A massacre of 12 young people happened on 16 June 1943 near the village Vataša, Kavadarci, as part of the occupation of Vardar Banovina, part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers during World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia. The shooting happened near Moklište, where the neighborhood of "Čair" is, in the vicinity of the village of Vataša. The murders were part of an anti-partisan offensive launched by the Bulgarian occupation authorities against the communist resistance and its helpers.
History Act The massacre was performed by the Bulgarian army and police forces led by captain Boris Zheglov, lieutenant Boris Kostov and the police officer Petko Oprekov under the command of , commander of 56. Veles infantry regiment from the Fifth Bulgarian Army. Apostolov was a local from Kriva Palanka. The principal of the local high school in Kavadarci, , a former voivode of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, participated in the action too.Малковски, Ѓорѓи. Профашистичките и колаборационистичките организации и групи во Македонија 1941 – 1944 година. Скопје, Институт за национална историја, 1995. стр. 70. There was a talk in Vataša there were young people who had come into contact with the Macedonian partisans and were preparing to join them. In this regard, some locals loyal to the authorities prepared a list with the names of the involved. The operation to arrest the partisans' helpers was carried out on the morning of 16 June. During their interrogations, the rustic teacher, who was from Bulgaria, tried to exonerate the youths, but was removed.
The young men were subsequently taken out of the village and shot. They were between the ages of 18 and 28, while one boy was 15 years old.Јован Павловски, 1977, Судењата како последен пораз, "Полог" — Тетово, стр. 153. Their names are Vančo Gurev (19 years), Ilčo Dimov (18 years), Panče Meškov (18 years), Danko Dafkov (18 years), Gerasim Metakov (18 years), Risto Gjondev (18 years), Pero Videv (15 years), Dime Čekorov (20 years), Vaso Hadžijordanov (28 years), Ferčo Pop Gjorgjiev (26 years), Pane Džunov (18 years) and Blaže Icev (20 years).Македонска енциклопедија, том I. Скопје, Македонска академија на науките и уметностите, 2009. . с. 249. Four girls who were also arrested, were set free later. According to the then Tarnovo Constitution, most of the dead were minors, since adulthood was attained upon reaching the age of 21.Bulgarian Constitutions, p. 14.This is explicitly mentioned in Art. 99 of the 1907 Law on Persons, according to which adulthood is attained upon reaching the age of 21 from birth. Ciela Norma, Law on Persons. Persons under the age of 21 were not subject to the death penalty.According to Art. 58 of the Criminal Code of 1907, for criminals from 17 to 21 years of age the death penalty is replaced with 15 years of imprisonment. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Juliana Mateeva, The dangers and indiscretions in the proposed changes to the Criminal Code for minors. News Lex.bg., February 10, 2020
Aftermath The event led to anger among the local population. As a result, at the end of June 1943, the mayor of Skopje Spiro Kitinchev and the journalist , both local cadres, were sent to the village. They understood the main role in initiating this incident was of the deputy district governor Krum Kamchev, also a local. Subsequently Kitinchev went to Sofia and exposed there what a "mistake" had happened. However, the only consequence remained that Kamchev was moved from Kavadarci in a local village. After the war, the leader of the action, Colonel Apostolov, was handed over by the new Bulgarian authorities in Skopje. Before the court in Kavadarci, he pleaded not guilty. According to him, he had information that the young men and women had been captured armed in the forest. Per the orders in force in the army at that time, the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War did not apply to them and they were to be shot immediately.Везенков, Александър. 9 септември 1944 г. София, Сиела, 2014. . с. 377.Пелтеков, Александър Г. Революционни дейци от Македония и Одринско. Второ допълнено издание. София, Орбел, 2014. . с. 221.Јован Павловски, 1977, Судењата како последен пораз, "Полог" — Тетово, стр. 378. Apostolov was sentenced to death and shot. The other officers and non-commissioned officers who took part in the action, D. Raev, B. Zheglov, A. Bogdanov, B. Kostov and P. Oprekov, were also sentenced to death. Kitinchev, Krapchev and Iliev were also liquidated by the new communist authorities in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.Стефан Дечев, Без съд и присъда. Как 12 младежи бяха разстреляни при Ваташа на 16 юни 1943 г. 14 юни 2023, Свободна Европа.
Legacy
In the first post-war decades, the massacre was described in Yugoslavia rather as a result of a political and ideological conflict. After the aggravation of Bulgarian-Macedonian relations in the last decades, these events have been described in North Macedonia as an ethnonational conflict between "Bulgarian fascists" and "ethnic Macedonians". This interpretation is disputed in Bulgaria, where it is claimed that the event was a personal mistake of Apostolov, and that there was no fascist regime in Bulgaria.Петър Марчев, За смъртта на 12 младежи във Ваташа. И за Кървавия Божик. Време е за прошка. 21.08.2021 г. 168 часа. Also, the Bulgarian authorities considered the Macedonian Slavs during WWII as Bulgarians,In July 1942 a law of citizenship was passed, by which all (Slavic) inhabitants were held to have acquired Bulgarian nationality on the occupation, except, theoretically, those who chose to opt for their former nationality. If they chose the latter, they had to emigrate. Many Serbs in fact fled to Serbia. For more see: Macedonia. Its Place in Balkan Power Politics. Reprint. (Greenwood Press, 1980.) p. 72.The question as to whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs of Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians (Palmer and King 1971: 199-200). For more see: Loring M. Danforth (1997) The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton University Press, . while local personnel was largely involved in this massacre, including half of the soldiers, as well as policemen and commanding officers.Каракачанов към Груевски: Във ВМРО няма гръцки вергини и шумадийски шайкачи. Вицепремиерът похвали македонски учен за "научното откритие", че българите и македонците са един народ. 02 май 2020 г. Клуб Z. These facts have been hidden in North Macedonia.ДРАМА НА КАНАЛ 77 – ПЕТАР КОЛЕВ ДЕТОНИРА НУКЛЕАРКА: Убиецот на децата од Ваташа е Македонец од Паланка, прогласен е за воен злосторник и стрелан е во 1945-та во Квадарци! NarodenGlas.com., November 28, 2020. In comparison, when in June 1913, the residents of Vataša took part in the Tikveš Uprising, the Serbian troops killed around 1,000 people in that area, including 49 in Vataša,Димитър Гоцев, Положението във Вардарска Македония (октомври 1912 - октомври 1913). В „Годишник на Софийския университет“ (Том 69, 1980 г.), стр. 225-251. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60053/GSU.IF.1.69. but this is not given much attention in North Macedonia.Проф. Пламен Павлов: За Тиквешкото въстание беше неудобно да се говори. Радио Благоевград, 14.06.2020 г. As an example of the lack of ethnic motivation in the massacre, the Bulgarian side points to the , which took place on 20 December 1943 in Antonovo Municipality. The Bulgarian police and army killed 18 civilians, 6 of whom were small children, with the pretext for this being also hiding communist partisans.Стефан Дечев, Защо продължава борбата за паметта около Втората световна война и България? 15 юли 2023 г. Свободна Европа.
A song dedicated to the youths, called Mi zaplakalo seloto Vataša, was written by Lazar Mančevski-Pindžur. On 11 October 1961, a monument (made by Jordan Grabulovski) in honor of the youths was revealed in Moklište, where the youths have been buried. A small monument is at the site of the massacre. In honor of the killed youths, there is a sculpture in the village. In addition, during the 80th anniversary of the event, in June 2023, there were 12 busts of the youth and there was the solemn opening of the Room of Memory, which contains personal objects and photos of the youth.Бојан Блажевски, Одбележани 80 години од масакрот кај кавадаречкото село Ваташа. 16.06.2023 г. МЕТА.МК.
See also List of massacres in North Macedonia Historiography in North Macedonia 1951 killing of five students from Strumica
References