Brian Boeck (Relevance of the Humanities Fellowship, Mar – Jul ‘26) will present his research on:

Espionage Triangle or Hegelian Triad? The Hidden Logic of the Georgiev Spy Case

26 March 2026 (Thursday), 16:30 h.

Moderated by: Svitlana Pavlenko

Abstract: As the sole defendant in one of last, high-profile show trials conducted in communist Europe (1963), Ivan-Asen Georgiev is a fascinating figure. However, his story has been interpreted for far too long from an intelligence perspective rather than a humanities one. My research presents Georgiev as a highly capable, though idiosyncratic, intellectual who believed that his espionage collaboration with the West would ultimately benefit both Bulgaria and the world.  By pairing wide-ranging archival evidence from Bulgaria with recently declassified documentation from American archives, my project seeks to recover Georgiev’s unheralded contributions to the de-escalation of the Cold War and establish his important role in the wider history of American understanding of the socialist world.