(JTA) — A Jewish group and a liberal party in Bulgaria protested an annual march to honor a general from the 1930s closely tied to the Third Reich.
On Sunday, the Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms demonstrated to ban the Lukov March planned for Feb. 15, according to the Sofia Globe. The torchlight procession honors Hristo Lukov, a Bulgarian army general who later became the country’s minister of war from 1935 to 1938. He also headed the extreme-right Union of Bulgarian National Legions from 1932 to 1942.
The Lukov March, organized by the far-right Bulgarian National Union, has been held annually since 2003 and has been the subject of criticism by Bulgarian and European groups.
Marchers often display pro-Nazi propaganda as well as pro-fascist and xenophobic ideas, the Shalom group said, according to Bulgarian National Radio.
Lukov was assassinated at his home in Sofia in 1943 by a Bulgarian Communist Party agent.
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