At 11:45 on July 23, 1942, a panel of the Sofia Military Court sentenced six people to death – for subversion, at the height of World War II. One of those condemned to be shot is Nikola Vaptsarov – then aged 32, published a single book of his poems, “Motor Songs” (1940). The sentence was carried out the same day, shortly after 9 p.m., at the Garrison shooting range in Sofia. But before that, when Vaptsarov knew he only had a few hours left to live, he wrote one of the most influential poems in Bulgarian literature on the wall of his cell.
The fight is mercilessly cruel.
The fight, as they say, is epic.
I fell. Another will replace me and…
so much.
What does being a person mean here?
Shooting, and after the shooting – worms.
It is so simple and logical.
But in the storm we will be with you again,
my people, because we loved you!
Nikola Vaptsarov was born on December 7 (November 24 old style) 1909 in the city of Bansko, then
still in the Ottoman Empire. His father is the Voivode of VMRO Yonko Vaptsarov, and his mother is Elena Vezuva, with the assistance of the American missionary Miss Stone, he graduated from the American College in Samokov and later became a Protestant missionary and teacher, Danny Ivanov recalls in his blog.
As a teenager, he came under the strong influence of the Russian Dr. Boris Mailer, who lived since 1919 in Yonko Vaptsarov's house as a White Guard émigré, who turned out (according to later evidence) to be a Bolshevik NKVD agent. After the failure of the September Uprising in 1923, he fled back to the USSR. It is assumed that it was implemented to implement the project to create a left wing of the VMRO, the so-called VMRO (united). His image and influence on the upbringing of the teenager Nikola in the spirit of the communist faith is emphasized in all the memoirs of the Vaptsar family, published after September 9, 1944.
On the other hand, the house in Bansko was visited by royalty such as Tsar Ferdinand, Wilhelm II, Tsar Boris III and prominent intellectuals such as poets Peyo Yavorov and Elisaveta Bagryana, artists Konstantin Shtarkelov, Ivan Penkov, etc. For its part, the Vaptsarovi family in the 1920s and 1930s had access to the palace, group photos of the young man with Tsar Boris III have been preserved. Nikola studied at the high school in Razlog (1924 – 1926), then at the Marine Engineering School in Varna (1926 – 1932), later named after him.
He was on training practice initially on the ship “Druzki”, and in April and May 1932 with the ship “Burgas“ visited Constantinople, Famagusta, Alexandria, Beirut, Port Said and Haifa. On leaving school he was produced in rank – officer candidate and receives a mechanical technician diploma.
After graduation
Vaptsarov goes to work in the factory of “Bulgarian forest industry“ AD
in the village of Kocherinovo – as a fireman and then a mechanic. He was elected chairman of the professional society protecting workers' rights. At the same time, he organizes, writes and plays roles in an amateur theater.
He married Boyka Vaptsarova and they had a son, Yonko, but soon the child fell ill and died. He was fired from the factory in 1936 after an accident. He moved to Sofia, where he could not find a job for a long time, but Boyka started working as a clerk in a bank. In the period 1936 – 1938 Vaptsarov worked for a short time as a technician in the factory of the Bugarchevi brothers, and then as a fireman in the Bulgarian State Railways and in the Sofia Municipal Ekarisazh.
In September 1940, Vaptsarov left the ekarisazh and after a short-term job (about a month) at a test station, he left it and remained unemployed.
Vaptsarov, who had left-wing beliefs at the beginning of the Second World War, engaged in pro-Soviet activities.
In November 1940 during the Sable campaign,
he went to Bansko, where he became the organizer of the collection of signatures in support of an alliance treaty with the USSR. On December 12, Vaptsarovi's home in the city of Bansko was searched and the poet was arrested after compromising materials were found in his possession.
In the second half of December, he was released on bail pending examination of the file by the prosecutor. In the first days of June 1941, Vaptsarov was arrested again and was taken from Sofia and imprisoned in the Razlog police station in connection with the criminal case opened there regarding his participation in the Soboleva action. From there, he was interned for three months in Godech until the judgment of the court.
In the process organized under the State Protection Act
he was found not guilty and he was acquitted.
Meanwhile, the USSR was attacked in June by Germany and after his return to Sofia (September 1941) Vaptsarov looked for contacts to participate in the resistance. This is how he got in touch with Tsviatko Radoynov, who entered the country illegally, leading a group of Soviet saboteurs in the summer of 1941. Radoynov became the head of the “mining commission” to the Central Committee of the BRP(k), whose task is to organize the carrying out of sabotage activities against the state institutions in Bulgaria and the German troops stationed in the Kingdom. As a result, Nikola Vaptsarov was appointed treasurer of the “mining commission”.
For his activity, the unemployed Vaptsarov receives funds with which to support his family, since the subversive organization was financed by the USSR. In March 1942, after prolonged agent actions, mass arrests of communist activists were carried out. In this way, about 60 people became defendants in the case, which became known as the trial against the Central Committee of the BRP(k).
They have been charged under the Criminal Code – for cooperation and assistance to a terrorist group financed by a foreign country in time of war and for organizing an activity aimed at violently changing the established state order in the Kingdom of Bulgaria, as well as for subversive activity against the allied German troops. A gun, encrypted notes, campaign materials and other evidence implicating him in conspiratorial activity were found in his home. Vaptsarov was subjected to severe physical torture in prison and confessed to his illegal activity.
On July 6, 1942, the trial began.
A protocol of an open session of the Sofia Military Court from July 6, 1942 shows that before the court Vaptsarov denied the testimony he gave during the investigation. On July 23, he was nevertheless sentenced to death and the same evening he was shot, together with Anton Ivanov, Anton Popov, Petar Bogdanov, Georgi Minchev, Atanas Romanov at the Garrison shooting range in Sofia. Vaptsarov's request for pardon was presented to Boris III, but it was rejected.
His brother Boris Vaptsarov is also an activist of the communist movement in Bulgaria and was called as a witness in the trial against the Central Committee of BRP(k).
Vaptsarov edited in. “Literary critic“ (1941). Published in the newspapers “Kormilo“ (1936), “New Bell“ (1937), “Light Stream“ (1939), “Sofia“ (1941), magazine “Craft Talk“ (1937 – 41) and others. In 1937, he won a competition in the "Letets" magazine. for a work of art with an aviation plot with his poem “Romance”. During his lifetime, Vaptsarov published only one collection of poems – “Motor Songs“ (1940) – under the name Nikola Yonkov. He also wrote travelogues, short stories, criticism, works for children and a play. Some of the material was published in the periodical press, but most was published posthumously.
Poem collection: “Motor songs“
Poems: "Faith", "Duel", "Spring", "History", "Village Chronicle", "Letter", "Romance", "Cinema", "Report" , “Botev“, “Chronicle“, “The struggle is mercilessly cruel“, “Farewell“ etc.
Drama: The Roaring Wave