Deportacja Żydów z Macedonii Wardarskiej, Bełomoria i Pirotu w historiogra􀏐ii bułgarskiej
Deportation of Jews from Vardar Macedonia, Belomorie, and Pirot in Bulgarian Historiography

Summary/Abstract: This article surveys Bulgarian historical publications (collections of documents, monographs, collective works, and articles in periodicals) regarding the deportation of Jews from the territories annexed by Bulgaria during WWII (Vardan Macedonia, Western Thrace with a fragment of Aegean Macedonia that is, ‘Belomorie’, and Pirot). Such publications have been appearing on the Bulgarian publishing market since 1945, which testi􀏐ies to Bulgarian scholars’ continuous interest in the issue of the fate of the Jewish minority, which remained under Sophia’s control. Until the fall of communism there were significant ideological limitations to Bulgarian historiography, while scholarly articles or books stressed the role of the communist movement (led by the future General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Todor Zhivkov) and ordinary citizens in rescuing the local minority from deportation to the death centre in Treblinka. The dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the freeing of historical research from the corset of ideological propaganda brought the 􀏐irst Bulgarian publications that stressed the positive role of King Boris III and certain Bulgarian politicians, for instance, Dimitar Peshev, who purportedly opposed the political pressure exerted by Berlin with regard to deportation of Bulgarian Jews. However, the issue of Bulgaria’s responsibility for deportations of Jews from the annexed territories remains suf􀏐iciently researched. One may also see the resistance offered by some scholarly milieus, which wish to regard their country as the only one that did not participate in the Holocaust.

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