In a BBC broadcast on the 1st of October 1939, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill articulated on Russian foreign affairs: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” (1) As is the riddle of the Soviet Army monument!
2000 kilometres from Moscow in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, a centrally located park hosts a monument to the Soviet Army. Erected in the mid 1950’s the memorial depicts a Soviet freedom fighter who is accompanied by a Bulgarian mother cradling her baby and a Bulgarian man. Featured on the sides of the memorial are structural configurations such as a group of Soviet soldiers.
Vandalising the Soviet Army Monument
In 2011 the soldiers on the memorial were daubed in graffiti which depicted them as popular American icons such as Santa Claus, Superman and Ronald McDonald. The graffiti seems to portray the advancing Soviet army in the 1950’s as losers in the eventual Americanisation of world culture, or Bulgaria’s uncertain presence between a Communistic past and its descent towards capitalism.
Moscow was not amused. The foreign ministry urged Sofia to expose and punish the “hooligans behind the vandalism” and stop the “desecration of the memory of Soviet soldiers who fell in the name of freeing Bulgaria and Europe from Nazism.” (2)
Soviet Controversy!
The monument is controversial. Some people want to retain it as reminder of the past while others see it as a relic of communist history which should be disparaged. For most, the monument and the park are a public space to share a conversation or a beer, and are particularly popular among young people who gather after college or university. But a more clandestine and secretive group gather for political intentions.
The monument has been the focal point of world events in recent years and has been subject to several disfigurations. Painted pink in the summer of 2013, the monument was apparently a reference to the Czech artist David Cerny who had once daubed a Second World War Soviet Tank pink. It featured the slogan ‘Bulgaria apologises’ in both Bulgarian and Czech, a reference to Bulgaria’s support for the Soviet army crushing the Prague Spring.
A year later the monument once again attracted controversy. A soldier on the memorial was painted blue and yellow in the colours of the Ukraine flag. Beneath it featured the words, ‘Glory to Ukraine’.
Winter 2012 witnessed another political protest. This time the soldiers featured on the memorial had Guy Fawkes masks attached to their faces. The protest was in support of anti-ACTA protests which occurred across Europe in February.
Russian Diplomacy
Russian diplomats and officials are seething about the protests. Maria Zakharova a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry insisted Bulgaria take action over the “vandalism.” (3) The response? A solitary CCTV camera. In addition to the permanently monitored camera (the only camera in the park), regular police patrols survey the monument. Consequently the memorial has remained untouched for a few years.
References:
-http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/RusnEnig.html (1)
-https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/22/russia-red-army-memorial-painted (2)
– https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-46021457 (3)
-See also: https://balkaninsight.com/2018/10/26/sofia-s-red-army-memorial-the-favorite-canvas-of-artists-and-vandals-10-25-2018/