Interview with Nikola Daskalov, the last survivor of the Belene concentration camp. Part 1
On the island of Persin, in the silence of the Danube River, there is a place that embodies the darkest pages of Bulgarian history – the Belene camp. Created in 1949, this “labour-education camp” not only wiped out thousands of lives, but indelibly marks our national consciousness. Today, decades later, the memory of Belene remains a call for awareness and vigilance.The story of Nikola Daskalov, the last survivor who died in January this year, takes us back to the nightmares behind the barbed wire – beatings, hunger and humiliation that seek to destroy the human spirit. But among these shadows stand out moments of resistance – whispers of poetry, secretly made radio receivers, scraps of hope.Today, when some politicians are reviving the rhetoric of “order and discipline” through labour camps, the memory of Belene is more relevant than ever. Forgetting is the first step to repetition. History is a warning – will we heed it?
