Remembrance Day 2024 services to be held in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv and Sofia

This year’s annual Remembrance Day Services will be held in Plovdiv Central Cemetery on November 10 and in Sofia Central Cemetery on November 11, the British embassy said.

The services are in commemoration of all those who lost their lives in the service of their country in the wars of the 20th century.

The services are open to the public.

Those attending are asked to, in the case of the Plovdiv service, arrive before 10.45am, and for the Sofia service, before 10.30am.

The British embassy said that for those unable to attend the Sofia service, it would be streamed live on the embassy’s Facebook page.

Poppies will be on sale at the British embassy, 9 Moskovska Street, and the British Council, 7 Krakra Street, from November 1.

Customarily, the service at the Commonwealth war graves in Sofia is followed by ceremonies of remembrance at the German, Italian and French war graves.

The Commonwealth war graves cemetery in Central Sofia Cemetery is about two km north of the railway station on Purva Bulgarska Armia Street, with the cemetery entrance opposite Mara Buneva Street.

Sofia’s Commonwealth war graves cemetery 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.

The cemetery contains 55 Commonwealth burials from the First World War. Among the British burials is a South African national who was serving with British forces.