Georg Georgiev: “Bulgaria will not allow manifestations of anti-Semitism to mar the country’s reputation”
28 November 2017 News
“Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Government will spare no effort against any manifestations of anti-Semitism and intolerance that mar this country’s reputation. We are one of the first three countries that have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, and the Bulgarian State has thus steadily committed itself at the institutional level to the fight against anti-Semitism,” Deputy Minister Georg Georgiev said at a first day of issue ceremony for a postage stamp commemorating Spanish diplomat Julio Palencia y Tubau, who helped nearly 800 Bulgarian Jews escape deportation during World War II.
The launch ceremony was also attended by Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, US Ambassador Eric Rubin and Spain’s Ambassador Javier Pérez-Griffo, the President of the Shalom Organisation of Jews in Bulgaria Alek Oskar and the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Dimitar Genovski.
In his statement, Georg Georgiev stressed that the election of a National Coordinator on Combating Anti-Semitism is an expression of the State’s refusal to condone acts of intolerance and hate speech in all their forms.
Julio Palencia (1884-1957) was a Spanish diplomat posted in Sofia who, by his resolute actions, helped the rescue of hundreds of Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust during World War II. Upon his departure from Bulgaria, he received an honour personally from King Boris III for his heroic deed.