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Histories from Belene
We dedicate this project to Bulgaria’s young people and to the victims of communism!
This website is part of the Histories from Belene project of the Sofia Platform Foundation.
In order to preserve the memories about the communist regime and about the Belene camp, we recorded extensive interviews with survivors of the Belene camp, covering more than 3,000 questions. This formed the basis of the software for the virtual conversations with survivors, which you can access and conduct on this website. Along with these virtual conversations, we also created a digital tour of Belene, which offers 10 sites in and around the town of Belene. The tour is also accessible via this website.
We dedicate this project to Bulgaria’s young people and to the victims of communism!
We are grateful for the trust and courage of the survivors of the labor camp whom we interviewed. We express our gratitude for the support of Prof Daniela Koleva (Sofia University), Prof Momchil Metodiev (New Bulgarian University), Dimitar Dimov (Institute for the Study for the Near Past at New Bulgarian University) and Borislav Skochev – author of the extensive study The Belene Concentration Camp 1949-1987.
Belene is a special place with warm people. In predominantly Christian Orthodox Bulgaria, it is one of the few catholic towns. The Persin island nearby is home to thousands of different bird species and is a beautiful nature reserve. Besides this, however, the town was the site of the largest camp for those detained without trial or sentence in communist Bulgaria, the so-called Labor-education hostel.
For more than ten years, the Sofia Platform Foundation has been one of the few organizations which implements educational activities in Belene with the priceless support of the local community and especially Father Paolo Cortesi, Mihail Marinov from the Belene Island Foundation and the Belene Municipality.
The Histories from Belene project and our work as a whole would not have been possible without the support of the wider community of researchers, histories, writers and artists who are interested in communism. And most of all, it would not have been possible without the interest of Bulgaria’s young people in the recent past.
We dedicate this project to Bulgaria’s young people and to the victims of communism!
Coming soon
Coming in June – your opportunity to visit Belene and the site of the camp by selecting your tour guide and booking a date for your visit in advance.
Tsvetana Dzhermanova
4 years and 4 months in labor camps
Offense: anarchist
Tsvetana Dzhermanova (1928-2024) was born on 20 March 1928. Tsvetana attended the primary school in the village of Leskovets and completed her middle school studies in the village of Batanovtsi.
She became interested in the ideas of anarchism in 1946. In 1948, she was arrested in a drive against anarchists in Bulgaria and was sent to the forced labor camp in the village of Bosna, near the town of Silistra. In December 1951, she was transferred to the women’s section of the Belene camp (Shturcheto camp), where she remained until April 1952.
After her release from the camps, she was resettled a number of times.
Tsvetana Dzhermanova passed away on February 19, 2024 at the age of 94.
Nikola Daskalov
9 months under arrest and in a camp
Offense: son of a provincial governor in the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Nikola Daskalov (1934-2025) was born on 08 September 1934. His father, Dimitar Daskalov, was a regional governor of Plovdiv.
Following the communists’ coming to power, Nikola’s father was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death.
He was executed by firing squad on 10 February 1945. Nikola and his mother were resettled away from Sofia. Later on, Nikola was sent to the Belene camp.
Nikola Daskalov passed away on January 15, 2025 at the age of 90.
Kolyo Vutev
42 days in camp "Sunny Beach" near Lovech
Offense: "hooligan", son of a member of the opposition
Kolyo Vutev (1940-2022) was a wrestler and a wrestling coach), born on September 10, 1940, in the village of Toros, near Lukovit. He was interned, without trial or sentence, when he was only 18 years old, in the labor camp near Lovech, which was also known as Sunny Beach. The reason for his internment was his unruly nature for which he was considered a hooligan. It is likely that contributing factors for his internment were that, in the words of Kolyo himself, his father opposed the expropriation of the villagers' property and the formation of the cooperative labor agricultural farms, while his grandfather had been a mayor of the village.
Kolyo Vutev passed away in 2022 at the age of 82.
Todor Anastasov
9 months under arrest and in a camp
Offense: an attempt to escape from Bulgaria
Todor Anastasov (1932-2023) was born on September 23, 1932 in Pleven in the family of an officer in the Bulgarian King's army. After 1944, his family was forcibly resettled to Botevgrad.
In November 1951, Todor made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from Bulgaria, which became the reason for his arrest. After fifty-one days of investigation, he was sent to the Belene camp for two years, without a sentence.
After Stalin’s death in August 1953, the camp was closed and Todor served only seven months of his sentence. After his release from Belene, he was able to enroll in a university and graduate with a degree in physics in 1960. He worked as a teacher in Pernik, then at a research laboratory, and in 1963 he became a research associate at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
After the fall of the communist regime, Todor Anastasov was chairman of the Union of the Repressed by Communism in Bulgaria.
Todor passed away on December 29, 2023 at the age of 91
Velichko Velev
2.5 years under arrest and in a camp
Offense: participant in the anti-communist resistance
Velichko Velev was born on March 18, 1933 in Boyana, Sofia. His father’s restaurant was expropriated at the onset of communism, along with all the family’s property and assets. His father narrowly escaped execution, and the family lived in a tent in their own yard.
As a student, Velichko actively supported the Goryani movement, an armed resistance movement against the communist regime, and organized armed student resistance groups. Velichko was arrested in April 1951 and over the course of six months he was subjected to systemic beatings, starvation and torture.
In very poor physical condition, he was sent to the Belene labor camp without a sentence. Velichko was interned in Belene from October 1951 until September 1953.
Tsvetko Georgiev
3 years under arrest, in a camp and prisons Offense: Agrarian, member of the opposition
Tsvetko Georgiev was born on February 26, 1935, in the village of Potop, near Elin Pelin. His father was killed in an exchange of fire with communists in Macedonia, and the family was declared to be kulaks.
Tsvetko joined an opposition organization, for which he was arrested and tried for armed struggle against the "power of the people". The prosecution demanded the death sentence, but at the end of the trial Tsvetko was given twelve years in prison.
Interned in Belene in October 1953, Tsvetko remained there until May 1955 when he was transferred to the prison-hospital in Kyustendil because he had contracted tuberculosis. He was then moved to the prison in Pazardzhik, from where he was released in July 1956. Following his release, Tsvetko had to perform hard manual labor and worked in mines and metal furnace facilities in Kardzhali, Pernik, Gorna Oryahovitsa.
After 1989, he was an activist in the reinstated Bulgarian Agrarian National Union - Nikola Petkov, and was an advisor to its leader. Tsvetko was deputy-chairperson of the Union of the Repressed by Communism.
Zheko Stoyanov
3 years and 1 month under arrest and in and political prison
Offense: participant in the anti-communist resistance
Zheko Stoyanov is a political prisoner, a member of the opposition, and a politician. He was born on May 4, 1939, in the village of Lyulin near Yambol. In 1961, when he was a student, he was arrested and sentenced to death because of resistance to the communist authorities. Subsequently, his sentence was changed to lengthy imprisonment.
In 1964, along with other political prisoners, Zheko Stoyanov received an amnesty and was released from the Stara Zagora prison. In order to earn his living, he did hard manual labor, working as a porter, a painter on construction sites, and a miner. For twenty-two years he worked in underground mines.
After the democratic transition of 1989, Zheko Stoyanov entered politics and in 1997 he was elected a member of parliament for the United Democratic Forces. At the age of sixty, he completed a degree in economics.
During his whole life, Zheko Stoyanov has remained a symbol of resistance against the repressive regime and of an unyielding spirit of freedom.
In 1964, along with other political prisoners, Zheko Stoyanov received an amnesty and was released from the Stara Zagora prison. In order to earn his living, he did hard manual labor, working as a porter, a painter on construction sites, and a miner. For twenty-two years he worked in underground mines.
After the democratic transition of 1989, Zheko Stoyanov entered politics and in 1997 he was elected a member of parliament for the United Democratic Forces. At the age of sixty, he completed a degree in economics.
During his whole life, Zheko Stoyanov has remained a symbol of resistance against the repressive regime and of an unyielding spirit of freedom.
Alfred Foscolo
2 years and 8 months under arrest and in political prison
Offense: anti-communist leaflets
Алфред Фосколо е роден на 24 април 1942 г. в София в семейството на българка и французин. През 1949г. семейство Фосколо е принудено да напусне България след установяването на българския тоталитарен режим и заживява в покрайнините на Париж.
След 1958 г. Алфред получава право да пътува до България, където прекарва летните си ваканции. Така той се запознава с новата реалност в страната, както и среща недоволни от режима сподвижници, с които през 1968 г. разпространява печатни позиви срещу Комунистическата партия.
Арестуван за позивите на 28 август 1968 г., Алфред е осъден като шпионин на 15 години, от които излежава три в Старозагорския затвор. След дипломатически натиск излиза от затвора на 30 април 1971 г. и напуска България две седмици след това. Връща се, за да изведе нелегално любимата си от страната, което постига със сложен и рискован план.
След установяването си във Франция, Алфред Фосколо активно сътрудничи на групи, борещи се за човешки права в България, и спомага за извеждането от страната и на други политически затворници. Понастоящем живее в София.
След 1958 г. Алфред получава право да пътува до България, където прекарва летните си ваканции. Така той се запознава с новата реалност в страната, както и среща недоволни от режима сподвижници, с които през 1968 г. разпространява печатни позиви срещу Комунистическата партия.
Арестуван за позивите на 28 август 1968 г., Алфред е осъден като шпионин на 15 години, от които излежава три в Старозагорския затвор. След дипломатически натиск излиза от затвора на 30 април 1971 г. и напуска България две седмици след това. Връща се, за да изведе нелегално любимата си от страната, което постига със сложен и рискован план.
След установяването си във Франция, Алфред Фосколо активно сътрудничи на групи, борещи се за човешки права в България, и спомага за извеждането от страната и на други политически затворници. Понастоящем живее в София.
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Бележка: Публикуваните свидетелства представят личните спомени на оцелели и отразяват техния индивидуален опит. Те не заместват професионалните исторически изследвания и могат да съдържат неточности.
Mehmed Turker
Four years in camps and in forced resettlement
Offence: disagreement with the change of Turkish names to Bulgarian
Mehmed Türker is a Bulgarian Turk; he was born on May 20, 1950, in the village of Sindeltsi in southern Bulgaria. He completed his secondary education in Krumovgrad and completed а degree in Turkish Philology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. He then worked as a teacher in his home region, where he befriended the author and activist Ömer Osman Erendoruk. This friendship led to Mehmed’s arrest and investigation.
Mehmed was arrested on January 3, 1985, and interned in the Belene camp. After his release from Belene, he was moved to the camp near Bobov dol and later forcibly resettled to a village near Kyustendil. In 1989 he was expelled to Turkey where he became a journalist, worked for the Türkiye newspaper and wrote his memoirs. As a reporter, he covered the events around the “Big Excursion” and the forced deportation of Bulgarian Turks to Turkey in 1989.
Mehmed Turker is well known for his civic and public contributions. He is the author of several books, numerous articles and a documentary film that depict the experiences of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria in the second half of the 20th century.
