Italy and the Mare Nostrum Operation (October 2013-October 2014)

Author(s): Mihaela Mustăţea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

Migration from poor countries is constantly increasing, but at the same time it is becoming more difficult to legally enter and seek asylum in the European Union. Fences were erected in several countries, such as Hungary, Slovenia, Macedonia and Austria. Due to the lack of opportunities, thousands of desperate people are forced to embark on a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea, considered one of the deadliest seas in the world. For the past fifteen years, Italy has been increasingly affected by the phenomenon of migrants and applicants for international protection arriving by sea, departing from the coasts of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. These flows incremented significantly in 2011 related to the political changes in the countries of North Africa (especially in Tunisia and Libya), called the "Arab Spring," and with the intensification of the conflict in Syria. Since the Arab uprisings, the Mediterranean region has been confronted with unprecedented refugee and migratory fluxes: in 2014 over 170.000 people arrived by sea, of which more than 42.000 Syrian citizens fleeing the war.As a consequence of their geographical position and the implementation of the Dublin Regulation – which sets the procedures for asylum applications in the European Union – countries of first arrival such Italy, Greece, and, to a lesser extent, Spain have been most affected. This paper analyses the Italian’s center-left government decision to launch the Mare Nostrum operation, opening the path for the Search and Humanitarian missions. Mare Nostrum was a year-long naval and air operation initiated by the Italian government on October 18, 2013 after the greatly mediatized Lampedusa shipwrecks of 3rd and 11th of October 2013 near the island of Lampedusa when 636 migrants died off the Italian coast. The Italian operation aimed to identify boats in distress and to launch a proactive “Search and Rescue” operation with a policing and anti-smuggling component, covered an area of 70.000 square kilometers, and operated close to the Libyan coast. Leading this military-humanitarian operation, Italy succeeded in raising the awareness of EU member states’ governments and public opinion that the Mediterranean migration crisis affects all EU member states - not just Italy or other South-European countries. The Mare Nostrum operation ended suddenly, after a series of harsh critics, largely because of a lack of European Union supported being considered a „pull factor” for migration, but its consequence was that it paved the way for a greater humanitarian response to this complex phenomenon that affects the economic, social and security aspects of Europe in the world of mass human movements. It was superseded by Frontex's Operation Triton, an operation which had no naval or air force of its own, instead, it had to rely on the help of the EU countries. The aim of the new European operation led by Italy as host state was not to save human lives but, basically it was a border control operation. Triton replaced also two old operations the agency used to coordinate in the South of Italy, Hermes which controlled the border along the Italian coastline, and Aeneas which controlled migrant flows from Egypt and Turkey (via Greece) to Italy. Another mission under Italian naval command and headquartered in Rome was the Sophia Operation, launched in June 2015, an anti-people smuggling mission in the Mediterranean Sea, ended in March 2019. The ending decision relates to Italy's reluctance to allow rescued people to disembark in its own ports.

Същност и организация на картотеката и архива на Държавна сигурност (9 септември 1944 г. – 1949 г.)

Author(s): Rusalena Pendzhekova-Hristeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2023

The study presents the problem of the essence, organisation, and functional development of the card file and archive of the State Security, in the period September 9, 1944 – 1949. The transformations of the services, departments, and sections that are directly involved in the operational report, card file, and archive are tracked. The main administrative and internal normative documents are analysed, which refer to the card file and archive of the State Security and which objectify the existing problems and trends at that time. The importance of this specific archival complex in its capacity as a carrier of retrospective documentary information and a specific source base for the researcher is derived.

Кети Мирчева – един независим изследовател на 65 години

Author(s): Nikolay Aretov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 47/2023

„Каква промяна на времената“ – цар Фердинанд I в изгнание в Кобург (1918–1948)

Author(s): Franziska Andrea Bartl / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

The biography of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria has been repeatedly examined. Often, the focus is placed on his years as Prince and Tsar of Bulgaria. At the same time, the period after 1918, during which he spent a significant portion of his time in Coburg, the ancestral home of his family from Saxony-Coburg and Gotha, has received little attention in research. The present essay delves into these years of exile and explores the development of Ferdinand from the autumn of 1918 until he died in 1948. It presents the former Tsar of Bulgaria as a “private individual”, describing his everyday life away from grand politics and portraying him as a patron, supporter, and scholar. Finally, the essay discusses Ferdinand’s role during National Socialism, contextualizing it against the backdrop of the development of his Coburg homeland and his relationships with Jewish individuals.

Синтезиран преглед на отношенията между комунистическия режим и Църквата в България

Author(s): Nikolay Poppetrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

Fotografia wobec krzyku pamięci zagłady spod betonu masowego turyzmu

Author(s): Wojciech Sternak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

In the text, I discuss the problems of the genocide experience in the context of mass tourism. I point out that large-scale Holocaust memorials and genocide museums incorporated into the mass-tourism industry are drowning out cries of remembrance. I propose three categories of commemoration: “Captions”, “Monuments” and “Stand-alone Works”. The latter category includes fine art photography among others. Using the case of the photographic series Koenigsgraben, I point out that the category of “Stand-alone Works” seems to have the greatest potential (next to historical enviro mental activeness) to free the cry of remembrance from beneath the concrete of the monuments.

Notes bibliographiques

Author(s): Pavel Trost,Elias Katz,Karel Dolista,Vladimir Sadek,Josef Hrásky,Jiřina Hlaváčová,Karel Lagus / Language(s): English,French,German Issue: 2/1968

Reviews of: 1. Medieval Judaeo-Czech 2. Elias Katz: Tres semestri seu duodeviginti menses, Antwort zur Bemerkung K. Dolistas: Anni tres et menses sex. (Judaica Bohemiae HI, 1967, S. 135/6.) 3. Magyar-zsidó aklevéltár (Monumenta Hungariae Judaica), tome 10 (1150-1766). L’édition préparée par les soins de Sandor Schreiber et ses collaborateurs, Budapest. A magyar izraeliták országos képviseletének kiadâsa 1967. 615 pages de texte, 7 illustrations 4. Jan Herman: Židovské hřbitovy na Moravě (Les cimetières juifs en Moravie) (Památková péče, 1968/3, pp. 81-87) 5. Dagmar Hejdová-Bořivoj Nechvátal: Studie o středověkém skle v Cechách (Etude sur le verre du Moyen âge en Bohême) Památky archeologické, LVIII, No. 2, pp. 433-491, Prague 6. Franz Kafka: Dopisy Mileně (Lettres à Milena) Prague, Academia 1968. 261 pages, 21 illustrations. Traduit par Hana Žantovská 7. Franz Kafka: Briefe an Felice. Herausgegeben von Erich Heller und Jürgen Born Frankfurt a. M., S. Fischer Verlag 1967. 784 s. 8. Dagmar Hilarová: Hundert Farben hat der Regenbogen Aus dem Tschechischen übertragen von Rudolf Iltis und Günther Deicke Verlag der Nation, Berlin, 1966, 112 s. 9. Walter Pillich: Jüdische Goldschmiede unter Kaiser Rudolf II. Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden IV., 1967 Nr. 2/3, Seite 79-82. Herausgegeben von Hugo Gold in Tel Aviv. 10. Bernhard Brilling: Geschichte des jüdischen Goldschmiedegewerbes in Schlesien. Hamburger mittel- und ostdeutsche Forschungen Band VI. Verlag Ludwig Appel, Hamburg 22. 1967, S. 163-221. 11. Bernhard Brilling: Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Goldschmiedgewerbe in Prag. Die ersten Prager jüdischen Goldschmiede Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden Jhg. 1967, Nr. 1, Seite 21-26. Herausgegeben von Hugo Gold in Tel Aviv.

Notes bibliographiques

Author(s): Vladimir Sadek / Language(s): French Issue: 2/1969

1. Pokorný Petr: Počátky gnose. Vznik gnostického mýtu o božstvu člověk. (Les commencements de la gnose. La naissance du mythe gnostique Dieu-Homme). Publications de l’Académie Tchécoslovaque des Sciences, série des Sciences sociales, 78/1968, Prague 1968, Academia, 68 pp. 2. Kestenberg-Gladstein, Ruth: Neuere Geschichte der Juden in den böhmischen Ländern, I., Das Zeitalter der Aufklärung 1780-1830, Tübingen, J. C. B. Mohr, 1969, 418 pp. (Un compte rendu détaillé paraîtra dans le prochain fascicule des Judaica Bohemiae) 3. Hrozinky a mandle. Výbor z jidiS povídek. (Raisins de Corinthe et amandes. Choix de contes en yiddish), Prague, Odeon, 1969, 480 pp. 4. Allegro, John: Rukopisy od Mrtvého moře. (Les Manuscripts de la Mer Morte), Prague, Mladá Fronta, 1969, 214 pp. 5. Petiška, Eduard: Golem a jiné židovské pověsti a pohádky ze staré Prahy. (Golem et autres contes et légendes juifs du Vieux Prague), Prague, Editions d’Etat du Livre pour enfants, 1968, 174 pages. 6. Černý Bohumil: Vražda v Polné. (Le meurtre de Polná), Prague, Editions „Magnet“ du Ministère de la Défense Nationale ,1968, 215 pages. 7. Fuks, Ladislav: Pan Theodor Mundstock. (Monsieur Théodore Mundstock), Prague, Ecrivain tchécoslovaque, 1969, 180 pages. 8. Fuks, Ladislav: Smrt morčete, sbírka povídek. (La mort d’un cobbaye. Choix de contes). Prague, Mladá Fronta, 153 pages. 9. Kříž, Ivan: Pravda o zkáze Sodomy. (La vérité sur la destruction de Sodomě), Ecrivain tchécoslovaque, 1968, 733 pages. 10. Hostovský, Egon: Všeobecné spiknutí. (La conspiration générale), Prague, Melantrich 1969, 345 pages.

Communications

Author(s): Vladimir Sadek,Bedřich Nosek / Language(s): French Issue: 2/1972

1. Le cycle: de conférences d’automne du Musée Juif d’Etat en 1971 2. Les études hébraïques à la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université Charles de Prague 3. Bedřich Nosek: Raimundus Martini (Pugio fidei), ses rapports avec le judaïsme et la philosophie islamiqu

SOCIAL CONFLICT, POPULAR PROTEST, AND VIOLENCE IN WWI BULGARIA

Author(s): Kristian Stefanov / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

WWI created a global economic crisis, stimulating mass popular protests in all belligerent countries that undermined the state’s legitimacy and triggered the emergence of violence, reminiscing the coercive character of interwar European politics. A central component in this protest on the rear was women’s protests against the misery that ultimately culminated in a series of violent hunger riots denunciating the war effort and political elites. The present article follows this trend in the Bulgarian wartime experience by analyzing the transformation of economic hardships into women-led popular protest. The study focuses on the protesters’ political language and symbolical tactics to politicize everyday social suffering by framing it within the broader context of national solidarity and the war effort. The article argues that the wartime crisis exacerbated the pre-war class conflicts and stimulated mass popular dissent that empowered the women “in the rear” to challenge the state’s authority, insisting on economic redistribution and peace.

Les régimes mémoriels postcommunistes et les monuments bucarestois

Author(s): Claudia-Florentina Dobre / Language(s): French Issue: 22/2023

„Crossroads images”, as Régine Robin called them, monuments are central to processes of appropriation or disavowal of the past, while preserving their status as symbols of identity for individuals, various groups, a city, and the nation. They are concrete images of the relation to the past of the community that builds and, sometimes, destroys them. They can also be vandalized when changes in society occur, especially during revolutions and coups d’état. After the fall of the communism, the fate of the monuments built during the old regime can be broken down into two contrasting categories: those illustrating communist ideological figures and symbols were dismantled; those representing national heroes, however, remained standing, becoming objects of new politics of memory. Furthermore, new personalities and symbols joined existing monuments as key individuals for post-communist national memory were commemorated: anticommunist fighters, members of the Romanian royal family, or interwar politicians. The accession to the European Union was also inscribed in Romania’s memorialization practices, as monuments dedicated to leading European figures have been erected.

L’OEUVRE DE SAÜL MÉZAN ET L’INFLUENCE FRANÇAISE SUR LES SÉFARADES EN BULGARIE

Author(s): Vladimir Paunovski / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2024

Saul or Shaul Yeroham Mezan is a doctor with specialization in surgery and urology, Doctor of Medicine, officer, public figure, Zionist, anti-fascist, publicist, journalist, poet, historian, and folklorist – researcher of Sephardism, political scientist and current political analyst. He was born in the city of Tatar-Pazardjik (today Pazardjik, Bulgaria) in 1893, and died far from his homeland, as a victim of Nazism, probably around 1943. Nowadays his name is known to a few researchers, as the predominant writings about him and his work are episodic in time and fragmentary in their subject matter. His literary and journalistic works, as well as his socio-political views, remain almost unknown to the general public, including, unfortunately, to the Jewish community in Bulgaria. The objective of the paper is the French-speaking environment in which S. Mezan was formed, and his works in French in various fields of the knowledge, which prevail over the ones in Bulgarian both in quantity and in terms of scientific and social significance. The author also pays special attention to the numerous yet scattered references for the French influence on the language, the way of life and the culture of the Sephardim in Bulgaria in the book by S. Mezan dedicated to them.

Резюм

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/1980

Summaries for Judaica Bohemiae 1980/1.

Communications

Author(s): Anita Franková,Vladimir Sadek / Language(s): English,German Issue: 1/1982

1. Zweigstellen des Konzentrationslagers Gross-Rosen in den Leinenwebereien der Gegend von Trutnov während der Nazi Besetzung 2. The Exhibition “Folk Art in the Collections of the State Jewish Museum“ 3. Das Faksimile des Grabsteines von Avigdor Kara

Пепеляшките нагоре – надолу по стълбата на социалната мобилност. Спомени за бедността на бежанците от Източна Тракия

Author(s): Diana Radoynova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The article approves the biographical approach and the case study method on a specific text fragment – the ancestral memories of a descendant of refugees from Lozengrad in 1903 about poverty, deprivation, humiliation, lack of social support and the difficult integration into the host community for three generations in a row. The empirical text is interpreted through the theoretical concepts of some of the most prominent researchers of poverty and its accompanying social dynamics such as Sorokin, Bourdieu, Simmel, etc.

Музеи, културен туризъм и културно наследство в България от средата до края на ХХ век. Основни моменти от историческото развитие и проблеми

Author(s): Vidin Sukarev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

This study presents the background of cultural tourism in Bulgaria. There are a lot of definitions of tourism, but everywhere in the leading places is mentioned the cultural heritage. Cultural tourism became a global autonomy economy branch in the 1980s. In Bulgaria, in the middle of the 1950s, a growth of restoration, preservation, and presentation work began. The number of museums increased from 70 in 1949 to 233 in 1999. The peak of museum visitors was between 1976 and 1987, but statistical data are not reliable. The transition to a democratic society and market economy was the real start of cultural tourism in Bulgaria, established on the material base, institutions, and infrastructure constructed during the studied period. The applied data shows that the percent of museum non-budget incomes increased, but the system still needs reforms and investments.

La bulgaristica nei settant'anni di storia di "Ricerche slavistiche"

Author(s): Tatyana Lekova / Language(s): Italian Issue: 65/2022

Examining the heritage of Bulgarian studies published in “Ricerche slavistiche” over seven decades, I focused on the reviews of Bulgarian studies in Italy written by two renowned scholars: Janja Jerkov and Giuseppe Dell’Agata. This approach makes it possible to reconstruct the main lines of development of both traditional themes and recent trends in Bulgaristic studies in Italy. The studies of the pre-war period are dominated by the activity of Enrico Damiani and Luigi Salvini, whose works were published with the purpose to discover the cultural heritage of the Bulgarian people to the Italian public, and therefore of spreading its history, its language and its culture. The journal “Ricerche slavistiche” was founded while the era of the fathers of Bulgarian studies was fading away. While the editors of a previous journal, “Bulgaria”, aspired to make Italians aware of the cultural beauties of the Bulgarian people, the new journal was conceived with a programmatic intention of separating scientific research from journalism and of bringing about a renewal of the Slavic sphere. In the review of studies published in “Ricerche slavistiche”, given the substantial variety of essays, to reconstruct the main lines of thematic development during Seventy years of history, any division of the bibliographic material by subject would have a rather conventional value. Hoping in an empirical utility, along the lines of the subdivision adopted by Dell’Agata, I propose a categorization of the studies: the medieval period is treated in the first paragraph, 1) paleobulgaristics, language and literature of the I and II Bulgarian Empire; the further paragraphs are: 2) the period from the 15th to the 18th century; the modern era 3) Neo-Bulgarian language; 4) modern literature; 5) varies; 6) Bulgarian-Italian scientific and cultural events. The most important studies of this period from a methodological point of view are due to Ivan Dujčev, Riccardo Picchio and Mario Capaldo. One of the major researchers of the modern Bulgarian language is Giuseppe Dell’Agata, whose linguistic studies marked a new phase for the era of popularisation and eclecticism of Bulgarian studies in the 1940s and 1950s. In Italy, the period between the two wars saw the development of a tradition of studies focused on the problems of Bulgarian literature and culture by the masters and pioneers of Bulgarian studies Damiani and Salvini. A recurring theme of particular interest to Italian scholars is emphasizing the work of the poet Penčo Slavejkov (1866-1912), considered “the founder” of Bulgarian literary modernism. Bulgarian-Italian cultural relations are part of an uninterrupted tradition of almost a century, anchored in the studies in Italy between the two wars, continued after World War II (by Picchio and Borriero), vital in the following decades (Dell’Agata) up to the present day (Jerkov, Marcialis, Stantchev, Garzaniti, Ziffer, Diddi). Concluding this review of seventy years of Bulgarian publications in “Ricerche slavistiche”, we observe, on the one hand, an evolution over time of study interests that change with the generations; on the other hand, the interdisciplinarity and interculturality and, more generally, novelty and originality of Italian Bulgarian studies.

Преговори за контрол на стратегическите въоръжения през първото десетилетие след края на Студената война

Author(s): Angel Apostolov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

Abstract. This scholarly article examines the problems ahead of the effective control of strategic armaments that have arisen in the first decade after the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the USSR left huge nuclear arsenals on the territory of four newly independent states. The US and the Russian Federation faced the challenge not only to convince Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to voluntarily hand over to the Russian Federation the remaining nuclear weapons on their territory, but also to continue the complex negotiations between them to negotiate and ratify new treaties reducing their nuclear arsenals. In addition to the three planned START Treaties, the fate of the ABM Treaty become another contentious issue in the negotiations between the US and the Russian Federation. Despite these difficulties, strategic arms control became the least controversial aspect of NATO–Russia relations and one with the greatest potential for cooperation.

Историческа география и полемология – взаимовръзки в теорията на международната сигурност

Author(s): Radoslav Bonev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1s/2024

Fundamental historical-geographical and political-geographical categories and concepts with methodological interrelationships in the description of polemology are presented. Through a propositional-logical connection in historical geography and polemology, the modern significance of the nation-state in the theory of international security is examined.

Catholic Action: The Historical Framework of the Creation of the Organized Laity

Author(s): Ivan Šestak,Ivica Musa / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The centuries–old model of the Church as a community of lay people and clerics who inspire and guide them was entering a functional crisis. In the era of revolutions and liberalism, the laity found itself in a new, contradictory position: at the same time, they are believers loyal to the Church and citizens loyal to secular society. Looking for a way out of the crisis, the Church relied on the democratic capacity of the laity, who promoted Christian values with their social presence, but also fought for the Church’s political rights. The organized Catholic laity had a specific role: to form, culturally and morally, the lay classes. The prehistory of the creation of the Catholic lay movement (Catholic Action) gives insights into the complexity of societies in the second half of the 19th, and the beginning of the 20th century, but also the high level of inventiveness of both the laity and the hierarchy in activating the laity, which will turn out to be an epoch–making success of the Church of the 20th century.