Bugarska matična knjiga rođenih kuršumlijske Crkve (1916-1918) kao svedočanstvo pokušaja bugarizacije stanovništva Toplice u Prvom svetskom ratu

Abstract

The paper presents for the first time the register of births of the church of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlia, kept during 1916-1918, during the occupation of Serbia in the First World War. The book is part of the Collection of register books of the Historical Archive of the Toplica in Prokuplje, which consists of 96 books in total, kept between 1878 and the Second World War. It is a unique document due to the fact that, unlike the others, the data in it are filled in the Bulgarian language and script. They were brought in by the Bulgarian clergy, who, in accordance with the forced policy of the occupation authorities aimed at the Bulgarianization of the population, took over the duties of the liquidated or interned former Serbian clergy. Unlike other books born here, there was no usual rubric "nationality", and the most obvious proof of an attempt to change the national identity can be taken the modified and Bulgarianized surnames of the local Serbian population (here: Vukašinov, Miloev, Radulov...).