Head of State Rumen Radev attended the premiere screening of the Next Generation film in Tel Aviv together with hundreds of representatives of the Bulgarian community in Israel. The film by the Bulgarian director Dimitar Gotchev is dedicated to the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews during World War II and their heirs. The meeting with the Bulgarian community marked the end of the Bulgarian Head of State’s visit to Israel on the occasion of marking the 75th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation and the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I am aware how happy we Bulgarians are with the feat of our predecessors, who, by rescuing their friends, classmates and neighbors Jews saved us the trouble of facing the terrible moral dilemma of asking ourselves, as many other European peoples do today, whether such a rescue was possible at all, Rumen Radev emphasized after the end of the film. The Head of State said that Bulgaria has earned a well-deserved place in the hearts of the Bulgarian community in Israel and it is essential that the memory of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews be preserved for future generations as well.
Before the film was shown the President of the State of Israel Reuven Rivlin made a video address on the occasion of the premiere screening. The premiere was also attended by reserve lieutenant-general Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2007 to 2011, whose family is also among the rescued Bulgarian Jews.