Bulgaria didn’t take part in the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, nor the German invasion of
Greece.
However did you know that Bulgaria did take part (as an Axis power) in the occupation of parts
of Greece and parts of the now dismembered Yugoslav kingdom.
This will be the story of the Bulgarian occupation of parts of Yugoslavia.
Keep watching.
Hey good to have you back on the channel. If you are new.
My name is Stefan. I am a Dutch history teacher and I like to cover history, preferably
on location. I'm right now in Skopje (the capital of North Macedonia). If you find that interesting as well consider subscribing and also hit that notification bell.
To understand why Bulgaria annexed a part of Yugoslavia in the first place, we need
to look at Bulgaria's role early 20th century.
The country was involved in three wars: the First and Second Balkan War and the First
World War.
During the First Balkan War Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro teamed up against the
Ottoman Empire and proclaimed victory.
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with
its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, fought against Serbia, Romania, Greece,
Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire.
Bulgaria lost.
During WW1 Bulgaria allied itself with the Central Powers.
It once again led to defeat.
Bulgaria joined the Axis Powers early March 1941.
The following month on 6 April Germany invaded both Yugoslavia and Greece.
Both invasions I covered in the past, see the description for the links on just that.
Although Germany launched its invasions from Bulgaria, Bulgaria itself didn't join the
invasions.
Yet, they did take part in the occupation of parts of the two countries.
The Yugoslav region that was occupied by Bulgaria is the largest part of what today is the country
of North Macedonia (a smaller part in the west came under Italian influence) and a part
of Serbia.
During the interwar years the region was referred to as Vardar Banovina or Vardar Banate.
In literature it is referred to as Vardar Macedonia or just Macedonia, which angers
Greek people because Macedonia is a much larger geographical region with areas in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Albania but the bulk of most of Macedonia is located in Greece.
Some Greek people argue that Macedonians cannot be Slavic people, so therefore Slavo Macedonians or North Macedonians is simply
a wrong name. I do refer to them as such in this video, because
what else do I have to call them? People with roots from Bulgaria or Serbia that pretend to be Macedonians? That's a whole mouth full. I use these words you see right here.
I hope you understand.
When the Germans marched into this region they were greeted as liberators by the local
population.
During the interwar years policies of Serbianization were implemented, much to the dismay of the
population:
“Administrative brutality, Serbian chauvinism, political corruption, and economic exploitation
were more flagrant in [Yugoslav] Macedonia than in any other part of Yugoslavia.”
When the Germans arrived pro-Bulgarian Yugoslav Macedonians raised banners with: “One people,
one Tsar, one kingdom.”
On 19 April 1941 the Bulgarian army entered the region and they were very much welcomed.
“Without making any formal proclamation, it simply extended Bulgarian military, administrative,
police, and judicial organizations and legislation to these regions, though it did issue a number
of specific laws and decrees applicable to them.”
Bulgarian legislation was simply extended in the newly taken territories.
The Bulgarian government took over all the property that had formerly belonged to the
Yugoslav state, except for the assets retained by the Germans.
The Bulgarian Fifth Army took over the region.
A force of about 40,000 was kept in the region.
Early 1943 with partisan activity increasing another division was brought in.
“For administrative purposes, the annexed area was divided into two districts, Skopje
and Bitola, each under a district director.
The police, too, were territorially organized, though police chiefs were independent of administrative
directors.”
The annexed areas of Kosovo and southeast Serbia, which the Bulgarians claimed were
populated by Morava Valley Bulgarians, were attached to other administrative districts
and put under other Bulgarian troops.
Similar policies were followed in these regions.
After the initial joy, soon there was disappointment.
See, the Serbian officials were simply replaced by Bulgarian officials (which often weren't
the best ones).
During the interwar period the people were told: ‘you are Serbs!’
Now they were told: ‘you are Bulgarians’.
From Sofia everything was decided and efforts were made to transform the region into a part
of Greater Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian government saw the region as rightfully Bulgarian.
However, instead of liberators they acted as conquerors: harsh and rude to the local
population.
The Yugoslav Macedonians were treated as backward Bulgarians.
The Bulgarians realized only a part of the population saw themselves as Bulgarians.
Education was to facilitate the proces of Bulgarization.
Local teachers deemed suitable were sent to Bulgaria for a year of study and indoctrination.
“The new curriculum in the [North] Macedonian schools strongly emphasized Bulgarian topics
and discouraged the use of the [Slavo] Macedonian language, which the Bulgarian authorities
regarded, rightly or wrongly, as only a dialect of Bulgarian.
A typical weekly schedule included seven hours of Bulgarian, three hours of Bulgarian history,
and one hour of Bulgarian church history.”
The Bulgarians did implement laws for tax relief and economic assistance; 800 new schools
were established and Skopje was presented with a library, a museum, a national theater,
and a university.
The Bulgarians also assumed control over the Orthodox churches in the area.
Mid-1942 Bulgarian citizenship was imposed on the people.
Those who refused would be required to leave the country.
Those who accepted Bulgarian citizenship were promised tax exemption.
It did lead to the expulsion of Serbs and Montenegrins and around 26,000 left for German-occupied
Serbia.
Resistance occured.
As a result of that the Bulgarians applied draconic measures: people were rounded up, imprisoned, had to perform forced labour
or were deported to Bulgaria.
A special type of Bulgarian counterunit was developed, though with little success.
What happened to the Jews in this region?
As you may know, Bulgaria refused to hand over the Bulgarian Jews.
Unfortunately this applied to the Jews in Bulgaria proper, but not to the Jews in the
Bulgarian-annexed regions of Greece and Yugoslavia.
The Bulgarian government took care of the roundup and deportation of over 7,000 Jews
in Skopje and Bitola.
Inside German-occupied Serbia the Bulgarians did assist the Germans with maintaining order.
Initially Hitler envisioned their role to be small, but later that year German leaders
wanted the Bulgarians to police a large part of Serbia in order to move German occupying
forces tot he Eastern Front.
They arranged Bulgarian troops to occupy about 40 percent of Serbia proper.
The were put under German command.
The principal task of the Bulgarian troops was to safeguard the railroads, main highways
and the main industrial enterprises, mines, and supply centers.
Administration was done by the collaborating Serbian state authorities and political control
was done by the Germans.
As said, the Bulgarians in Serbia proper were under full German command.
The area in which the Bulgarians served as occupation troops was expanded on two later
occasions (January and July 1943) bringing them in control of 80% of Serbia proper (excluding
the Banat).
Relations between Bulgarian troops and Serb population were strained as many Serbs hadn’t
forgotten the Bulgarian occupation of WW1.
In the closing days of the pro-Axis Bulgarian regime (late summer 1944) both Germans and
Chetniks started to disarm Bulgarian forces.
Other Bulgarian forces soon left.
In September 1944 Bulgaria switched sides.
The Germans wanted to establish a pro-Nazi puppet state. That is something for another episode.