Amb Manor's speech at Bulgaria-Israel exhibit at the UN
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The Power of Civil Society During the Holocaust

  •   The Bulgarian Story 1940-1944
  • 1/28/2013
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    The Power of Civil Society During the Holocaust: The Bulgarian Story - 194001944

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  • Invitation to the Opening exhibit
     
    ​Speech of Ambassador Manor at the opening of the exhibition "The Power of Civil Society During the Holocaust: The Bulgarian Story 1940-1944" co-organized by the Bulgarian and Israeli missions to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust:​

    Dear Mr. Director-General,

    Dear Ambassador Piperkov,

    Dear Dr. Taneva,

    Ladies and gentlemen,

    Dear Friends,

    The fate of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust owes much to the power of civil society.

    In February 1943, Bulgaria signed a pact with Nazi Germany and agreed to transport twenty thousand (20,000) Jews from Thrace and Macedonia, occupied by Bulgaria since 1941, to extermination camps in Poland.

    In March and April 1943, the eleven thousand (11,000) Jews from Thrace and Macedonia were deported to Treblinka and Auschwitz. Five hundred (500) of them survived the war.

    But the fate of the forty-eight thousand (48,000) Jews of Bulgaria was different. A public protest composed of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Parliamentarians, public figures and ordinary Bul​garians forced King Boris not to fulfill his pact with the Nazis. On May 24, the plan to deport Bulgarian Jews was revoked, and they survived the war.

    We, in Israel, shall never forget that it was the strong will of the people of Bulgaria that saved its Jewry, and we shall be eternally grateful.

    I am pleased to participate, together with my colleague Ambassador Piperkov, in the opening of this exhibition which commemorates and pays tribute to the courage of the Bulgarian people and its solidarity with its Jewish population. I am pleased that this event is taking place in the Palais des Nations, under the auspices of Director-General Tokayev.

    Thank you.​​

     
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