site.bta75th Anniversary of End of WW II in Europe Observed in Bulgaria

ESD 15:45:31 09-05-2020
LG1556ES.106
106 POLITICS - V-E DAY - OBSERVANCES

75th Anniversary of
End of WW II in Europe
Observed in Bulgaria


Sofia, May 9 (BTA) - Bulgaria's President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Rumen Radev and Vice President Iliana Iotova laid flowers at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier here on Saturday on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Radev told journalists that the over 12,000 Bulgarians killed in the war must be remembered because today's united and peaceful prospering Europe would not have evolved without their self-sacrifice. "Without Victory Day we cannot talk about Europe Day," the head of State argued. "Undoubtedly, World War II brought Nazism and the Holocaust to an end in Europe, making possible the subsequent Day of United Europe," he added.

For her part, Iotova warned about "the very strong infection" of fascism in society, which still persists in thinking and can easily reappear "unless we are vigilant".

In a greetings address on the occasion of May 9, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia Ninova called for commemoration of the "tens of thousands of Bulgarian antifascists and soldiers whose heroism in the final phase of the war accelerated the end of the Third Reich." "The attempts to belittle this feat and to rewrite and twist history retroactively because of ad hoc political interests are unbecoming. There is just one historical truth, and the BSP will always stand up for it. Without the Victory Day, there would not have been a Europe Day," the message reads.

In a Facebook post, VOLYA Party leader and National Assembly Deputy Chairman Vesselin Mareshki wrote, quoted by his party in a press release: "Let us acknowledge and honour the self-sacrifice" of the millions of WW II heroes." "Europe must never again live through that horror. Let us show sabre-rattlers that we will not allow them such madness." "Peoples must cooperate rather than fight. Not a single political objective can justify the destruction of national assets and the extermination of innocent people. This is a crime against humanity," Mareshki commented further on. LG