Ivan Katardžiev (Macedonian:Иван Катарџиев;Bulgarian:Иван Катарджиев; January 6, 1926 – December 1, 2018) was aMacedonian historian. He was regarded as the country's most important expert on theInternal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the Macedonian history underYugoslavia as well as the early years of independence.[1][2] He was also director of theMacedonian Institute for National History.[1]
Katardžiev was born in 1926 inPloski, Bulgaria, in the region also known asPirin Macedonia.[1] He graduated from high school inSveti Vrach, Bulgaria and during the"cultural autonomy" of Pirin Macedonia in 1946, he was sent by the Bulgarian communist authorities to study history in the capital of the newly proclaimed SR Macedonia, Skopje. In 1948, he was among the 13 students from Pirin Macedonia in Skopje, out of a total of about 140 there, who signed a declaration against the new decisions of the Central Committee of theBulgarian Communist Party. With them, the "cultural autonomy" practically stopped and a return to the party's position from before 1934, of denying the Macedonian identity, began.[3] Thus, in practice, Katardžiev remained living in Yugoslavia.
In the 1950s he was head of the University Library of Skopje, the Diaspora Office and served as secretary of the Institute for National History of Macedonia.[2] In 1961 he promoted the thesis the first official name of the IMRO wasBulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committees.[4][5]
In recent years Katardžiev criticized the then Macedonian ruling party, theVMRO – DPMNE, for rehabilitating several IMRO revolutionaries, who had previously been blacklisted during Yugoslav rule for beingBulgarophiles.[2] However, Bulgarian researchers maintain that Katardžiev himself had some manifestations when he publicly claimed the IMRO revolutionaries had Bulgarian self-awareness.[6][7][8]
In October 2014 theLustration Commission of Macedonia named Katardžiev as an informer of theCommunist Yugoslavia'sUDBA during the 1950s. They accused him of spying on history students who originated from Bulgarian Macedonia. Katardžiev at the time was head of the University Library inSkopje as well as the Diaspora Office.[2] Katardžiev denied the claims, and said he was pressured himself by the police between 1955 and 1960.[2]
On December 1, 2018, Katadžiev died inSkopje at age 92.[9]
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