site.btaBulgarian-German Society in Essen Promotes Bulgarian Culture for Nearly 50 Years

The Ivan Vazov Bulgarian-German Cultural Society based in Essen has promoted Bulgarian culture for nearly 50 years. Its chair, Kalinka Kupper, talked to BTA about the history of the society, which started as the Ivan Vazov Club in 1969.

In the beginning a few families were meeting in a restaurant to talk about their problems. Bulgaria only had a trade representation in Bonn at the time, with whose help the club came into contact with more Bulgarians. The club attracted Germans who had visited Bulgarian resorts or had Bulgarian spouses, as well as artists who lived in Germany under contract with the Ministry of Culture in Sofia, all of whom contributed ideas. On March 8, 1975 the Bulgarian-German Cultural Society was registered in the district court of Essen.

Gradually, the society started organizing visits to the theatre, opera and concerts, meetings at which Bulgarian customs and culture were presented to Germans, and gave cookery classes.

In 1980, a Bulgarian-German society was set up in Darmstadt. The two societies started publishing Cultural News, a monthly magazine in Bulgarian and German edited by Kupper and Oskar Spranz. It had stories about Bulgarian towns and historic landmarks, as well as a course in Bulgarian based on Kupper's book which had been approved by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The Society began to be noticed, the cultural department of Essen honoured it for its activities and offered it free premises.

In 1981, when the 1300th Anniversary of the Bulgarian State was marked, the society in Essen organized the first Bulgaria Week in Germany.

After the democratic changes in Bulgaria of 1989, the society began sending medical supplies, opened a soup kitchen in Varna, helped a home for blind people and old people's homes.

Some members of the Cultural Society loved Bulgarian folk dances and bought folk costumes. Vania Thompson, a solo ballet dancer at the Essen Opera House, started helping out with choreography, which led to the setting up of the Kitka dance group led by Thompson in 1980, Kupper said.

Kitka, now led by Evelina Stefanova, has participated in several events this year, becoming the first Bulgarian dance group invited to the International Culture Fest in Rheda-Wiedenbrück mottoed "Celebrate, Eat and Dance Together" in August.