THE MONUMENT TO THE LIBERATORS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEMORIAL SITE IN THE TOWN OF KARDZHALI
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2026, N 2, pp. 431-457
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXII2.08
Maria MARKOVA 
Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
E-mail: maria.markova@iefem.bas.bg
Abstract: In 1939, the first monument in the town was erected on a small hill located south of and immediately after the neighbourhoods of Kardzhali. It is dedicated to the Bulgarian soldiers who died in the battles during the annexation of the town to Bulgaria in October 1912. The study covers the period from the 1920s to the 2020s. The article examines the process of constructing this first official and modern memorial site in Kardzhali. A comparison is made between local press publications, archived memories, and contemporary Internet publications in order to show the dynamics in the processes and in people’s perceptions. It comments on the composition of the population (mainly Bulgarians and Turks live here), the emergence of symbols of the national and Bulgarian identity, the topography of the place, its connection with ethnic communities and their memories, with the town’s holiday, rituality and power, and with the reflection of politics on the attitude towards monuments.
Keywords: monument, Kardzhali, place of remembrance, Bulgarians, Turks