Between Two Motherlands: Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949

316 Pages·2011·4.86 MB·English

by  Theodora Dragostinova

Between Two Motherlands

Theodora dragosTinova
Between Two
•
Motherlands
Nationality and Emigration among
the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900–1949
Cornell University Press | ithaCa and london
Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University
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
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
list of Maps and Figures vii
acknowledgments ix
list of abbreviations xiii
note on terminology and Chronology xv
introduction 1
1. the Mixing and Unmixing of Bulgarians and Greeks 17
2. Between the Bulgarian state and the Greek nation, 1900–1911 35
3. nationality and shifting Borders, 1912–1918 77
4. an exercise in Population Management, 1919–1925 117
5. everyday life after emigration, 1925–1931 157
6. People on the Margins, 1931–1941 193
7. narratives and Memories of the Past 217
epilogue 249
selected Bibliography 269
index 281

Maps and Figures
Maps
1. Bulgaria, Greece, and the ottoman empire, 1878–1912 xvii
2. Border changes in Bulgaria, Greece, serbia, and the ottoman
empire, 1912–1923 xviii
3. Bulgaria and Greece, 1923–1947 xix
Figures
1. Bulgarians mocking the Greek bishop of varna, 3 July 1906 42
2. the burned anhialo/anchialos after the fire of 30 July 1906 45
3. Clothing distribution to Greek refugees from Bulgaria residing
in athens after 1906 52
4. Greek refugees waiting to leave Xanthi in 1913 97
5. Greek refugees returning to Xanthi in 1918 99
6. the Greek inhabitants of Mesemvria preparing to leave for
Greece in 1925 152
7. an airplane view of anhialo/anchialos showing the old town
and the new refugee neighborhood built after World War i 174
8. young people in sozopol/sozoupolis dressed for carnival in the
interwar years 176

acknowledgments
T
his book, i now realize, has been the product of my own life between
two motherlands. a native of Bulgaria, in 1992 i found myself study-
ing history and archaeology in Greece. this experience informed
my personal transition from the intensely optimistic early years of post-
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.
x | Acknowledgments
the company of my smart, sensitive, and witty friends, and the guid-
ance of my generous and broad-minded professors, muted the noisy rhetoric
of everyday nationalists. Faced with the debunking of my myths, i gained
an understanding of the experiences of people living outside a dominant
culture. as part of the “generation of democracy,” the high school stu-
dents graduating immediately after 1989, many of my friends left Bulgaria
for various countries across the world, and i constantly heard stories of
personal triumph, family sacrifice, disappointment, accommodation, and
perseverance. at the same time Greece was full of illegal Bulgarian labor mi-
grants, and, on the long bus rides home during my breaks, i listened to their
stories of risky border crossings, long hours of hard work, tense encounters
with authorities, misunderstandings with employers, and the lingering de-
sire to see their families and simply “go home.” in addition to heartbreak-
ing personal tragedies, there were also accounts of successful adaptation,
financial gain, and the resourceful handling of difficult circumstances. every
so often i heard about a distant “Greek grandmother,” inevitably inferring
that the person was actually Greek, even if the locals did not recognize it.
Back in Bulgaria i paid attention to the situation of other “others”; turks,
Bulgarian Muslims, roma, and foreigners from all corners of the world all
offered moving insights on being treated as “strangers within.” Ultimately
i decided to pursue my graduate studies in the United states. But when i first
arrived in the country in 1998, the escalating conflict in Kosovo had again
turned attention to the Balkans and generated much discussion about the
“burdens of history” in the area. i was determined to find a topic that not
only would explain the nationalistic outburst of hatred in the area but one
that would also refute the clichés of “primordial animosities” circulating
around me. and when i returned to Bulgaria and Greece, searching for this
topic in archives and libraries, i came across a small minority group, the
Greeks of Bulgaria; forgotten, neglected, irrelevant for the history of the
two countries but happily adaptive, wittily resourceful, and consciously “in
between” cultures and traditions, they seemed to provide answers to the
questions that most concerned me.
inevitably my personal experiences and scholarly pursuits have led me
to redefine where my own loyalties lay. almost twenty years after i first
arrived in Greece and twelve years after i came to the United states, i am
still seeking answers. on the one hand, i constantly remind myself that
i am Bulgarian. on the other, i know that my nationality is seldom relevant
for my choices. yet, if i am to relinquish my Bulgarianness, i would feel
immensely stripped of an intimate part of who i am. i am ardently anti-
nationalist and sometimes have found that i am nationally oblivious, but
i continue to be intensely nationally aware. i am happy to navigate two
countries and two cultures, but i am yet to find a closure for my dilemma
of what the reality of being in-between makes me. all these questions,
as experienced by people of a different generation, are also tackled in
this book.