Mayor Fandakova took part in the validation of a post stamp dedicated to Julio Palencia

The Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, along with Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications, Dimitar Genovski, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev, US Ambassador, Eric Rubin and Spanish Ambassador, Javier Perez-Griffo validated a post stamp. It was dedicated to the Spanish diplomat Julio Palencia (1884-1952), who saved hundreds of Jews at the time of the Holocaust. The Deputy Mayor of Sofia, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Todor Chobanov also attended the ceremony.

"Julio Palencia, also called the Spanish Schindler, managed to save nearly 800 people in the Holocaust years. He performed his noble deed not only by issuing hundreds of rescue visas, but also by adopting the children of the Arie family, orphaned after a contrived lawsuit against their father", said the Mayor of Sofia in her welcome speech. "Paradoxically at first glance, but on seeing him off from Bulgaria, on August 8, 1943, King Boris III decorated Palencia with the great necklace of the Order of Civil Merit 1st degree. Even though he died in oblivion and poverty in 1952, today we work together with the Bulgarian Jewry and the Spanish Embassy in Sofia to affirm the memory of his heroism and his good deeds. In May 2016, the Sofia Municipal Council named after him a lovely little garden behind the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, and again at that time the famous Spanish artist Okuda painted his portrait at the Spanish Language High School, one of the most respected schools in our city ", said also Mayor Fandakova.