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Bulgaria

  • SOURCE: Guardian (UK)
    7-30-13

    Stolen £1.2m Stradivarius found by police

    A riddle worthy of a detective novel – involving an internationally acclaimed violinist, her prized instrument stolen at a busy London station, and a false trail leading to Bulgaria – may be nearing its conclusion.The discovery by police of a 1696 Stradivarius worth £1.2m and two bows with a combined value of £67,000 taken by opportunist thieves in 2010 while Korean-born violinist Min-Jin Kym was eating at a Pret a Manger cafe at Euston station has, she said, left her "on cloud nine" with an "incredible feeling of elation".Kim, 35, said in a British Transport police video: "This had been the instrument I had been playing on since I was a teenager, so it was a huge part of my identity for very many years."...

  • SOURCE: AP
    5-7-13

    Bulgarian street-naming request in DC stirs broader debate over country’s role in Holocaust

    WASHINGTON — A request by the Bulgarian Embassy to name a Washington intersection after a favorite native son — a man credited with helping save the country’s Jewish population from deportation — has gotten tangled up in a broader debate about whether the nation is accurately accounting for the actions of its leaders during the Holocaust.A tense exchange between the embassy and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has played out behind the scenes as the D.C. Council prepares to consider honoring Dimitar Peshev this month. The debate underscores not only the complexities of Holocaust history but also the difficulty countries can face reconciling the heroic deeds of an individual during World War II with the record of a nation as a whole. It also comes as historians and Jewish organizations continue encouraging nations to take unvarnished stock of their actions in Nazi-era Europe....

  • SOURCE: Sofia Globe
    3-21-13

    Bulgarian archaeologist demands funding for Perperikon dig

    Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolai Ovcharov said on March 21 that he the recent political upheaval in the country threatened to delay the start of this year’s archaeological digs at the Perperikon site.Speaking to Focus news agency, Ovcharov, a professor of archaeology and one of the country’s most prominent archaeologists, said that a total of 1.25 million leva were promised by the previous government, which has now been replaced by a caretaker cabinet. “Until 15 or 20 days ago, we had some idea about the archaeological digs season would go. I do not know now, for the simple reason that I do not know anyone in the caretaker government and whether they know what has been done so far,” Ovcharov said....