For years, the Holocaust in Bulgaria was under-researched, under- represented, overshadowed and manipulated by political and economic interests. A myth became popular that there was no Holocaust in Bulgaria. The story of the Jewish people who had lived and survived these times has never been told. A combination of resistance, and political and social circumstances helped most of the Bulgarian Jewry survive the Holocaust, under very difficult, harsh conditions. Bulgaria’s government refused to protect Bulgarian Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe and consequently they were deported to Auschwitz. Jews, who lived in territories which Bulgaria annexed, were deported and murdered in Treblinka. At least 12,000 Jews became victims of Bulgaria’s collaboration in the Final Solution
“Jacky Comforty has carefully selected these survivor reminiscences from oral history collections. As an empathetic interviewer he developed a knack for getting subjects to freely speak their minds. He doesn’t lead a witness, doesn’t interrupt a train of thought, doesn’t impose some preconceived narrative. And as an award-winning filmmaker he perceives history in visual terms. As an artist so too does Martha Bloomfield via bold splashes of color. Her family background in Bulgaria connects her passionately with the topic. Jacky and Martha have accurately and tastefully presented this book as an antidote to a longstanding hoax.
“This book closes a gap between testimonials and the lack of visual documentation and depiction of events. It links and contextualizes the events in Bulgaria with the Holocaust throughout Europe. Photographs, archival films and on location documentation, maps, documents, voices, paintings, and narration weave the story together There was a Holocaust in Bulgaria. It’s documented here. Stories We Were Never Told is a volume to keep, to cherish, to educate readers young and old. Turn the pages slowly and reflect.”
– Excerpts from the foreword by Steven F. Sage, Ph.D.
“Clearly, Jacky Comforty and Martha Aladjem Blomfield have put their hearts, their souls and a number of years of their lives into the creation of this work. Stories We Were Never Told expands and deepens their earlier collaboration, the Stolen Narrative of the Bulgarian Jews and the Holocaust. Though it meets the standards of any scholarly text, it surpasses any academic text in readability and pleasure. Perhaps, the best way to begin this book is sit down with it on a leisurely afternoon, perhaps with family members, and flip through the pages to view Bloomfield’s moving paintings and the stories that accompany them. Then to come back to the stories over the years. Comforty and Bloomfield have finally given a voice to a group long silenced.”
– Nancy MacKay, Oral Historian and Writer
Martha Aladjem Bloomfield’s emotionally expressive art plunges viewers into the eyes and hearts of the survivors of the Bulgarian Holocaust. The directness of her naive style with its charged colors and distinctive compositions holds and amplifies the survivors’ lived memories of fear, vulnerability and loss. Each painting forms a new composite image fused from the diverse oral histories and extensive research conducted by writer and filmmaker, Jacky Comforty. The artist’s paintings forge a necessary confrontation, and emendation of prior historical accounts.
– Michele Foyer, artist
The Stolen Narrative of The Bulgarian Jews and The Holocaust shares a complex tapestry of voices of memories previously underrepresented, ignored and denied. An alternative perspective that includes stolen, silenced, but now reclaimed Jewish narrative based on our peoples’ experiences. It contextualizes and personalizes our history, reconstructs the puzzle, praises those who helped the Jews and shares their exemplary acts of humanity for future generations.
It fills a void in the Bulgarian Holocaust literature–specifically first-hand accounts of memory of survivors, eyewitnesses, photographs, official publications, laws, and newspaper articles.
According to Omer Bartov, John P Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History, Department of History, Brown University, who wrote the Foreword to our book,
“What I find so powerful and moving in this book is the fine and delicate balance that it strikes between rejecting the self-serving story of how Bulgaria, alone of all other countries in Europe (with the partial exception of Denmark), and headed by its wily king, ‘saved its Jews’ and letting scores of witnesses tell their heart-wrenching stories of how they lived through those times.
“This book is thus an important corrective to the existing scholarship; but it is also a major contribution to the literature on the Holocaust in that it brings back the voices of the community itself, thereby allowing members of Bulgarian Jewry to tell their own story.”
Endorsed by scholars from the United States, Bulgaria, Israel, Germany and France.
Drawing on a rich collection of oral and visual sources, most previously unknown, this book presents an account of Bulgarian Jews and Bulgaria’s role in the Final Solution like no other book on its subject. First-person oral testimonies and accompanying graphics make for engaging, gripping, reading. An historical narrative at its best!
— Alvin Rosenfeld, Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University
This valuable contribution to the history of Bulgarian Jews and those under Bulgarian rule during the Holocaust offers a patiently assembled and processed collection of individual voices which blend into a telling polyphonic narrative. The myriad personal memories convincingly demystify well-established canonical stories and pay a deserved tribute to human decency.
— Roumen Avramov, Centre for Advanced Studies Sofia
An excellent combination of rich documentation, critical study, responsible research and grounded insights. A flowing, important, fascinating historical narrative–the results of years of diligent work. Highly recommended!
— Shlomo Shealtiel, Yad Yaari Research Center of Hashomer Hatzair
Jacky Comforty is not only an avid collector of historical memories and visual sources of the Jews of Bulgaria, but also—as this book proves—the voice of the survivors. The book tells a story on the Shoah in the Balkans which is much more complex than the established varieties: a story of deportation and annihilation, but also one of solidarity and rescue.
— Stefan Troebst, Leipzig University
A compelling and very personal book whose rich, poignant testimonies provide a welcome addition to recent scholarship on writing and remembering Jewish history in Bulgaria. Alongside Jewish witness accounts, a wealth of photographs bring back to life the experiences of Jewish persecution during World War Two and successfully reclaim the Bulgarian Jews’ roles in their own ‘rescue.’ The social lives of this collection of testimonies may also invite scholars to consider this volume as an object of research in its own right.
— Nadège Ragaru, Sciences Po, Paris