Plan B: Microhistory of Dupnitsa and the Resettlement of Jews from Sofia to the Provinces, May 1943 – September 1944

Abstract

On 21 May 1943, the Bulgarian authorities issued an order for the expulsion of the Jews from Sofia and several other cities to the provinces. By early June, more than 20,000 people had been dispersed across multiple towns and villages, including Dupnitsa, a tobacco-producing centre in southwestern Bulgaria, whose Jewish population nearly doubled as a result of the resettlement. Focused on the highly politicised debate over whether the Bulgarian Jews were “rescued” or merely “survived” the Holocaust, historians have largely neglected the organisation of the internment and its impact on Jewish lives. Through a microhistorical study of Dupnitsa, this thesis demonstrates that the resettlement period was gruelling: Jews were forced to live in cramped houses, their mobility was severely restricted, unemployment soared alongside the cost of living, and access to social assistance and schooling was deplorable. Drawing on the concepts of identification and disidentification, the present research uncovers a complex pre-war network of relationships, both between Jews and Bulgarians and within the Jewish community itself, that became the foundation for daily physical and emotional support in the face of adversity. By emphasizing the importance of pre-existing connections, this thesis challenges the idea of widespread spontaneous aid, i.e., social reactivity, as conceptualized by Jacques Sémelin. Meanwhile, cleavages rooted in the interwar period deepened, leading to instances of abuse, violence, and betrayal within the Jewish community.