The International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was marked at the National Assembly. “Mutual understanding and respect were keys to the salvation of Bulgarian Jews. The same mutual understanding is key to our future”, stated the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva at the opening of the exhibition: “The force of civil society and the fate of the Jews in Bulgaria”. She noted that during one of the most important events in the XXth century history of Bulgaria – the rescuing of Bulgarian Jews – the People, the Church and even the state authorities – act in concert and together they succeeded in stopping the misanthropic machine of the extermination.

When we are talking about “the rescuing” of Bulgarian Jews let’s remember that the Bulgarians had never perceived them as “the hostile Other”, for us they have been simply our neighbors, underscored the head of the parliament Tsetska Tsacheva. In most cases for these people we say: “more than a brother”. Let us always keep in mind this wisdom when we talk about ethnic or religious issues, issues related to our living together in the Republic of Bulgaria”, Tsetska Tsacheva added.

The Head of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom” Maksim Benvenisti has handed in to the National Assembly, through Tsetska Tsacheva, the memorial insignia of the participants in the forum held in Prague titled: “Let my people live”. The insignia expresses the respect towards the Parliament of Bulgaria for the rescue of Bulgarian Jews, as well as for what it does at present for preserving and strengthening the friendly relations between people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds in Bulgaria, Benvenisti stressed.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister, Daniel Mitov, noted that pursuing politics shaped on ethnic and religious grounds represented one of the worst mistakes ever made by mankind.He further noticed:" Europe is such as we know it today, not only due to its mistakes but as well as due to its worthy acts, inseparable part of which is the contribution of the Bulgarian people in saving their Jewish compatriots. The history of the salvation of Bulgarian Jews is not a history of good and bad peoples; it is about the choices each one of us has to make every day. This exhibition is a lesson for the difficult path of sticking to our values".
 
The Ambassador of Israel, H.E. M.Shaul Kamisa Raz, said heartbeat is stopping from pain for the Jews who perished. “The feelings we experience should make us put to the balance and compare the clear picture of this dark period of the past with the present , where we still have reasons for concern, but also hopes for the future”. The Head of “Shalom”, Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria, Maxim Benvenisti added: “We should ask ourselves is Europe saved today. Europe has still to make efforts to become a community of people with different ethnic origins, religions, perceptions and ways of life.  

After the exposition’s opening flowers were laid in front of the Commemorative plaque erected near the parliament’s building.

The ceremony marking the Day of the Holocaust victims was organized by the National Assembly and the Embassy of the State of Israel, together with the State Institute for Culture of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom” and the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.