The Burgas Regional Prosecutor in Bulgaria has opened an investigation into the vandalism of the city’s Holocaust memorial on August 8.
The Monument to the Saviors of Burgas Jews was created 10 years ago to commemorate Burgas residents who saved their Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust.
Last Friday, the memorial was desecrated with stickers of General Hristo Lukov, a leader of the pro-Nazi legionnaires before 1944. The stickers entirely cover the inscriptions and the message of the monument.
The Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation (AleF) expressed outrage that the stickers have not been removed after several days and called for the monument to be cleaned immediately and for video surveillance to be installed.
Such manifestations of antisemitism are unacceptable
AleF added that such manifestations of antisemitism are unacceptable in a city that was once a symbol of humanity and resistance to Nazi crimes. It also called the vandalism “brazen,” as it was committed just meters from the Burgas Municipality building.
The Burgas Regional Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has opened a file. Officers of the Burgas Regional Directorate of the Interior will now inspect the site, “including operational-search actions to identify the perpetrators.”
General Lukov is celebrated annually in Sofia, Bulgaria, during a highly controversial event named the Lukov March, organized almost every year since 2003 by the far-right Bulgarian National Union-New Democracy Party.
Nazi sympathizers from around Europe gather to march in what is seen as a rallying point for the far-right movement.