Diplomatic Interpreting in Socialist Bulgaria: Soviet Influences, Political Loyalty and Interpreter-Diplomats during the Cold War
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/TSTP/2026.6.1.071Keywords:
diplomatic interpreting, interpreter-diplomats, Socialist Bulgaria, political mediation, interpreter visibility, Cold War diplomacyAbstract
This article examines the development of diplomatic interpreting in socialist Bulgaria and its relationship to Soviet practices during the Cold War. Drawing on archival documents from Bulgaria’s Central State Archive (CSA), memoirs, and visual sources, it analyses the institutionalization of diplomatic interpreting after 1944, the tension between political loyalty and linguistic competence in interpreter selection, and the emergence of interpreters as trusted political mediators. The study argues that diplomatic interpreters occupied hybrid positions at the intersection of linguistic expertise, political reliability, and state service. It also demonstrates how photographs and memoirs can help reconstruct the roles of interpreters who remain largely absent from official diplomatic narratives. By combining Bulgarian and comparative Soviet evidence, the article contributes to the historiography of diplomatic interpreting in Eastern Europe and to broader discussions of interpreter agency and visibility.
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