Travelling light: The trip in 20 wagons in Ihtiman was
an excursion to remember for the guests from the US.
an excursion to remember for the guests from the US.
A GROUP of students from some of the most prestigious US universities will write articles on "Bulgaria: 50 Years after the Holocaust", to be published in university newspapers after returning from a visit to Europe.
With the Middle East peace process entering a new stage, 12 students who hold leadership positions on their campus newspapers gained firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground and historical background of the Jewish experience in Poland, Bulgaria and Israel.
They were participants in the eleventh annual Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Albert Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission for Campus Newspaper Editors, and visited cultural, religious and historic sites in Europe.
The mission was designed by ADL to enable the student editors to bear witness to the consequences of unchecked racism through the lessons of the Holocaust, and within the context of history. College campuses are frequent targets of hate groups with extremist and racist views, and campus newspaper editors are challenged to handle the issues appropriately and responsibly. The ADL, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organisation fighting anti-Semitism through programmes and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
The programme was established through a gift from Bidi Finkelstein, a Philadelphia and Palm Beach philanthropist and honorary life member of the ADL National Commission, in memory of her late husband who conceived the idea.
Students representing Brown University, Dartmouth University, the University of Denver, Harvard, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Morehouse University, Oregon State University, Syracuse University, the University of Texas, Union College and Wayne State University participated in this year's mission.
As part of the mission the group met government ministers, diplomats, policymakers, historians and journalists. They said the Bulgarian leg of their journey was among the most memorable.
"In the years of World War 2, Bulgaria rescued its nearly Jewish community from the Nazi death camps," Bulgaria Foundation Chairman Yaakov Djerassi, who hosted the visit to Bulgaria, told The Echo. "Bulgaria found the courage and the strength to save the Jews, that is why the US is showing strong interest in Bulgaria, he said.
Twenty years ago Djerassi met Abraham Foxman, ADL National Director in Bulgaria, who was very pleased by the contribution Bulgaria had made to saving some potential victims of the Holocaust. In 1993 he met him again. At the time, the ADL hosted a breakfast for Simeon Saxe-Coburg, giving him an award in recognition of the role played by his father, Tsar Boris III, in saving the Jews.
"The student journalists will see how Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, and Palestinians live in a way that is not always depicted on television, and judge the situation for themselves," said Foxman before the departure of the group.
"We designed this mission with the intention of providing the future journalists of tomorrow with the personal experience of people living in Israel as well as important historical background of former Jewish communities in Europe, the Holocaust and how, while some nations turned a blind eye to what was going on in the 1930s and 1940s, others stood up and said 'no' to the Nazis," said Foxman.
"The mission will see for themselves how a nation was reborn from the ashes as a result of the Holocaust and the ashes of the victims," Djerassi said.
Foxman wanted, against the background of negative perceptions, to show Bulgaria as a positive model of tolerance, Djerassi explained.
The mission included Bulgaria as part of their itinerary for a fifth time and this year they met with Bulgarian government officials and Jewish community representatives to examine how the government, the church and the people of Bulgaria united to protect Bulgaria's Jewish community during the Holocaust.
Their two-day visit included meetings with Chief Mufti Selim Mehmed, Sofia mayor Stefan Sofianski and Deputy Justice Minister Mario Dimitrov.
In Bulgaria the mission was shown how Muslim, Jewish and Roma communities are treated. Mehmed invited them to visit the Sofia mosque, where normally only believers are allowed to enter.
"We have never been invited to a mosque before," Djerassi said, saying the group felt wonderful about the invitation.
Djerassi said the group was very interested in the Roma people, and were fascinated by their visit to the Roma community in Ihtiman. He said that one of the students, Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero of Harvard University, had said he identified with the Roma because before he came to the US he had lived in similar circumstances.
Djerassi said that during their visit to Ihtiman, a Roma leader had told the group that when God created mankind, he made Jews clever and Roma the thieves of the world, "and if you don't accept this fact you will never be able to understand," the Roma leader said.
Djerassi said: "What mostly the guests were touched by was the satisfaction of people with so little and that they show joy despite the pressure that they are all living in". Among memorable experiences, and likely to find its way into the reports the students are to write, was a trip with 20 Roma wagons.
The US students were also hosted by Metropolitan Galaktion of Stara Zagora, who talked about the church and the Jewish community. "There is no other Holy Synod with such close ties with the Jewish Community," Djerassi said.
The group was also warmly received by the President's chief of staff, Krassimir Stoyanov.
They saw the Bulgarian Dream Dancers show, mixed with other guests, and had dinner together at Ihtiman's golf course.
In Poland, the students visited the Auschwitz death camp and the areas once occupied by the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos. They also learnt about traditional Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust and attempts to revive Jewish communities after the fall of communism.
"This mission is unique for young people because it did not solely focus on the situation between Israel and terror groups, but also on the daily existence of the Israeli people and the European and Arab history that is a major part of the culture there," Foxman said.
With the Middle East peace process entering a new stage, 12 students who hold leadership positions on their campus newspapers gained firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground and historical background of the Jewish experience in Poland, Bulgaria and Israel.
They were participants in the eleventh annual Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Albert Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission for Campus Newspaper Editors, and visited cultural, religious and historic sites in Europe.
The mission was designed by ADL to enable the student editors to bear witness to the consequences of unchecked racism through the lessons of the Holocaust, and within the context of history. College campuses are frequent targets of hate groups with extremist and racist views, and campus newspaper editors are challenged to handle the issues appropriately and responsibly. The ADL, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organisation fighting anti-Semitism through programmes and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
The programme was established through a gift from Bidi Finkelstein, a Philadelphia and Palm Beach philanthropist and honorary life member of the ADL National Commission, in memory of her late husband who conceived the idea.
Students representing Brown University, Dartmouth University, the University of Denver, Harvard, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Morehouse University, Oregon State University, Syracuse University, the University of Texas, Union College and Wayne State University participated in this year's mission.
As part of the mission the group met government ministers, diplomats, policymakers, historians and journalists. They said the Bulgarian leg of their journey was among the most memorable.
"In the years of World War 2, Bulgaria rescued its nearly Jewish community from the Nazi death camps," Bulgaria Foundation Chairman Yaakov Djerassi, who hosted the visit to Bulgaria, told The Echo. "Bulgaria found the courage and the strength to save the Jews, that is why the US is showing strong interest in Bulgaria, he said.
Twenty years ago Djerassi met Abraham Foxman, ADL National Director in Bulgaria, who was very pleased by the contribution Bulgaria had made to saving some potential victims of the Holocaust. In 1993 he met him again. At the time, the ADL hosted a breakfast for Simeon Saxe-Coburg, giving him an award in recognition of the role played by his father, Tsar Boris III, in saving the Jews.
"The student journalists will see how Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, and Palestinians live in a way that is not always depicted on television, and judge the situation for themselves," said Foxman before the departure of the group.
"We designed this mission with the intention of providing the future journalists of tomorrow with the personal experience of people living in Israel as well as important historical background of former Jewish communities in Europe, the Holocaust and how, while some nations turned a blind eye to what was going on in the 1930s and 1940s, others stood up and said 'no' to the Nazis," said Foxman.
"The mission will see for themselves how a nation was reborn from the ashes as a result of the Holocaust and the ashes of the victims," Djerassi said.
Foxman wanted, against the background of negative perceptions, to show Bulgaria as a positive model of tolerance, Djerassi explained.
The mission included Bulgaria as part of their itinerary for a fifth time and this year they met with Bulgarian government officials and Jewish community representatives to examine how the government, the church and the people of Bulgaria united to protect Bulgaria's Jewish community during the Holocaust.
Their two-day visit included meetings with Chief Mufti Selim Mehmed, Sofia mayor Stefan Sofianski and Deputy Justice Minister Mario Dimitrov.
In Bulgaria the mission was shown how Muslim, Jewish and Roma communities are treated. Mehmed invited them to visit the Sofia mosque, where normally only believers are allowed to enter.
"We have never been invited to a mosque before," Djerassi said, saying the group felt wonderful about the invitation.
Djerassi said the group was very interested in the Roma people, and were fascinated by their visit to the Roma community in Ihtiman. He said that one of the students, Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero of Harvard University, had said he identified with the Roma because before he came to the US he had lived in similar circumstances.
Djerassi said that during their visit to Ihtiman, a Roma leader had told the group that when God created mankind, he made Jews clever and Roma the thieves of the world, "and if you don't accept this fact you will never be able to understand," the Roma leader said.
Djerassi said: "What mostly the guests were touched by was the satisfaction of people with so little and that they show joy despite the pressure that they are all living in". Among memorable experiences, and likely to find its way into the reports the students are to write, was a trip with 20 Roma wagons.
The US students were also hosted by Metropolitan Galaktion of Stara Zagora, who talked about the church and the Jewish community. "There is no other Holy Synod with such close ties with the Jewish Community," Djerassi said.
The group was also warmly received by the President's chief of staff, Krassimir Stoyanov.
They saw the Bulgarian Dream Dancers show, mixed with other guests, and had dinner together at Ihtiman's golf course.
In Poland, the students visited the Auschwitz death camp and the areas once occupied by the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos. They also learnt about traditional Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust and attempts to revive Jewish communities after the fall of communism.
"This mission is unique for young people because it did not solely focus on the situation between Israel and terror groups, but also on the daily existence of the Israeli people and the European and Arab history that is a major part of the culture there," Foxman said.
