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…какво диря тука на тази възраст и защо Господ избра само мене от тоя лагер да оцелея и толкова години? И сега да бъда пред вас, да разправям за „разцвета на комунизма"
Само в събота не убиваха - в събота и неделя, защото повечето от тия надзорници за тях имаше почивка, за нас - не.
Към 12:15 донесат рибена чорба, ама рибена чорба само от главите и ако се улучи на някой цяло парче глава, това е все едно, че е улучил от тотото.
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 in labor camps
Offence: 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 in 2024 at the age of 94.
Nikola Daskalov
8 months in the Belene camp
Offence: son of a provincial governor in the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Nikola Daskalov 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.
Kolyo Vutev
40 days in the Lovech camp Offence: 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.
Velichko Velev
3 years in the Belene camp Offence: agrarian, member of the opposition
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.
