Bloody Christmas (1945)

The Bloody Christmas (Bulgarian: Кървав Божик, romanizedKarvav Bozhik; Macedonian: Крвав Божиќ, romanizedKrvav Božikj) was a campaign in which several hundred people with pro-Bulgarian orientation were killed as collaborationists by the Yugoslav communist authorities in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia in January 1945. Thousands of others who retained their pro-Bulgarian sympathies or views, suffered severe repression as a result. Many people with a pro-Bulgarian orientation or accused of having one were arrested and sentenced on fabricated charges. During the Cold War, the event was silenced by the communist authorities.