Forced labour camps in Communist Bulgaria
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As in other Eastern Bloc states,
Communist Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...
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.


Background

The
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
entered Bulgaria in September 1944 and immediately, partisans exacted reprisals. Tens of thousands were executed, including active fascists and members of the political police, but also people who were simply of the non-Communist intelligentsia, members of the professional and bourgeois classes. Merely displeasing a Communist cadre could lead to execution. These massacres were actively encouraged by Georgi Dimitrov, who sent a telegram from
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
a week after the Soviets' arrival in
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
calling for the "torching of all signs of Bulgarian jingoism, nationalism, or anti-Communism". On 20 September, the Central Committee called for "anti-Communist resistance" and "counterrevolutionaries" to be exterminated. A People's Tribunal was created in October 1944. This special court pronounced 12,000 death sentences, with over 2,700 eventually being executed. (In contrast, in 1941–1944, the years of active Communist resistance, 357 people were executed for all crimes.) In early 1945, a government decree allowed for the creation of Work Education Centers (TVO in Bulgarian). These were in fact
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
s. The decision was approved by all parties in the Fatherland Front, including those whose members soon found themselves in the centers. One category of inmates included pimps, blackmailers, beggars and idlers, while the other comprised all those judged as political threats to the state's stability and security. The power to execute this decree fell to the Office of State Security within the Ministry of the Interior. Over the next decade, a series of laws and decrees strengthened the state police's powers.Todorov, p.39 Not all people the regime found undesirable were put in forced labour camps. Deportation – forced resettlement in distant provincial areas – was another method employed. Between 1948 and 1953 some 25,000 were deported.Todorov, p.41


Development


1945–1949

Forced labour camps operated at numerous sites across Bulgaria. The camps were set up near dams under construction, coal mines, and in certain agricultural areas. Some of the most infamous were Bobov Dol, Bogdanov Dol, Rositsa, Kutsian, Bosna, Nozharevo and Chernevo.


1949–1953

Political prisoners from other camps were gathered and regrouped in the Belene labour camp, located on Persin (Belene), an island in the
Danube 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 , p ...
near
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
.


1954–1956

Deportations to the camps fell dramatically, perhaps ceasing altogether. However, Belene remained in operation.Todorov, p.40


1956–1959

A number of new inmates arrived at Belene after the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
and a crime wave in Sofia early in 1958. Among the figures held at Belene during this period included
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 ...
, the last Prime Minister of Bulgaria to hold office before the Fatherland Front coup of 9 September 1944.


1959–1962

A prisoners' hunger strike forced the closure of Belene in 1959. Those not freed (some documents indicate 166 in number) were transferred to a new camp at
Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near ...
that bordered a rock quarry. Several thousand eventually joined this original group. In September 1961, around a hundred female prisoners were sent to a neighbouring camp in Skravena. That November, conditions noticeably improved at Lovech. In spring 1962, the Politburo created a commission, led by Boris Velchev, to inspect Lovech, which was closed in April as a result of his delegation's visit. At Lovech and Skravena, 149 inmates died from abuse during this period.
Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near ...
, a city in north-central Bulgaria, lies at the edge of the Balkan Mountains. The last and harshest of the major Communist labour camps was set up near an abandoned rock quarry outside the city. Until 1959, the camps had been spread across Bulgaria, but most were closed following Chervenkov's fall and the inmates transferred to Lovech. The Ministry of the Interior, not the regional authorities, had direct control over the camp. Most Bulgarians were unaware of its existence, but it had a reputation among those who had incurred the state's displeasure as a place from where one might never emerge alive.Todorov, p.41-2


1962–1989

The intensity of state repression varied during these years. A Politburo decision in 1962 said that an individual could be imprisoned and assigned to forced labour without a court trial. Repression in this period was of an administrative rather than political nature, targeting those accused of " social parasitism" or "loose morals", often with information given by "people's organisations" such as the Fatherland Front's neighbourhood sections. In the 1980s, numerous
Turkish Bulgarians 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 ...
were sent to Belene.


Hierarchy

During the Lovech/Skravena period (1959–1962), Bulgarian state repression in the form of the camps happened along the following tiers (though the list of political and bureaucratic actors is not comprehensive): *
Todor Zhivkov Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( bg, Тодор Христов Живков ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 ...
was the Party leader and head of state, assisted by a series of prime ministers, including Anton Yugov, former interior minister. * The Interior Ministry was under their orders. Georgi Tsankov was its head and Mincho Minchev was attorney general, required to sign all internment orders. * Next was Mircho Spasov, vice-minister of the interior and in charge of the camps. At his side was Colonel Delcho Chakurov, director of the Office of Internment and Deportation. * Colonel Ivan Trichkov, who had previously run Belene, was head of the Lovech camp from 1959 to 1961. Major Petur Gogov succeeded him and served from 1961 to 1962. Major Tsviatko Goranov oversaw the work details, while Lieutenant Nikolas Gazdov represented the Bureau of State Security. All these officers had had prior experience serving in concentration camps. * The camp commanders were assisted by a group of low-ranking officers, non-commissioned officers, adjutants, and brigade chiefs, the last being recruited from among the criminals sent to the camp.


Magnitude

In 1990, the
Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...
set up an inquiry commission into the camps. It found that between 1944 and 1962 there were approximately 100 forced labour camps in a country of 8 million inhabitants. Between 1944 and 1953, some 12,000 men and women passed through these camps, with an additional 5,000 between 1956 and 1962. According to one witness, Belene alone held 7,000 in 1952. Another estimates a total of 186,000 prisoners during this period. Definitive figures remain elusive.


References


Bibliography

* {{cite book , last = Todorov , first = Tzvetan , others = Robert Zaretsky (trans.) , title = Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria , year = 1999 , publisher = Penn State Press , location = University Park, PA , pages = 38–42 Communism in Bulgaria History of the Bulgarian Communist Party Political repression Unfree labour by country People's Republic of Bulgaria Labor in Bulgaria