Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

June 3 is a day of commemoration for the victims from Belene concentration camp

Over 20,000 people have been imprisoned at Belene in total

Photo: Belene municipality

The annual initiative commemorating the victims of the biggest concentration camp for the political opponents of the Bulgarian Communist Party in Bulgaria, is to take place at 12 noon today on the spot where the former concentration camp Belene stood on Persin island in the Danube in the times of the communist regime.

The event is organized by an action group of numerous NGOs and private individuals for the restoration of the annual commemoration, a tradition since 1990 mottoed: Together again to honour the memory of the victims of the Belene camp. The commemoration is being renewed after a 3-year break.

The concentration camp was opened in 1949 by the communist regime, and went by the name of “Second site”. To begin with, there were 300 prisoners but their number quickly grew to more than 2,000. Over 20,000 people have been imprisoned at Belene in total. Many of them lie buried in unmarked graves on Persin island.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Within the space of 1 month, Bulgaria is mentioned 7 times as a country connected with dangerous food

In September, Bulgaria was mentioned as a country connected with dangerous food 7 times, indicate data of the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), BNR’s Vesselina Milanova reports. Over the same period this country has reported..

published on 10/21/25 3:09 PM
PM Rosen Zhelyazkov

Cabinet allocates 15,000 leva to be paid out to heirs of people who lost their lives in the floods

The legal heirs of the people who lost their lives during the flooding in the region of Burgas at the beginning of October will receive 15,000 leva (EUR 7,670), the government has decided, BGNES reports. The 60,000 leva (EUR 30,679) needed has been..

published on 10/21/25 2:58 PM
Tzvetan Spassov, Smilen Valov and Dimitar Kolarov

More and more Bulgarians living abroad want to return to their country

The tendency of Bulgarians returning from abroad is permanent. This became apparent during the forum “Europe is with me”, organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy’s Human Resources Development Programme, the Bulgarian news agency BTA..

published on 10/21/25 2:31 PM