„Опасен експеримент”: Промяната в медиевистиката (1944–1956)
„Dangerous Experiment” – the Change in the Medieval Studies (1944–1956)

Summary/Abstract: The author focusses on the change in the writing about the medieval Bulgarian history. At the beginning my plan was to mark the main aspects in this change (Slavs, Bogomilism, “rural” king Ivaylo, Hesychasm, Feudalism). However, in the writing process, I decided to focus on the change of the staff through which the change in the writing of the story itself takes place. The report is based on memoirs, some articles by Marxist theorists, studies of Marxist historians, documents from the Central State Archives. The Communist party replaced the old medievalists with new ones who had to follow its command. In this way, the Party succeeded to separate the historical guild. Anyone, who opposed the Party's decisions, was cruelly criticized as “unreasonable scientist”, “bourgeois element”, “monarcho-fascist” etc. The old "bourgeois" science was perceived as full of perversions and falsifications. In contrast, the new Marxist history was figured out as objective and party-faithful. The new historians had to prove the Slavic character of Asparuh’s Bulgaria and the progressive role of the Bogomil movement. They had to illustrate the battle between the oppressed progressive classes and the feudal exploiters (the King, the Aristocracy, the Church). This was a "dangerous experiment" that aimed to contribute to building the "new social-political formation" in Bulgaria.

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