The National Museum of Military History presents the great war seen through the eyes of the little man
On November 21 (Tuesday) at 17.30 o’clock the exhibition „The Little Man In the Great War“ will be presented to the audience at the National Museum of Military History as a part of the National plan for the commemoration of the First World War centenary and the Bulgarian participation in the war.
At the Day of the Christian Family the museum displays a story about the unsuccessful unification of the Bulgarian national family in common state borders and about the thousands of families divided by the war. The exhibition reveals the Great War as seen through the eyes of the little man – the soldier sent to the battlefields, the wife left alone in the struggle for survival, the thousands of refugees in pursuit of hope for a new home and the children who lost their childhood.
Despite the terror of war many Bulgarian soldiers immortalize their names with their heroism and sacrifice. You can reach their stories through the exhibits: the bullet that was removed from the body of lieutenant Angel Yanchev, who hid the flag of 35-th Infantry Regiment for 9 months and saved it from capture, the soldier’s cross „For Bravery“ of the youngest volunteer – the 10 years old Nikola Kostov, and the sabre of captain Garabed Pecheyan who fought at the defence of Kaimakchalan. The visitors could also see the pocket watch of Vasil Dyulgerov that stopped a French bullet from harming him, the „Luger“ pistol of lieutenant Alexander Popov who died at Constanta fights and the flashlight of second lieutenant Ivan Boichev who died during a combat flight over Bitola.
The deadly conflict is presented through the perspective of human emotions with an abundance of photographs, personal document and emblematic exhibits. The exhibition reveals how the hope for national unification and preservation of human life is soon replaced by the horror of death, the destructions and the crash of all moral values. The reliance in family and the self-preservation through the creation of a small soldier’s world at the front recreate the attempt of man to escape the terrific reality of the battlefield.
The exhibition includes graphic content that children and some viewers may find disturbing.