March 2018: An open letter from the Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria – ‘We Remember’

Open Letter: ‘We Remember’

In this momentous year of 2018:

We remember how, 75 years ago, the vast majority of our fellow Bulgarians courageously, through their words and deeds, prevented the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews to the death camps of the Holocaust.

We remember all who stood in defence of the Bulgarian Jews: the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, political leaders such as Dimitar Peshev, the civil leaders, the intellectuals, all who deservedly have a place among the Righteous of the Nations. We remember, no less, the ordinary Bulgarians, and remember too to uphold their names to the light of honour.

We remember the gratitude of the Bulgarian Jews of the time, and we remember today to share that gratitude, as we will do forever, through all the generations.

We remember the 11 343 Jews who were deported to their deaths from the territories of northern Greece and Yugoslavia, then under Bulgarian administration. Mourning for their memory lives forever in our remembrance.

We remember the six million Jews across this continent murdered by the Nazi death machine of the Holocaust.

We remember daily, not only in this year but in every year, the imperative to fight anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and the hatred of the Other, and that we cannot rest in this fight until it is won.

We remember the duty of all of us, Jew and non-Jew, to educate every new generation in the lessons of the history of the Holocaust, so that everyone bears in their hearts the pledge: “Never again”.

#WeRemember

Dr Alexander Oscar

President of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom”

March 2018

 

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