Dimitar Peshev ( bg, Димитър Пешев; 25 June 1894 – 20 February 1973) was the Deputy Speaker of the

National Assembly of Bulgaria The National Assembly ( bg, Народно събрание, Narodno sabranie) is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. Ordi ...

and Minister of Justice (1935–1936), before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He rebelled against the pro-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

cabinet and prevented the

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

of Bulgaria's 48,000

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s. He was bestowed the title of "

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Context of Bulgaria during World War II

Tsar Boris III Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...

of Bulgaria joined in an alliance with Adolf Hitler in 1940, agreeing to his

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

course. In January 1941, the parliament (

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

or ''Narodno sabranie'') of Bulgaria put into effect the " Law for protection of the nation", which was modeled upon the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of th ...

. Dimitar Peshev, then vice president of the ''Sabranie'', did not object to the Bulgarian alliance with Nazi Germany when King Boris III joined Hitler’s Axis. He did not object to drafting anti-Jewish laws (Law for Protection of the Nation Закон за защита на нацият�

. In 1940, he voted in favor of the Law to Protect the Natio

These laws depicted the Jews as the country's most vile enemies and defined a Jew as anybody who had at least one Jewish parent. Under the law, Jews were no longer eligible for Bulgarian citizenship, had to change their last names if they resembled anything Bulgarian, and could not intermarry with non-Jews. A strict quota of less than 1% was instituted dictating how many Jews could study in universities, and Jews could not hold employment in the majority of occupations. The majority of Bulgarians, including many members of parliament, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church, writers, artists, lawyers and other members of the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

, opposed the law. The Bulgarian government signed an agreement declaring that, on 10 March 1943, all of Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews would be deported from the

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( bg, Кюстендил ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, ...

railway station and sent to

death camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland during World War II consisted of two major parts with different types of administration. The Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany following the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II—nearly a quarter of the ...

. This deportation was organized under the leadership of

Theodor Dannecker Theodor Denecke (also spelled Dannecker) (27 March 1913 – 10 December 1945) was a German SS-captain (), a key aide to Adolf Eichmann in the deportation of Jews during World War II. A trained lawyer Denecke first served at the Reich Security M ...

, an SS officer very close to

Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

and Macedonia would also be rounded up and deported.

Personal background

Born in 1894 in

to an affluent family, Dimitar Peshev had studied languages in

Saloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and law in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. He fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

on the southern front. A year after the war, he completed his law studies and became a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He was known in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and politics as being an honest and honorable man and, in 1938, won the position of Deputy Speaker. His main interests were in safeguarding

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and the Constitution. He was strongly disliked by Prime Minister

Bogdan Filov Bogdan Dimitrov Filov ( bg, Богдан Димитров Филов; 10 April 1883 – 1 February 1945) was a Bulgarian archaeologist, art historian and politician. He was prime minister of Bulgaria during World War II. During his tenure, Bulga ...

Role in preventing the Jewish deportation

Dimitar Peshev memorial plaque - 47 Neofit Rilski Str, Sofia

Peshev was a good friend of Bulgaria's Jewish community. However, he had not objected to the institution of the "Law for the Defense of the Nation" (ZZN), an anti-Jewish bill. In the beginning of March 1943, the Jews of Kyustendil were ordered by the Commissariat on the Jewish Issues to leave their homes with only a few belongings. Understanding the implications of this order, the citizens of Kyustendil appointed a delegation to ask the government to repeal this evacuation order. On 8 March 1943 the delegation marched into Dimitar Peshev's office. One of the delegates, Peshev's Jewish friend, Jakob Baruch, informed him of the government's plan to deport the Jews. At first, Peshev thought Baruch's words to be untrue until he telephoned several high government officials who confirmed the rumor. By the morning of 9 March, Peshev had made up his mind to halt the deportations. Peshev tried several times to see

, but the prime minister refused. Next, he and his close friend and colleague, Petar Mihalev, went to see Interior Minister

Petur Gabrovski Petar Dimitrov Gabrovski () (9 July 1898 – 1 February 1945) was a Bulgarian politician who briefly served as Prime Minister during the Second World War. Gabrovski was a lawyer by profession. He was also a member of the Grand Masonic Lodge of ...

, insisting that he cancel the deportations. After much persuasion, Gabrovski finally called the governor of Kyustendil and instructed him to stop preparations for the Jewish deportations. By 5:30 p.m. on 9 March the order had been cancelled."Dimitar Peshev's Biography"
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation However, the order did not reach all the Bulgarian cities on time, and, on the morning of 10 March, Bulgarian police began to round up Jews in

and Macedonia.http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%206633.pdf Almost all of the Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Thrace (some 4,000) were arrested and surrendered to the Germans, who then deported them to their deaths at

Treblinka Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

. Another group of about 1,200 Thrace Jews were moved to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and then sent to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. At the same time, all of the Jews of Macedonia were rounded up by the Bulgarian authorities; all but 165 were deported to Treblinka. Once Peshev learned about the cruelty of the deportation of the Jews of Thrace and Macedonia, he worked to ensure that the deportation of the Jews within the pre-war boundaries of Bulgaria would not occur. Peshev wrote a letter to Filov on 19 March which aimed to prevent any future anti-Jewish legislation in Bulgaria. He, along with the Kyustendil delegates, got 43 government deputies to sign the letter. These signatures were only from members of the pro-government majority so that no one could accuse Peshev of acting against the government. Even under the pressure from the Prime Minister, who was furious at Peshev's letter, 30 of the deputies refused to withdraw their signatures. As a result, Peshev was censured and dismissed from his position of Assembly Vice-chairman on 24 March.

Post-War accusations

After the war, the Communists brought forth charges on the Old Bulgarian Parliament for collaboration with the Germans. Peshev was tried for being both an anti-Semite and anti-Communist and was even accused of having been bribed by the Jews in exchange for halting the deportation. However, his Jewish friends from the Kyustendil delegation, led by Joseph Nissim Yasharoff, testified on his behalf and saved him from a death sentence. He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment but was released after one year.

Righteous Among the Nations

Peshev's deeds went unrecognized for years after the war as he lived an empty, destitute and isolated life. In January 1973,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

, Israel's Holocaust Museum, awarded him the title of "

," for his role in saving Bulgaria's Jews at considerable risk to himself. He is one of twenty Bulgarians so officially honored. He died that same year and has only been since recognized by Bulgaria as having performed a great service to humanity during the war years. When asked about his rationale for preventing the Jewish deportation, Peshev once stated: "My human conscience and my understanding of the fateful consequences both for the people involved and the policy of our country now and in the future did not allow me to remain idle. And I decided to do all in my power to prevent what was being planned from happening; I knew that this action was going to shame Bulgaria in the eyes of the world and brand her with a stain she didn't deserve."

Recognition

On 25 January 2000, following the initiative of the Chairman of Bulgarian delegation to PACE Latchezar Toshev, the Bulgarian Parliament has presented the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

with a bronze

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

of Dimitar Peshev. The donation of the bust was accepted by the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers (French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Foreign ...

and was inaugurated by Lord

Russell Johnston David Russell Russell-Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston (born David Russell Johnston; 28 July 1932 – 27 July 2008), usually known as Russell Johnston, was a leading Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and was the Leader of the Scottish Libera ...

in the presence of the Chairman of the Bulgarian National Assembly Yordan Sokolov, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Hans Christian Krüger and Ronny Milo, member of the Israeli Knesset. The bust is exhibited in the

Palace of Europe The Palace of Europe (french: Palais de l'Europe) is a building located in Strasbourg, France, that has served as the seat of the Council of Europe since 1977 when it replaced the "House of Europe". Between 1977 and 1999 it was also the Strasbour ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. Creator of the bust is the prominent Bulgarian sculptor

Ivan Minekov Ivan Minekov ( bg, Иван Минеков) is one of the most appreciated contemporary Bulgarian sculptors. He lives and works in Sofia. A graduate of the Academy for Fine Arts "Nicolae Grigorescu" in Bucharest, Romania (1970–1975), under Profe ...

. On 25 October 2002, the Dimitar Peshev House-Museum was inaugurated in

, Peshev's home town, to commemorate his life and actions to prevent the deportation of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust.

Honours

Peshev Ridge Peshev Ridge (Peshev Rid \'pe-shev 'rid\) is a crescent-shaped ridge in central Tangra Mountains extending along the northeast coast of Brunow Bay and southeast of Macy Glacier, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its e ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named for Dimitar Peshev. In 2013,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

then

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are bodies of local government in District of Columbia, in the United States. The ANC system was created in 1974 through a District referendum (73 percent voted "yes") in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. T ...

Neil Glick proposed giving the name Dimitar Peshev Plaza to the intersection adjacent to the

Embassy of Bulgaria in Washington, D.C. A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the ph ...

, a
22nd Street and R Street NW
Pollak, Suzanne. "D.C. street renamed to honor Bulgarian who saved Jews". ''Washington Jewish Week''. 21 Nov 2013 p. 11. The

Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...

voted unanimously in favor of the proposal. On 12 November 2013, there was a 45-minute ceremony with 75 people. Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova, D.C. Council Chairman

Phil Mendelson Philip Heath Mendelson (born November 8, 1952) is an American politician from Washington, D.C. He is currently Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, elected by the Council on June 13, 2012, following the resignation of Kwame R. Br ...

, and Neil Glick spoke at the naming ceremony. It was Peshev's first honor in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. EuroChicago, the largest Bulgarian-American expatriate organization, voted to name the creation of Dimitar Peshev Plaza as the 2013 Bulgarian Event of the Year in the U.S.

Notes

References

Gabriele Nissim Gabriele Nissim (born 1950) is an Italian journalist, historian and essayist whose works discuss Eastern Europe. Biography In 1982, Nissim founded ''L'Ottavo Giorno'' (The Eighth Day), an Italian magazine about the dissent in the Eastern Europea ...

''The man who stopped Hitler'' (L'uomo che fermò Hitler). Milan: Mondadori, 1999. *Assa, A. & Cohen, A. '' Saving of the Jews in Bulgaria 1941-1944.'' Sofia: State Publishing House, 1977. * Bar-Zohar, M. ''Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews.'' Holbrook: Adams Media Corporation, 1998. * Gilbert, M. ''The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003. *Yasharoff, Norbert. "Bulgaria's Heroes". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', December 30, 1999, pg A.30. * Todorov, Tzvetan, ''The fragility of goodness. Why Bulgaria's Jews survived the Holocaust'' London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001.
Speeches (in Bulgarian) and video of inauguration of the bust of Dimiter Peshev at the Council of Europe

External links

Dimitar Peshev
– description of his activity to save Jews' lives at the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Peshev, Dimitar 1894 births 1973 deaths Government ministers of Bulgaria Bulgarian military personnel of World War I People from Kyustendil Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Bulgarian Righteous Among the Nations Eastern Orthodox Righteous Among the Nations The Holocaust in Bulgaria