Организации и обществено-политически изяви на българските студенти в чужбина (1878–1885)
Organization and Socio-political Activities of the Bulgarian University Students Abroad (1878–1885)

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the organizations and socio-political activities of the Bulgarian university students during the first years after the resolution of the Bulgarian State. The following conclusions and generalizations have been drawn on the basis of the abundant source material. The first stable and lasting student organizations, such as the “Bratstvo” Society in Geneva, the “Bratstvo” Society in Paris, the “Shipka” Society in Munich were set up, and there was Bulgarian participation also in multi-national societies. Their organizational form in Western and Central Europe was analogous to the free student organizations there, while the police conditions in Russia imposed the adoption of the “fellow country-men” form of association with the accent on mutual aid. They both operated in compliance with the objective national interests at the time: strengthening and consolidating the Principality of Bulgaria and preparations for national unification. The students paid respect to the giants of the Bulgarian National Revival and expressed recognition to the Russian liberators. Characteristic were the actions aimed at raising the national consciousness of the Bulgarians and the role of the Bulgarian language with a view to resisting foreign denationalization efforts. The summit of patriotism and readiness for self-sacrifice of the students was their return en masse as volunteers during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. The individual societies in a co-ordinated manner used the European press in support of the just Bulgarian cause. The common ideal of the Bulgarian students then was a united and democratic Bulgaria, and there was no ideological confrontation in the proper sense of this concept.

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