The story of the Bulgarian Jews during World War II is unique.

Bulgaria, allied with Nazi Germany, applied "The Law for Protection of the Nation" from January 1941. This law was a racial anti-Jewish law like the Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany. Bulgarian Jews left their homes and fled to the countryside. Their property and wealth were confiscated and stolen. They lived in poverty and insecurity and were not allowed to work. Men aged between 20 and 46 were forced to go to Bulgarian labour camps.

But in all these extreme circumstances, 48,000 Bulgarian Jews (within the old Bulgarian borders) managed to be saved thanks to the courage of Bulgarians who opposed the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews at the risk of their own lives. Because in March 1943 the trains were ready to leave to the death camps. In extremis, they even managed to stop the trains under great effort and personal risk.

Unfortunately, the Jews of the newly annexed Bulgarian territories never became Bulgarian citizens and were forced to board the trains under Bulgarian administration, to be handed over to the Nazi Germany and then deported to the extermination camps at Treblinka or Auschwitz (in total, approximately between 11,000 and 12,000 Jews were murdered).

The last Bulgarian Jewish survivors were children at the time. Their stories are testimonies - at the same time - of humanity, luck as well as the darkest moments of human history. As Paulina said (one of the Survivors): "in September 1944, we became HUMAN again."

The contact to the Survivors had been established by the local Shalom organisation. The photos were realised from late 2022 until summer 2023 in Sofia and Plovdiv. Some of the survivors share with me their personal photos of their lives. They allowed me to scan their photos and to include them into the project. Thank you to the last Survivors who participated to the project and shared with me their stories. Thank you to the Shalom Organisation. Thank you Jasmin for the translations and thank you Tera for making the interviews with the survivors.