The Drama uprising (; ; ) was an uprising of the population of the northern Greek city of Drama and the surrounding villages on 28–29 September 1941 against the Bulgarian occupation regime. The revolt lacked organization or military resources; the Bulgarian Army swiftly suppressed it, with massive reprisals. The revolt had guidance from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
Background
The April 1941 German-led invasion of Greece was launched partly from Bulgaria, and on 20 April, just prior to the Greek surrender, I Corps of the Bulgarian Army crossed into Greece and occupied almost the whole of the northeastern part of the country east of the Strymon River. The Greek regions occupied by Bulgaria comprised: eastern Macedonia, including the provinces of Serrai (now known as Serres) and Drama; and western Thrace, including the provinces of Cavalla (now known as Kavala) and Rhodope, and the island of Samothrace. While Samothrace was occupied by Bulgaria, the remainder of the Evros prefecture, at the land border with Turkey, was occupied by the Germans to avoid any potential confrontation between Bulgaria and Turkey. Unlike Germany and Italy in their respective occupation zones, Bulgaria officially annexed the occupied territories on 14 May 1941; they had long been a target of Bulgarian irredentism.
The Bulgarian-occupied areas encompassed a population of about 590,000, and between and of Greek territory. The occupied territories became part of Bulgaria from an administrative perspective, and were named the Province of Aegean (sometimes referred to as ). However, the Germans considered the Bulgarian annexation "provisional" until a peace treaty was signed at the end of the war, retained control over mining and industrial concerns within the Bulgarian-occupied area, and also had extensive influence over military, political and economic matters within its boundaries. The uncertainty regarding the future of the Bulgarian-occupied territories exacerbated concerns among the population and between the Axis powers occupying parts of Greece regarding their future.
For the first few months, the Bulgarian occupation authorities attempted to gain the support of the local population, deploying a substantial propaganda campaign, establishing Bulgarian schools, and giving food and milk to Greek children. They quickly realised that this approach would bear no fruit, and instead implemented drastic measures to Bulgarise the occupied territories. In eastern Macedonia, the occupiers made efforts to gain the support of Slavic Macedonians, and encourage in them an identification with a Bulgarian national identity. This campaign was partly effective, and some of the Slavic Macedonians in the region welcomed the Bulgarians as liberators. At the time of the Bulgarian occupation of eastern Macedonia, most of the Slavic Macedonians in the Macedonian region, which included parts of Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, had strong pro-Bulgarian sentiments. The Bulgarisation campaign in the occupied territories saw all Greek public officials at almost every level deported. A ban was placed on the use of the Greek language, and the names of towns and places changed to the forms traditional in the Bulgarian language. In addition, the Bulgarian government tried to alter the ethnic composition of the region, by expropriating land and houses from Greeks in favor of Bulgarian settlers, and by the introduction of forced labor and of economic restrictions for the Greeks in an effort to force them to migrate.
Tsar Boris III personally visited the annexed areas on 28–30 April, and gave speeches to reassure the local Greek and Slavic population.
As of summer 1941 with the appearance of the first communist Partisans groups, they appealed towards the Macedonian Slavs to join the resistance. With the capitulation of Italy in 1943 and the Soviet victories over Nazi Germany more Slavic Macedonians, began to support the resistance forces led by Communist Party of Greece (KKE).