Address of the National Initiative Committee

These days encompass a plenitude of meanings. It is important to realize that the heroic resistance against the Holocaust in Bulgaria is a great lesson in humaneness for the generations to come. The will to fight the forces of evil is the most powerful guarantee for the protection of freedom and justice in the democratic world.

Vivid historical memory is still lacking in Bulgaria; the dramatic events of the saving of the Bulgarian Jewry during the Holocaust have remained largely unknown to the world. This example of civic courage should be rescued from such an undeserved oblivion.

Moreover, today the gulf between democracy and terrorism is widening. At such a time it is even more important to remind ourselves of the lessons of the past and the significance they hold for the present.

Our forefathers acted with dignity, responsibility and humanity, rather than indifference, towards the Bulgarian Jews. We are proud of them - they proved that even in the darkest years of terror there is a choice, a way out, hope, if the principles of justice and humaneness are upheld.

The example of humanity, set by the Bulgarian people transcends the limitations of time and space. The dramatic process of firm and lasting resistance against the repression of the Jews in Bulgaria, carried out by the Nazi ideology and its lackeys, succeeded because of its wide public support.

This powerful example of sympathy and concern for the other, of helping and protecting the persecuted is yet another reminder of a lesson history constantly repeats to us - that good can win if it is defended with conviction and determination.

What makes the saving of the Bulgarian Jews so unique is the fact that it was not a chance happening, nor a heroic act, a spontaneous show of kindness of one individual. The Bulgarian public opposed the very policy of persecution and thus saved not only a group of people, but the whole society. The rescue of the Bulgarian Jewry from annihilation and of Bulgarian society from the disgrace of genocide is a powerful manifestation of the motto of the Bulgarian Parliament: 'Unity brings power'.

By marking the 60th anniversary of the dramatic history of the saving of the Bulgarian Jewry and by honoring the victims of the Holocaust, the Bulgarian public states its will to join the world forces in their fight against xenophobia, anti-Semitism, religious and ethnic prejudice, and international terrorism.