The Unknown Labour Camp in Slivnitsa (August – September 1989)

Abstract

The labour camp in the military unit in the town of Slivnitsa as a place of state repression in the campaign for forced name change has not been the subject of special scientific research. In early 1985, hundreds of Turks from North-Eastern Bulgaria were summoned to the military checkpoints and as "mobilized" were sent to the unit, part of which was turned into a special labour camp. In Slivnitsa and other labour camps, the mobilized were subjected to heavy physical labour and psychological harassment. In the archive of the State Security documents are kept with some of the statistics on this form of violent dealing with the most active Turks – potential opponents of the forced name change and organizers of mass protests in North - Eastern Bulgaria. The repression in the labour camp in Slivnitsa from August-September 1989, happened during a period of the hardest field work for the tobacco producers. As "reserve troops" some of the most prominent Pomaks in Southern Bulgaria, including also some Turks from the Pazardzhik and Gotzedelchevski villages, were isolated. Subjected to humiliation, harassment and ideological manipulation, more than 100 people in a month were held halfhungry and forced to engage in heavy physical labour. This state violence scared the population and interrupted all possibilities for general opposition against the communist regime. This study aims to present this form of mass repression, carried out secretly and thoroughly concealed by the communist totalitarian regime in Bulgaria and plunged into oblivion. It is based on archival documents, memories, unknown to science notes and a list of the names of those brought in in 1989 in the labour camp in Slivnitsa.