Todor Panitsa

Todor Nikolov Panitsa (; July 2, 1879 – May 8, 1925) was a Bulgarian revolutionary figure, active in the region of Macedonia. He was one of the leaders of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.

Biography Panitsa was born on July 2, 1879, in Oryahovo, northwestern Bulgaria, a town located on the right bank of the Danube. He grew up in the family of Nikola Panitsa from Tarnovo and Mitanka Peltekova from Svishtov. He studied in Lom, where according to journalist Mihail Dumbalakov, he became familiar with Macedonian matters through his brother. Panitsa became an orphan and went to live with his uncle in Varna, where he completed his secondary education. For around three years, Panitsa served as a cavalryman in the Bulgarian army. He became part of the Macedonian liberation movement in 1902. However, IMRO preferred its "illegal" members to be unmarried, since family ties would prevent them from being entirely committed to the revolutionary cause. As a result, Panitsa was censured for his marriage by the Serres committee, which declared his action to be "a bad principle and incompatible with the morals and customs of the country, and impossible under the conditions of our revolutionary life". The committee also expelled Panitsa's wife from the Serres region. Panitsa was originally assigned by Boris Sarafov to assassinate Sandanski, however Panitsa remained loyal to Sandanski. On October 10, 1907, the Serres committee sentenced Boris Sarafov, Ivan Garvanov and Mihail Daev to death. Panitsa managed to escape with the help of relatives and associates.

During the Young Turk Revolution, together with Sandanski, he cooperated with the Young Turks. After the revolution, he became a member of a left-wing political party in the Ottoman Empire - People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section). Panitsa supported the Bulgarian Army's operations in eastern Macedonia then. During the First World War, he was wounded in the battles of the Bulgarian army against the French in Krivolak. Panitsa later performed police functions for the Bulgarian army in the area of the city of Serres.

After the defeat of the Communist uprising of September 1923 in Bulgaria, the new government repressed leftist Macedonian organizations aided by the IMRO. The fleeing federalists placed themselves in Yugoslav service, joining the Association against Bulgarian Bandits. Panitsa, who had moved meanwhile from Greece to Belgrade, served as advisor of this Association. Later he went to Vienna, where the rest of the federalist leadership was reassembled, seeking foreign contacts. In Vienna, he assisted the leftist Dimitar Vlahov.

He went secretly to Greece in 1924 and discussed with Greek communist leaders the possibility of receiving logistical support and shelter behind the Greek border in the case a coup was organized by the IMRO and the Communist Party of Greece against Aleksandar Tsankov's government. In 1924, as a member of the Macedonian Federative Organization's leadership, he participated in the drafting of the May Manifesto, as well as in the negotiations. IMRO then labeled Panitsa as a servant of foreign interests and sentenced him to death. On May 8, 1925, while he was at the Burgtheater in Vienna, during the last act of the play Peer Gynt, he was shot and killed by Mencha Karnicheva, an activist of the IMRO's right wing in Vienna.

Legacy He was buried in the Serbian section of the Vienna Central Cemetery on May 15, 1925. A monument honoring him is in his hometown.