Mihailo Apostolski

In 1995, the Military Academy in Republic of Macedonia was named "General Mihailo Apostolski".

He died on August 7, 1987, in Dojran, SFR Yugoslavia.

In one of his last interviews, given in 1986 for Radio Skopje, he stated that the very battles between the Yugoslav communist partisans in Vardar Macedonia and the Bulgarian forces during the Second World War proved the "non-Bulgarian origin" of the Macedonians.

After the Second World War Apostolski became one of the military leaders of new SFRY. After the end of his active military service he began intensively to deal with history of the Macedonian nation. From 1965 to 1970 was head of the Institute of National History in Skopje. He is accused of systematically falsifying history and in the use of hate speech against Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people. On that occasion Apostolski became famous among Bulgarian historians with his phrase: "I have no evidence, but I claim it." He was actively involved in formation of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, of which he was member since its creation. He was president of Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts for the period 1976–1983. He was also member of:

After his liberation from the prison, Apostolski received a certificate he was a trustworthy Bulgarian. Later he filed an application for appointment in the Bulgarian army. Because of his past, him was offered a captain's rank as a Bulgarian officer in Labour battalion, but he considered this unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, Apostolski entered the Sofia University, where he conducted underground work. In April 1942 he became a member of the CPY, and in June of the same year he was appointed commander of the Headquarters of the Yugoslav partisan units of Macedonia. In May 1943 he was appointed Major General. During the Second Session of AVNOJ he was appointed to the Presidency of AVNOJ. In addition to the Macedonian brigades operating under his command, in February 1944, he commanded the brigades from Kosovo and Southern Serbia. He became a member of the Initiative Board for organization of ASNOM. He participated in the First Session of the ASNOM and was elected to its presidency.

During the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, as a commander of the alpine units of the Royal Yugoslav Army, he participated in demolition of bridges in today Slovenia, in order to slow the progress of the German troops. After the capitulation of Yugoslavia, Bulgarian troops entered Vardar Banovina and seized most of it. Meanwhile, Apostolski was captured by the Italian army and was taken to the camp Vestone. Shortly after, his father, a Bulgarian army veteran, made a request to the Bulgarian Minister of War, insisting on the Bulgarian roots of his family, and it was granted soon after. Apostolski, was released with Bulgarian intervention by the Italian authorities.

Mihailo Apostolski (Macedonian: Михаило Апостолски; born Mihail Mitev Apostolov, Bulgarian: Михаил Митев Апостолов; Serbian: Михаило Митић or Mihailo Mitić; November 8, 1906 – August 7, 1987) was a Yugoslav general, military theoretician, politician and historian. He was commander of the Headquarters of the National Liberation Army and Partisan detachments of Macedonia (NOV and POM), colonel general of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), and was declared a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.

Apostolski was born on November 8, 1906, at Štip, Kosovo Vilayet, in the Ottoman Empire. He attended primary and secondary school in Štip. In 1927 graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade, capital of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1933 he graduated from the High Military Academy, and in 1938 graduated Commanding Academy as a major.