The antisemitic organisation, Rodna Sashtita, has called a congress for next Friday, the 28th inst., in the town of Nustchuck, on the Danube. An invitation has been sent to the Roumanian antisemitic organisation, which is expected to send a delegation.
The Rodna Sashtita is aiming to drive all Jews out of Bulgaria, a leading member of the organisation has declared in an interview published in the Sofia weekly, “Wetscher”. It is planning a big antisemitic campaign for October, he added, in conjunction with the nationalist student groups.
A section of the Rodna Sashtita has broken away from the parent body, and in a statement explaining its secession, it declares that while it stands by the Heimwehr patriotic principles for which the organisation was founded, it repudiates, however, the antisemitic agitation of the official leaders, and holds that there is no likelihood of serious antisemitic disturbances occurring in Bulgaria.
Last week anti-Jewish inscriptions and big swastikas, the symbol of the antisemitic movement, were found painted on the doors of the Great Synagogue in Sofia, and three other Synagogues in the city, as well as on the Jewish school, and the Zionist head quarters. All the windows of the Askenazic Synagogue were Smashed. The outrages were attributed to the Rodna Sashtita. A deputation of the Jewish Community of Sofia visited the Police Prefect, who promised to make a strict inquiry into the matter. The Central Consistory of the Bulgarian Jewish Community also intervened with the Government, to urge that the antisemitic activities conducted by the Rodna Sashtita should be prohibited. The Socialist organ, “Narod” published a fierce attack upon the Rodna Sashtita, and demanded that the Government should suppress the organisation.
The Rodna Sashtita was very active in 1926, when it was conducting a big anti-Jewish boycott movement throughout Bulgaria. Antisemitic proclamations were posted up in the streets, and the population was incited to violence against the Jews. The Jewish Central Consistory intervened on that occasion with the Government, who proceeded to take steps to put down the agitation. It was stated at the time that Russian emigres who had been associated with the antisemitic movement in Czarist Russia were behind the activities of the Rodna Sashtita.
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.
