I promised to build a museum on the history of Bulgarian communism back in the election campaign and we are currently taking the first steps in this direction, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev wrote last night on his Facebook profile, BTA reported.
Sofia is the only capital from the former Eastern bloc without a museum of communism, he adds.
35 years ago, Bulgaria took a bold, decisive step in its modern history. It chooses to give its citizens the right to choose freely – the most valuable freedom, Terziev points out.
He writes that the political transition, like any transition, has dips, turns, twists, but the direction is one and we should never take democracy and free choice for granted. According to the capital's mayor, civil society has been active all these 35 years with research work, educational initiatives and commemorations for the victims. It is time for us politicians to show maturity and support this civic energy. I believe that a mature society must face its history – both its light and dark pages – and to read them without closing his eyes and turning his head away, notes Vasil Terziev.
He emphasizes that his role as mayor of the capital is to provide political and institutional support to start this honest conversation about the history of communism. Terziev relies on historians, scientists, museum workers and the entire civil society "to lead us in this unbiased and in-depth discussion about the past in order to look at the future in a new way.