The Stolen Narrative of the Bulgarian Jews and the Holocaust

Jacky Comforty, Martha Aladjem Bloomfield

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781978750524
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Baltic History

The Stolen Narrative of the Bulgarian Jews and the Holocaust collects narratives of Bulgarian Jews who survived the Holocaust. Through the analysis of eye-witness testimonies, archival documents, photographs, and researchers' investigations, the authors weave a complex tapestry of voices that were previously underrepresented, ignored, and denied. Taken together, the collected memories offer an alternative perspective that counters official accounts and corroborates war crimes.

Table of contents

• List of Figures
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1 IDENTITY—WHO WE ARE
• Chapter One The Jewish Diaspora
• Chapter Two The Jews in the Iberian Peninsula
• Chapter Three The Jews of the Balkans
• Chapter Four Jewish Migration Waves to the Balkans
• Chapter Five Jewish Life in the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries
• Part 2 COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF THE BALKAN JEWS
• Chapter Six Multi-cultural, Multi-religious, and Multi-ethnicBalkans
• Chapter Seven Shared History
• Chapter Eight Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience
• Chapter Nine The Balkan Wars and World War I
• Chapter Ten Bulgarians and Jews
• Chapter Eleven Jewish Traditions, Heritage, and Community
• Chapter Twelve How Life Was
• Chapter Thirteen Zionism and Patriotism
• Part 3 THE BULGARIAN JEWS DURING HITLERISM, 1933–1945
• Chapter Fourteen Clouds on the Horizon
• Chapter Fifteen Growing Threats
• Chapter Sixteen Escaping Anti-Semitism
• Chapter Seventeen Law for the Defense of the Nation
• Chapter Eighteen The Fox in the Chicken Coop
• Chapter Nineteen Life under the Swastika
• Chapter Twenty Jewish Forced Labor
• Chapter Twenty-One Bulgaria Prepares for the Final Solution
• Part 4 THE FINAL SOLUTION AND BULGARIA
• Chapter Twenty-Two Deportations
• Chapter Twenty-Three Friends and Neighbors
• Chapter Twenty-Four Roundups and Continued Resistance
• Chapter Twenty-Five Train to Treblinka
• Chapter Twenty-Six My Father’s Injury Story
• Chapter Twenty-Seven Between Deportations
• Chapter Twenty-Eight Deportations and Ghettoization
• Chapter Twenty-Nine Meanwhile in Labor Camp
• Chapter Thirty Resistance
• Chapter Thirty-One Concentration Camps
• Chapter Thirty-Two Game of Nerves
• Part 5 THE SILENCED NARRATIVE OF BULGARIA’S VICTIMS
• Chapter Thirty-Three “Instincts of an Animal”—Jennie Lebl’s Survival Story
• Chapter Thirty-Four “To and Through Hell and Back”—Israel Behar’s Survival Story
• Chapter Thirty-Five “Burdensome to This Moment”—Rudi Abarbanel’s Escape Story
• Chapter Thirty-Six Rivers of Tears—After the War, 1945–1948
• Chapter Thirty-Seven “We Overcame It!”—Bulgaria in Jaffa
• Part 7 THE STOLEN NARRATIVE OF THE BULGARIAN JEWS
• Chapter Thirty-Eight A Myth Is Born
• Chapter Thirty-Nine “Who Saved the Jews?”
• Chapter Forty The Balkan Fox
• Chapter Forty-One Territory and Accountability
• Chapter Forty-Two Wheeling and Dealing Memory
• Chapter Forty-Three Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial
• Part 8 THE RECLAIMED NARRATIVE
• Chapter Forty-Four Reflections—Mixed Accounts
• Chapter Forty-Five The Moral Lesson
• Chapter Forty-Six “To Be a Mensch!”
• Epilogue Tribute to Decency
• Appendix I List of Interviewees
• Appendix II Timelines
• Appendix III Further Reading
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors