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The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust | 
 enlarge | Author: Tzvetan Todorov
Creator: Arthur Denner
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $20.95
New (10) Used (6) from $17.27
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 567052
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0691115648
Dewey Decimal Number: 971
EAN: 9780691115641
ASIN: 0691115648
Publication Date: July 28, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
With the exception of Denmark, Bulgaria was the only country allied with Nazi Germany that did not annihilate or turn over its Jewish population. Here a prominent French intellectual with Bulgarian roots accounts for this singularity. Tzvetan Todorov assembles and interprets for the first time key evidence from this episode of Bulgarian history, including letters, diaries, government reports, and memoirs--most never before translated into any language. Through these documents, he reconstructs what happened in Bulgaria during World War II and interrogates collective memories of that time. He recounts the actions of individuals and groups that, ultimately and collectively, spared Bulgaria's Jews the fate of most European Jews. The Bulgaria that emerges is not a heroic country dramatically different from those countries where Jews did perish. Todorov does find heroes, especially parliament deputy Dimitar Peshev, certain writers and clergy, and--most inspiring--public opinion. Yet he is forced to conclude that the "good" triumphed to the extent that it did because of a tenuous chain of events. Any break in that chain--one intellectual who didn't speak up as forcefully, a different composition in Orthodox Church leadership, a misstep by a particular politician, a less wily king--would have undone all of the other efforts with disastrous results for almost 50,000 people. The meaning Todorov settles on is this: Once evil is introduced into public view, it spreads easily, whereas goodness is temporary, difficult, rare, and fragile. And yet possible.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great historical factual analysis; makes a reader think August 20, 2001
Dmitriy Furer (Brooklyn, NY United States)
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
The author thoroughly explores the chain of events and actions that led to the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from Holocaust. In addition to his own remarks, the author provides a set of documents relevant to the period of persecution and possible deportation of Bulgarian Jews. The memoirs and diaries of political (and moral) adversaries describing the same events are put together. The clash of individual / group actions and opinions reveals the struggle between good and evil, courage and cowardliness in the Bulgarian society and government of 1940s. The author puts special emphasis on the brave attempt of Dimitar Peshev, the Vice-Chairman of National Assembly, to prevent Jewish deportation. His actions cost him the political post, but his goal was eventually achieved. I believe the author underestimated the role of Bulgarian king Boris in the eventual cancellation of deportation plans. Without his decision, the protests of Peshev, the opposition, and Bulgarian society would be in vain. I think his decision was more than just a calculated move done in Bulgarian national interests. His efforts to defend Jewish lives in the personal meetings with Nazi officials (including Hitler) are evident and should be recognized.
Ambiguous book June 27, 2002
Boris Todorov (Los Angeles, CA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
It is no big surprise that Todorov published a book on the Bulgarian Jews' salvation issue. First, it goes within the major topic of his later research: the value of ethics in extreme circumstances. Second, his Bulgarian origin should made him, even for simply methodological reasons, pay more attention to the country where he comes from (and which one would expect him to know well). The book follows a scheme that Todorov already employed ten years ago in compiling the witnesses' tales of three Bulgarian citizens severely (and unreasonably) persecuted by the Communist secret police in the early 60's: no place for comments, the floor is given to the "historical figures" themselves. Yet, while in the previous "Bulgarian" book the historical figures spoke with their own words, here Todorov is constricted to the existing documentation (no one of the participants in the '43 events is still alive). And this is why he, everything taken into acount, fails. The texts are insufficient to build a complete picture of WWII Bulgaria because of their "official" character: they do not present in detail the motivation even of those main figures that were most deeply involved in the salvation (or effective dispatch to the camps of death), yet they are not adjoined by any commentary by the author wich to elucidate them better. The author's position is limited (and this is quite a particular case!) to the title itself which, however, is misleading, too. Shall we interpret it literally in the sense that Bulgarians should not really boast about saving the Jews; or shall we understand it within the broader context of Todorov's work, as just one more argument in favor of Todorov's general concept of the relativity of morality? The truth is even now I cannot choose the correct answer.
 Disappointing January 3, 2003
Fred M. Blum (San Francisco, CA USA)
13 out of 18 found this review helpful
The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust by Tzvetan Todorov (Editor) fails in the essential task created by the title - explainig how fragile was the set of circumstances that led to the Jews of Bulgaria being saved. The first 40 or so pages of the book is a concise history of Bulgaria and the Second World War with the remainer of the book restricted to primary historical documents and memories of the major participants.The stated premise of the book is that goodness is fragile and that the saving of Bulgarian's Jews was not a forgone conclusion. The author ignores that fact that few historical events were forgone conclusions. Even the rise of Hitler was not preordianed and but for the acts of Hindengurg and a few Weimar leaders who thought that they could control Hitler there might not have been a Holocaust. Todorov does not explain why the events in Bulgaria are any different from every other historical event. If one want to read a comprehensive history of Bulgaria during World War II, I would suggest Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews by Michael Bar-Zohar. The Fragility of Goodness is wothwhile for the presence of the primary sources, but not much else.
A lesson in dealing with evil August 25, 2008
Robert A. Schultz (Los Angeles, CA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Balanced account with lots of documents on how the bulgarian jews escaped extermination. Relevant to today's America: "Once introduced into public life, evil perpetuates itself."
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