October 13, 2020 – Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President and Founder, Appeal of Conscience Foundation and Senior Rabbi, Park East Synagogue receives the highest award of the Foreign Ministry of Bulgaria, the “Golden Laurel Branch,” in recognition for “his outstanding merit to the promotion of interreligious and intercultural understanding,” presented by Ambassador Georgi Velikov Panayotov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Nations on behalf of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ekaterina Zakharieva.
Rabbi Schneier and the interfaith Appeal of Conscience Foundation provided a lifeline of hope and support to all religious communities during the Communist Era, with particular help to sustain the Jews of Bulgaria who survived the Holocaust. Their survival was due to the heroic stand of the Patriarch and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and prominent intellectuals supported by the Bulgarian people who prevented their deportation demanded by Nazi Germany. “For me, the response of the Bulgarian people to the cry of the oppressed and not to remain silent in the face of tyranny is a role model of courage to save lives and an inspiration for others to follow.” said Vienna-born Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Arthur Schneier whose family perished in Auschwitz.