site.btaKiril Petkov Shares Family Story on Day When Bulgaria Commemorates Victims of Communist Regime

On February 1, when Bulgaria commemorates the victims of the communist regime, Kiril Petkov, Co-chair of Continue the Change, said on Facebook: "We must not forget this part of our history to prevent such events from ever happening again." 

Eighty years ago Saturday, the "People's Court" delivered mass death sentences against people convicted by its First and Second Panels. One hundred men were shot dead on the night of February 1 to 2, 1945. 

"On this day, I always think of my grandmother, Rayna Petkova, and the thousands who had the same fate but were not as lucky to survive," Petkov said.

He recounted how, when pressured to become a State Security informer and report on her relatives linked to [politician and leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union] Nikola Petkov, she refused, saying: "I will not work for your service, or for any service. I will prove myself a worthy Bulgarian through my honest work."

She was sent to the Belene forced labour camp, transported on a barge along the Danube, and later transferred to another labour camp.

Petkov added that his grandmother survived and later returned to work as a surgical nurse in Sofia. "She was proud that they had failed to break her and force her to inform on her own family, despite the enormous risks she faced during some of the darkest years," he said.

Petkov said that many others met with a terrible fate. On February 1, 1945, the People's Court delivered mass death sentences against members of parliament, ministers, journalists and high-ranking officials. "Eternal memory to all those murdered by the 'People's Court'," Petkov concluded.