Comments for Karolinka In & Around Bulgaria

Comment on Communist Kitsch by Bridget

Bridget — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:17:59 +0000

I think, for (East) Germany at least, it’s a mixture of kitsch and actual nostalgia for the era that is past. The younger generation idealizes a time period they never experienced, with the Trabis, Ampelmaennchen, Spreewald pickles, etc. And of course all these things are marketed in various forms, as capitalism has emerged from the wreckage of the GDR. But some people who remember communism had it much better back then (or at least think they did); they remember a time when unemployment was practically zero, all their needs were basically taken care of, and maybe they didn’t have a choice of products in the supermarket but they had enough. So the German concept “Ostalgie” is a combination of imagined and real nostalgia, I think. And obviously I have no experience with Bulgaria, but maybe it’s more of the latter and less of the former.

Comment on Communist Kitsch by torhershman

torhershman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:18:15 +0000

“Kitsch is cool. But I wonder: what kind of a sense of humor do you have to have to laugh at communism?”

Perhaps the kind that remenbers when the “Intelligent” adults said that ‘if it wasn’t for the need to spend sooooo much money fighting communism, we could have national health care’.

Stay on groovin’ safari,
Tor

Comment on Communist Kitsch by mthomp28

mthomp28 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:06:44 +0000

There is a lot of communist kitsch in Sofia. Up by the Nevski Church there are tons of communist relics of Stalin, Lenin, hammer and sickles, and red and gold junk. In Koprivshtitsa there are antique dealers who sell lots of old Bulgarian Communist Party paraphernalia and army medals and coins with Georgi Dimitrov or Blagoev, the father of communism in Bulgaria, on them. A few years ago many T-shirt shops in places like Plovdiv, Varna, or Sunny Beach sold Soviet Union T-shirts. The younger generation in Bulgaria does poke fun at the communist past. The rap group Upsurt featured Todor Zhivkov’s picture and an clip from one of his speeches in the music video “3v1″.
I agree with you that Bulgarians haven’t really done a lot to publicly condemn or remember communism like the Czech Republic or Hungary or Poland. But there wasn’t a huge underground resistance movement in Bulgaria either. Bulgaria changed by default, not from public pressure. I remember a historian writing something like, “Nowhere in Eastern Europe did democracy come faster, but less sincere, than in Bulgaria.” The power structure in Bulgaria remained the same after communism. The Bulgarian Communist Party and the Bulgarian Secret Service were two of the most tightly-organized groups in Eastern Europe. It’s no accident that the huge statue of the Soviet Army still stands in Borisova Gradina. The Bulgarians who benefited from the communist regime are still in power today and there’s no way they are going to attack the system that supported them. Also, the average Bulgarian probably didn’t like the communist regime, but at least he or she lived better. Bulgarians received rights and freedoms, but saw their economic freedom disappear overnight. I think if you look harder you will see the younger generation poking fun at the past, but not with the same vigor or passion as those in Central Europe.

Comment on Communist Kitsch by helen

helen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:05:24 +0000

Carolyn, the Kitsh market is near Nevski – mixed with the antique items
As for the Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov – it was destroyed just like the Berlin wall and many other (painful) symbols of the past…
My father had the exceptional opportunity to travel a lot abroad before 1989 because of his job and he remembers that every time he came back after a trip he spent weeks and weeks in depression caused by the mere comparison of what he saw in the other world and what it was in his. And feeling doomed to spend all your life into this reality was not a good place to be. Also, I remember that after the changes he quit his peaceful expert/scientific job in an Institute and started doing his own thing. Just because finally he had the chance to CHOOSE for himself what to do with his life.
So I guess as a whole people don’t find it funny and don’t want to remember it even for the sake of making money out of it.
Also Kitsh is not everybody. Personally I am not much into it.

Comment on Communist Kitsch by Andreytcho

Andreytcho — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:40:45 +0000

The only kitsch thing left over is the granny red hair

Reading Kitsch was thinking another about a food post and no invite still…….

Comment on Communist Kitsch by bendyourcircuit

bendyourcircuit — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:00:07 +0000

Both amazed and endeared by the “we” in your post. Keep writing!

Comment on Twenty Years by 20 Years Later « misplacedyinzer

20 Years Later « misplacedyinzer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:55:13 +0000

[...] good friend Karolinka in Bulgaria (who arrived in her post-Communist land the same time I did, but still remains) might put it best [...]

Comment on Моя Ден by kristiinczech

kristiinczech — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:18:16 +0000

So great, dear! You’ve made such a significant progress in Bulgarian! I am quite impressed! ))) Well done!

Comment on Twenty Years by educlaytion

educlaytion — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:26:02 +0000

Tremendous piece. Thanks.

Comment on School & N1H1 by mthomp28

mthomp28 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:05:35 +0000

Both years I taught in Bulgaria our school closed for a week because of “grip” or flu. I remember the teachers saying it was quite normal.

Enjoy the vacation!

Matt