site.btaBulgarian Consulate General in Chicago Tells Story of Bulgarian Emigrants Who Fought in US Army

The Bulgarian Consulate General in Chicago reminded the contribution of the Bulgarian emigration in North America to support the United States Army during the First World War. The text, published on the Facebook page of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission, is part of an educational project about the history and achievements of Bulgarian emigration in North America.

Although Bulgaria and the United States fought on opposing sides in the war (USA and Bulgaria were not at war with each other on a state level and preserved diplomatic relations), the majority of the Bulgarian diaspora were Macedonian Bulgarians who regarded President Woodrow Wilson's call for right of self-determination of peoples as an opportunity for the full liberation of Macedonia.

The Macedonian Bulgarians organized political campaigns in the United States to explain to American society that Bulgarian war effort was not for the sake of colonial aims but to achieve the national unification of the Bulgarian people. Seeing America's participation in the war as an opportunity to achieve their national ideal, tens of thousands of Bulgarians worked in metallurgical plants and mines, producing the basic raw materials needed for the arms industry.

Bulgarian immigrants also joined the ranks of the American wartime army. According to records from July 1917 to December 1918, over 400 Bulgarians served as soldiers in the divisions commanded by General John Pershing. After the war, all Bulgarians were granted veteran rights, which allowed many of them to complete higher education and reach a high social position.

The example of the soldier Vangel Sugarev was particularly indicative. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, he went on to pursue a career in science, and for more than a quarter of a century worked as a professor at Texas Tech University. A native of Bitola, a city in the southwest part of today's Republic of North Macedonia, Vangel was the brother of prominent voivode of the Internal Macedonian- Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) in Bitola district Georgi Sugarev. After IMARO's defeat in the Ilinden Uprising of 1903, Vangel Sugarev moved to the USA with his family. After the First World War he expressed his staunch belief in Macedonian Bulgarians' right to national self-determination, which was denied to them by the Serbian and Greek governments. Vangel Sugarev wrote several notable works on the history and political ideals of the Macedonian liberation movement and the Macedonian Bulgarians. Among them were the articles "Macedonian Settlement", "The Constitution of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee" and "The Bulgarian Nationality of the Macedonians". Sugarev went on to become Head of the History Department in Texas University.

The United States became involved in the First World War on April 6, 1917, and funding was needed through various financial policies to cover the enormous war costs. In this period, the federal government relied on one-third of the war costs to be covered by new taxes, and two-thirds, by loans to the population.

The loan to the population of the United States was called the "Liberty Loan", which was implemented through five campaigns of selling so-called "Liberty Bonds".

The Bulgarian emigres in America bought the special "Liberty Bonds" in large numbers to credit the US war effort. Bulgarian immigrants saw the purchase of these securities as a way to show their loyalty to their new country. Their contribution was also an expression of support for President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points for Peace, giving the Macedonian Bulgarians (then subjugated by Serbia and Greece and denied their national rights) the right to self-determination.

To the surprise of the U.S. government, it was the Bulgarians who were the winners of the "Liberty Loan" fundraising campaign. 

The media, politicians and financiers like Milton Reed, Secretary of the "Second Federal Reserve", made public statements giving the Bulgarians as an example to those Americans who have not yet supported their homeland on the scale that the Bulgarians have succeeded.

The United States was among the victors of the First World War and on April 18, 1919, at the Hippodrome in New York City, the "National Loan Committee" of the United States held a celebratory rally attended by 30,000 people representing 42 immigrant communities. The Bulgarian immigrant community was declared the winner of the "Liberty Loan" fundraising campaign. The Bulgarian ambassador Stefan Panaretov was invited from Washington to attend the event.

The Bulgarian community in the USA had numerous organizations across the country, the most notable of which was the Macedonian Patriotic Organization (MPO), which sought to inform the American society of the liberation struggles of the Macedonian Bulgarians, which were again subjugated by Serbia (later Yugoslavia) and Greece after the First World War. The MPO published several fundamental works on the subject such as "The Macedonian Slavs", "The Balkan Locarno and the Macedonian Question", "Macedonians in North America", "What is the National Character of the Macedonian Slavs", "Disclosure on the Situation of the Bulgarians in Greek Macedonia", "Macedonian Almanach". Bulgarians in America were loyal citizens to their new home country, without forgetting their roots and the First World War was indicative of that.