Coming to power
On 9 September 1944 the Fatherland Front took power, backed by the Red Army. Then came the People’s Court, executions, nationalisation and collectivisation. In 1946 the monarchy was abolished by referendum, and Tsar Simeon II, then a child, left the country.
Todor Zhivkov
Todor Zhivkov ruled from 1954 to 1989 – 35 years. Bulgaria was nicknamed the “sixteenth republic” of the USSR because of its close ties with Moscow.
- Industrialisation – Kremikovtsi, the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, electronics. Bulgaria built Pravetz computers and was a major producer of electronic components in Comecon (the Soviet-bloc economic union).
- Tourism – Sunny Beach and Golden Sands were built for Western tourists with hard currency.
- Space – Georgi Ivanov became the first Bulgarian in space in 1979.
The dark sides
Concentration camps such as Belene, censorship, State Security. In the late 1980s came the so-called “Revival Process”: the forced changing of the names of Bulgarian Turks. In the summer of 1989 hundreds of thousands were forced to leave the country in the so-called “Great Excursion”. One of the most shameful pages in recent history.
10 November 1989
The day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Zhivkov was removed by his own party. The Transition began.
Ask “What was it like under socialism?” and you will get three answers: from grandma, “there was work for everyone”; from grandpa, “there were no bananas”; and from auntie, “but we went to the seaside every year”. All of them are true.