of Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, situated east of Henfield Rock, south-southwest of Orsoya Ro ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

are named after Geo Milev.

Notes

References

External links

Texts in Bulgarian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milev, Geo 20th-century Bulgarian poets Bulgarian male poets 1895 births 1925 deaths Prisoners who died in Bulgarian detention Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Jewish Bulgarian history People from Radnevo Bulgarian World War I poets Deaths by strangulation People murdered in Bulgaria Bulgarian people who died in prison custody Executed Bulgarian people 20th-century male writers