Yane Sandanski

Yane Ivanov Sandanski or Jane Ivanov Sandanski (May 18, 1872, Vlahi, present day Bulgaria - April 22, 1915 near Melnik, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian revolutionary from Macedonia, one of the leaders of the BMARC since 1895 (SMARO from 1902 and IMRO from 1906). He is considered an ethnic Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia, a view supported to an extent in Serbia.

Yane Sandanski was born in the village of Vlahi near Melnik (present-day Bulgaria) on May 28, 1872. His father Ivan participated as a flag carrier in the well known Kresna Uprising. After the crush of the uprising, in 1879 his family moved to Dupnitsa, Bulgaria, where Sandanski received his elementary education. Until 1895 Sandanski was a Bulgarian state employee.

Yane Sandanski was a prominent revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Movement in Macedonia and Thrace. Since the start of his revolutionary activity, he became well known because he protected the villagers from the tyranny of the Ottomans. He organised courts and taught self-defence. Sandanski lived and fought in the Pirin region, and that is why the people gave him the name "Pirin Tsar" (Pirinski Tsar). He was also active in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, and in 1908 when he supported the movement of Young Turks. He was one of the leaders of the one of the political parties in Macedonia in 1909–1910 - People Federative Party (Bulgarian section) which headquarter was in Solun. His dream was creating a Balkan Federation, and Macedonian State as a part ot that Federation.

With the fall of the Ottoman Empire Macedonia was partitioned between Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. Sandanski supported the Bulgarian army in the Balkan wars of 1912–1913.

Sandanski was killed near the Rozhen Monastery on April 22, 1915, while travelling from Melnik to Nevrokop, by local IMARO band from Nevrokop's region.

Yane Sandanski is mentioned in the National Anthem of the Republic of Macedonia as one of the greatest Macedonian heroes whose idea was creating independent Macedonian State. He is paid tribute to every year by the members of UMO Ilinden-Pirin, an ethnic Macedonian political party in Bulgaria, in the Rozhen Monastery.

Quotes

"The Macedonian revolutionaries, who after a long and ruthless struggle with the Turkish tyranny lived to see their dream — winning their Fatherland's liberty, cannot permit its falling under Serbian and Greek dominance. They will not refrain even from the most formidable terrorist means in order to achieve their most cherished dream — Free Bulgarian Macedonia!" (interview for Italian newspaper Seculo, Tirana, 1912) [1]

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