SOFIA — Bulgaria has marked the 75th anniversary of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust with three days of events held by ‘’Shalom’’, the Organisation of Jews in Bulgaria.
The 75th anniversary events equally commemorate the 11 343 Jews from territories in northern Greece and Yugoslavia, then under Bulgarian administration, who were deported to the Nazi death camp at Treblinka.
Alek Oscar, president of ‘Shalom’ said: “We honor those brave people who stood up against the evil and wrote with golden letters the name of Bulgaria in the book of humanity.”
In an address at a ceremny at the Sofia Synagogue, in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder praised the non-Jewish Bulgarians – among them ordinary citizens, clergymen, parliamentarians, and the liberal intelligentsia – who intervened on March 10, 1943 as the Germans were rounding up the 48,000 members of the community to stop the deportation.
“Everywhere you turn in Europe, you are standing on a killing ground of such terrible loss and sadness. Not here in Sofia. What happened here is unique in the history of World War II, and frankly, it is unique in all of mankind,” he said.
“Bulgaria has set an example for the world to follow. And you remind us all today to never be silent in the face of evil. To always have the courage to stand up for what is right. And to follow the simple rule that we all learned so long ago: to treat others as we would like them to treat us,” he added.
To mark the anniversary, the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria published a book titled “75 Years. Unforgotten Faces of the Rescue” which pays tribute to ordinary Bulgarians who played a role in resisting the deportations and the official anti-Semitic policies of the government in the 1940s.
A ceremony was also held in the city of Plovdiv where the Orthodox Chruch Metropolitan of the time, Kiril, played a strong role in the resistance to the deportations. The plan that was thwarted had envisaged sending about 841 Bulgarian Jews from Plovdiv to die in the Holocaust.
The Speaker of Bulgaria’s parliament, Tsveta Karayancheva, said that the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews was one of the most striking manifestations of civil society in Bulgaria in the 20th century.
The Bulgarian Jewish community presented Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova with the community’s special Shofar award of honor for the consistent efforts of the Bulgarian government in fighting anti-Semitism and hate speech, and for its commemoration of the Holocaust.
