In 1876, during the suppression of the April Uprising, the Batash massacre was carried out. Behind him stood an Ottoman Bashibozuk from the neighboring villages under the direct command of Ahmed Agha Barutanliyata. After the massacre, he received honors and a promotion from the Sultan.
After the beginning of the April Uprising on April 20, 1876, part of the armed men from the population of the village of Batak, led by Voivode Petar Goranov, Voivode Stefan Trendafilov Kerelov - a centurion, rose up against Turkish power. As advocated in the plan, the rebels removed part of the Turkish authorities when a 5,000-strong army of Bashibozus led by Ahmed aga Barutanliyata was sent against them. The leader of the uprising in Batak - Petar Goranov is a delegate of the local revolutionary committee in the meeting in Oborishte.
The first-timers and chorbadji decide to save the lives of the people in the city, and for this they call the Barutanlia, to hand over their weapons to him, as he declares with an oath that he will leave as soon as he receives the ammunition of the insurgents.
The Batash Massacre lasted from May 1 to 5, and for the slaughter of 5,000 civilians, Ahmed Agha Barutanliyata received honors and a promotion from the Sultan.
On May 1, 1876, the enemy was summoned by the chorbadji of the village to surrender their weapons. After the rebels surrendered their weapons, the Bashibozos attacked them and cut off their heads. During the “broadcast” however, some of the people in the village managed to escape from the weapon, after which the village was surrounded so that no one could leave it. The Bashibozus spread out among the houses and began to rob them. Many of the more remote homes in the village were burned, the bashibozus firing at anything that moved or not. People began to hide in the buildings with stronger construction in the village, which would withstand a fire, such as the church and the school, but also some of the houses of the shepherds.
On May 2, those hidden in Bogdanova's house surrendered, believing the aga that if they surrendered their weapons, they would receive mercy from his army. More than 200 men, women, children and old men were taken out of the house, searched for valuables, stripped so as not to stain their clothes with their blood, and finally slaughtered.
The gunner, asked the more prominent people of the village to go to him in the camp of the Bashibozuka, to hand over all the weapons to the Batachani and to calm the population. The mayor of Batak - Trendafil Toshev Kerelov, along with Vranko Dimitrov Paunov, Georgi Serafin, Petar Trandafilov Kerelov, Petar Kahvedzhiyski and Georgi Valyuv were sent to the camp. It was agreed that if they surrendered the weapons to the village, the Bashibozuk would leave it, and all the prominent people who went for peace were taken hostage - their weapons or their lives. The ammunition was loaded onto horses and carried to the camp. After which, however, all the hostages were impaled and roasted alive or beheaded. People uncovered themselves again in the church and the school.
But considering the survivors – under 2000, the dead in Batak are between 3 and 5 thousand.
Memories from Batak
Ivan Vazov
I'm from Batak, uncle. Do you know Batak?
Heh, over there behind the woods... it's a long way away,
I have no father, no mother: I am an orphan,
and I'm shivering a little, winter has already come.
You Batak haven't heard, but I'm from there:
I remember the massacre and the terrible time.
We were nine brothers, and I was left alone.
If I tell you, you will be afraid.
When they slaughtered them, uncle, I saw...
They cut them with an ax, like that... on the wood;
and I was crying, so I was scared.
Only Uncle Penu shouted in a loud voice...
And he breathed his last... And a hajduk
my grandmother slaughtered her under the old woman
and the blood flowed through our hood...
And I was small and they didn't slaughter me.
My father left the house then
with the ax in his hands and said something...
But there were a lot of them: they smoked early
and he fell flat, the bullet killed him.
And mom jumped out, from where; I don't know,
and over dad fana shouting, crying...
But she was chopped with a large knife,
therefore, uncle, I am now an orphan.
And it was very scary for you to be there.
I don't know why they wouldn't slaughter me too:
but the barn caught fire and crackled,
and the cow and the ox were suffering terribly.
Then I ran outside crying.
But then, when the terrible left -
they said that in that big fire
uncle, grandfather, and aunt also burned.
And our church, uncle, burned down,
and the school was on fire, and two hundred girls
they stood on coal - someone stopped them...
And many more sons and daughters-in-law
And aunt and other women too
They tortured them for two days, and then they wiped them out.
I can still hear them screeching, uncle!
and the children were very badly beaten.
The whole world went silent! How was it not their fault?
Only Grandfather Angel came to life, he beat them.
He collected money with the cauldron for them;
but pop Trendafila with nails forged!
And it was supposed to be scary, but I wasn't afraid,
I only trembled, but I did not cry for ages.
They took me and other children with them
and dense tangles wrapped each one.
In a Pomaško village, I don't know which one,
I was stopped somewhere underground.
I looked through a hole at the blue sky
and every day I cried for mom, for dad.
I would rather die, but not become a Turk!
When they let us go, I lived in Batak again...
After two years we welcomed a Gurkha!
Then bad weather came for them too:
we slaughtered them as they slaughtered us;
but our village, uncle, is deserted,
both father and mother did not wake up for centuries.
You, uncle, have you not heard because of Batak?
And I'm from there... it's very far...
I have been starving here for two days because I am an orphan,
and I tremble a little: winter has already come.