site.btaBulgaria Marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day with Forum at House of Europe

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day was marked on Monday with a forum at the House of Europe in Sofia. Participants underscored that history must be remembered. They noted the need to prevent the spread of hate speech. The event was also dedicated to the pioneer in Holocaust research and founder of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Prof. Yehuda Bauer. The event was jointly organized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Diplomatic Institute of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Philosophy and History Faculties of Sofia University.

The International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust has been marked since 2006 by a UN General Assembly resolution of November 1, 2005.

Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Angelieva said it is a tradition for Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry to organize commemorative events on January 27. The Holocaust is a constant reminder of the danger of hatred, intolerance and racism, she said. The Holocaust is also a lesson, she said. On the personality of Prof. Bauer, the deputy minister said he was a leading expert on the Holocaust and a good friend of Bulgaria. 

"We remember today not only the Holocaust, but also the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Jews in the Auschwitz camp," Israeli Ambassador to Bulgaria Yosef Levi-Sfari told journalists. He said history should not be distorted and that is why education is important so that young people do not rely on social media to learn about events in history. Levi-Sfari recalled the October 7 attack and described it as the most horrific against Jews since the Holocaust. He expressed hope that democratic societies would be strong enough to fight against such acts of hatred.

History must be known and those dark pages of it must motivate generations never to repeat the horror of the Holocaust again, MEP Andrey Kovachev told journalists. Manipulation and misinformation must not be allowed, he said.  We should be proud of our ancestors who, in those dark times, raised their voices in defence of the Jews in Bulgaria, Kovachev said. 

"The most important lesson that the world should remember today is that these horrors of the Holocaust can be repeated, so they must be documented, they must be studied, we must remember them," Eli Anavi, deputy chair of the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria, told the media. The Holocaust is not just the gas chambers, he added. "Even today small and big dictators are trying, in one form or another, to repeat the horrors of the Holocaust, so we must remember it," Anavi said.

At the start of the forum, participants and guests observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.