Bulgaria Jewish Casualties in the Balkan Wars and WWI

Death, Military · Bulgaria · 1912-1918

This database is part of The Jeff Malka Sephardic Collection.

In 1396 the Ottomans conquered Bulgaria which then became part of the Ottoman Empire and remained so until 1878. Following the Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878), and as a result of the Berlin Peace Treaty, Bulgaria became an independent state, while Ottoman rule continued for a while longer in Macedonia and in Eastern Rumelia. In 1885 these provinces became part of Bulgaria.

After Bulgaria's independence a new era began. During the negotiations of the 1878 Berlin Peace Treaty, the leaders of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris applied great pressure on the parties and the result was that the Bulgarian nation officially granted equal rights to its Jewish inhabitants. The feudal atmosphere completely changed in the new economic-social and cultural conditions. The Bulgarian language and culture became part of the everyday life and the Jews adopted it as their mother tongue.

These facts strongly influenced the local Jews who from then on felt themselves equal citizens. Very much committed to their fatherland, Jews took part in the Balkans Wars and WWI as a full part of the Bulgarian army.

Nearly one thousand Jewish soldiers were killed during these wars.

The present index lists their surnames and given names (the second given name is very often the father's name), the places of the birth (from all over the country) and the year they were killed.

We acknowledge the tremendous contributions and lifelong dedication of Mathilde Tagger, z”l who made this index available. For many years, and right until her untimely death, Mathilde Tagger was a very close friend and collaborator with Jeff Malka. Together they worked to promote Sephardic genealogy research and educate the public about its enormous potential.

In addition, we express our grateful appreciation to Dr. Jeff Malka for his monumental ongoing effort to collect and make accessible Sephardic genealogical information, and for his generosity in contributing his extraordinarily valuable collection to JewishGen.

The Bulgaria Jewish Casualties in the Balkan Wars and WWI can be searched via the JewishGen Bulgaria Database or the JewishGen Sephardic Collection.

Last updated April 2021.