SOFIA'S CEMETERY AND THE GRAVES OF THE COMMUNIST LEADERS
18/07/2024
In 1999, the mausoleum in Sofia's central square exposing the body of Georgi Dimitrov was demolished. The remains of the first leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946 to 1990) were moved, nine years earlier, to an humble grave in Sofia's Central Cemetery. I was curious - what does the grave of someone who was first buried in a mausoleum look like?...
The cemetery itself would take a whole day to explore. I actually went straight to plot 10, which it is dedicated to the former communist leaders of the country. I found myself face to face with Dimitar Blagoev, founder of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1919 and proeminent figure of socialism in the Balkans.
A few meters ahead I found the grave of Todor Zhivkov, the longer lasting General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party (1954 to 1989). In the communist Bulgaria, General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party was the leading position. In the same vault, his wife Mara Maleeva-Zhivkova also rests. More interestingly, their famous daughter Luydmila Zhivkova is burried right next to them. As a chairperson of the Committee for Art and Culture during his father's lead, she ordered the construction of the National Palace of Culture known as "NDK" by the locals.
And nothing about Dimitrov's grave...
None of the well-ornated graves of plot 10 showed Dimitrov's name. As it was early morning, I decided to walk through the other plots and admire at the same time other impressive graves from pilots or soldiers from world war 2.
After a good two hours of searching, I eventually bumped into Dimitrov's tomb! It's almost hidden among other look-alike graves in a derelicted area with no paths to walk around. It is way simplier and smaller than the graves in plot 10, marking an astonishing difference with the former reverential mausoleum.
I think Dimitrov's mausoleum and grave illustrate the tension around the communist heritage of Bulgaria. In 2000, a law voted at the National Assembly officially declares that the Bulgarian communist regime was criminal. However, some voices would argue that demolishing the mausoleum was a populist decision from the center-right alliance majority at the parliament. They suggested instead to use the mausoleum as a museum of communism. I was surprised that the National Museum itself only exposes a few documents about this regime, leaving the post-war history of Bulgaria almost empty.
The question of the communist heritage applies to all the former Eastern block. In Albania, the body of the former dictator Enver Hoxha was also moved to a suburb cemetery, while its dedicated museum has become a mall. Maybe Dimitrov's first grave still keeps some secrets though, as it is said that underneath the monument was a secret laboratory in order to maintain regularly the body...