Annual Meeting of Memory Institutions in Sofia

Between 15 and 17 April 2025, the annual meeting of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. It included a commemorative event and the International Conference ‘Political Terror: origins and consequences’.

The Security Services Archive is a founding member of the Platform and it was represented by Peter Rendek. Among the new prominent members are the The Ossolineum Library – National Ossolinski Institute, an important cultural and memory institution founded in 1817. Other new members are the Croatian Association of Historians and the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II.

Centenary of the terrorist attack on St Sunday’s Church in Sofia
Representatives of Platform member organisations attended a commemorative event in Sofia on 16 April 2025 to mark the centenary of the communist terrorist attack on St Nedelya’s Church, one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in European history. The event included the opening of an exhibition prepared by the Bulgarian State Agency for Archives.

On 16 April 1925, Bulgaria witnessed one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in its history. The terrorist action was organised by the Bulgarian Communist Party, which had received instructions from Moscow, during the funeral of a senior army officer, General Konstantin Georgiev. He had been assassinated a few days earlier as part of the plot. The brutal bombing claimed the lives of more than 150 people and injured hundreds more. The attack was intended to wipe out Bulgaria’s political and military elite in a single devastating blow, but instead plunged the country into chaos and repression. A number of government officials, military officers and civilians attended the funeral ceremony for General Georgiev at St Sunday’s Church. At the beginning of the ceremony, a bomb planted in the roof of the church exploded and the roof collapsed. While the intended target, Tsar Boris III, was not present and survived the plot, the explosion killed many prominent figures.