March 10 is one of the most morally weighted dates in Bulgaria’s history — a day when the fight for church independence and an act of collective rescue both left permanent marks on the national story.
March 10, 1870 — The Decree Establishing the Bulgarian Exarchate Is Signed
On March 10, 1870, Sultan Abdulaziz signed the imperial decree establishing the Bulgarian Exarchate as an independent church. The Exarchate was a major victory of the National Revival because church independence was inseparable from education, language, and national recognition within the Ottoman system. Before political liberation, the church question offered Bulgarians a legal and institutional way to assert collective identity.
The Exarchate created structures connecting communities, schools, clergy, and public life across Bulgarian-inhabited territories. Despite the deep conflict it opened with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, its importance for Bulgarian self-organization was decisive. March 10 marks a key step in building modern Bulgarian national institutions before state independence existed.
March 10, 1943 — Deportation of Bulgarian Jews Is Halted
On March 10, 1943, the Bulgarian government revoked its decision to deport the Jews living in Bulgaria to the Treblinka extermination camp, following intense public pressure. The date is now observed as the Day of Rescue of Bulgarian Jews and of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust and of the Crimes against Humanity. The rescue involved members of parliament, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, professional associations, and ordinary citizens acting against official policy.
It remains one of the most significant moral episodes in modern Bulgarian history. Remembrance, however, must also encompass the Jews deported from territories under Bulgarian wartime administration. March 10 holds both a story of rescue and an obligation of full historical honesty — pride and grief inseparable from the same date.
Read the surrounding entries in Bulgaria’s history: March 9 and March 1. Discover more of the country through our Bulgaria From Above photography and travel guides.
