Boris Tomanić, THE BULGARIAN OCCUPATION OF YUGOSLAVIA IN 1941

Boris Tomanić, THE BULGARIAN OCCUPATION OF YUGOSLAVIA IN 1941


DOI 10.29362/2589.tom.33-56

With reference to the unpublished material from the Serbian and Bulgarian archives, the published sources and relevant literature, the paper gives a general outline of the Bulgarian occupation of the parts of Yugoslavia in 1941. The first segment of the paper analyses the reasons why Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact and why it opened its doors for the German troops to enter. Then, the light is shed on the role Bulgaria played in the German invasion of Yugoslavia, and the problems in the Axis Bloc that occurred in the course of the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. The attention is drawn to the way the Bulgarian government treated the Yugoslav legation in Sofia during the April War. The main part of the paper describes the establishment of the Bulgarian military, civil, police and religious administration in the annexed territory, the process of Bulgarisation of the local population by means of schools, youth organizations and the expulsion of the local population, the Serbs in particular. The final part of the paper shows the way Bulgaria secured the flow of railway traffic South East of Serbia.