Unpublished documents from German archives prove the separate identity of the Macedonian people (who, like all other Slavic groups in south-east Europe, settled in the Balkans during the migration of nations). The neighbouring states have no right to deny the Macedonians their legitimacy to their name, language and territory. During the last Russian-Turkish War over Bulgaria in 1877/78, Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus were also freed but were returned to the Ottoman Empire at the Congress of Berlin because of the strategic interests of Great Britain. Later the Entente agreed to let Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia annex Macedonia etc. after the Balkan wars 1912/13. For the acquisition of these territories, which violated international Law, the kingdoms (except Bulgaria) supported the Entente in the encircling of Germany and in the First World War.

The Author: Hans-Lothar Steppan was born 1933 in East Prussia. He studied Industrial Engineering at the Faculty for Cultural and State Sciences of the Technical University of Darmstadt. Since 1963, Steppan was employed as Scientific Assistant and took his doctoral degree in Economic Policy. In 1965, the author entered the Foreign Service and was posted to France, Guinea, Finnland, and Yugoslavia. Between 1986 and 1995 he served as Ambassador in Qatar, Chad and Macedonia.