My uncle is a Bulgarian Jew whose family was saved by the Bulgarian people....truly a blessed and an amazing people long live Bulgaria!

Very interesting. I visited Bulgaria in 2018 and fell in love with its beauty and welcoming people. Hearing this heroic part of their history just makes me love Bulgaria even more.

Just one more point for the reason why Bulgaria joined the Axis. Bulgaria stayed neutral for a very long time, however only the Axis offered them to reclaim lost territories from WW1, if Germany won.

That was our national hero Vasil Levski's dream, a pure and holy republic for everyone, he gave his life to this, fighting the Ottoman enslavers.

In schools the Jewish children were affraid to appear with the yellow stars, but they had to... And their Bulgarian classmates also put yellow stars, just not to separate their Jewish brothers and sisters...

I am living now in the Jewish neighborhood in Sofia. The synagogue still stands. As well as the Sofia central market. But no much else remains. I didn't know much about its background until very recently. I understand 5/6 thousand Bulgarian Jews still live in Bulgaria. Many sephardic jews who arrived from Spain after 1492. Shortly after the end of the Granada War, the Catholic Monarchs signed the decree of expulsion of the Jews in Granada. Many settled in Bulgaria. At one point there were 60 thounsand Jews in Bulgaria. Most emigrated to Israel after 1945. I can tell you that even today it is one of the liveliest neighborhoods in Sofia. Very international. You can see Jewish tourists from time to time. There is one Kosher shop not far from the Romanian church, two blocks away from the Sofia Synagogue. The synagogue is located in an area unique in Europe. There is a mosque, a Orthodox church, and a Catholic church in the same area. A testament to the religious tolerance in Bulgaria.

Interesting fact about Bulgaria, in the capitol city of Sofia very close to one another, actually you can see the other three buildings from each one of them, there is an orthodox church, catholic church, mosque and synagogue.

The Bulgarian Church is Orthodox no catolic .

As a Bulgarian listening to your perspective of this story was very interesting . I saw the events with a new light .Thank you for that .

That was very interesting video. There is only one thing I want to correct. The King Boris have been actually Tsar Boris and Bulgaria have not been Kingdom, it has been Tsardom. I just heard you call the Russian ruler Tsar, but the Bulgarian one King. The title "Tsar" is higher that the title "King". Tsar Simeon I, is the first ruler who proclaim himself for Tsar during the 10th century. Lately during the rule of his son Peter, the East Roman Empire admit the title to Peter, but with the addition, calling him "Tsar of Bulgarians, but not Tsar of Romans". This is because the title Tsar is considered to come from the name "Caesar" and is considered to be equal to the title Emperor, which mean the East Romans proclaim Peter for "Emperor of Bulgarians, but not Emperor of Romans".

I visited Bulgaria on many occasions over a period of 20 years and the country and its people are very fine indeed. Bulgaria is the only country in Europe that refused to give up its jewish people to the Nazis during WW2

God bless you Aaron Cohen, God bless your family and Israel! Greetings from Bulgaria!

This story brought tears in my eyes. I feel very proud to be a Bulgarian right now. If we stand united and brave we can fight evil.

It was amazing to hear your perspective and to learn new things! Thank you for sharing! I hope that we, Bulgarians, can regain our true spirit and understanding, good luck to all Bulgarian and Jewish people!

I want to say thanks to Mr. Cohen, he made me feel proud of my ancestors! Greetings to the Jewish people, from Bulgaria - You are always welcome here!

Well in 1941 Hitler arrived at the northern border of Bulgaria with an army of 600 000 man and we had two choices a) fight he Nazis and be obliterated or b) let them pass trough Bulgaria on their way to Greece. We did the second. On top of this, Bulgaria lost 50% of its territory during WWI. On these territories Serbs and Greeks started a small Holocaust against the Bulgarians. The Bulgarians had to either give up their national identity, emigrate or face the consequences. Since we had the strongest army in the region and a strategic location, Hitler tried to lure us into fighting the USSR. We never did that and were the only country in Europe (besides Switzerland) with a Russian and a German embassy. At that time most of the land we lost during WWI was part of the German Reich. So Hitler agreed having Bulgarian administration in those lands, but of cores all decisions had to have the German final approval. This is why we couldn't save the Jewish population from the "new lands" and about 11 000 people perished. We managed to save only the people from the old realms of the Bulgarian kingdom 50 000 people, who were also Bulgarian citizens. Now comes the big topic. Since Former Yugoslavia tried to annex parts of Bulgaria, we were their biggest enemy. For 70 years Serbs spread hatred against Bulgaria and declared us 'even more nazi than the Germans', although 200 000 Jews form Yugoslavia were murdered (they tend to forget this). Hating your neighbors is the norm on the Balkans. This basically continues to this very day. The place, where things are pretty bad is Northern Macedonia. Before 1944 the population there was Bulgarian, but with some ethnic cleansing and concentration camps, the Serbs managed to convince them, that they are Descendants of Alexander The Great and Cleopatra of Egypt. Serbians devised a new nation born out of hatred to everything Bulgarian. What Serbian chauvinism is capable of, you have seen during the Yugoslav wars (The worst crimes against humanity since WWII). The same happened to Bulgarians in Yugoslavia with the difference, that back in 1944 there was no CNN to report it. Were there any Nazi supporters in Bulgaria? Yes, but were only a marginal group. Both the King and the political elite never sported the Nazi ideas and knew that Hitler is a maniac, who will eventually loose the war. Because the King was against the german plans, he payed with his life. Died form poisoning few days after arriving from a meeting with Hitler. Why the master race ideas never took hold? Well, it was basically very difficult to teach the Bulgarians to hate their friends and neighbors, just because of different religion.(Quite different from the rest of Europe). So, the guy pretending to be a Bulgarian is actually either Serb or Northern-Macedonian on a hate rant.

Dear Mr Aaron Cohen, Thank YOU from the bottom of my heart for keeping alive the memory of brave and good Bulgarian people. I live in Plovdiv now, and this city will not forget your story either. I am also grateful my children are able to listen and learn from your fascinating speech, so they add another reason to be proud with their Bulgarian ancestors. God bless you and your loving family!

I can tell this guy was born here and speaks Bulgarian by the way he pronounces the names of the cities and I am just 15 minutes in.

Bulgarians are amazing, you have to visit the country,to learn the history of them..God bless them

Yes, little known story. My grandfarher was one of those saved, he spent WW2 in a working camp, not concentration. He was still able to visit opera concerts in Sofia during "free time".