On 12 October the House of Culture in the Yabylkovo village (Haskovo Province, Bulgaria) commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The event was organized by the Slavic World association from Plovdiv, the Dimitrovgrad community and the Yabylkovo House of Culture.
A monument to 130 villagers killed in the First and Second World Wars was unveiled at the event. Yabylkovo residents, schoolchildren and guests from Dimitrovgrad and Haskovo took part in the flower-laying ceremony.
The celebrations continued at the theater hall where Vasyl Staykov, chairman of the Slavic World association, opened an anniversary exhibition and spoke about the defeat of the Nazis, the crucial role of the Red Army and the Soviet nation, as well as the modern Neo-Nazism.
Other speakers included Maria Toteva, chairperson of the War Veterans Community, and Ivan Mincev, Haskovo writer, Russian language expert and member of the International Slavic Academy of Literature and Fine Arts, and other guests.
The celebration was attended by employees of the Culture and Religion Department of the Dimitrovgrad community, WWII veterans, chairman of the Haskovo Democratic Women’s Union, chairman of the Russian club Otechestvo and members of the Union of Reserve Officers.
Veterans and social activists of the province received special certificates and flags of Bulgaria and Russia.
The celebration in Yabylkovo forms part of the series of events organized by the Slavic World association with the support of the Russkiy Mir Foundation. The inhabitants of this village maintained resistance to the Turkish conquerors and fought the Nazis in the WWII. In addition to its unique history, it has the only Slavic House in Bulgaria. Slavic Unity Day has been celebrated there every year since 1962.
