The Jeff Malka Sephardic Collection

Prominent Jews in Bulgaria: Gallery of the Forgotten

Benyamin Arditti (1897-1981), called Buby by all his friends, was in Bulgaria a journalist and a fervent Zionist. Arditti was imprisoned because of "illegal political activity" in 1944 by the fascist regime and again in 1946 by the newly established communist regime. He immigrated to Israel together with 45,000 Bulgarian Jews- 90% of the whole local Jewish population. He became so involved in Israeli politics that he was twice elected as a member of the Knesset. In the meantime he prepared the very first book that was written about the salvation of the Jewish population of Bulgaria during WW 2 thanks to the documents he brought with him. Arditti soon became the historian of the Bulgarian community, 80% of which was of Sephardic origin.

The present books brings detailed biographies of 127 prominent Bulgarian Jews. The index includes their surnames, given names that often are double because the second ones are often the father's name, their years of life. In case a photography was joined to the article, one will find it mentioned.

The surnames have mostly been brought as they were spelled in latin letters in Bulgaria and not necessarily transliterated from Bulgarian. Example: the transliterated name KALEV was found in the book itself as CALEB, or CALMI and not KALMI etc.

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The Prominent Jews in Bulgaria: Gallery of the Forgotten can be searched by via the JewishGen Bulgaria Database or the JewishGen Sephardic Collection