The Bulgarian Quest for Origins 1879s 1914 (1918)

Stefan Detchev During the nineteenth century the construction of modern national ideologies took place. Part of this process was the search for racial antiquity, for ancestors, origin, and common descent (Smith, n. 1!"#, p. 1"$% 1!"1, pp. &&'&(% 1!"&, p. 1)(% 1!!1, pp. *1'**.% +ellner, 1!"#% ,riksen, -h. 1!!#% .arkan, 1!!1, p. 1(/. 0oreo1er, it is well known that ethnicity is determined 2y the people who are in question. ,thnicity depends on common descent, 2lood, a shared history, or myth of origin. 3f course, self' awareness is the key ingredient here. 4t is this self'awareness that was determined 2y the story concerning the origin of the people. -hat was the reason why the quest for origins grew in importance in ,uropean culture. -he word ancestors was used more 2roadly. 4n the early nineteenth century it appeared the notion of an Ur-Volk, the ryans, who had supposedly migrated from northern 4ndia to in1ade and populate the ,uropean continent in prehistoric times. .y the mid'century the category was esta2lished across ,uropean scholarship. ,uropean ethnic and cultural origins were detached from the 5udaeo' 6hristian tradition and the authority of the .i2le. -ransposing linguistic affinities to ethnic ones, 1irtually all ,uropeans were ryans 2ut 2ecause of inter2reeding some were less than others (.urrow, *$$$, pp. 1$&'1$(/. t the turn of the century the ryan 0yth was central not only in +ermany 2ut also in .ritain and the 7nited States. 4t was seducti1e to the ,uropean mind 2ecause it posited a racism underwritten 2y an increasingly reputa2le science. -he quest for origins is closely connected with the increase of nineteenth century race science. -he proponents of what was 1iewed as race science 2elie1ed that in the concept of race they held the key to history, culture and ci1ili8ation (9enton, 1!!!, p. :/. s D. .lack2ourn emphasi8ed arguments a2out race in the discriminatory sense 2ecame more common in prewar ,urope (.lack2ourn, 1!!", p. )#*./. 3ne should keep in mind that in the conte;t of growing nationalism and scientific re1olution race and racial differences had political o2<ecti1es. ,specially nationalism was sanctioned 2y the growing repute of 2iology and e1olutionary theory (.arkan, 1!!*, p. 1(/. =ace was percei1ed primarily as a scientific concept (9enton, St. 1!!!, p. &!% 6hristie, 6l., 1!!", p. #&/. ,specially after the 9ranco'Prussian war (1"($'(1/ e;planations in racial terms 2ecame popular. ,1en Darwinian e1olutionism and genetics, pro1ided racism with what looked like a powerful set of scientific reasons for keeping out strangers. -he late nineteenth and the 1ery 2eginning of the twentieth century was characterised with anti' li2eral shift in politics as well. 0oreo1er, the intellectual en1ironment of the period was impregnated with cultural pessimism, growing militarism and the emergence of a new imperialism. -he scientific racial discourse achie1ed increasing power and nationalism 2ecame more racial. Social Darwinism was omnipresent throughout ,uropean higher culture. s a result, contemporaries 2egan to use the terms race and nation as interchangea2le. 4t appeared amalgam of 2iological theories of social change known since 1"!$s as Social Darwinism (>eindling, P. 1!"!, p.:&/. ?ation was portrayed in organicist terms as a social organism with its historical de1elopment and unity.

4n the .ulgarian case after 1"(! among the .ulgarian political elite circulated ideas and concepts of the people (nation etc,/ originating in the 9rench ,nlightenment, 9rench 5aco2inism, glo@Sa;on li2eralism and ci1ic humanism. Aowe1er, the Aerderian idea of Volk (people/ that formed a Blutsgemeinschaft (community of 2lood/, the Volksseele (national soul/, and the Volksgeist (national spirit/, pre1ailed and the -yrno1o constitution (1"(!/ 2ear witness to those alignments. -hat is why the idea of national character remained as the essence of a nation that remained fi;ed once and for all. 4n this regard, in the quest for origins many authors essentialised the alleged national characteristics and the supposed national uniqueness. 4n fact, in the period mentioned .ulgarian national ideology was strongly influenced 2y the model of +erman =omanticism as well as its =ussian Sla1ophile 1ersion (including ?. Danile1ski/ and ,. =enanBs concept a2out the nation. ?e1ertheless, the +erman =omantic insights really pre1ailed and it marked the notions a2out the medie1al times as well. Despite =enanBs idea that nations are not something eternal and they are something fairly new in history, ha1ing in mind the .alkan peninsula, the .ulgarian scholar and politician 0. .ala2ano1 regarded the nations as something eternal. Ae wrote e;plicitly how the different peoples fall silent during the )': ages under -urkish domination keeping their tri2al affiliations when 2egan to awake during the nineteenth century. 0oreo1er, this statement was made despite the fact that according to .ala2ano1 the .ulgarian nation still had to 2e forged. 3f course, this notion was part of =enanBs concept. s 0artin -hom underlines =enan ha1e ne1er denied the particular contri2ution of the 9rench re1olution for proclaiming the e;istence of a nation of itself. Aowe1er, he 2elie1ed that the principle of nationality was 2oth the creation of more recent period (1"1#'1:/ and of a more distant one concerning +ermanic in1asions (-hom, 0artin, p. *!/. -he =usso'-urkish war of 1"(('(" and the esta2lishment of the 0odern .ulgarian State (1"(!/ <ust strengthen 1irtually a;iomatic idea a2out the Sla1ic origin of the .ulgarians as well as the self'perception of the .ulgarian elite that the .ulgarian nation was part of the Slavic tribe. ,1en in the 2eginning of 1""$s, many representati1es of the .ulgarian political class already shared the theory a2out the Turkic origin of the 3ld .ulgars in pri1ate discourse or as far as science was concern. Aowe1er, as P. =. Sla1eiko1 admitted in a pri1ate con1ersation with C. 4rechek, they were alerted of its pu2lic recognition 2ecause of political reasons. -his firm identification with the Sla1ic pedigree and a1oidance of the DTartarsD or DUgro-FinsD was one of the ways to emphasi8e that the .ulgarians were DSla1sD and D,uropeansD. 4n this study 4 choose the period roughly from the 1""$s until the .alkan wars and the 9irst >orld >ar, including so called long nineteenth century chronology. 4n this regard, one should keep in mind that many trends that were typical for 1""$s and 1"!$s, and especially a2out the first decade of the new century, managed to unfold during the war period. -hen the 2eha1iour and culture of the nations in1ol1ed 2ecame to 2e e;plained through their origin and ancestors. 0ost of the pre1ious .ulgarian historiography had interpreted the pro2lems concerning .ulgarian origins imprisoned within the nationalist essentialist perspecti1e itself and the primordialistic approach to ethnogenesis. 9or the ma<ority of the .ulgarian scholars there is a linguistic concept of the Sla1ic family of languages. 9or them there e;ists a group of languages that linguists agreed to call Sla1ic. Aowe1er, the

Sla1s ne1er e;isted in any meaningful sense, although it is perfectly reasona2le for us to discuss and analy8e the e;tent to which languages which we classify as Sla1ic were spoken at any gi1en time. -here is ne1er likely to ha1e 2een a Sla1ic nation if that term implies an association of populations speaking different languages and possessing some coherently unified social organi8ations. -he notion springs from the erroneous 1iew that there is a familial linguistic relationship 2etween populations and polities. 0oreo1er, there is no contradiction in denying the e;istence of Sla1ic ethnicity, yet in recogni8ing the importance of ethnicity among those whom we call the Sla1s. 3f course, Sla1s is an ethnonym often recorded to us. Aowe1er, whether there was any awareness of unity and solidarity 2eyond the local le1el. -he term Sla1s was e;ternally imposed 2y the +reek and =oman geographers. -here is no reason to suppose that those groups thought of themsel1es as related in any way, or called themsel1es Sla1s. -he population designated as Sla1s was not a single people or an ethnic unit. -he notion of Sla1s is rele1ant only for designation of a language family. etho!ologically my study will 2e informed 2y the insight that ethnic categories could thus 2e considered as concepts in the process of construction, much more plural, comple;, and su2tle than the traditional concepts in social sciences and humanities. 3ne should underline that e1en if Sla1ic languages were spoken in some places they may not ha1e 2een called, or recogni8ed as, Sla1ic 2y their speakers. Perhaps Sla1s was <ust the name that =oman and .y8antine authors used to call them. -hese descriptions were geographical and cultural. 4t did not indicate that these people spoke Sla1ic or called themsel1es Sla1s as ethnonym. 0oreo1er, the ethnicEracial language and many writings on race 2y some .ulgarian ma<or politicians, writers, <ournalist, and academicians are largely ignored in .ulgarian historiography. Aow did .ulgarian medie1al period was appropriated, used and misused 2y contemporaries in the end of the long nineteenth centuryF Perhaps one of the reasons is that the appropriation should 2e hidden 2ecause it is 1ery closed to the new one. 4n this regard, lea1ing aside for a moment the question whether there is such a thing as a race, 4 am going to su2scri2e to the pre1ailing 1iew, that an ethnic group should 2e sharply distinguished from a race in the sense of a social group that is held to possess unique hereditary 2iological traits that allegedly determine the mental attri2utes of the group (Smith, 1!!1, p. *1/. 0oreo1er, 4 will 2e against any essentialist 1iew of the languages themsel1es or of the mental powers of their speakers. 4 will 2e also against any insights that took into consideration the genetic composition of any population. -his could lead us to some simplistic classifications in terms of racial or ethnic units. nd last, 2ut not least, as . Smith (1!!1, p. **/ emphasi8ed it is myth of common ancestry, not any fact of ancestry (which is usually difficult to ascertain/, that are crucial. 4t is a ficti1e descent and putati1e ancestry that matters for the sense of ethnic identification.

0oreo1er, often language could 2e equated with ethnicity 2ut this o2ser1ation does not hold for language families. -he notion of 4ndo',uropean language family is <ust scientific term. -he term 4ndo',uropean has adequate meaning only in the strictly linguistic sense. 4t is a construct in the field of historical linguistics. -here had ne1er 2een ethnic unite which could 2e properly descri2ed as 4ndo',uropean. 4t could 2e supposed that there was Proto',uropean ancestral population 2efore the separation of 4ndo' ,uropean languages, 2ut the idea that those people thought of themsel1es as a well' defined ethic group is highly dou2tful. -A, goal of this study is to in1estigate political instrumentali8ation of the quest for origins in the political pu2lic sphere as well as in supposedly scientific discourse. ' 4 am going to in1estigate how thinking a2out medie1al period in .ulgaria was a com2ination and a mi;ture 2etween +erman =omanticism., ,.=enanBs insights and ?. Danile1skiBs philosophy. Aistoriography was irre1oca2ly 2ound up with the ideas of nation and nation'state. -here was an insight of an organic nation. -he organicism somehow presupposed genetically transmitted differences and genetic inheritance. 4 will demonstrate how important and fundamental historiographic notions a2out a Blutsgemeinschaft (community of 2lood/, Volksseele (national soul/ and Volksgeist (national spirit/ entered in the presuma2ly scientific disciplinary language. 4n the .ulgarian case, 4 will re1eal how one can come across organicist teleologies inherent in romantic and Schlegelian concepts of the tri2e'nation. 9ollowing this +erman =omantic fashion it was 2elie1ed that nation is defined in terms on 2iological origin. 9or organic nationalist ethnic 1iews of history pre1ailed and the romantic quest for our true ancestors was essential to the cause of the nation. -hus se1eral myths of ethnic origin appeared com2ining historical fact and legendary ela2oration. -hey will 2e part of my study. ' 4 am going to demonstrate the great influence of +erman =omanticism (Aerder/ and quest for origins. 4 am going to trace how it was o21ious in different <ournals like GHIJKLM NO KOJIPKL QRISTIJUKLV, KOQMO L MKLWKLKO, XUJLIPLYUZMI Z[LZOKLU KO \]^_OJZMISI MKLWITKI PJQWUZSTI, `NTUZSLV KO `ZSIJLYUZMISI PJQWUZSTI, .ulgarian re1iew. 4 will discern how Aerderian notion of history of fatherland really pre1ailed among the professionally trained historians and specialists in humanities. 4 will try to re1eal the role that was played 2y the .ulgarian Aistorical ssociation that was esta2lished to study most of all history of the fatherland in 1!$1. 4n fact, following the +erman model of aolk, the .ulgarian national 1iew addressed the entire .ulgarian ethnic community, a Volk united 2y 2lood as well as language and culture. s in the +erman case, in fact, the notion of aolk could 2e attached to 2oth democratic and racialistEethnic interpretations of .ulgarian history. " 4 will demonstrate how e1en the 9rench li2eral history underpinned in the .ulgarian conte;t a kind of history that was called to demonstrate how the unified and homogeneous community somehow remain the same despite the process of historical change o1er centuries. ' Special importance 4 will dedicate to the role of the translations made from =ussian language (2ooks, 2rochures, newspaper and <ournal articles/ that continued to 2e a ma<or source for .ulgarian pu2lic to 2e acquainted with the current >estern ,uropean thought a2out medie1al history and quest for origins in many places. -his strong =ussian mediation is 1ery o21ious in the .ulgarian newspapers and <ournals at the time.

' 4 will re1eal how some traces of racial thinking widespread in ,urope at that time entered on the pages of the .ulgarian academic <ournals. 4 will demonstrate how according to 0. .ala2ano1, the peoples from this white race were called with <ustice the peoples of history% how referring to .luntschli, 0. .ala2ano1 quoted that they create the destinies of the world and cele2rated their intellectual de1elopment and their energy. 9ollowing quoting .luntschli he represented how these peoples were separated into two grand familiesb Semitic and ryan, or the so called 4ndo'+ermanc (p. ($:/. ' -his study is going to e;plore to what e;tent =enanBs reception in .ulgaria influenced the .ulgarian quest for origins as well. 4t will demonstrate how 0. .ala2ano1, translating ,. =enan, in order to descri2e ethnic or ligusitic differences instead of tri2e used JOZO (race/, word that he descri2es as foreign, together with other factors forging the nation as language, geography, religion etc. 4 will show how .ala2ano1 felt a need to clarify how those )': main tri2es or races were different in color of the 2ody, yet different in their intellectual qualities, in their capa2ilities or ina2ilities for state organi8ation, in their historic de1elopment or centuries'old stagnation (p. ($:./. ' 4t deser1es mentioning that the .ulgarian historians and scholars were committed to the national paradigm 2ut they were rarely openly racist. 4 am going to demonstrate how the .ulgarian uni1ersity professor 0. .ala2ano1 defintely opposed racial theory himself. 4 will sho how more strictly speaking he was against the hierarchy among the white race or 4ndo'+erman race according to their intellectual de1elopment and state life. (p. ($&/. Ae wrote that, treating the topic of races, some authors had already made some e;aggerated statements. (p. ($&/ .ala2ano1 quoted .luntchli who su2scri2ed for the inity of human kin and common human nature e1en in the lowest tri2es emphasi8ing the importance of this unity for e1ery one ci1ili8ed state. (p. ($&/. ' 4 am going to demonstrate how the professionali8ation of the .ulgarian science was not a linear process and it had its discontinuities. 4 am going to demonstrate many other instances when uni1ersity scholars were against racism. 4 will re1eal how they represented their li2eral 1iews e;plaining the differences in the institutions of different people with geographical and cultural factors, not with racial ones. 4 am going to address how if there was nationalism in .ulgarian authors like in =ankeBs case it was characteri8ed 2y enlightened uni1ersalism. ,nlightenment and cosmopolitanism were typical to Aerder and .ulgarian humanities at the time. ' 4 am going to demonstrate how 0. .ala2ano1 referred to ?. Danile1ski in order to attack one racial theory according to which the Sla1s were racially inferior in comparison with the peoples from ryan or Semitic tri2es. Ae quoted Danile1skiBs idea that the future 2elongs to the Sla1ic tri2e. (p. ($(/. dater referring to ,mile 0onteynt, .ala2ano1 attacked the idea to search in the origin of the peoples for the secret of their destinies and the role of the race in historical e;planation (p. (1$/. ' 4 am going to in1estigate different theories ' that the .ulgarians or Bulgars of sparuh were DTartarsD or Turks and contemporary .ulgarians Slavinized Tartars. Aowe1er, the idea a2out the general Sla1ic origin of the .ulgarians o1erwhelmingly dominated in the =e1i1al period and the notions a2out DTartarD, DHunD, DTurkicD, Fin or DHungarianD origin of the old Bulgars were totally re<ected or co1er with negligence. 4 will demonstrate with many details how especially in the periods 1""&' 1"!& or 1!1:'1!1" some .ulgarian politicians and <ournalists tried to find an escape

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from the idea of Sla1icdom. 4n this regard they e1oked the origin of sparuhfs .ulgarians and underlined it with its different 1ersions @ -artar, 9in, or -urkic. 4 am going to represent the typical racial language that spoke a2out .ulgarian talent, innate instinct, and gift. 4n this regard, 4 am going to represent many e;amples when different 1irtues were depicted as qualities inherited 2y our ancestors represented as sparuhBs .ulgarians. 4 am going to gi1e e;amples how when it was confessed that in our veins there is certain Tartar blood this blood was depicted as a determinant of the military qualities of the .ulgarians. 4 am going to re1eal many e;amples when some 1irtues were represented as intrinsic and inherited 2y our ancestors referring to sparuhBs .ulgarians. 4 will try to re1eal how these 1ersions were e1oked within a conte;t when the racial language 2ecame more 1isi2le in the .ulgarian pu2lic sphere. 4n these cases temper and !ualities of a people were represented not as products of history, culture or social conditions 2ut as determined 2y descent from a certain race. 4 am going to represent how these e;amples also indicate that the 1ision of racial mi;ture was seen as something superior and not leading the nation to degeneration. 4n fact, the other elements of .ulgarian origin coming from Proto2ulgarians were seen as something that situated contemporary .ulgarians higher than the "ure Slavs. -he multiple origin ga1e a chance to the .ulgarian politicians and <ournalists to depict richer transmission of some 1alues. 0oreo1er, one should keep in mind that the question of whether language relationship corresponded to 2iological relationship was hardly discussed at that time. 4t was 2elie1ed that all peoples 2elonging to the same linguistic family had the same ancestors. ' 4 am going to represent how influenced 2y contemporary 1iews and some Aungarian authors some .ulgarian writers emphasi8ed in suita2le political and international conte;t how Proto'.ulgarians and Aungarians (0ad8hars/ were close 2y origin and how the Southern Sla1s were without state organi8ation 2efore the 6oming of Proto'.ulgarians who were their sa1iors. ' 4 am going to study the process of .ulgari8ation of medi1el history and underestimation of other ethnic elements in the .ulgarian quest for origins. 4 am going to re1eal many interesting e;amples of ethnici8ation or raciali8ation of monarchical fugures and their imaginary connections with contemporary .ulgarian population through .ulgarian 2lood. 0oreo1er, how pure .ulgarian and Sla1ic this blood wasF 4t is 1ery well known that Proto'.ulgarian Dulo dynasty had had monarchical lineage that had come from the designation .ulgarian not as an ethnonym 2ut as politonym. lthough identifying themsel1es with .ulgarian political and monarchical tradition, the ethnic descent of Cing Samuel and his 2rothers is contesta2le and perhaps rmenian. -he same political identification was also 1alid for the three dinasties of the Second .ulgarian kingdom @ sensB, -ertersB and ShishmansB. Aowe1er ethnically they were predominantly of Cuman descent. ' 4 am going to de1ote special attention to the popular periodical <ournals and their special status at the time. 4t should 2e known that those periodical <ournals were 1ery prestegos and they were read 2y pedagogical, high schools or secondary schools teachers. ' 4 will pay attention to school te;t2ooks as well. -here the interpretation of ancestors also followed the 1ersion that had 2een 2asically esta2lished in the late 1"&$s and the 2eginning of 1"($s. -he pro2lem of the pedigree of the Proto2ulgarians was not emphasi8ed as well. Finic Bulgarians were easy melt into the Sla1s and Bulgarian

people was coming from a pure Slavic tribe. 4t is e1ident that there were no go1ernmental efforts to make changes in those interpretations as well. 4 could demonstrate how at turn of the century one can come across the renewed importance of the ryan myth in a world'wide conte;t that was 1isi2le in some .ulgarian te;t2ooks for the first time. -hat is why one can see descriptions of the Slavs represented already e;plicitly as #ryans. ' Studding the .ulgarian newspapers, <ournals, 2ooks etc., special emphasis 4 will put on art images and imaginations. Aow did the Sla1s are representedF >hat a2out Proto'.ulgariansF >hat is the relation 2etween those images and the image of the .alkan manF aery special emphasis 4 will put here on gender and masculinity studies perspecti1e that could enriched my approach. 4 am going to demonstrate how the quest for origins and the racial e;planations and speculations, like in many other cases at that time in ,urope, were charged with a gender perspecti1e. (some salient influences 2y authors like 5ules 0ichelet and +usta1e de .on, Aippolyte -aine, 6h. Darwin/. ' the intellectual fashion in ,urope at that time ' heredity and racial generali8ations that were full of pre<udices ' the 1ery category of race was dressed up with the authority of contemporary science and references to foreign authors. ' Special importance 4 will pay to the topic that was not that part of the histoirical or historiographical studies. 4t is 1ery interesting for me to follow the changes in the #oliticise! $ournalistic !iscourse% 4n this regard, one should take into consideration that national ideologies played a crucial importance in pu2lic political domain. -hat was the reason why the intersection 2etween ancestors, ethnogenesis, science and politics was quite o21ious. Aere 4 am going to trace diffirent regimes of speech and different contra1ersial representations of .ulgaria, once defined as Sla1ic and .ulgaria defined as a product of ethnic di1ersity. 4t is 1ery interesting to trace how did .ulgarian authors imagine and appropriate .ulgarian descent and the 1ision of .ulgarian ancestors. ' 4 will try to re1eal the social meanings attri2uted to differences that were supposed to 2e racial% that took into consideration some racial or ethnic characteristic concerning .ulgarian origins. 4 will not miss to emphasi8e the interactions and the energies 2etween different domains @ politics, literature, <ournalism, and science. 4 am going to represent many e;amples that connected the quest for origins with the notions of social groups, castes and classes influenced 2y racial language and the fashiona2le idea a2out the conflict of races within nations. ' 4 am going to demonstrate how in the 1ery end of the nineteenth century and the 2eginning of the twentieth, following the ,uropean fashion and notions a2out medie1al period, race as a term, and e1olutionary, and medical language influenced 2y 6h. Darwin, entered intensi1ely in the historiographic discourse and especially politics, literature, and <ournalism, e1en more than professional historiography.

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' 4 am going to represent glatarskiBs scientific e1olution as a representati1e e;ample for the de1elopments of the .ulgarian medie1al historiography at the time. Ae was not a2le to a1oid a cluster of contemporary Aerderian and +erman =omantic terminology that concerned the national de1elopment and the process of nation'2uilding. -alking a2out the medie1al phenomena, in his te;t he spoke a2out raising of national spirit and the establishment of the popular ideal. ' 4 will pay special attention to 41. Shishmano1 who marked the fundamental shift in treating the pro2lem of .ulgarian ethnogenesis. ?ot discussed in the history te;t2ooks the pro2lem of the origin of Ptoto'.ulgarians was already represented in academic writings in the end of nineteenth and the 2eginning of the twentieth century. 0entioning the long de2ated hypothesis of Turco-Tartarian origin of Proto2ulgarians @ and the development of linguistics he did not miss .ogdano1Bs insight that the contemporary Bulgarian craniological type was the one of the very mi$ed population% ' -his direction in the academic field 2rought to de2ates a2out ethnic duality and e1en plurality in .ulgarian history. 4 will re1eal how academic scholars were still caution in applying racial methods for resol1ing social and cultural issues. s the mentioned a2o1e o1er1iew of the historical discourse shows, the notion of possi2le racial mi;ture in .ulgarian origin was not totally unclear for the .ulgarian pu2lic. -he most prestigious anthropological studies at the time saw contemporary .ulgarians as very mi$ed population. 4t was also considered o21ious from the first glance. (S. aate1/ ' 4 will present o1erwhelming num2er of e;amples how in <ournalism, literary history, non'academic historiography, literature, these ideas were much more recei1ed and they 2ecame part of new directions in the themati8ation a2out .ulgarian origin, political and cultural figures, different segments of the .ulgarian population and the way of mapping of some regions. 4n this regard 4 am going to present a rich collection of themati8ations a2out the possi2le .ulgatroan ethnic origin. 4 will demonstrate how on the e1e of the wars the term race or [ISUM^I (lineage, stock/ was used much more often. 4t coincided with the increased appropriation of the term nation together with nationality and already less KOJIPKIZS. 4t was com2ined with constant usage already of racial terms like the .ulgarian tri2e referring to 2lood and the pro1er2 .lood does not 2ecome water. hLPLMIT, 1!11, 4i, Z. 1*#&. Aowe1er, e1en now it was the term tri2e, not race that was 1ery telling. -he .ulgarian pu2lic was aware that it almost does not e;ist nation in which some race to 2e kept pure. (hLPLMIT, 1!11, 44, 1)#/. ccording to St. +idiko1b ?oone can deny that for 2iological (j S.D / and historical conditions, some groups had 2een created that are called nations, differing one from another in specific psychology. (hLPLMIT, 1!11, 44, Z. 1))/. Ae added as well the followingb -he ostensi2le sameness hides deep differences in racial temperament or the historically esta2lished psychology of e1ery nation. hLPLMIT, 1!11, 44, Z. 1):/. 0oreo1er he spoke a2out national peculiarities, national character seen openly as 2iologically determined. (hLPLMIT, 1!11, 44, Z. 1)&./ +idiko1 speaks a2out the Sla1ic tri2e, racial community of the Sla1s that predetermines close psychology. (hLPLMIT, 1!11, 444, *(!/. 6ontrary to =enanBs 1iew, ethnographic principle was cele2rated 2ecause without political unification, according to +idiko1, there would not 2e possi2le to ha1e complete national unity with respect to spirit and culture. (hLPLMIT, 1!11, 444, *")% hLPLMIT, 1!11, 4i, Z. 1*#!/ 4 will demonstrate how on the e1e of the war the model of +erman =omanticism with the notion of genius and 9ichteBs

insight a2out personal character carried in the 2lood were part of .ulgarian pu2lic discourse concerning the quest for origins. ' 4 am going to represent a huge 1ariety of e;amples themati8ing on .ulgarian origin, -hey will come from uni1ersity theacher in history of .ulgarian law P. 3d8hako1 who represented women as sym2olic 2earers of the nation and speculate a2out young females 1irginity% a2out Sla1ic female that was endowed with 1irtues% a2out female chastity that was not preser1ed among the ncient -hracians% how it was e;plained as a supposed 1estige of an ancient -hracian custom. ' 4 will present 1ery many concrete e;amples written 2y authors like Ciril Aristo1, nton Strashimiro1, Petar ?eyko1 and others 2ased on the way contemporary .ulgarians normati1ely imagined their ancestors and the real knowledge a2out ethnic comple;ity of the .ulgarian past. 4 will in1estigate with many concrete e;amples how sym2olically the Sla1ic was supposed to mark what was closer to the ,uropean norms of politeness and morality. >hat was ill-looking, dark, yello&, 'ongolian, "rotobulgarian, (riental-Tartarian was supposed to designate what was considered sian, 2ar2aric, primiti1e, ple2eian and unci1ili8ed. 4 am going to represent how some representati1es of the .ulgarian political, social and cultural elite, li1ing in the newly esta2lished capital of Sofia, e;perienced increasing contact with people geographically, culturally, and linguistically, if not phisically, different from people familiar to them. -hey felt e1ident sense of cultural superiority towards the population of the surrounding region. 4n this regard 4 am planning to present many e;amples of depictions in terms of shops. 4n the 1ery 2eginning of the twentieth century many authors were quite o1ert talking a2out tribe or race, outward appearance, temper, connections with certain culture) and civilization. s far as 2ackwardness connected with origin was concerned, national writer 41an aa8o1 referred to historical populations like "echenegs and *umans ' su2scri2ing to purely racial e;planations concerning origins of the .ulgarian population at certain regions. ' 4 am going to present o1erwhelming num2er of e;amples for similar racial e;planations of social phenomena @ e.g. how certain tensions, di1isions, and weaknesses within the .ulgarian nation were e;plained en1oking the themati8ation of origin or origins of the .ulgarian nation% how in popular histories .ulgarian origins were themati8ed to e;plain in terms of origin e1en the contemporary political 2eha1ior of regions and large parts of .ulgarian population in1oking medie1al ethnic migrations and fusion of ethnic groups (S. =ade1/% how there were cases when the political stand of the population ?orth and South of the .alkan mountain was e;plain in terms of ethnic origin.-hose e;planations in terms of ethnic origin were influenced 2y the 9rench and .ritish schools and the whole intellectual fashion from the long nineteenth century. ' 4 will represent and analy8e many concrete e;amples of political speculations concerning the insistence on our ancestors the Sla1s and raciali8ation of political ad1ersaries, personal enemies or part of the .ulgarian su2<ects. 4 will re1eal how in those cases facial features should indicate that those persons, political figures, certain segments of the .ulgarian population had at least sym2olicaly lower status within the .ulgarian community. 4t was usually com2ined with medie1al language and medie1al terms and it relied on knowledge from medie1al historiography a2out Proto2ulgarians, 3riental' -artarian type, pure 0ongolian, Proto2ulgarian from the time of Crum, Pechenegs, and Cumans. 7sually .ulgarian authors used and misused stereotypes

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a2out the lowest le1el of the esta2lished racial hierarchy among the >hites or the ,uropeans. 0oreo1er, their liminal position, e1en within the .ulgarian conte;t, endowed them with an sian, 2ar2aric, 0ongolian, and yellow status. ' s it is e1ident from the title 4 am planning to include war period as well @ .alkan wars and 9irst >orld war as well. -hat period is 1ery interesting 2ecause =ussia was ally in the first war and enemy in the second. 0oreo1er, during the wars in .ulgaria historians and other scholars had consensus on national matters. 4n 1!1* and 1!1: intellectuals rallied to the national flag. 9in'de' siecle legacy on the racial thought after the 2eginning of the wars was additionally de1eloped, ela2orated and appropriated. -he focus was again upon national community, national self, and national character. 4n this regard, it was impossi2le the trends towards more racial phraseology and e;planation, e1en in its moderate 1ersions, not to enter historical discourses. -he o1erwhelming num2er of political pamphlets and 2ooks, as well as .ulgarian press at the time, supported this statement concerning the past. -he a2o1e'mentioned intellectual atmosphere su2stantially influenced .ulgarian science as well (sociology, collecti1e psychology, history etc./ -hey were marked 2y a trend towards more racial e;planations and the appropriation of racial language concerning ethnic past. -he war atmosphere strengthened the idea of ancestors and some different focuses as far as this topic was concerned, strongly influenced 2y war alliances and con<uncture (e.g. -. Pano1, +. 6eno1 and many others/. 0oreo1er, the influence of race phraseology was so o1erwhelming that it e1en influenced the writings of some left, socialist thinkers who were far from the mainstream nationalism and racial language (e.g. Socialist 5anco Saka8o1 spoke a2out race, +reek race, Turkish dominating race, etc./. t the same time, the role of historical knowledge and different regimes of historicity 2ecame e1en more important (e.g. the first complete history of the .ulgarians was written 2y a politician at that time, Saka8o1, 1!1(/. ' 4n 1!1( it appeared the first .ulgarian medie1al history written 2y the .ulgarian historian a. glatarski. -his history was non'racist and followed a discourse of o2<ecti1ity and distance marking the growing professionali8ation of science. -here was less ethnicity and less influence of current 9irst >orld >ar atmosphere as one could e;pect. 4t spoke a2out the period of Aunno'.ulgarian domination that was followed 2y an epoch of sla1ani8ation. ?e1ertheless, 4 will re1eal how glatarski spoke a2out formation of the .ulgarian nationality (narodnost/ and the final ethnic physiognomy of the .alkan peninsula @ Sla1ic Ae e;plicitly mentioned two ethnic elements Sla1ic and .ulgarian and he spoke a2out Sla1ic'.ulgarian state and nationality as well as etnhnic dualism. 0oreo1er, Shishmano1 emphasi8ed the quantitati1e increase of the Sla1s in the state and how .ulgarian dords made a sacrify of their nationality (narodnost/. glatarski su2scri2ed to the 1iew that Proto'.ulgarians were from -urcic or Aunn origin. Ae added that they had common -urcic origin with the Aunns and they were part of common history of the Aunn peoples. ccording to him, the Aunns were -urks that came from 6hina. 7sually, glatarski used the term ethnic community and he did not use the term race. glatarski was 1ery firm in his conclusion that the .ulgarians 2y origin are Sla1s, crossed with Proto'.ulgarians and other -urcic peoples% 2y language @ totally Sla1s, howe1er their state is a deed of a -urcic people. ' t the same time it was &ancho 'enov( )ho !efen!e! the thesis that .ulgarians were Aunns 2ut the Aunns or the .ulgarians ha1e not come from 6hina. ccording to

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6eno1, they were old Danu2ian people, who li1ed in -hracia from pre'historic times. s 6eno1 wrote the Aunns are -hracians, 2ut not 6hineses. +enerally speaking, according to 6eno1, .ulgarians are old -hracians, 2ut they are old -royans as well. ' 4n the prewar period as well as during the war years, some authors referred to Aungarian linguists .udenc, 0unkachi and +om2oc. -hey emphasi8ed their insights that there were hundreds of -urcic words with .ulgarian origin in the Aungarian language. lso 9inish scholars like 0ikkola and Pasonen supported the 1iew that there were many Proto'.ulgarian 2orrowings in contemporary Aungarian language. ' 4 am going to re1eal how the mentioned a2o1e 1iews took different direction of de1elopment in non'scientific discourse. uthors like the writer Ciril Aristo1 (1!1#' 1!1&/ referred to race and racial policy and they spoke with proud a2out -artar' .ulgarian origin. During the 9irst >orld >ar one can come across 1iews how, according to science and important scholars, in ,urope the Aungarians ha1e no closer relati1es than us. uthors like n. Strashimiro1 also tried to find some racial e;planations concerning .ulgarian origin. ' -here are se1eral other issues that could 2e addressed a2out the war period. -o what e;tent the war period emphasi8ed the quest for originsF >hat were the links 2etween historians and other scholars in humanities and literature, on the one hand, and political mo1ements, including nationalist mo1ements, on the other. >hat was the influence of ?eo'=ankeans or post'=isorgimento historiography on .ulgarian regimes of historicity 2etween 1!1*'1!1"F >hat was the influence of race and psychoanalyses, 9reudBs ideas and 5ungBs notion of archetypesF >ere there any applications of the concepts of collecti1e soul and race soulF >hat other kinds of influences one could traceF ' to what e;tent race was applied as a scientific category or .ulgarian authors carry on su2scri2ing to insight that historical change has nothing to do with race 2ut with economic and social conditions and political institutions. -o what e;tent Social Darwinist traces e;pressed through a diffusion of organic imagery and other racial o1ertones could 2e distinguish in their writings. >hy e1en some socialist thinkers were influenced 2y racial discourse and ideas (e.g. P. ?eyko1/ ''' Aow did .ulgarian scholars cope with +erman idea a2out racial inferiority, especially of the Sla1ic peoplesF Aow did they cope with +erman ryan and already firmly ?ordic, not 4ndian conceptF Aow did they domesticate theories of racial gradations (good +erman, worse Sla1 and degenerate 9rench/. Aow can one trace the relations 2etween ethnically oriented nationalism and racial ideas. 4n this regard, what were the influences of Sla1ophilism and +erman Sonder&eg. (e.g. P. 0utafchie1/ ''' Aow did .ulgarian thinkers cope with such interconnected themes e1erywhere in ,urope as ancestry and raceF >hat were the trends and differences in comparison with the pre1ailing paradigm from the 2eginning of the centuryF 4n this regard what was the influence of the intellectual de1elopments in ,uropeF Aow can one define and estimate the typical application of the category of race and racial thought in the .ulgarian intellectual conte;tF >hat were the features of race 2iology of the .ulgarian people (0. Popo1/% the concept of Bulgarian race or Bulgarian tribe% the 1isions a2out mi$ture of blood and psychological chaos (C. Aristo1/% >hat were the 1isions as far as the notions of homogeneous or heterogeneous nation were concernedF

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