Залогът Катин и българската следа в него
The Stake of Katyn and the Bulgarian Connection

Summary/Abstract: The Bulgarian connection in the Katyn forest massacre during World War II is revealed on the basis of newly declassified archive materials of the Interior Ministry and the Central Archives, as well as the special funds of the National Library. The existence of new documentary material has given the author grounds to complement and specify the incomplete information provided by N. Lebedeva about a participant in those events, Prof. Marko Markov, as well as to sketch his subsequent purely human and professional actions, which were marked by the shadow of the Katyn tragedy until the end of his life. Against the backdrop of the well-organised propaganda of the German Reich, the author has noted the place and role of Bulgarian journalism in revealing the truth about Katyn. This is the first instance of a broad thematic review of periodicals in Bulgaria, the object of which is to study to what extent and how the event at Babiy Yar was reported in the Bulgarian press. Another objective is to answer the question to what extend the “example of Katyn” was a warning on the part of the two large hostile groups to the “small countries” and how it served to achieve the political goals of the regimes in Bulgaria as regards the Balkans. According to the author, the Katyn tragedy was and remains an important and fateful stake in the complicated international relations, both during World War II and in the days of peace, to be used adroitly in the years of the Cold War to the benefit of one group or another. The article about the Bulgarian connection in the Katyn tragedy is not only an attempt to clarify and specify the Bulgarian parameters in it. It is also a sign of homage to the true victims of this barbarian act.

• Details
• Contents