Memories of Emanuil Popdimitrov

The First World War had already ended when, in mid-1919, I took off the epaulette of a hastily made second lieutenant. Then, during this unfortunate war, which brought so much suffering and deprivation to the people, from the so-called "school for reserve second lieutenants" in Knyazhevo, after a few months of training, candidate officers emerged, who were immediately sent to the fronts and to the rearguard. From Ruse, where I was demobilized, in semi-civilian clothes, I found myself in Sofia to enroll in university. In Sofia, the aftereffects of the war that ended catastrophically for Bulgaria were keenly felt. Poverty in material life, heartbreak and despair in spiritual life! The people reacted strongly, possessed by anger against those responsible for the catastrophe. Foreign troops were marching through the streets of the capital, the French general Chrétien was in charge of the country... The national poet Ivan Vazov had published a small collection of poems under the title "It Will Not Perish!" to encourage his people, to bring serenity to their deeply troubled souls, to restore their faith in more glorious days: