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

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Page | 12 police. 68 Mass protests and violent clashes developed by Jews and non-Jews against King Boris. A leaflet against the Bulgarian government said, “Stand in front of the houses of your Jewish neighbors and don’t let them be taken away by force. Hide the children and do not give them to the assassins.” 69 Ultimately, while all of the Bulgarian Jews suffered significantly, and even though an unknown number 70 were killed or died because of their abuse and mistreatment, the greater bulk of the Jews were eventually not deported to Poland. 71 Yet, while the Bulgarian government ultimately did the right thing by not sending the Jews from ‘Old’ Bulgaria to their deaths, they were undeniably complicit in sending over 13,000 other Jews to their death, from ‘New’ Bulgaria,’ the area they so proudly reacquired during the war. Bulgaria Sends 13,000 Jews to Their Death Bulgaria joined the Axis on March 1 1941, explicitly requesting German support for its territorial claims in regard to lands it (humiliatingly) had lost just a few decades earlier. 72 A month later on April 6, Germany invaded Greece, prompting an immediate Bulgarian annexation of Eastern Aegean Macedonia and part of Western Thrace. Thrace and Macedonia quickly became known as Bulgaria’s ‘New Territories.’ Even so, Bulgaria simply looked at these ‘New’ areas as reclaiming what was originally theirs. On April 13, 1941, The New York Times reported that Bulgaria launched a massive celebration in “Gratitude toward Germany for the liberation of Macedonia and Western Thrace, as well as other Bulgarian lands.” 73 It was reported that the streets were lavishly decorated with German, Italian and Bulgarian flags for the “festive occasion” while patriotic students, Macedonian and Thracian refugees, numbering up to 100,000, were going to march to the German and Italian Legations, passing by the Royal Palace yard where King Boris would receive the ovations of the crowd. The Bulgarians demonstrated 68 During the war, it’s known that at least 123 Bulgarian Jews, men and women, were killed fighting as partisan soldiers against the Bulgarian government and that over 1,100 Jews were detained as political prisoners in concentration camps. (“The situation of the Bulgarian Jews during the Fascist governments and after 9th September, 1944.” Statement. Central Consistory in Bulgaria. Sofia, May 1946. 4) 69 Leaflet issued by the Borough Committee of the BCP of Juch Bunar. Annual. Vol. V 41 70 Carl Savich, a historian with an M.A. in History and a J.D. in Law, says that approximately 5,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust in ‘Old’ Bulgaria-proper between 1941 to 1944. Savich, Carl. “Greater Bulgaria, Macedonia, and the Holocaust.” Serbianna.com October 24, 2004; Savich’s work has been cited on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website in Washington, DC and the Holocaust and Genocide Studies website of the University of Minnesota. 71 There is information on the investigation of atrocities in Bulgaria located in: NARA. Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State (RG 84). Records of the Moscow Embassy Confidential Records 1941-1955 (Entry 3313A). Boxes 1-214 - 1944. #711.6. 72 The Bulgarians surrendered both Thrace and Macedonia, their beloved ‘New’ Bulgaria, with the signing of the Armistice Agreement with Bulgaria and Russia (representing the Allies), on October 28, 1944. Article Two of that agreement read: “Bulgarian armed forces and officials must be withdrawn within the specified time limit from the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia in accordance with the pre-condition accepted by the Government of Bulgaria on October 11; the Bulgarian authorities must immediately take steps to withdraw from Greek and Yugoslav territory [all] Bulgarians who were citizens of Bulgaria on January 1, 1941, and to repeal legislative and administrative provisions relating to the annexation or incorporation in Bulgaria of Greek or Yugoslav territory.” 73 (April 13, 1941) The Times reported patriotic students, Macedonian and Thracian refugees, numbering up to 100,000 would march to the German and Italian Legations, passing by the Royal Palace yard where King Boris would receive the ovations of the crowd. It was reported the streets were lavishly decorated with German, Italian and Bulgarian flags for the “festive occasion.” Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)
Page | 13 their excitement and their loyalty to Germany by renaming streets in Sofia after Adolf Hitler and his top military generals. 74 A massive campaign of ‘Bulgarisation’ soon followed. The Bulgarians quickly deported Greek officials, they changed the names of towns and places to Bulgarian spellings, they swiftly invested large amounts of money into infrastructure changes including the introduction of all-Bulgarian courts of law, schools, churches and made Bulgarian the only legal language to be spoken. They also commissioned, printed and issued nearly 7,000,000 commemorative postage stamps in 1941, recalling the ‘recovery’ of Macedonia. 75 The Bulgarians proudly made Thrace and Macedonia, their ‘New’ land, their own. Simultaneously, the Nazis, in their zeal to kill all of the world’s Jews, had requested that King Boris deport Bulgarian Jews to Poland. Yet, there was popular uproar on the streets of Sofia not to deport the Jews, and while King Boris felt the political pressure to not deport Jews from ‘Old’ Bulgaria, he wanted to show gratitude to Hitler for liberating their old territory, so he was agreeable to deporting Jews from that area, ‘New’ Bulgaria, from Thrace and Macedonia. 76 On February 3, 1943, Bulgaria prepared deportation lists of the names, sex, profession and exact home addresses 77 of Jews in their ‘New’ lands. 78 The agreement of February 22, 1943 between a former textile merchant, Nazi Hauptsturmfuher (captain) Theodore Dannecker (1913-1945), and the Bulgarian Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, Alexander Belev, provided for the deportation of the Jews from Thrace and Macedonia. 79 In their great fear, some Macedonian Jews sought Bulgarian citizenship to save them from deportation to Poland, but the Bulgarian government denied their request. 80 Some managed to escape across the border to Albania, while others committed suicide to mitigate against having to endure suffering in the feared death camps of Poland. 81 On March 3, 1943, the Jews of the Thracian cities 82 of Kavala, Drama, Komotini, Seres, Xanthi and Alexandroupolis, were dragged from their beds at midnight, barely dressed, in sub-freezing conditions and placed into warehouses in their respective cities. Three days later they were all brought to Drama on the old Greek Bulgarian border. 83 These Jews were then forced to walk, for many miles, being whipped by troops eager to see them arrive in Bulgarian cities which had railroad links, many Jews died along the 74 Chary. 19 and Tamir. 166 75 These stamps (as seen in the appendix of this document) were issued to commemorate the acquisition of Macedonian territory. These stamps include a Macedonian Woman, View of Aegean Sea and Tassos, Outline of Macedonia and Tsar Boris III, Poganovski Monastery, and the City of Ohrid. (Images of stamps: philatelicmarket.com {Bulgaria 1939 – 1948} 1941-10-03) 76 Todoro. 23 77 Oren. 190 78 Chary. 79 79 For specific details of Jews living under Bulgarian occupation in Macedonia, who were originally taken for forced labor and were later deported to Auschwitz (by the Bulgarians in March-April 1943), see Yad Vashem Central Archives: Collection of Documents on the Destruction of Yugoslavian Jewry (Record Group 0-10). This is referenced in Catalogue No.5 of Guides of the Yad Vashem Archives, compiled by Bronia Klibanski, Jerusalem 1976. 80 Eskenazi, Zhak; Krispin, Alfred; Barouh, Emmy. Jews In The Bulgarian Hinterland: An Annotated Bibliography. International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations: Sofia, 2002. 527 (Because the Thracian Jews were refused Bulgarian citizenship, and because Yugoslavia was dissolved as a country, all of these Jews were essentially ‘stateless,’ thus becoming an easy target for deportation, a group which did not have much political capital.) 81 Rodogno 387 82 The 4,706 Jews of Thrace came from the cities of Kavala, Drama, Gyumyurdzhina, Seres, Xanthi and Alexandropils. (Tamir. 193) 83 Tamir. 193 Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)
Page 1 and 2: Clarifying 70 Years of Whitewashing
Page 3 and 4: Contents Abstract 4 Background 6 In
Page 5 and 6: Page | 5 partnership with the Nazis
Page 7 and 8: Bulgaria Officially Partners with t
Page 9 and 10: Bulgarian Jews Made Slave Laborers
Page 11: Page | 11 These Bulgarian Jews were
Page 15 and 16: Page | 15 property was looted and s
Page 17 and 18: Page | 17 journey of great torment.
Page 19 and 20: Page | 19 deaths. These 50,000 Bulg
Page 21 and 22: The Bulgarian Government Propaganda
Page 23 and 24: Page | 23 obtain foreign economic a
Page 25 and 26: Page | 25 Jews of Bulgaria suffered
Page 27 and 28: Appendix 1. Suggested Redress for t
Page 29 and 30: Newspaper Clippings Appendix 2. Pag
Page 31 and 32: Page | 31 Judaic Studies Academic P
Page 33 and 34: Page | 33 Judaic Studies Academic P
Page 35 and 36: Skopje, Yugoslavia, Jews rounded up
Page 37 and 38: Lom, Bulgaria, Bulgarian officials
Page 39: This paper resides at http://www.al

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