1939
Bulgarian
Does a Macedonian Nation Exist
More by Vasil Hadzi Kimov
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Description
Does a Macedonian Nation Exist by Vasil Hadzi Kimov (1939) is a political-historical brochure published in Sofia on the eve of the Second World War. The work directly challenges the legitimacy of a Macedonian nation, arguing that the Slavic population of Macedonia forms an inseparable part of the Bulgarian nation. From the opening chapter, the national question is framed as a struggle against what the author characterizes as artificially constructed political identities.
The central thesis presents the concept of a Macedonian nation as a recent ideological creation, linked to socialist and Yugoslav political movements of the interwar period. Hadzi-Kimov repeatedly asserts that language, revolutionary tradition, and historical development in Macedonia belong to a unified Bulgarian national continuum. Macedonia is treated primarily as a geographical designation, not as an ethnically distinct entity, and the argument is situated within broader Balkan nationalist debates on sovereignty and historical legitimacy.
Today, the text is understood primarily as a product of Bulgarian national historiography during a period marked by territorial claims and ideological consolidation. Rather than offering a detached scholarly inquiry, the brochure reflects the political imperatives of its time, using historical interpretation to counter the recognition of a separate Macedonian identity. As such, it remains an important source for examining competing national narratives in the Balkans and the instrumentalization of history in modern nation-building.
About the Author
Author
Vasil Hadzi Kimov(1903 - 1992)
Vasil Hadzi Kimov was a Macedonian revolutionary, writer, and public figure. He was active in the Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization, IMRO (United), and later the Bulgarian Action Committees.
Born in Novo Selo, Štip, he first joined the Yugoslav Communist Party but left in the 1920s to support the Macedonian cause. In Sofia he studied law, became a student activist, and opposed Ivan Mihailov’s leadership of IMRO. After the Comintern recognized a Macedonian nation in 1934, he broke with IMRO (United) and published works such as Does a Macedonian Nation Exist? and The Macedonian Bulgarians.
During World War II, Hadzhi-Kimov co-founded the Bulgarian Central Action Committee in Vardar Macedonia. After 1944 he was imprisoned for 11 years by Yugoslav authorities. Later he worked in Skopje and Sofia, continuing to write against the Macedonian national idea. He returned to Novo Selo after the Macedonian independence and died there in 1992.