Parliamentary groups in the Bulgarian National Assembly issued declarations on Tuesday as the nation marked the Day of Rescue of Bulgarian Jews and of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust and of the Crimes against Humanity. MPs said the nation should be proud of performing the extraordinary act of saving its 50,000 Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. A controversy broke out when BSP – United Left Floor Leader Nataliya Kiselova noted that Jews were deported from territories occupied by the Axis powers and administrated by Bulgaria, and blamed it on Bulgarian authorities.
GERB-UDF said the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews was an extraordinary act of courage, moral determination, humanity, and solidarity, which remains forever inscribed in the historical memory of the Bulgarian people. The group noted that 83 years ago, politicians, clergy, diplomats, intellectuals, and a wide circle of public figures opposed the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews, reflecting the tolerance and sense of justice of the Bulgarian nation. “This is an unprecedented example in world history during the years of the Holocaust. But today is also a day of humility and remembrance for those deported from Aegean Thrace, Vardar Macedonia, and the town of Pirot,” the group said.
BSP – United Left said that the rescue of 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust 83 years ago “spared Bulgarian society the shame of being complicit in a genocide.” “The Bulgarian Jews were saved by the entire Bulgarian society,” the group said in a declaration read out by its Floor Leader Nataliya Kiselova. She noted, however, that Jews from Vardar Macedonia, Aegean Thrace, and Pirot were deported to Nazi concentration camps “under the leadership and supervision of senior officials of the Bulgarian Commissariat for Jewish Affairs.” She also named Bulgarian prime minister Bogdan Filov and his interior ministers as “primarily responsible.”
Vazrazhdane called Kiselova’s declaration “an act of very grave treason.” The party leader, Kostadin Kostadinov, argued that Bulgaria bore no responsibility for the deportation of Jews from Aegean Thrace, Macedonia and Pomoravlje, saying that these territories were under dual Bulgarian-German control and that the deportations were carried out by the German authorities. Kostadinov said there has long been a revisionist trend in Israeli foreign policy aimed at playing down Bulgaria’s role in saving its Jews.
MRF – New Beginning stated: “Days such as this one – marking the 83rd anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews and honouring the memory of the more than 11,000 people Bulgaria failed to save – call for greater humility rather than harsh rhetoric, as this remains one of the clearest feats of the Bulgarian nation.” The parliamentary group noted that Bulgarian Muslims contributed to the rescue effort and “played a significant historical role” by sheltering and hiding Jews in Muslim villages.
Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria said the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews meant that “our people stood on the side of justice.” According to the group, the rise of extremist forces in Europe is a fact nowadays, and anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate speech are becoming tools not only in the Bulgarian National Assembly. “Today, political parties are again using and generating anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate speech, and we see that when Bulgaria takes the side of the victim, when Bulgaria takes the side of good, there are again not a few, but too many opponents in our society,” the group said.
There Is Such a People (TISP) stated that Bulgaria, as a practical ally of Germany, was the only country that saved its Jews during World War II at a national level and on such a large scale. “It is absolutely outrageous to ascribe blame to Bulgaria for what happened to the Jewish population in Vardar Macedonia. Such claims are put forward every year by pseudo-liberal websites,” said TISP Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov. In his words, “this miserable national nihilism” was expressed earlier on Tuesday by Nataliya Kiselova, the BSP‑United Left Floor Leader.