The Miraculous Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust (1939 – 1945) (The Bulgarian Miracle) (Part 2) by Dr. Marcel Israel

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Summarized:
2013 will mark 70 years since the salvation of Bulgaria’s Jews during the Holocaust (1939-1945)
There have been two attempts of deportation –
04 of March and 24 of May 1943, both have failed!
There are substantial works of historians, politicians and well known writers, discussing this topic.
Today, however, we are still wondering: How did this miracle happen?

5. Conclusion : The most Important factors for the salvation of the Jews in Bulgaria

1. In 1939-1944 Bulgaria was an ally of Germany and therefore not occupied.
2. In 1943 Hitler’s Germany suffered two defeats, a terrible one in February at Stalingrad and a fatal in August at Koursk. Moreover, in July 1943 the Allied forces landed in Sicily.
3. The Bulgarian population was tolerant of all ethnicities and religions.
4. Bulgaria’s Jews were fully integrated into the society.
5. Representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and other religions fully supported the Jews.
6. In the Parliament a large group for supporting the Jews was formed. The whole Bulgarian Civil Society and Key Personalities demonstrated firmly against the deportation.
7. King Boris III was neither pro-Nazi nor anti-Semite, although the government was a real Nazi follower.
8. Some Political Parties, outlawed at that time, e.g. the Communist Party and the Agrarian Union also supported the Jews.

-In 1939-1944 Bulgaria was Germany’s ally and thus not occupied by the Nazis

Bulgaria, although an Axis’ ally maintains full sovereignty with its parliament, government, even some political parties in full activity.
In such a country Nazi Germany could not simply realize deportations of its citizens. In order to do that , Germany needed to apply for that via diplomatic channels or indirectly through pressure on the government by its secret services (RSHA-Gestapo).

• Bulgaria did not break the diplomatic relations with the USSR
• Bulgaria did not send any soldiers to the Soviet front
• At all times the Consistory of the Jews was alive, even under the Law for the Protection of the Nation (ZZN)
• Even though under severe control of the pro-Nazi leaders and the German Embassy in Sofia, Bulgarian officials were taking risks, in order to help the Jews, as for example in the case of ambassadors and officials from Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry, who were issuing transient visas from the Bulgarian embassies in Bucharest and Budapest for European Jews to cross Bulgaria en route to Istanbul and Palestine, /25/.

The Bulgarian population was tolerant of all ethnicities and religions
The Jews of Bulgaria were fully integrated into the society

• According to paragraph 2. of this paper the Jews belonged to the working class and were fully integrated into the society. There is a document: a letter from October 1940 sent by the Union of Bulgaria’s Writers protesting against the preparation of the Law for Protection of the Nation (ZZN) The Writers show their respect and love for the Jewish people of Bulgaria.

The Orthodox Church, other Religions, Parliament’s Groups and Key
Personalities of the Civil Society fully sopported the Jews

• The outstanding personalities of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were the Archbishops (Metropolitans) of Sofia, Stefan and of Plovdiv, Kiril. A cult of the Bulgarian Church, called the «White Brotherhood”, led by Reverend Peter Deunov also supported the Jews. King Boris III had a special respect for «Master» Peter Deunov, and King’s private secretary, Lubomir Lulchev was a leading figure at the «White Brotherhood“. Chief Rabbi Daniel Tzion maintained a friendship with Peter Deunov.

 

In those extremely difficult times the outstanding personality was the Deputy Parliament’s Speaker, Dimitar Peshev. In March1943 he formed a parliamentary group for defence of the Jews, on the other hand he unveiled the government‘s top secret preparations for the immediate deportation of 8.000 jews, mostly from Sofia, Plovdiv and Kyustendil.

We have to highly recognize the great work and leadership of Rabbis Daniel Tzion and Asher Hananel, who in turn were good friends of the Archbishops, the Deputy Parliament Speaker Peshev and were also very respected by the Bulgarian society. The Rabbis had a very risky and difficult job to do: to calm, strenghten and at the same time organize the Jewish population.

Support from Bishop Angelo Roncalli (future Pope John XXIII)

Archbishop Angelo Roncalli acted in 1943 as Apostolic Nuncio in Istanbul. He indirectly helped many Jews from Central and Eastern Europe to get to Istanbul and then to Palestine. He was a good friend of King Boris III, as he baptized his son, Prince Simeon in 1937. Roncalli wrote King Boris III a letter, where he, on a very diplomatic way demonstrated his support to Bulgaria´s Jews, /15/, Annex 4.

King Boris III was neither pro-Nazi, nor anti-Semite, although the government was a harsh nazi follower 

King Boris III of Bulgaria was a very complex personality. The communist regime 1944 -1989 created a negative image of him, accusing him of being the leader of the Jew’s persecutions. At the same time the communists claimed for 45 years, as if they were the true “saviors” of the jews. Important testimonies were destroyed or intentionally hidden by them. Moreover, due to the wave of executions in 1945-1946 ( by the so called red terror caused by the “People’s Court”), along with the real fascist criminals, many important witnesses of the period 1941-1944 also disappeared, thus originating a lack of testimonies.

After the political changes in 1989, many historians started investigating King Boris III as person, politician and the role he played during the Holocaust. They created very contradictory works about him. Although each study carries particular lines of research and ideas, I would, after studying the works of various historians, present my own and logical view on this issue:

• King Boris III had to ally himself with the Third Reich. If he hadn´t done it,  the Nazis  would have invaded Bulgaria, just like the neighbor-countries.
• Personally he maintained friendly relations with all ethnic groups and religions, with intellectuals, politicians and generally with the Bulgarian people, apparently he was an endearing person. /9, 26/

Politically the King was totally convinced, that the war unleashed by Hitler was a     nonsense and crazy and would end in a disaster. Therefore, there are indications,  that he began in the last months of his life secret negotiations with U.S. authorities, located in Istanbul and Bern, /30/. Moreover, he highly feared the influence of the USSR  and the invasion of Bolshevism after the war. The persecution of the Jews was a factor  in favor of the interests of postwar´s USSR, and, on the contrary was very unpopular in   the USA. So, the King generally disagreed with the activities of Belev, Gabrovski or Filov.

• In fact the King in his mind was neither pro-Nazi nor anti-Semite, but he was     surrounded by a Nazi government, with support of the German embassy, led by      senior members of the SA, SS and RSHA (Gestapo).
• People, who personally knew the King, said, that he used to act with extreme caution,     when making decisions or, probably, in a very smart, diplomatic way. For example he used to be absent for a time in crucial moments e. g. on May 24, 1943, when the second deportation attempt was about to be carried out, but he was present again the right moment. Some historians, /26, 35/, even describe this attitude as a «delaying tactics“. In Goebbels’ diaries some of his attitude is referred to as:  “…listig wie ein Fuchs”  “…cunning like a fox…”/26/.
• Therefore, after studying the works of many historians and memoirs of people, who had been near the King, we could conclude, that his role for the rescue of the Jews was not active, but it is very likely, that King Boris III personally stopped both attempts to deport the Jews from Bulgaria. /9, 16, 26/

• Documents apparently don’t exist or were destroyed, but there are testimonies of people, saying, that the King had spoken by phone with Belev and / or Filov and practically ordered to stop the deportations to Poland. This is a logical assumption, supported    by some evidence or by works of historians.

We have to emphasize here the 4 concerns, that quite likely influenced the political behaviour and decisions of King Boris III:

• The King aimed to unite and keep stable the Kingdom and the Throne 
• The King was convinced, that Hitler was going to lose the war 
• The King feared, as Germany’s ally, the invasion of the USSR at war’s end, the Sovietization of Bulgaria and thus the end of the Kingdom.
• Most important issue in 1943 was trying to abandon the Axis and getting armistice or treaty with the USA and England, what the King was working on.

Any further King’s policies, including the Rescue of the Jews depended on the current status of those 4 issues of highest priority.

When I am presenting this paper to jewish brothers and sisters, it is quite likely to be read by children, grandchildren or relatives of Jews, deported or survivors of Vardar Macedonia or Aegean Thrace.

For them, the beloved ones, who perished during the Holocaust, after having been deported by the Nazis and the Bulgarian authorities, for those 11,343 Jews from Nazis’ and Bulgarians’ occupied areas, nobody did nothing to save them.

From the point of view of the survivors and their descendants of Macedonia and Thrace, King Boris III could also be responsible for not having prevented this massacre. Therefore, a few years ago and on Macedonia’s request, King Boris III commemorative plaque placed in Israel by the Fund Keren Kayemet Leisrael, was withdrawn.Thus, 48,000 Jews in Bulgaria were saved and 11,343 Jews from Vardar Macedonia and Aegean Thrace were killed

Myself, as a Sephardic Jew from Bulgaria and descendant of survivals, I want to say out-loud here:

Zichronam Levracha!!– Eternal be the memory of 11,343 dear sisters and brothers from Macedonia and Thrace, who are present here with us!

Outlawed Political parties, like the Communist Party and the Agrarian Union also supported the Jews.

We would like to stress the role of those two parties, which although outlawed,helped organizing massive demonstrations,moreover they operated clandestine radio stations in the USSR and the Middle East for broadcasting important information to the Bugarians, and especially to the Jewish population.

We have to emphasize here the active participation of many young Jews in the armed struggle against the regime. Amongst the victims during the period of 1940-1944 almost 10% were Jews, they were killed in combats as partisans or later in the war, that Bulgaria declared on Nazi Germany in September 1944 until May 1945.

Conclusive Remarks

Really : Who saved the Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust? :
Let’s sum up again the most important factors :

1. The Bulgarian Civil society, /33/
2. The Bulgarian Parliament
3. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and other Religious Communities
4. The lack of destructive Anti-Semitism amongst the Bulgarian people and the full integration of the Jews into the society
5. King Boris III of Bulgaria
6. The millitary advances of the Allied Forces in 1943
7. Hashem!! God!!

Jewish Humour during the Shoa in Bulgaria

1:

The Holocaust era in Bulgaria was very sad. One of the provisions of the Law for the

        Protection of the Nation prohibited Jews of having surnames ending in :

        «OV», «EV» «ICH» and «SKI“, all those are bulgarian endings.

There was a Bulgarian Finance Minister Ivan Ganev, the Jews were laughing  about a funny coincidence:

GANEV means Thief in Yiddish. (or GANAV in Hebrew)

Well, in 1942 a Jew was called  to the police.

They asked: – Name and surname?

–   Abraham MEIROV

–  This is impossible, immediately remove the «OV», a Jew can’t have «OV»!

–  Okay, call me MEIR, what means ENLIGHTNER, but also tell Mr. GANEV to remove    the «EV» and from GANEV (Thief) ,he will become GAN (Garden)

2

The Bulgarian Jews are mostly Sephardic. So, they developed during the Shoa a special Sephardic Slang, for not being discovered by the authorities, that they were listening  to forbidden Radio Stations , like London, Christo Botev etc. That Slang contained a      lot of Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish and Bulgarian words.

Example:  El mustacho chico se iva areventar – patla olsun! (turkish)

Meaning:  HItler was going to die (the attempt against Hitler’s life in July 1944)

Get blasted!

Another one : El mustacho grandi arondjo y covaleó al mustacho chico del Trigo

That means: Stalin got rid of Hitler in Zhitomir (Zhitomir was during the WWII the Headquarters of Himmler and it was for the Nazis their last bastion after the battle    of Kiev (December 1943) and before they withdrew completely from the USSR on January 3, 1944

ZHITO-MIR : The Bulgarian (and Russian) word ZHITO means Wheat – Trigo.

Such a smart Encryption!
We can’t belive, that a bulgarian policeman could decipher this puzzle.

Dr. Marcel Israel – Madrid / Sofía , Octubre 2012