Nikola Atanasov ( bg, Никола Атанасов) 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 ...
revolutionary and a politician from the eastern part of
Macedonia.
Biography
Nikola Atanasov was born to a poor family in the village of Fotovishta, today known as
Ognyanovo in
Garmen
Garmen ( bg, Гърмен) is a village in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria and is the seat of Garmen Municipality. It is located in southwestern Bulgaria in the Western Rhodope Mountains in the Chech region 75 kilometers southeast of Blagoevgra ...
Municipality, then part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. He won a scholarship and finished the Bulgarian Theological School in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. He returned in Macedonia and entered the
(IMARO) by joining the revolutionary bands of
Stoyan Filipov and
Stoyan Malchankov.
After the liberation of
Pirin Macedonia
Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is the third-biggest part of the geographical region Macedonia located on t ...
in the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
in 1912, Atanasov worked in the tax administration of
Nevrokop
Gotse Delchev ( bg, Гоце Делчев ), is a town in Gotse Delchev Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria.
In 1951, the town was renamed after the Bulgarian revolutionary hero Gotse Delchev. It had hitherto been called Nevrok ...
, today known as Gotse Delchev. At the same time, he continued to participate in the activities of the revolutionary organization.
In April 1926, Atanasov was elected mayor of Nevrokop and remained in this position until May 1932. As mayor, he planned the public organization of the town – he created the first urbanization plan, he constructed a water-conduit and an electricity grid, he built a new secondary school. In his memoirs,
Ivan Mihaylov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov ( bg, Иван Михайлов Гаврилов; mk, Ванчо Михајлов Гаврилов;He is credited in English-language sources as ''Mihailov'', while the Bulgarian and Macedonian transliteration schemes w ...
wrote the following about Atanasov:
After the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, and the strike against the IMARO, Atanasov was interned in
Lovech
Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast f ...
. After the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944, Atanasov hid in the village of
Zagrade. Surrounded by the militia, Atanasov showed resistance and was severely wounded in his backbone. Although he was in a stretcher, he was prosecuted by the so-called People's Court, a temporary Bulgarian judiciary institution, which was active in the period between December 19, 1944 and April 1945. He was killed with pick-mattocks in the garden of the Nevrokop prison.
[Куманов, Милен. „Македония. Кратък исторически справочник“, София, 1993.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atanasov, Nikola
1886 births
1945 deaths
People from Garmen
Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
Bulgarian revolutionaries
Macedonian Bulgarians
Mayors of places in Bulgaria
Bulgarian people who died in prison custody
Prisoners murdered in custody
Prisoners who died in Bulgarian detention