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

The Bulgarian Government Propaganda Machine
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With no other explanation, the 2011 official government website of the Council of Ministers of the
Republic of Bulgaria, provides nothing more than a simple 18-word sentence in regard to the Jews,
“King Boris III supported the public pressure and did not allow the deportation of about 50,000
Bulgarian Jews.” 132 There is an even shorter sentence on the government website of the Bulgarian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Tsar Boris III stood by public pressures and did not allow deportation of
about 50,000 Bulgarian Jews.” 133 The Bulgarian government websites are silent about their brutal
treatment, forced relocation and imprisonment of the Jews of Sofia and other ‘Old’ Bulgarian cities, and
remains quiet about the 13,000 deported Jews from ‘New’ Bulgaria.
In 2002, appearing in Washington DC before the US Congressional Commission on Security and
Cooperation 134 on a human rights matter, Elena B. Poptodorova, 135 the Ambassador of Bulgaria to the US,
read from a prepared statement. Her remarks were made before Commission Co-Chair, Congressman
Christopher H. Smith and several other US Representatives and Senators; 136 here, are Poptodorova’s
verbal remarks, as recorded by a Congressional transcriptionist:
In these days in your country, Bulgaria is being commended for being a role model in the years of
the Holocaust when it saved its 50,000 Jews, and this is the largest rescue in the Holocaust and
that was as a result of a complete unity of parliament, King Boris III, the Orthodox Church and
the people. This legacy has not been wasted. It is still there and because of it we realize even
more that we have to live up to this understanding of preserving human life and human
dignity… 137
In Poptodorova’s original officially prepared statement, which was provided to the Commission, and
which was republished—verbatim—by the US Government Printing Office, we see a slightly different
version of her remarks:
These days the Bulgarian nation is being commended as a role model in the years of the
Holocaust—when the Bulgarian Parliament, the Bulgarian King Boris III, the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian people rescued their 50 000 Jews (the largest rescue in the
Holocaust!!). [sic] They did not let a single Bulgarian Jew to be deported to the gas chambers of
132
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria “About Bulgaria: History” September 27, 2005 Accessed January 2011
http://www.government.bg
133
Republic of Bulgaria Ministry of Foreign Affairs “History and Geography.” Accessed January 2011
http://www.mfa.bg/en/pages/view/45
134
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an
independent U.S. Government agency created in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and
other OSCE commitments. The Commission contributes to the formulation of U.S. policy.
135
Poptodorova is a well seasoned politician who started her career in Bulgarian politics in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
1975, before becoming a Member of Parliament. She was made Ambassador of Bulgaria to the US in 2002, and as of 2011, her
official title is “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United States of America.”
136
At the time, Commission legislative members included: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Rep. Frank Wolf and
Rep. Steny Hoyer.
137
Transcript: Hearing before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe: 107 Congress, Second Session: April 9,
2002. (CSCE 107-2-1) US GPO, Washington, 2002. “Romani Human Rights: Old Problems, New Possibilities.” 31
Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)