SR0089LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Bulgaria and the United States are strategic
3partners and allies, sharing ties of culture, tradition, and
4common interest; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The year 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the
6United States Senate's ratification of the Protocol for
7Accession of Bulgaria into the North Atlantic Treaty
8Organization (NATO), the 80th anniversary of the Bulgarian
9people's rescue of the Bulgarian Jews, the 120th anniversary
10of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the
11United States and Bulgaria, and the 145th anniversary of the
12liberation of Bulgaria; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The first Bulgarian emigrants to Illinois arrived
14in the second half of the 19th century; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Granite City hosts the oldest Bulgarian American
16community in the United States; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The prominent Bulgarian American banker, Henry
18Krandzhev, served as the president of the Granite City Trust
19and Savings Bank and as the president of the Masonic Temple
20Association, receiving the title of Scoutmaster; and
 

 

 

SR0089- 2 -LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1    WHEREAS, The first Bulgarian emigrants to Chicago, who
2began to arrive as early as the 1870s, were students sent by
3American protestant missionaries for study in the United
4States; and
 
5    WHEREAS, While most of these students returned to
6Bulgaria, some remained and created a Bulgarian American
7community in Illinois; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Bulgaria was admitted into and permitted to
9display an exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in
10Chicago, an event hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the first
11diplomatic recognition accorded to Bulgaria as an independent
12state; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Aleko Konstantinov, a famous Bulgarian writer,
14recounted his journey to the World's Columbian Exposition in
15Chicago in his book, To Chicago and Back, which became
16instrumental in encouraging generations of Bulgarians to
17emigrate to Chicago; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Tens of thousands of Bulgarians arrived in the
19United States from the geographic region of Macedonia at the
20beginning of the 20th century, pursuing freedom and fleeing
21the devastation and horrors occasioned by regional unrest; and
 

 

 

SR0089- 3 -LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1    WHEREAS, The first Bulgarian Mission with its own priest
2was established in Madison in 1907; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Madison is home to Illinois' oldest Bulgarian
4Orthodox Church, Holy Trinity, built by Macedonian Bulgarians
5with the current church building existing since 1910; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Granite City Bulgarian community published
7the first Bulgarian newspaper in the United States, the Vox
8Populi, or Voice of the People, from 1907 to 1950; other
9Bulgarians newspapers, such as the New World (1908-1909),
10Emigrant (1909), Freedom (1914-1917), Macedonian Tribune
11(1927-present), and others, followed in its wake; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Stoyan Yurukov became the first Bulgarian pilot
13to fly in the skies above Chicago in 1912, charting the course
14for many other Bulgarian pilots who have lived and worked in
15the Windy City; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Bulgarian emigrants from the region of Macedonia
17founded the Macedonian Patriotic Organization in 1922; the
18organization continues to work for human, civil, and economic
19rights of all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, who hail
20from the geographic region; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Assen Hristov Jordanoff, a Bulgarian American

 

 

SR0089- 4 -LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1engineer and pilot, emigrated to the United States after World
2War I, becoming one of the fathers of civil aviation in the
3United States; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The Macedonian Bulgarian Stoyan Christowe, a
5journalist for the Chicago Daily News, wrote a book titled
6This is My Country, a semi-autographical book about the
7immigrants arriving in the United States from southeast Europe
8at the beginning of the 20th century and a book found on the
9bedside table of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time
10of his death; and
 
11    WHEREAS, John V. Atansoff, a Bulgarian American, created
12the first automatic electronic digital computer in 1939, an
13invention for which he was presented the National Medal for
14Science and Technology by President George H. W. Bush in 1990;
15and
 
16    WHEREAS, In the Spring of 1943, the Bulgarian people
17resisted Nazi pressure to deport Bulgarian Jews to Nazi
18concentration camps and, in doing so, rescued approximately
1950,000 Bulgarian Jews from the worst terrors of the Nazi
20regime; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Illinois became a safe haven for many Bulgarian
22political dissidents and refugees, fleeing from the repressive

 

 

SR0089- 5 -LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1terrors of communism; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The fall of the Berlin Wall and the following
3dissolution of the Soviet Union freed the Bulgarian people to
4proclaim and institute a democratic and multiparty political
5system; and
 
6    WHEREAS, In 1960, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
7proclaimed March 3 (Bulgarian Liberation Day) as Bulgaria Day
8in Chicago, instituting an annual Bulgarian flag-raising
9ceremony at Daley Plaza in Chicago that continues until this
10day; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The Chicago metropolitan area is today considered
12the home of the largest Bulgarian diaspora; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The two Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Churches in
14the Chicago metropolitan area, St. Sophia (established in
151938) and St. John of Rila (established in 1996), along with
16the Bulgarian Evangelical Church (New Life), serve as social
17and religious centers, maintaining Bulgarian culture and
18traditions; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Illinois is home to 13 Bulgarian Sunday Schools
20that perpetuate Bulgarian language, culture, and history in
21our communities; and
 

 

 

SR0089- 6 -LRB103 31139 MST 57859 r

1    WHEREAS, Bulgarian Americans have greatly enriched the
2cultural, technological, and civic life of Illinois,
3contributing through their cultural centers, schools,
4churches, dance groups, businesses, and other civic
5organizations to the social, cultural, civil, and economic
6development of the State of Illinois; therefore, be it
 
7    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
8ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we send our warmest
9congratulations and best wishes to the people of the Republic
10of Bulgaria as they celebrate the 145th anniversary of their
11liberation on March 3, 2023; and be it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That we confirm the rich friendship that binds
13our peoples together; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That we declare March of 2023 as Bulgarian
15American Heritage Month in the State of Illinois; and be it
16further
 
17    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
18delivered to the Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria in
19Chicago, President Joe Biden, and all members of the Illinois
20Congressional Delegation.