The city of Skopje is cleaning monuments honoring the World War Two partisan struggle, as the country prepares to mark October 11, the day of the anti-fascist uprising in 1941.

The plan is to restore some of the neglected monuments who mainly honor partisan fighters killed during pursuits or clashes with Bulgarian soldiers. The holiday marks two partisan attacks on Bulgarian guards in Kumanovo and Prilep, which were the start of a guerrilla movement that managed to take over parts of the country and eventually grabbed power in late 1944, with the complete Axis collapse.

Some of the monuments have an inscription referring to the “Bulgarian fascist occupiers” which is a growing issue of controversy as Bulgaria demands concessions from Macedonia and an end to any negative mention of Bulgaria in public discourse, even including the Bulgarian participation in the Axis during much of the war. The currently ruling leftist SDSM party has long based its legitimacy on the partisan struggle in World War Two, but now it is the main implementer of treaties with Greece and Bulgaria which often push it to distance itself from the partisan movement.