On February 10, 1943 the Plovdiv metropolitan Kiril, later the first Bulgarian patriarch, and the Sofia exarch Stefan prevented from deportation hundreds of Plovdiv Jews.

On March 17, 1943 Mr. Dimitar Peshev, the deputy chairman of the 25th Parliament of Bulgaria, wrote a letter opposing the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews, backed by 42 members of the Parliament.

Thanks to the public support too, estimated as 67,000 Bulgarian Jews were saved. In 2002, the education ministers of the member states of the Council of Europe

decided the International Holocaust Memorial Day that was celebrated on January 27 to be remembered in each country depending on its particular history.

Bulgaria commemorated first the Holocaust Memorial Day on 10 of March in 2003.