The Cold War from the Margins

THE COLD WAR FROM THE MARGINS THE COLD WAR FROM THE MARGINS A Small Socialist State on the Global Cultural Scene Theodora K. Dragostinova CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London Copyright © 2021 by Theodora Dragostinova This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of The Ohio State University Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: openmonographs.org. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license: https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. First published 2021 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dragostinova, Theodora, 1972– author. Title: The Cold War from the margins : a small socialist state on the global cultural scene / Theodora K. Dragostinova. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020034764 (print) | LCCN 2020034765 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501755552 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501755569 (epub) | ISBN 9781501755576 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Cultural diplomacy—Bulgaria—History— 20th century. | Cold War—Social aspects. | Politics and culture—Bulgaria—History—20th century. | Bulgaria— Cultural policy—20th century. Classification: LCC DR92 .D73 2021 (print) | LCC DR92 (ebook) | DDC 949.903/1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034764 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034765 To my parents Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xi List of Abbreviations xix Note on Terminology xxi Introduction: Bulgaria on the Global Cultural Scene of the 1970s 1 1. The Contradictions of Developed Socialism 22 2. Goodwill between Neighbors 62 3. Culture as a Way of Life 96 4. Forging a Diaspora 131 5. Like a Grand World Civilization 162 6. Culture under Special Conditions 195 Epilogue: The Socialist Past Today 222 Notes 233 Bibliography 279 Index 295 Illustrations 1. The author at a celebration, 1982 xiii 2. The author’s family in Nigeria, 1979 xiv 3. The author at archaeological excavations, 1989 xv 4. 1300 Years Bulgaria poster, 1981 4 5. Bulgarian exhibition in Lagos, Nigeria, 1980 10 6. Children visiting The Bells monument in Sofia, 1981 11 7. Tina Turner giving an interview on Bulgarian television, 1981 13 8. Participants in the International Children’s Assembly, 1979 39 9. The People’s Palace of Culture, 1981 42 10. The 1300 Years Bulgaria Monument, 1981 44 11. The Rozhen Folk Fair, 1981 45 12. 1300th anniversary logo for foreign audiences 47 13. Todor Zhivkov during an exhibition in Sofia 50 14. Todor Zhivkov and Greek prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis 90 15. Nikolai Todorov and former Greek prime minister Panaiotis Kanelopoulos 92 16. Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria , Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 1977 112 17. 1000 Years of Bulgarian Icons , Vienna, 1977 115 18. Invitation to Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria , Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977 117 19. The exhibition Leonardo da Vinci and His School , Sofia, 1979 125 20. Federal Republic of Germany Cultural Week in Bulgaria, November 1980 126 21. Bulgarian émigrés visiting the city of Bansko, 1981 136 22. Émigré magazine Borba featuring an anticommunist cover, 1981 138 23. A folk ensemble performance in Ohio, 1978 145 24. The centennial of Januarius MacGahan’s death in New Lexington, Ohio, 1978 150 ix x ILLUSTRATIONS 25. The MacGahan monuments at the New Lexington cemetery 151 26. The MacGahan statue by Liubomir Dalchev in New Lexington 152 27. The relief of Methodius in Ellwangen, Germany 154 28. Liudmila Zhivkova and Indira Gandhi, 1976 175 29. José López Portillo and Liudmila Zhivkova, 1978 176 30. Indo-Bulgarian Friendship Society, 1978 185 31. Reading of Bulgarian poetry by Indian students 186 32. Contemporary Bulgarian Art exhibition, Mexico City, 1979 188 33. Thracian Treasures, National Museum, New Delhi, 1981 191 34. Construction of the National Theatre in Lagos, Nigeria 204 35. The National Theatre in Lagos, 1976 210 36. Bulgarian photo exhibition in Lagos, 1981 215 37. Exhibition of Bulgarian art in Nigeria, 1981 218 38. The 1300 Years Bulgaria Monument in ruins, 2016 228 39. The Fallen Soldier Memorial, Sofia, 2019 229 40. The Home Monument of the Party, Buzludzha, 2019 231 Preface I grew up as a child of developed socialism in Bulgaria. I remember well the endless barrage of propaganda during the late 1970s: the newly envisioned laws of beauty would transform young Bul- garians into multifaceted personalities. As the state promoted this vision of the important place of each individual in society, during gym one day the teacher lined up the girls by height. The two tallest girls, including myself, were pulled out and told we wouldn’t be going to summer camp on the Black Sea where the other pupils spent a month training for a mass sports event, the Spartakiada, held in autumn 1979. I later sat in the stadium bleachers while my classmates performed complex figures constantly in flux, viewing a lavish spectacle that sought to convey the care of the developed socialist state for its citizens. Those were days full of hectic, state-sponsored activities, both at school and in our free time. In 1979 and 1981, the International Assemblies for Peace brought children from across the world to Sofia. I did not represent my country in the chalk art, music, or dance competitions, but every pupil in Bulgaria was mobilized to visit cultural sites, participate in mass events, and marvel at the new monument, The Bells, featuring examples from seventy-nine coun- tries on the outskirts of Sofia. The exhilaration of being a part of a grand vision for the world was palpable. In 1981, my grandmother, Baba Keti, took me to see a film that had become a sensation: Han Asparuh (which premiered as The Glory of the Khan in English) told the story of the founder of the Bulgarian state. An epic saga, it had taken years to film the mass scenes of migration, combat, and settlement of the Proto-Bulgarians beyond the Dan- ube River. The Bulgarian authorities had nominated the film for an Oscar, and as an elementary student I imagined that the entire world had seen it. I also remember visiting the newly built People’s Palace of Culture (NDK) in downtown Sofia. The 1300 Years Bulgaria Monument nearby caught my attention because it told the story of the country’s historical achievements in a modernist visual imagery distinct from the canons of socialist art. I recall sitting in the last rows of Hall One of NDK, listening to speeches delivered xi xii PREFACE on the occasion of either the Twelfth Congress of the Bulgarian Commu- nist Party (BKP) or the 1300th anniversary celebrations and thinking what a glorious moment this was to witness. I wandered the monumental build- ing, up and down the escalators, soaking in the frescoes, murals, wood carv- ings, giant chandeliers, and luxurious leather furniture that could only be the doings of a state, I assumed, that was an important global actor. I also remember vividly the sudden death of Liudmila Zhivkova, the daughter of the communist leader Todov Zhivkov and a key figure behind these events. The announcement, which came during summer 1981, felt like collective shock to the developed socialist nation pursuing new global paths. I went on to high school in the mid-1980s. I passed the exams for a special school, the National Gymnasium for Ancient Languages and Cultures (NGDEK), which had first opened in 1977 to put Zhivkova’s vision of multifaceted personalities into practice. As I began my studies at what was called the classical high school, I heard rumors that many of my classmates belonged to the political and cultural nomenklatura. This was a period of tremendous intellectual growth for the child of average members of the technical and medical intelligentsia; my dad was an engineer and my mom a pediatrician, and they had never become BKP members. Sporadically, they discussed if they should join the party because our family needed larger living quarters. Beginning in 1977, my parents spent two years working in Nigeria with the hope that hard currency would allow them to purchase the desired home. But by the mid-1980s, they were still at the bottom of the waiting list, as they were neither BKP members nor working class. My parents decided that our family would at least enjoy consumer goods from the hard currency store, Korekom: a sewing machine, a stand mixer, a cookie press, and a new Lada that facilitated regular ski and Black Sea vacations as well as a tour of Hun- gary, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1987. Back at the classical high school, we continued to balance universal knowl- edge about the ancient world with the requirements of developed socialism. We studied Caesar in Latin and Plato in Greek, the debaucheries of gods and humans in Greek and Roman mythology, the New Testament in Old Church Slavonic, and Dostoyevsky in the original. At the same time we discussed the Marxist-Leninist principles of ethics and Gorbachev’s perestroika ideas. During eighth-grade physical education class the girls rehearsed gymnastics moves for the Celebration of Beauty, which was held at the Home of the Party (the BKP headquarters) where we danced the cancan in scanty cos- tumes that exposed our changing bodies to the scrutiny of parents, teach- ers, and our male classmates sitting in the audience.

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