Revolutionary Grigor Totev

Grigor (Gligor) Ivanov Totev, known as Grigor Toteto, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and Kukush voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO). He was born in 1868 in the village of Sehovo in the Gevgelija district, then part of the Ottoman Empire and now in Idomeni, Greece.

Grigor Totev completed the first class at the Bulgarian high school in Thessaloniki in 1892. In 1894 he joined IMARO, recruited by Gotse Delchev and Atanas Murdzhev, and began working as a bookseller for Petar Sarafov. Over the following years he taught in various settlements, including Dolna Dzhumaya, Gorna Dzhumaya, Bayaltsi, Machukovo and Shlyopintsi.

IMARO's Gevgelija leader Iliya Doktorov described him as one of Dame Gruev's most trusted assistants. He helped arrange secret meetings between Dame Gruev and revolutionaries from the provinces and was entrusted with substantial organisational work. According to Doktorov, he maintained constant contact with terrorists and helped send and receive clandestine mail from the provinces.

After the Thessaloniki and Bayaltsi affairs in early 1901, Grigor Totev was wanted by the authorities and in February was forced to go underground with other revolutionaries. He became secretary of Krastyo Balgariyata's detachment and in August 1901 became an independent voivode in the Kukush district. In October 1901 he punished the man from Kalinovo who had betrayed Andon Kyoseto's detachment.

In 1902 his detachment included Tushe Georgiev, known as Golyamata Gayda (the Great Bagpipe), as well as Hristo Mitsov and Dino Krundurski. In June 1902 the latter killed Islam, the field guard of the village of Smol Lani, and was himself killed by smugglers.

In March 1903, following a serious illness, Grigor Totev went for treatment at an Italian hospital in Thessaloniki and then travelled by sea to Bulgaria. In 1915 he underwent surgery and had one kidney removed. He subsequently worked as an archivist, registrar and steward at the Macedonian Cooperative Bank. Grigor Totev belonged to the Gevgelija Brotherhood and the Ilinden Organisation.

In 1939 he published brief memoirs in the magazine Ilinden Illustration. Grigor Totev died on 11 July 1934. He was married to Efrosina Ivanova, a teacher and revolutionary activist.