In the language of the generations that lived through communism, there are words with special meaning. One of them is "9th," which refers to the coup d'état of September 9, 1944. This event marked the arrival of communist rule in Bulgaria just days after the Soviet army occupied the country. Although power was formally taken by a broad coalition of anti-fascist parties called the Fatherland Front (OF), the Communist Party gained complete control over the police, the special services, and the judiciary.
"9-th" was followed by the so-called People's Court. This was an extraordinary court, in violation of the constitution in force, which became an instrument for imposing communist rule through the mass liquidation of its opponents. It remains in our contemporary history as the most massive manifestation of political violence. Over 28,000 people were arrested, over 9,000 were convicted, 2,730 were shot, and another 1,300 received prison sentences. Over 28,000 people were arrested, over 9,000 were convicted, 2,730 were shot, and another 1,300 received life sentences. The consequences extended to their loved ones and families for generations to come.
From December 20, 1944, to February 1, 1945, the Second Supreme Court convened in the auditorium of Sofia University. The defendants were members of the XXV Ordinary National Assembly (1940–1944), some of whom had already passed away. On February 1, the court handed down 67 death sentences, out of the 25 requested, which were carried out that same night, along with those of the regents, ministers, and royal advisors from the First Supreme Court. Among those sentenced to death was Dr. Nikola Minkov, a defender of the Jews, while Dimitar Peshev, former chairman of the National Assembly, known as the savior of the Bulgarian Jews, received 15 years in prison. It was not until 2011 that February 1 was designated as a day of remembrance and gratitude to the victims of communism.
Sofia University also has a rich political history. From December 20, 1944, to February 1, 1945, the Second Supreme Court of the People's Court held its sessions here, which remains the most massive manifestation of political violence in our contemporary history, then almost 45 years later, the same university, its teachers, and students became one of the main centers of opposition to the regime. On November 3, 1988, the Club for Support of Glasnost and Perestroika was established here, becoming a key platform for discussion and action before the fall of the regime. Student protests, occupations, and strikes were the driving force behind political change in the decade after 1989.
Monument to the Soviet Army
19-33 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.
The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, known among Sofians as MORA (Monument of the Occupying Red Army), was erected in 1954, ten years after the coup d'état of September 9, 1944. It is one of the most significant propaganda monuments of the communist regime and is intended to remind Bulgarians who is the guarantor of power.
One of the authors of the monument, sculptor Lyubomir Dalchev, later wrote in exile: "As soon as they came to power, the communist leaders hastened to express their great gratitude and even greater servility and flattery to the usurper for the power and support he had given them... And now, is it right that these monuments still stand on our Bulgarian soil – monuments to slavery and cruelty, to injustice and humiliation, to fear and suspicion. No nation would allow and accept such an insult – to tolerate monuments glorifying their oppressors. And nowhere in the world is there such an absurdity as the one the communists want to impose on us."
Since 2011, the monument has been the site of artistic actions critical of the Soviet Union and Russia, making it a symbol of rethinking historical heritage. It was dismantled in 2024, and the inscription: "To the Soviet Army, liberator - from the grateful Bulgarian people" was finally removed. Public discussions about its future and meaning continue. A similar fate, but in earlier times, befell the statue of Stalin at the entrance to Borisova Garden, which was blown up in 1953 by the daring anarchist Georgi Konstantinov.
National Assembly
On May 29, 1947, the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BZNS) and the united opposition, Nikola Petkov, rejected the Communist Party's draft of a new constitution because it did not guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens.
Until then, the BZNS had been part of the Fatherland Front, but the increasingly open and brutal actions of the Communist Party against all its opponents left no room for compromise. Until then, the BZNS had been part of the Fatherland Front, but the increasingly open and brutal actions of the Communist Party against any of its opponents left no doubt that a totalitarian regime based on the Soviet model was being imposed. Nikola Petkov declared: "Only a constitution based on political and economic freedom and equality of rights will create the pure and holy republic of the greatest idealist, Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski.
"The trial of Nikola Petkov and the legal opposition was prepared for nearly a year. On June 5, 1947, the National Assembly received a request from the prosecutor to lift his immunity. Prime Minister Georgi Dimitrov threatened him: "This may be your last chance to speak. These are your last words here." Petkov replied: "And my last words as a human being will be: long live freedom!" He was arrested in the hall of the National Assembly by armed militiamen.
As part of the measures to eliminate the opposition and clear the way for one-party rule, the BZNS was banned.
On December 14, 1989, the National Assembly postponed the vote on removing Article 1 of the Constitution on the leading role of the Bulgarian Communist Party, and thousands of people, mainly students, formed a human chain around the parliament building. Tension mounted and the crowd was ready to attack the National Assembly building, but the leaders of the Union of Democratic Forces (a coalition of opposition parties) called on the protesters to disperse peacefully.
Booed, the then head of state Petar Mladenov, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed internal party opposition to Todor Zhivkov (former foreign minister), says: "It is best for the tanks to come." This phrase became a symbol of the communist leadership's inability to think according to the rules of democracy and the non-violent exercise of power. After intense public pressure and protests, these words led to the resignation of Petar Mladenov as president in the summer of 1990.
Museum of the Revolutionary Movement
13 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.
The museum was opened in 1950 on the preserved first floor of the home of the famous Bulgarian politician Ivan Evstatiev Geshov. The initial intention was to call it the Museum of Anti-Fascist Resistance. The documents collected by law were to provide confirmation of "the people's struggle against fascism." Although fascist organizations in Bulgaria did not participate in power between the two wars, communist propaganda considered anyone who raised their voice against its ideology or criticized the Soviet Union to be a fascist. It called the rule of Tsar Boris III "monarcho-fascist" and equated it with Nazism in its rhetoric.
Ultimately, it was decided that the museum would be called the Museum of the Revolutionary Movement in order to present the struggles for national liberation as part of the path to the communist revolution and to highlight the BCP as the driving force behind them. The decisive contribution of the Red Army to the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II became a justification for the Soviet occupation of Bulgaria and the imposition of a totalitarian communist regime. The truth about the coup d'état of September 9, 1944, was replaced by the myth of the "second liberation." The exhibition also included the Soviet Revolution of October 1917, and the USSR was presented as the only example to be emulated.
Hotel "Slavianska Beseda"
3 Slavianska Street
The People’s Militia was established on September 10, 1944, at the very beginning of the Soviet occupation and immediately after the coup d’état. It assumed the functions of the police. The “Slavyanska Beseda” Hotel served as the headquarters of the General Staff. In the hotel’s basements, arrested ministers, members of parliament, police officers, civil servants, public figures, intellectuals, and politicians were brought in for interrogation. On September 28, 1944, Todor Zhivkov - one of the longest-ruling communist dictators - was appointed Chief Inspector in the “Uniformed Militia” Department and worked in this building until December 1, 1944. From here, many of the detainees were sent to be executed without trial or sentence.
Ministry of War
3 Deacon Ignatius Street
Despite expectations of a coup in the context of the Soviet occupation, Minister of War Gen. Marinov did not reinforce security at the Ministry of War, which also housed the Council of Ministers at the time. At 2:45 a.m. on September 9, 1944, the officer on duty, Capt. Dimitar Tomov, opened the unsecured east gate and let in a small military unit led by Petar Vranchev, Majors Todor Toshev and Stoyan Trendafilov, and Capt. Dimitar Popov. A little later, Minister of War Marinov ordered the garrisons and military units in the country to obey the new government. The members of the pre-formed government arrived at the building, and the regents Prince Kiril Preslavski and Lieutenant General Nikola Mikhov were summoned to legitimize the coup under pressure. Thus, the Fatherland Front seized power.
Statue of the Republic and Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum
Knyaz Alexander I Boulevard
In September 1946, in connection with the referendum that established the People's Republic and abolished the monarchy, a plaster statue of the Republic - a woman with a sword and a flowing cloak - was hastily erected in front of the royal palace. It was destroyed in 1948, after the need for agitation of the population had been exhausted.
After the death of Georgi Dimitrov, leader of the Communist Party, an emigrant to the Soviet Union and Stalin's protégé, on July 2, 1949, a mausoleum was built in the same place in six days, where his embalmed body was placed, similar to Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow. Transformed into a sacred place of communist mythology, the mausoleum was a mandatory destination for school trips, a place of worship and political indoctrination (education). From its podium, the party leadership greeted the people during mandatory holiday demonstrations. Not showing grief in front of Georgi Dimitrov's mausoleum could be seen as a form of resistance against the regime.
The mausoleum was emptied in 1990 and the mummified body was buried. In 1999, it was demolished - also in 6 days. For generations of Bulgarians, the mausoleum was a symbol of the cult of personality and uncritical praise of communist ideology and the state. Today, the empty space is used for temporary exhibitions and urban art. One of the projects for a museum of the history of communism envisages the use of the mausoleum's basement.
Archive State Agency
5 Moskovska Street
During communism, the building that now houses the Archive State Agency was home to the Sofia Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and its basements served as interrogation cells for the sinister State Security. Among the people of Sofia, they were known as "dušekubki" (soul crushers).
In the late 1950s, young people were detained here and declared hooligans because they listened to or danced to rock and roll, wore tight pants, or were children of repressed people. 5 Moskovska Street became a symbol of the communist regime's arbitrariness towards its "enemies" and ordinary citizens, mentioned in the songs of Georgi Minchev, a famous Bulgarian musician and composer.
Those detained were often subjected to humiliation and severe beatings—for example, they were forced to take off their tight pants without removing their shoes. Since this was impossible, they were beaten with a whip on their feet. To be released, they had to rub their swollen feet on the cold cement until the swelling went down. If they failed, they were beaten again.
From here, some of the arrested were sent straight to the camps – first to Belene, and later to Lovech.
One of the projects for a museum of the history of communism envisages the use of the cells in the basement.
Party Seat and "Triangle of Power"
Knyaz Alexander I Square
The Party Seat is part of the new Stalinist center of the capital, built on the site of the old commercial center damaged by the war. The idea is to concentrate the institutions of communist power there - a symbol of its new face.
The decision was made at the end of 1945, and the project was designed by Bulgarian architects, but at the insistence of the Politburo, its final appearance was imposed by a Soviet architect. Construction took place between 1950 and 1953, at the height of the Stalinization of the Bulgarian state. Repression against dissenters was harsh and indiscriminate, but among various strata of Bulgarian society there was still hope that with the help of Western powers Bulgaria could return to a democratic path of development. The persecution of the "former people" (the urban elites and state officials of interwar Bulgaria), the activists of the VMRO and the violent seizure of land from peasants sparked armed resistance in various regions of Bulgaria, known as the Gorian movement. Its uncoordinated and regional nature doomed it to failure against the well-organized communist militia and internal troops.
The construction of the Party House in the center of Sofia during those years became a symbol of the erased "old," the crushed resistance, and the unshakable power of the BCP. Similarly, the end of one-party communist rule in 1989-1990 was marked by the removal of the huge five-pointed star from the Party House's flagpole. In an attempt to erase the crimes committed by the regime, on August 26, 1990, the Party House was set on fire, burning many documents from the BCP archives. There are suspicions that the fire was organized by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the State Security (DS) in order to quell civil protests and force the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) into political compromises. Today, the building is used by the National Assembly, and fewer and fewer people remember its totalitarian history, while the five-pointed star lies in the courtyard of the Museum of Socialist Art.
Memorial monument to the victims of the People's Court in the Central Sofia Cemetery
Central Sofia Cemetery, 14 Zavodska Street, 1202 Sofia
