Genealogical research among Bulgarians of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine: Historical aspect

Abstract

This study describes a genealogical movement that manifests itself among the Bulgarian ethnic community in the historical territory of Bujak, currently divided between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The first genealogical work was the pamphlet of the priest Dmitry Chachir from the Bulgarian colony Iserlia – “Biographical sketch of the family Chachir”, published in Chisinau in 1899. In the modern period, genealogical research was of special interest to local historians. In this regard, one of the most famous genealogists is Petar Kairak from the city of Taraklia. In 1992, he published a voluminous biographical work “Olympii Panov”, devoted to this famous Taraklian, who participated in the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire, and then in the construction of the third Bulgarian kingdom. In the mentioned work, a genealogical tree of the Panov family was published for the first time with appropriate explanations and commentary. Later, P. Kairak published a valuable book in two volumes “Genealogical trees of Taraklia” (1999, 2002), also in Russian, which included genealogical trees of the Bulgarian families of this city, reconstructed from the time of their migration to Bessarabia until the end of the 20th century. This work caused a genealogical movement in other places with Bulgarian population in Bujak.