Bozhidar Dimitrov


Bozhidar Dimitrov Stoyanov was a Bulgarian historian, politician, and polemicist in the sphere of Medieval Bulgarian history, the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria and the Macedonian Question. He was director of the National Historical Museum, formerly a Bulgarian Socialist Party member, and later became affiliated with the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria political party.

Biography

Born in Sozopol to a family of Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace, he was given access to the Vatican Secret Archives in the 1980s, regarded as a great achievement considered the political situation of the time. As the director of the National Historical Museum, he had an indirect conflict in 1997–1998 with the President Petar Stoyanov regarding whether to return the Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya rough copy to the Zograf Monastery or leave it in Bulgaria.
Being a member of the Supreme Party Council of BSP, he declared himself openly against the party in 2005 by not supporting BSP Mayor of Sofia candidate Tatyana Doncheva and instead favouring the independent Boyko Borisov. Because of this he was taken down from the post of BSP municipal councillors leader in Sofia. Before the 2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election, Dimitrov formally left BSP and joined Borisov's GERB. He was the party's candidate for 2nd MMC – Burgas in the first-past-the-post vote and won the election with 35.92%. He finished ahead of Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist Attaka.
Dimitrov is the author of 30 treatises and over 250 articles and papers in the sphere of his research, as well as several books. He has specialized in palaeography in Paris and also hosts the patriotic history-related Pamet Balgarska show on Kanal 1.
Dimitrov believes that the Bulgars played a more important role in the formation of the contemporary Bulgarians as a people than previously believed.
He was Minister without portfolio responsible for Bulgarians abroad in the GERB government.

Controversy

Although serious researchers maintain that Dimitrov’s views on Bulgarian history are biased and can be partially challenged, they are popular in Bulgaria and he enjoys credibility among nationalist intellectuals. Dimitrov is a former collaborator of Bulgaria's communist-era security service.

''The Ten Lies of Macedonism''

Bozhidar Dimitrov's book, The Ten Lies of Macedonism, is a polemical pamphlet, based on historical documents, and is openly against the ideology of "Macedonism", i.e. the form of ethnic Macedonian nationalism that asserts an "allegedly deep-rooted ethnic and cultural distinction" between ethnic Macedonians and Bulgarians. The book has caused considerable controversy and criticism from ethnic Macedonian sources. Dimitrov claims that it has reached best-seller status in the Republic of Macedonia. The "10 lies" described by Dimitrov are:
in Antarctica is named after Bozhidar Dimitrov.