Obj. ID: 40133
Memorials Thanksgiving Monument in Vidin, Bulgaria, 1998
Memorial Name
Паметник на благодарността (literally Thanksgiving Monument)
Who is Commemorated?
Citizens of Vidin and Bulgaria, who protected the Jews from deportation in 1943.
Description
The memorial is situated in the center of a boulevard, between the historical Stambul Gate and the building of the city library, not far from the City Hall. It is an upright stele of irregular form. On its front side, the depiction of a menorah - in the form of the Israel's emblem - surmounts a marble plaque in the form of an open Torah scroll with a long Bulgarian inscription.
The name of the artist in signed on the right side of the step preceding the monument.
Inscription
The inscription in Bulgarian reads:
Ние никога не ще за
бравим!
От II в. от н.е. във Ви
дин е живяла прокуде
ната от родината си еврей
ска общност, която през
1949 г. се завръща в ново
съ’здалата се държава
Израел.
Отношението на ви
динското гражданство
към евреите било под
чертано гостоприемно,
толерантно и човечно, ос
вобождението на Бълга
рия направи евреите рав
ноправни граждани.
През 1943 г. 49 000 бъл
гарски евреи бяха зас
трашени от физическо
унищожение, на което
българският народ се
противопостави по най
категоричен начин, този
протест доведе до тях
ното спасение.
С вечна признател
ност и обич към съграж
даните от Видин и към
целия български народ
за човешкия им подвиг.
Видинско еврейство,
живеещо в Израел.
Април 1998 г. Нисан 5758 г.
Изградил Сами Басан
Translation: We will never forget! From the second century CE, Vidin was inhabited by the ousted Jewish community, which in 1948 became part of the newly formed state of Israel. The attitude of the Vidin citizens towards the Jews was strikingly hospitable, tolerant and human, the liberation of Bulgaria made the Jews equal citizens. In 1943, 49,000 Bulgarian Jews were threatened with physical destruction, which the Bulgarian people opposed in the strongest possible terms, and a protest led to their salvation. With eternal gratitude and love to the citizens of Vidin and to the whole Bulgarian people for their human feat. Vidin Jews living in Israel. April 1998 Nissan 5758. Made by Sami Basan
Commissioned by
Jews from Vidin living in Israel
5 image(s)
sub-set tree:
The Thanksgiving monument was erected in 1998 by Jews from Vidin living in Israel to thank to the Vidin community and Bolgarian people for preventing the deportation of Jews from the town to the Nazi death camps in 1943. A similar monument was installed in Plovdiv.
In 1943, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and some politicians and civic leaders successfully resisted German pressure on the Bulgarian government to deport Bulgarian Jews. More than 11,000 Jews from Greek territories occupied by Bulgaria, however, were not spared.
"Holocaust monument defaced in Bulgarian town,"The Times of Israel, August 21, 2017., https://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-monument-defaced-in-bulgarian-town/ (accessed December 30, 2021)
"Pametnik na blagodaarnostta - Vidin," Opoznai.bg. September 21, 2017., https://opoznai.bg/view/pametnik-na-blagodarnostta-vidin (accessed December 30, 2021)
“Jewish monument in Bulgaria’s Vidin defaced,” The Sofia Globe, August 21, 2017, https://sofiaglobe.com/2017/08/21/jewish-monument-in-bulgarias-vidin-defaced/ (accessed December 30, 2021)