I will start with what Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands, said during the "STOP HATE SPEECH" conference, which was organized by the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office and the European Jewish Association at the end of last year. He said, "Language can revive, language can kill."
And I will tell you a true story from a few weeks ago. A Bulgarian delegation of distinguished doctors visited the State of Israel to get acquainted with their children's health care. They visited three local hospitals, two of which had been set up since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In the first hospital, the head of the hospital tells them: "Here is an identity card, I am a Bulgarian citizen and my parents are from Bulgaria. I am glad that I am a Bulgarian citizen and a citizen of the State of Israel".
In the second hospital, the head of one of the departments tells them again: "my grandparents are from Kyustendil and I am also a citizen of the Republic of Bulgaria." The case is the same in the third hospital. And they say to our delegation: "Tell us what we can do to help you." The holding of an event such as the so-called "Lukovmarsh" and similar ones related to hatred, hatred based not only on racial grounds, anti-Semitism, homophobia and what not, are a shame for us as Bulgarians and Bulgarian state. They are a shame especially for us, because it was we Bulgarians, the Bulgarian people, as Prof. Oscar said, even though we were an ally of fascist Germany, we managed to save all our Jewish fellow citizens. All of them. And at the end of the Second World War, there were more Bulgarian Jews than before the beginning of the war.
Yes, of course, it has to be acknowledged that during that time they suffered privations and probably humiliations. But we in Bulgaria - the Bulgarian journalists, the Bulgarian lawyers, the Bulgarian politicians, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as they said, Metropolitan Stefan and Metropolitan Kirill, who says that he is ready and welcomes his fellow Bulgarian Jews into his home. And that's a miracle.
As a Jewish friend of mine said: "Many other European countries, after you have done it, after you have been an ally of fascist Germany, could have done much more." Against the background of the 80th anniversary of this miracle, it is a shame to hold any events that are related to anti-Semitism and inciting racial, religious or ethnic hatred. It is a shame for us as Bulgarians.
I take this moment to say that we must regret that Bulgarian people, rather the Bulgarian state, then failed to save the Jews from Macedonia and Thrace, and it is a matter of fact that the Bulgarian state took part in their deportation. This does not undermine the fact that we have rescued over 48,000 of our fellow citizens. And, if I have to cite by memory - another 14,000 people who were issued the so-called "nansen passports". This is something we should be proud of and we should not allow hatred to spread like gangrene in our society, to make us ashamed and stain something that is truly great and what the Bulgarian people have done.
Since we are talking about hate, it has different dimensions. I regret that there are no Bulgarian politicians here, or at least I don't see famous ones, because in recent years hatred has spread like a cancer in our society - hatred between political parties, between politicians, between institutions, even in everyday life. This hatred has different dimensions, but it can disintegrate our society and lead to things we thought were impossible. Impossible on the basis of the fact that we are a tolerant people who, despite all our peculiarities, have, I dare to say, a particularly high level of tolerance towards others. We have a lot of problems and we have a lot of work to do in this direction, because we have a lot of negative manifestations, but we have a good base to build on. We must not go backward, but go forward. And I am sure that together, the non-governmental sector and the institutions, we can achieve a lot. Interaction is the surest way. Interaction with the non-governmental sector that has expertise in this area and the institutions that needs to do their job.
For two years, the Prosecutor's Office, State Agency for National Security, Ms. Fandakova, the Ministry of the Interior, the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office and everyone on whom it depends, managed to prevent this shameful manifestation that was 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, we saw that in 2022 this march took place, which is a disgraceful retreat from some good results achieved. I am sure that the institutions will work together this time unlike last year I will invite them to see each other on Monday and let each one of them do their job so that we do not allow illegal and shameful events. Shameful for us as Bulgarians and especially for Bulgaria.