PREFACE

PREFACE

A number of events during the pre-Ilinden period, more or less, revealed to Europe and to the world that a revolutionary movement was brewing in Macedonia and foretold of the storm that was about to explode in this backward, politically disadvantaged and exploited Ottoman province. The Vinitsa and a number of other failures, the conflicts between the Macedonian armed bands and the Ottoman army, the terror perpetrated by the Ottoman authorities against the Macedonian population, all appeared as normal occurrences of a deep revolutionary situation causing many problems inside and outside of Macedonia. The Solun assassinations, carried out several months before the Ilinden Uprising, were very bloody and serious enough to get the attention of the European public and the diplomatic circles in Europe.

The bombings were the work of the Gemidzhii (boatmen, sailors), a small group of people composed mainly of young men, hoping that, through a great struggle against the European establishment in Macedonia, they would force the European Great Powers to ensure Macedonia would be awarded its autonomy, which was promised to them under the 1878 Berlin agreement, and for which the Great Powers were morally responsible.

The entire Macedonian population in almost all of Macedonia had accepted the idea of Macedonia being liberated by revolutionary means. At the head of the revolutionary movement stood the Macedonian intelligentsia which believed that Macedonia’s liberation could be achieved through long-term political and material preparations, i.e. through the conscious revolutionary action of the most disadvantaged and exploited people. However, there were some young people who were impatient and felt that individual revolutionary actions and self-sacrifice could replace the collective effort of the many people and thus save them from the consequences of a general and bloody uprising.

The Gemidzhii circle in Solun was a child of the times when the Macedonian people were organizing a mass struggle against their centuries-old oppressor… at the time when they were fighting to attain their national and social freedom. Beyond that, the Gemidzhii

circle was also a product of a time when anarchism in Europe was “fashionable”, a way of asserting rights and correcting wrongs.

Even though the Gemidzhii were influenced by European anarchist and nihilistic ideas, their attitudes and their revolutionary actions were different from those of the European anarchists. The Gemidzhii were extremely compassionate towards the innocent and subjugated population and always took care to minimize suffering caused by their actions. Their attacks were different, especially in their preparation. They never put their own lives ahead of others. They were never careless. They put a lot of effort into their preparations, lasting months and sometimes even years. More importantly they never hesitated to give up their own lives, after their work was done, to prove that they were not common terrorists but fighters fighting for the freedom of their homeland Macedonia.

The Gemidzhii neither could nor wanted to penetrate the essence of anarchist ideology. They were not interested in it. They were preoccupied with the question of how to do the job “easier” and “faster” and how to minimize casualties in the liberation of Macedonia. This is why they took the road that they did and the means they applied, which, according to them, would have given them the desired results.

The Gemidzhii were a small group of individuals consisting mostly of intellectuals supporting one another in their own little circle. They did not belong to any international organization, party or any part of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. Everything they did was voluntary and was done under the disciplinary norms they themselves had created. Iordan Popiordanov-Ortse was recognized as the leader of the Gemidzhii circle, thanks to his character and traits. The main cohesive force that firmly connected the Gemidzhii was their fanatical devotion to their work. They felt responsible for one another and together were responsible for Macedonia’s liberation.

The Gemidzhii were a modest bunch, withdrawn, full of love for their people and full of hatred for the enemy. They were young with boundless courage. They did not think of life without freedom, they preferred death over slavery. Their sacrifices were made to convince

the people of Europe that a society able to give birth to such heroes was worthy of living a life of freedom.

They were preparing for one terrible thing; something that would upset and disturb Europe. They were preparing for a terrible act; to end life. The Gemidzhii worked like shadows always seeking to be anonymous. No one outside of the ten of them knew exactly what they were preparing for and who was going to do what. Very little was known about their ideals, determination and attitude to life and freedom.

They were prepared to sacrifice themselves for Macedonia and, except for their work, did not want to leave any trace of themselves in history. The Macedonian armed revolutionary bands, for example, always wanted to be photographed. They wanted to be seen in well-dressed revolutionary gear, well-armed, with big beards. They wanted to look “fearless”. The Gemidzhii, on the other hand, rather some of them, left only a photograph or two of themselves. But not Ortse, his character has remained completely unknown. There was no force that could make Ortse want to be in a picture. He wanted no portrait or memorial to be left behind after his death. “Let others speak of our deeds” he often used to say. This was the same with Kirkov and Meche…

The Gemidzhii usually solved their own problems personally that rose during their preparations for action. They did not take minutes during meetings and rarely corresponded with one another. The leadership of the entire “conspiracy” was placed in Ortse’s hands. It was his responsibility to maintain the links with Tsari Grad (Constantinople) and Sofia. He received money and shared it with his friends. In all this there were no documents or formalities. The Gemidzhii were faithful to fanaticism and to one another and did not feel they needed to be controlled. There were no documents proving their existence. They did not publish any brochures or newspaper, nor did they make any proclamations or anything similar to that through which to communicate their program and struggle to the public. Therefore it is very difficult to write about their actions and about their struggle.

Given the strict secrecy in their preparations for action and in their isolation (keeping to themselves), the only ones who could have had any information on the Gemidzhii would have to be the Gemizhii themselves. This was done by two of the surviving Gemidzhii, Pavel Shatev and Todor Organdziev.

The first author to write about the Gemidzhii was S. Simeonov with the publication of his booklet “The Solun Conspiracy” (Sofia, 1921). This author was the first writer to give a brief review of their terror acts in Solun, based on information obtained from the surviving Gemizhii Pavel Shatev and Todor Organdziev, who gave a short but personal account of most of the Gemidzhii.

Pavel Shatev’s accounts, recorded in 1908 by Liubomir Miletich, appeared in 1927 in Book VI of the famous series “Historical material about the Macedonian Liberation Movement”, published by the Macedonian Institute of Science in Sofia. There are actually a number of stories published in this book about the assassinations themselves, with extensive excerpts from P. Shatev’s book “Exile in Fezzan-Sahara” originally published in 1910. Shatev kept a diary during the trials. Then, based on his 250 page diary, he gave a poignant picture of the life of the convicted Gemidzhii and the fifty other Macedonian revolutionaries who were sent to exile in Fezzan-Sahara.

The Gemidzhii and their actions and consequences in the Solun assassinations were given a place of their own and viewed separately from the other revolutionary struggles for the first time by Hristo Silianov in his book “Osloboditeni Borbi na Makedonia” (Liberation struggles of Macedonia) (Volume I, Sofia, 1933).

Shatev’s memoirs, written by Shatev himself, sprang out in 1934 under the title “Bo Makedonia pod robstvo – So punsko szaklitie (1903)”.

Here Shatev objectively talks about the Gemidzhii and their actions in great detail, with some assessment about their circle and other tumultuous events of that period. Shatev was not one of those people who liked to talk about himself. The only time he talked about

himself was when describing the conflict between him and Ivan Garvanov.

Shatev’s memoirs, like any other historical literature of this kind, have drawbacks. But despite this, his memoirs are the most important and basic source of first hand information on this important issue of our history. Outside of Simeonov’s book, this was almost the only publicly available information available to us on the Gemidzhii until the end of the Second World War.

This, however, began to change after a number of diplomatic reports from the Solun, Bitola and Skopje consulates and the Catholic missions became public and available to science. These declassified documents dispatched by the consuls and Pisi, a Catholic missionary, were professionally prepared witness reports and highly valuable for the assessment of these events. This was the first time that a means was made available to us to verify the many events described by Shatev. Included among the publications that followed were the works of Professor Dancho Zografski’s “Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee”, Todor Organzhiev’s short memoirs as well as several letters written by Mandzhukov and Ortse, which helped broaden and complement our knowledge and gave us new insights into the Gemidzhii and their actions.

All Macedonian generations have shown great interest in knowing more about the Gemidzhii and about the Solun assassinations. This book is a second attempt to satisfy that interest. (The first attempt was made by Iovan Pavlovski who wrote an extensive article entitled “The Gemidzhii” published by “Nova Makedonija” as a series of installments starting on January 25, 1980.) We are aware that, due to lack of sufficient archival and other material, we were unable to answer all the questions that surfaced during our research and all the gaps that opened up. But we did the best we could which means more remains to be done by future researchers.

We think the term “atentati” (assassins) to describe the Gemidzhii and their actions is inappropriate and inadequate. However, this is the term accepted by our people and we think that it should not be changed.