Exegi monumentum aere perennius

Aleksandar Stojcev in honorem

Abstract

The paper is written in honor of and in tribute to my former student, the late Aleksandar Stojcev, a History Ph.D. specializing in military history. In that sense the paper focuses on the participation of Macedonians in the First World War, until recently overlooked by historians and ignored by politicians of western EU countries who continue to follow the politics of their time. In this way, both support the denial of the Macedonian name, language and identity by Macedonia's neighbors who have never been satisfied with the "solution" of the Macedonian question ever since the Balkan wars. Professor Alexandаr Stojcev was an honorable exception to the rule.

The massive participation of the Macedonians under the flag of the neighboring states during the Balkan wars, in the hope of being liberated from the Ottomans, came to nothing as, with the consent of the Great powers, Macedonia's ethnic territory was divided among the neighboring states - a state of things which was then cemented by the First World War. Many historians, trapped in their national or even nationalist historiographies, are silent about neighbours'propaganda among the Macedonian people, using their churches on Macedonian soil to carry out forced assimilation, supported by the terror of infiltrated armed squads. They are also silent about both the civilian and military victims of these wars, justifying all this by the alleged lack of a national conscience among Macedonians, while neglecting in the process the testimonies to the existence of the latter.

Keywords:

Macedonia, Macedonian front, forced mobilization, Balkan Wars, World War I, French exposition, original soldiers' postal documents.