| Excerpt |
The study analyses the way that during the First World War some renowned Bulgarian caricaturists depicted the Romanians, Bulgaria’s new enemies, in two humoristic periodicals: „Baraban” (The Drummer) and „Bălgaran”. The Romanian enemy was represented by means of a special drawn character, called Mr. Petrescu or Mr. Magaresko (the name derives from the Romanian word „măgar”, meaning „donkey”), a short, caricaturized individual, wearing a peasant shirt and a fur hat, scared and always defeated by the Bulgarians. The virulence of the drawings grew as the political and military events of the war developed, so that Mr. Magaresko became a hyena and Bulgarian caricaturists also introduced in their drawings personalities such as King Ferdinand – a doorman at the Peace Palace in Hague – and general Averescu – a drooping rooster standing on a pile of documents. |
