“ARE WE BULGARIANS OR ROMANIANS NOW?” WAYS OF ADAPTING TO THE NEW REGIME IN SOUTHERN DOBROGEA AFTER 1913

My paper focuses on the various ways in which the Bulgarian elite in Southern Dobrogea adapted to the annexation of the region to Romania after 1913.It pays special attention to the curious case of Zachary Holevich, the son of a wealthy family of large landowners.He was a hero of the Balkan War, where he participated in the Bulgarian army, but during the First World War he was already in the ranks of the Romanian army.There he also won medals for bravery, but nevertheless, in the final stages of the war, he rejoined the Bulgarian army, which briefly returned the region to Bulgaria.Holevich was active in the Bulgarian national movement in Southern Dobrogea, but after the region returned to Romania, he managed to find ways to preserve the family wealth and his own positions in society.Of course, other Bulgarians were not so adaptable and took more radical positions -be it pro-Bulgarian or pro-Romanian.