Titanic and a small village in Bulgaria

The quiet mountain village of Gumoshtnik is inextricably linked to one of the 20th Century’s most iconic tragedies, but until recently it was forgotten, even among most of the villagers themselves.
At the turn of the 20th Century poverty had driven enterprising Bulgarian men to seek unskilled work in America. But in 1912, eight Gumoshtnik men were to leave and never return, as they had bought passage upon the fated Titanic.
Not only was tiny Gumoshtnik robbed of fathers, brothers, husbands and sons, but many families had sold land, houses and belongings to fund the men’s passage. With no human remains to bury, the families used clothes and belongings to fill the men’s graves, then erected a modest hand carved stone memorial in the Orthodox churchyard.
For almost 80 years, the quiet church yard and dwindling descendants of the dead men were the only witnesses to Gumoshtnik’s link to the tragedy. That was until the runaway popularity of the film ‘Titanic.’ Today, Gumoshtnik sees a steady trickle of visitors to the graveyard, trying to understand how such a small community could deal with such a disproportional loss.