Selected text
I must say that during the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria I was repressed. I took part in the illegal ‘Gorunya Plot’ in 1965. Ivan Todorov, nicknamed Gorunya [‘gorunya’ is an old Bulgarian word meaning a strong and resilient tree, used metaphorically in this case] initiated the legendary attempt for a coup d’etat against Todor Zhivkov [22]. Ivan Todorov-Gorunya was a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and head of the department ‘Marine Farming’ in the Ministry of Agriculture. Before that he had been a partisan leader. His disagreement with the policy of the head of state Todor Zhivkov led to his decision to organize this [unsuccessful] coup d’etat, commonly known as the ‘Gorunya Plot’. I was also involved in a political scandal by my colleagues, but I want to emphasize that my Jewish origin has nothing to do with these events. I had two sentences. But I wasn’t in prison. I will try to explain in short the reasons for that.
In Ruse I taught in the Technical University. Suddenly they decided to change the profile of the institute – they wanted to make it an agricultural institute, which sparked the protests of the teachers. I, personally, wrote a letter to Politburo [Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party] saying that it wasn’t expedient now that we had a technical profile to turn it into an agricultural one. But the party thought otherwise. That’s why they sent me to Sofia with some members from the academic circles to defend our ideas and try to keep the institute as it was. The rector Atanas Ganev, who is an agronomist – at the moment he chairs the agricultural cooperatives in Ruse – insisted on that transformation. His driver also came with us to Sofia. It happened so that his driver and I were in one room. He stole my letter. I hadn’t sent it in advance, because I was told that the Academic Council had already prepared such a letter. So, it was meaningless to repeat one and the same thing. But then the big act of treachery took place – the District Committee of the Party sent my stolen letter to the party organization to review it. I was also a member of the Communist Party then. The party bureau gathered and the party secretary, who was one of the obedient ones, said that the letter he had received wasn’t coordinated with the Party. Although I still also had the right to reply, after all! In addition, the academic council had also written a protest letter similar to mine. And I did not even send mine…and I told them, ‘Let’s see if I’ve written anything wrong in it.’
They started bullying me: that didn’t matter, what was important was to say that I had made my colleagues think like me… I told them, ‘I’ve discussed this issue with no one else.’ But they didn’t believe me. They wanted me to make a written confession. Then I realized that my letter had been stolen and I got very angry. I grabbed a chair and hit the party secretary Krastyo Petrov, who was just about to write, on the hand. It seemed that I cracked the bone between the elbow and the wrist of his right hand. They decided to form a conspiracy. I and some colleagues of mine were separated, like an anti-party group. It was easier for them to say that I was supported by colleagues of mine – political prisoners before 9th September 1944 [24]: Tsviatko Lilov and Sabetay Levi, Donka Grancharova and some others.
I was put on trial, accused of hitting the party secretary on the head with the intention of killing him. So, they made up a sentence. But the judge, Lilyana Atanasova was a smart woman and saw what it was all about. She decided to sentence me to three years on probation, because I had to be sentenced in some way – the Central Committee of the Communist Party had ordered so. But the district chief Petar Danailov said at a meeting, ‘How is this possible? How is this possible?’ Meaning, how was it possible for me to receive such a light sentence. But my defenders were a district advisor to the Party, Maximov and a very good lawyer, Markaryan, an Armenian. He was a bit timid, but he defended me well. Maximov also defended me well. After the defense Danailov got very angry and said that he would file an objection in the Supreme Court. So, they filed it. The Supreme Court reviewed the case and sentenced me to three years in prison; the sentence was suspended.
In 1963 I was released from the institute and I was sent to work in the SPATSP [State Plant for Auto, Tractor and Spare Parts]. I worked there for one year and I was the chief technologist in the plant. Then I went to work in the ship construction company in Ruse, where a university colleague of mine, Dicho Petrov Dichev, worked. He is also an engineer; he graduated in ship construction in Varna. Dichev was a very close friend of my lawyer Markaryan. And he told him, ‘Listen, this man has two children. How could you put him on trial! Do you know what will happen to his wife and two children?’ Markaryan thought about it and it seems that he realized that they had gone too far. Then he went to the presidium and said, ‘Let’s put right what happened.’ He told our director, ‘And you write a clemency appeal.’ But I didn’t want to be pardoned and insisted on that. But I also didn’t want to go to a socialist prison. Dichev and Markaryan wrote an appeal, which they gave to me to sign. I told them, ‘I don’t want to and I will not sign!’ But in the end they convinced me and I signed it. So, they saved me. They arranged a pardon for me. That happened in 1963.
As I mentioned earlier, I joined the so-called ‘Gorunya Plot’ aiming to depose Todor Zhivkov from power by an army coup d’etat. I, personally, wasn’t among these 140 people most directly involved in the coup, because I’m senior lieutenant by rank – one of the non-commissioned officer ranks. [Most of the 140 people were generals, senior and superior officers. The senior officers had ranks higher than a mayor and the superior officers higher than a colonel.] But I was the only Jew taking part in the plot. Yet, most of us were military servicemen. However, the authorities uncovered the plot. Thus, I received my second sentence. Yet, they didn’t dare to sentence me. They didn’t even call me as a prosecutor’s witness. Because something happened before that.
I had to go to Sofia to collect materials for a report to be used in the education of welders throughout the country. I went to the welding institute, but they came and took me straight to the central prison. General Spassov from the Ministry of Internal Affairs awaited me there. He was assigned the investigation on the ‘Gorunya’ plot. He asked me, ‘Why did you take part?’ And I said, ‘The world was created to be changed.’ I wasn’t scared. I had already become inured to everything. ‘What? Don’t you quote Marx on me!’ And I said, ‘Why shouldn’t I quote him? He is your guiding light!’ They kept me there a day and a half... But I told them nothing. In the end, Todor Zhivkov said that he wouldn’t sentence all participants in the plot. In order to avoid news of the incident spreading around, they sentenced only the leader of the group in Ruse – Avram Chernev and lieutenant-colonel Blagoy Mavrodiev. Both have already passed away. We, the other participants, were not harmed, because that would have meant a big trial in court. But I was under surveillance for 27 years.
In Ruse I taught in the Technical University. Suddenly they decided to change the profile of the institute – they wanted to make it an agricultural institute, which sparked the protests of the teachers. I, personally, wrote a letter to Politburo [Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party] saying that it wasn’t expedient now that we had a technical profile to turn it into an agricultural one. But the party thought otherwise. That’s why they sent me to Sofia with some members from the academic circles to defend our ideas and try to keep the institute as it was. The rector Atanas Ganev, who is an agronomist – at the moment he chairs the agricultural cooperatives in Ruse – insisted on that transformation. His driver also came with us to Sofia. It happened so that his driver and I were in one room. He stole my letter. I hadn’t sent it in advance, because I was told that the Academic Council had already prepared such a letter. So, it was meaningless to repeat one and the same thing. But then the big act of treachery took place – the District Committee of the Party sent my stolen letter to the party organization to review it. I was also a member of the Communist Party then. The party bureau gathered and the party secretary, who was one of the obedient ones, said that the letter he had received wasn’t coordinated with the Party. Although I still also had the right to reply, after all! In addition, the academic council had also written a protest letter similar to mine. And I did not even send mine…and I told them, ‘Let’s see if I’ve written anything wrong in it.’
They started bullying me: that didn’t matter, what was important was to say that I had made my colleagues think like me… I told them, ‘I’ve discussed this issue with no one else.’ But they didn’t believe me. They wanted me to make a written confession. Then I realized that my letter had been stolen and I got very angry. I grabbed a chair and hit the party secretary Krastyo Petrov, who was just about to write, on the hand. It seemed that I cracked the bone between the elbow and the wrist of his right hand. They decided to form a conspiracy. I and some colleagues of mine were separated, like an anti-party group. It was easier for them to say that I was supported by colleagues of mine – political prisoners before 9th September 1944 [24]: Tsviatko Lilov and Sabetay Levi, Donka Grancharova and some others.
I was put on trial, accused of hitting the party secretary on the head with the intention of killing him. So, they made up a sentence. But the judge, Lilyana Atanasova was a smart woman and saw what it was all about. She decided to sentence me to three years on probation, because I had to be sentenced in some way – the Central Committee of the Communist Party had ordered so. But the district chief Petar Danailov said at a meeting, ‘How is this possible? How is this possible?’ Meaning, how was it possible for me to receive such a light sentence. But my defenders were a district advisor to the Party, Maximov and a very good lawyer, Markaryan, an Armenian. He was a bit timid, but he defended me well. Maximov also defended me well. After the defense Danailov got very angry and said that he would file an objection in the Supreme Court. So, they filed it. The Supreme Court reviewed the case and sentenced me to three years in prison; the sentence was suspended.
In 1963 I was released from the institute and I was sent to work in the SPATSP [State Plant for Auto, Tractor and Spare Parts]. I worked there for one year and I was the chief technologist in the plant. Then I went to work in the ship construction company in Ruse, where a university colleague of mine, Dicho Petrov Dichev, worked. He is also an engineer; he graduated in ship construction in Varna. Dichev was a very close friend of my lawyer Markaryan. And he told him, ‘Listen, this man has two children. How could you put him on trial! Do you know what will happen to his wife and two children?’ Markaryan thought about it and it seems that he realized that they had gone too far. Then he went to the presidium and said, ‘Let’s put right what happened.’ He told our director, ‘And you write a clemency appeal.’ But I didn’t want to be pardoned and insisted on that. But I also didn’t want to go to a socialist prison. Dichev and Markaryan wrote an appeal, which they gave to me to sign. I told them, ‘I don’t want to and I will not sign!’ But in the end they convinced me and I signed it. So, they saved me. They arranged a pardon for me. That happened in 1963.
As I mentioned earlier, I joined the so-called ‘Gorunya Plot’ aiming to depose Todor Zhivkov from power by an army coup d’etat. I, personally, wasn’t among these 140 people most directly involved in the coup, because I’m senior lieutenant by rank – one of the non-commissioned officer ranks. [Most of the 140 people were generals, senior and superior officers. The senior officers had ranks higher than a mayor and the superior officers higher than a colonel.] But I was the only Jew taking part in the plot. Yet, most of us were military servicemen. However, the authorities uncovered the plot. Thus, I received my second sentence. Yet, they didn’t dare to sentence me. They didn’t even call me as a prosecutor’s witness. Because something happened before that.
I had to go to Sofia to collect materials for a report to be used in the education of welders throughout the country. I went to the welding institute, but they came and took me straight to the central prison. General Spassov from the Ministry of Internal Affairs awaited me there. He was assigned the investigation on the ‘Gorunya’ plot. He asked me, ‘Why did you take part?’ And I said, ‘The world was created to be changed.’ I wasn’t scared. I had already become inured to everything. ‘What? Don’t you quote Marx on me!’ And I said, ‘Why shouldn’t I quote him? He is your guiding light!’ They kept me there a day and a half... But I told them nothing. In the end, Todor Zhivkov said that he wouldn’t sentence all participants in the plot. In order to avoid news of the incident spreading around, they sentenced only the leader of the group in Ruse – Avram Chernev and lieutenant-colonel Blagoy Mavrodiev. Both have already passed away. We, the other participants, were not harmed, because that would have meant a big trial in court. But I was under surveillance for 27 years.
Year
1963
Location
Ruse
Bulgaria
Interview
Rafael Beraha