The seventy-fifth anniversary of the defeat of Nazism ought to have been cause for celebration. Such was the thinking of the Russian cultural center in Sofia, as it announced an exhibition in the Bulgarian capital entitled “The Road to Victory.” Instead, the initiative sparked a storm of protest — and days before the planned opening on September 9, the Bulgarian foreign ministry issued a strongly worded statement accusing the Russians of “meddling in Bulgaria’s internal affairs.”

But why should a celebration of the defeat of Nazism be considered unwelcome intrusion? The answer owes to the specific anniversary being commemorated — the events of September 9, 1944, the day when the Fatherland Front took over the government. Uniting an anti-Nazi coalition of Communists, Agrarians, Social-Democrats, and military generals, the Fatherland Front came to power against the backdrop of the arrival of Soviet troops. This date is thus usually considered the beginning of socialism in Bulgaria, paving the way for the Communist Party takeover in 1947.

Every year, this anniversary (known as 9/9) triggers debates and denunciations. Liberals never miss an opportunity to bewail the events of 1944 and the “criminal deviation of history” which Bulgarian socialism supposedly represented. But this year, the Russian exhibition added an international dimension to the traditional “September 9 debate.” The problem, for many, was that the defeat of Bulgaria — a Nazi-allied, but sovereign country — was integrated into a general celebration of the liberation of central-eastern Europe from Nazi occupation.