BULGARIA AND THE HOLOCAUST: THE FRAGILITY OF GOODNESS

A Symposium, Exhibition, and Cultural Event

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2012 • 4PM HILLEL AT UCLA
/574 HILGARD AVE/

SCHEDULE 

4 PM Welcome: Todd Presner (UCLA)
4:05 Remarks: Marin J Dimitrov (Consul General of Bulgaria)
4:10 Remarks: Rabbi Haim Asa (Temple Beth Tikvah)
4:15 Musical Performance
Directed by Tzvetanka Varimezova (UCLA)
Introduction: Timothy Rice (UCLA)
4:40 Keynote Address:
Steven F Sage (US Holocaust Memorial Museum)
5:30 Reception
6:30 Screening of The Optimists
Q&A: Jacky Comforty (Director)
Moderator: Gail Kligman (UCLA)
 
This exhibition tells the story of how the Bulgarian Jews survived the Holocaust. In February 1943, Bulgaria and Germany signed an agreement to deport Bulgarian Jewry to camps in Poland. First Bulgarian police detained over 11,000 Jews of Thrace and Macedonia, then under Bulgarian occupation, and sent them to death camps. Then they proceeded to round up 9,000 Jews within Bulgaria itself. An intense public reaction ensued. Significant and public protest involving key political leaders and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church moved King Boris III to cancel the deportation on the very day of its planned execution. While expelled from their homes and persecuted, Bulgaria’s 48,000 Jews nonetheless escaped total destruction with the help of civic society.

Please visit www.cjs.ucla.edu for more event information. Events are free and open to the public, but preregistration is required. Please call (310)267-5327 or email [email protected] to RSVP.