Haralan popov richard wurmbrand biography

  • haralan popov richard wurmbrand biography
  • Belene labour camp

    The Belene labour camp, also referred to as Belene concentration camp, was part of the network of forced labour camps in Communist Bulgaria. It was located on the Belene Island, between two branches of the Danube river. At the height of Valko Chervenkov's repressions in 1952, the camp had 2,323 inmates - 2,248 men and 75 women.

    The Belene Prison is still operating as a penitentiary in the western part of the island, while the eastern part is a managed natural reserve.

    This camp operated officially from 1949 to 1959, though a break in deportations to Belene occurred from 1954 to 1956. Between 1985 and 1989 Turks in Bulgaria who resisted the policy of changing Turkish names and surnames to Bulgarian ones, (see Assimilation Campaign in Bulgaria) were imprisoned in the prison on Belene. During those years, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation broadcast a series named "Belene Adası" (Belene Island) on the policies of the Bulgarian government