The Image and Beyond it: Correlation of Real – Imaginary in Reconstruction of the Communist Regime

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Pages: 11-30

Abstract:

The text deals with some basic questions related to the study of the communist period as part of the Bulgarian history (as a matter of fact the period between September 1944 and November 1989) My assumptions have come about as a result of the observations and increased research interest made in the first decade of the 21st C as well as the intensive appearance of sources (documents, memoirs, Oral History interviews), and the imposing of a definite, dominant image of the communist regime (both amongst researchers and society as a whole). At the same time, the communist period in Bulgarian history is present in the media agenda, it is being discussed and turned into political tools. The political attitudes and media agenda have a huge impact and intertwine with research assumptions. Both in society and amongst people and groups studying the past there are two clear conclusions to be made: in society resides (unjustified according to the majority of opinions) a nostalgia for the communist past and that it is necessary that we condemn that past. This paper summarizes observations (made in the period 2010–2012) on memoir literature, Oral History publications, historical research, as well as the media version on the topic of the communist period.

Keywords:

communist period, researchers, media, political arrangement, myths about communism, memoirs studies, oral history

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