Navigating Nationality in the Emigration of Minorities between Bulgaria and Greece, 1919—1941

Abstract

The 1919 Convention for Emigration of Minorities between Bulgaria and Greece was an important prototype for minority handling and population exchange in Eastern Europe after World War I. Based on research in Bulgarian and Greek archives, this article offers a comparative analysis of the conflicting pursuits of the two countries and the multiple opinions of various groups affected by displacement. Despite the optimism of the League of Nations that the Convention would solve ethnic conflict by bolstering individual rights, people's unwillingness to prioritize nationality undermined the execution of voluntary exchange. Instead, emigration occurred as an “actual exchange,” and refugees fled their birthplaces under harsh circumstances. Yet individuals inventively navigated their nationality and often defied the priorities of the nation-states to further their personal strategies. Because of the failure of this first international experiment of voluntary exchange in Eastern Europe, future proponents of population management adopted the principle of compulsory exchange.

Refugees as Tools of Irredentist Policies in Interwar Bulgaria

“…Politicians almost overtly kept the torch of irredentism burning. Bulgaria's neighbours were well aware of this covert agitation (Dragostinova 2009, p. 195). Dimităr Hadžidimov (1875-1924, member of the 'Group of Serres' who joined the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1919 and in 1924 became a member of parliament, addressed the National Assembly as follows:…”

Fabricating Fidelity: Nation-Building, International Law, and the Greek–Turkish Population Exchange

“…Far from being a "merely political" sentiment, the idea that curbing ethno-nationalism Bulgaria and Greece, 1919-1941" 23 (2009 authority of the mixed commission that had been established pursuant to the Treaty of Neuillysur-Seine, the World Court held that the 1919 Greek-Bulgarian exchange had been undertaken for one purpose and one purpose only Ŕ putting an end to majority-minority conflict. Writing on behalf of the Court, Anzilotti made the point succinctly: "The general purpose of the instrument is thus, by as wide a measure of reciprocal emigration as possible, to eliminate or reduce in the Balkans the centres of irredentist agitation which were shown by the history of the preceding periods to have been so often the cause of lamentable incidents or serious conflicts".…”

The politics of citizenship in Greece

“…After the First Word War (WWI), the mutual and voluntary exchange of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities was arranged by a bilateral Convention between Greece and Bulgaria signed in 1919. 37 Almost 46.000 Greeks arrived from Bulgaria and 92.000 Bulgarians departed from Thrace (Divani 1999, pp.58, note 20, 290-370;Dragostinova 2009). In 1923, the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey was regulated by the Treaty of Lausanne which provided for the Convention between Greece and Turkey and the Ankara Convention.…”