Remembering Bulgarian Communism in Washington, DC

The Victims of Communism Museum (VOC) on Tuesday unveiled a brand new pop-up exhibition titled, “Belan-A Bulgarian Resistance Story.” The trouble was led by the Sofia Platform Basis with assist from the Bulgaria Basis for America.

This expertise provides guests to VOC the distinctive alternative to “speak” with Belen labor camp survivor Nikola Daskalov by means of AI expertise. Taking greater than 120 hours of in-person interviews, the organizations made it doable for museum guests to take a seat in an interactive sales space and ask Daskalov’s AI simulacrum questions on his expertise within the Bulgarian Gulag, receiving solutions in actual time.

The exhibition tries to make clear this darkish interval of Bulgarian communism, which is usually ignored even in Bulgaria, the place greater than 40 p.c of Soviet-era archives have been destroyed.

The occasion was attended by American Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth H. Merten and Bulgarian Ambassador to america Georgi Panayotov. Each spoke of their assist for NATO, with this yr marking the twentieth anniversary of Bulgaria’s becoming a member of the alliance. Panayotov described Russia as a “hazard” and “menace” within the context of the present warfare in Ukraine.

“Bulgaria was a democracy, even earlier than the First World Struggle,” Panayotov stated, highlighting the patriotism of Bulgarian resistance to communism over a century. So we all know what democracy is, we all know what it means to be free.” Panayotov in contrast the Bulgarian resistance to Communism to the resistance to the Ottomans, with out mentioning that the Bulgarian liberation was influenced by the Russian Empire.

Marten admits that “none of this could have been doable with out the tough however vital adjustments some 35 years in the past and with out the courageous leaders and individuals who resisted the Communist regime.”

The exhibit is open to the general public by means of June 14, 2024 on the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, DC.