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Georgeta Nazarska
1he Image of the Religious Other in Bulgarian Cartoons
in the 1960s and 1970s
Before 1944, Bulgarian cartoonists were sporadically interested in religious topics.
‘They were mainly interested in the class category. They characterized priests as ac¬
complices of the plotters, as instigators of wars, and as “cutting partisan’s heads” in
the 1940s; they usually ridiculed bishops for their outrageous lifestyle (Karikatu¬
rata 1967). In the late 1940s, the old generation of Bulgarian cartoonists hardly
dealt with religion. Some of these cartoonists were killed by the communists; oth¬
ers were sentenced by the so-called People’s Court and were prohibited from art
activities and excluded from the UBA (Avramov 1993; Zlateva 2011: 279). One
exception was Iliya Beshkov, who made a series of thematic sketches (Beshkov
2015: 322, 331-354).
In the 1960s and 1970s, following the Communist Party’s directives to strength¬
en atheistic propaganda, Bulgarian artists exhibited thematic cartoons in several ex¬
hibitions: the Twenty Years of Bulgarian Caricature, 1944-1964, Jubilee Exhibition,
the Sixth Joint Exhibition of Caricature (1966), the Third Exhibition of Bulgarian
Culture (1966), and the retrospectives of Stoyan Venev (1964, 1974). Cartoons
were also published in the press’, albums, collections, and books. One example of
atheistic propaganda in the field of fine arts is the Caricature Against Religion album
(Karikaturata 1967). It aimed to expose the “class nature” of religion “as a weapon
in the hands of bourgeoisie against progress and liberation ideas of Communism”
(Ibid.). The album included 48 cartoons, 26 of which were created before 1944
and tendentiously included. The works of the older generation cartoonists rather
than that of younger ones dominated the album (Ibid.).
For the purposes of this study the author has gathered 104 cartoons. The vast
majority of these are excerpts from newspapers, issued by organizations mainly
engaged in atheist propaganda: Starshel (1962-1971), edition of the CC of BCP;
Kooperitivno Selo (1962-1965), edition of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the
Central Union of Cooperatives; Vecherni Novini (1962-1968), edition of the Na¬
tional Council of the FF; and Yeni zk (‘New Light) (1975), edition of the CC of
BCP. Cartoons from thematic albums, books, and collections have also been in¬
cluded®. This database was processed and analysed using quantitative and qualita¬
tive methods.
The data shows that the majority of the cartoons were printed in specialized
weeklies and, more specifically, in Starshel newspaper (2/3 of total) within frequent
intervals. The Kooperitivno Selo, Yeni Ik, and Vecherni Novini newspapers pub¬
7 In the newspapers: Starshel, Trud (‘Labour’), Vecherni Novini (‘Evening News), Kooperativno selo,
Otechestven Front (‘Fatherland Front), Narodna Mladezh (‘National Youth), Yeni Jszk, and in the maga¬
zines: Mladezh (‘Youth’), Zhenata Dnes (‘Woman Today’), and Izkustvo (Art).
® Album 1958; Anastasov 1965; Anastasov & Pindarev 1971; Besedi 1960; Dimovski 1965; Dinov
1965; Donev 1969; Grozev 1964; Karandash 1963; Karikaturata 1967; Kyuljavkov 1966; Mangov 1961;
Marinov 1966; Pindarev 1963; Stoykov 1970; Vargulev et al. 1961; Venev 1974, 1977.