Claiming Macedonia: The Struggle for the Heritage, Territory and Name of the Historic Hellenic Land, 1862–2004 (review)

A spectacular growth in the literature on the Macedonian question has taken place over the past 20 years. With the break-up of Yugoslavia and the conversion of its republics into sovereign states, one of which is the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM), old hatreds that were previously masked by the reliable umbrella of the Yugoslav Federation reappeared as new animosities emerged.

George C. Papavizas's book, Claiming Macedonia. The Struggle for the Heritage, Territory and Name of the Historic Hellenic Land, 1862–2004, joins an abundant bibliography that includes works by historians, political scientists, social anthropologists, and others, as well as popular books written by people who want to bring their views to a wider public. Papavizas himself is originally from western Greek Macedonia. He is a specialist in plant pathology, but has devoted much leisure time to studying and writing about the history of Macedonia and the ensuing dispute. He claims that he was prompted to write about the attempt to "hijack" the Greek Macedonian heritage by his personal experiences, the recollections of his grandfather, Konstantinos, a Μακεδονομάχος (Macedonian Fighter), and his own bafflement over his grandson's doubts about the geographical borders of Macedonia. As he says in his Preface, "'Here, Papou [grandfather]; I know where Macedonia is, where you were born.' Suddenly, he looked at me again and said, disappointed, 'But you told me you were born in Macedonia, Greece'" (p. 2). This little boy's confusion encapsulates one of the most complex elements of the Macedonian question today.

For most people who do not live in Greece, FYROM and the name "Macedonia" are now synonymous. This development, however, has put Greek Macedonians, especially those of the diaspora, in the awkward position of having to explain, time and time again, why they consider themselves Macedonians when they come from Greece and are Greek. Indeed, all those who hail from the geographical region of Greater Macedonia, a region now divided among four distinct states—Greece, FYROM, Bulgaria, and Albania—experience this real identity conflict.

Papavizas's motive for writing this volume springs from a laudable desire to produce a book that differs from ones that have already been published and is written in a style that is accessible to the English-speaking layman. "It is not my intent to add another historical book on Macedonia," he writes. "It is to add a different book, one with a uniquely interpreted approach, easily read and understood by the common English-speaking people interested in the Macedonian issue and in the long political, diplomatic and military struggle for the heritage, the territory and the name of the Hellenic land" (p. 4). Papavizas sees himself as an amateur historian, making it clear at the outset of his book that he has no intention of rivaling the top professional writers. "Inevitably this work, done by an amateur historian, will be compared, for better or worse, with the work of accomplished scholars. I do not intend to compete with them" (p. 5). These admissions constitute the framework within which Papavizas operates: on the one hand, his book should be taken seriously and thoughtfully, while, on the other, too high a value should not be placed on a study which is admittedly built on amateur methodology and analysis.

Papavizas has no doubt studied and grasped the meaning of a large part of the contemporary Greek-language literature on the Macedonian question. His study is chronological, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century with the founding of the Bulgarian Exarchate. In his opinion, the Macedonian question essentially begins here. Then he takes us—via the Macedonian Struggle, the Balkan Wars, World War I, the interwar years, the Occupation, the Greek Civil War, and the Cold War period—to the present day, to the birth of FYROM, and to the new state's dispute with Greece over its name...