The Power of Civil Society: The fate of Jews in Bulgaria during the Holocaust

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1 The Power of Civil Society: The fate of Jews in Bulgaria during the Holocaust Bulgaria saves its Jewish community from the Nazis By Dr Albena Taneva, Centre for Jewish Studies, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski Besides its present, every people has its past. To create its present, it must know its past. To have a future, it must understand its past. This motto is the most synthesized expression for the need for mentioning and returning to the topic of the Holocaust and the historic rescue of the Jews in Bulgaria. March 10, 1943 was a day like any other. The weather was typical for March: chilly and at times even cold. In some places it was sleeting. A few days earlier, freight trains had begun arriving at many train stations in various Bulgarian cities under a puzzling veil of secrecy. Their destination, however, was not the usual. They had been ordered to deport thousands of defenseless civilians from Bulgaria so they could be murdered. Every single person born into the world as a Jew merely by fate, had suddenly become a victim of the murderous policies of Hitler and Nazi Germany. What was actually happening? At that time in Europe, Nazi Germany s plan for the so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question was being carried out in full force the murder of Jews wherever they could be found. At the infamous Wannsee Conference, the Nazis made a list that included the Jewish population of every country in Europe. This number in Bulgaria was 48,000. According to Hitler s plan, not one person from that list was to escape extermination. Monument in the centre of Plovdiv, with the inscription: To all who helped to save us, on 10 March, From the grateful Jewish Community of Plovdiv. During World War II, Bulgaria, in view of historic circumstances, was allied with Nazi Germany, though it never fought on Germany s side. Under Nazi pressure, in February 1943 the Bulgarian Government agreed to deport its Jewish population to Nazi concentration camps. The initial agreement included the deportation of 20,000 Jews. Of those, 12,000 were Jews who lived in the so called new territories Aegean Thrace and Vardar Macedonia, put under Bulgarian administration, and promised to be returned to Bulgaria as compensation for being a Nazi ally. The other 8,000 were to be chosen from the Jewish population living within the old Bulgarian borders. To carry out the plot, a special secret organization was created. The Jews living in the so-called new territories did not receive Bulgarian citizenship because of the new racist laws; the territories themselves were considered German occupation zones. The Jewish population in the new territories fell victim to Hitler s policies during the Holocaust. The perpetrators of this horrific and shameful act were several representatives of the Bulgarian government.

2 The concentration camps Treblinka and Maydanek were where 11,342 Jews from Aegean Trace and Vardar Macedonia ultimately lost their lives. Similar events unfolded throughout Europe. Forcefully and with unfathomable cruelty, Jews from all over Europe were murdered in multiple concentration and death camps. However, the 48,000 Jews living within the old borders of Bulgaria, noted on the list made at the Wannsee Conference, managed to not only stay in their homeland, but even increase their number during the War. How was such an exception to the widespread apocalypse possible? The Government order to deport the remaining 8,000 Jews from different parts of Bulgaria was retracted at the last minute. Thus the first deportation attempt of March 1943 failed. Then, a second attempt to deport all 48,000 Jews in May of the same year also failed. Finally, the special police branch called the Commissariat on Jewish Issues, headed by Bulgaria s most infamous anti-semite Alexander Belev, attempted to deport the Jewish population a third time. Again, the plan failed. What undermined this plan and ultimately stopped it? After all, Bulgaria and Nazi Germany were allies! The Bulgarian government had signed a secret agreement and was ready to carry out the plan. Both the Bulgarian police and the Gestapo were at the authorities disposal; even before Bulgaria became allied with Germany, the government had approved several laws restricting the rights of the Jewish minority. The authorities basically drove the Jews to poverty. They took away their homes, they no longer allowed them to work, and they collected a 20% tax on all their possessions. In 1942, they had to wear yellow stars and put Plaque on the site where Kiril, Metropolitan Bishop of Plovdiv ("I won't leave you ), stood by the Bulgarian Jews. special signs on their homes and businesses. They were no longer free to go wherever they wanted and they even had a curfew. What happened then is a real lesson in human dignity. As early as 1940, the same year the Bulgarian government began to impose restrictions on the Jews, there was a huge upheaval in Bulgairan society against the government s actions. Civil society protested against the anti-jewish laws. Many professional guilds publicly denounced the anti-semitic measures. These included writers, doctors, lawyers, artists, teachers, businessmen, shoemakers, hairdressers and journalists. Some government representatives, many intellectuals and youth organizations also joined the cause. Even illiterate villagers signed petitions against these policies by leaving their thumbprint in place of a signature. A very decisive and persistent supporter of the Jewish population was the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. It is worthy to note that not just a few separate priests voiced opinions against the government, but rather the Church as a whole stood strongly united behind the same cause of averting the unjustified deportation and killing of the innocent Jewish minority. Between 1940 and 1943, the repression was mainly political and economic and the opposition was mainly through petitions and written statements. Afterwards, things began to change. The secret pact between the Bulgarian government and the Germans for the deportation of Jews did not remain hidden. The Jews of Kyustendil were the first to find out the full extent of the plan to exterminate them. Concerned for their lives, Jews were joined by their Bulgarian compatriots in active opposition against the government. Four brave and selfless men stood out for their determination in this critical and dangerous time. Their names are Petar Mihalev, a parlimentarian from the majority; Ivan Momchilov, a lawyer and a former parlimentarian; Assen Souichmezov, a businessman; and Vladimir Kourtev a teacher. They travelled to Sofia and on Monday, March 9, they met with Dimitar Peshev, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and through him succeeded in compelling the Bulgarian government to retract its orders for Jewish deportation. King Boris III and Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia. 2

3 However, another dramatic event followed. In the town of Plovdiv, the second largest city of Bulgaria, local authorities had not received the retracted order and began rounding up the Jewish population in the middle of the night. To express their disgust with these actions, the local Bulgarian population crowded around the school where the Jews were being collected. The huge mass of people that soon gathered began shouting anti-governmental slogans and slogans in support of the persecuted Jews. As a result of the public s opposition, Dimitar Peshev, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly took a dignified and crucial position. In order to prevent another attempt to deport the Jewish population, he decided to make the issue both public and political. He wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister, Bogdan Filov and got 43 other parliamentarians from the majority to back him and sign the letter. Aside from those representatives, the Prime Minister received written protests from a few opposition politicians, including Petko Staynov and Nikola Mushanov. Because of this opposing action, the Bulgarian government fiercely punished Dimitar Peshev and removed him from the post of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in a scandalous plenary session. However, his move had widespread political implications. Thanks to him, the rest of the National Assembly was informed of the secret actions of the Filov cabinet. To summarize this story full of events, names, and facts, it is worthy to mention that the opposition of Bulgarian society as a whole was so active, energetic and successful, that in the end even the German ambassador, Beckerle, gave up. He wrote the following to his bosses at the German Foreign Ministry as an excuse for his failure: I am thoroughly convinced that the Prime Minister and his cabinet wish and aim to reach the ultimate and irreversible solution to the Jewish problem. However, they have been affected by the mentality of the Bulgarian people, who lack the ideological clarity that we have. Growing up alongside Armenians, Greeks, and Gypsies, the Bulgarian finds no flaws in the Jews that justify in their minds measures against them In reality, that was the end of the attempts for deportation of Bulgarian Jews. This incredible story tells us something very important. There is a wise saying that people must know their history in order to avoid making its mistakes. We are not immune to the emergence of xenophobia and other types of hatred among peoples. The story of the saving of the Jews in Bulgaria shows us that the positive results a society can achieve depend on the determination of every one of its members. Today, therefore, we must not turn our heads away when we see hatred and racial and ethnic violence. Our ancestors, whether Bulgarian, Jewish, or other, have given us the gift of tolerance. In May 1943, the Germans sent another request for the deportation of the entire Bulgarian Jewish population, King Boris III agreed only to relocate the Jews of Sofia to the countryside. He did this under the pretext that he needed Jewish labour for construction of roads. Some members of Parliament, however, including the most adamant anti-semite and Commissar on Jewish Issues, Alexander Belev, thought that they would succeed in deporting Bulgaria s Jews in this way. On May 24, 1943, when the King ordered the relocation of Sofia s Jews to the provinces, many Jews were frightened thinking this was the beginning of the end. No one knew the real intentions of the King and if there would be further deportation beyond Bulgaria s borders. As a result, both concerned Jews and Bulgarians once again protested in any way they could. The third deportation attempt in June was the sole action of the Commissar on Jewish Issues, Alexander Belev. He even ordered freight ships to dock at several ports along the Danube and payed an expensive fee, just so he could hand over to Hitler the Bulgarian Jews. Yet he failed to outwit the Bulgarian public. The lessons we should learn are as follows: First, that there is no force that cannot be resisted, even Nazism. Second, that anyone can influence what may seem like predestined events, so long as he or she has the courage and morals to do so. Third, that the forces of evil win when those who oppose them fail to support each other, or remain indifferent and thus one by one become victims. Fourth, that even in the darkest hour, there is the possibility of a positive outcome, as long as more people actively seek it. Find out more: Beyond Hitler s Grasp by Michael Bar Zohar, Adams Media Corp., MA, USA 1998; Film by same name. The Power of Civil Society in a Time of Genocide: Proceedings of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the Rescue of the Jews in Bulgaria , Sofia University Press, 2005 website: Republic of Bulgaria State Institute for Culture Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Bulgaria in Ireland Sofia University 3

4 Righteous Among the Nations The story of the Righteous is the story of men and women who risked their lives and those of their families to help save Jews during the Holocaust; people who, as Si Frumkin, a survivor of the Kovno ghetto, tells us, ignored the law, opposed popular opinion, and dared to do what was right. In Jewish tradition there is a famous quotation from the Talmud: For he who kills one life is considered as if he had destroyed an entire world; and therefore he who saves one life is regarded as if he had saved an entire world. (TB Sanhedrin 4:5) This Talmudic quotation which is included in the Yad Vashem diploma awarded to the Righteous Among the Nations, should be treated literally; not only those Jews who have been personally saved by the Righteous owe them their lives, but all their descendants as well. What I did for the Jewish people...was but an infinitesimal contribution to what ought to have been done in order to prevent this horrible slaughter... Father Marie-Benoit, France The Righteous come from all levels of society, from different backgrounds, ages, religions and ethnic groups. They are individuals such as simple villagers in occupied countries, families, groups of friends or members of organized efforts such as the Dutch Resistance, the village of Le Chambon sur Lignon in France, or Zegota(the Council for Aid to Jews) in Poland. They include well-known efforts such as that of businessman, Oskar Schindler, to assistance by diplomats such as the Swedish consul Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary, or the Japanese official Sempo Sugihara in Lithuania. In 1953 the State of Israel established Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority, in order to document and record the history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. That institution inaugurated the award of Righteous Among the Nations in 1963 to honour non- Jews who had saved Jews during the Second World War. Many of those who survived Nazi occupation in Europe between 1939 and 1945 owe their survival to non-jews. In every single case the decision to save a Jew could mean death. And not only death to the Righteous person, but often to his family and sometimes his neighbours as well. Death was the penalty for remaining human in the face of inhumanity. Under German occupation the Righteous feared their neighbours as much as the authorities. A Jew in hiding was a potential threat to all those who lived nearby. Hostile neighbours could be as dangerous as the Gestapo, often betraying both those in hiding and those who were hiding them. After the war, many Righteous encountered hostility from their fellow countrymen if their brave actions became known. In the immediate post- war years, the Krakow Catholic weekly newspaper, Tygodnik Powszechny began publicising the heroism of Poles who had saved Jews. But many Righteous named in articles called in to complain saying that their neighbours were angry, telling them that their safety had been compromised to save detestable Jews! Even today, many descendants of the Righteous refuse to accept the Yad Vashem award, for fear of antagonising their neighbours. Find out more: Read the essay, Righteous Among the Nations, Holocaust Memorial Day booklet 2008 on the HETI website: Righteous Among the Nations: 4 Righteous Among the Nations - per Country & Ethnic Origin January 1, 2010 These figures are not necessarily an indication of the actual number of Jews saved in each country, but reflect the cases that were made available to Yad Vashem. Albania 69 Latvia 123 Armenia 13 Lithuania 772 Austria 87 Luxembourg 1 Belarus 608 Macedonia 9 Belgium 1,537 Moldova 79 Bosnia 40 Montenegro 1 Brazil 2 Netherlands** 5,009 Bulgaria 19 Norway 45 Chile 1 Poland 6,195 China 2 Portugal 1 Croatia 102 Romania 60 Czech Republic 108 Russia 164 Denmark* 22 Serbia 131 Estonia 3 Slovakia 498 France 3,158 Slovenia 6 TOTAL 23,226 Georgia 1 Spain 4 Germany 476 Sweden 10 Great Britiain (Incl. Scotland) 14 Switzerland 45 Greece 306 Turkey 1 Hungary 743 Ukraine 2,272 Italy 484 USA 3 Japan 1 Vietnam 1 *The Danish Underground requested that all its members who participated in the rescue of the Jewish community not be listed individually, but commemorated as one group. ** Includes two persons originally from Indonesia, but residing in the Netherlands.

5 The Kindertransports Following Kristallnacht of 9/10 November 1938, the British government decided to accept Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and, later, Poland, and offer them refuge from Nazi persecution. Funds were raised (a 50 bond was required for each child to finance their eventual return home) and block visas were issued. Children were accommodated in foster homes, boarding schools, farms and hostels. The Jewish communities in Germany, together with non-denominational organisations abroad, organised the rescue operation. Geoffrey Phillips Geoffrey Phillips (originally Gunther Philipps) was born in Wanne-eckel, Germany in In December 1938, along with thousands of other German children, he Geoffrey Phillips, 1938 was sent away to Britain on the Kindertransports. He didn t know where he was going. He had a small suitcase as well as another small bag with provisions, and a ticket to a foreign land. He was 13 years old. We heard that our synagogue had been set on fire by squads of Hitler Youth and that the same thing was happening all over the country. Before we had recovered from the shock of this terrible news, there was a knock on the door. Two plain-clothes policemen asked for my father, told him to pack a change of clothes, and took him away. We heard afterwards that my father had been taken to a concentration camp. A cousin of my father s was the welfare officer of the Jewish community in a neighbouring town. From her we discovered that Britain was prepared to take in a limited number of young Jewish children. Our cousin urged my mother to register me for the transport. I am here today; I never saw my parents again. Geoffrey Phillips, 2008 A child of the Kindertransports During the nine months before the outbreak of the Second World War, 10,000 Jewish children were transported to Britain from mainland Europe on special trains called Kindertransports. They ranged in age from young infants to teenagers of 17 years. The first Kindertransport from Berlin departed on 1 December 1938; the first from Vienna left on 10 December. Transports from Prague were hastily arranged after the German army entered Czechoslovakia in March 1939, and transports of Polish Jewish children were arranged in February and August Transport trains crossed into the Netherlands and Belgium, then the children continued to Britain by ship. The outbreak of war forced the Kindertransports to end. The last train left Germany on 1 September The last transport ship left the Netherlands on 14 May 1940, the day that the Dutch army surrendered to Germany. Most of the Kindertransport children who arrived in Britain never saw their families again they had perished in the Holocaust. Find out more: www1.uni-hamburg.de /rz3a035//kinder transport.html Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, available through 5

6 The Winton Children While visiting a friend in Prague in 1938, Nicholas Winton became aware of the impending plight of Jews in the Sudentenland and Czechoslovakia and volunteered to see if he could help some of the children. Rumours of his activities spread, and desperate parents flocked to his improvised office in the dining room of his Prague hotel. After establishing the Czech Kindertransport programme, In the months before the outbreak of war, Winton arranged for eight Kindertransport trains to bring 669 children to safety in England. For 50 years his story was unknown, but eventually it began to unfold. Since then, Winton has been reunited with hundreds of the Winton children. In 1983, he was awarded an MBE for his charitable work, in 1998 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Prague, and in 2002, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. We can understand Winton s motives from a letter he wrote in 1939: There is a difference between passive goodness and active goodness. The latter is, in my opinion, the giving of one s time and Nicholas Winton energy in the alleviation of pain and suffering. It entails going out, finding and helping those who are suffering and in danger and not merely in leading an exemplary life, in a purely passive way of doing no wrong. Find out more: Holocaust Memorial Day booklet 2006 on the HETI website: The Quakers Jewish doctors learning to do manual work at the Quaker workcamp in Kagran in preparation for emigration to South America, August 1938 (Ruth Karrach) The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are well known for their philosophy of helping their fellow-man. During the 1920s, 30s and 40s, they worked tirelessly to help those fleeing Nazi Europe. Between 1928 and 1939 the Quaker International Centre in Vienna handled over 11,000 applications for exit papers and re-settlement, affecting 15,000 people. The Centre managed to help more than 4,500 people settle in other countries and assisted 2,408 Jews to leave Austria. Several refugees were facilitated by Friends in Ireland who sheltered them in their private houses. Some of these refugees settled here and made Ireland their new home. Irene Sendler Irene Sendler was a young Polish woman who joined Zegota, the Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland. As a social worker, Irene had a permit that allowed her access to the Warsaw ghetto where she provided many Jews with medicines, clothing and money. Irene wore an armband with the Star of David, both as a sign of solidarity with the Jews and in order not to draw attention to herself. Irene was part of an operation that smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto. Irene Sendler

7 The Rescue of Denmark s Jewish Population The German occupation of Denmark began in April Eager to cultivate good relations with a population they regarded as fellow Aryans, the Nazi occupiers allowed the Danish government to continue running their own domestic affairs. The Danes even held elections and it is said that every day King Christian X rode his horse through Copenhagen, reassuring his people that the Danish establishment still continued. The Danish German Agreement of 1940 stipulated that Denmark s 8,000 Jews were not to be deported. But in August 1943, the Danish government resigned rather than yield to new German demands. Three and a half years of relatively benign occupation came to an end when the Nazis proclaimed a state of emergency. Reich plenipotentiary Werner Best drew up plans to deport the Danish Jews. On 29 September, the day before the Jewish New Year, Denmark s Chief Rabbi, Marcus Melchior, warned his congregation to go into hiding immediately with their friends and relatives. Photo: USHMM found hardly anyone at home. The rescue operation involved thousands of Danish people from all walks of life. The Danish Jews were taken to the coast, where fishermen helped ferry 7,220 Jews and 680 non-jewish family members to safety across the water to neutral Sweden. The collective heroism of the Danes in rescuing its Jewish population from the Nazis is recognised all over the world. The main door of Copenhagen s Danish Jewish Museum bears the sign with the Hebrew word mitzvah (a good deed). The Nazis acted on 1 October. Danish police refused to cooperate. German special units knocked on Jewish doors, but Find out more Individuals, groups of people, Arabs and Muslims, diplomats, businessmen who saved Jews during the Holocaust Magda and André Trocmé, Le Chambon sur Lignon, France Miep Gies, Amsterdam, looked after Anne Frank and her family Sempo Sughara of Japan, saved thousands of Lithuanian Jews Stephan Mika, Poland, whose family hid Jews and partisans Raoul Wallenberg Swiss diplomat in Hungary, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews Khaled Abdelwahhab one of many Arabs who saved Jews Paul Grueninger, Switzerland, provided thousands of Jews with false papers Oskar Schindler, German industrialist, who saved some 12,000 Jews in Krakow 7

8 Many thousands of Jews who survived the Nazi occupation in Europe between 1939 and 1945, owe their survival to Righteous gentiles.the heroism the Righteous displayed was limited in time; our gratitude, however, can know no limits. It will remain as long as the Jewish people exist. The Righteous refute the notion that there was no alternative to passive complicity with the enemy. The farmers, priests, nuns and soldiers, the believers and non-believers, the old and the young from every background in every land made the impossible possible. Their altruism calls us to understand the different choices that individuals make, and to commit to challenging every example of intolerance that we witness. The challenge of our time is not whether to remember but what to remember and how to transmit our memory to our children and our children s children. Through their compassion and valour, without regard for religious or ethnic differences, the Righteous upheld the honour of the human race and the conscience of the world. Their stories can be found in Holocaust Memorial Day booklet 2009 on the HETI website: and on The exhibition can be viewed online????????????????????????? HETI wishes to acknowledge the support of the Republic of Bulgaria State Institute for Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in producing this booklet. 8 Clifton House, Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: info@hetireland.org Charity No Tax Reference No T 2010 Jackson, Holocaust Education Trust Ireland No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing.