And yet Bulgaria was not grateful, neither government nor her people were soft enough to make a policy of “ruthless toughness” workable.’ On the other hand it is historical fact that the government of the day was not particularly well-disposed towards any of its minorities and had previously passed laws effectively confiscating Jewish property and businesses — something that would lead to generally ineffective claims for restitution in post-war, communist Bulgaria. Even though other members of the axis such as Italy and Japan (in relation to the refugee Jews in Shanghai, for example) also exhibited a remarkable lack of enthusiasm for Nazi persecution of the Jews, and the tactic of dissemblance adopted by the king could only work due to the German inability to back up its demands with military force, the story nevertheless deserves to be more widely known in Western Europe, especially since many occupied countries, such as Vichy France, submitted to Nazi pressure with less reticence, possibly due to a higher level of ‘socially acceptable’ anti-Semitism from the outset.

A search for ‘Metinel’—the name on one of the scales I photographed—turned up an amusing coincidence: a Turkish trading company called Metinel which deals in macaroni, olive oil, tomato paste, energy drinks and steel reinforcing rods for construction… nothing like flexibility and diversification. A Metinel scale sold on ebay.de for €35 in red complete with rockets, brass pans and weights. The seller was not able to date it.

It’s hot but the car is cooled so that filming is not the strain it might be. On the way back to Bratzigovo we pass what looks like an abandoned cliff-dwellers settlement from the distance but turns out to be an abandoned gravel and sand operation which has proved to be uneconomic. Walking around I get the feeling that I am somewhere in the South Western states of the USA, Arizona or New Mexico maybe, and that I’m looking at the remains of an Indian pueblo. It’s always strange when a place turns into a film location before your eyes…

We arrive in town, visit the Museum of Ethnology which still bears evidence of the old Russian understanding of that term, i.e. ethnology = folk customs and folk costumes. One feels a certain contradiction in many of these museums. It is as if, on the one hand, the artefacts and history have to be preserved (and even supported, e.g. folk dancing at public celebrations) but that it is done reluctantly, as if all this, forming as it does the basis of an ethnic identity, should really disappear. It evokes the same feeling as another Marxist conundrum that was never really solved: how to deal with communist nationalism when Marxist doctrine is internationalist in its essential tenor. The staff were very helpful and friendly, even allowing us to photograph in some of the closed-off rooms.