Bulgaria commemorates 100 years of severing of Bulgaria's Western outlands after end of WW1

published on 11/6/20 6:20 AM

Town of Bosilegrad, in present-day Serbia

Photo: far.rs

After the First World War /1914-1918/ and the decision of the Neuilly Peace Treaty in 1919, on November 6, 1920, the Serbian army occupied Bulgaria's Western outlands (129 settlements in the regions of Tsaribrod, Bosilegrad, and Strumica) with an area totalling 1,545 sq. km and a population of nearly 65,000 people.

On the day of the occupation, the National Assembly of Bulgaria suspended its sittings as a token of protest and declared 3 days of national mourning.

The black headscarf became a symbol of this occupation. The Bulgarian women in the occupied territories put on black headscarves ion their heads in sign of national mourning, and the border drawn in this way has been called by the local Bulgarians the "Black Border".

In the occupied territories, Serbs closed down 7 schools and 45 churches.

Despite the pandemic, Bosilegrad Cultural and Information centre, GLAS Association and the Democratic Union of Bulgarians in Bosilegrad, Serbia, will symbolically mark the Day of the Western Outlands and the centenary of the occupation of these lands with a minute of silence to those who died at the border, the Bosilegrad Cultural and Information Centre has announced.

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Bulgaria commemorates 100 years of severing of Bulgaria's Western outlands after end of WW1

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