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A GUIDE TO
Jewish Bulg ri
ספר זה מוקדש לאלה הבאים לגלות את שורשיהם ולשוב אליהם על מנת להבינם
ם ולשוב אליהם על מנת להבינם
א
א
Gilad
Gilad
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
Dimana Trankova
Anthony Georgieff
JEWISH
A GUIDE TO
BULGARIA
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
Front cover: Centennial anniversary of the Sofia Central Synagogue, 9 September 2009;
Back cover: Menorah, Jewish Museum of History, Sofia
Yadad and Torah scroll from the 19th Century, Jewish Museum of History, Sofia (page 5);
Jews carrying Torah scrolls in the Sofia Central Synagogue (page 166)
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CONTENTS
Preface
Early History
From the Middle Ages to 1878
Jews in Independent Bulgaria
Second World War Karnobat
Emigration to Eretz Israel Plovdiv
Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews Pazardzhik
Exodus Gotse Delchev
Time of the Commissars Kyustendil
New Beginnings Samokov
Sofia Dupnitsa
Vidin Off the Beaten Track
Ruse Stara Zagora,Yambol, Sliven,
Shumen Kazanlak, Nikopol, Lom, Svishtov,
Silistra Pleven, Haskovo, Kardzhali, Dobrich,
Varna Sboryanovo
Burgas Antisemitism in Bulgaria
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Preface
When asked about the sources and attitudes changed. The regal figure of
of their national pride, most educated Bulgaria's King Boris III, a war-time ally
Bulgarians don't have to think too long: of Hitler, emerged. It was because of his
"The salvation of the Bulgarian Jews from cunning policy of procrastination and his
the Holocaust" is usually one of the top manoeuvring that not one Jew was sent to
three answers. Bulgaria, they will assert, certain death, the story went. But it would
stands unique in Europe and the world in soon transpire that things in Bulgaria's
that it did not allow its Jewish citizens to be recent history were not so black-and-white.
transported to extermination in the Nazi The name of Dimitar Peshev, the 1940s
death camps. Christians, Jews, Muslims and deputy speaker of parliament, came to the
Gypsies lived in peace and harmony, they will fore. Ignored and largely forgotten under
add, reinstating the Bulgarians' "proverbial" Communism, Peshev now shone as a valiant
hospitality and tolerance.Your Bulgarian in citizen who not only stood against the
the street will probably omit to mention government's intention to make Bulgaria
the Bulgarian State Railways cattle cars Judenfrei, but was the organiser of a popular
that brought over 11,000 Jews to Treblinka movement to prevent what had seemed like
and Auschwitz from the then Bulgaria- an accomplished deed.
administered territories of Aegean Thrace These theories, of course, conflicted with
and Vardar Macedonia. Any question likely to each other, and Bulgaria's post-Communist
arise will not be about the fact of the rescue, leaders settled for the least controversial
but about who should be credited for it. option. It was the Bulgarian people as a
As leaders and political systems changed whole, they claimed, it was the Bulgarian
in Eastern Europe's post-Communist years, nation as such that rose up and saved
so did the answers to this question. Initially, its Jews. It was a nation of selfless Raoul
the Communist school textbooks claimed Wallenbergs and not a single Maurice Papon.
that it had been the Communist Party and But can virtue, the other side of crime,
its leading functionaries who were personally be collectivised? Is it not individuals who are
to be lauded for the heroic deed. With the to be held responsible for whatever good or
fall of Communism in 1989, perceptions evil happens?
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Details from a parochet curtain, Sofia Central Synagogue
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Early History
The first evidence that Jews lived in Yet the question of when exactly the first Vrana Stena, near Kyustendil, indicates the
what is now Bulgaria dates from at least 500 Jews came to Bulgaria is open to speculation. presence of Jews in the hinterland as well.
years before the first Bulgarian state was Some hypotheses contend that the earliest Excavations of a Late Antiquity fort dating
actually founded. Jews in the Balkans moved here after the back to the 3th-5th centuries CE unearthed
Interestingly, the inscription in question, destruction of the First Temple. Other an amulet clearly showing a six-pointed star
found on a tombstone, was in Latin: "Ioses, theories suggest that Jews arrived as a result and the inscription: "Solomon Stamp, Keep
archsynagogus, son of Maximin, erected this of Alexander the Great’s conquests, which Me." What this find indicates is that in those
stone while he was still alive in memory turned the Mediterranean and the Middle times there was a significant demand for
of himself and his wife Kyria..." The actual East into a common area where migration such amulets and so there would have been
tombstone, dating back to the 2nd Century was relatively easy and unimpeded. Jewish smiths to manufacture them.
CE, was discovered during the excavation The Roman conquest of the Balkans Perhaps the most spectacular remains
of the Roman town of Ulpia Oescus, in the played a crucial role in settling Jews of this early Jewish presence in Bulgaria is
vicinity of the present-day village of Gigen, throughout the area. Many were exiled the Antiquity synagogue in Philippopolis,
near the Danube River. there by Emperor Vespasian after the Siege modern-day Plovdiv. Philippopolis was
Ioses had apparently been influenced by of Jerusalem in 70 CE and also after the Bar a major city on the road connecting
the Roman fashion of preparing tombstones Kokhba Revolt of 132-136 CE, while others Constantinople with Central Europe. It had
for posterity during one’s lifetime. His accompanied the legions as traders and emerged as a large cosmopolitan centre, a
tombstone bore no images of ivy leaves or artisans, a standard Roman practice. patchwork of nationalities and religions that
other pagan symbols of eternity, for the man One of these might have been Annanias, outshone other large cities of the colourful
was not only a Jew but an archsynagogus, a whose tombstone, carved in Roman letters, Roman Empire.
rabbi who had charge of several synagogues. was discovered in the modern Bulgarian city The synagogue of the Philippopolis Jews
His presence on the Danubian shores of Vidin, once the Roman fortress Bononia. had a fantastic mosaic floor, with intricate
indicates the existence of a Jewish diaspora, The Jews who came to the Balkans geometrical motifs as well as lions, birds,
which had probably arrived a century earlier in Antiquity were Romaniots, the oldest panthers and menorahs. It was constructed in
along with the Roman legions stationed Jewish settlers in these lands. Some of their the 3rd Century CE, but would be destroyed
there to guard the empire’s northern descendants, arguably, are still living here and rebuilt several times over the next few
borders. Further testimony to the Jewish today. centuries.
diaspora is another Gigen find, a marble slab The Jews did not inhabit only the The trials and tribulations of the
bearing an image of a menorah. Danubian shores. A find in the village of Philippopolis synagogue illustrate how
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The Roman town Ulpia Oescus, near the modern village of
Gigen, is where the earliest Jewish artefact in the Bulgarian
lands was unearthed
easily the fate of the Jews changed under change. The Middle Ages dawned, and new
the Romans. Unlike Christianity, Judaism peoples had arrived in the Balkans. After 681
had the status of Religio licita, a "tolerated the Jews found themselves living in a new
religion." In the 4th Century, however, state set up by Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians.
when Christianity was gaining momentum
as an official religion, the pressures being
put on Jews intensified, yet official attitudes
could change like the breeze. Emperor
Theodosius I (379-395), who actually made
Christianity the state religion of the Roman
Empire, officially ordered the governor of
Moesia, in present-day northern Bulgaria,
not to persecute Jews and demolish their
synagogues.
The Philippopolis synagogue is proof of
these changing attitudes. When Theodosius
died, his sons Arcadius (395-408) and
Honorius (393-423) ruled the eastern
and the western parts of the empire
respectively. Anti-Jewish sentiment was on
the rise. During their reign, the Philippopolis
synagogue was destroyed for the first time,
either as a result of antisemitism, or when
the Huns conquered and ravaged the city
in 447.
The synagogue would be rebuilt and then
destroyed yet again a century later. At that
time, however, the whole political picture
of Europe and the Balkans was beginning to
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Exodus
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A group passport for Jews leaving for British Palestine in 1946
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Time of the
Commissars
cronies in Sofia were busy turning Bulgaria Communist Party was promulgated in United in death? A Jewish Communist gravestone in Kyustendil
into a model "New Order" state. 1948 and was endorsed by the leader (previous page)
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on one of its walls. Friedrich Grünanger, a to the drawing board. Then it decided it
reputable Viennese architect of the time, was wanted a synagogue for 1,100 rather than
contracted to go ahead with the project. the originally planned 700 people. Work on
Grünanger was instructed to erect a building the building began as late as 1905.
similar to the great Sephardic synagogue in The synagogue was shut down in 1943-
Vienna (now demolished). 1944, in keeping with the wartime Defence
The project did not go very smoothly. of the Nation Act, as most Sofia Jews were
The Consistory sent the initial project back deported to the provinces. During the Allied
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bombings of Sofia a bomb fell on the roof. concert hall. Construction work on the
It failed to explode, but the walls of the building’s interior started in the 1980s,
synagogue collapsed under its weight. The but was never completed. For much of
library as well as the community’s archives that period the synagogue’s interior was
were destroyed for good. enmeshed in scaffolding and ladders.
The most serious changes to the The synagogue was given back to
synagogue were yet to come. The new the Jewish community after the fall of
regime of the Soviet-backed Communists Communism. In 2008, major renovations
declared itself officially atheist and started began. They were paid for by the Bulgarian
to actively discourage religious practices. In Culture Ministry, as well as by private donors
1950s then Chief Rabbi Asher Hananel was in Israel and the United States. The works
tried for "malfeasance in office" and sent to ended in time for the 9 September 2009
Robert Djerassi (left), Maxim Benvenisti, chairman of Shalom
prison. The synagogue was thus rendered Centennial Anniversary of the Sofia Central (second left), and Israeli ambassador to Bulgaria Noah Gal
rabbi-less, a situation that would continue up Synagogue. Gendler (fourth left) welcome Israeli President Shimon Peres,
2010 (above, left)
until 1994. Nowadays Sabbath and other prayers
The regime had no intention of leaving are usually held in the small hall of the Rabbi Bechor Kachlon (left) and Bulgarian President Georgi
the synagogue empty, however. The building synagogue. The great hall is used for major Parvanov light Hanukah candles, 2010 (top); Hundreds of old
Jewish book are stored at the synagogue's depository (above)
had excellent acoustics, and the government holidays, state visits and occasionally
decided, in the 1960s, to convert it into a concerts. Great Hall of Sofia Central Synagogue (previous page)
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Sofia synagogue’s Vienna-manufactured chandelier weighs
2,200 kilograms
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Sofia Cemetery
Anyone approaching Sofia from the modern Vazrazhdane Square, in fact, stands
West during the 16-19th centuries would get on a part of the erstwhile graveyard. Roughly
a very interesting initial view of what would speaking, the whole area between Aleksandar
become Bulgaria’s vibrant capital: a huge Stamboliyski Boulevard, Hristo Botev
Jewish cemetery melancholically lined with Boulevard and Positano Street once used to
semi-recumbent Sephardic tombstones. be a Jewish necropolis.
The landscape started to change in 1888, In 1898, the Sofia Central Cemetery was
when the new capital of the new country opened in the village of Orlandovsti, now
started to experience an influx of migrants a part of metropolitan Sofia. The Jewish
from the provinces. The outlying areas to cemetery was moved there, into a special
the south-west of the city, where the Jewish Jewish Sector in the northern reaches of
cemetery was, were gradually converted into the cemetery. The Orlandovtsi cemetery
residential quarters. Some of the tombstones (on Zavodska Street, served by trams Nos.
could be seen scattered around as late as 2 and 3, and bus No. 2) is still in use to this
the first decades of the 20th Century, when day. Many of the tombstones, especially
a poor Jewish neighbourhood existed in this those of the richer Jews, are pure works
part of Sofia. Curiously, the living and the of art, amongst the best in Bulgaria. They
dead coexisted happily: next to the remnants bear inscriptions in Hebrew and Bulgarian,
of the cemetery there was a stadium where but many also have lines in German, French,
the Jewish football team Akoakh (1919-1940) Italian and Ladino.
used to train. The Jewish Sector is adjacent to the
Today nothing indicates where that Jewish Muslim and Catholic sectors, and is easy to
cemetery used to be. Since the 1930s the find. Make sure you enter the gates of the
former Jewish Geren neighbourhood has cemetery from the entrance next to the last
been a part of the Vazrazhdane area. The stop of trams Nos. 2 and 3.
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Population: 55,000
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VIDIN
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A Jewish monument of gratitude adorns Vidin’s central square
(below)
Situated in the northwestern by Ashkenazis fleeing persecution in Hungary. Vidin’s Jews were faced with a major
corner of Bulgaria on a picturesque bend Rabbi Salomon Ashkenazi, who was born in threat in 1807. Maverick Osman Pazvantoglu,
of the Danube,Vidin is now an economically Neustadt, founded one of the first rabbinical the local Ottoman governor who had
depressed town in the poorest area of schools in the Bulgarian lands in Vidin. quarrelled with the High Porte and
Europe. Few young people want to stay. The Sephardic Jews came in the 15th Century. subsequently rejected the sultan’s supremacy
locals hope that a new bridge across the By the end of the 17th Century there were in the Vidin area, fell sick. His death seemed
river connecting it to Romania will improve at least five synagogues, one of which was inevitable, and rumours that he had been
the overall situation. Less than a century ago, Romaniot. poisoned by his Jewish physician started
however,Vidin was a bustling port city where The Jewish merchants in Vidin did circulating amongst the local Ottomans.
a sizeable Jewish community prospered. business throughout the Ottoman Empire The Turks decided to murder all the Jews
The first Jews are thought to have arrived and beyond. In 1658, for example, the main in retaliation for what they saw as an act
in Antiquity, when the Roman fort of Bononia Vidin synagogue received a gift of a silver of high treason. But Pazvantoglu was not
was what Vidin was known for. The Invasion tablet from the Jews inhabiting one of quite dead yet. He learned of the plan, and
of the Barbarians put an end to Bononia. the Danubian islands upriver. When the personally sent orders to do nothing against
Jews would return several hundred years Dubrovnik merchants lost their privileges in the Jews. A massive celebratory party was
later, when Vidin again emerged as an aureate 1688 because of their support for the anti- held, and from that time on the local Jews
Mediaeval city. At the forefront were Jews Ottoman Chiprovtsi Uprising, their Jewish would celebrate a kind of Vidin Purim called
from Italy and Byzantium, who arrived as early peers were quick to seize the new business Purim de los borrachones, or Purim of the
as the 13th Century.They would be followed opportunity. Drunken.
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There are plans to refurbish the former Vidin synagogue
into a Jules Pascin museum
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Vidin’s Jewish cemetery is among the most mercilessly
vandalised in Bulgaria
The synagogue fell into disrepair after The cemetery is indeed a gruesome
almost all of Vidin’s Jews left for Israel in sight. While under Communism it was just
the late 1940s. In 1950 the Communist ignored, in the turbulent years of Bulgaria’s
authorities turned it into a warehouse. In transition to democracy it was actively
1964 it was declared a monument of culture, vandalised. Many of the porcelain portraits of
but plans to convert it into a concert hall the deceased have been crushed with stones,
never materialised. and many graves have been dug up and left
Today the Vidin Synagogue is a sorry gaping to the sombre northern Bulgarian
sight. It still stands there with its domes and skies. With its broken effigies, overturned
turrets on the bank of the Danube, but it tombstones, scattered human and animal
is nothing but a skeleton. Its roof has caved bones and graves that look as if their
in, its windows have been broken, its paint occupants have just risen from the ground,
has peeled off, and its prayer hall has been the huge cemetery evokes an eerie feeling of
overwhelmed by weeds and even trees. Doomsday revisited. Trees grow from inside
The only remains of its former grandeur the holes that were once tombs, and local
are some intricately crafted wrought-iron Gypsies can still be seen digging in the hope
ornaments and a few wooden Stars of David of finding a golden tooth here or a bit of
in the windows. The building is ringed with metal there.
a wire fence, but the fence door is usually The Vidin Cemetery is perhaps the
unlocked and unprotected. Enter at your best (or worst) example of the general
own peril because the structure may collapse dilapidation of Bulgaria’s Jewish heritage. It
at any time. stands as a monument not so much to the
Another Jewish site in Vidin is the Jewish individual people who were buried there, but
Cemetery, located at what the locals refer as a memento to a whole culture, once rich
to as Nula Redut, just off the road leading to and vibrant, that has irrevocably disappeared
Vidin Ferry Port. The last burial took place from the Bulgarian lands.
there in 1965.
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Portraits of deceased Vidin Jews still adorn
what remains of their tombs
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In a pitiful condition, Samokov’s former synagogue (previous
page) still retains some of its decorations: a wood-carved
ceiling (right, top), a sign (right, middle), and a fresco (right,
bottom)
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them had both running water and in-house A couple of decades later, however, the railway pass through Ihtiman instead of
water closets. hustle-and-bustle of industrial Samokov had through Samokov.
In 1857-1860 the local Jews built a new, evaporated as fast as the Iskar mist. The town was impoverished and many
modern synagogue. It was a large building, One of the side effects of Bulgaria’s locals emigrated to Sofia. The Jews were no
at 330 square metres, and was 8 metres tall, independence from the Ottoman Empire exception. While in 1887 and 1919 there
with 38 windows. Accounts of who built was the loss of lucrative markets. The were 962 and 1,000 Jews respectively in
it vary. According to some archives, it was producers of iron and textiles lost their Samokov, in 1943 there were 374. They all
erected by Edirne workers commissioned contracts with the Ottoman army. The made the aliyah to Israel in the late 1940s.
by the wealthy Arie family. Another theory young Bulgarian state, pressed for cash, Under Communism most of the Jewish
is that the synagogue was built by local would rather import cheap materials for neighbourhood, including the old synagogue
craftsmen. It appears that the same builders its own army uniforms than buy the high- and many Jewish merchant houses, was
also worked on the impressive Bayrakli quality but expensive woollen cloth from demolished to make way for new housing
Mosque, in the middle of the town. Samokov. The villagers around Samokov projects.
Soon after the completion of the ceased going to its market, and preferred Yet the New Synagogue (at the
synagogue, one of the first secular Jewish to travel the 60 kilometres to Sofia. One intersection of Prince Alexandr Dondukov
schools in the Bulgarian lands was founded in of the last blows to the local economy was and Neofit Bozveli streets) survived. In 1965
Samokov, in 1874. the decision to have the Sofia-Stamboul it was a listed as a cultural monument and
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Antisemitism in Bulgaria
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A must book for the Jewish traveller in Bulgaria.
I have visited my birth country a dozen times in the
past 40 years. Invariably Jewish tourists ask me "Is
there a handbook in English that will help give me the
background I need to further understand and enjoy my
visit there more fully?"
It is my belief that Ms Trankova and Mr Georgieff
have presented us with a very practical "Guide to
Jewish Bulgaria." Congratulations to the writers. Enjoy
your visit!
R. R. P.
ISBN 978-954-92306-3-5
BGN 20.85
$15.99
€10.99
£9.49 9 789549 230635