The unique fate of Hadji Gyoka Pavlov is worthy of a movie. The Forgotten Patriot is a talented entrepreneur who has experienced an incredible metamorphosis: from an illiterate apprentice to one of the richest people in Plovdiv after the Liberation, the most significant donor at the beginning of the 20th century.
The life of the worthy Bulgarian has been collected in a book by Prof. Dr. Stefan Shivachev, the longtime director of the Plovdiv Regional History Museum.
Hadji Gyoka Pavlov was born in 1836 in Sopot, a lively artisan town, which became known throughout the Balkans as Kyucyuk Manchester /Little Manchester/. From the age of 8, little Gjoka was forced to work as an apprentice. This hard schooling made him a polyglot and a fighter. He learns to read and write by himself. He takes the trade. He opens a pub, then a shop in his hometown. He goes through the Ottoman Empire-Bosnia, Romania, Croatia, Constantinople. He trades in horses, sheds and horses. He reaches the Holy Sepulchre, he becomes a pilgrim. The apprentice becomes a respected person.
In Romania, he met with the leaders of the revolutionary movement – Karavelov, Rakovski, Botev. He often supports the treasury of the committee in Bucharest with funds, he also gives money to the Bulgarian silence. The pilgrim is one of the Apostle’s most trusted persons in Sopot. During his visits to the city, Vasil Levski visited the home and office of the famous merchant.
Gjoka Pavlov, a member of the local revolutionary committee, took an active part in the preparation of the April uprising. He gives 20 gold to buy a weapon for the Bot Company.
He played the most important role in saving Sopot after the pogrom of the uprising. After destroying Klisura and Strelcha, Tosun Bey’s hordes head towards Sopot. The pilgrim he is in the delegation negotiating with the Bey. Saving the city cost the local nobles 500 gold Turkish lira. Hadji Göka is forced to count a large part of the sum himself to the menacing Turkish boss. They are beating he also wants Hajiya’s favorite horse, a nice black horse. Gyoka gives it to save his city.
Although he was a scoundrel, he always stood up for the poor. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), Hadjiia was one of the main organizers of the defense of his hometown and the flight of Sopot residents across the Balkans. July 1877 was the most tragic period in Gyoka Pavlov’s life. After hopes of Russian protection collapsed and Karlovo was sacked by the Turkish Bashibozuk, the residents of Sopot were forced to flee to Troyan across the Balkans via the menacing ruins of the Leevitsa River.
Many of the Hajiya’s young children die, Sopot is reduced to ashes. Until the end of his life, the haunting memory haunted Hadji Gök, who never set foot in his native Sopot again.
In 1878, the orphaned family, having lost their home and property, looked for a fresh start in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s largest city at the time. Here his wife Donna gave birth to two more children, and after his death his second wife Nona Cherneva completed the family with three more daughters.
Hadji Göka quickly found his feet and restored his fortune with a lucrative wine trade, buy property of fleeing Turks. There are legends about Hadji Göka’s wealth from Hajduška treasures excavated in the Balkans. However, its 458 houses prove to be a myth.
Indeed, Hadjiia left to his heirs 111 properties in the most expensive part of Plovdiv, including 3 hotels, 26 houses, 58 shops, 14 shops, for the huge sum of 566,700 gold leva at the time.
At that time, Plovdiv’s annual living wage was BGN 417,000, the mayor’s salary was BGN 500, a kilo of bread was 17 cents, a kilo of cheese was 90 cents.
Along with frugality and bookkeeping, Hadji Göka donates generously to charity.
He made his first donations in Sopot – for the construction of schools, aid for churches and orphans.
He makes a Jumayata fountain-monument in memory of his friend, the writer Aleko Konstantinov, who was killed by mistake near the village of Radilovo. Before his death, in his will, Hajiya donated his most valuable property, the former hotel “Bulgaria”, for the rent of the Plovdiv orphanage, now the “Rada Kirkovich” house. Annual rental income is estimated at BGN 12,000, the largest donation in Plovdiv until the 1920s. They call him “the father of orphans”.
Hadji Gyoka failed to realize his idea of a fountain-monument of Levski on Jumayata and the construction of a church on Bunardjika.
A street and a home for the elderly in Plovdiv bear the name of the generous benefactor.
