Christo Nizamoff

Christo N. Nizamoff (Bulgarian: Христо Николов Низамов) (born 1903, died 1989) was an American writer, journalist and public figure of Macedonian Bulgarian origin. Born in the village of Jankovec, then a part of the Ottoman Empire, he is best remembered as an activist of the Macedonian Patriotic Organization and fifth editor of the newspaper "Macedonian Tribune".

Life

Nizamoff was born on September 2, 1903, in Ottoman Vardar Macedonia. Following the partition of Macedonia in 1913, Nizamoff's birthplace became part of Serbia. He was the son of Maria and Nicholas Nizamoff, both respected members of the community. Nizamoff had two brothers and one sister.

Christo received his early education at the Resen community school, where he completed grades one through eight. He then attended his secondary education in Sofia, Bulgaria. During his summer breaks, Nizamoff worked at a Sofia newspaper known as Novo Vreme. The Bureau remained operational until his move to Indianapolis in 1930. During this period, Nizamoff wrote articles for Zora, a newspaper based in Sofia. He was an advocate for an independent Macedonia. In 1925, The New York Times printed a response written by Nizamoff to one of their articles that criticized Bulgarian Macedonians. Nizamoff's editorial, "Abuse of Freedom", was the 1967 winning editorial written after demonstrations in Washington, D.C. Nizamoff wrote the 1969 editorial, "A Need for Rededication", in response to the spread of violent dissent and disruption in the United States during the Nixon administration. The same Freedom House granted an award to Milovan Djilas in 1969, to which Nizamoff strongly objected and highlighted within an article in the Congressional Record.

He was a founding member of the Indianapolis Press Club in 1934 and was named its Man of the Year in 1966. Nizamoff was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1974. Considered an expert on Balkan affairs, Nizamoff recounted his life in the pursuit of Macedonian independence in his autobiography, The Struggle For Freedom. At the turn of the century, Christo Nizamoff was chosen one of the 12 most influential persons who lived in Indianapolis during the 1900s by the Indianapolis Star. On October 30, 1969, he was invited by US President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew to the White House, along with representatives of other influential foreign language newspapers in the United States.

He died in 1989, and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indiana.