Divisions on history linger in Bulgaria on 80th anniversary of Soviet invasion
September 9 2024 found Bulgaria as divided as ever on its history as it marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet invasion that opened the way for decades of communist rule.
As has been true for decades, there are Bulgarians who revile the September 1944 invasion as the overture to decades of oppression by Moscow and its communist Bulgarian servants, while those in the pro-Kremlin camp hail the “liberation” of Bulgaria at the close of the Second World War.
On the evening of this year’s September 9, a protest was held near the dismantled Soviet Army Monument in central Sofia, demonstrating enthusiasm for modern-day Bulgaria’s membership of Nato and the European Union and underlining the brutality of the regime that took power after 1944 and held it until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Participants held Bulgarian, Nato, EU and Ukrainian flags.
In a statement, the reformist Da Bulgaria party – part of the pro-Western coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, the second-largest group in Bulgaria’s Parliament, said that after 1944 “the following 45 years of death, terror, repression, eavesdropping, propaganda, imprisonment in concentration camps and name changes scarred, but did not break the Bulgarian people and their drive for freedom”.
Bulgaria’s Archives State Agency launched online a site with close to 1500 documents, entitled Soviet Occupation in Bulgaria, 1944-1947.
A total of 1472 documents with 2670 images are on the website, many being published for the first time. The documents were gathered from 27 archives, including the Central State Archive.
The site has a list of victims of the Red Army in Bulgaria: “It enables their relatives and fellow citizens to learn more specifically what the fate of these people was,” the State Archives said.
“The goal of the State Agency Archives is to fill an important and essential gap in the knowledge of our whole society of the recent past, and its expectations are to find its logical continuation in academic research, documentary and journalism.”
The intention of the composing team is for it to be periodically expanded and enriched with new documents, the State Archives said.
In contrast, on the official website of pro-Kremlin minority party Vuzrazhdane, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov said that 80 years ago “Bulgaria experienced a coup that turned into a social revolution that completely transformed the country.
“Millions of Bulgarians were removed from their centuries-old social position and were given an opportunity for an equal start in life, at the expense of thousands who lost their privileged position, property, money, and some even lost their lives,” Kostadinov said.
Classes in Bulgarian society were “destroyed”, and the country began rapid industrialization combined with collectivization of agriculture, he said.
“Bulgaria turned from a backward and underdeveloped country into a country with nuclear energy and its own space technology. Education and healthcare became free, accessible and quality,” according to Kostadinov.
Atanas Zafirov, acting leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the second-smallest group in the current Parliament, said: “80 years since this memorable day, the day when the hopes of millions of people in our country came true”.
“On these days we will visit the memorial sites of our comrades who gave their lives so that Bulgaria could exist, to show that no one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten,” Zafirov said.
“We bow to the memory of those who remained true to their convictions, their ideals and at the same time were filled with love for our Motherland.
“Thanks to their self-sacrifice, the anti-fascist resistance in our country and our participation in the defeat of fascism in Europe at the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria was saved from another national catastrophe, the borders of our country were preserved intact, and the Paris Peace Treaty was concluded,” he said.
In search of this new world, of this dream, after September 9, those who remained alive created the feat of socialist construction: “They transformed Bulgaria from a hopelessly backward country into a country that provided all its citizens with an opportunity for a dignified life,” Zafirov said.
“But today’s Bulgaria, after 35 years of transition, looks a lot like the one before 1944. Again, the vast majority of the population is mired in misery. Once again, the right-wing government is leading our country to the brink of a severe national catastrophe, this time a demographic one,” said Zafirov, adding that “today, Bulgaria once again needs a revolutionary change, the formation of a national ideal that would unite our people”.
Neither Kostadinov nor Zafirov made reference to the post-war communist-run “People’s Court” that sentenced to death or long terms of imprisonment thousands of Bulgarians, and that was followed by decades of confinement of political enemies to prison camps where conditions were brutal, if not fatal.
For the BSP – lineal successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party that had held the country in its grasp for decades – September 9 2024 also was hardly a time of its traditional rejoicing about the Soviet invasion, given the current civil war within the BSP itself.
As of the evening of September 9, there was no reference to the anniversary on the official website or social networks of the embassy of Putin’s Russia, which has declared Bulgaria an enemy state.
(Photos: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
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