How a Colonel in Charge of Forced Labour Camps for Jews Helped Rescue Jews during WWII

"To me, Colonel Tsvetan Mumdzhiev was a Renaissance man, a man of discipline and yet loving, spiritual," his grandson, Tsvetan Mumdzhiev Jr., told BTA as he remembered his role in the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from the death camps during World War II.

"It is an immense pleasure for me to bear my grandfather's name, especially after I found out what he did and what his whole life was like, meandering from glory and honour to humiliation and coercion," said Mumdzhiev Jr.

Colonel Tsvetan Mumdzhiev was born in Plovdiv in 1886. He completed his secondary education in his native town and then, under pressure from his father, he went to military school where he graduated with honours. His talent was noticed by the Ministry of War and he was sent to St. Petersburg to the Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy. With the outbreak of the Balkan War he was recalled and took part in a number of battles, including the capture of the fortress of Adrianople. He later returned to Russia, where he completed his education. He took part in the First World War as a unit commander on the Macedonian fronts, where, according to his grandson, he distinguished himself with his exceptional professionalism and military skill, and was awarded the medals of bravery.

After the war he left the Bulgarian army and became a merchant, opening a grocery store in Plovdiv. During the Second World War he returned to the army and was appointed commissioner for the sowing of arable land in Southern Dobrudja. In 1943, he was appointed head of the Temporary Labour Service Department with the Ministry of Construction, Roads and Public Works. His department was in charge of the forced labour camps for Jews. Under the Protection of the Nation Act, the Jews were sent there and forced to work as Labour Corps members. 
"The so-called 'labour camps', where over 100,000 people were registered as servicepersons under my grandfather's command, were a parallel structure to the Bulgarian army. There were Turks, Armenians, Gypsies and many Jews there," said Mumdzhiev.
He argues that those were not concentration camps, where people died or where they were deprived of food and human rights. "Quite the contrary. Those were part of the Bulgarian Armed Forces where the Jews got military status as servicemen conscripted for construction, and that saved them from Nazi intervention and attempts at deportation, he explained. 
"Alexander Belev, Chief Commissioner in the Jewish Affairs Commissariat, personally summoned Col. Mumdzhiev and informed him that the higher-ups had decided to deport some of the Jews. Mumdzhiev refused and argued that these were Bulgarian soldiers and as long as he was in charge, none of them would step on a train and leave in an unknown direction," the grandson said.
In the camps, the colonel set up medical and dental offices, cafeterias, even medicines were prescribed. "Interestingly, from part of the proceeds from these was made to go in a special fund for those who could not afford to pay for their food," said the grandson. 

Col. Mumdzhiev was an art and photography enthusiast and there were also photographers in the labour camp. The Plovdiv History Museum keeps the only photo album from a labour camp, made by a Jew and given as a gift to the Colonel on behalf of the Jewish labour squad in Ihtiman.

 
During his service, the Colonel allowed people to go on leave on two occasions only: for a wedding or for a childbirth. He was fully aware that these people were not going to return to the camp, which was exactly what happened. "I met once the daughter of a former camp inmate who was also a friend to my grandfather, and she was full of admiration for my grandfather," Mumdzhiev Jr. told BTA.

 
The Colonel made a huge favour to 105 Aegean Jews, making a decision at his own risk: he signed their passes to go on leave. What was so special about those passes was that they were indefinite, meaning that they remained in the Labour Corps but they were on leave. No one could put them on a train to the Nazi death camps.

After his appointment as head of the Temporary Labour Service department, the authorities provided an apartment for Col. Mumdzhiev in central Sofia. "Together with my grandmother, my father and his sister, he moved to live in the capital. Although the apartment was provided to him to use for free, the colonel paid a rent to the owners, who were Jews, and they gave him receipts for that.

These documents have been preserved and are kept in the Plovdiv History Museum. "When Sofia was bombed, the colonel moved to Pernik, but continued to pay rent to the owners of the apartment."

When the war ended and the Communists took power, Col. Mumdzhiev was sent to prison for mistreating the Jews. "During the People's Court trial, Jews held a huge rally, stormed the court and personally guaranteed that he was a savior and had taken care of them like no one else. Mumdzhiev was acquitted and walked out of the courtroom. His joy lasted only a few minutes, because militiamen were waiting for him to arrest him. He was sent to a camp on verbal orders. "This hero, after all the battles he fought in, all the medals and decorations awarded to him, had to endure torture and harassment. He came home devastated and in 1954 had a heart attack and died," his grandson said.

At home, my grandfather's life was a topic to be avoided. My father was dismissed as an officer because his father and grandfather were Tsarist officers, said Mumdzhiev Jr.

The family kept photos and documents related to the colonel, but any talk about him was avoided for fear of harming Mumdzhiev Jr.

He said: "During my student days, I had two incidents when I was nearly kicked out of the university when somebody reported that my grandfather had been tried by a People's Court."

Only then did he begin to explore his grandfather's life. His father showed him archives, they went to Sofia and managed to obtain documents that restored all the civil rights of Col. Mumdzhiev. "I later found out what kind of man my grandfather was, but I don't regret it because what I found and now have in my heart and mind is priceless," said the architect.

Every year, the descendants of Col. Mumdzhiev in Plovdiv attend the commemoration of the anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews, the Shalom organization of Jews in Bulgaria and the Ehud Oley Bulgaria Union of Bulgarian Jews in Israel posthumously awarded Col. Tsvetan Mumdzhiev with a Certificate of Remembrance, a plaque and a token of appreciation and respect. Perhaps there are very few people left who have heard that there is such a man who helped and saved Bulgarian Jews, said Arch. Mumdzhiev and expressed his hope that more people would talk about such heroes.