From The Jerusalem Post

By Greer Fay Cashman

Peres visits Sofia to receive award and thank Bulgarian people.

It is never too late to express appreciation for a noble deed.

President Shimon Peres during a state visit to Bulgaria on Wednesday thanked Bulgarian President Giorgi Parvanov for the courageous and moral stand that Bulgaria had taken towards its Jewish population during World War Two.

"In the name of my people and in the name of the State of Israel I have come to thank you for your stand during the Second World War when as a result of the combined efforts of the [Bulgarian] government and the [Bulgarian] people the majority of Bulgarian Jews were saved," he said.

Peres added that Israel and the Jewish Diaspora admire and respect Bulgaria's act of valor during the darkest hours of human history when Hitler tried to exterminate the Jewish people. The Bulgarians at the risk of their own lives did not bow to Nazi pressure, and in their refusal to do so, merited the highest distinction of honor that humanity can bestow, he said.

"You stand at the head of an extraordinary nation," Peres told Parvanov.

Even though Bulgaria was allied with Germany during the Second World War, and seemingly accepted the Nazis' racist ideologiy, it never actually implemented any racist laws. Bulgaria's remarkable stoicism and attitude of tolerance towards its minorities is documented in the book Beyond Hitler's Grasp – The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews by Bulgarian-born novelist, historian and former MK Michael Bar Zohar, who coincidentally has been a longtime neighbor of the president at his private residence in a Ramat Aviv apartment building.

According to Bar-Zohar, the history of Bulgarian Jews would have been very different were it not for the actions and courage of many civic leaders and intellectuals, the resistance of Bulgarian church leaders, and the decency and tolerance of hundreds of nameless Bulgarians who remained immune to racism, anti-Semitism and ethnocentrism.  At the height of Nazi attempts to deport Bulgarian Jews to concentration campaign a Bulgarian parliamentarian, Todor Kojukharov, argued against yielding to German demands in terms of Bulgaria’s survival as an independent entity.

"The only moral capital a small nation has is to be a righteous nation. Only a righteous Bulgaria can demand that her rights be respected by stronger nations," Kojukharov said then.

Aside from meeting with Parvanov to discuss political, security and economic issues including the need for the Palestinians to enter into direct negotiations with Israel, Peres was in Bulgaria to receive that country's most prestigious award, the Stara Planina.

In conferring the award upon Peres, Parvanov said that it represents the high regard in which Peres and the State of Israel are held by Bulgarian authorities. He add that it also represents the continuing friendship between the Israel and Bulgaria emphasized that more than anything else it was in recognition of Peres as a symbol of peace.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!