It would be a manifestation of maturity and wisdom for statesmen to discard their egotism, party interests and momentary infatuations, and to work solely for the benefit of the people

Alexenia Dimitrova is a leading Bulgarian journalist and author with more than twenty-four years of experience. She works in the Analyses and Investigations Department of “24 Hours,” the second largest daily in Bulgaria.
Her favourite topics for journalistic investigation are secret archives of the Cold War era, grey economy and corruption, money laundering, secret societies, family reuniting.
For her series “The World Traces Lost Bulgarian Relatives,” which started in July 2002, she received the most prestigious award for journalism in Bulgaria “Tchernorizets Hrabar” for 2004, category “Investigation.”
Alexenia Dimitrova has published more than 4000 stories in 40 media in Bulgaria, USA, Russia, Croatia and Great Britain.
Her documentary books “The Iron Fist. Inside the Archives of the Bulgarian Secret Police” and “The War of the Spies. Investigations in Bulgarian and American Secret Archives” have been published in March 2005 in London in English and in November 2005 in Bulgarian.
For using FOIAs both in Bulgaria and the USA she was awarded a Golden Key Award in 2006.
She has two university degrees from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and specializations in journalism at famous universities and leading media in the United States and in Europe.
Licensed lecturer in investigative journalism in Bulgaria within the framework of Southeast European Network for Professionalism (SEENPM), Certified trainer of BBC and PHARE Project “Technical Assistance for Improving Professional Standards of Journalism, Bulgaria.” Visiting lecturer at Sofia University.
She has been researcher for cross-border investigations/researches projects for various internationally based media outlets like Artemis International and Serendipity Productions, Endemol, Investigative Reporters Network Europe (IRENE), etc.
She is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists, Investigative Journalists Association – Bulgaria, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), South East European Media Organization (SEEMO), of the Bulgarian Press Complaint Commission since its launch in November 2005.

Mrs. Dimitrova, investigative journalism is doubtlessly a fascinating job, and the books resulting from this work are in great demand among the broad public. You certainly have many admirers and supporters. What does your family think of your profession?
They’ve got used to it now. Years ago it was harder – my daughter was young and I had to divide my time between her and professional battles. Because 10–15 years back there were no rules in investigative journalism. It took me a lot of time and effort to prove that it is worth it and that it is good to be subordinated to definite standards, which are part of world journalistic practice. Helpful to me in this respect were my specializations in Reuters, London, in the World Press Institute and the Universities of Missouri and Minneapolis, USA, as well as in the Danish School of Journalism, Arhus, Denmark, and at the European Centre for Journalism, Maastricht, the Netherlands. To study there and to get immersed in the atmosphere and knowledge of world journalism, I had to be away from my family for shorter or longer periods of time, which weighed heavily on my heart. But I think the sacrifice was worthwhile. Because my return coincided with a wonderful period, when Venelina Gocheva became editor-in-chief of 24 Hours daily, an exceptionally creative and responsible to novelties person and professional, who gave me the opportunity to apply what I had learned in the United States and Europe.

I don’t know what my family think of investigative journalism, but in the past they would tell me not to undertake some investigation or other. Evidently I didn’t take their advice but I did start talking to them about my investigations more rarely. In addition, I apply the discreteness that is compulsory in our profession. So they usually are the last to learn what I have done from the publications and books, when they appear.  Then they understand they did need to be tolerant to my frequent absences and to the fact that sometimes I devote my time, including part of my weekends and holidays, to other people and work.

Your latest book, The King’s Secret Files, became a bestseller within two months of its publication. Readers from all parts of the world show interest in its contents.
Yes, unexpectedly even for me, the book sold a record number of copies for the Bulgarian book market, in a time of economic and media crisis at that. Of course, this made me very happy. I admit I was surprised, because archives are a specific field – not everyone is inclined to read documents. One of the explanations for the book’s success is that people got tired of ungrounded sensations, rumours and allegations and started seeking facts and evidence. In documents one can see in black and white at least part of the truth. It is no accident I decided to publish about 150 facsimiles – in order to show that everything is based on materials which someone once created. I trust the reader’s intelligence that they will be able to make a critical analysis and reach a conclusion as to who and with what motive wrote these documents.

What was the most shocking fact to you which you discovered in the course of your work?
The respect for documents, and I’ve been working with secret archives for almost 20 years now, has taught me to be impartial, because each document is indicative of something. Archives should be read impartially and should be presented in their entirety. Any accent or omission may distort the objective truth. In this case again my modest contribution is the impartial and conscientious reading of about 3000 pages mainly of hitherto unknown archives of First General Department – the intelligence. But I will not disappoint you and I will answer the question – some of the documents surprised me with the illiteracy of their authors, and others with the readiness of the authors and informants to gather and share details that seem useless. I was also surprised, for example, by a document stating that back in March 1960 Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha shared in a private conversation his readiness to become prime minister some day. When I had read all files, I understood that this was part of his purposeful thought over the years of the fate of Bulgaria and his role in it.

You probably receive many calls and letters from readers. What else do they want to know about the topic and can their questions be answered?
Yes, I have received many calls and letters. One of the most frequently asked question is why I am interested in Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and not in other personalities in Bulgarian political and public life. The answer is related to the genesis of the book. In 1996, when it became clear that the tsar intended to come back to Bulgaria for the first time after 50-year-long exile, some publications said that his family left the country because the referendum on republic or monarchy in September 1946 was manipulated. I decided to request documents from the archives of the Ministry of Interior showing the truth. One day after the publication in 24 Hours a reader called me and asked, “Why don’t you request the tsar’s file? Did you know he has been investigated by State Security?”

I sent another letter to the Ministry of Interior and received a thin file, which confirmed that the tsar and his family had been investigated by State Security till 1967 under the code name of “Parasites.”

After the newspaper publication of February 1998 another reader called and gave me a new idea: “You have been misled. Investigation of the tsar did not end in 1967, it went on later but it was transferred to First General Department – the intelligence.” I sent a letter to the National Intelligence Service but I did not receive a reply, because then there was no law on declassification of archives. When such a law was adopted, I renewed my request and I was given access to these 17 files, containing a total of about 3000 pages.

It is important to note that only 4 of them treated exclusively Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his family. The rest contained materials about the so-called “Bulgarian enemy emigration,” a term introduced by State Security, in Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, and other countries. Of them I selected only the materials about Simeon.

Another frequently asked question is why some of the names in the published facsimiles have been blotted out. My answer is: because this is required by the Law on Personal Data. The name of the tsar is not blotted out, because as I was told by the Files Committee, he had given his consent researchers to get acquainted with the documents collected about him.

As someone who has a broad view of archival documents from the recent and more remote past, what do you think, what issues should our statesmen address most urgently today?
If these people read more of the archives, they would see how petty sometimes the ambitions are, how subjective the self-evaluations, and how partial the passing passions and personal aspirations they become victims of, compared to the colossal progress of history. We are all guests on this earth, infinitesimal particles of the universe, statesmen included. It would be a manifestation of maturity and wisdom to discard their egotism, party interests and momentary infatuations, to turn their backs on personal battles and to work solely for the benefit of the people. Most of them, however, are focused on the tips of their own shoes, they lack global vision of the processes and the overall development of Bulgaria as a part of the world. So, the first thing they need is to outgrow their egotism and become more accommodating, tolerant and understanding, including toward their political opponents.

Are you still working on tracking down relatives round the world and reuniting families? What’s new on this topic?
There is no way I can stop doing it as I receive dozens of letters and calls, starting with “You are our last hope.” Many of the senders haven’t received help in tracking down their relatives from various institutions, ministries and embassies, and they turn to 24 Hours.

What is in the focus of your attention now? What is the most exciting theme for you at the moment, the work on which you suppose will give you material for another popular book?
I rarely work on one theme alone, because neither the archives I dig in nor the people I try to find are predictable. You can never tell what might turn up from the dusty documents and whether anything will turn up at all, nor whether you will find the people you are looking for. So I work on many things simultaneously, but I don’t find it hard. It even helps me balance my own view of life and professional outlook.

Your opinion as journalist, how should we Bulgarians present ourselves as a people and our country to the world?
Bulgaria is a country of ancient culture and achievements, but this is not enough to make it competitive today on the global market, or in the global political and social realities. I think we need to present ourselves with our present-day achievements, with quality leaders and specialists, and let history, where archives belong too, serve as a lesson and corrective, and as a magnet for the uncovering before the world of a new, different Bulgaria.