site.btaJews in Bulgarian Lands Exhibition Opens in Kropyvnytskyi

A documentary photo exhibition entitled "The Jews in Bulgarian Lands" opened at the Central Ukrainian National Technical University in Kropyvnytskyi on January 9. The opening brought together students, representatives of museums, archives and cultural centres and local people interested in the documentary evidence on the life of the Jewish community. The exhibition is based on archives of the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia.

The exhibition was displayed at the UNION International Cultural Centre in Odesa from October 29, marked as the Day of the Bessarabian Bulgarians, with support from the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and the National Library.

In his address, Pavlo Konopko, First Deputy Head of the Kirovohrad Regional State Administration, quoted a statement by Bulgaria's King Boris III: "The Jews of my country are its subjects and we shall regard any encroachment on their liberty as an insult to the Bulgarians."

"The exhibition has already had a strong resonance among visitors. Many people said these facts were a revelation for them. They learned that the Bulgarian people, led by the country's leadership and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, saved Bulgarian Jews during World War II," BTA learned from Sergey Osadchij, Chair of the Kirovohrad Regional Association of Bulgarians.

The exhibition contains 22 boards dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews during World War II. On display are archive documents, books and periodicals kept at the National Library in Sofia, as well as recollections of contemporaries about the events in Bulgaria in 1940-1943 which had a bearing on the rescue of nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps.