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Evgenia Iroeva
to Asparuh on the road from Kaspichan to Pliska (Fig. 3) and the monuments to
Khan Krum in Krumovgrad (1981) (Fig. 4) and near Targoviste.
Historical reenactments were other impressive presentations of the past that
contributed to the formation of notions about the past and represented the poli¬
cies of the authorities in the respective fields. One of the first reenactments of the
medieval past in socialist Bulgaria was made in the fortress of Markeli (known
as Krumovo Kale), close to the town of Karnobat. The fortress played an impor¬
tant role in the struggle between khans Krum and Kormisosh and the Byzantine
Empire in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. In 1969, the vicinity of the
fortress became a field of a reenactment of the battle between Bulgarians and Byz¬
antines (Troeva 2015). The city’s communist organization, with the help of the
pioneers’ centre in Karnobat, organized a reenactment called Operation ‘My An¬
cient and Young Country and a military game, Krum’ battle (Chakarova 1969).
‘The events were dedicated to the 1,300-year anniversary of the Bulgarian state and
to the twenty-fifth anniversary of “the socialist revolution” (the transfer of power
on September 9, 1944) in the country. All pioneer units in the city took part in
them. The participants in the “military game” included 1,500 pioneers, Komsomol
members, and soldiers led by the military. A headquarters for conducting the game
was formed within the Pioneers’ House, led by a colonel. The event was reported
in the local and national media. An announcement in the local press provided by
the director of the Pioneer’s House ended with the phrase “the pioneers are waiting
for the day on which they will reenact one of the heroic battles of their ancestors”
(Ibid.). The same issue of the newspaper Karnobatska Pravda (‘Karnobat Truth’)?
contained a letter from an eighth-grade student from the local high school in which
he expressed his excitement about the event and details about the preparation: the
founding of the headquarters in the pioneer organization and the uniforms made
for the Bulgarian and Byzantine soldiers, four pictures of which were shown in
the newspaper. The letter of the student reported that the start of the game was
given on the Day of the Soviet Army at a solemn meeting in the presence of the
military and that pioneer units and battalions learned a song about Khan Krum
and studied materials about his battle with Emperor Nikephoros. The same issue
of the newspaper’ published a report under the headline “The Preparation Began”,
in which it described meetings held with participants in the resistance movement,
competitions, recitals, contests, and friendship evenings. The pioneers’ organiza¬
tion Dimitar Blagoev from Hristo Botev school also published a report, which
commented on the pupils’ interest and disputes over who would play a Bulgarian
and who, a Byzantine. A corner with models of costumes for and materials about
the battle was arranged in the school. The pupils were trained for their roles by
soldiers. A conference on the topic “The Image of the Fighter against Fascism Re¬
? KapnoGarcka npaBaa, 1969, March 25, no. 5, p. 2.
* KapnoGarcka npaBaa, 1969, March 25, no. 5, p. 2.