In Shrinking Bulgaria, Where are the People?
By Matthew Brunwasser International Herald Tribune LUKY, Bulgaria This socialist mining town of the future was so new when it was founded in 1959 that it had a new, modern maternity ward and no cemetery. Today the population is 4,000, down from 10,000 in 1990. Only two of the five lead-zinc mines still operate, unable to compete on the world market. Eight of the municipality’s nine schools have closed because there are so few children. The maternity ward has long since shut its doors. “We have almost used up the cemetery we have now,” said Todor Todorov, mayor of this town in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. “We’re in a hurry to find terrain for a new one.” Scrappy but charming, Luky is not neglected. The streets are tidy and organized and many of the public buildings are freshly painted. Only the locals can see what is missing: the people who once filled the streets. “The town is literally dying,” said Maria Ivanova, 49, who works at a cafГ© on the pine-shaded main street.
