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Acta Poloniae Historica

Inconveniences of Memory. The Monument to the Soviet Army and Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum in Sofia after 1989
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  • Inconveniences of Memory. The Monument to the Soviet Army and Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum in Sofia after 1989
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  4. LOCAL MEMORY AND URBAN SPACE

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

Authors

  • Daniela Decheva Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2396-6209

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/APH.2022.126.05

Keywords

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

Abstract

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.

Author Biography

Daniela Decheva, Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’

Daniela Decheva – contemporary culture of German-speaking countries, culture of remembrance in Germany, European identity; assistant professor at the European Studies Department, Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’; e-mail: dndecheva@phls.uni-sofia.bg

References

Beyen Marnix, ‘Introduction: Local, National, Transnational Memories: A Triangular Relationship’, in Marnix Beyen and Brecht Deseur (eds), Local Memories in a Nationalising and Globalising World (Basingstoke, 2015), 1–23.

Decheva Daniela, ‘Der Schatten des Eisernen Vorhangs: Europäische Erinnerungspolitik 30 Jahre nach der friedlichen Revolution’, Südosteuropa Mitteilungen, 5 (2020), 55–66.

Dobre Claudia-Florentina, ‘Uses and Misuses of Memory. Dealing with the Communist Past in Postcommunist Bulgaria and Romania’, in Małgorzata Pakier and Joanna Wawrzyniak (eds), Memory and Change in Europe. Eastern Perspectives (New York, 2016), 299–316.

Meyer Erik, ‘Memory and Politics’, in Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nünning (eds), Cultural Memory Studies. An International and Interdisciplinary Handbook (Berlin–New York, 2008), 173–80.

Müller Jan-Werner, ‘Introduction: The Power of Memory, the Memory of Power and the Power over Memory’, in Jan-Werner Müller (ed.), Memory and Power in Post-War Europe: Studies in the Presence of the Past (Cambridge, 2004), 1–35.

Snyder Timothy, ‘Memory of sovereignty and sovereignty over memory: Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, 1939–1999’, in Jan-Werner Müller (ed.), Memory and Power in Post-War Europe (Cambridge, 2004), 39–58.

Vukov Nikolai, ‘Refigured Memories, Unchained Representations. Post-Socialist Monumental Discourse in Bulgaria’, in Ulf Brunnbauer und Stefan Tröbst (eds), Zwischen Amnesie und Nostalgie. Die Erinnerung an den Kommunismus in Südosteuropa (Köln, 2007), 71–86.

Велева-Ефтимова Мирела, ‘Завръщането на България в Европа – под сянката на русофилската традиция’ [The return of Bulgaria to Europe – Under the Shadow of the Russophile Tradition], Социологически проблеми, xlix, 1–2 (2017), 186–208.

Станоева Елица, ‘В крак с времето: два паметника на социализма в собственото им време’ [Keeping up with the Times: Two Monuments to Socialism in Their Own Time], in Милена Якимова, Петя Кабакчиева, Марина Лякова, and Вероника Димитрова (eds), По стъпките на Другия: сборник в чест на Майя Грекова (София, 2014), 240–52.

Acta Poloniae Historica

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Published

2023-01-30

How to Cite

1.
DECHEVA, Daniela. Inconveniences of Memory. The Monument to the Soviet Army and Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum in Sofia after 1989. Acta Poloniae Historica. Online. 30 January 2023. Vol. 126, pp. 89-100. [Accessed 9 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/APH.2022.126.05.
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Vol. 126 (2022)

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LOCAL MEMORY AND URBAN SPACE

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