Between Two Motherlands , livre ebook

317

pages

English

Ebooks

2011

Écrit par
Theodora Dragostinova

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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317

pages

English

Ebooks

2011

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 avril 2011

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801460685

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

In 1900, some 100,000 people living in Bulgaria-2 percent of the country's population-could be described as Greek, whether by nationality, language, or religion. The complex identities of the population-proud heirs of ancient Hellenic colonists, loyal citizens of their Bulgarian homeland, members of a wider Greek diasporic community, devout followers of the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, and reluctant supporters of the Greek government in Athens-became entangled in the growing national tensions between Bulgaria and Greece during the first half of the twentieth century. In Between Two Motherlands, Theodora Dragostinova explores the shifting allegiances of this Greek minority in Bulgaria. Diverse social groups contested the meaning of the nation, shaping and reshaping what it meant to be Greek and Bulgarian during the slow and painful transition from empire to nation-states in the Balkans. In these decades, the region was racked by a series of upheavals (the Balkan Wars, World War I, interwar population exchanges, World War II, and Communist revolutions). The Bulgarian Greeks were caught between the competing agendas of two states increasingly bent on establishing national homogeneity. Based on extensive research in the archives of Bulgaria and Greece, as well as fieldwork in the two countries, Dragostinova shows that the Greek population did not blindly follow Greek nationalist leaders but was torn between identification with the land of their birth and loyalty to the Greek cause. Many emigrated to Greece in response to nationalist pressures; others sought to maintain their Greek identity and traditions within Bulgaria; some even switched sides when it suited their personal interests. National loyalties remained fluid despite state efforts to fix ethnic and political borders by such means as population movements, minority treaties, and stringent citizenship rules. The lessons of a case such as this continue to reverberate wherever and whenever states try to adjust national borders in regions long inhabited by mixed populations.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 avril 2011

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801460685

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

BEtwEEN TwO MOtHERlàNDS

Theodor a dr agosTinova

Between Two • Motherlands Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria,1900–1949

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS | ITHACA AND LONDON

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2011 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Dragostinova, Theodora, 1972– Between two motherlands : nationality and emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900–1949 / Theodora Dragostinova. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801449451 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Greeks—Bulgaria—History—20th century. 2. Greeks—Bulgaria—Ethnic identity. 3. Population transfers—Greeks—History—20th century. 4. Greece— Emigration and immigration—History—20th century. 5. Bulgaria—Emigration and immigration—History—20th century. 6. Refugees—Greece—History— 20th century. 7. Refugees—Bulgaria—History—20th century. I. Title. DR64.2.G73D7 2011 305.88'049909041—dc22 2010042044

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONtENtS

List of Maps and Figures Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Terminology and Chronology

Introduction 1. The Mixing and Unmixing of Bulgarians and Greeks 2. Between the Bulgarian State and the Greek Nation, 1900–1911 3. Nationality and Shifting Borders, 1912–1918 4. An Exercise in Population Management, 1919–1925 5. Everyday Life after Emigration, 1925–1931 6. People on the Margins, 1931–1941 7. Narratives and Memories of the Past Epilogue

Selected Bibliography Index

vii ix xiii xv

1 17 35 77 117 157 193 217 249

269 281

MàpS àND FIGuRES

MAPS 1. Bulgaria, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire, 1878–1912 2. Border changes in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and the Ottoman Empire, 1912–1923 3. Bulgaria and Greece, 1923–1947

FIGURES 1. Bulgarians mocking the Greek bishop of Varna, 3 July 1906 2. The burned Anhialo/Anchialos after the fire of 30 July 1906 3. Clothing distribution to Greek refugees from Bulgaria residing in Athens after 1906 4. Greek refugees waiting to leave Xanthi in 1913 5. Greek refugees returning to Xanthi in 1918 6. The Greek inhabitants of Mesemvria preparing to leave for Greece in 1925 7. An airplane view of Anhialo/Anchialos showing the old town and the new refugee neighborhood built after World War I 8. Young people in Sozopol/Sozoupolis dressed for carnival in the interwar years

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xviii xix

42 45

52 97 99

152

174

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ackNOwlEDGmENtS

his book, I now realize, has been the product of my own life between myTpersonal transition from the intensely optimistic early years of post two motherlands. A native of Bulgaria, in 1992 I found myself study ing history and archaeology in Greece. This experience informed socialism to the unsettling realization that change after communism would be slow and ambiguous. I still remembered the disturbing images of the Turks in Bulgaria forcefully fleeing the country in early 1989 because of pressures from the communist regime, and I could not comprehend why in 1990, after the fall of communism, noisy demonstrations would call for the continued restriction of their religious and cultural traditions. When the for mer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia declared independence in 1991, the Bulgarian government was the first one to recognize this political act, but politicians and ordinary Bulgarians alike adhered to paternalistic ideas of how the relationship between the two neighbors should develop. In Greece the government denied the right of the new country to call itself Macedonia, and national leaders organized huge rallies claiming exclusive Greek ownership of the legacy of ancient Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Meanwhile, the conflict between the constituent republics of Yugoslavia escalated by the week, leading to wars in Croatia and Bosnia that overshad owed the previously optimistic international broadcasts from the region. Nationalism seemed to have engulfed the Balkans for good. To further com plicate my personal dilemma of how to handle being a Bulgarian in Greece, I had to swallow the fact that, in many of my classes, important events of Bulgarian history were interpreted differently and often negatively. As my universe of national heroes was being shattered and the world around me was falling apart, nothing seemed to be left from the blissful calm of my childhood spent in the oblivion of late socialism.

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