David Elazarov among electors

This photo was taken on 14th December 1952 by the ?Bulgarian Soldier? photo studio. I am the man in the uniform. The following is written on the back of the photo: 'Sofia, 14th December 1952, Iuchbunar estate. Among electors. Grandma Elena Sotirova giving instructions.' After the war, in 1949, I graduated from the Higher Party School. Then, from 1957 to 1959, I was in the Military Academy 'G.S. Rakovski' where I also graduated with very good marks. General Kirov was my examiner and I became good friends with him. I worked in the army, but I realized that I had no future there. I was deputy head of the chief political office of the Bulgarian army until 1962. All the time I was colonel and I remained colonel, although I was also appointed to general positions. In fact, this was due to my Jewish origin - they just didn't allow me to become general. In the 1960s I became head of the department 'Propaganda and Campaigns' in the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party [BCP]. I was also awarded the title 'Honored Citizen of Sofia'. From 1970 to 1989 I was director of the Institute on History of the BCP. In the institute I was a contributing author to a number of international scholarly works - 'The Reichstag Fire Trial and Georgi Dimitrov', 'The Biography of Georgi Dimitrov' and the six volumes of the big Bulgarian Encyclopedia. I was also an editor-in-chief of the almanac of the institute. All that time, during the 1970s and the 1980s, I was five times deputy in the National Assembly, first a candidate member and then a member of the Central Committee of the BCP. After the 1950s things in Bulgaria changed: the economic opportunities of the country increased, its stability and development became much better. But I don't think it is right to speak of dictatorship during those times. Under the influence of the Soviet Union the government wasn't democratic, but there was no dictatorship.