Language:
English
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Religion in Eastern Europe
Angaben zur Quelle:
22,6 (2002) 1-11
Keywords:
Antisemitism
;
Jews History
Abstract:
Disproves the myth that Bulgaria's history has been free of antisemitism. Notes an upsurge of antisemitism in the 14th century, giving various reasons. After 1492 there was an influx of Jews from Spain. In the Ottoman period, the Jews were viewed as collaborators or allies of the ruling Turks. Since most Bulgarians were illiterate, they relied on folklore as a means of communication. The image of the Jew is ambivalent, but includes anti-Jewish stereotypes. In the 19th century, antisemitism was spread via books and newspapers. During the war of liberation in 1877-78, there were anti-Jewish atrocities. Then, in liberated Bulgaria, economic difficulties fed antisemitic psychoses. Antisemitic literature was "imported" from Russia, including by clerics. In the interwar period there was antisemitic legislation. In 1943, 11,000 Jews were deported from Thrace and Macedonia; the deportation of 48,000 Bulgarian Jews was stopped due to protests by politicians, heads of the Church, and the intelligentsia, although the populace was passive. Under communism, Jews were discriminated against. In the post-communist period, Jews and other minorities have full rights. However, since the 1990s many Nazi and fascist books have been published without government response. Suggests that Russia may be stirring up antisemitism in order to block Bulgaria's entry into NATO and the EC.
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