Dame Gruev | |
---|---|
Born | January 17, 1871 Smilevo, Monastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Macedonia) |
Died |
December 10, 1906 Petlec Peak, Maleshevo, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now Macedonia) |
(aged 35)
Nationality | Bulgarian |
Organization | Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (later SMARO, IMARO, IMRO) |
Damyan Yovanov Gruev or Damjan Jovanov Gruev, often known by his short name Dame Gruev, (January 19, 1871 – December 10, 1906) was а Bulgarian revolutionary and insurgent leader in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace. He was among the founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (initially known as the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committee). Scholars in the Republic of Macedonia consider Gruev to be an ethnic Macedonian revolutionary.
Dame Gruev was born in 1871 in the village of Smilevo, (present-day, Republic of Macedonia). He received his elementary education in Smilevo and continued his education in the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki. He was part of a group excluded from the school following a student revolt. In early 1888, the group, consisting of 19 people, including other future IMRO-revolutionaries was attracted by Serbian propaganda. As result they went to study in a Serbian Gymnazium in Belgrade at the expense of the Saint Sava society. Gruev later continued his education in the Grandes écoles in Belgrade. Following yet another revolt, Gruev and his associates were excluded from the Great School and emigrated en bloc to Bulgaria. Gruev was enrolled in Sofia University and, later, in the Young Macedonian Literary Society. He found also the circle "Druzhba", whose aim was to implement "Article 23" of the Treaty of Berlin (1878) on authonomy of Macedonia. In 1891 Gruev was expelled from the University as he was suspected in the assassination of the Minister Hristo Belchev, but subsequently this allegation turned out to be groundless.