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The period beginning with May 1945 with the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht and the defeat of the German Empire is considered the most complicated of recent German history. This is because all of the world powers participated in this stream of events that divided the country into four occupational zones with the city of Berlin being divided into four sectors. The dictates of the Potsdam Conference of the three “great ones” prescribed the total demilitarization of the country and the total destruction or control of the industry enabling military production. They agreed on the earlier accepted denazification and on the dissolution of the National Socialist Party’s institutions and organizations as well as on the indicting and interning of the war criminals. The study discusses the situation of the German prisoners of war and the fate of those legendary women who cleared away the ruins, as well as the fate of the 12-13 million refugees, the measure of reparations paid, and the fate of those chased away from their home land. The essay also discusses the formation of the democratic political parties, the free Labor Unions and the Nuremberg Trial.
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By almost all standards, the Second World War was the largest military conflict in history, involving and affecting most of the world’s population. Its end in 1945 undoubtedly drove a wedge between the old and the new. Governments, political systems and borders altered all over the globe. It brought about a transformation of attitudes and realities. Introducing the country-based surveys, Ignác Romsics’s essay is focusing on two aspects of this global conflict. In the first part of his study some basic characteristics of the war are presented. Special emphasis is put on the nature of warfare, largely as a result of scientific and technological innovations. Due to the new weapons the number of casualties was about six-seven times that of the First World War. Among them there were not only solders, but also civilians. Considering the atrocities against civilians the most terrible was the Holocaust – the deliberate murder of over 5 million Jews. In the second part of the essay the effects of the war are treated. The author emphasizes that the four western European states which had played a leading role in world affairs in the first half of the century, were now much weaker than before. At the same time, the USA and the USSR emerged as the two most powerful nations in the world. Romsics shares the opinion according to which the rivalry of these two super-powers in the Cold War was the most important feature of international relations for almost half a century after 1945.
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This study outlines the most relevant momentum of the process during which Czechoslovakia, re-established in 1945, breaking with the major fundaments of its pre-war policies, gradually became part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Although the final turning point came only in 1948, the process leading to it had, in the author’s view, already begun during the war and became irreversible from 1945. The author separately deals with the changes in the Czechoslovak foreign, domestic, and minority policy in 1945, while Czechoslovakia, in the author’s assessment, can no longer be considered between 1945 and 1948 as a democratic country, but a pretotalitarian state.
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In the article the author proposes a study on one of the most controversial texts of the first Slavic law code – Law for Judging the People – its article 1. The interpretations of this text are strongly charged emotionally and with national feeling. The article generalizes the results and comments three main topics, suggested by the text: Which is the so-called “divine law”? Who is the cited St Constantine? Where is adopted the norm about the punishment of the pagans from? The author proposes his answers to three of them and tries to situate the results of his study in the framework of the juridical legacy of St Methodius.
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This is a prosopographic research which tries to reveal what we know about the Hungarian princess Maria, daughter of King Andrew II, who ended her life as Tsaritsa Anna, wife of Tsar Ivan II Asen from 1221 to 1237. Analyzing the scarce sources the author looks for the answers of questions such as Anna’s year of birth, the reasons she was married to Ivan Asen, the two names she was mentioned in the sources with, her activities as tsaritsa, her children and finally her death. Tsaritsa Anna died before she attained the age of thirty but she nevertheless left a clear trace in the history of mediaeval Bulgaria. Like all foreign princesses who were crowned Bulgarian tsaritsas Maria/Anna fitted perfectly in the new environment and left the memory of her dignified presence next to her royal husband, whom she supported in every endeavor - from the transfer of the relics of St. Petka and St. John Polivotski to the restoration of the independent Bulgarian Patriarchate. According to the sources she led pious life worthy of emulation filled with religious zeal which found expression in the construction of landmark churches in the capital Turnovo and monasteries them.
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Two fundamental terms are used in this article: Church and modernization in their basic sense – modernization as renewal and church as the temple and the community around it. The leading idea is that Bulgarian modernization from the first half of the nineteenth century, especially from the 1830’s and 1840’s, developed through several interconnected components: massive church building, which consolidated local Bulgarian societies; renewal in religious literature, read by Bulgarians; innovation in church art, which changed the appearance of the temples. Bulgarian historiography in the first half of the nineteenth century speaks mostly about secular cultural trends, but actually they are only isolated islands in the general religious-spiritual picture. Unfolding of secular cultural trends was yet to come in the second half of the century, thanks to the religious renewal, which broke the old traditions and brought new impulses for internal Community solidarity and new spiritual attitudes in 1830–1840’s.
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The issue on the relations between the Bulgarian Exarchate and its local institutions (Metropolis, vicarage and municipalities) and the Internal Revolutionary Organization in the late 19th – early 20th century certainly arouses interest and numerous questions in historiography. Is it possible to draw a rigid line of demarcation between these two trends in Bulgarian national liberation movement in Macedonia or are they the two sides of the same coin, with a common goal, but with a different approach for its implementation? If the second statement is true, what were the reasons for the harsh collision and sharp attacks between the supporters of the two lines and why was it so difficult to reach unity in the name of nationwide mission? Definitely the evolutionary, cultural and educational line drawn consistently and patiently by the Exarchate was conceived long before the revolutionary one, embodied by the Internal Organization, which is only natural. It is an undeniable fact that the first step towards political liberation is the rise of the population cultural and ethnical awareness. Not accidentally, the activists of the revolutionary organization were mainly teachers. It would be wrong to underestimate one line in the national liberation movement at the expense of the other, to ignore Exarchal activity as obsolete and incapable of actual achievements, or to regard it as an obstacle to the new active revolutionary methods. Precisely such an attitude led to conflicts that caused serious damage to the Bulgarian cause in the provinces. Certainly fair criticism of the passivity of exarchist authorities in many cases was appropriate and timely, and did not tolerate objections. The problem lies in the inability of Bulgarian leaders to unite their efforts to work together and to respect their rights. And this was detrimental to the success of the national liberation movement, especially after the Ilinden Uprising. The purpose of this article is to present the complex relations between exarchist authorities and revolutionaries without saving some unpleasant facts, seeking answers to the above mentioned questions by analyzing extensive documentary material on the topic.
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Austria-Hungary was the Great Power which supported the Albanian national movement from the end of the nineteenth century. With the outbreak of the general uprising of 1912 Albanian efforts to secure the support of the Great Powers were focused mainly on Austria-Hungary. The end of 1912 marks a crucial stage in the development of Albanian national movement. At the time, diplomacy of Austria-Hungary was activated to find solutions to the unresolved issues created as a result of the Balkan war. The situation created after the start of the Balkan war sparked concerns and response of the Austria-Hungary which was very much worried because of the potential instability and uncontrolled situation in the South-Eastern Europe. Austria-Hungary applied active policy to prevent occupying of Albanian lands from the Allies. Proclamation of the Independence of Albania was not an unexpected act from the Austria-Hungary because Wien organized a crucial support for the Albanian leaders. Without this kind of support regarding the Albanian question Albanian lands would have been more severely affected.
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The subject of present study is the socio-economic outlook of the Russian emigration to Bulgaria as revealed by the 1920 and 1926 Bulgarian population censuses. The quantitative analysis of these census data gives the opportunity to examine in details Russian emigration’s labor activity, social structure and participation of its labor resources in various sectors, sub-sectors, professional groups and individual crafts of post-war Bulgarian economy and especially to delineate Russian women’s place in Bulgaria labor market, their social role. In the first part of the study investigated the literacy level, economic activity coefficient and sex structure of Russian immigrants’ economic activity, and in the second one – its social structure based on status in employment and occupational distribution within the social groups. Russian immigrants’ (sub)sectoral employment was predetermined by the (sub)sectoral development of the Bulgarian economy in whose structure dominated agriculture, and in industry – light industry (food and textile ones). Despite these realities about half of the Russian immigrants worked in industry, which was due to the post-war boom in some of its branches. In the initial period of their coming to Bulgaria the next in line sector, where they found jobs, was agriculture, but in 1926 we see them in public service- and liberal professions. As it concerns the social structure of the Russian diaspora in Bulgaria within it prevailed the workers – about 70% that was in contrast to the Bulgarian society, where its share was not large (but growing); the proportion of Russian workers in the entire working class in Bulgaria was small (0,6%). Russian workers were most numerous in agriculture and coal mines, but their share was most essential in the construction of roads, bridges and railways, maritime transport, metal mines, salt works, production of vegetable oils, livestock trade. Employees among Russians were around 15% (1926); their relative share within all employees in Bulgaria was much larger – they constituted more than 2% of them. Their biggest share was in the professional groups of dentists and dental technicians (17%), engineers (14%), doctors (12%), musical artists (10%). Independent, self-employees were few in Bulgarian society, among Russians even less – with a downward trend; remarkably, the latter were more in the variation of Russian women than within the one of Russian men. In distinction from the typical for Bulgaria female employment in agriculture, thanks to their high literacy and education, the Russian immigrant women found job performance mainly in public service- and liberal professions, and by mid-1920s they had already entered industrial production.
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The article addresses the issue of photographic materials as sources of information about the past and draws attention to their storage in the Bulgarian archives. During the Renaissance written records were considered key evidence for the Bulgarian past. In this era national emancipation processes developing in Bulgarian society found expression not only in texts, but also in images. Fine art also became a means of preserving historical memory, and later this trait was transferred to photography too. Photography correctly and accurately reflects reality; photos can be reproduced, printed and distributed. Therefore, photographs became valuable bearers of information about the most prominent Bulgarian revolutionaries, participants in Church – national struggle, writers and enlighteners. After the liberation the range of documents that were considered valuable evidence of the past expanded. Interest in photography appeared. Photos can be found not only in personal funds, but also in institutional archives. Photographing valuable archaeological sites to preserve them for the next generations became common practice. The article looks at some of the specifics of preservation of photographic materials in institutions such as the Scientific Archives of BAS, Bulgarian historical archive at the National Library „St. Cyril and Methodius”, and Central State Archives. Searching, collecting and keeping photographic materials in the biggest Bulgarian repositories is a testament to the fact that society perceives them as a valuable means of preserving historical memory. They, along with the works of historical painting, present our past in images. But unlike the artistic images, photographs due to their accuracy have significantly greater documentary value.
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Over the past sixty years Ottomanists, researchers of local history, church historians, numismatists managed by their research to unveil to a large extent the history of Anchialo in the period from the end of 15th to the 17th century. Adamandios Diamandopoulos, Bistra Tsvetkova Elena Grozdanova, Ivan Tyutyundzhiev, Krasimir Krastev, Ventsislav Karavalchev and others are among the most prominent researchers working in this direction. Anchialo past falls albeit at the margins of scientific research of other great names in domestic and foreign historiography such as Nikolay Todorov and Mustafa T. Gyokbilgin. The interest of scientists was prompted by the significant role that the town played in the Black Sea region, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Anchialo is the center of extensive kaaza, spiritual center, an important port and one of the largest salt-producing centers in the Ottoman Empire. Studies on Anchialo show in depth its economic, demographic and political development during the Ottoman domination, and are contribution to the scientific disclosure of the historical picture of the Balkans in the 15th – 17th century.
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One of the most frequently used sources by the researchers about the crusades of Władysław Varnenchik and Yanosh Hunyadi of 1443–1444 are the “Notes of the janissary”, written by Konstantin Mihailovich. This source has been already reviewed by H. Kolarov. It also has been used by B. Cvetkova, K. Gagova and others. Till now, the only translation made in the Bulgarian historiography was of chapter XXVIII, revealing the government of the Ottoman Empire. There has been none known translation of the chapters describing the anti-ottoman campaigns from the middle of XV century. In the following paper will be translated chapters XXI, XXII and XXIII, dedicated to those campaigns. Chapter XXI describes the “Long campaign”. In chapter XXII are followed the abdication of sultan Murad II to his son Mehmed II and his later return to the throne. Chapter XXIII is dedicated to the Battle of Varna that took place on 10.XI.1444. The part from the “Notes of the janissary”, concerning the crusades of Władysław Varnenchik and Yanosh Hunyadi of 1443–1444 in its integrity could be accepted as a reliable source. Despite the existence of some inaccuracy in it, the comparison to the other historical data, lead us to the conclusion that this written source could be used by the researchers of this topic.
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Hungarian State Award for a Bulgarian Scientist
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