Letters: Travel column glosses over Bulgaria’s history

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, September 14, 2016

In Rick Steves’ Sept. 4 column on Bulgaria, he states that the country barred the deportation of approximately 50,000 Bulgarian Jews to the Nazi death camps. While it is true, it is not the full story.

First, as Steves notes, Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany and declared war on America in December 1941. Bulgaria permitted passage of German troops south to invade Greece and cooperated in transport of Greek Jews north to the death camps where more than 60,000 perished in Auschwitz. As price for its collusion in invasion and mass murder, Bulgaria extorted the regions of Thrace from Greece and Macedonia from Serbia.

Bulgaria actively assisted the Germans in the deportation of the Jew from Bulgarian-annexed Thrace and Macedonia to Treblinka and other death camps where 11,384 Jews were exterminated. (Source: Lucy Dawdidowicz, “The War Against the Jews 1933-1945”).

Rick Steves is a fine travel writer and The Herald does a community service in publishing his columns. It might be wise, however, for Steves to stick to travel and leave the history telling to those with the knowledge, ability and unbiased inclination to tell the whole truth.

Tom P. Conom

Edmonds