“Bulgar Zamanı” (Bulgarian Period) brings eyewitness accounts of WWII-Era occupation in Western Thrace
The 129-page volume compiles interviews with 23 eyewitnesses who lived through the 1941–1944 occupation, alongside archival documents from the period. Through firsthand testimonies, the book sheds light on the social, political, and cultural realities experienced by the region’s population under Bulgarian rule.
In the foreword, Baltalı recalls that Bulgaria, backed by Nazi Germany during World War II, occupied Eastern Macedonia and Thrace on April 20, 1941. The occupation, which lasted nearly four years, brought sweeping administrative changes and transformations across key areas of life, including education and religious practice.
According to the accounts documented in the book, local populations were subjected to widespread repression, forced labor, displacement, economic devastation, and policies aimed at altering ethnic and cultural identity. Testimonies suggest that thousands of people either lost their lives or disappeared during this period.
The interviews featured in “Bulgar Zamanı” were conducted between 2008 and 2009 with elderly survivors who had directly experienced the occupation. Many of these witnesses have since passed away, underscoring the book’s significance as a rare and valuable oral history archive.
Beyond its historical narrative, the work stands as a critical contribution to memory studies and the documentation of minority experiences in wartime. It is available through BAKEŞ Publishing and via direct contact with the author (ISBN: 978-618-5322-30-4 ).
