The Communist-engineered and Soviet-backed coup on 9 September 1944 marked the beginning of a 45-year system in which, theoretically, there was no private property, everyone enjoyed equal rights, and got whatever they needed giving away whatever they could. In fact, it was a system where the currency was not convertible, travel was not allowed, people might end up in a labour camp for telling jokes or listening to Western music, and any indication of religiousness was disencouraged.
On 9 September 1944, however, few Bulgarians suspected what was in store for them.
Formally, a leftist coalition called the Fatherland Front assumed power, and the Allied Control Commission was supposed to ensure the first post-war election was democratic. But the Communists were already paving the way for the sovietisation of Bulgaria. In 1946, while the Red Army was still in the country, a rigged referendum abolished the monarchy and instituted a "people’s republic." In 1947-1948 private property was nationalised. Purges of "enemies with a Party ticket" ensued. Concentration camps for opponents of the new regime were set up and Stalin’s cronies in Sofia were busy turning Bulgaria into a model "New Order" state.
Impoverished and humiliated by the Defence of the Nation Act and fearful of new repressions, the Jews were beset by infighting. On the one hand were the Zionists who wanted to resettle in Palestine. On the other were the Communists who wanted to create a "new life" for the Jews inside Bulgaria.
As early as October 1944 the Zionists, who by far outnumbered the Communists, started to prepare for their departure to what would become the State of Israel. They were opposed, verbally and otherwise, by the Communists who said they considered the urge to leave to be the product of "enemy propaganda." The Zionists were billed "traitors" and even "fascists." The Jewish Communists had their own branch of the Fatherland Front, a status no other minority in Bulgaria enjoyed.
In 1946 the Communists and the Zionists formed a joint council to run the Consistory. The Zionists were supposed to have a larger representation because of their sheer numbers, but in reality the whole enterprise was controlled by the Fatherland Front.
The official line of the Bulgarian Communist Party was promulgated in 1948 and was endorsed by the leader, Georgi Dimitrov, himself. Jews would be allowed to communicate with Zionist organisations abroad, but should exercise extra care not to allow themselves to be infiltrated by "Anglo-American agents." The Consistory would gradually be stripped of its administrative, social and, in particular, religious functions and would turn into a mere cultural-educational organisation. Several Jewish newspapers were "consolidated" into one, the Jewish News, which ran under strict party supervision. Some small Ashkenazi communities, particularly in Sofia, Varna and Ruse, were disbanded and officially made a part of the Consistory.
Bulgaria's nationalisation acts were not targeted especially against the Jews but they significantly affected wealthier Jews. Jewish properties, banks and enterprises were nationalised. The flats and houses of those who emigrated to Israel would be "supervised" by the state. These Jews would get a symbolic payment for their houses, which would be deposited in the State Savings Bank. The money could not be taken out of Bulgaria. Most synagogues were nationalised and used as warehouses, sports halls, galleries and museums. Just two functioning synagogues remained in Sofia and in Plovdiv. Owing to the aliyah, a series of Jewish communities ceased to exist. Some artefacts, including Torah scrolls, archives and documentation, were transferred to Sofia, but many were just destroyed.
Theoretically, Jews were allowed to practice their religion but doing so was not very easy. There were no rabbis in the country and in 1957 the Consistory was de facto disbanded. The state-controlled Cultural and Educational Society of Jews in Bulgaria was set up in its place, with its chairman a Communist Party member.
The life of the Jewish community was limited to the events taking place in the Jewish Community House in Sofia. Holidays like Purim and Hanukkah would be celebrated in a non-religious manner and the majority of Jews born under Communism had their links with their Jewish tradition severed. Few spoke much Hebrew or Ladino, and they knew next to nothing about Judaism or Zionism.
In 1967 Bulgaria broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. In the same year political repression intensified, following the relative relaxation of the late 1950s' de-Stalinisation. The Communist secret police, or State Security, identified Zionism as a major class enemy.
At the end of the 1970s, just one in three Jews who married did so with a Jewish partner. A few years before the collapse of Communism, the increasingly desperate government of Bulgaria started a massive anti-minority campaign to rename 800,000 Bulgarian Turks. Turks were Bulgarianised, sometimes by force, by having their names changed into Bulgarian ones. People were sent to prison for refusing to comply, and there were casualties. The events of 1985 led to the great exodus of Turks in the summer of 1989, which historians agree was crucial for the downfall of Bulgarian Communism. It is understood that some radical elements in the Communist Party had proposed the renaming of whatever Jews lived in Bulgaria at that time, but the plan never materialised, possibly for fear of a major international scandal.
Moving cemeteries
One of the greatest crimes committed against the Jews under Communism was the destruction of their cemeteries. Jews were not being singled out amongst other communities for this kind of treatment, as local authorities in many provincial towns periodically decided to move around their cemeteries, mainly because the land they occupied was considered better suited for factories or parks.
Relatives of those buried were notified, sometimes at short notice, to organise the exhumation of bones and the replacement of tombstones. Some did so, but others did not – or could not, with the result being that cemeteries were simply demolished. Many Jews were already in Israel and could not return to care for their dead. This odd "cemetery relocation," a peculiar Bulgarian phenomenon, led to the obliteration of whole Jewish cemeteries in Bulgaria.
English
Български