Sofia: Bulgaria's Jews during WWII Probably the best of recent
books about Bulgaria is Richard Crampton's "Concise History of
Bulgaria", updated in 2005. The distinguished historian of
Eastern Europe leads the reader from the Bulgarian medieval
kingdom to the Bulgarian state at the beginning of the 21st
century when it stood at the doorsteps of NATO and the European
Union. More than half of the book deals with the troubled 20th
century. During the Second World War, Bulgaria was allied to
Nazi Germany. However, it managed to resist German pressure to
deport its 50,000 strong Jewish population. Where German and
Bulgarian views and jurisdiction did clash in domestic Bulgarian
affairs was over the Jewish question. In October 1941 the German
minister in Sofia, Beckerle, had begun pressing for more
restrictions on the Bulgarian Jews. Further measures were
introduced early in 1942 with a 20 per cent levy on Jewish
property, the enforcement of the wearing of the yellow star, the
compulsory sale of Jewish business wit