The door on which Martin was afraid to knock
Martin, a German man in his early 50s, was standing in front of the old door in the picturesque town of Bansko. Nestled at the foot of the Pirin mountain in Bulgaria, Bansko was now a strange mixture of old and new. Once a small village, today Bansko has become a famous ski resort with foreign tourists storming its cosy hotels and private houses. At the same time Bansko has retained its character, its cosiness, its soul. There you can still feel the breath of nature, hear the voices of the Bulgarian heroes who have given their lives for Bulgaria.
But there was Martin, standing in front of the old door – speechless, helpless, lost in time. He didn’t have the courage to knock on it. He was afraid of the unknown, of the past. He was afraid of being too intrusive, of eventually being rejected. Martin was standing in front of a door, a door that meant a lot for him. This door was his roots, his childhood, his blood. This was his mothers’ place…
The story of Martin
The father of Martin was a German citizen, who went to Bulgaria in the late 1960s. There he met Martin’s mother and, as you might expect, fell in love at first sight. The couple moved to Germany and there is where Martin was born and raised. As a young boy Martin remembers being always with his mum, while his father was travelling a lot because of his job. Martin often recalls the time he spent with her in the hospital, where she worked. In his childhood, Martin was visiting Bulgaria with his parents often. But then in the early 1990s, Martin’s mother passed away and after the death of Martin’s father, all links with Bulgaria were cut off.
Since then, Martin has lived the life of a typical German from Swabia. Life was all the same, day after day, night after night, it was like they say in Swabia:
und ned nach de Mädle schaue
Und wenn unser Häusle steht,
dann gibt’s noch keine Ruh’…
The meeting
At the end, Martin didn’t dare knocking on that door. So many decades have passed and he was quite uncertain of how he would be eventually accepted by his relatives in Bulgaria. So he turned around and wanted to cross the narrow street, heading away from his mother’s place.
At this moment, he saw three elderly men sitting on a bench on the other side of the street. Martin stared at them and suddenly something “clicked” inside his head, something that can’t be explained. Was that the call of his roots, of his Bulgarian blood? One of the men stood up and asked Martin whether… whether he was… Martin? The man was Martin’s cousin. And that was it, then there were hugs, tears, memories. Then there was Martin’s family, Bulgaria, memories. Bulgaria has returned to Martin’s life. Martin was back. He was back where he belongs to. He has returned to his mother’s place. Martin was where his soul belongs to. He was in Bulgaria. He was Bulgarian.
Obtaining Bulgarian citizenship as a child of a Bulgarian
Martin doesn’t need Bulgarian citizenship and passport to travel visa-free. Neither he needs it to live in the EU. As German citizens, Martin is doing just fine with his German passport. But still, Martin is currently in the process of acquiring Bulgarian citizenship, or rather restoring it.
And he is doing it for one reason only – because he feels Bulgarian! And if you ask me, no other reason can be better than that!
In fact, as per the Bulgarian Constitution, Martin should be a Bulgarian citizen already. Still, as per the Bulgarian Citizenship Law, things are a little bit different. We have been alarming the authorities for certain serious legal discrepancies regarding Bulgarian citizenship, but so far, it seems there are more important issues that the politicians are busy with. Luckily however, Bulgaria is much more than the politicians. Bulgaria is in the soul and in the hearts of millions in Bulgaria and abroad.
author: Alexander Dobrinov
P.S. As a finale, a greeting to all of you who really feel the Bulgarian soul in themselves.