by Abby S. (9th Grade) and Ephraim J. (8th Grade)

Vasil Levski (Васил Левски, if you’re talking in Bulgarian) was a young man passionate about liberation of Bulgaria from their oppressors, the Ottoman Empire, and is now a Bulgarian national hero. He had many great ideas for the country, like Bulgaria eventually being a democratic republic and having equality and freedom of religion.

At the age of 22 Levski became a monk at the Sopot monastery, though he left after a few years to volunteer for Georgi Rakovski’s First Bulgarian Legion. They gathered in Serbia, which was a potential ally in their fight for freedom, and were able to make a name for themselves by fighting the Ottomans off during the Battle of Belgrade. However, soon they were forced to disband and the First Bulgarian Legion was no more.

Vasil Levski’s actual name is Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (Васил Иванов Кунчев), but he was given the name Levski (from the word лъв, or lion) by the people because he leapt over a wide stream while training for the First Bulgarian Legion, as well as for his lionlike qualities and courage.

After a trip to Romania and a brief stint in a Bulgarian prison thanks to his uncle Basil, Levski became a teacher in a militarily dedicated village, where he encouraged people and organized more groups. Not wanting to get caught by the Ottoman authorities, he left to teach in other villages.

In 1867 Levski joined Panayot Hitov’s group of Bulgarian expatriates and they travelled to northeastern Bulgaria before fleeing to Serbia, where the Serbian government was not opposed to the Second Bulgarian Legion. It was then that Levski had some abdominal condition that was possibly appendicitis, from which he never fully recovered.

Again the legion was disbanded. Levski decided that other countries weren’t the right place to look for help and he set about on his self appointed secret mission of gathering an army across Bulgaria. He travelled around Bulgaria setting up secret communities of revolutionaries determined to free Bulgaria. Levski constantly wore disguises, changing his appearance and his name, to evade the Ottoman authorities. His network expanded from the area of Bulgaria to surrounding countries, like Macedonia.

Also, with Lyuben Karavelov’s help he set up the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee in Bucharest (BRCC or BRCK), which planned what future Bulgaria would look like. Dimitar Obshti, Levski’s assistant, led part of the BRCC in an attack and robbery of an Ottoman post office in order to get money for weapons and ammunition. When arrested, a few of the robbery participants revealed the BRCC and because of that Dimitar Obshti was captured, only for him to confirm the details.

After not being able to rally the people behind him, Levski fled, eventually ending up at the Kakrinsko inn on his way to Tarnovo. Supposedly he was supposed to meet with Father Krastyo, who betrayed him, and Levski was arrested and taken to Tarnovo. Another story is without the priest, suggesting that Levski was simply found out and then taken to Tarnovo. Either way, in Tarnovo he was identified as a revolutionary and taken to Sofia, where he was put on trial. He stood firm and refused to divulge any details of other revolutionaries. He defended his cause and took the blame.

On the eighteenth of February 1873 or thenabouts, he was hanged, and now there is a monument at the site of his hanging. Back when he renounced his monkhood he cut his long monk hair off and gave it to his mother, who donated it to a museum after he died. It is on display at the Military Museum in Sofia.

Because of his several trips around Bulgaria that he spent educating and encouraging the people to dedicate themselves to his cause, plus his network of revolutionaries, the BRCC (before it fell apart after his death), and his death—martyrdom even—Levski made a huge and lasting impact on the Bulgarians, who were the people of fruitless revolutions. He paved the way for future revolutions.

Every February on the 19th, due to a calendar mishap, the death of Vasil Levski the hero is commemorated. For his dedication and accomplishments he was given the title the Apostle of Freedom (Апостола на свободата). Also he famously said, “Ако спечеля, печеля за цял народ—ако загубя, губя само себе си,” (If I win – I win for all our people, if I lose – I lose only myself), portraying his passion for freedom and his general lack of care about sacrificing himself for the greater good.