Pere Toshev

Pere Toshev
Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary
Born1865
Prilep, Ottoman Empire
DiedMay 4, 1912
Drenovo, Ottoman Empire

Petar (Pere) Naumov Toshev (Bulgarian: Петър (Пере) Наумов Тошев, Macedonian: Петар (Пере) Наумов Тошев; 1865–1912) was a Bulgarian teacher[1][2][3] and an activist of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization.[4] In the historiography in North Macedonia he is considered an ethnic Macedonian revolutionary.[5]

Tosev's plea for appointing a Bulgarian teacher sent to Joseph I of Bulgaria in 1901.[6]

Early life

Toshev was born in the town of Prilep, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He studied at the Bulgarian Exarchate's school in Prilep and the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki.[7] Later Pere attended the Gymnazium in Plovdiv, capital of the recently created Eastern Rumelia. Here he joined the Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee founded in 1885.[8] The original purpose of the committee was to gain autonomy for the region of Macedonia (then called Western Rumelia), but it played an important role in the organization of the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.[9] During the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, he joined the Bulgarian Army as a volunteer. During 1885–1890 Pere Toshev and Andrey Lyapchev organised a series of secret meetings in the villages around Plovdiv. They decided to organize a new Macedonian-Adrianople liberation organization. In 1890, they were on an intelligence touring through Macedonia.[10]

Teacher and activist

In the period 1892–1893, Toshev worked as a Bulgarian Exarchate teacher together with Dame Gruev in Macedonia. After joining the IMARO, he became an activist. In 1900 Toshev conducted the ceremony inducting the members of the CC of the Bulgarian Secret Revolutionary Brotherhood, including Ivan Garvanov into the IMARO.[11] In 1901, Pere was exiled by the Ottoman authorities in Asia Minor. During the Ilinden Uprising in 1903, he led a detachment in the region of Mariovo. He was a delegate at the Prilep Congress of IMARO in 1904. At the Rila Congress of IMARO in 1905 he was elected as a member of the CC of the Organization. In the massization of Serbian propaganda in Macedonia, Pere Toshev attempted to neutralize peacefully the Serbian bands in the area. After the capture of Dame Gruev by the Serbs he personally met Gligor Sokolović, and subsequently Dame Gruev was released.[12] After Ivan Garvanov and Boris Sarafov's murder, he was briefly arrested as a suspected. After the Young Turk Revolution, Pere Toshev opposed the legalization of the Organization. Toshev, Anton Strashimirov and Gyorche Petrov published the newspapers "Konstitutsionna zarya" and "Edinstvo", close to the People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section). In 1910–1911 he was a school inspector of the Bulgarian schools in the Salonica revolutionary district. Toshev was killed by the Turks in Drenovo, near Kavadarci in 1912.[13]

Anastas Lozanchev wrote about him in his account of IMARO's founding in 1894: „Pere had clearly defined ideas, with defined views on the revolutionary struggles, which no one else at that time had. He was an old revolutionary; he had participated together with other Macedonian Bulgarians... in the unification of Northern and Southern Bulgaria.“[14]

References

  1. ^ Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна македоно-одринска революционна организация : Войводи и ръководители (1893–1934) : Биографично-библиографски справочник. София, Издателство „Звезди“, 2001. ISBN 954-9514-28-5. с. 169.
  2. ^ Пелтеков, Александър Г. Революционни дейци от Македония и Одринско. Второ допълнено издание. София, Орбел, 2014. ISBN 9789544961022. с. 472-473.
  3. ^ What was meant by “secret” hardly needs detailed explanation. The meaning of “internal” is also clear – the organization was created by those Bulgarians who continued living “within” the borders of the Ottoman Empire. That was another reason why its headquarters remained in Thessaloniki during its existence, in spite of some of its leaders’ intentions to relocate it periodically, and its representatives in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) were called “external.” The following were some of the most prominent figures and leaders of the IMARO (members of the Central Committee [CC]) throughout the years: Damyan (Dame) Gruev (1871–1906), Georgi (Gotse) Delchev (1872–1903) – the gem of Macedonia, as Andon Lazov Yanev-Kyoseto called him in his memoirs – Yane Sandanski (1872–1915), Georgi (Gyorche) Petrov (1865–1921), Ivan Garvanov (1869–1907), Petar (Pere) Toshev (1865–1912), Hristo Chernopeev (1868–1915), Dimo Hadzhidimov, Krastyo Asenov, Aleksandar Protogerov, Todor Aleksandrov, and Ivan (Vanche) Mihaylov. For more see: Peter Kardjilov (2020) The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, ISBN 9781527550735, p. 3.
  4. ^ Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810855658, pp. 222-223.
  5. ^ Drugovac, Miodrag (1990). Историја на македонската книжевност XX век. Misla. p. 68. ISBN 9788615002039.
  6. ^ Ц. Билярски, „Родом българин...” Три непубликувани документа на Тодор Александров, Христо Матов и Пере Тошев, сп. „Пиринска Македония днес”, декември 1992, с. 27-29.
  7. ^ Тома Николов, Спомени из моето минало."Дневници и спомени за българската история." Изд-во на Отечествения фронт, 1989, стр. 24.
  8. ^ Андонов, Иван. Съединението, Пловдив, 1929, с. 36.
  9. ^ Билярски, Цочо. Княжество България и македонският въпрос, т.1. Върховен македоно-одрински комитет 1895–1905 (Протоколи от конгресите), Българска историческа библиотека, 5, Иврай, София, 2002, стр. 80.
  10. ^ Николов, Борис Й. ВМОРО : псевдоними и шифри 1893–1934. София, Издателство „Звезди“, 1999. ISBN 954-9514-17. с. 60.
  11. ^ The Politics of Terror: The MacEdonian Liberation Movements, 1893–1903, Duncan M. Perry, Duke University Press, 1988, ISBN 0822308134, p. 93.
  12. ^ Свeтозар Тошев, племенник на Пере Тошев - "Пере Тошев; личност и дело - по случай 110 години от рождението му", София, 2 април 1975 година.
  13. ^ Билярски, Цочо. Княжество България и македонският въпрос, т.1. Върховен македоно-одрински комитет 1895–1905 (Протоколи от конгресите), Българска историческа библиотека, 5, Иврай, София, 2002, стр. 80.
  14. ^ Илюстрация Илинден (Illustrated Ilinden), 1943, issue.143, p.1-3

Sources