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POSTCARDS FROM THE FRONT, SKOPJE 1918 1
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Balkanistica 30:2 (2017)
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Postcards from the Front, Skopje 1918
Christina E. Kramer
University of Toronto
1. Introduction
Scholars in a variety of disciplines have been analyzing postcards. These studies
have been from such diverse fields as the study of linguistic landscapes (e.g.,
Jaworski 2010); social and cultural history (e.g., Gillen 2013, Rowley 2013);
competing political narratives (Semmerling 2004); art and propaganda (Özen 2008);
postcards and orientalism (Mazower 2002); and tourism and changing views of the
environment (Youngs 2011), to name just some of the many approaches. The current
article draws on a larger project concerning Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia,
as seen through the postcard frame since the beginning of the 20th century. The
larger project develops themes and methodologies in a variety of disciplines such as
those mentioned above. In this article, however, the focus is specifically on postcards
sent from Skopje in 1918, noting one particular postcard that exemplifies the
importance of the postcards, not only as visual history, but also as archival evidence
of attitudes concerning Macedonian identity of those who were there shortly after
the partition of 1913. In this way, both text and context become revelatory.
The soldiers of the Allied Army of the Orient stationed in Skopje in 1918 sent
postcards home to family. Many of the cards were from a special series, published
by “Vardar” and perhaps commissioned for use by the soldiers. This paper will focus
on one particular postcard sent by Marius Peyret to his younger sister in Grenoble in
October 1918 just after the Bulgarian defeat in late September. To place the postcard
in its historical context, Section 2 will give a brief outline of the events of September,
part of the Vardar offensive, Section 3 will discuss the types of postcards being
produced at this time in the Balkans, section four will review the types of messages
sent by the soldiers, and the final section will discuss the card sent by Marius Peyret
and the importance of these cards as archival documents of the war and of the
development of the city. The postcards sent by Francophone soldiers from the front
in Skopje will add an important dimension to our understanding of witness accounts
of the Vardar campaign, complementing the large collection of buried First World
War letters written by soldiers in the Serbian and Bulgarian armies that were
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discovered and published in Skopje.1
2. The Army of the Orient and the Vardar Offensive2
The French Army of the Orient was created as a military unit following the disaster
of the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915.3 This army was established by Allied Forces
to lead a campaign against pro-German Bulgarian forces. The Army of the Orient
diverted troops to Macedonian territory in order to move northward and aid the
Serbian army (Papaioannou 2012:261).4 This was a two-pronged offensive: The
French and Serbian forces pushed north toward Belgrade via Skopje, and the British
and Greek troops turned east to Lake Dojran and Bulgaria. The army defeated
Bulgarian forces in the Vardar campaign, following the major offensive launched in
mid-September 1918. The French and Serbian forces took Skopje, and on September
29th the Bulgarians signed an armistice (Chanoir 2015). On October 1st, the New
York Times wrote: “French Cavalry have entered Uskub [Skopje], according to
officials from Saloniki … it is expected the Serbians will be in possession of the
dominating heights south of Uskub today or tomorrow”5 (New York Times, Sept.
1918:2) On October 3rd, the New York Times reported the Bulgarian retreat:
“Hostilities ceased on the Saloniki front yesterday (Monday [Sept.
30th]) at midday. The Allied troops on Bulgarian soil will remain on
the lines they had reached at the moment the armistice was signed. The
Bulgarian Army to the east of Skoplje (Uskub) will be disarmed and
the men sent to their homes. The army to the west of Skoplje (Uskub)
which was re-treating via Kichevo and Costivar [sic] is regarded as
prisoner” (New York Times, Oct. 3, 1918: 6).
The postcards cited in this article were written by soldiers stationed in Skopje
that summer and fall of 1918 who participated in the Vardar offensive. The Peyret
postcard was written shortly after these events in early October 1918.
3. Postcards at the Beginning of the 20th Century
By the second decade of the 20th century, the postcard had become a widespread
means of rapid communication. Gillen (2013:489), discussing postcards during the
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Edwardian era in Britain, writes: “In Britain, the picture postcard was at the centre
of the Edwardians’ new communications landscape …. First developed in Austria in
1869, the postcard was very quickly adopted across Europe. The British Post Office
carried vast quantities of written communications among people of virtually all
social sectors.” Rowley (2013:19-20), in her work on postcards in late-Imperial
Russia, also notes the rapid rise in production and distribution: Postcards began to
circulate more widely in the 1880s … by 1900 the member nations of the
International Postal Union had handled approximately 2.8 billion postcards.” Gillen
(2013:489) provides further data on the years up to 1910: “Within two years,
postcard sending rose dramatically, reaching almost a billion cards a year at the end
of the Edwardian period. Evidence from the Postmaster General’s annual reports
reveals that during the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910) the total number of
postcards posted in Britain was almost six billion, getting on for 200 cards per
person.”
The postcard also spread to the Balkans at the turn of the 20th century. Max
Fruchtermann (1852-1918) was the first to disseminate commercial postcards from
the Balkans. Baker (2002) writes: “Fruchtermann was the publisher who took the
postcard to Turkey and thereby took Turkey to the world. His cards sold by the
million.” The through-train to Constantinople opened in the last decade of the 19th
century, and tourist travel to the region began to grow in part, as Mazower notes
(2002:59-60), precisely because of the new rail and steam lines. Further, he notes,
travelers were seeking new, and exotic adventures and events in the Balkans brought
an influx of journalists and after them, tourists. Travel to the Balkans provided
opportunities to find “the picturesque” and to flee “the commonplace” (Mazower,
quoting journalist-historian, William Miller [2002:62]). Still, in the late 19th century
there were few postcard producers and those produced were, evidently, difficult to
find (Mazower Ibid.:67).
By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, the closing decade of the
Ottoman era, there were over 100 postcards of Skopje.6 Among the postcards
offering views of the Orient sent by soldiers from Skopje were the cards issued by
Rollet, Lyon with black and white photographs by Salonica photographer P. Zepdji,
black and white photographic images published by Curt Geissler in Hamburg, black
and white photographic cards published in Sofia by D. Krepieff or by the bookstore
“Napoleon.”\ Soldiers also sent hand-colorized cards printed by Arran in Marseilles.
One group of postcards of special interest here, however, are the colorized cards
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printed by the Art House “Vardar.” This beautiful set of postcards, with images of
folklore, Ottoman architecture and scenes of local life was produced for Skopje,
Prilep and other locales in Vardar Macedonia. What is unusual about them is that
they seem to have been sent primarily — virtually exclusively — during the years
1918-1919 by French soldiers to family back home,7 most often, male soldiers
writing to women or to their parents.8 The postcards were collected by the soldiers,
some explicitly remarking to family members that they planned to send different
cards in the series for their relatives to collect and save. Here are two representative
examples of Vardar cards of Skopje:
1.!
2.!
The labeling on the postcards is in Bulgarian and glossed in German.9 The name of
the publishing house is given as “Издание: Худож. Магазинъ ‘Вардаръ’ Скопие.”
However, on some cards the name is written with a capital Б – “Бардаръ” – and the
name of the city as Скопье. The descriptions on the postcards above read.
1.‟Селенки на пазаря въ Скопье/Bäuerinnen am Martke in Skopje” ‘Villagers at
the Market in Skopje’; and 2. “Селска кѧща въ околноститѣ на
Скопье/Bauernhaus in der Umgebung von Skopje” ‘Village House in the Vicinity
of Skopje.’
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Gillen (2013:492) discusses the import of examining the postcard texts as “texts
composed and read in specific situations by people in complex meaning-making
practices.” She compares the content of ten cards selected at random. Their common
themes were: an expression of good wishes, the writer’s travel movements and a
comment about the weather (2013:495). The soldiers’ cards discussed here are more
varied, but typically begin with an expression of good wishes, then a comment on
the state of their health, often a request to receive something specific from home,
and often a comment about their movements, when they arrived, and when they hope
to head north to Niš or Belgrade, then home to France.10 This short message on a
Vardar card depicting Mount Vodno is typical: “Bonjour de l’Orient. Suis en route
pour Nisch et au dela. Sante bonne ainsi que moral. Respectueuses amities. Ps
Skopje vens dire Uskub” ‘Greetings from the east. We are en route to Nish and
beyond. Health is good, as is morale. With friendly regards. Ps Skopje means
Uskub.’ Some of the cards make explicit reference to the images on the card, for
example, a Vardar postcard depicting the Turkish market: “Voila ou nous sommes!
C’est pittoresque mais disagreeable tout y est horrible!” ‘Here is where we are! It is
picturesque but unpleasant and everything here is horrible!’ Another Vardar card
showing women in folk clothing directs the reader to look at the beautiful details on
the clothing. Few of the cards address the political situation directly, although some
do, e.g., on a Vardar card written 17 October 1918, a soldier writes: “Après la dèfaite
Bulgare nous voici en nouvelle Serbie reconquise, et que bonheur se fut pour ses
pauvres, braves gens les Serbes de voir leur pays liberé. Esperons que bientȏt
l'Allemagne aux avois va demander grȃce, peut ȇtre mȇme avant la fin de l'hiver”
‘After the Bulgarian defeat we are here in the newly regained Serbia, and what
happiness it was for these poor, brave people, the Serbs, to see their country
liberated. We hope that soon Germany will ask for mercy, perhaps before the end of
the winter.’11 The card then reverts back to a more typical discussion of health and
regards to family at home. Few cards mention Macedonians specifically, though
there are some, for example, the reference to folk costumes mentioned earlier.
Another is the Peyret card discussed below.
4. Marius Peyret’s Postcard to His Sister Suzanne
The postcard Marius sent is a rare double card in the Vardar series that depicts the
city looking across from the fortress. To the left of the crease the Spiral Mosque
(Burmalı Camii) is just below midpoint, and the Stone Bridge to its left. Mount
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Vodno frames the view.
It is a beautiful example of the Vardar postcard series. Interestingly, some soldiers
sent cards that depict either the left or right side of the double card, and there are
other versions of this photograph, in black and white imagery, circulated about the
same time and a few years later in a series by Golubović; cf. the two versions below.
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The printing on the front of the Peyret card is the label: “Скопље Панорама Uskub
Panorame” ‘Panorama of Skopje.’ Hand-written is the greeting: “Souvenier d’Uskub
au lendemans du sa liberation. Octobre 1918 Marius” ‘Souvenir of Uskub soon after
its liberation. October 1918 Marius.”
The back reads:
Mademoiselle Suzanne Peyret
Rue Thiers 50 Grenoble
Isère
Baisers à ma petite soeur. Sera-t-il aussi facile de delivrer les provinces francaises
que ce nous fût facile de rejeter le Bulgare de cette region qu’il souillait depuis trois
ans?
Les Serbes sont fous de joie. Les vrais s’entend! Et ils sont si peu nombreux en égard
de la cosmopolite population de ces règions qui sont plus macèdonienes que Serbes.
Tant pis, nous les avons eus.
Baiser à papa et maman,
Marius
6 Oct. 1918
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‘Kisses to my little sister. Will it be just as easy to deliver the French provinces as it
was to expel Bulgaria from this region that it was dirtying for three years?
The Serbs are mad with joy. The real ones, that is! And they are so few in numbers
as compared to the cosmopolitan population of these regions which are more
Macedonian than Serbian.
Too bad. We had them!
A kiss for Papa and Mama.
Marius’
This postcard, one among many sent by the French soldiers from Skopje, offers yet
one more interesting archival testament to the existence of a Macedonian identity
distinct from a Bulgarian or Serbian one. A French soldier, fighting in Skopje, on
the eve of its liberation, writes of the difference between “real Serbs” and the local
population, the Macedonians.
As noted at the beginning of this article, this unique collection of Vardar cards
will be the subject of a further study. The selection of images that employ the
picturesque and the exotic, the notes to home that discuss health, movement on the
ground, presents from home, and the occasional political commentary, will provide
further evidence of events in Skopje following the Balkan wars, partition and World
War One.
Notes
1. See Papaioannou (2012) for a scholarly treatment of these letters. I am particularly grateful to
Zoran Angelov for drawing this collection to my attention.
2. This section is not intended as a history of battle. It is merely to locate the time and place in
which Marius Peyet found himself in October od 1918.
3. According to French sources, 300,000-400,000 soldiers served in the Balkans, of whom 50,000-
70,000 did not return. See Bonnefoi 2003 [http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/le-front-
dorient-1915-1919].
4. Papaioannou (2012) has written an interesting account of life during the war in Aegean, Vardar
and Pirin Macedonia.
5. According to the account by the French Ministry of Defense, the charge by the mounted African
brigade under the command of Joinnot-Gambetta was the last charge by French cavalry. See
Bonnefoi 2003.
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6. I am grateful to Zoran Angelov, a Macedonian lawyer and postcard collector, for this
information. His knowledge of the photographers and publishing houses of Balkan postcards is
vast and I am fortunate that he has been willing to share his knowledge with me.
7. I have examined approximately one hundred postcards. Another two hundred have been viewed
by Angelov. In this data set, only one is not in French. The one outlier was written in German, by
a soldier in 1918. Several Vardar cards were later posted to Prague in 1921.
8. The cards cited here are either in my personal collection or in the collection of Mr. Angelov.
9. Most but not all the cards are glossed. It is not yet clear why there is variation, but it is clear that
there was not a consistent style or consistent fonts. It is also not clear why the cards available to
the French soldiers in Vardar Macedonia were glossed in German, while cards of similar style and
vintage of Bulgarian cities and villages were glossed in French. Perhaps this reflects the fact that
the railroad connecting Nish to Salonika via Skopje was a German project, whereas the market for
the Bulgarian ones, prior to the War, was more diplomatic (for which the language would have
been French). Also, given the time of publication, since Bulgaria was allied with Germany, these
could have been leftover stock.
10. I wish to thank Paul Franz and Richard Franz for their help in reading the handwritten French
cards.
11. I have not yet been able to identify the postcard authors from the military records of the French
army.
Sources Cited
Arreola, Daniel D. and Nick Burkhart. 2010. “Photographic Postcards and Visual
Urban Landscape,” Urban Geography 31(7), pp. 885-904.
Baker, Elizabeth. 2002. Cornucopia Issue 27 (available on line at:
[http://www.cornucopia.net/magazine/articles/wish-you-were-here]).
Bonnefoi, Nadine. 2003. “Les Chemins de la Mémoire,” excerpt from the website
of the Ministry of Defense: [http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/le-front-
dorient-1915-1919.; accessed 16 August 2016].
Chanoir, Yohann. 2015. “Army of the Orient, International Encyclopedia of the
First World War, Daniel, Ute, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer
Keene, Alan Kramer and Bill Nasson (eds). Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin
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Jaworski, A. 2010. “Linguistic Landscapes on Postcards: Tourist Mediation and the
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Other Sources Consulted
Kramer, Christina E. 2015. “Greetings from Skopje: Cultural Narratives and Public
Space,” Ninth Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies
(Chicago, November 14, 2015). Unpublished conference paper.
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