Construction Corps (Bulgaria) Explained

The Construction Corps (Bulgarian: Строителни войски) in Bulgaria was a military construction organisation subordinated to the Ministry of Defence or directly to the government, which existed from 1920 to 2000.

The organisation started as national compulsory labour service (trudova povinnost) in 1920 which drafted all able-bodied Bulgarians in place of national military service. It was militarised and incorporated into the armed forces as the Labour Corps (Trudovi Voiski) during the period 1935–1946. During the Communist era it was re-organised a number of times, taking its final form and name in 1969.

History

National compulsory labour service 1920–1935

In the last months of World War I, the Ministry of War announced the idea of a conscription-based national labour service. For this purpose a commission was appointed consisting of: Chairman Major General Konstantin Kirkov; members: Colonel Ivan Bozhkov, Lieutenant Colonel Kosta Nikolov, Lieutenant Colonel Dimitar Nachev, Lieutenant General Stilian Kovachev, Lieutenant Colonel Todor Georgiev, Hristo Chakalov – Manager of the BNB, two agronomists and a representative of the Bulgarian Agricultural Bank. The original law drafted by the commission was not approved by the Council of Ministers but the draft did become the basis for all subsequent legislation on the subject.

Defeat in World War 1 brought to power in October 1919 the radical anti-war Agrarian party leader Aleksandar Stamboliyski. Faced with the ruinous consequences of the war Stamboliyski adopted compulsory labour service as one of two key reforms aimed at rebuilding the country (the other being land reform). The Bill provoked vehement opposition on the ground that it revived the Ottoman feudal labour obligation and exploited young people, but Stamboliyski's overwhelming election victory in 1920 meant it was voted into law on 23 May 1920.

Stamboliyski's official reasons were to enable post-war reconstruction at a time when the impoverished country was faced with enormous war reparations; and to provide modern vocational education for young men and women. However, an underlying reason was to circumvent the limitations of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine on the size of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, [1] [2] which limited the army to 20,000. The new labour service de facto maintained the organisational structure of the former national military service, prompting protests from the neighbouring Yugoslavia and Greece that all the Bulgarians had to do was replace the spades with rifles and they'd have a trained army. The Inter-Allied Commission required the bill to be suspended until changes were agreed.

Compulsory labour service came into force on 14 June 1920 with the establishment of the Main Directorate "Compulsory Labour Service" within the Ministry of Public Works.[3] All able-bodied Bulgarians, except those exempted for legitimate reasons (for example muslim females were exempted) and those who had served the state for more than three consecutive months, were required to serve either in the Regular service (eight months maximum for men between 20 and 40 years, four months for women between 16 and 30 years) or in the Temporary service up to 21 days a year. Exemptions could also be purchased at a set daily rate.

Labour service proved very effective in carrying out post-war reconstruction. The vast majority of the work was road and railway construction, although there were also manufacturing, agriculture and reforestation projects. An International Labour Report calculated that just in the Regular service from 1921 to 1936 a total of 313,669 "trudovaks" (labourers) were recorded as completing their compulsory service; that the work done for the State entailed 22,591,068 eight-hour days and reached a value of 1,680,088,675 leva; and that the annual balance-sheets showed aggregate receipts of 3,330,466,451 leva and expenditure of 2,449,101,898 leva, or a profit of 881,364,553 leva.[4] The Bulgarian example was widely studied and copied abroad, for instance by Germany in the formation of the Reich Labour Service.

Labour corps 1935–1944

In the 1930s, as Bulgaria followed Germany in repudiating the military limitations imposed by the WW1 Paris peace treaties the labour service openly emerged as a military organisation. On 1 January 1935 jurisdiction was transferred to the Ministry of Defence, with the establishment of military ranks in 1936.[5] Military age conscripts served in the regular armed forces or did labour service – one example being future Communist leader Todor Zhivkov who completed service in 1935, partially through work and partially through exemption purchase.[6] In 1938 with the signing of the Salonika Agreement limits on the armed forces were officially removed and Bulgaria was able to fully reinstate compulsory military service. In 1940 the new Law of the Armed Forces officially incorporated "trudovaks" in the armed forces as the labour corps (trudovi voiski). By 1942 the fully mobilised wartime labour corps exceeded 80,000 men building roads and military installations, draining the Svishtov wetlands, increasing agricultural production and restoring communications in the newly recovered Southern Dobruja, Western Thrace and Vardar Macedonia.[7]

During the war as Bulgaria allied with Nazi Germany Jewish men were drafted en-masse in the labour corps. In January 1941, the anti-semitic Law for Protection of the Nation came into effect, one of whose stipulations was that Jews must fulfill their military service in labour battalions.[8] By order of the Bulgarian chief of the general staff, effective 27 January 1941, Jews were removed from the regular armed forces and were drafted in the labour corps, while retaining their military rank and privileges. Jewish reservists were allocated as labour corps reservists.[9] After Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941 and became a base for German military operations against Yugoslavia and Greece repressive measures increased. From August 1941 Jewish men aged 20–44 were drafted (including all reservists), rising to 50 in 1943.[10] Following diplomatic protests from German ambassador Adolf-Heinz Beckerle about the German Labour Front working alongside Bulgarian Jews in a military capacity[11] from Jan 1942 Jews were transferred to labour units under the Ministry of Public Works, depriving them of their military ranks and privileges.[12] Those units (usually 100-300 strong) were based in remote camps with poor conditions and typically did heavy labour completing specific stretches of roads. Approximately 12,000 Jews were mobilised in such units in addition to 2,000 communists and left wing agrarians.[13] There were a number of reports of abusive behaviour by camp commandants,[14] although it should be stressed that despite latter Communist governments' terming them "fascist concentration camps" these were in no way such - for instance labourers still had family leave and correspondence, and heads of family were paid a wage.[15]

Greeks from Bulgarian occupation zone in Macedonia and Thrace were also forcibly conscripted into Labour Battalions.[16] [17] The measure did not exclude Greek Muslims.[18]

Post War

From 1946 given the need to downsize the armed forces the labour corps were again detached from the army and re-organised as national compulsory labour service. All Bulgarian citizens of conscription age not accepted in the regular armed forces were subject to 18 months labour service, but de facto it was done mostly by men from minorities and those deemed unreliable for service ("considered unfit") in the armed forces.

A high point in the history of the Construction Troops was the design and building of the Alfred Beit Road Bridge in 1994–95. The Construction Troops won a commercial tender in competition with international companies. The metal works of the bridge were manufactured in Bulgaria and transported via ship from Burgas to the South African port of Durban and then on a 1,000 km stretch over land. The bridge is the only road border crossing on the South Africa–Zimbabwe border. The commander of the Construction Troops, Major General Radoslav Peshleevski attended the official opening ceremony (seen in uniform behind Nelson Mandela.[19])

Structure

They were organized in seven Construction Divisions: three based in Sofia and one each in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Varna and Pleven.

Main Directorate of the Construction Troops (Главно управление на Строителните Войски)[20]

See also

References

  1. Web site: Изложба показва цялата история на Трудовата повинност в България . www.dnesbg.com. 16 June 2020 .
  2. Web site: Днес се навършват 100 години от създаването на трудовата повинност . Radio Veliko Turnovo . 21 February 2022.
  3. International Labour Office . Bulgarian Law on Compulsory Labour . International Labour Office Geneva: Studies and Reports Series C No.3. . 1920 . 2 . 21 February 2022.
  4. International Labour Office . Reports and Inquires: The results of compulsory labour service in Bulgaria from 1933 to 1936–37 p.7 . International Labour Review . 1938 . 38 . 4 . 510–521 . 19 February 2022.
  5. Book: Белчева . Екатерина . Пътеводител по фондовете на Строителни войски в Държавен военноисторически архив-Велико Търново, 1920 – 2000 . 2014 . 12 . 22 February 2022.
  6. Web site: Най-известния трудовак в строителни войски е бил Тодор Живков . BG Spomen . 21 February 2022.
  7. Book: Белчева . Екатерина . Пътеводител по фондовете на Строителни войски в Държавен военноисторически архив-Велико Търново, 1920 – 2000 . 2014 . 12 . 22 February 2022.
  8. Book: Sage, Steven F.. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, Volume III: Camps and Ghettos under European Regimes Aligned with Nazi Germany. Indiana University Press. 2018. 978-0-253-02386-5. Megargee. Geoffrey P.. Bloomington. 4. en. Bulgaria. White. Joseph R.. Hecker. Mel.
  9. Web site: Недялков . Димитър Илиев . Българската войска – държавният "инструмент" за спасяване на българските евреи . fakel.bg . 19 February 2022.
  10. Book: Hoppe, Jens. Zwischen grossen Erwartungen und bösem Erwachen: Juden, Politik und Antisemitismus in Ost- und Südosteuropa 1918-1945. Schöningh. 2007. 978-3-506-75746-3. Dahlmann. Dittmar. Paderborn. 217–252. Juden als Feinde Bulgarians? Zur Politik gengenüber den bulgarischen Juden in der Zwischenkriegszeit. Hilbrenner. Anke., cited in Web site: Contrasting Destinies: The Plight of Bulgarian Jews and the Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Greek and Yugoslav Territories during World War Two. Ragaru. Nadège. 2017-03-19. Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. en. 2020-03-08.
  11. Book: Cohen . David . The Jewish labour camps in Bulgaria . 27 January 2020 . 22 February 2022.
  12. Web site: 12-та служба временна трудова повинност . ИНФОРМАЦИОННА СИСТЕМА НА ДЪРЖАВНИТЕ АРХИВИ . 19 February 2022.
  13. Web site: The Bulgarian Gulag (in Bulgarian) . Deutsche Welle BG . 22 February 2022.
  14. Book: Cohen . David . The Jewish labour camps in Bulgaria . 27 January 2020 . 22 February 2022.
  15. Web site: The Bulgarian Gulag (in Bulgarian) . Deutsche Welle BG . 22 February 2022.
  16. Web site: Κώστας . Πινέλης . Τα Ντουρντουβάκια της Θράκης και της Αν. Μακεδονίας . 2024-03-01 . Eidisis.gr . el-gr.
  17. Web site: "Τα Ντουρντουβάκια: Αποστολές στα Βουλγάρικα τάγματα εργασίας από τη Θράκη και την Ανατολική Μακεδονία (1941-1944)" του Πέτρου Μαρκόπουλου . 2024-03-01 . www.mcnews.gr . el-gr.
  18. Book: Αυγέρη, Σοφία . Ντουρντουβάκια: Έλληνες σε Βουλγαρικά Τάγματα Εργασίας . 2011 . el . https://web.archive.org/web/20120608180151/http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Avgeri-Sofia-Durduvaki-www.24grammata.com_.pdf . June 8, 2012.
  19. Web site: Нелсън Мандела благослови мост, построен от българи.
  20. Book: ПЪТЕВОДИТЕЛ ПО ФОНДОВЕТЕ НА СТРОИТЕЛНИ ВОЙСКИ В ДЪРЖАВЕН ВОЕННОИСТОРИЧЕСКИ АРХИВ – ВЕЛИКО ТЪРНОВО 1920–2000 г. (Guide to the Archive Funds of the Construction Troops at the State Military Historical Archive – Veliko Tarnovo 1920–2000). Central Military Archive / "Archives" State Agency. 2014. Sofia, Bulgaria. archives.government.bg/guides/9_P_SV.pdf.
  21. Web site: VSU - Lyuben Karavelov.

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