The part of the US locked between the states Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana is home to the oldest Bulgarian community in America, formed at the turn of the 20^th century, says Svetoslav Stankov, Consul General of Bulgaria in Chicago.

“The documents available in the US show that there were more significant Bulgarian migratory flows to America during the second half of the 19^th century, and afterwards, and that they were from the territory of what is Bulgaria today, as well as from the lands in Macedonia and Eastern (Edirne) Thrace, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire - Spas Tashev from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences writes in an article in 2022. The second big wave of emigrants from Bulgaria to the US took place after the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising was crushed in 1903, and the third – during the first decades of the 20^th century, after the Balkan Wars and World War I. The Bulgarian emigration waves were biggest from Aegean and Vardar Macedonia, then under Greek and Serbian rule – numbering around 40,000 at the turn of the 20^th century and growing with time. In the immigration registers, and later in the population censuses in the US, most of the people born in Macedonia (geographical area – editorial note) are registered as Bulgarian, with mother tongue – Bulgarian. They set up their own organizations, started publishing newspapers, guidebooks, built their own churches. They all used the literary Bulgarian language only, and most put the description “Macedonian Bulgarian” to their name,” the researcher of the demographic processes in the Balkans explains.
“The history of the Bulgarian emigrants in North America is very rich, but, and I say this with regret, this is one of the least known chapters of Bulgarian history,” the Consul General of Bulgaria in Chicago Svetoslav Stankov said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. It is “a story of drama, trials and tribulations, but also major success”, he said. “We have no less than 50,000 people who came mostly from Aegean Macedonia in the period from 1903 to 1925 and 1940 who built dozens of churches, some of which are now part of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. One such church is the oldest Bulgarian church in southern Illinois – it is from 1910.”

The Bulgarian community in the region of the Bulgarian Consulate General in Chicago spreads from Denver, Colorado, and across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. Svetoslav Stankov highlights the most important initiatives by the Consulate, which invariably bring together many Bulgarians in the most Bulgarian US city of all:
“One of our traditions is the hoisting of the national flag on 3 March in downtown Chicago. It is a tradition we owe to an organization called the Bulgarian National Front who started it in the 1950s. The other thing we have been doing for 4 years – and it was our idea – is the Parade of Bulgaria which brings together people from all Bulgarian Sunday schools, cultural centres and dance ensembles, and it very much resembles the processions on 24 May in Bulgaria.”
There are 13 Bulgarian weekend schools in Chicago, and 15 in the whole consulate region, and there are no less than 5 dance ensembles.

“I am very grateful to all ensemble leaders and choreographers because folklore is something that helps us involve other communities in our own cultural life and traditions. To dance you don’t need to know the Bulgarian language, and it is very good for young and old alike.”
What unites all Bulgarian organizations in Chicago, and probably throughout America too, is their love of Bulgaria. Some of them work together, others lead an independent life, and the cultural life is exceedingly rich, Svetoslav Stankov says.

“Of course, communication can always be better. We have done our best to be a part of this and we have not turned down a single organization seeking contact with another organization.”

Svetoslav Stankov said he is sorry to say there is no Bulgarian in an elected political position in the land of opportunity at this time, but added that with hard work, perseverance and events like the Bulgarian Parade, which “unites us for different causes”, it is a matter of time before we see more Bulgarians in leadership positions in the US.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: Facebook/Consulate General of Bulgaria in Chicago, Facebook/Svetoslav Stankov, BG VOICE