The Three Hadzhienovs – about a Bulgarian National Revival family from Kazanlak

1. Stefan Ivanov Hadzhienov / Hadji Enyo (1809 – 1894) The Forefather

Persistent, skillful, enterprising, the Bulgarian emigrant in Bucharest managed to gain an enviable position as a large merchant and landowner. He was a prominent Russophile and an active participant in the activities of the "Virtuous Company" in all its cultural, educational and political affairs. He provided significant amounts for the purchase of land and the construction of a Bulgarian church and school in Bucharest. In addition , he was one of the founding members of the first Bulgarian community center in the Romanian capital, founded by G. S. Rakovski in 1861. He donated significant funds for Bulgarian public purposes, and bequeathed 20,000 gold leva for the construction and furnishing of an elementary school in his native Kazanlak. As his heir, he left Stoyan Nikolov Hadzhienov (his brother's son), who raised and educated the other two Ivan-Hadzhienovs (nephews of St. N. Hadzhienov).

2. Ivan Popaleksov Hadzhienov / Ivan Adzhenov (1835 – 1903) – active participant in the affairs of the Bulgarian revolutionary committees until the Liberation and publisher of the first Bulgarian daily newspaper

He received a good education, became wealthy through trade in Bucharest and amassed a fortune, which he fully utilized "for the benefit of the Bulgarian family". With personal funds, he published a magazine - "Edition for Science and Literature" with editor Lyuben Karavelov and provided him with free assistance in his book publishing activities. Ivan Hadzhienov was a skilled journalist - he participated in the creation of the newspaper "Otechestvo" and the magazine "Znanie", wrote correspondence in the newspapers "Nezavisimost", "Dunavski Lebed", "Macedonia", "Napredak", "Iztochno Vreme" and "Nova Bulgaria". In the history of our native journalism, this Hadzhienov stands out as the publisher of the first daily newspaper: "Sekidnevniy Notarial". Six days before the declaration of the Russo-Turkish War, on April 6, 1877, the first issue of "Sekidnevniy Notarial" was published in Bucharest.

The newspaper's program article emphasizes the need for information: "in the current important circumstances for the publication of a small, but daily newspaper in the Bulgarian language, which would report all the daily news truthfully and on time". Until its appearance, there was no Bulgarian newspaper that reported foreign and political news received specifically by telegraph. This became possible due to the contract concluded by the publisher with the then most famous and well-organized telegraph agency "Havas" - (its successor is France-Presse/France-Presse AFP ). The publication of the newspaper was discontinued during the war and years after this first and bold attempt at a Bulgarian daily newspaper, there was no similar publication. Only in the conditions of an already liberated Bulgaria were the prerequisites for long-term regular dailies created.

3. Ivan Nikolov Hadzhienov / Zhan Adzhenov (1843 – 1923) – the mayor of Sofia, who initiated the planned development and water supply of the capital

This Hadzhienov was also the creator of the Boris Garden, a merchant, banker, entrepreneur and political figure. Raised in Romania, Hadzhienov worked for French construction companies and after nearly 12 years in France and Italy, he returned to Bucharest, married to a Frenchwoman and already a wealthy merchant and builder-entrepreneur. After the Liberation, he settled in Sofia and, as a member of the Conservative Party, played a significant role in political and economic life. He participated with significant capital in Bulgarian and foreign companies, owned many properties in Sofia, as well as the distillery in Knyazhevo. As mayor of the capital (1881 - 1883), he pushed through a new regulation plan: streets were outlined, places were bought up, and land was alienated. At that time, the beginning of the water pipeline from the three springs above Boyana to the city was laid, the municipality donated a large area for the construction of the Military School, as well as a place for the Russian Church. The arrangement of the city garden is also his work.

During his mayoralty, he was accused of taking unsecured loans from the Bulgarian National Bank, as well as for the municipal orders he himself received for the supply of trees for the Borisova Garden. As an entrepreneur, in the following years Ivan Hadzhienov participated in various enterprises - the Balkan Silk Factory, which was the first silk textile factory in Bulgaria, and the construction of the Sofia - Mezdra - Vratsa railway line. Because of this construction, he was the only Bulgarian deputy to leave the 7th National Assembly, as he took on a state order. In 1903, the Roth company represented by Hadzhienov won a tender for a large supply of weapons for the Bulgarian Army, despite the significantly higher price it asked for. This caused a sharp public reaction and his name was again involved in a public procurement scandal. A parliamentary and judicial investigation followed, during which Hadzhienov left for Romania, where he continued his business activities.

In 1919, Ivan Hadzhienov made a donation of 50 thousand leva to the Naval Engineering School. With this amount, the Ivan Hadzhienov Fund was established with the purpose of filling and maintaining technical classrooms. By decree of July 5, 1929, the Engineering School was reorganized into a Naval School.

Hadzhienov's long-term idea was to build a modern vocational school in his native Kazanlak with a focus on ironwork, carpentry and porcelain. His aim was to keep the younger generation in the city. For this purpose, he donated 1 million gold leva, which was transferred to the Ministry of Public Education in 1923. At the request of the Minister of War, Gen. Ivan Valkov, in 1925 the state allocated another 1.5 million leva, which was added to the donation for the construction of the vocational school. Volunteers from Shipka and volunteers from Slivnitsa participated in the national celebration of laying the first stone of the mechanical and technical school in Kazanlak. The date was October 18, 1925. Opened in 1925, the school is still called the Ivan Hadzhienov Vocational High School.

From an orphan in Kazanlak to mayor of Sofia, Ivan Nikolov Hadzhienov is an entrepreneur who donated over a million Bulgarian leva for the future development of the country. A controversial figure, accused of dubious transactions with the treasury, but remembered for what he did. The Hadzhienov family house in Kazanlak today represents an ethnographic exhibition at the Historical Museum in the city.

In the photo: Ivan Nikolov Hadzhienov, source zakazhanlak.bg

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