The majority of memory studies have situated European memory coordinates between the Holocaust, the Stalinist Gulag and Communist repression. Our study expands the conceptual and empirical focus beyond the common juxtaposition of Holocaust versus Gulag (and by extension Nazism and Stalinism) paradigms with a third trope: a civilizational narrative. We show how both paradigms are not only shaped by the political expediencies of the Cold War, but also with references to sedimented memories that pre-date World War II and relate to 19th century foundational myth of nation-states. Path-dependency plays a significant role in how particular (national) memories are evolving. Moreover, we suggest that the dividing line of East and West itself needs to be interrogated. Bulgarian memory politics will serve us as an illustrative case study for these arguments. We analyze the genesis and development of a particular monument in Varna and multifaceted history as an imperial ruin, drawing inferences on the above-mentioned themes. The story of the monument is part of a complex net of imperial legacies and post-colonial discourses, where Bulgaria has been a middle ground, accommodating competing imperial projects – Ottoman, Russian and Western. These legacies have produced lasting impacts on local historiography and collective memory practices. In tracing the history of the monument in Varna from its inception in the late 1940s until current debates about its repurposing, we demonstrate how initial institutionalizations of a mnemonic master narrative prove hard to dismantle. The Bulgarian case is a microhistory providing a useful prism to address actual and potential mnemonic repertoires in post-Communist realms and their implications for European memory(ies).
