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Todorov's contribution is nonetheless valuable because his selections
illustrate what might be achieved when individuals from the political
and religious community raise their voices in behalf of simple human
decency, recognizing that the repute of their nation after the war would
be measured in part by its stance on the destiny of its Jewish citizens.
At the outbreak of World War II the Jewish population of Bulgaria
numbered approximately
48,000,
more than half living in the capital
city of Sofia. Only a small percentage was employed in the professions.
Nevertheless the Law for the Protection of the Nation, similar in many
respects to the
1935
Nuremberg Laws in Germany, passed the legisla–
ture in January
194J,
a few months before Bulgaria became a member
of the Axis Powers. Jews (as well as their homes and businesses) had to
display the Star of David. Jewish men between twenty and forty were
sent to camps where they worked on roads and bridges for much of the
year under slave labor conditions. Thus the Jews were officially marked
as a scorned minority undeserving of civil rights or legal protection. The
substructure for their subsequent ghettoization and deportation was
clearly in place; yet when the critical moment arrived, after some initial
wavering, King Boris III blocked the process, saving the lives of Bul–
garia's Jews by informing the Germans that he needed them for essen–
tial toil at home.
Todorov traces the steps leading to this "humane" decision, and
assesses the private and political strategies that made it possible. lmplicit
in Todorov's analysis and the documents he presents is the inescapable
question of why the fortune of Bulgarian Jewry was so different from
the misfortune of their co-religionists in the other countries of Europe
(with the exception of Denmark). Or put more precisely: did other soci–
eties do enough to try to save their fellow Jews from deportation and
death? Todorov has no illusions about a national surge of heroism or
philo-Semitism in Bulgaria. But when the position of the Jews became
precarious, enough voices were raised in protest to convince the King
that it was in his own and his nation's self-interest to shield them. The
government's motives were mixed, but when so many lives were at
stake, one may be inclined to find the reason for rescue less important
than the fact of the happy outcome.
Admittedly, although some German troops and SS officials were in
Bulgaria throughout the period, they did not control the daily life of the
people or administrative decisions at a higher level. Those who spoke
out against the threat to the Jews or came to their defense did not fear
imminent arrest, followed by Gestapo torture and possible execution.
Still, there were many reasons why discretion might have overruled con-
