Poll: Rising number of Bulgarians see antisemitism as problem in the country

Twenty-five per cent of Bulgarians polled in a Eurobarometer survey said that antisemitism is a problem in the country, an increase of 15 percentage points compared with a poll seven years earlier.

The results of the new poll, done in November 2025, were released on January 27 to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and compared with a previous poll done in December 2018.

Sixty-one per cent of Bulgarians did not believe that antisemitism was a problem in Bulgaria, down by three percentage points compared with 2018, while 12 per cent were undecided, a decrease of 12 percentage points.

Asked whether antisemitism had increased, decreased or stayed the same over the past five years in Bulgaria, 10 per cent said that it had increased (a rise of eight percentage points), 47 per cent said that it had stayed the same (an increase of 10 percentage points), 16 per cent said that it had decreased (up by five percentage points) while 27 per cent said that they did not know (down by 23 percentage points).

The poll found that about two-thirds of those surveyed held that expressions of hostility towards Jewish people, antisemitic graffitti or vandalism of Jewish buildings and institutions, antisemitism on the internet – including on social networks – physical attacks on Jewish people, and Holocaust denial were problems in Bulgaria.

Asked whether they thought people in Bulgaria were well-informed or not about the history, customs and practices of Bulgarian Jewish people, 62 per cent said that they were not well-informed, 29 per cent that they were well-informed, while nine per cent could not say.

Seven per cent said that the conflicts in the Middle East influenced how Bulgarian Jewish people were perceived in the country, 29 per cent said that they did “to some extent”, 33 per cent “no not really”, 19 per cent said “no definitely not” and 12 per cent said that they did not know.

Asked whether the Holocaust was sufficiently taught in Bulgarian schools, three per cent said yes, 21 per cent “to some extent”, 32 per cent “no not really”, 24 per cent “not at all” and 20 per cent could not say.

The Eurostat poll found that a growing majority of Europeans (55 per cent in 2025, compared to 50 per cent in 2018) consider antisemitism as a problem in their member state.

Forty-seven per cent of Europeans acknowledge a rise in antisemitism in their member state over the past five years, an increase by 11 percentage points since 2018.

Almost seven out of 10 Europeans (69 per cent, compared to 54 per cent in 2018) think that the conflicts in the Middle East have an influence on the perception of Jewish people in their country.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, said: “Jewish culture is woven into the fabric of European history. We must protect and nurture this today and well into the future. Remembrance ensures that we never forget historical truth. We remember, together.”

The Shalom Organisation of the Jews in Bulgaria said in a Facebook post marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day: “We must not forget that the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers and concentration camps, but with the language of hate in the streets of Europe”.

“We must not forget that the Holocaust was possible because people, for the most part, did not have the courage to stand up and remained passive,” Shalom said.

“Remembering, discussing and studying the Holocaust is important not only because it helps us to better understand the past, but above all, to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Ignorance of history condemns us to repeat the mistakes of the past,” the organisation said.

(Photo: (c) Clive Leviev-Sawyer)