MM Park Bulgaria

Description

Bulgarian poster announcing the death of Tsar Boris III.

Manufacturer / main description

Bulgarian poster announcing the death of Tsar Boris III.

This poster dates from August 1943, after the death of King Boris III of Bulgaria. The spelling follows the old Bulgarian orthography used before the 1945 reform.

Dimensions: cm × cm

Translation:

The organized workers of Yambol and its region, deeply saddened by the premature death of the first Bulgarian worker:
His Majesty Boris III
Tsar-Unifier
The star of a great worker has gone out!
A great Bulgarian heart, loving labour and the workers, has ceased to beat.
Every moment of his life was devoted to the good of the people, raised in labour, unity and struggle.
A royal river has overflowed, wiping away the tears and sufferings of his tested subjects.
His radiant image as sovereign and his great deeds will remain forever alive in the hearts and consciousness of Bulgarian workers.
We bow before the sacred memory of the greatest of workers.
May God forgive him!

Yambol, August 1943

By the Regional Workers’ Association of Yambol

Research and descriptions prepared with the help of an AI assistant. Typological inaccuracies or errors may remain.

Funerary poster paying tribute to Tsar Boris III. Bulgaria, Yambol, August 1943. Typographic printing on paper. This mourning poster was produced in Yambol, in south-eastern Bulgaria, immediately after the death of Tsar Boris III on 28 August 1943. Issued by the “Regional Workers’ Association of Yambol”, it is a remarkable testimony to Bulgarian monarchist propaganda during the Second World War. The sovereign is celebrated under the title “Tsar-Unifier” (Tsar Obedinitel), an official designation emphasizing his role in the territorial expansion of the Bulgarian kingdom in the early 1940s. The poster develops a particularly significant paternalistic rhetoric: Boris III is presented as “the first Bulgarian worker”, a hardworking and protective figure close to the people and to the workers. The graphic composition combines several symbolic elements: a large monumental black cross evoking national mourning and the almost sacred dimension of the monarchy; a photographic portrait of the sovereign in uniform; and monumental typography designed to strike the eye in public space. The text insists on the virtues of labour, national unity and sacrifice, values widely mobilized by the regime in the dramatic context of the Second World War. The emotional and religious tone of the poster reflects the desire of the authorities and loyalist organizations to transform the sovereign’s death into a moment of patriotic unity. The document is also of linguistic and historical interest through its use of the old Bulgarian orthography, still in force before the spelling reform imposed after 1945 by the communist regime.
Place of production: Yambol, Bulgaria
Date: August 1943
Technique: black typographic printing on paper