Figure 1.-- Here we see a Communist Young Pioneer choir group visiting Berlin. It may have been about 1960 before the construction of the Berlin Wall. This is not a snapshot, but a commercial post card. It was sent to some one in France. They are singing a Begrüßungslied (song of welcome). Click on the image to see the message on the back.

After World War II, the Communists backed by the occupying Red Army and NKVD seized power in Bulgaria. The The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) (Народна република България (НРБ) formally took power (1946). The Bugarian Communust Party (BCP) banned Scouting and followed the Soviet model set up a party youth organization--the Communist Youth League of Bulgaria which was later renamed the Dimitrov Communist Youth League of Bulgaria (DPO) and abbreviated as the Komsomol. They were also called Septemberists. The organization for children was the Young Pioneers. There were also an organization called 'Chavdarcheta' for the younger children. The difference between the two was the distinctive scarf, which was sky-blue in the Chavdarcheta movement and red in the Pioneri movement. The Pioneri movement w founded immediately after the arrivlof the Rd Army during World War II allowing the Communists to begin seizing power (September 1944) The DPO "Septemberists" organized Bulgarian children between 9 and 14 years of age. It was organizationlly a unit of the Dimitrovist Young Communist League. The League sought to instill Socialist values among Bulgarian youth and to recruit future Party members. We have been able to find very little information about the Bulgarian Pioneers. We note a choir group visiting Berlin (about 1960). We also note the Pioneers presenting Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-68) a dove presented to him in Sofia by Bulgarian Young Pioneers (1961). Membership totaled 0.7 million (1967) and peaked at 1.5 million members (1987). Membership was essentially compulsory. After the fall of Communism in Bulgaria, the Pioneers were disbanned. Without government support, The uniform was green with Boy Scout-like jackets and berets. there was little interest in continuing the organization. . Isn't it interesting that despite the fact that there were 1.5 million members that today virtually none of them are interested in contributing to this page. This probably reflects the fact that membership was compulsory and few found the movement interesting or beneficial. This seems to have been the case throughout the Soviet empire.