From: lb@cs.man.ac.uk (Luben Boyanov)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bulgaria
Subject: Bulgarian Tolerance in the past (was: Re: Re: Sep.06, 1885)
Summary: British Foreign Office on Bulgarian tolerance
Date: 9 Sep 92 09:59:48 GMT
Organization: Dept Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.

In article <92252.224632ANTHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> ANTHC@CUNYVM.BITNET writes:

>  For the old or young KGB from CA, naming himself Brian or somethig like
>
>that,

I'm not a lawyer or defender of Brian, but as far as I remember, he has sincere
interest in Bulgarian culture (he has posted a collection of CD's with
Bulgarian music which should be included in the FAQ, which Drago said to
compile but no one even "bothered" to express an opinion on that FAQ) and
seems to read this newsgroup regularly. Only because he has expressed his
negative opinion on certain aspects of your posting, it can be hardly a
justified reason for attacking him in public so viciously. One of the aspects,
this newsgroup have differed from others (in a positive way) so far, was
the lack of rude and offensive language. Let us hope that we have inherited
some of the tolerance of our ancestors (and we still keep it somewhere
deeply in ourselves) and let us try to contribute this tradition to continue.

Browsing in old books (to find the "impartial" 'TRUTH' on Macedonia :-) ), I
was lucky to read things for Bulgaria and Bulgarians which have been hidden
from us (on ideological grounds) and which the communist rule managed to
change (or even destroy ?maybe?). And these seems to have been
"traditional" Bulgarian features.

I'd like to quote few lines from the "Peace Handbooks" (vol. "Bulgaria").
This is a special edition of books by the British Foreign Office (compiled
in 1917), and prepared for the British Delegates to the Paris Peace Conference
(WWI). The books (they include info on all Balkan states/regions - i.e.
incl. Macedonia - a separate entry - and Bulgaria) have been issued for
public use after the Conference have completed.


"Bulgaria" - chapter III, Social and Political Conditions, (I) Religions

page 60-1

"  The Constitution accords complete liberty to alien creeds; and
difference of religion involves no restriction of civic rights.
Mohammedans, Jews, Patriarchists, Catholics, and Protestants receive
subsidies for their schools and salaries for the members of their
respective religious organizations. The Moslem element is fully represented
in the national Parliament. In general, religious tolerance prevails to a
greater extent than in any other State in Eastern Europe."

This is something I've read in several other sources as well - the
tolerance and liberty in Bulgaria were far better than in any other country
in this part of the world.

And later -

"Thus, when the Bulgarian Dobruja was appropriated by Romania in 1913, the
Moslem population lost the civic rights it had hitherto enjoyed. In
Bulgaria no disabilities are imposed on Jews as in Rumania."

On page 67 - Education, Public education

"  The progress of education in Bulgaria is very striking. In 1888 only 11
per cent. of the population was literate; to-day the proportion is probably
over 60 per cent.; the illiterate minority is mainly composed of aged
persons and women."


Sorry that I don't have time to post more. Books from the past can provide
the Bulgarians with many facts which can raise our national pride,
suppressed for so many years ... There are no glorious and pretentious
phrases but still enough one can feel very good about his country :-)


Regards

Luben


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Let us not allow splits and splintering to frighten us. It is, indeed, a
pity, but what can we do, since we are Bulgarians and all suffer from one
common disease"
				Gotse Delchev
--------------------------------------------------------------------------