Remembrance Day 2022 services to be held in Bulgaria’s Sofia and Plovdiv
The annual Remembrance Day Services will be held in Sofia Central Cemetery on November 11 2022 and in Plovdiv Central Cemetery on November 13.
The service is in commemoration of all those who lost their lives in the service of their country in the wars of the 20th century.
Members of the public who intend to attend the service in Sofia are asked to arrive before 10.30am and those attending the service in Plovdiv are asked to arrive before 10.45am.
The British embassy said that it would live stream the service in Sofia on its Facebook page.
Organised jointly by the embassies of the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and France, the service in Sofia begins at the Commonwealth War Graves section, which is near the corner of Kamenodelska and Purva Bulgarska Armia streets and then proceeds to the German, French and Italian sections of the military cemetery.
The Commonwealth war graves cemetery in Sofia contains the remains not only of British military personnel, but also of South Africans, Australians and others from the Commonwealth who sacrificed their lives, in the Second World War, in the fight against Nazism and fascism.
Plovdiv Central Cemetery is about a kilometre from the city centre, within the city limits, with the entrance about 100m north of the crossroads of Iztochen Boulevard and Maria Loisa Boulevard. As you enter the main entrance to Plovdiv Central Cemetery, take the first turning on the right in front of the church. Continue and take the third road on the left. The Commission cemetery is at the end of this road and is surrounded by a low brick wall.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Commonwealth servicemen buried at Plovdiv Central Cemetery died either as prisoners of war or while serving with the occupying forces following the Bulgarian capitulation in September 1918.
It was formerly called Philippopolis (St. Archangel) Cemetery and was formed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from Philippopolis Protestant Cemetery, Philippopolis Roman Catholic Cemetery, Karagatch Protestant Cemetery, Kostenecbanja British Cemetery, Kurtova Konare Civil Cemetery, Mustafa Pasha British Cemetery and Tatar Pazardzik Protestant Cemetery.
The cemetery now contains 55 Commonwealth burials from the First World War.
If you would like to buy a poppy beforehand, these are currently on sale at the British Embassy Sofia (9 Moskovska Street) and at the British Council (7 Krakra Street Sofia).
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