Bulgarian-American Scholarship in Honor of Petko Kolev

Petko Kolev

Starting in the Spring of 2025, the Richmond Bulgarian Academy is proud to be rewarding an annual scholarship to a rising freshman each year that is or has been a student of the Richmond Bulgarian Academy in honor Petko Kolev, one of the very first Bulgarians in the local area who reached several families and made a lasting impact on generations to come.

Petko Kolev was born in a small farming community in Chirpan, Bulgaria in 1929. He was the second youngest of eight children in his family. As a young adult, his aspirations of attending college were shattered during political upheaval in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Petko had attended political meetings for the non-communist opposition. His attendance was anonymously reported by a local citizen. There was a consequence for those who did not follow the strict Soviet policies which ruled Bulgaria. Individuals were ostracized and denied access to educational and job opportunities. Petko’s acceptance to college was revoked. He was subsequently sent to one of the forced labor camps operated in Bulgaria where he was required to perform manual construction labor. The organized labor (concentration) camps were a system of camps and labor “boarding houses” for those who were regarded as “politically dangerous people” and who could be interned there indefinitely without trial. “It was practically a concentration camp. They worked us like slaves and we were checked by guards every hour on the hour,” Petko said during an interview at his retirement. During this time, he and three friends planned their escape. They waited until the May 1st, Labor Day holiday when supervision would be minimal. Pretending to wash their utensils in a nearby stream, they ran into the nearby woods unobserved and kept going. With only the clothes they were wearing, they traveled for days on foot and ate what they could gather from a farm along the way. “We had to stay in the thick forest and avoided even small paths, for we knew that the border guards usually concealed themselves and if anything moved, they would shoot.” They had no map and only an idea of the direction of the border and that there was a river to cross. “We finally hit the river and crossed it, thinking we were in the Turkish territory. Then we hit the river again. We were afraid to go along the banks because the guards could shoot you from across the river. We kept on going until we crossed it a third time.” After a night of hard rain, “the next morning we started looking for a path to take us to a town or village. We’d started down a path we’d finally found when we’d heard someone singing ahead. Along the path came a Turkish shepherd with a shotgun on his shoulder and a sack of supplies.” They surprised and jumped the shepherd. Since one in his group spoke Turkish, he explained that they just wanted to be taken to a village. They were turned over to a military post and held for a week and eventually sent by train to Istanbul. Petko and friends remained in Istanbul for two and half years at a subsistence level. They worked as day laborers in tough conditions. At times they were not being paid but had no recourse because they were Bulgarian refugees. This coincided with the expulsion of many Turks from Bulgaria and Turkey was challenged to accommodate large numbers of refugees. In 1953, the men joined a Bulgarian company of the Labor Force unit that was formed by the United States government for security in Germany. In 1955, Petko joined the U.S. army and was sent to basic training in the U.S. He returned to Germany where he met his wife, Anna. They left Germany to return to the U.S. with nothing but their small suitcases and a newborn. He left the military after a few years but later re-enlisted after not being able to find work in Vermont and with no financial support in the U.S. He remained in the military for twenty-one years, followed by employment with Capitol Police. He retired in Colonial Heights, Virginia. He and his wife of 61 years raised three children.

Petko enjoyed vegetable gardening and planting fruit trees, evoking fond memories of his “Old Country”. He was unable to communicate with his family for at least 15 years following his flight to let them know he was alive. His family had heard that he was shot and killed during the escape. Petko was unable to return to Bulgaria for 42 years until after the fall of communism.

Petko believed in hard work, education, and was willing to lend a hand where needed. He mentioned at times, "I had nothing, knew no one, and had no help after I left the Old Country. If I could help someone in my situation from Bulgaria, I will." He died in 2019, but his legacy continues.

We honor his memory with this scholarship to help a young student with the burden of financial aid through continuing education at a university or college.

This scholarship is available for application to all current and former Richmond Bulgarian Academy “Kliment Ohridski” students.