Clarifying 70 Years of Whitewashing and ... - Shelomo Alfassa

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A/RES/60/7 (which Bulgaria was a co-sponsor of). This Resolution calls for UN Member States to
“develop educational programmes to instill the memory of the tragedy” as well as take “measures
to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education.” 161
4. Through the leadership of an independent international body, Bulgaria should consider
conducting a Truth and Reconciliation Forum where victims of gross human rights violations in
both ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Bulgaria—witnesses who were persecuted and survived—would have the
opportunity to give statements about their experiences in regard to Bulgaria and its interaction
with the Jewish people during the era of the Holocaust.
5. Alongside any physical monument which makes reference to Bulgaria “saving” Jews, should be
placed a monument to the 13,000 Jews Bulgaria deported from ‘New’ Bulgaria. Such a
monument should contain the names of the victims which were deported to Treblinka (which are
on record).
6. The names of the Jews killed, or who died by extension, due to Bulgarian policies and treatment,
in ‘Old’ Bulgaria (i.e. the cities of Sofia, Plevden, etc.) or other locations in Europe (such as the
case of the murdered Bulgarian students in France), should also be listed.
Justice means the remembrance of all the victims, not just the one group which the Bulgarian
government elected not to deport. Where there is no remembrance, there is no truth, where there is no
truth, there will be no justice, for both the survivors and the sacred memory of the men, women and
children who were murdered because of Bulgaria’s partnership with Nazi Germany.
161 Conscious suppression is a form of denial—and on the eve of the second International Day of Commemoration, U.S.
Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, declared that denying the Holocaust is tantamount to approving genocide. Wolff, acting head of
the U.S. delegation, said: “Those who will deny the Holocaust -- and sadly there are some who do -- reveal not only ignorance
but their moral failure….To deny the events of the Holocaust is tantamount to the approval of genocide in all its forms.”
Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)