Holocaust in Balkans project Bulgarian meeting

The Bulgarian meeting under the project took place in the period 1-3 September 2019 in Plovdiv at the Jewish Cultural Centre. The project partners learned about the different story of the Holocaust in Bulgaria- a story with a happy end for 48000 Bulgarian Jews who remained alive in that dreadful period when 6 million Jews found their death during the Holocaust in Europe. The Bulgarian partner, “Youth and Civil Initiatives in the Rose Valley” NGO in cooperation with the Shalom Association of the Jews in Plovdiv had prepared powerpoint presentations and films on the topic. The chairperson of the Jewish association in Plovdiv Mr. Svetozar Kalev presented the history of the Bulgarian Jews and teh book their association has published about all the people who contributed to the salvation of the Bulgarian Jews. The participants also learned that at a time of war and the great pressure of the Nazi Germany, the Bulgarian church, members of difefrent groups- writers, merchants, doctors,MPs and ordinary people protested against the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews and this active citizenship led to the happy end. However, most precious was the presence of three survivors from the Holocaust – three prominent Jews from Plovdiv who told the participants about their feers and ordeals during the period when the “Law for protection of the nation” was enacted in 1941. The meeting ended with presentation about the Israeli inventions and developments made by Jewish people as food for thought to think what great human potential was lost with the extermination of 6 million people during the Holocaust.
The participants also visited the Synagogue in Plovdiv – the second only functioning synagogue in Bulgaria and the monument dedicated to all those who have contributed to saving the Bulgarian jews.
The international group gathered around the Plovdiv European Capital of Culture2019 site “Together” to state symbolically that TOGETHER it is our responsibility to pass the story of the Holocaust , so it is NEVER FORGOTTEN and it NEVER REPEAts again.