site.btaTwo Organizations Urge Jewish Community to Rally behind "Historical Truth" about Bulgarian Jews' Rescue during WW II

Two Organizations Urge Jewish Community to Rally behind "Historical Truth" about Bulgarian Jews' Rescue during WW II
Two Organizations Urge Jewish Community to Rally behind "Historical Truth" about Bulgarian Jews' Rescue during WW II
The Monument to the Salvation in Sofia (BTA Photo)

Representatives of two Bulgarian Jews' organizations call on all members of the Jewish community in this country to rally behind the historical truth about the salvation of Bulgarian Jews during WW II as a unique act of the Bulgarian public and State.

The appeal is contained in an open letter addressed to caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev and signed by Elko Hazan of the leadership of the Bulgarian-Jewish Research Institute, Roman Stoyanov, a founding member of the Institute, and Ester Georgieva of the Club of Friends - Bulgarians and Jews.

The representatives of the two organizations write that they do not share the stands taken by the present leadership of the Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria and are "exceedingly concerned with certain aspects of its activities," alleging that Shalom "not only claims to represent the entire Jewish community in Bulgaria but systematically uses its name in campaigns targeted against the Bulgarian State, society, and the historical truth."

The letter says further that, in the opinion of the representatives of Bulgarian Jews' organizations, the actions of Shalom's leadership not only drives a wedge in the Jewish community in Bulgaria but also spell a risk of estranging the Jewish community itself from the Bulgarian people of which it has always been an integral part.

The organizations note what they call "attempts to use fakes in order to blame the Bulgarian State for the deportation of the Jews from [Aegean] Thrace, [Vardar] Macedonia and Pirot, which is not the fault of the Bulgarian State, with the ulterior motive of obtaining monetary gain for a few people." The letter argues that these attempts lead to "besmearing" the memory of the 50,000 Bulgarian Jews who were saved from the Holocausts and the memory of those who saved them and insist that such besmearing should not be tolerated.

The signers of the letter also urge the Bulgarian Government "to cancel the monopoly of the Shalom Organization on the voice of the Jewish community in Bulgaria. In their opinion, this is the only way in which representatives of other Jewish organizations in Bulgaria, too, can have access and be included in the advisory bodies and working groups that determine the State's policies towards the religious communities in this country.

The representatives of Bulgarian Jews' organizations also insist that the present leadership of Shalom end "the slander campaigns it is conducting against Bulgaria before the international Jewish organizations."

/DS/

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By 21:47 on 28.03.2024 Today`s news

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