The Bulgarian School Boy Album 20

Done.  The Bulgarian school boys (and girls) have come to an end.   As I noted in an earlier post, I bought this album from an eBay seller in Bulgaria who told me that these photos showed school uniforms.  With the passage of time, some of those school uniforms got traded in for military uniforms, but there was a war going on and more than likely the young men in this collection didn't have much choice in the matter.  Making out the dates on the backs of these images was pretty easy but I didn't do as well with the writing.  When I was growing up I was a paperboy.  Does that job even exist anymore?  Anyway, some of my customers were elderly Russians who had come to the United States, after the revolution, and worked in the local coal mines.  I picked up a bit of the language from them.  I can't remember much anymore, but I can still make out the Cyrillic alphabet.  I thought about spelling the words out phonetically and running them through Google translate, but when I realized that I had trouble deciphering the actual handwriting, I gave up, so if there are any native Bulgarian speakers who would like to help me out, I'd appreciate it.  Anyway,  Stara Zagora was easy, and I'm fairly certain that the girl on this page is named Ivanka, but that's as far as I'll go on this page.  I hope they all survived the war and the post war dictatorships. 

As usual, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in the labels section at the bottom of the post.  It's now possible to see the whole album, from front to back.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 19

The penultimate Bulgarian School Boy Album page!  Some of the earliest photos from this album are dated from the mid 1930's.  So, are the men in the top photo the school boys from those pictures?  If those students were in their mid to late teens in those pictures, they'd be pushing thirty after the war was over.  Is the woman in the second photo a school girl from of those pictures a mother by 1946?  Well, there's nothing written on the back of that photo, so we can't know when it was taken. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see other album pages.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 18

 

There's nothing written on the back of the bottom photo, but I suspect it's a family photo.  Once again from Stara Zagora.  Click on The Bulgarian School boy Album in labels to see more. 

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 17

The top photo had exactly one thing on the back, "VII", too vague to scan.   It's the second photo that's more interesting to me.  1943, Bulgaria is in the war and ruled by a Fascist, right wing government allied with the Germans.  Still, people walk the streets and seem pretty happy.  At the beginning of the war, Bulgaria embraced neutrality, but they found themselves on an invasion route to Yugoslavian and Greece.  There was some fighting in Bulgaria, some of it involving a native resistance movement.  Sadly for the Bulgarians they were over run by the Soviets near the end of World War 2.  It's never a good thing to be between two warring factions.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more from the collection.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 16

I've been on a bit of a vacation, and yes I did add a few more photos to the collection, but before I start in on those, it's time to finish The Bulgarian School Boy Album.  (Click on in labels to see more.) 

It looks like this album was put together after the fact, rather than as the pictures were taken.  There are dates ranging from the mid thirties into the mid forties.  1936 and 1939 on this page.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 14

The top photo really suggests some big questions.  Dated April 1944, it looks like Stara Zagora was spared the ravages of World War 2.  The city looks untouched and the two gentlemen in uniforms seem rather happy and self satisfied.  In April of 1944, Bulgaria was still an ally of Germany, but the Soviet army was just five months away from tossing out the Germans as well as the fascist  government.  Were these two young men  happy to be living in a Nazi state or were they looking forward to liberation, as short-lived as that turned out to be?  Of course, they may have been thinking about the two ladies in the second photo.  I almost didn't scan the back of the second photo, but I thought it might be a local way of  writing a date.  February 9, 1942, or perhaps September 2, 1942.  Then again it might be a notation that only the owner of this album could understand. 

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The Bulgarian School Boy Album 13

Bulgarian girlfriends more like it.  At least we know that the top picture was from Stara Zagora.  My basic knowledge of Cyrillic script allowed me to do that one phonetically even if I can't translate anything else.    As always, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more from this collection.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 9

Nothing written on the backs of these photos but I did notice that the young woman on the bottom right of the top photo has the same arm badge as the single woman in the last post.  Click on The Bulgarian School Boys Album in labels at the bottom of the post to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 8

When I start one of these albums, I don't take the whole thing apart before I start posting images.  I disassemble the collection as I go along and discover things as they come.  The top photo has something written on the back,  Three letters, possibly the initials of the young lady and a date, 1941. As can be seen, the second photo in the column has far more information on the back, including a 1944 date.  Rather than thinking of this album as being about students, perhaps I should have thought of it as a memory album of those who either survived or died in World War 2, Bulgaria.  In any case, The Bulgarian School Boy Album remains the common tag for this collection.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 7

I haven't forgotten the Bulgarian school boys, I've just been busy the last couple of days.  In any case, it's Bulgarian school girls today, though the 1944 date on the back of the first print is far enough from the first few pages of this album that these ladies might be Bulgarian school girl graduates.  In any case, I'm not going to try and translate the back.  I can, to a certain extent, read Cyrillic lettering, but it's a bit too much for me to piece everything together.  I think, however, we can conclude that the line above the date is the name of the two girls, and, of course, it's easy to translate Zagora, referring to the city, Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

And, of course, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 4

Bulgarian school boys hanging out with a professor, Bulgarian school boys goofing off in science class?  The second print has an actual confirm-able date.  Translated from the Bulgarian, "28 September 1942."  As mentioned in earlier posts, Bulgaria remained neutral until late 1941.  With the failing Italian invasion of Greece, Hitler decided to bail his allies out, and more or less forced a decision on the Bulgarian government.  The German army was going to march overland to Greece whether Bulgaria liked it or not, so capitulating to an ultimatum, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers.  There had been an unofficial fascist movement in the country, led by retired general Hristo Lukov and Tsar Boris III was  not unfriendly to the Nazi movement.  On the other hand, Bulgaria had one of the more active and widely supported resistance movements in Europe.  The Union of Bulgarian National Legions, the fascists,  and the anti-fascists were both popular with the young, so it's at least somewhat possible that the young students in these photos would choose opposite sides and end up fighting and killing each other in the war.  While Bulgaria did not join the German invasions of their neighbors, they did occupy parts of Yugoslavia and Greece, and when borders were adjusted after World War 2, Bulgaria ended up as the only Axis power to add territory.

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The Bulgarian School Boy Album 3

If this album had been all studio photographs it would be interesting, but not all that interesting.  There are a few more studio shots left,  but we're starting to get into candid and unposed photos which are far more compelling, at lest to me.  It's clear from the top shot that the uniforms are most likely school uniforms.  Obviously children rather than adults, though it possible that the uniforms could be from a military school.  On the studio shot, I'd love to know if the older gentleman is a teacher or a parent.  The most likely explanation is teacher, but Bulgaria, if not already in the war, would have been preparing for war, so a lot of people were probably in uniform.  There is some writing on the studio photo.  "1520/41  941"  And a phonetic translation from the Cyrillic to English, "St Zagora," clearly a reference to the city of Stara Zagora.  I've come to the conclusion that the numbers that have been showing up on the back of the studio shots are negative reference numbers so the customer could call up and order more prints. I do, however, think that the numbers after the slash could indicate the year.  In 1941 the Bulgarians ended their neutrality and entered in to an alliance with Nazi Germany. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.