Daniela Koleva: As long as we quarrel about the past, we remember it. Coping with the communist past in Bulgaria

Bulgarian society, like many others in Eastern Europe, struggles with coming to terms with its communist past. In many ways similar to the Soviet system, Bulgarian communism was quite repressive and held institutions of terror such as the forced labour camp ‘Belene’. Through oral history narratives and other types of sources, Professor Koleva explores Bulgarian public memory of Belene and communist repression more generally.

In this talk, she will present some of the insights from her new and highly acclaimed book, Memory Archipelago of the Communist Past: Public Narratives and Personal Recollections, Palgrave Macmilan Memory Studies Series, 2022.

Discussant: Barbara Törnquist-Plewa (University of Lund)