Figure 1.--This portrait shows the wedding of Sofía and Efraim Bidjerano during the early 1930s. One of the boys is Iako Behar. |
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Bulgaria was liberated from the Turks by the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Jews were not perceuted during the ceturies of contol by the Ottomon Turks. After liberation from the Ottomons this situation did not change significanl. Most intances of anti-Semitism originated from foreign influences. Here the most important was the Russian troops who helped liberate Bulgaria. The Russians introduce the old legends about Jewish ritual murders of Christian children (on the eve of Passover). Accusations were made in various towns: Pazardjik (1884), Vratza (1890), Lom (1903), and Kustendil in (1904). In these towns, the accusations were dismissed after the Jews involved proved that the accusations were false. The Jewish commuinity in Bulgaria was free from any legal persecuted and as a result developed as an important part of the country's social and economic life. Individual Jews obtained important positions. Most Bulgarians treated the Jews as equals. Prominent Jews included: Professor Yossif Fadenchecht (Minister of Justice), Yossef Herbst ( Director of the Press at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Boris Schatz (Director of the Academy of Fine Arts), and Dora Gabe (a popular poetess). [Boyadjieff]
There is evidence of a Jewish presence in what is now Bulgaria during the Roman era. A Jewish settlement has been noted in Macedonia during the reign of the Emperor Caligula (37–41 AD).
A Latin inscription has been discovered at Ulpia Oescus (modern Gigen) which displayed menorah and mentioning "Archisynagogos Joseph" (2nd century). Emperor Theodosius I after the conversion to Christianity issued a decreee on the persecution of Jews in Illyria and Thrace (379). Synagogues were destroyed.
The area of modern Bulgaria became a part of the eastern Roman Empire which evolved into the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines were severly weakened by war with the Huns. With the decline of both the Byzantines and Huns, Slavs moved into Thrace or the area of modern Bulgaria. Slavic tribes moved into the Balkans from the north and east (about 500 AD). The Slavs settled the Danube Plain (Moesia Region). The Byzantines tried to reconquer this former territory of the Roman Empire. The Slavic tribes to resist the Byzanties united as never before to form a Slavonic state. Somewhat later the Bulgars, a fierce Turkic people, living on the Russian Plains were pushed west. Some of the Bulgars under Tartar Khan Asparuh settled on the Thracian plain (about 650 AD). What we are less sure about is what happened to the Thracians and other resident population when the Slavs and Turkic people arived. This would have included small numers of Jews.
The Bulgars crossed the Danube and moved south to found the First Bulgarian Empire (679 AD). This was the first modern Bulgarian state. The Tartars and Slavs united to fight the Byzantines who they defeated in a major battle (681 AD). The Bulgarian state was ruled by a Tartar khan supported by Slavic and Bulgar nobels. Over two centuries the Slavs and Bulgars assimilated forging a new Bulgar mational identity. Most modern Bulgarians are related to these opeoples. Historical records of the Bularian Empire are fragmentary. Much of what we know of the early Bulgars comes from Byzantine records. The Bulgars were pagans. Some Jews experiencing persecution in the Byzantine Empire appear to have migrated to Bulgaria. Byzantine Emperor Leo III (718–41) escalated the persecution of the Jews and and unknown number appear to have fled to Bulgaria. Some historians report that during the reign of Boris I that there was an attempts to convert the pagan Bulgarians to Judaism.
The Bulgars were eventually Christisanized by Orthodox Christians (9th century). Some historian notes Jewish names in the members of the Comitopuli dynasty (10th-11th-century). There are names like Samuil, Moses, and David. This of course suggess Jewish origins, although no records exist substantiating this. Jews settled in Nikopol (967). Trade relations developed with the Republic of Ragusa and Italian cities. Ivan Asen II e grnted their merchants permission to trade within the Second Bulgarian Empire. Tsar Ivan Alexander married a Jewish woman named Sarah. She converted to Christianity and adopted the Christian name of Theadopra. She reportedly had notable influence in his court. A church council resulted in the excommunication of heretics (1352). Jews were also affected. Death sentences were issued on three Jews. The Tsar repealed the verdict, but they were killed by a mob. of 1352 led to the and trial the death sentence of three Jews, who were killed by the mob despite the verdict's having been repealed by the Tsar. The incident is, however, more notable for the Jews being tried and for the small number killed. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church never persecuted the Jews like the Byzantine Church to which it was related or the Roman Cathloic Church in the West. It is unclear why the Bulgarian Church and state took a more enlightened approach. The medieval Jewish population was Romaniote (Byzantine) rite. This changed when Hungary expelled its Jews (1376). Ashkenazim from Hungary and other European countries fleeing persecution settled in Bulgaria (14th-15th century).
The Ottomans launched an invasion of the Bulgarian Empire before Constantinople finally fell. The Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria was finally completed (1396). At the time of the Ottoman conquest there was a sizeable Jewish presence. There is evedidence of Jewish communuities in trading centers like Vidin, Nikopol, Silistra, Pleven, Sofia, Yambol, Plovdiv (Philippopolis) and Stara Zagora. The Ottoman era was a time of relative tolerance for Bulgarian ews. After Bavaria expelled its Jews (1470), another wave of Ashkenazim reached Bulgaria. This brought Yiddish. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand expelled Spain's Jews (1492). Sephardic Jews sought refuge in the Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire and other areas. Sephardim reached Bulgaria indirctly through Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Italy, Ragusa, and Bosnia. The Separdim generally settled in already established Jewish communities. Relations between the communities varied. Sofia had communities of Romaniotes, Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Finally a single rabbi was appointed (1640). Sabbatai Zevi writings had a substantial impact on Jews in Bulgaria (17th century). Nathan of Gaza and Samuel Primo actively preached his ideas in Sofia. Jews continued to settle in Bulgaria, particulrly new trading centers like Pazardzhik. The Ottomans banished Ragusan merchants after they participated in the Chiprovtsi Uprising (1688). The Ottomans granted privileges to Jewish merchants. Jews obtained importamt government appointments. Bakish of Tatar-Pazardzhik helped to implement a uniform coinage system (early-19th century).
Bulgaria was liberated from the Turks by the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Jews were not perceuted during the ceturies of contol by the Ottomon Turks. After liberation from the Ottomons this situation did not change significantly. Most intances of anti-Semitism originated from foreign influences. Here the most important was the Russian troops who helped liberate Bulgaria. The Russians introduce the old legends about Jewish ritual murders of Christian children (on the eve of Passover). Accusations were made in various towns: Pazardjik (1884), Vratza (1890), Lom (1903), and Kustendil in (1904). In these towns, the accusations were dismissed after the Jews involved proved that the accusations were false. The Jewish commuinity in Bulgaria was free from any legal persecuted and as a result developed as an important part of the country's social and economic life. Individual Jews obtained important positions. Most Bulgarians treated the Jews as equals. Prominent Jews included: Professor Yossif Fadenrecht (Minister of Justice). This is one of those odd names Jews got when they were entitled to family names.
Fadenrecht means something like Perpendicular Thread in German. Others included Yossef Herbst (Director of the Press at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Boris Schatz (Director of the Academy of Fine Arts), and Dora Gabe (a popular poetess). [Boyadjieff] A reader mentions another famous Bulgarian Jew, Elias Canetti (1905-94). He was born in the old city of Ruse, Bulgaria. His parents were Sephardic Jews who's ancestors came to Bulgaria from Spain at a time when Bugriawa pat of the Ottoman Empire (1492). Canetti, lived and studied in Vienna. As a result of the NAZI Anschluß he moved to London (1938). He w awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1981). Canetti wrote all his books in German, a language he knew as well as Bulgarian, English, and Ladino, the language of the Spanish Jews.
The NAZIs duting the 1930s gave considerable diplomatic effort to drawing the Balkan coyntries unto the German orbit. The King resisted as best he could, but by 1941, NAZI military power and Bulgarian Fascist elements left King Boris III few options. Hitler as part of a Balkans settlement transferred Southern Dobrudža from Romania to Bulgaria (1940). Romania had fought with the Allies in World War I while Bulgaria had joined the Central Powers. The NAZIs applied considerable force and Bulgaria finally joined the Axis and agreed to the entry of German forces (March 1, 1941). The NAZIs offered Bulgaria the return of Macedonia. Bulgaria participated in the attack on Greece and Yugosalvia (April 1941). The Bulgarians in large part because of King Boris III who was very popular. The King refused to turn Bulgarian Jews over to the NAZIs as part of the Holocaust. The King employed a range of delaying tactics. The Bulgarians did, however, turn over Jews in the occupied areas of Greece and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria also refused to partcipate in the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). King Boris who was very popular died mysteriously in 1943, possibly by heart attack or by assassination. The King's 6-year old son, Simeon II, succeeded under a regency. The Red Army driving the NAZIs back on the Eastern Front reached Romania (1944). The Soviets next declared war on Bulgaria abd crossed the Danube (September 8, 1944). Bulgarian army units and partisan bans joined with the Red army and quickly took Sofia. There was only limited NAZI resistance. Unlike Romania with the key Ploesti oil fields, Bulgaria wa of only marginal strategic value to the Reich. The Soviets on the next day seized the rest of Bulgaria (September 9). This day is now known as Liberation Day.
The Bulgarians were nominally a German ally in World War II. The Bulgarians under King Boris III were one of the few peoples in NAZI-dominated Europe to defy Hitler. Much of this was due to King Borris who was very popular. The Bulgarians y refused repeated NAZI demands that the Bulgarian Jews be handed over for deportation to the death camps in Poland as part of the Holocaust. The King employed a range of delaying tactics. Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews were thus saved. The Bulgarian Army did cooperate with the round up and transport of Jews in the northern area of Greece and southern Yugoslavia (Macedonia) that they occupied in 1941, although Bulgarian civil authorities do not appear to have been involved.
At the end of World War II, the Red Army occupied Bulgaria and proceeded to impose a Communist People's Republic. This began with the Fatherland Front. Jewish communal life came under the control of the Communists and their sympathizers. The Fatherland Front set up a Central Jewish Committee under the Front's Commission for National Minorities. The Communists supervised the Central Jewish Consistory. Bulgaria became slavishly obdient sattelite state which was organized along Soviet lines. This included an athiest campaign. Bulgarian Jews which largely supported Zionism after the War, wantedf to emmigrate to Palesine, but were preventd by British immigration quotas and the Bulgarian Communists which were anti-Zionist. When the British left, Israel declared its independence (1948). Exit from Bulgaria was made possible by a change in Soviet policy. Most Bulgarian Jews left for Israel at this time. The Bulgarin Jewish population before the War was about 50,000 people and because the Bulgarian people resisted the NAZIS, most survived the War. The emigration to Israel reduced the popularion to only avout 5,000 Jews during by the 1950s. The Israeli government reports nearly 44,000 emigrees from Bulgaria through 2006. They indicate that this is the . 3,961 people from Bulgaria have emigrated to Israel between 1948 and 2006, which is the fourth largest number of jews from all European countries(behind the Soviet Union, Romania, and Poland). The Bulgarians unlike the Soviets did not restrict Jewish emigration. Communist authorities did limit the public expression of religion. Children educated in Judaism had to be taught secretly by their parents inside the home.
Boyadjieff, Christo. Saving the Bulgarian Jews in World War II (Free Bulgarian Center: 1989).
Chary, Frederick B. The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution 1940–1944 (University of Pittsburg Press, 1972).
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