Botschafter Bulgariens in Deutschland 1990-2010: Ein Posten in Stasi-Hand
Bulgaria’s Ambassadors to Germany 1990-2010: A Post in the Hands of the Stasi

Case Study on Opening the State Security Archives in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakdown of communism in Europe the question of the legacy of the former Socialist State Security Services arose in all former member states of the Warsaw Pact. This issue concerned the archival material, telling the stories of the communist dictatorships as well as the former officials of the State Security Services. In Bulgaria, the archives remained closed until 2007 when a newly formed commission was tasked with opening them. This study draws on the archives and investigations of the commission. By using the files of three former Bulgarian Ambassadors to Germany as case studies, different levels of analysis can be documented. First, the content of their agent files and thus their ‘story’ as agents of the communist secret police is detailed. Second, the question of an interconnection between their past and their political career is addressed. And last but not least the conclusion of this study aims to come up with an explanation why only in the case of high-ranking diplomats the Bulgarian government tried to execute a ‘lustration process’ in 2011.

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