Radio Plovdiv Radio Play Tells of Rescue of Bulgarian Jews during WWII

Radio Plovdiv journalist Plamen Assenov created the radio drama "The Wall of Salvation" on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews during WWII. It tells about the events in Bulgaria in 1943 with text and music. "I tried and, I think, on an emotional level I managed to connect the theme of the music and what was happening in the narrative," Assenov explained.

The text, on which the drama is based, was created by Assenov several years ago at the request of the Jewish community in Plovdiv. It took him six months to prepare, reading archives, listening to recordings, watching videos and talking to those who were still alive. 

Of the events of 80 years ago, Assenov said that Plovdiv was in "something of a time bubble" because the March 9, 1943, order for stopping the deportation of Jews did not reach Plovdiv until March 10, "In Plovdiv they acted according to the initial orders: the trains were waiting, the people were identified, the police rounded them up", the journalist said.

According to him, Plovdiv was the only place where there was a real threat to Jews. It was not until noon on March 10 that this belated order arrived and the Jews who had been gathered in the school yard the night before were released. "This is a detail of the whole story that I find interesting", Assenov pointed out.

Assenov stressed on the vast number of legends about what exactly Metropolitan Cyril of Plovdiv did and Assenov chose "the legend that people were gathered in the Jewish school, he went there, jumped the fence, entered and calmed them down". The journalist pointed out that the jumping over the wall is "jumping from prejudice to humanity, a jump away from the lack of reason and empathy", noting that just as the "Wailing Wall exists in Jerusalem, so in his mind the Wall of Salvation exists in Plovdiv".

According to him, very little is said about the fate of the people who helped save the Bulgarian Jews, and it is tragic to a large extent. Around 80% of them, maybe more, were destroyed, directly or indirectly, by the Communist regime after September 9 1944. Those who were not directly executed after the People's Court were imprisoned, their rights to practice law, to run a business were revoked and their property was seized. Metropolitans Cyril and Stefan were among those who were imprisoned and subjected to real atrocities.

Plamen Assenov is a long-time author and presenter of the "Great Europeans" series on Radio Plovdiv. It presents radio portraits of significant figures from European history, politics, science, art, culture and social life.