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Pande Sotirov Eftimov was a Bulgarian journalist, poet and publicist from North Macedonia. Though, he is considered an ethnic Macedonian there.

Biography

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Pande Eftimov was born in 1932 in the Prespa village of Pretor, then in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was the grandson of the revolutionary from the IMRO Pande Sudzhov, killed by the Yugoslav authorities in 1927. In 1943, as a child, Eftimov welcomed a Bulgarian delegation in Pretor, when Bulgarians entered this area, after the capitulation of Italy. After the war Eftimov graduated from the Faculty of Philology at the University of Skopje, then in Communist Yugoslavia. In 1956 he informed the Bulgarians about the finding of an important artifact called Bitola inscription. Eftimov photographed the stone slab and secretly carried the tape with the photos at the Bulgarian embassy in Belgrade. At that time he was appointed a teacher in the village of Lera, Bitola region. There he found part of the archives of the local Bulgarian school, which the Yugoslav authorities at the time had failed to burn. Later, the documents were handed over to Kosta Tsarnushanov, another publicist from Vardar Macedonia, living in Sofia. He participated also in different illegal groups seeking Macedonia's independence, as it was envisioned by the IMRO. For that he spent 7 years in prison: between 1957 and 1961, as well as from 1971 to 1974. Eftimov was arrested also many other times by the Yugoslavs. Meanwhile, he worked as journalist for the Skopje newspaper "Narodna Prosveta". After 1986 he participated in the process of forming the new VMRO-DPMNE party. In 2001 he published two books of poetry, printed in Bulgarian. In 2007 he received officially Bulgarian citizenship. He died on August 13, 2017 in Sofia. On June 25, 2018, he was posthumously awarded with the Order of Stara Planina for his exceptionally great merits in preserving the Bulgarian national heritage in North Macedonia.

See also

• Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour
• Bitola Inscription

References

1. Софија со сочувство за македонскиот Бугарин Панде Ефтимов. Aug 15, 2017. Expres.mk
2. The Bulgarian historian, publicist and revolutionary from Vardar Macedonia Kosta Tsarnushanov (1903-1996) wrote about Eftimov that he declared himself as Bulgarian as a child. This happened in Pretor, in September 1943, when the Bulgarian army entered the area. Kosta Tsarnushanov arrived in the village, accompanied by a Bulgarian geographer, historian and revolutionary from the IMRO, Anastas Razboynikov (1882-1967). Then Eftimov claimed in front of the two that everyone in his village was Bulgarian. Панде Ефтимов, неформалният лидер на българите в Република Македония: Само с факти от българската история не ще преборим агресията на македонизма. сп. Факел, интервю на екип на в-к Глас на българите в Македония, 04.03.2014.
3. Per Eftimov himself his life has passed in six countries: Royal Yugoslavia, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Socialist Yugoslavia and Macedonia. Per him in the autumn of 1944, Macedonia was occupied by Serbs, led by "Macedonian" apostates, brought up and educated in Serbian schools and activists of the Serbian Communist Party. The fierce resistance to the re-occupation, carried out through various forms of resistance by the local people, provoked unprecedented terror from the "liberators". Prisons and concentration camps were filled with Bulgarian patriots, many of whom died in them. Organized anti-Bulgarian propaganda suppressed public thinking, singing Bulgarian patriotic songs, comments, recounting memories of the past, correspondence with relatives or friends in Bulgaria. And part of the younger population was Yugoslavicized by strong propaganda. He claims also all Macedonians till 1944 were in fact Bulgarians. Панде Ефтимов: Българите в Македония са изолирани от политиците в страната ни. Интервю на Николай Кръстев с Панде Ефтимов. Българско Национолна Радио, 20.07.2015.
4. "Падне Евтимов - великият българин" [Pande Evtimov - the Great Bulgarian]. Interview with Pande Evtimov, Radio Focus, 27 January 2011 (in Bulgarian). Паметта на българите, www.pamettanabulgarite.com. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
5. Максимовски, Илија (1991). 'According to his court trial official documents No.273/72 in 1972, Pande declared himself as Macedonian and one of the reasons for his imprisonment was agitating for unification of Vardar,Egej and Pirin into one independent Macedonian state.' Политичкиот затвореник во Македонија. Skopje: MRTV. p. 91.
6. Ристески, Д-р. Стојан (1995). Судени за Македонија (1945-1985). Ohrid: Macedonia Prima-Ohrid. ISBN 9989-619-03-4.
7. According to Eftimov, there is a fear of saying that you are a Bulgarian in North Macedonia, but this should not be a reason for a person to stop fighting for his identity. Regarding the fact that many people are afraid to say it openly, there is a logical answer and it is that if you are a Bulgarian in North Macedonia, you are a national traitor, there is no work for you, the whole state apparatus lurks you and in the moment you do something with the slightest violation, the state blackes your life. For more see: Панде Ефтимов: Нямаме държавници и политици с отговорност за Македония. FROG NEWS; 13.03.2014.
8. Николай Кочанков, От надежда към покруса: Западна Македония в българската външна политика (1941-1944); (2007) Херон Прес. София, ISBN 978-954-580-231-7.

• 1932 births
• 2017 deaths
• Bulgarian poets
• People from Resen Municipality
• Macedonian Bulgarians