The Belene labour camp, also referred to as Belene concentration camp, was part of the network of

forced labour camps in Communist Bulgaria As in other Eastern Bloc states, Communist Bulgaria operated a network of forced labour camps between 1944 and 1989, with particular intensity until 1962. Tens of thousands of prisoners were sent to these institutions, often without trial. Backgr ...

. It was located on the

Belene Island Belene Island ( bg, остров Белене, ''ostrov Belene'') or Persin Island (остров Персин, ''ostrov Persin'') is the biggest island in Bulgarian waters. The island is formed by the Danube River splitting into two branches passi ...

, between two branches of the

Danube river The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. At the height of

Valko Chervenkov Valko Velyov Chervenkov ...

's repressions in 1952, the camp had 2,323 inmates - 2,248 men and 75 women. The Belene Prison is still operating as a

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

in the western part of the island, while the eastern part is a managed

natural reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

. This camp operated officially from 1949 to 1959, though a break in deportations to Belene occurred from 1954 to 1956. Between 1985 and 1989

Turks in Bulgaria Bulgarian Turks ( bg, български турци, bŭlgarski turtsi, tr, Bulgaristan Türkleri) are a Turkish ethnic group from Bulgaria. According to the 2021 census, there were 508,375 Bulgarians of Turkish descent, roughly 8.4% of t ...

who resisted the policy of changing Turkish names and surnames to Bulgarian ones, (see Assimilation Campaign in Bulgaria) were imprisoned in the prison on Belene. During those years, the

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio ...

broadcast a series named "''Belene Adası''" (''Belene Island'') on the policies of the Bulgarian government against Bulgarian Turks. From 1949 onward, Evangelical Christian pastors in particular were targeted as "enemies of the State" and sent to Belene. In 1949, the infamous " Pastors' Trial" was conducted, trying 13 Protestant pastors as "spies". The men received sentences of varying lengths. Haralan Popov, who survived and later founded the mission "Door of Hope International" to bring Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, published his autobiography under the Bulgarian title "The Bulgarian Golgotha". It was later released in English as " Tortured for His Faith". The camp and some its survivors were the subject of a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

German TV Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first public television station in the world, named ''Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow''. In 2000, the German television market h ...

program

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

''Vorwärts aber nie vergessen - Ballade über bulgarische Helden'' "Moving on, but Never Forgetting - A Ballad of Bulgarian Heroes" directed and authored by Ilija Trojanow.

Notable inmates

Haralan Popov Haralan Popov ( bg, Харалан Попов) (March 7, 1907–November 14, 1988) was a Protestant minister who spent thirteen years in Bulgarian communist prisons on charges of treason. He later foundeDoor of Hope International a Christian relie ...

(1949-1962) *

Konstantin Muraviev Konstantin Vladov Muraviev ( bg, Константин Владов Муравиев) (5 March 1893, Pazardzhik – 31 January 1965) was a leading member of the Agrarian People's Union who briefly served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria near the ...

(1956-1961) * Lea Ivanova (Late 70s) * Stoyko Kavrukov (Kavrukov and Perinchev-only successful escape-1953) ''Belene-The Island of the Forgotten'' by Nedyalko Geshev, published in Belgium - 1983 * Atanas Perinchev (Kavrukov and Perinchev-only successful escape-1953) ''Belene-The Island of the Forgotten'' by Nedyalko Geshev, published in Belgium - 1983

In popular culture

David, from ''

I Am David ''I am David'' is a 1963 novel by Anne Holm. It tells the story of a young boy who, with the help of a prison guard, escapes from a concentration camp in an unnamed Eastern European country and journeys to Denmark. Along the way, he meets many p ...

'' escapes from Belene in 1952. However the camp shown in the film doesn't resemble the real Belene camp, as it is located inland in a mountainous area rather than on a river island.

References

{{Coord, 43, 39, 28, N, 25, 08, 18, E, region:BG-15_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Belene Political repression Unfree labour by country Buildings and structures in Pleven Province People's Republic of Bulgaria Persecution of Balkan Turks