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Professor Vladimir Georgiev

Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Fellow
"The Rescue and Betrayal of Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War"

Professional Background

Professor Vladimir Georgiev received a Ph.D. from the Sofia Institute of Philosophy, an M.A. in history from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and is a graduate of the Sofia Theological Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. During his fellowship at the Museum, he was Associate Professor of Church History and the History of Religion at Shoumen University of Bulgaria, and Archimandrite of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. For his Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Fellowship, Professor Georgiev conducted research on his project, “The Rescue and Betrayal of Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War.”

Professor Georgiev is the author of History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th Century (1997) and was working on a two-volume manuscript on the history of the Bulgarian Church at the time of his residency. He has published over one hundred scholarly articles in Bulgarian, English, French, and Hungarian. Professor Georgiev is the recipient of several prestigious scholarships from Erlangen University, the University of Oxford, and the Central European University, among others. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Association of Church History, and the American Association of Bulgarian Studies.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Museum, Professor Georgiev studied the complex history of Bulgaria’s involvement in the rescue and deportation of Jews during the Holocaust. He was particularly interested in understanding why Bulgaria, as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, saved some Jews, but not others. He also studied Bulgaria’s role in the deportation of Jews from Thrace and Macedonia.

Professor Georgiev was in residence at the Mandel Center from January 1 to March 31, 2006.