Of course, as with any war, especially one in which a country is not victorious, there were many psychological consequences after it ended. The main ones were that we had been allies to the Axis Powers and that made us unreliable in building the new European society, the fact that we had lost territories under our administration which many believed were ours. Another huge psychological consequence came from the forming of the new government – the People’s Republic. It changed the way of life for the whole population.


Throughout the beginning of the war, there was an underground Bulgarian guerilla movement which wasn’t very strong, so there were no restrictions to the people. Towards the end of the war, however, the guerilla movement intensified, carried out various assassination attempts, and the government enforced austerity measures including curfews, media censorship, restricted the right to public meetings and demonstrations. This went on until early September 1944. After the People’s Republic was established all basic limitations of rights that come with communism came to Bulgaria.


Yes, when Bulgaria was a monarchy, but only towards the end of the war, when the rebel movements became stronger. And a few years after the war, the communist party held a monopoly of censorship on all media. Intellectuals, outspoken members of society that were viewed as more “capitalist” were persecuted, most western books were banned, books that weren’t “communist” enough were not published and most of their writers were hunted down.


During the war Bulgaria was a constitutional monarchy. After Bulgaria was declared a People’s Republic, all the powers (legislative, juridical, executive) were under the complete control of the Party, so distinction between them became obsolete. The party voted on the laws, executed them, enforced them, etc.