NEWS

History should be remembered the way it is. We should not allow the truth to be forgotten or distorted because underestimating human suffering carries the risk of future tragedies. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who, together with his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin, unveiled a monument of salvation in the city of Sofia. The monument is dedicated to the Bulgarians who saved the Jewish community in Bulgaria during World War II.

 

An identical monument will also be built in the capital of Israel, Tel Aviv, and in President Plevneliev’s words, it will remind us that every person can change history, can make the world better and fairer. It will remind us that the greatest evil may be avoided if the resistance against it is active and determined enough. 

 

“The monument of salvation, here in the heart of Sofia, is yet another step towards keeping the memory alive of the great contribution the modest, yet courageous Bulgarian people has made,” Rosen Plevneliev said in the speech he delivered at the ceremony. The Head of State emphasized that today, when the generation of the survivors from the Holocaust is leaving, we should assume the commitment more than ever before to bow our heads before the courageous Bulgarians who did not hesitate to protect their compatriots Jews from the death camps.

Rosen Plevneliev said that representatives of different professions, intellectuals, political and social leaders, the orthodox church have played a crucial role for the salvation of the Bulgarian Jews. “However, the deed was performed above all by the ordinary people who were committed to the cause of the peaceful, yet determined resistance in support of their compatriots-Jews. I firmly believe that the Bulgarian public saved not simply their neighbors and friends in 1943. It saved itself – and remained as it has always been – tolerant, hospitable and humane,” the President emphasized. 

 

The Head of state also recalled the famous Jewish wisdom that “if you save even a single human life, you save the whole universe,” and that the memory of Bulgaria and the courage of the Bulgarians who protected their Jewish compatriots during World War II comes flooding back in their heirs wherever they are in the world. “Unfortunately our country was placed in a situation in which it could not do the same for the Jews from Northern Greece and parts of former Yugoslavia, who were not Bulgarian citizens. We deeply grieve for their death, and so we do for all victims of the Holocaust, the memories of whom will be kept alive forever,” the Head of State added.  

“Nowadays the world is yet again facing nationalist and anti-Semitic attitudes. It depends on us to stamp out these horrible phenomena,” President Reuven Rivlin said in the speech he delivered. He added that the Bulgarians and Jews have the moral commitment to do their best to impart to the future generations values such as tolerance, democracy, public solidarity and love for the people. 

 

The ceremony was attended by National Assembly Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva, Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fundukova, diplomatic representatives accredited in Bulgaria, representatives of the Jewish community in Bulgaria and a lot of citizens.       

 

The two were unanimous that restoring peace in Europe through diplomacy is a priority for the EU and the only way to ensure the long-term security and stability of the Old Continent.

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