The Fascist coup d’etat engineered by the reactionary Tsankoff clique in this little Balkan nation has as yet produced little fear among the Jews here. Although the Jews are in an exposed position and face a growing anti-Semitic movement, financed in part by German Nazi agitators, Bulgarian Jewry on the whole has fared rather well.
At no time during the troubled history of the nation since the World War and the bloody suppression of the Stamboulisky agrarian regime have the Jews been exposed to overt attack.
Recently, however, Nazi agitators have begun to inflame the minds of the Bulgarian people by trying to convince them that all their ills have been the fault of the small number of Jews in Bulgaria.
BOMB WRECKS SYNAGOGUE
About two months ago one of the old synagogues in Sofia was bombed by Bulgarian Nazis. The entire structure was demolished and only the fact that a mistaken notion of Jewish religious custom led the perpetrators to place their bomb on Saturday afternoon prevented loss of life.
The Nazis who were captured by police explained that their action was a protest against the “domination of Bulgaria by the Jews.”
The Tsankoff Fascist group, which prevailed upon King Boris to sign the decrees establishing an “authoritative” regime, is extremely nationalistic and bitterly opposed to Communism and to the Macedonian groups, which have played an important part in Bulgarian politics. In particular they are opposed to the IMRO, Macedonian revolutionary organization.
Whether the nationalism of present leaders will lead them to attack the Jews is an open question which time alone can answer.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
