The JUST Act Report: Bulgaria

After World War II, the Law on Settling the Property Issues Derived from the Revocation of the Anti-Jewish Laws (March 1945) provided for “restitution to Jews, Jewish cultural, political, and other organizations and legal persons of all immovable property expropriated or confiscated by the state” in the 1940s.  The law further stipulated that heirless property became state property except for movable property, housing property, studios, garages, and plots designated for housing development, which became municipal property.  The Communist government subsequently nationalized all personal and community property, including Jewish property.

After the fall of Communism, Jewish organizations and individuals could reclaim ownership of, or receive compensation for, communal and private — but not heirless — property nationalized by the Communist regime.  The Law on Restitution of Ownership on Nationalized Immovable Property of 1992 and the Law on Compensating Owners of Nationalized Property of 1999 provided mechanisms for restitution and/or compensation of both communal and private property, including through government bonds when restitution or the return of substitute property was not possible.  Individual claimants did not have to be Bulgarian citizens, but eligible non-citizen claimants were required to sell any returned property.  The deadline to submit claims was November 2007.  According to Shalom, almost all claims to communal property have been settled.  One property located on the grounds of the Naval Academy in Varna remains in dispute with the Ministry of Defense, which refuses to restore it to the Jewish community, claiming it is used for strategic communications.  Bulgaria has no restitution legislation for confiscated heirless property but is a party to the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, which calls for the return of unclaimed and heirless Jewish property.

Bulgaria endorsed the Washington Principles on Nazi-looted Art 1998.  There are no known outstanding claims regarding Nazi-confiscated or looted art, or looted Judaica or Jewish cultural property present in Bulgaria.  Bulgarian museums and galleries have not conducted provenance research on their holdings.  Bulgaria has not addressed bank accounts that were taken from Thrace and Macedonia.

Claimants generally have access to archival documents that could be relevant to prove ownership.  The State Archives Agency has posted on its website an inventory of the archival fund of the Bulgarian Commissariat on Jewish Affairs, responsible for the property confiscations in the 1940s, which contains personal property declarations.

Since 2005, the State Archives Agency has provided records to Bulgarian and foreign, mostly Israeli, citizens for the purpose of facilitating one-time payments of financial compensation to Jewish persons who were forcefully deported to the interior of the country and interned, subjected to forced labor, and/or placed in ghettoes in various cities during World War II.  The State Archives Agency and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum signed a five-year agreement on archival access in 2010.  It was automatically extended for two one-year periods and expired in 2017.

Bulgaria became a full member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in November 2018.  A Deputy Foreign Minister serves as national coordinator for combating anti‑Semitism.  The Ministry of Education and Shalom are collaborating on the development of a Holocaust curriculum for public schools.  NGOs provide regular training on Holocaust-related issues to educators.  In February and March 2018, the Ministry of Education organized visits by Jewish community representatives to high schools throughout the country to conduct student outreach and education on Holocaust issues.

Bulgarian authorities and Bulgarians generally tend to focus on how the country saved its Jewish citizens but avoid discussing the country’s role in sending thousands of Jews from Bulgarian-occupied Thrace and Macedonia to the death camps.  Senior government leaders participate in the annual March 10 commemoration of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews, held at the Salvation Monument outside Parliament, as well as in International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 and other events.  There are Holocaust monuments and plaques around the country in towns that had large Jewish communities or where Jewish people were interned and subjected to forced labor in the 1940s.  There is also a memorial to the Jews deported from Bulgarian-occupied Thrace and Macedonia in Lom, Bulgaria.