nEUrosis

Bulgarians In Search Of History

July 1st, 2007 by Viktor Dimitrov

If it is true that beauty hides in the small details, Bulgarians are the quintessential history hedonists. Did you know that Bulgaria is the only country in Europe which managed to keep its original name for more than 13 centuries? Yes, and the constitution we adopted in 1878 was the second most liberal in Europe after the Belgian one (whatever that means). Facts known to every Bulgarian with some interest in history. Facts that are interesting, curious, yet so small and useless that their relevance is questionable.

Re-burying ancient kings always has an energising effect on society. However, it leaves less space for discourse on far more important issues like reconsidering our immediate past, the 45 years of communist rule or the reason for country’s almost blind loyalty to the Soviet Union. Happily, there are signs of increased interest towards this period - two web-based projects give people the opportunity to share their accounts of communism. The first one has a bit more personal touch, the other one is set out to explore the atrocities of the regime. On the other side of the political spectrum, recently there was an international conference on Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria’s first communist leader after the Second World War, who also made it to the cover of Life magazine). Social scientists from all over the world (including Cuba) spend the weekend singing praises to one of the best pupils of Stalin.

The one thing which unites all efforts to explore Bulgaria’s communist past is their total irrelevance for an overwhelming part of the population. Terribly important issues are being disregarded and swept under the rug. A recent opinion poll showed that only 20% of the population thinks it is important to open the files of the communist secret services (a hot issue in media and politics and an opportunity to discredit your political opponent by accusing him of cooperation with the secret services).

Bulgarian society is stuck in blissful ignorance about the really important issues in the country’s hisotry. Whether it is social apathy or the unwillingness to revisit traumatic experiences, people simply can’t be bothered. After all, arguing about whether the first Bulgarian kingdom was founded in 681 or in 679 is a lot easier, isn’t it?

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