In English:Georgi Benkovski (1843 – 12 May 1876)
was the pseudonym of Gavril Gruev Hlatev, a Bulgarian revolutionary
and leading figure in the organization and direction of the
Bulgarian anti-Ottoman April Uprising of 1876 and apostle of its
4th Revolutionary District.
Born around 1843 to the family of the small-time merchant and
craftsman Gruyo Hlatev, Benkovski was a native of the bustling
sub-Balkan town of Koprivshtitsa and had two sisters, Kuna and
Vasilya. Due to his difficult childhood, Benkovski had two drop out
of school after finishing third grade in order to be tutored as a
tailor by his mother and make a living. Discontent with his job, he
became a frieze dealer and left for Asia Minor together with a
friend to sell their products with little success. For around ten
years, Benkovski lived in various cities of the Orient, including
Istanbul (Tsarigrad), Izmir (Smyrna) and Alexandria, engaging in
various professions. His later stories described his work as a
bodyguard of the Persian consul, claiming his uniform was so
beautiful people thought he was the consul himself. During his
travels, Benkovski learned seven foreign languages vernacularly:
Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Greek, Italian, Polish, Romanian and
Persian.
Benkovski became involved in the revolutionary activities of the
Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee after meeting Stoyan
Zaimov in Bucharest, Romania; he was also introduced to Vasil
Levski and Hristo Botev's revolutionary and democratic ideas. In
the summer of 1875, he joined a group of revolutionaries intending
to set Constantinople on fire and assassinate sultan Abdülaziz.
He was given the French passport of a Polish émigré, Anton
Benkowski, whose family name he adopted as a pseudonym; he later
changed his first name to Georgi. The Pole was an anti-Russian
revolutionary who had attempted to assassinate the Russian governor
of Warsaw and had to serve a life sentence on Sakhalin. Anton
Benkowski managed to flee to Japan, where he acquired a passport
and from where he fled to the Ottoman Empire. In Diyarbakir, the
Pole met Zaimov and traded his French passport for five Turkish
liras and the assistance to acquire an Ottoman passport.
Benkovski was initially selected as Panayot Volov's assistant in
the organization of the 4th Revolutionary District of the April
Uprising, but due to his fervour and leadership qualities Volov
conceded the position of head apostle to Benkovski voluntarily.
Thanks to Benkovski's work, the insurrectional preparations
developed best in this district.
When the April Uprising broke out prematurely in Koprivshtitsa
on 2 May [O.S. 20 April] 1876, Benkovski was in nearby
Panagyurishte along with most other apostles. Upon hearing that
fighting has broken out in Koprivshtitsa, Benkovski formed an
over-200-strong detachment and went to assist the insurrectionists.
His detachment was known as "The Flying Band" (?????????? ????,
Hvarkovata cheta) because it toured the entire region tirelessly,
mobilizing many insurgents and playing an important part in the
fighting. The band was even joined by six Croats from Dalmatia and
the German Albrecht, all workers at the Belovo railway station.[1]
One of the Croats, Stephen the Dalmatian, went to become the band's
final standard-bearer. One woman also joined the band: Maria
Ivanova-Sutic, the Bulgarian wife of a Croatian railway
worker.[2]
In the wake of the uprising's suppression, Benkovski and the
surviving members of the band (Stephen the Dalmatian, Zahari
Stoyanov and Father Kiril) headed to the Teteven Balkan Mountains.
On 24 May [O.S. 12 May] 1876, the band's location was betrayed by a
local shepherd and the revolutionaries were ambushed by an Ottoman
search party. Benkovski was shot dead in the Kostina area near
Ribaritsa while crossing a river bridge. He was subsequently
beheaded; his head was sent to Botevgrad and then to Sofia. The
events were documented by Zahari Stoyanov and published in his
Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings; the author was the only one of
the four who managed to escape.
Benkovski Nunatak in Breznik Heights on Greenwich Island, South
Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Georgi Benkovski, as are
six villages in Bulgaria and a neighbourhood of Sofia (the former
villages of Birimirtsi and Obradovtsi). The Georgi Benkovski
Stadium in Pazardzhik, the football club FC Benkovski Byala and the
Bulgarian Air Force academy also bear his name.
In Bulgarian:Roden e v Koprivshtitsa na 21 septemvri 1843
g. Ima dve sestri - Kuna i Vasilya. Ima tezhko detstvo, bashta mu
Gruyu Hlatev, dreben i pochten targovets, umira prez 1848 i tova
prinuzhdava Gavril da uchi samo do 3-ti klas v Osnovnoto
Koprivshtensko uchilishte, a sled tova mayka mu go dava da uchi
zanayat - terziystvo. Po-kasno, neudovletvoren ot tazi perspektiva,
stava abadzhiyski chirak, posle se otdelya ot maystora si i sam se
zalavya s targovia. Obikalya golemite pazari v Tsarigrad i na yug
iz Anadola. Ima golyam uspeh, pecheli i harchi mnogo, no
prezhivyava vnezapni obrati, koito promenyat misleneto mu i
otnoshenieto mu kam zhivota i patya, koyto tryabva da sledva edin
chovek. Spored negovite sobstveni dumi pred Zahariy Stoyanov chovek
tryabva da umee da lazhe, za da bade uspeshen targovets. V
prodalzhenie na deset godini zhivee na razlichni mesta v Orienta -
Izmir - Smirna, Tsarigrad, Anadola, Aleksandria, raboteyki
vsevazmozhni neshta. Edna godina e bil gavazin na persiyskia konsul
i nosel takava hubava uniforma, che horata go vzimali za samia
konsul. Govorel sedem ezika - balgarski, turski, gratski,
italianski, polski, rumanski i persiyski.
Priemayki imeto Georgi Benkovski, toy aktivno se vklyuchva v
predprietite ot balgarskata revolyutsionna emigratsia deystvia po
organiziraneto na neuspyaloto Starozagorsko vastanie (1875 g.) s
podpalvane na Tsarigrad i samozhertvenoto Aprilsko vastanie, koeto
edinstveno v rakovodenia ot nego IV revolyutsionen okrag izbuhva
istinski, a zhestokoto mu potushavane dovezhda do obyavyavane na
Rusko-Turskata osvoboditelna voyna. Zaslugata na Georgi Benkovski
da ya ima dnes Bulgaria e ogromna.
V Bukuresht se zapoznava sas Stoyan Zaimov i se zapalva po
revolyutsionnoto delo. Prez lyatoto na 1875 g. toy e vklyuchen v
grupata revolyutsioneri-podpalvachi na Tsarigrad. Tselta na
teroristichnia akt e da se predizvika smut v Osmanskata imperia.
Grupata pristiga v imperskata stolitsa, no poluchava ukazania ot
Hristo Botev da prekasne izpalnenieto na misiyata, tay kato s neya
bi se komprometiralo balgarskoto osvoboditelno dvizhenie. Tuk
balgarskiyat revolyutsioner se snabdyava s pasporta na polskia
emigrant - Anton Benkovski. Po-kasno Gavril Hlatev zamenya malkoto
ime Anton s Georgi. Izbran e za pomoshtnik na Panayot Volov. Toy se
otkroyava sas svoite kachestva i Volov dobrovolno otstapva myastoto
si na glaven apostol.
Po vreme na obyavyavaneto na Aprilskoto vastanie, na 20 april
1876 g. v Koprivshtitsa, Benkovski e v Panagyurishte zaedno s
povecheto drugi apostoli. Kogato razbira, che v Koprivshtitsa veche
se biyat, toy obyavyava vastanieto i v Panagyurishte, sled koeto
barzo sformira cheta i tragva da vdiga i okolnite sela.
Hvarkovatata cheta, s koyato neumorno obikalya tselia region i
uspyava da mobilizira i motivira mnogo vastanitsi, igrae tsentralna
rolya vav voennite deystvia na vastanieto. Kam chetata se
vklyuchvat dazhe shestima harvati ot Dalmatsia i edin nemets, koito
rabotyat na zhp stantsiyata v Belovo. Ediniyat ot tyah, Stefan
Dalmatinetsa, e posledniyat im bayraktar.
Sled zhestokoto potushavane na bunta v Panagyurskia region
Benkovski i chetata se otpravyat kam Tetevenskia balkan, kadeto na
12 may sled predatelstvo na mostche na reka Kostina toy pada,
pronizan ot kurshuma na bash-poteryadzhiyata Ryuzgyar Hadzhi Ahmed
aga. Glavata mu e pratena v Botevgrad, a sled tova v Sofia. Tezi
sabitia sa dokumentirani ot Zahari Stoyanov v "Zapiski po
balgarskite vastania". Samiyat avtor prezhivyava po chudo
organiziranata im zasada.