Opening of the Exhibition "Memory and Posters" at the Council of Europe
On April 17, 2024, within the second part of the annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the opening of the exhibition "Memory and Posters" took place in the Palace of Europe. The event was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews and was jointly organized by the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Council of Europe and the national delegation to PACE.
The exhibition was realized by the State Cultural Institute of the Minister of Foreign Affairs together with 12 authors and creators from the International Triennial of Stage Poster - Sofia within the framework of an initiative supported by the Bilateral Fund of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism in Bulgaria.
In his opening words, the chairman of PACE, Mr. Theodoros Roussopoulos, defined the actions of the Bulgarian public to save the Bulgarian Jews, and especially of Dimitar Peshev, as a definition of dignity and a fundamental meaning for the subsequent creation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mrs. Maria Pejčinović Burić, for her part, touched on the moral dimensions of the civic conscience, which should serve as an example and inspiration, as demonstrated by the Bulgarian authors presented in the exhibition.
The chairman of the national delegation to PACE, Mr. Georg Georgiev, described the heroic deed of the Bulgarian people during World War II as a unique example in world history. It also touched on the contemporary dimensions of countering anti-Semitism, which should be a unifying factor, especially given recent events in the Middle East. In the context of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe, he delivered a message of unity, understanding and humanity.
The Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the Council of Europe, Ambassador Maria Spasova presented the exhibition "Memory and Posters" as an artistic view of contemporary Bulgarian artists on the problems of anti-Semitism and intolerance, both in historical and contemporary terms.