Documentation of the arrival in Bulgaria

Due to the inhumane restrictions imposed by the new green government in Germany,
especially in the case of the Covid pandemic on the school system, my wife and I
decided in April 2021 to leave Germany and chose Bulgaria as our destination after joint
research.
We arrived in Aheloy with the bare necessities at the end of July 2021 and moved to
Kavarna after a week in a rented apartment. During this time we took care of the
purchase of a property and found the house in Zmeevo in August, which we then moved
into in mid-October. When applying for Lychna-cards for our persons, the translator
made the mistake of not letting our children report. However, I only became aware of
this mistake at the beginning of August 2022 when I wanted to enroll my daughter in
school.
We were thrilled by the fact that our children can arrive in a quiet village in the new
country and that the house was ready to move into directly furnished. My wife and I
made plans on how we could manage the garden together, do remodeling and
renovations. It was clear to us that the house in Zmeevo did not necessarily have to be
our final destination for our common future. However, at least until our apartment in
Germany was sold and further liabilities with the FRG (insurance, contracts, etc.) were
regulated and settled.
During the Easter holidays 2022 we were together with the children for 2 weeks in
Germany to settle the sale of the apartment and liquidation of the inventory. The notary
appointment was scheduled for the beginning of July and my wife flew up with the
children on 17.06.22, first to Belgium to visit her sister and friend, and then by train to
Germany, while I did renovations on the house and took care of the dog. My wife also
wanted to have a gynaecological operation carried out in Germany and therefore re-enrol
in the German health insurance system. Due to some delays not caused by us, the notary
appointment for the sale of the apartment did not take place until the end of July.
I drove to Germany by car and trailer for the signature and handover of the apartment. At
this point, I haven't seen my family for 6 weeks. I found my wife's statement very
strange that she had accidentally left the children's passports in Belgium and therefore
had to travel from Germany via Belgium in order to be able to fly back to Bulgaria with
the children. My suggestions to pick up the passports by car from Belgium so that we
could drive back together by car, especially since my wife had just undergone surgery,
were aggressively rejected.
The matter of the forgotten passports and her statement that she wanted to come back to
Bulgaria, but only to fly back to Belgium to work there, unsettled me very much and
thwarted our joint future planning as a family. In response to my objection that the first
priority for me is the preservation of the family, and that I am happy to leave Bulgaria if
she makes an adequate counter-proposal, they were blocked.

In an undisturbed moment I found the passports of the children in my wife's pocket and
it was clear to me that a return to Bulgaria with the children was not even planned on her
part. I secretly took the passports and took the children the next morning under a pretext
and we drove back to Bulgaria by car. My wife was very shocked when she became
aware of this and threatened me with the police for child abduction. Although I only
followed their narrative to go back to Bulgaria. She could have simply followed directly
by plane.
There were regular phone calls and video calls with my wife and children. I kept talking
to my wife to find a solution to this situation in the interests of the children.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to negotiate with her in a calm tone. The attempt to
talk to a mutual friend as a mediator was also unsuccessful.
After I spent 2 weeks alone with the children in the village and in the meantime got a
call from her lawyer that my wife wanted a divorce, I also realized why she chose the
time after the sale of the apartment for the separation. A few days after her official
separation request, I happened to meet a young woman who came back to Zmeevo after
a long stay abroad. Due to my wife's behavior and her planned betrayal, I did not feel the
need to inform her about it. In mid-September, however, I told her. In the first week of
October, I flew to Germany with my new girlfriend to bring the last personal belongings
and furniture to Bulgaria.
So that the children were well taken care of during this time, my mother came to
Bulgaria to take care of the children. At that time, I avoided telephone contact with my
wife so that she would not know that the children were alone in Bulgaria, for fear that
she could find and hide them. At the same time, however, my wife traveled to Bulgaria
to find the children. When she didn't find her in our house, she forcibly tried to gain
access to my girlfriend's mother's house because she assumed the children were there. In
the village, she spread the rumor that my person and that of my mother were wanted by
Interpol and that the German and Bulgarian authorities were looking for me and my
mother for child abduction.
On 9.10. we came back from the trip to Germany and on 10.10. my wife and her sister
came very aggressively to the house of my girlfriend's mother and demanded the
surrender of the children. There were scuffles, finally it became peaceful and we agreed
that my wife could see the children. This week we visited the social workers in Balchik
twice and it was agreed that if my time permits, my wife could pick up the children and
see them. Three meetings have taken place to date.