Revolutionary Toma Kardzhiev

Toma Antonov Kardzhiev was born in 1850 in the village of Arbanasi in the Gorna Oryahovitsa region. At the age of ten, he moved with his family to Ruse, where he had to combine his studies with work as an apprentice.

From his youth, he actively participated in Ruse’s public and cultural life, joining the activities of the Zora community cultural centre, founded in 1866.

In 1871, Toma Kardzhiev was among the founders of the Ruse Local Revolutionary Committee of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation. Over the next five years, he took part in all the committee’s operations under various pseudonyms.

By decision of the committee, he became a teacher in the village of Chervena Voda in order to organise it for the struggle against Ottoman rule. He proved an excellent teacher and successfully organised the village and surrounding settlements to fight the oppressor.

In the summer of 1875, after the decision to launch the Stara Zagora Uprising, Toma Kardzhiev began preparing the Chervena Voda insurgent detachment. In the final days before it set out, he wrote to Nikola Obretenov: “I do not know for what other purpose we were born into this world, if not to die for the freedom of our Fatherland.”

On the eve of his departure, however, he was arrested following a denunciation by Grigoriy, Metropolitan of Dorostol and Cherven in Ruse. Accused of preparing a rebellion against Ottoman authority, he spent several months in Stara Zagora Prison.

In January 1876, he was back in Ruse, continuing his work in the revolutionary committee. He actively helped prepare the April Uprising, organising the transport of weapons and couriers to the different revolutionary districts.

After the uprising, difficult times followed for Toma Kardzhiev. He was forced to flee to Giurgiu, where he continued his work in the revolutionary organisation.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Toma Kardzhiev distinguished himself as a scout attached to the headquarters of Lieutenant-General Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov’s 13th Corps, gathering valuable information on the deployment of Turkish units.

After Bulgaria’s Liberation, he remained active in the public life of Ruse and organised the Russophile revolt in 1887. Following its suppression, he was arrested, sentenced to death and shot near Ruse on 22 February 1887.