JEWISH COMMUNITY - BITOLA

This is an authentic video that illustrates another chapter in one of the most horrific tragedies of the 20th century - the Holocaust. This video is old archival footage which Bulgaria does not want you to see. It is a silent black-and-white video that shows the deportation of the Macedonian Jews to the death camps of Treblinka by Bulgarian Nazis during World War II. There is plenty of WWII documentary footage that has been uploaded by Bulgarians on Youtube. Most of that video footage has been prepared by Bulgaria's equivalents of Leni Riefenstahl. The intention of such video footage in its day was to bolster the war effort and determination of the Nazis to the point of implementing the Final Solution and the Holocaust. Often such footage depicts the Nazis as "liberators" of the lands that they conquer. To date Bulgarian archives have made available much Riefenstahl-ish documentary footage that was intended to depict Bulgarian Nazis as liberators of Macedonia. Much of that audio-visual material has been uploaded on Youtube by Bulgarians who hope to persuade the public that Bulgarian Nazis were loved and adored during WWII in the lands that Bulgarians conquered. This video shows us the other side of the Bulgarian Nazi regime. It is the darker, evil face of Bulgarian Nazism. After the First World War, Bulgaria officially renounced all claims to Macedonia. Consequently the invasion of Macedonia by Nazi Bulgaria during WWII was illegal. Bulgaria had no business in Macedonia after the Treaty of Versailles. Consequently Bulgaria is liable for all crimes against humanity committed by Bulgarian Nazis in Macedonia. This includes the deportation and murder of Macedonian Jews by Bulgarian Nazis. Nazism swept Bulgaria in the 1930s with the Bulgarian Government formally aligning herself to the Axis Powers. Many Bulgarians argue that Bulgaria was not really a Nazi country but was merely following Hitler's orders when it deported the Macedonian Jews to their imminent deaths. Even if there was any truth to the above Bulgarian plea, it has been accepted by international scholarship on this topic that the argument of "we were just following orders" does not wash. Such was the basis of the judgments against the Nazis who were tried at Nuremberg, and such should be the case with the Bulgarian Nazis who literally got away with murder thanks to Bulgaria's subsequent sanctuary within the Stalinist bloc. In any case the "orders" to deport the Jews from Macedonia certainly did nothing to discourage the Bulgarians from confiscating the wealth of their Jewish victims. Other Bulgarians intimate that Bulgaria is not accountable for the murder of over 7000 Macedonian Jews as Bulgaria offset this crime with the salvation of 48000 Bulgarian Jews. That argument does not hold water. You cannot deny justice to over 7000 people by attempting to mitigate it with a different Bulgarian policy elsewhere. That Bulgaria willingly implemented Hitler's Final Solution is a documented fact. Bulgarian intrigues to blame it all on Hitler after he lost the war is a cunning attempt at blame shifting. To achieve an operation on the massive scale of the Holocaust the German Nazis required support from other Nazi nations. Bulgaria was one such nation. On 24 December 1940 the Bulgarian Parliament enacted the Law for Preservation of the Nation. This law was equivalent to the Nuremberg Laws of the Third Reich and deprived the Jews from civil rights. Later the Bulgarian Government established the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs as the executive body regarding the Jews in Bulgaria. According to a government decision in March 1943 the Jews from the "New annexed territories" were deported by Bulgarian authorities to the Nazi death camps. Bulgaria deported over 7000 Macedonian Jews from the Vardar Macedonian district. Bulgarian Nazis also confiscated the valuables and wealth of the Macedonian Jews. Bulgaria actually benefited from WWII in terms of wealth and territory acquired. Bulgarian Nazis were anti-Semitic to the bitter end. On September 8 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. As the Soviet army entered Sofia On September 16 the Bulgarian Prime Minister Aleksandar Tsankov made a radio announcement stating that "The fight for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Jewish-Bolshevik yoke is in secure hands. The Bulgarian National government calls on fight against the oppressors of our fatherland." Tsankov fled to Argentina after WWII which at the time was a haven for many Nazis on the lam. Bulgaria has still not apologised to the surviving Macedonian Jews, to Macedonia, or to Israel for Bulgaria's murder of over 7000 Macedonian Jews. Bulgaria has not paid appropriate compensation to its victims for Bulgaria's participation in the Holocaust and implementation of the Final Solution.