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

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Page | 18 as blatant denial of the Holocaust! According to official diplomatic correspondence between the Bulgarian and German governments, the 170 Jewish Bulgarian citizens (from old Bulgaria) living in France were abandoned and sent to Auschwitz!...It is indeed hard to believe that the 418 congressional representatives voted in favor of H.2 CON. RES.77, while completely ignoring the aforementioned historical facts. 116 A further US resolution, telling only part of the truth, was passed on September 9, 2008: “…Whereas the Bulgarian Parliament, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, King Boris III, politicians, intellectuals, and citizens all played a part in the resistance to Nazi pressure to carry out the deportation of Jews living in Bulgaria by preventing the deportation of 50,000 Jews to Nazi concentration camps’" 117 Prof. Borouchoffa, told Rep. Lantos that he had delivered a speech on May 1, 2003 for the 10th Annual Federal Observance Program as part of the Holocaust Days of Remembrance at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC. There, Ambassador Poptodorova also spoke, however Prof. Borouchoffa states what Poptodorova said was far from being accurate: …In addition to her repeating the false claim that the Jewish population in Bulgaria increased, introduced a newly conceived tall tale that gentile Bulgarian people wore the Yellow Star of David as a token of solidarity with us! Ms. Poptodorova was born in 1951. I was born in 1929 and was there, wearing the Yellow Star of David, and never saw, heard or read any evidence about gentile Bulgarians, not even our closest friends, wearing it! I challenge any one to find genuine historical evidence that this was indeed true. Nevertheless, it certainly shows the efforts of the Bulgarian government, which has never apologized for the genocide, destruction of our lives and pilfering of our properties as Hitler’s ally, to ingratiate itself in the eyes of Americans. 118 The myth that Bulgaria’s population grew during the war years was repeated in 2007 by then UN Under- Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Shashi Tharoor at the “Partners of Hope Concert” at Carnegie Hall in New York: “...48,000 Bulgarian Jews were rescued from certain death, and Bulgaria was the only country that fell under Hitler’s jackboots that emerged with a Jewish population that was larger at the end of the war than it was at its beginning.” 119 Official Bulgarian publications continue to report the same single approach on how Bulgarian saved ‘50,000’ but make no other mention of the impact the Bulgarian government had on any other Jews: “…The Jews of Bulgaria were saved during the war. Several forces within the country refused to allow deportation to Auschwitz where they would undoubtedly been marched straight to their 116 Letter dated May 16, 2003 on file with the author of this paper. 117 H. Res. 1383 - Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the independence of Bulgaria. - Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. MCINTYRE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. FORBES, Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. HAYES, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, and Mr. CUELLAR) 118 Letter dated May 16, 2003 on file with the author of this paper. 119 un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2007/tharoor2.shtml Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)
Page | 19 deaths. These 50,000 Bulgarian Jews were saved through delaying tactics on the part of some government officials until the tide of war turned against the Nazis.” 120 “… [Bulgaria] prides itself for saving 50,000 Jews from the Holocaust only 60 years earlier…” 121 In an interview with King Boris III’s son (Prime Minister of Bulgaria 2001-2005) Bulgaria Air, the official airline of Bulgaria, writes in its InFlight magazine, "Bulgaria celebrated the 65th anniversary of the salvation of 50,000 Bulgarian citizens of Jewish origin from deportation to Nazi death camps" 122 Under “Historical Facts” about Bulgaria, a European Union publication produced in Sofia says only, “Bulgaria remarkably managed to protect its Jewish population of about 50,000 from the Holocaust by refusing to deport the country’s Jewish citizens to concentration camps.” 123 In the archives of the documents which helped Bulgaria build their case in the world’s eye to be accepted into the European Union, is a core document which makes mention of the intruth, that Bulgaria: “successfully resisted the deportation of Jews from its territory 124 ” during WWII. Not one of these above publications discuss the harsh persecution of Bulgarian Jews in ‘Old’ Bulgaria or the deportations from ‘New’ Bulgaria. It is as these historic atrocities against the Jewish people never happened, a total whitewash of history. Israel Strips King Boris III of Honor Too often, generalizations have been made, that if it was not for the ‘humility’ of King Boris III of Bulgaria, that the Bulgarian Jews would have been killed. Yet, the facts paint a different picture. King Boris, the man who met with Hitler and his Nazi officers on many occasions, had a plan and implemented it to make Bulgaria, Judenrein, free of Jews. If it was not for an outpouring of support, in the newspapers and in the streets, from non-Jewish citizens of Bulgaria, then it is without doubt that these Jews would have been deported to Poland by the Bulgarian government. Crediting King Boris with blocking the deportations was first put forward in the Bulgarian émigré press… in 1952 by one man—Benjamin Arditti, a Bulgarian Jewish expatriate who had emigrated to Israel…but also, after 1990, in Bulgaria itself.” 125 Even if Boris was responsible for blocking the deportation of one group of Jews, he certainly bore responsibility for the deportation of another group of Jews, those from 120 Andersen, Amy. “Fulbright-Hays Bulgaria 2008: A Life Changing Visit.” Newsletter. Bulgarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange. Sofia. No. 53, April-June 2008. 121 Shkodrova, Albena. “Minorities Report.” Vagabond. Sofia. n.p. December 2010. old.vagabond.bg 122 No. 58 November 5, 2008 123 Human Resource Development Centre. “Bulgaria in the European Union.” Euro Guidance: Sofia, 2007. 4 124 European Union website (EU-Bulgaria, Key documents) DOC/97/11 Brussels, 15th July 1997. "Commission Opinion on Bulgaria’s Application for Membership of the European Union" 125 Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fragility of Goodness. Cambridge University Press, 2001. 18 (Bulgarian Jewish historian Vicki Tamir blamed the lack of suspicion of King Boris and his intent, on the “myopia” of the Bulgarian Jews—a myopia that “would soon be remedied.” Bulgaria and Her Jews. 160) 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 and 12: Page | 11 These Bulgarian Jews were
Page 13 and 14: Page | 13 their excitement and thei
Page 15 and 16: Page | 15 property was looted and s
Page 17: Page | 17 journey of great torment.
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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