Facts in this movie are only half true, the other half is propaganda. Bulgaria did join the Axis. But also under increasing pressure to yield to German demands for safe passage of its troops to Greece, Yugoslavia (part of which was Vardar Banovina aka Macedonia today) signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, like Bulgaria and Hungary. Unlike the other two, however, the signatory government of Maček and Cvetković was overthrown three days later in a British-supported coup of patriotic, anti-German generals. Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany and signed its capitulation to Germany, Italy, Hungary and Croatia but not to Bulgaria. Since Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia ,that means it was occupied by part of the countries signing the capitulation - Germany and Italy. Bulgaria was not an occupying country in this sense, it was administrating Macedonia on behalf of Germany. As such it was ultimately under the orders of the Nazis. The Jewish deportation was a German affair, not Bulgarian, but Bulgarian police participated in gathering and transporting the Jews to Skopje and Lom, from where they were deported to Treblinka by the Germans. The football club in the movie was actually started by the Bulgarians, allowing it to be named Macedonia, something unthinkable during the Serbian rule. Hardly a fact supporting the idea that the footballers were an opposition to the Bulgarians at that time. Not to mention photographs where players from FC Macedonia do the Nazi salutation while the Bulgarian players next to them don't. There are many facts showing what was the truth about those events, one just needs to have a will to go dig them, think about them unbiased and not try to learn from the movies presenting them the way the strong rulers of today want them to be presented.
Review of The Third Half
