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V. ИСТОРИЧЕСКА ФАНТАСТИКА
Герака тр., Кой уби царя на България Борис III, С, 2004 г.
BULGARIA’S FOREIGN POLICY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AS REFLECTED IN BULGARIAN HISTORIC LITERATURE
1938–1944
DR. Ivan Yanev
Summary
This research encompasses a large volume of historic literature. The goal I set myself is to cover if not the whole, at least a more significant part of the historic literature related to Bulgaria’s foreign policy on the eve of and during the Second World War. Research, diaries and memoirs of politicians from the time of the war have also been examined in this treatise. I remained true to the theory that every rule has its exception, and for this reason I have included some materials from the Gold Fund of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) which were given to me to study and cite. Those materials are kept in audio versions in the Gold Fund of the BNR, but when I asked to be given these recordings to include in the form of an audio annex to the book, I was given a flat refusal. I hope that the time will come when such historic evidence will not only be looked on for commercial purposes but will be given to researchers for the enrichment of the study of history. I have also included in this research collections of documents which have already been published and are part of Bulgaria’s historic literature. The discussion of Bulgarian foreign policy during the war years in foreign language historic literature presents a different approach and a separate research and for that reason this presentation is baed solely on Bulgarian historic literature.
This work covers historic literature which was created over the course of several decades. As is often the case, the shorter the distance in time from the described events, the more emotional their interpretation is. After the war, when Bulgaria was in the Soviet orbit, the prevailing interpretation of facts in historiography was one that created a favorable impression of the role of communism and of the USSR. The first attempts at a more general treatment of events in the first years of the war are two articles written by Mirin Mihov, „The Struggle by the USSR and Bulgaria for Peace in the Balkans at the Beginning of the Second World War“ and „The Struggle of the USSR to Prevent Nazi Aggression in the Balkans during the Second World War“, published in 1953 and 1954 respectively. They are full of inaccurate interpretations of events, but at the same time they are the first attempt to make clear the Bulgarian status quo. Mihov writes in an exceptionally pro-Party tone and overstates the positive role of the USSR, but this is understandable given the time the articles were published. The case is also similar in volume 2 of „The History of Bulgaria“ published in 1955. The authors rely more on the pro-Party line than on an historic perspective. In volume 3 of „The History of Bulgaria“ published 9 years later, this approach is maintained. What is changed is the evaluation of Stalin’s role in the years during the war. He is already pointed to as the one to blame for the quick and easy entry of the Wermacht deep into the territory of the USSR. This position was dictated by the process of de-Stalinization undertaken by Nikita Khrushchov at the 20th and 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), rather than by a professional historic approach to the facts.
The two studies written by Nikolay Genchev at the end of the 1960’s, „The Foreign Political Orientation of Bulgaria on the Eve of the Second World War — September 1938 — September 1939“ and „Bulgaria’s Foreign Policy in the Initial Period of the Second World War 1939–1941“ mark a turning point in Bulgarian historiography with respect to the Second World War. Genchev makes an attempt to leave the narrow Party line and keep to the historic approach. In the 1970’s, a significant change took place in Bulgarian historic writing concerning the Second World War. At that time, a number of studies appeared in which a more factual, historic tone prevails, and the number of pro-Party clichés decreases, although not totally eliminated. The following monographs appeared: „Bulgaria and the Third Reich 1941–1944“ by Vitka Toshkova; „Political Relations between Bulgaria and Italy 1922–1943“ by Ilcho Dimitrov; and „Bulgaria’s Foreign Policy 1938–1941“ by Dimitar Sirkov.