site.btaFormer Camp Inmates, Public Figures Object to Plans for Reconstruction of Belene Labour Camp

Former concentration camp inmates and public figures have objected to the plans for the reconstruction of the Belene forced labour camp at a press conference entitled "Victims and their heirs invite the authorities and politicians to the annual memorial service to Belene" at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia on Wednesday. The Belene camp, established on April 27, 1949, was the largest and longest-running facility for the internment of opponents of the communist regime in Bulgaria. It existed, with interruptions, until 1987.

Hristo Hristov, journalist and executive director of the Truth and Memory Foundation said that in doing so, a "fake attraction" will be created in the name of the victims, but without their opinion. The event was on the occasion of the upcoming annual memorial service in memory of the victims of the totalitarian communist regime in the former Belene forced labour camp, which will take place on June 6 on the Danube island of Persin. "We invite the authorities because this is the last chance to see the original remains of the Belene concentration camp," Hristov noted. 

According to Hristov, on March 12, the chief architect of the Belene municipality issued a building permit for the restoration and reconstruction of part of the destroyed buildings, barracks, solitary confinement, fences and other facilities at the second site of the Belene camp. He added that there is a discrepancy with the 2017 decision of the Council of Ministers on the right to manage the second site of the concentration camp for the construction of a memorial park under certain conditions.

"We filed a report with the caretaker government, but we received no response," said Hristov, adding: "We will appeal to the Council of Ministers to revoke the right to govern the Belene municipality, not only because the 2017 decision has not been implemented, but also because they are taking actions that will create a sham. According to him, the goal is purely economic and financial.

Hristov stressed that for nine years the Ministry of Culture has been unable to declare the Belene camp a cultural monument. He described this as "a disgrace to all representatives of the victims and to Bulgarian society, which wants to have a preserved place of memory there". He said that the camp is a matter of national memory and wants the state to follow European practice, where such memorial sites are managed by the State.

Lilyana Drumeva, chair of the Union of the Repressed by Communism - Memory asked why there are institutions in Bulgaria that allow themselves to interpret the right to preserve this memory as they see fit. "I am disgusted by the vile decision to start 'building' such a monument to the victims of Belene."