Grekov, Michael

Born in 1847 in the Bessarabian province, in the Bulgarian colony of Dermender. The father is voivode Gencho Kynov Kyrgov , a Bulgarian nobleman, one of the leaders of the rebel struggle against the Ottoman Empire , who emigrated to Russia after the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829 .

In 1864 he received a scholarship from the outstanding Bulgarian enlightener and teacher Fyodor Minkov to study in Nikolaev. Later in 1867 he was enrolled in the South Slavic guesthouse .

In 1867, the Bulgarian national liberation movement for the struggle against the Ottoman occupation was actively involved. He left for Wallachia and joined the detachment of N. Voevodov and Tsv. Pavlovich. In 1868, after the defeat of the detachment, he returned to Russia and finished his studies in Nikolaev.

He actively communicates with many Bulgarian revolutionaries, including Hristo Botev . Takes part in the formation of the First and Second Bulgarian Legions , becomes one of Vasil Levski 's associates. Receives an officer's rank in the Second Bulgarian Legion under the name of Stoyan Chakyrov. On the advice of Vasil Levski, who needed military specialists, he entered the Serbian Military Academy along with several Bulgarian revolutionaries, but did not graduate from it and left for Germany to enter the military school.

In early 1872, he again returned to Ottoman Bulgaria and joined the revolutionary committee of Bulgaria. He heads the revolutionary committee in Sliven . After the execution of Vasil Levski in 1873, the Turkish authorities began mass arrests of members of revolutionary committees. M. Grekov was also arrested in the town of Sliven. But, as a subject of the Russian Empire, and thanks to the petition of the Russian consul, he escaped execution and was interned in Russia.

In 1874 he became the representative of the committee at the General Assembly in Bucharest. Establishes revolutionary committees in Tverditsa, Konare, Vetren and Milevo. Participates in the preparation of the April Uprising .

Since the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war, he was engaged in the formation of Bulgarian volunteer units in Russia.

At the end of 1877 he entered the service in the 14th Army Corps (Russia) , headed by Lieutenant-General Zimmerman, Apollon Ernestovich . Takes part in battles in the Lower Danube and in the Dobrudza region

After the San Stefan Peace was signed and the Principality of Bulgaria was formed , he held various administrative posts in Sliven, Plovdiv (worked as an assistant to the Russian consul), Sofia.

Actively published in Bulgaria and Russia. He wrote a number of articles and essays on the national liberation struggle of the Bulgarian people.

He collaborated with the Bulgarian and Russian newspapers Den, Mir, Balkan Tribune, Rech, Sliven and magazines Chronicles, Science, Observer. He wrote memoirs entitled “How we liberated Bulgaria”, which were published in a full two-volume edition in 1990.

Died in Plovdiv in 1922

• Historical Calendar [1]
• M.Grekov: Memories [2]
• M. Grekov: Budyteli [3]
• In the valleys and on the heights of Bulgaria [4]
• Bulgarians in Russia and Ukraine [5]
• Bulgarian villages in Ukraine [6]
• Hristo Botev, "Collected Works in Three Volumes", under. ed. on Nikolai Zhechev, ed. Bulgarian Writer, Sofia, 1976, code 15 9536172711 / 5506-23-77, v.3, pp.229-230 (letter from Christov Botev to Mikhail Grekov, 08/30/1875)
• Newspaper for the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria, "Bow to the Liberators"; 1977, Bulgaria.