Alexander Belev

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Alexander Georgiev Belev (Александър Белев, † September 1944 in Bulgaria ) was a member of the nationalist organization Ratnik , anti-Semite and protégé of Interior Minister Petar Gabrowski, the Bulgarian commissioner for Jewish issues during the Second World War. He played a central role in the deportation of almost 11,500 Jews from the Bulgarian-occupied territories in Thrace and Macedonia and the expropriation of all Jews in Bulgaria. He was sentenced posthumously in 1945.

Live and act

Belev was legal advisor of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church until 1934, a lawyer in Sofia from 1934 to 1939 and from 1940 head of department in the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior.

anti-Jewish law to protect the nation

In the summer of 1940 Belev visited Germany to study the Nuremberg Laws and upon his return Interior Minister Gabrowski announced the law to protect the nation . A direct influence of the German Reich cannot be proven here. The law, passed in January 1941, was often bypassed by Belev's department. The confiscation of Jewish property, on the other hand, was strictly carried out. After the Balkan campaign at the end of April, the law was also applied in the annexed Thrace and Macedonia .

At the time of the Wannsee Conference , Belev traveled to Berlin on Gabrowski's instructions to investigate the latest developments in the Jewish question . On August 26, 1942, the Commissariat for Jewish Questions ( Komisarstvo za evreiskite vuprosi - KEV ) was founded by government decree, which was responsible for all measures against Jews with the exception of the Anti-Speculation Act and the Law on Taxation of Jews . Belev became the leader. After the registration, the police station planned to deport all Jews and confiscate their property. In order to create the conditions for resettlement, Belev proposed 12 measures for the labeling and ghettoization of Jews, liquidation of their businesses and restrictions on the disposal of their property. These proposals were extensively incorporated into a cabinet ordinance of August 26, 1942. On September 3, 1942, Belev was appointed Jewish Commissioner; he held this office until October 1943.

When the deportation plans for Old Bulgaria stalled due to internal political resistance, SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodor Dannecker and Belev signed an agreement on February 22, 1943 for the deportation of around 8,000 Jews from Macedonia, 6,000 Jews from Thrace and 6,000 Jews from Old Bulgaria.

On March 2, 1943, on the basis of Belev's proposals, the Bulgarian cabinet passed a series of deportation decrees for the provision of personnel, free transportation, loss of citizenship and confiscation of Jewish property. Almost 11,500 Jews were deported from the annexed areas in March 1943. Interior Minister Gabrowski postponed further deportation preparations at the suggestion of the throne, but Belev drafted a step-by-step deportation plan to Poland, which Gabrowski presented to the king on May 20, 1943 for information. The Jews from Sofia were told to leave the capital and their property was auctioned.

After the death of Tsar Boris III. there was a change of government, Interior Minister Dočo Christov and new Commissioner for Jewish Affairs Christo Stomaniakov . At the end of the war, Belev fled to Kyustendil , where he was caught and shot in September 1944 on the way to Sofia for his planned trial. On April 3, 1945, Belev was posthumously sentenced to death by People's Court VII.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephane Groueff: Crown of Thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918-1943. Rowman & Littlefield, 1998, ISBN 1-56833-114-2 , p. 322 ff.
  2. ↑ Mariana Hausleitner u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 (collection of sources) Volume 13: Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria . Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , p. 622.
  3. ↑ Mariana Hausleitner u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews ... Volume 13, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , p. 77.
  4. ↑ Document VEJ 13/286 in Mariana Hausleitner u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews ... Volume 13, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , pp. 593-600.
  5. ^ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Dimension of the genocide. Oldenbourg, 1991, ISBN 3-486-54631-7 , p. 280 ff.
  6. ^ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria. P. 283 f.
  7. ↑ Document VEJ 13/298 in Mariana Hausleitner u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of European Jews ... Volume 13, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , pp. 622–631.
  8. ↑ Mariana Hausleitner et al. (Arrangement): The persecution and murder of European Jews ... Volume 13, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , p. 82.
  9. ↑ VEJ 13/311 in: Mariana Hausleitner u. a. (Ed.): The persecution and murder of the European Jews ... Volume 13, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-036500-9 , pp. 650–652.
  10. ^ Hagen Fleischer: Greece. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Dimension of the genocide. Oldenbourg, 1991, ISBN 3-486-54631-7 , pp. 255 f.
  11. ^ Raul Hilberg: The annihilation of the European Jews . Volume 2, Fischer 1990, ISBN 3-596-24417-X , p. 806 f.
  12. ↑ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria, p. 287 f.
  13. ^ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria. P. 287 f.
  14. ^ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria. P. 303 f.
  15. ^ Hans-Joachim Hoppe: Bulgaria. P. 305 f.
  16. ^ Daniel S. Maraschin: Saving Bulgarian Jewry: 75 years later . In: Times of Israel. March 25, 2018, accessed March 10, 2019.
  17. ↑ Michael Bar-Zohar: Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews . Adams Media 1998, p. 250.
personal data
SURNAME Belev, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Belev, Alexander Georgiev (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bulgarian commissioner for Jewish issues during the Second World War
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century or 20th century
DATE OF DEATH September 1944
Place of death Bulgaria