135th anniversary of Botev’s death

published on 6/2/11 12:43 PM

On June 2, Bulgaria marks the 135th anniversary of Hristo Botev’s death. Botev, one of Bulgaria’s most favourite national heroes, was a genius poet, whose works have been translated into many languages. On June 2, Bulgarians also commemorate those who died in the name of Bulgaria’s liberty and independence.
Hristo Botev lived in crucial historical times- a period of national revolutions and social repercussions, as well as of new democratic ideas emerging in the old continent. At the time Bulgaria faced a turning point in the liberation struggles from some 5 centuries of Ottoman rule. Botev’s poetry is inspired by the heroes who died in the liberation struggles. Some of his most popular poems are the ballad Hadzhi Dimitar and the elegy The Hanging of Vasil Levski. These works eulogize the sacrifice of two great Bulgarian revolutionaries and the immortal nature of the aspiration to freedom. Botev’s poems reveal the nation’s suffering, the shipwrecked dreams of his youth, as well as his thirst for becoming part of the country’s liberation movement.
Botev joined Bulgaria’s revolutionary emigrants in Romania, heading the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee in 1874-1875. In Romania, he published the newspapers Voice of the Bulgarian Emigrants, Flag, Alarm Clock and one edition of New Bulgaria. His publications explored issues and trends in the Balkan and European policies. He saw the world’s future as a fraternal union of free nations and states with democratic self-governance and just social order. His columns and pamphlets are among Bulgaria’s best works of political journalism.

Botev was also among the most active figures in the April Uprising of 1876, which was the peak of the liberation struggles against the Ottoman Empire. He became the leader of a 200-strong rebel group. In groups, the rebels boarded the Austrian steamer Radetski from various Romanian ports on the River Danube. They pretended to be gardeners, their weapons and rebel clothes hidden in fake gardener’s chests. They forced the captain to get them off on the Bulgarian riverbank, near the town of Kozloduy. On getting off, they kissed their homeland and set out on a “dangerous, but glorious path”, as Botev wrote in one of his poems. In the Balkan Range near the town of Vratsa, Botev was shot dead at the tender age of 28.
An exposition in the Regional History Museum in Vratsa reveals more about Botev and the trials of his rebel group. It displays some documents, photographs, relics of the rebels, as well as Botev’s sword. According to Valeriya Tarashoeva, head curator of the museum, the Radetksi Steamer incident and the fate of the rebels were covered in many European periodicals.

“Some publications compare Hristo Botev to an antique hero. In fact, soon after his heroic death, legends emerged about his holy deeds. It was claimed that he was alive. The people writing Bulgarian newspapers for the emigrants abroad, such as Bulgarian Voice and New Bulgaria, kept in publishing revolutionary materials eulogizing Botev’s deeds. The goal of the April Uprising, after all, was to attract the attention of the European states and the Great Powers so that the complicated Eastern Question and the Bulgarian issues could be solved”, Valeriya Tarashoeva explains.

In 1877-1878, the Russo-Turkish War was declared, which led to Bulgaria’s liberation from the Ottoman rule. On the days around June 2, the town of Vratsa organises events commemorating Hristo Botev and his rebel group.

“Vratsa is the first town in Bulgaria to erect a monument of a great Bulgarian, Hristo Botev. It was unveiled in 1890 in the presence of the poet’s mother Ivanka Boteva, his wife and daughter, as well as Prince Ferdinand and then Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov. This is a grand event for our town. Every year Vratsa becomes a centre for the Bulgarians who commemorate the great deed of Bulgaria’s national liberation heroes”, concludes Valeriya Tarashoeva, head curator of the Regional History Museum in Vratsa.

English version: Vyara Popova

По публикацията работи: Veneta Pavlova

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135th anniversary of Botev’s death

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