[lbo-talk] the Bulgarian right

[Julian Gollop]

"I read some time ago that anti-semitism largely failed in WW2 Bulgaria
because the people simply refused to buy into it.  Many gentiles wore
the yellow star themselves, in solidarity, while others went out of
their way to be friendly to people wearing it.  Is that accurate?  And
if so, what happened in the last 60 years?  I don't imagine there was
that much less corruption and poverty back then."
Wendy,
Funnily enough I am just reading 'Beyond Hitler's Grasp' by Michael
Bar-Zohar which tells this story very well. However, it is probably a
mistake to think that Bulgarians are less anti-semitic than anyone else.
Before WWII the Jews in Bulgaria were very well integrated into Bulgarian
society, and a disproportionate number of Jews fought and died in Bulgaria's
various wars. However, anti-Jewish legislation was passed during the war
with the connivance of most of the political elite and the king. The Jewish
populations of Macedonia and Greecian Thrace were deported when they came
under Bulgarian control.
A very interesting result from last years inter-ethnic survey revealed that
16% of ethnic Bulgarians would be prepared to expel Jews from the country.
Half of Bulgarians would not accept a Jew as a police chief, an army officer
or a government minister. This is a high level of anti-semitism considering
that there are less than 1500 Jews living in Bulgaria these days. I don't
know whether anti-semitism has got worse or not since the war, but I suspect
that given the nationalist demagoguery of the previous socialist regime it
certainly hasn't improved.

Julian.