The Great Debate UK

Belene: the forgotten death camp

– Anna Mudeva is a Reuters senior correspondent based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her special report “In eastern Europe, people pine for socialism” looks at widespread disenchantment with capitalism in the region. -

Driving through the dense willow and poplar forests of Bulgaria’s biggest Danube island of Persin on a sunny October afternoon, my throat grappled with a lump of horror and disbelief.

What twisted mind had once picked this idyllic place with its painfully beautiful white herons and pelicans to set up a communist death camp?

Actually, it was so typical for those 45 years of communist rule.

Deliberately or not, the old regime would always choose the most beautiful places to build an ugly, polluting factory or open a prison.