PERCEPTIONS OF THE RESCUE OF THE JEWS AND THE HOLOCAUST IN BULGARIA TODAY
PERCEPTIONS OF THE RESCUE OF THE JEWS AND THE HOLOCAUST IN BULGARIA TODAY

Summary/Abstract: Over the last 20 years the perception of the Holocaust in Bulgarian society, including by various historians, is perhaps one of the most complex subjects in the national public space, and even beyond. The lack of consensus regarding the assessment and perception, as well as in the presentation and interpretation of historical facts, i.e. of the stories about what happened and what did NOT happen, prevents a structured history of the events from 1940 to 1944 in the Kingdom of Bulgaria. In various versions, that are often diametrically opposed, the persecution of Jews is presented using a hybrid mixture of facts from Bulgarian history of the same period (political, military, economic relations with Germany and Italy, the partisan resistance movement and relations with Soviet Russia, the specifics of political parties and political life in Bulgaria, actions of the Royal Palace and the Parliament), which either have nothing to do with the so-called ‘Jewish question’ or are only indirectly related to it. False theories of the ‘salvation of the Jews’ continue to be fabricated from this hybrid mixture of facts into an amalgam, which has many followers who believe these historical legends and myths over the past two decades. In this article I will look at some of these recent theories and discuss the reasons for their spread and, possible motives for the persistent desire within certain circles to impose on society these “alternate” interpretations of the salvation of the Jews.

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