Bulgarians break Communist culture of silence

The first of its kind web project to collect memories of life behind the Iron Curtain has proved so popular that it has spawned a book.

The idea came from three Bulgarians who were born in the 1960s and lived more than 20 years of their life under Communism.

"It is important for our generation because we lived half our life under the old regime and half our life under capitalism. The time is perfect to be more reflective," says co-creator Georgi Gospodinov.

More than 350 Bulgarians responded to a request to send in their personal stories. The tales came from Bulgarians living all over the world.

"We were surprised because there is still a culture of silence here. Bulgarians aren't used to telling their personal stories in public," admitted Mr Gospodivov.

Among the most poignant stories sent in was one from a man, who when he was a child, would walk past of portrait of his weak-looking late grandfather. When he asked why his grandfather looked so weak, he was told that he had died from a disease. It was only after the fall of Communism that the boy - now an adult - found out that his grandfather had died in a Communist detention camp.

People were also quick to tell stories about every day life under communism.

"Many people remember that oranges and bananas were only available over the New Year period and they were rationed," recounts Mr Gospodivov. "In one story, a father, mother and son admitted that they had pretended not to know each other in the queue just to get extra New Year fruit."

The oldest writer to send in a story was 81 years old - the youngest was a 24-year-old student.

Their stories have now been made into a book which at the moment is only available in Bulgarian, but have been given an even greater impetus as many Bulgarians respond to the original stories with their own responses and memories.

You can find many of the stories from "I Lived Socialism" in English at the following website: http://www.spomeniteni.org/content.php?handle=english