| Abstract |
The historical circumstances that prevented 50,000 Jews living in Bulgaria from being sent to Auschwitz, Poland, during WWII is discussed, drawing on videotaped interviews conducted in 1992/93 with thirteen Christians and seven Jews who lived in Bulgaria, 1939-45. The respondents reported no widespread anti-Semitism in Bulgaria during this time, although Jews were sent to labor camps, required to wear the Star of David, removed from their homes to small villages, and attacked by fascist thug groups. Most of these conditions have been omitted from Bulgarian history books, perpetuating the myth that anti-Semitism never existed. Most credited King Boris III with saving the Jews from genocide by delaying deportation until the tide of the war had turned. The fact that 45,000 of the 50,000 Bulgarian Jews left Bulgaria after the war is credited to Zionist ideology and fear of the communist regime. |