On the day on which we express gratitude to and pay tribute to the victims of the communist regime, President Rosen Plevneliev called on for archiving, digitalizing and keeping in the State Archives all the documents related to the activity of the communist secret services. “Reasons and means not to read the documents of the communist services are eagerly sought so that the truth can be manipulated, as some people find it comfortable,” The Head of State said in a special video-address commemorating the events that unfolded on 1 February 1945.
“After 25 years there is nothing more to be kept secret. Everyone should have access to them and no one should perform the role of an intermediary by reading the archives instead of us. We do not need an intermediary between us and the truth. All citizens, pupils and students have the right to find out the truth about the secret services of the totalitarian regime. We should once and for all put an end to the speculations over the communist era state security, we should keep it in the state archives and give everyone access to it in an intelligent manner, as the European countries did long ago,” the President said in his address.
Rosen Plevneliev said that the “most serious deficiency of the Bulgarian transition” is the failure to provide an unambiguous assessment of the crimes committed by the communist regime. “Attempts to create a parallel reality and myths are made instead – about Todor Zhivkov, as a “person belonging to the people”, about the “good” communist era state security officials, who “did not serve one party, but the state as a whole”. The camps, prisons and the acts of terror committed by these same “professionals” against the Bulgarian people are conveniently forgotten,” the Head of State said.
In his address the President further said that throughout the transition years different political parties have tried to hide part of the truth about the secret services of the totalitarian state. “We have had enough! We should at least turn this page in a worthy manner, we have caused enough damage by not reading it to the end,” Rosen Plevneliev emphasized.
“Today we are paying tribute to people which have sacrificed their lives to retain the right to promote their ideas. Paying tribute to these worthy Bulgarians, we should work, promote and push forward our ideas freely, as they did. We should defend our political positions following the rules of democracy and the law-governed state,” the Head of State further said. In his opinion, “the path to attaining the Bulgarian national ideal of a “pure and sacred republic” and achieving national unity passes through the honest interpretation of the facts.”