Everyone knows that personal experience is priceless. No made-up story can be more interesting than a real one. Life is our best teacher and very often, other people’s experiences or even their mistakes can help us. That is why I would like to share with you a story that happened in my family a long time ago. I hope it will be useful or at least interesting for you to read.

I would like to share a story about my great-grandfather. This happened in the early 1920s in a village in Bulgaria. My great-grandmother told me this story so many times.

My great-grandfather, Boris, was a very tall and handsome man with dark eyes and hair. He came from a big family – he had five brothers and two sisters. Their father was the mayor of the village, allowing for the family to be rich and for all of the brothers to graduate from an excellent university (attending a university was such an uncommon occurrence during that time). 

My great-grandfather became a teacher. He commanded the respect of all people in the village and the whole region. He believed in the ideals of communism. He believed in the pure communist convictions that all people should be equal and each person should enjoy the right to live well.

Maybe this is the right time to acquaint you with the way of life of the Bulgarian people during this period. In 1912 and 1913, Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan Wars, in which the country suffered a disastrous loss. Then, in World War I, Bulgaria was again on the losing side. This period of wars was followed by times of political unrest, which led to the establishment of a royal authoritarian dictatorship by Tsar Boris III.

Bulgaria was in an unfavorable situation - it was weak, backward and dependent. For ordinary people, this meant an extremely difficult way of life. It meant poverty and starvation. My grandfather’s village was situated in one of the poorest mountainous regions of Bulgaria. Industry was not well developed there so agriculture was essential for the subsistence of people. Some families cultivated their land, which was neither very big nor very fertile. The poorest families didn’t own land, so they worked for the rich and received food in return. Most village people had very little money and used barter to get the goods they needed. 

My great-grandfather was one of the founders of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party (later on known as the Bulgarian Communist Party). He also established the first community center in the whole region, where people could gather together and deal with various cultural activities.  He had such an immense innate feeling for justice that he simply could not accept the fact that people were living in poverty and misery. He even went as far as opening a shop in the village where he gave life-sustaining products like flour, salt, gas and fabric to people for free, only making notes of what he gave away. Most of the families at that time were big. People had plenty of children and they could hardly feed them, not to mention buy them clothes. Due to my great-grandfather’s projects, most of these children didn’t starve like they would have.

Unfortunately, Boris’ actions were disagreeable to some people in power during that time. As a result, they made him an easy target for the authorities.  He was repeatedly arrested and, on several occasions, interned in other villages. But from every hardship he encountered, he came back and continued his work with even more intensity than before. Boris was absolutely convinced in the rightness of his ideas and no one could persuade him to stop. Even his dog was named Commune. Only his devotion to the people made his life significant.

One winter night, he was taken away for what would be the last time. Dressed in only a shirt and without shoes on his feet, a policeman took him to the police station in a neighboring village several kilometers away. Upon his return, it was obvious that he was tortured and his health was steadily failing. We can only guess what had happened there since he died a few days later, keeping the secret for himself. He was only 30 years old and was survived by his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

This is an example of a good person and a man of principles who became a victim of a “malicious“ regime. The regime physically defeated my great-grandfather, but it did not defeat his deeds or unbreakable spirit. During his time serving the people of the region, Boris was able to meet a lot of people and he convinced them to agree with his political ideas. He found several individuals who cooperated with his activities. They helped in spreading his ideas and in hiding his guns and important documents. This was their way to thank him for his good works.

After his death, people from several villages came offering help to my great-grandmother. But as I mentioned before, she lived in a rich family and she did not need anything. She could only accept their expressions of gratitude. She also continued helping the poor by giving them clothes and food. They continued to speak of Boris’ deeds for a long time after his death.

About 20 years ago, there was a meeting in my village where people from the whole region gathered together to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. We were pleasantly surprised to see how much people knew about Boris and his deeds.

This story is deeply moving for me, not only because it happened in my family or because I could see the sadness in my grandmother's eyes every time she talked about her father. My great-grandfather was unjustly killed, but his name remains in the memories of those people whose lives he has touched. He will stay immortal in their hearts. I am deeply convinced that the world is full of men and women like him.

Further Reading:
1. Wikipedia Article on the Bulgarian Communist Party
2. Wikipedia Article on the Balkan Wars