Inconveniences of Memory. The Monument to the Soviet Army and Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum in Sofia after 1989

Abstract

The paper discusses the transformations of memory caused by the preservation, removal or redefinition of memorials. These transformations indicate the competition between political and ideological views in Bulgarian society after 1989. Two cases are analysed: the deconstruction of Georgi Dimitrov’s already-empty mausoleum in 1999 and the Monument to the Soviet Army, still standing in Sofia. Both instances are significant indicators of power constellations, which, in the second case, also have a precise foreign policy dimension (relations with Russia). The periodically activated debates, especially concerning the Monument to the Soviet Army, indicate the absence of a coherent memory policy and general ambiguous attitudes in Bulgarian society towards the communist past.