On the Road of Bulgarian Jews

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On the Road of Bulgarian Jews
History and Past
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History
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Jews are members of the Jewish people, an ethnic
group originating in the Israelites of the
ancient Middle East. The ethnicity is strongly
related to the religion of Judaism, and converts
to Judaism are included among the Jewish people.
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Although the total number of Jews is difficult to
measure and is controversial, most authorities
place the number between 12 and 14 million, the
majority of whom live in the United States (40.5
in 2002) and Israel (34.4 in 2002) (see Jewish
population).
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American Jews, 1939
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Second World War, Poland
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A Jewish girl in national custom
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The history of the Jews in Bulgaria dates to at
least as early as the 2nd century AD. Since then,
the Jews have had a continuous presence in the
Bulgarian lands and have played an often
considerable part in the history of Bulgaria from
ancient times through the Middle Ages until today.
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ANTIQUITY
The earliest written trace of Jewish communities
in what is today Bulgaria date to the late 2nd
century BC. A Latin inscription found at Ulpia
Oescus (modern day Gigen, Pleven Province)
bearing a menorah and mentioning archisynagogos
Joseph testifies to the presence of a Jewish
population in the city.
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A decree of Roman Emperor Theodosius I from 379
regarding the persecution of Jews and destruction
of synagogues in Illyria and Thrace is also a
proof of earlier Jewish settlement in Bulgaria.
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BULGARIAN EMPIRE
After the establishment of the First Bulgarian
Empire and its recognition in 681, a number of
Jews persecuted in the Byzantine Empire may have
settled in Bulgaria.
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During the rule of Boris I there may have been
attempts to convert the pagan Bulgarians to
Judaism, but in the end the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church was established and the population of the
Bulgarian Empire was Christianized in the 9th
century.
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The names of many members of the
10th-11th-century Comitopuli dynasty such as
Samuil, Moses, David could indicate partial
Jewish origin, most likely maternal, though this
is disputed.
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Jews also settled in Nikopol in 967, as well as
from the Republic of Ragusa and Italy, when
merchants from these lands were allowed to trade
in the Second Bulgarian Empire by Ivan Asen II.
Later, Tsar Ivan Alexander married a Jewish
woman, Sarah (renamed Theodora), who had
converted to Christianity and had considerable
influence in the court. A church council of 1352
led to the excommunication of the heretics and
the Jews and the death sentence of three Jews,
who were killed by the mob despite the verdict's
having been repealed by the tsar.
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The medieval Jewish population of Bulgaria was
Romaniote until the 14th-15th century, when
Ashkenazim from Hungary (1376) and other parts of
Europe settled.
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OTTOMAN RULE
By the time the Ottomans overran the Bulgarian
Empire, there were sizable Jewish communities in
Vidin, Nikopol, Silistra, Pleven, Sofia, Yambol,
Plovdiv (Philippopolis) and Stara Zagora.
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Another wave of Ashkenazim, from Bavaria,
arrived after being banished from this country in
1470, and Yiddish could often be heard in Sofia
according to contemporary travellers. An
Asheknazi prayer book was printed in Thessaloniki
by the rabbi of Sofia in the middle of the 16th
century.
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The first waves of Sephardim came from various
places (through Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Italy,
Ragusa, Bosnia) after 1494, with Jews settling in
the already established centres of Jewish
population the major trade centres of
Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria. The modern capital,
Sofia, had communities of Romaniotes, Ashkenazim
and Sephardim until 1640, when a single rabbi was
appointed for all three.
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In the 17th century, the ideas of Sabbatai Zevi
became popular in Bulgaria, with supporters of
his movement like Nathan of Gaza and Samuel Primo
being active in Sofia. Jews continued to settle
in various parts of the country (such as the new
trade centres like Pazardzhik), extending their
economic activities due to the privileges they
were given and the banishment of many Ragusan
merchants after they took part in the Chiprovtsi
Uprising of 1688.
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INDEPENDENT BULGARIA
With Bulgaria being liberated from Ottoman rule
after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and some
small-scale looting of Jewish property by people
regarding them as supporters of the Ottomans, the
Jews in Bulgaria were secured equal rights by the
Treaty of Berlin.
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The rabbi of Sofia, Gabriel Mercado Almosnino,
together with three other Jews welcomed the
Russian forces in the city and took part in the
Constituent National Assembly of Bulgaria in
1879. However, signs of anti-Semitism and
discrimination began to emerge.
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Jews were drafted in the Bulgarian Army and
participated in the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885.
The Treaty of Neuilly after World War I
emphasized their equality, bur nevertheless
anti-Semitism began to spread and was indirectly
introduced by the governments of the time,
particularly after 1923 and the government of
Aleksandar Tsankov.
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THE SYNAGOGUE IN SOFIA
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In 1936, the nationalist and anti-Semitic
organization Ratnik was established. Before World
War II, the percentage of Jews steadily declined
compared to that of other ethnic groups, however
they still grew in number. In 1920 the 16,000
Jews were 0.9 of all citizens of Bulgaria, and
in 1934 there were 48,565 (or 0.8), with more
than half living in Sofia.
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Ladino was the dominant language in most
communities, but the young often preferred
Bulgarian. The Zionist movement was completely
dominant among the local population ever since
Hovevei Zion.
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Theodor Herzl, the leader of the Zionists
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Unlike all other Nazi Germany allies or
German-occupied countries excluding Denmark,
Bulgaria managed to save its entire 48,000 -
strong Jewish population during World War II from
deportation to concentration camps, with Dimitar
Peshev playing a crucial role in preventing the
deportations.
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After the war and the establishment of a
Communist government, most of the Jewish
population left voluntarily for Israel, leaving
only several thousand today (1,363 according to
the 2001 census).
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The Camps of Death
Auschwitz, Poland
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Buhenwald, Germany
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Jewish culture
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One of the biggest Jewish holidays are Rosh
Hashanah The Jewish New Year, Aseret Yemei
Teshuva Ten Days of Repentance, Yom Kippur
Day of Atonement, Sukkot Festival of Booths,
Hanukkah Festival of Lights, Tu Bishvat New
year of the trees, Purim Festival of Lots.