site.btaParliamentary Groups Issue Declarations Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day

At this week's first plenary sitting of the Bulgarian Parliament, held on Wednesday, several parliamentary groups issued declarations marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on January 27.

GERB-UDF said in a declaration read by Yordanka Fandakova that the International Holocaust Remembrance Day belongs not only to history but to the moral conscience of humanity. The Holocaust shows how far man can go when another person ceases to be human in his eyes and is reduced to a number, a category, or a threat. "This evil was not spontaneous. It was systematic, rationalized and accepted," she said. "Unfortunately, even today we are witnessing unrelenting hatred, division and language that once again dehumanizes. This makes remembrance not a completed act, but a continuous obligation. The Holocaust must not merely be commemorated - it must be understood, so that it is never repeated."

In its declaration, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria urged the public to remember the victims of the Holocaust so as to avoid repeating the terrors of the past. MP Yavor Bozhankov said that one lesson from the past is that any form of nationalism, no matter whether based on racial or class motives, leads to war. He said that Europe today is once again haunted by the ghost of war, which is why people should ponder which events led to this. The statement also referred to the fact that Bulgaria refused to deport to Nazi concentration camps any of the 50,000 Jews living on its territory during WW2. He concluded: "Today, our country has once again chosen the side of good. And today, Bulgaria once again stands on the side of humanism."

Vazrazhdane party leader Kostadin Kostadinov highlighted examples of silenced memory and contemporary Nazism, emphasizing that crimes against the people and humanity have no statute of limitations. He said that twice in history, someone tried to unite Europe after the collapse of past empires: first Napoleon, and then Hitler. According to him, a third attempt comes from what he referred to as "the European Commission's neo-Nazis and their supporters in Bulgaria, who have openly called since last Sunday for the destruction of Bulgarian statehood and its absorption into a European federation". He described this as "treason, neo-Nazism in action, and anti-Bulgarian sentiment". Parliament Chair Raya Nazaryan imposed a formal reprimand on Kostadinov, saying that he had addressed MPs with offensive and slanderous language.

The BSP - United Left's declaration read by Nataliya Kiselova said Holocaust Remembrance Day is dedicated to the anti-fascist struggle because the denial of the Holocaust and racism is embedded in the foundations of modern civilization. "It is important today and in the days to come, when we remember this date, to constantly think about the attempts to downplay and even somehow justify the crimes of Hitler's regime," she said. The MP said that over the past 35 years, someone or other has always found the democratic principles of the 1991 Bulgarian Constitution inconvenient, and those principles need to be protected. "Unfortunately, even today we are witnessing unrelenting hatred, division, and language that once again dehumanizes. This makes remembrance not a completed act, but a continuous obligation."