Aleksandar Protogerov

 

Protogerov was born in 1867 in Ohrid in the Ottoman Empire (now in North Macedonia). Later he graduated there with his primary education in the local Bulgarian Exarchate school. On 5 October 1882 he entered the Military School in Sofia and as a cadet was a volunteer in the Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885). In 1887 he graduated from the Military School and was assigned to the infantry. On 18 May 1890 he was already a lieutenant. On 2 August 1894 he became a captain and served as an adjutant in the 1st Brigade of the 5th Danube Infantry Division. He served in Rousse, where he was the leader of the Bulgarian Officers' Brotherhoods. Later he served as a company commander of the 32nd Zagore Infantry Regiment. He was among the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. Protogerov took part in the Gorna Dzhumaya uprising in 1902 and in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising. Later joined the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.^[6]

In the Balkan Wars, Protogerov was one of the organizers of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps and Assistant Commander of this military unit. During the First World War, he commanded the Third Infantry Brigade of the 11th Macedonian Infantry Division and then became commander of the Bulgarian troops in the Pomoravlje region of Serbia. There he suppressed the Toplica Uprising, commanding an army that committed a large number of war crimes, including cruel murders of thousands of women, children and the elderly. Later, as commandant of Sofia, Protogerov suppressed the Bulgarian soldier's uprising.^[7] After World War I, Protogerov was elected as one of the leaders of IMRO. In 1922 general Protogerov projected the creation of an autonomous Macedonia with its capital in Thessalonica to be a part of Bulgaria.^[8] In 1923 the IMRO under Todor Aleksandrov and Protogerov assassinated Bulgaria’s prime minister, Aleksandar Stamboliyski, after he signed the Treaty of Niš with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and undertook the obligation to suppress the military operations of the IMRO carried out from Bulgarian territory.

In 1924, IMRO entered negotiations with the Comintern about collaboration between the communists and the Macedonian movement and the creation of a united Macedonian movement. Protogerov and Petar Chaulev probably signed the so-called May Manifesto about forming a Balkan Communist Federation and cooperation with the Soviet Union in Vienna. Later, Protogerov denied through the Bulgarian press that they had ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery. Shortly after, Todor Alexandrov was assassinated in unclear circumstances and IMRO came under the leadership of Ivan Mihailov, who became a powerful figure in Bulgarian politics. In 1925 Protogerov was injured in the St Nedelya Church assault organized by the communists.

In IMRO itself, a major split arose between Mihailov's wing, supported by Andrey Lyapchev, and Protogerov's wing, supported by Aleksandar Tsankov. The faction led by Protogerov opted for continuing with the tactics of guerrilla warfare, while that led by Mihailov insisted on individual terrorist attacks. The result of this split and communists conspiracies was further strife within the organization and several high-profile murders, including that of Protogerov himself.^[9]

• Soldier's Cross of Bravery III grade, Bulgaria
• Military Order of Bravery III grade, Bulgaria
• Royal Order of St. Alexander III grade with swords in the middle, Bulgaria
• People's Order of Military Merit III grade on military ribbon, Bulgaria

• Вазов, В., Животописни бележки, София, 1992, Военноиздателски комплекс „Св. Георги Победоносец“, ISBN 954-509-002-2, с.123