Between «dual liberation» and occupation: Bulgarian society on the outcome of World War II

Abstract

The research is devoted to the perception of the contemporary Bulgarian society of the «dual liberation» thesis, i.e. the assertion that Russia, after liberating Bulgaria from the Turkish rule in 1878, also liberated her from the German Nazis in 1944. The review of the historians’ disputes and of the heated debates in public space is concentrated around the second liberation and is connected with the analysis of several issues. First, the declaration of war by the Soviet Union on Bulgaria, which led to the inclusion of Moscow in the peace talks of the Western forces with Sofia and the conclusion of armistice, according to which the Central Control Commission under the leadership of the Soviet High Command was established and the country was put under an occupation regime. Second, the cost for the Bulgarians to maintain Soviet occupation troops is also estimated. And finally, it is considered what fate of the Soviet army monuments built in different locations in Bulgaria during the period 1944–1989 should expect.