Krastyo Hadzhiivanov (December 25, 1929 – June 27, 1952) was a Bulgarian poet and

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

.Anarchy.bg: Слово за Кръстьо Хаджииванов, 5 September 2012
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Early life

Hadzhiivanov was born in

Kapatovo Kapatovo is a village in Petrich Municipality, in Blagoevgrad Province, Bulgaria. As of 2013, it had a population of 195.Petrich district of Bulgaria. He began composing poetry when he was six years old. During World War II, aged 14, he joined the

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. Hadzhiivanov was involved in smuggling weapons to guerrillas who had been abandoned at the Metaxas Line in Greek Macedonia, a task which involved navigating a dangerous route through mine fields and around Nazi check points. Meanwhile, the young teenager recited poetry at meetings with villagers all over the Serres region. After Bulgaria's successful coup on 9 September 1944, the new communist government offered to send Hadzhiivanov to study literature in Moscow. He refused, with the words, "Moscow is too close to Siberia", referring to Joseph Stalin's Gulags. Local communist authorities perceived Hadzhiivanov as a threat; he was persecuted for his democratic and

humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

beliefs, and mistreated during his studies at

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

. He was later sent to the uranium mines at Seslavci village, where he was mistreated and beaten. During a strike in the mine, a friend of his was brutally killed. Hadzhiivanov succeeded in escaping from the mines and fled to the Pirin Mountains, aiming to cross the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

illegally and escape to Greece. He was killed in an ambush at the border on June 27, 1952, at the age of 22. At the time, Bulgarian State Security stated that he was presumed to be a Greek diversionist. His body was thrown in the swamps around the

Struma River The Struma or Strymónas ( bg, Струма ; el, Στρυμόνας ; tr, (Struma) Karasu , 'black water') is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymṓn (Greek: Στρυμών ). Its drainage area is , of which in Bulgaria, ...

Legacy

Hadzhiivanov's poetry was written before 1950 and hidden by his friends from communist State Security services, before later being sent abroad to be published. A small memorial was placed at the site of his death in 1999 under the auspices of the Bulgarian vice-president Todor Kavaldzhiev. A ceremony was held on the 70th anniversary of his birth. For the 80th anniversary in 2009, an Initiative Committee was established under the chairmanship of fellow Bulgarian poet Evtim Evtimov.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadzhiivanov, Krastyo 20th-century Bulgarian poets Bulgarian male poets People from Petrich Macedonian Bulgarians 1929 births Bulgarian resistance members 1952 deaths 20th-century male writers