The Bulgarian Cabinet set March 10th as the Day of the Holocaust Victims. On that day in 1943, the country's leaders halted the implementation of a governmental decision dispatching the first groups of Bulgarian Jews to fascist death camps.

Bulgaria also marks today the 60th anniversary since the rescue of nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews.

Today, all schools in Bulgaria will hold a special class dedicated to the Holocaust and the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews. An international conference dedicated to tolerance will take place in Boyana residence. In the evening a special concert will feature in the National Theater Ivan Vazov.

The was commemorated with a number of events in many Bulgarian towns Sunday.

Rallies were organized in Bulgaria's second-biggest town of Plovdiv and Kyustendil.

A prayer was served at the graves of Patriarch Kiril and Exarch Stefan in Bachkovo.

On March 10 1943 Plovdiv metropolitan Kiril, who later became Bulgarian Patriarch, and Sofia exarch Stefan prevented deporting of hundreds of Jews from Plovdiv.

A museum of Dimitar Peshev, a key figure in the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews, was opened to visitors in the Bulgarian town of Kyustendil. The image of Dimitar Peshev was on the reverse of the coin that was issued by the Bulgarian National Bank on the occasion of 60th anniversary of the rescue of 48,000 Bulgarian Jews.

A pray service was also held in the Black Sea city of Varna.

The commemorations are in line with the decisions of the Council of Europe and take place under the patronage of President Parvanov.

A prayer in the Sofia synagogue Saturday evening officially marked the beginning of the events with which Bulgaria commemorates the Holocaust Day and the anniversary since rescue of 48,000 Bulgarian Jews. The prayer was held by chief rabbi Rav Behor Kahlon. Among the official guests of the commemorative events was Israel's former President Itzhak Navon.