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On the Road of Bulgarian
Jews
History and Past
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.
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).
American Jews, 1939
Second World War, Poland
A Jewish girl
in national
custom
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The medieval Jewish population
of Bulgaria was Romaniote until
the 14th-15th century, when
Ashkenazim from Hungary (1376)
and other parts of Europe settled.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
THE SYNAGOGUE IN
SOFIA
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.
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.
Theodor Herzl,
the leader of the
Zionists
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.
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).
Auschwitz, Poland
Jewish culture
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.