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An episode in the Wests culture wars reverberates loudly in Bulgaria.

The tale of two British prime ministers and their Bulgarian connections illustrates the paradoxes of history and how Western preoccupations echo in the Balkans, fueled by events such as Brexit, the killing of George Floyd, and the storming of Washingtons Capitol Hill.

William Gladstone and Winston Churchill lived in different times and occupied different parts of the ideological spectrum. Their legacies, however, met similar fates as the Black LivesMatter movement ramped up. Gladstone and Churchill each left deep traces in Bulgarian hearts and minds if on opposite ends of the emotional rainbow.

For Bulgarians, Gladstone was their friend. The 19th-century statesman defended them after the bloody quenching of the 1876 uprising against the Ottoman Empire, known as the Bulgarian Horrors. A street in downtown Sofia bears his name.

No such treat for Churchill was ever envisaged. The rumor goes that he blamed Bulgaria for the failed Gallipoli landing during World War I. If Bulgaria had not sided with Germany and Turkey, the then First Lord of the Admiralty would have been spared his worst military defeat and personal humiliation. He later uttered some unflattering words about Bulgarians, who happened to be on the opposite side in the second World War, too. In the Balkans, people have long memories for insult, as for praise.

Until recently, it seemed that history had given these two personalities equal, positive treatment, honoring Gladstone as a beacon of democracy, Churchill as the greatest Briton. Enter 2020. Watchful historians reminded us that Churchill had made racist remarks, while the youthful Gladstone, a slave owners son, demanded compensation for former slavers. This was enough for activist groups to demand the removal of their monuments.

Few Bulgarians bothered about Churchills memory. Gladstone was another matter.

Marin Raykov, Bulgarias ambassador to the United Kingdom and a former prime minister, wrote the University of Liverpool (where a student dorm bore Gladstones name), explaining the statesmans importance to Bulgaria. Bulgarian students in Britain wrote angry letters. The idea was floated of shipping statues of Gladstoneto Bulgaria if they were taken down. Journalist Velislava Dareva wrote to every British institution connected to Gladstones memory, until she extracted promises the statues would stay.

Gladstones Bulgarian defenders claimed his merits outshine his background and noted that the famous son of Liverpool radically changed his views on slavery after the infamous compensation speech. Nobody expected such a defense of a historical personality from such an unexpected direction.

I brought this up with the new British ambassador in Sofia, Rob Dixon, who studied history at university. I see [in this case] that history is not zero sum but it is possible for us to have multiple interpretations of historical figures and events, he answered. I grew up understanding Gladstone as a great 19th-century liberal statesman, who campaigned for home rule in Ireland and extended our democratic system in the UK. But it is only recently, when I prepared for Bulgaria, I discovered the Bulgarian perspective: he campaigned for rights and freedoms of Bulgarians. And there is another perspective which developed in recent times, Dixon continued. His father was a major slave owner in the Americas. Gladstone himself campaigned for compensation of slave owners after the abolition of slavery. These are things which we, quite rightly, find abhorrent today.

Bulgarians know how perspectives vary with time. In 1999, I spoke to liberal Europhile politician, Oxford chancellor, former EU Commission president, and noted historian Roy Jenkins. He had written a biography of Churchill and come to Sofia to give a lecture on Gladstone. The context was entirely different. Tony Blairs government was part of the NATO air war against Yugoslavia over the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo. Bulgaria supported the allies and enjoyed a rare moment in its history of excellent relations with the United Kingdom. Britain was later instrumental in bringing Bulgaria into the European Union. In 1999 Lord Jenkins even calculated the time quite accurately, based on his experience with Spain and Portugal: eight or nine years. Bulgaria joined in 2007.

The parallel is again paradoxical. Gladstone, a devout Christian, supported Bulgarian Christians against Muslim oppressors. Blair, a devoted internationalist, supported Bulgarians in the context of Christians oppressing Muslims. Today, the UK has just left the EU, which it helped Bulgaria get into.

Jenkins could not have predicted that. He told me that even the UK could join the euro after a referendum with a bi-partisan consensus: We will win like we won in 1975, he said, referencing the referendum on joining the EU.In the Balkans, you have a safer bet. History is shifting sands, optimism seldom prevails and, amid changing perspectives, it is always well to remember who has been good to you, even when everyone has forgotten why.

Boyko Vassilevis a moderator and producer of the weekly Panorama news talk show on Bulgarian National Television.

The rest is here:
Statues in Shifting Sands - Transitions Online