Inconveniences of Memory. The Monument to the Soviet Army and Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum in Sofia after 1989

• Authors: Daniela Decheva

Abstracts

EN

The paper discusses the transformations of memory caused by the preservation, removal or redefinition of memorials. These transformations indicate the competition between political and ideological views in Bulgarian society after 1989. Two cases are analysed: the deconstruction of Georgi Dimitrov’s already-empty mausoleum in 1999 and the Monument to the Soviet Army, still standing in Sofia. Both instances are significant indicators of power constellations, which, in the second case, also have a precise foreign policy dimension (relations with Russia). The periodically activated debates, especially concerning the Monument to the Soviet Army, indicate the absence of a coherent memory policy and general ambiguous attitudes in Bulgarian society towards the communist past.

Keywords

EN

collective memory; memory policy; communist past; monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia; Georgi Dimitrov’s mausoleum in Sofia

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Acta Poloniae Historica
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 126
• Pages: 89-100

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Daniela Decheva

• Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’

• https://orcid.org/0000000223966209

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12775/APH.2022.126.05

Biblioteka Nauki

28697432