North Macedonia marks 85th anniversary of the 11 October 1941 uprising

On October 11, 2026 North Macedonia marks the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the popular uprising against fascism that started on October 11, 1941 in Prilep, when the First Prilep partisan detachment attacked the town police station and the telephone-telegraph network; the following day partisan units in Kumanovo also took action. The two-day sequence is remembered as the start of organized resistance for the liberation of the Macedonian people.

The central ceremony under the motto "Ideals that build the future" will take place at noon at the Memorial Ossuary in Kumanovo, where Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski is scheduled to speak. In Skopje, the annual "11 October" awards will be presented in the Assembly.

This year the lifetime achievement award in culture and the arts will be given to writer prof. Dr. Venko Andonovski. The lifetime achievement prizes in science and education will be awarded to linguist prof. Dr. Dimitar Pandev, university professor Gjulumser Kasapi, and prof. Dr. Vlado Popovski, doctor of historical, political and legal sciences.

Commemorations and official tributes across the country

As part of the observances, wreaths will be laid at the partisan cemetery in Butel, at the Memorial Ossuary in Kumanovo, and at the monuments to Metodija Andon-Čento, Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu and the Mound of the Unconquered in Prilep. The government delegation at the Prilep commemorations will be led by Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski.

Those events are remembered as a prelude to the decisions of the First Session of ASNOM in 1944, which gave institutional form to long-standing aspirations for a Macedonian state. After decades as a constituent republic of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia became an independent state in 1991 following a referendum. Today the country is a full member of the United Nations, a NATO member and a candidate for membership of the European Union.

Photo: MIA (Arhiva)