Bulgaria was the only Axis country to deflect insistent German demands for the deportation of its Jews.

I escaped from my home country, Bulgaria, to Czechoslovakia and then to the West.

It was a bit like going from the Swiss Franc or the German Mark to the Euro.

The United States is the only country left now, bar Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, that has this all-government system.

The historical profession is nowhere famous for its tolerance, but there are not many countries where historians can expect to pay for their opinions with penal servitude or the firing squad.

Europe's fragmentation puts the wider historical picture beyond reach.