Bulgaria Bulgarian Military School albums

[Theodor]

Hi guys, In this thread I would like to make a brief review of the Bulgarian Military School albums.

The Military of His Majesty School in Sofia produced about 68 Classes from 1879 to shortly after the WW2. In fact, in 1947 graduated the "1st Dimitrov's Class of the People's Military Academy" or something like this, but inside their album is the sheet music for the "March of the 68th Class", so I think this can be considered the last class from the old numbers series.

At some time in the 1920s, the School started to prepare Albums for the Classes. I have talked to old officers - the albums were prepared shortly before their graduation from the School - their first officer rank - and the Albums were passed to the newly made officers about the time of the graduation. Not a ceremony, just given to them at some time.

The first album that I have seen is from the 48 Class in the late 1920s. The last album belongs to the 68 Class. But the 64 and 65 Class had no albums - when the reds took the rule and the war against Germany started, the young men were still in the School. Their study was cut short, they were sent to the front and promoted to first officer rank /podporuchyk/ directly there. In the havoc of those times, no albums were produced.

Through the years, the albums followed quite the same pattern: starting with a picture of the King /later the Quueen joined, too, and later their kids/, followed by the Commander of the School, then the military and civil lecturers from the school, then the student-officers, grouped according to the branch - infantry, artillery, cavalry, airforce, navy, etc. At the end - photos from the school building, photos from their life and training while at the school, sheet music of the March of each Class, a large photo of all students plus the officers from the School.

The design varied through the years. Always large size and good quality, but the face changed. The very first albums have very strong resemblance to the Imperial Russian albums of similar kind /like this one: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3389...p;#entry318442/. Same structure, same type photos of the "students", installed on background of weapons, awards and etc. Later the design changed, became more "modern", for those times.

So, here is the first album /I have not seen an earlier number than 48. Fellow collectors reported the same/:

Then a photo of the King, War Minister, Army Commander, School Commander and etc. officers and teachers /most famous names found among the teachers - those were university teachers, famous even today. Beside their military training, the future officers got university-level lectures in many fields of knowledge/.

The future officers - don;t know why, but the earlier albums show no names. But the original owners often wrote the names. And also usually in those albums, they would write small cross near the photo, when through the years they hear of the death of the comrade:

Inside the School

And the outside- this still exists, some kind of Military Academy nowadays

Everyone:

[Theodor]

A little later, the 50th class /there is still one old Colonel alive, from that 50th Class! Several later classes are all deceased, he is the last survivor of a whole generation!/.

The style is close to the other albums - but each album has its own style. Especially the late 30s - early 40s Albums - the style of decoration of each class Album was very different from the other classes

[Theodor]

Even more decorations...

[Theodor]

The Album of Grandfather's class - still close to the older style Albums /and the most thick of them all! Each page is very thick cardboard/. Also, unlike the other albums, this one came in a luxury box with the King's cipher on it.

In order to avoid problems in socialist times, the unknown owner scratched "Of His Majesty" from the name. Also tore the King's portrait and other things. Some officers did it, because such royal album could bring real troubles! But they still wanted to keep the memory! I also have Grandfather's album, complete with the box - fortunately it is untouched, just he has added crosses, when heard of the death of his comrades through the years. In fact, they are all dead now, from that class.

Edited February 6, 2009 by Theodor

[Theodor]

From that year on, things went "modern" The general style of the album was broken. While the photos still went in the same way - King-Commanders-Officers-Teachers-Cadets-Schoolife-Common photo, the size, colors, decoration style varied greatly from class to class. While all albums were large, some were very thick, other on very thin paper, some on white/light paper. other with dark pages... great diversity!

The first page of the album

And the dark color pages with those decorations and photos:

[Theodor]

Only a little later, the 60 Class Album - very different in style, the number is written on a bronze seal /no other album had such/.

The first page

Some future officers

Pilots!

[Theodor]

That's it. Just a glimpse at the Bulgarian military graduation albums. Very useful, when needed to put a face to the name. Of course, here the officers are still too young, but can be recognized and can be compared and identified sometimes on other photos. At least for me, these albums are interesting and I tried to find all numbers. So far, missing only 2! Some are tough to find - for example, the 48 class, as a typical post-WW1 class, was very small - 33 officers! This means 33 Albums, plus several more for the officers and teachers who trained those men - not large number, not at all! And many must have vanished through the years. I do have one complete, but also have only the cover of another. lots of history has hit the fireplaces and the garbage bins! :cheers:

[Ulsterman]

very,very cool.

Is it possible to research the careers of all of these officers? I bet a lot of them had problems once the Communists took power.

[Theodor]

Yes, for the officers from the Military School, 99% are possible for research. In the 90's was published a list of them all - 4 volumes, arranged by name, all officers from 1879 to 1945. Name, dates of promotions to higher rank, units where served, and some more information. Not much, but still very good information, taken from the officers files in the Central Military Archives.

[new world]

My Military School albums:

Military Unit #15 album

Bulgarian Book about all classes of HM Military School (2001)

Graduation Class #50

Graduation Class #51

[new world]

I also have several albums from the regular Army units and one album from Sophia Seminary (religious school):

[new world]

One of the albums - 2nd Infantry Unit