Belene labour camp

The Belene camp was built on the same island as the first labor camp in Bulgaria after the seizure of power by the Bulgarian Communist Party and the " Fatherland Front " in 1944. In the years 1949 to 1989 were during the reign of the Communists, many opponents of the regime and so-called " counter-revolutionaries " were deported to the island and murdered there. The introduction to the camp was mostly politically motivated, reasons could be: the destruction of Stalin monuments, assistance for enemy ( German ) soldiers, belonging to the Roman Catholic Church in Bulgaria or the Farmers' Association, a graduated in non-communist foreign training, spying for the " Anglo-American capitalism " or criticism of the presence of the Red Army in Bulgaria etc.

The camp was run by the Bulgarian State Security. The prisoners were employed in agriculture: 600,000 m² vegetable growing, animal husbandry, intensive cultivation of hemp with a small factory for hemp ropes. Officially called the camp " labor and reeducation camps." In today's Bulgarian historiography, but it is often referred to as a "concentration camp". In the camp were thousands of prisoners because of hunger and exhaustion due to work. One prisoner said: " We worked 70-80 hours at a time to unload a ship with 100 tons stones. The command was that there is again only eating when the ship is unloaded " ..

Officially the labor camp in 1962 has been closed. The islands were also later used as a prison camp. For example, were between 1985 and 1989 Bulgarian Turks who opposed the Bulgarisierung, interned on the island.

The former prisoners of the Belene labor camp meet annually in the spring at a Memorial on the island. The work-up is difficult even after the fall of communism in Bulgaria, because the archives of the former State Security are still closed, although the opening was a point in the association agreement with the EU. The opening of the archives oppose mainly circles in the successor party to the Communists, the Bulgarian Socialist Party. To date, none of the affected get compensation.

To this day, is located in the west of the island is a prison that has previously been operated in parallel to the labor camp. The connection to the mainland consists of a small pontoon bridge, which is passable for cars. To be able to enter the bridge, you have to pass the prison administration of today's prison island, which is located on the shores of Belene. Entering the main island of Belene is prohibited tourists.

The warehouse and some survivors are the subject of the ZDF documentary " forward but never forget. Ballad about Bulgarian Heroes ", which was filmed by the Mainz town clerk Bulgarian origin Ilija Trojanov 2007.