The past does not consist of official historical facts only. It is also the personal experience of the events. The project named My Bulgarian History aims at proving that thesis. Some little-known stories which have been left outside the textbooks or have been passed onto the generations in the families only have been collected in a virtual map where everyone can add his story.
The so-called Working-Bees of My Bulgarian History are held in various Bulgarian cities. The local community gathers on these working bees to tell different stories which are uploaded live on the platform’s map. Bozhidar Ivanov who is member of the team that developed the project told Radio Bulgaria details about the future plans of the initiative.
“We are planning to continue with the working-bees, because they turned out very effective. Thus, we managed to reach the people who have a lot of stories to tell, but do not have Internet access and are unable to upload these stories on the world web. We are to organize a working-bee in the city of Blagoevgrad (Southwestern Bulgaria) after the ones held in the towns of Bansko and Razlog earlier in September. In the next two months we are to visit Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo (Central North Bulgaria). We are planning to turn this platform into an educational instrument. We are to consult the Bulgarian schools, in order to find out whether My Bulgarian History Map could be integrated within the learning process, if of course it can be useful to them. We believe that the lessons at school will become more interesting due to the platform’s interactive interface. ”
Did the project's team find some surprising stories?
“The personal stories related to the families or a family member of those who participate at the working-bees, or upload the story on the platform, are the most interesting and intriguing ones", Bozhidar Ivanov explains. "There were several such stories from the region of Bansko, Razlog and Blagoevgrad about grand-grand fathers who participated at the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, a family which became popular with its actions in protection of Bansko. In Blagoevgrad we heard about some interesting historical personalities who make people of Blagoevgrad very proud, yet they are little known outside that city. There are people who somehow dropped out of the official historical stories, but they found a decent place on our platform.”
Over 300 stories, mainly from Bulgaria, have been collected on the Internet platform. However, it contains stories from abroad. The Bulgarians living abroad are the target group there, because they are also a source of knowledge and have a reserved place in the common history map. It already contains stories about prominent Bulgarian personalities from the USA, Canada and South America. The map has a huge memory capacity and is yet to welcome many more little-known stories.
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
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