The annual initiative commemorating the victims of the biggest concentration camp for the political opponents of the Bulgarian Communist Party in Bulgaria, is to take place at 12 noon today on the spot where the former concentration camp Belene stood on Persin island in the Danube in the times of the communist regime.

The event is organized by an action group of numerous NGOs and private individuals for the restoration of the annual commemoration, a tradition since 1990 mottoed: Together again to honour the memory of the victims of the Belene camp. The commemoration is being renewed after a 3-year break.

• Book on Belene Concentration Camp 1949 – 1987 – largest research of communist crimes

The concentration camp was opened in 1949 by the communist regime, and went by the name of “Second site”. To begin with, there were 300 prisoners but their number quickly grew to more than 2,000. Over 20,000 people have been imprisoned at Belene in total. Many of them lie buried in unmarked graves on Persin island.