Rating: 
Summary: How decent people behave
Review: This story, nearly invisible in the Western World, is one that deserves to be told. The outline is basic. In 1943, after prolonging the acceptance of a partially coerced alliance with Nazi Germany, Bulgaria found itself ordered to deport its Jewish population to Poland. After recently being essentially handed new territories in what later became Yugoslavia (the main reason Bulgaria accepted the alliance), Bulgaria did 'turn over' the Jews living in the new territory. But the somewhat nervous and timid King Boris III managed at the last minute to cancel the order for deportation of the Jewish population within Bulgaria itself. Twice. And at the end of the war, none of Bulgaria's Jews had been sent away, a saving of over fifty thousand lives that would otherwise have met the same fate as millions of others. What happened?This is the central question of Beyond Hitler's Grasp, Michael Bar-Zohar's tribute to a Bulgarian society that stood up virtually as a whole and said "No way" to Hitler's demands. The book attempts to answer the questions of what Bulgaria did right, and how, and why. And also what it did wrong. For even though all of Bulgaria's Jews survived the deportation attempt, Bulgarian troops did contribute strongly to the deportation of twelve thousand Macedonian Jews in land that made up 'Greater Bulgaria'. I use the term in quotes, just as I use the term 'turn over' above in quotes because the most fundamental part of the answer is simple. Germany conquered those territories, and it considered them to be its own. Giving them to Bulgaria was at least in part an act. No one doubted who was really in command there. But the problem remains. Bulgarian troops did help out there. This question is addressed many times in the book, including a few chapters devoted to it. The reader can decide for himself if Bulgaria sufficiently resisted Germany's demands up to that point. Clearly it was in a no-win situation, which two powerful countries facing each other, and their own small country caught in the middle. For what it is worth, besides deporting none of its Jews, Bulgarian troops, which the exception of a small air raid, played no role in any military confrontation with Allied forces. So to the central question. Why did so many elements of Bulgarian society rise up against the deportation? Why did some of those responsible for keeping the plans secret not do so, instead informing Jewish leaders? Why did influential men petition the government and king for a change of mind? Why did most of the minority parties and a good part of the ruling majority of parliament petition for a change? Why did groups as disparate as a few pro German right wingers and the communist party oppose the deportation? Why did people march on the streets against it? After these questions, it almost seems pointless to ask why the king finally got the backbone to change his policy and make it stick, when he proved so malleable on other issues. What is clear is that he did, then, finally tell the German high command that there would be no deportation, even if he didn't stand up and say "forget about it", rather than constantly making excuses, offering delays, and explaining the troubles a deportation would face. These questions are, of course, better answered in the personal stories told within the text. The basic answer is that Bulgarians stood up for their Jews because they never considered them to be alien, or different, or strange, or any of the other even worse accusations other societies were willing to believe. They believed back in the forties the way too many people fail to do today, that Judaism was just a different religion, and not at all worth getting worked up over. It probably also helped that the Jewish population in Bulgaria spoke Bulgarian and did not live in separate communities. In short, and admittedly over-simplifying, Bulgaria had already solved its religious problems. The author does not hide his admiration for Bulgarian society, which his own family is descended from before they moved to Israel. He is, I think, justifiably puzzled at why so little of this story is known outside Bulgaria. Considering that Bulgaria was tucked away behind the Iron Curtain for forty years, it shouldn't be so surprising that the West did not find out much during the intervening decades. Also considering that the Communist party inflated its own role and eliminated others, casting doubt on the whole event, perhaps this absence is not so surprising. But considering that we now all know stories like Oskar Schindler's, and that other countries like Denmark have had their stories told, it's time to give Bulgaria the honor due to it for simple humanity during its darkest hour.
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