After the mid-1930s, the Versailles system of treaties, that marked the end of World War I, gradually collapsed. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria and, after the Munich Agreement of September 1938, seized Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia; from March 1939, the Czech territories were also grabbed by the Third Reich. In August 1939, Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact, dividing their spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. The largest military conflict in human history exploded.
Bulgaria officially declared neutrality and adapted to the changed realities by assuming full control of all areas of economic and public life. In its foreign policy, the state advanced a revision regarding the appropriated Southern Dobrudzha territories. With the active assistance of Germany and following Bulgarian-Romanian negotiations, the latter two signed the Craiova Treaty, which returned Southern Dobrudzha to Bulgaria.
At the end of 1940, Germany upped its ambitions on the Balkan Peninsula. It approved the “Marita” operation for concentration of a 680,000-strong German strike force in Romania, ready to cross onto Bulgarian territory and take control of the northern Aegean. The plan stipulated occupation of Bulgaria, should the country refuse to join in the Tripartite Pact.
Enormous German pressure determined the momentous but inevitable decision of the Bulgarian cabinet to side with the coalition dominated by the Third Reich in March 1941.
The exhibition presents Bulgaria’s participation in World War II on the side of two coalitions –the administration of the occupied by Germany territories; later, the creation of 1st and 2nd Corps, that carried out security, defense, and maneuvering roles; the bombing of many Bulgarian cities following the declaration of war on Great Britain and the United States; the turn in the war; Bulgarian government’s attempts to manoeuvre between the warring fractions.
The war the USSR declared on Bulgaria and the invasion of the Red Army in the country preordained the success of the 9 September 1944 military coup and Bulgaria’s participation in the final stage of the war on the side of the Anti-Hitler Coalition.
The events are illustrated with original personal belongings of participants in the war, uniforms, weapons, and flags.