Former camp inmates tell of the horrors in a Bulgarian Communist Forced Labour Camp. During the ex-inmates' first reunion in 1990.
Between 1944 and 1953, some 12,000 men and women passed through these camps, with an additional 5,000 between 1956 and 1962. The camp at Belene alone is believed to have held 7,000 people in 1952. Another source estimates a total of 187,000 political prisoners in Bulgaria during this period.
Another source estimates a total of 187,000 prisoners during this period, 'The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression', Paris 1997. By Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Margolin.
No one has been jailed so far for their responsibility for Bulgaria's Communist camps.
Extract from the documentary film The Camps. Courtesy, the director of the film Atanas Kiryakov.