Hello, you're very welcome to Longreads, a Jacquin podcast where we look in depth at political

topics and thinkers.

My name is Daniel Finn, and the features editor here at Jacquin, and I'll be presenting

the show.

Bulgaria didn't attract the same attention during the Cold War as other countries in

Eastern Europe.

It was never likely to be the cause of a hot war between the superpowers, and its leader

Toto Zhivkov didn't attract the same notoriety as figures like the Albanian dictator

Envahogja.

Yet Bulgaria has a fascinating history of its own, which shed light on the experience

of 20th century state socialism.

Our guest today is Christian Godsee.

She's a professor of Russian and Eastern European studies at the University of Pennsylvania,

and the author several works about communism in Eastern Europe and Bulgarian particular.

During the Cold War, Bulgaria arguably attracted less attention in the West than any other

communist state in Eastern Europe, perhaps because it created fewer problems for the Soviet

Union than any other state.

Why do you think that was?

Well, I think you have to go back pretty deep into history to understand the relationship

between Bulgaria and Russia, even before the existence of the Soviet Union.

So obviously, Bulgaria was under imperial domination of the Ottoman Empire for the better part

of five centuries, and in the mid to late part of the 19th century, there were various

...