Bulgarians mark today 40 years since the death of Dimitar Peshev – a famous politician, one of the rescuers of Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War.

© Photo: archive

He was born on June 25, 1894 in the town of Kyustendil. He studied law, served as a judge and a prosecutor, then as an attorney. He did not enter politics until 1935. He was appointed Justice Minister in the Georgi Kiosseivanov’s cabinet. 

In 1938, Peshev was elected MP, then - the deputy speaker of the 24th and 25th National Assembly. In 1941, the so-called Law on Protection of the Nation entered into force, adopted by parliament despite opposition from some lawmakers and other public organizations. It contains a number of restrictions against the Jews. In the same year, the authorities brought Bulgaria into an alliance with Germany. As one of the leaders of the parliamentary majority, Peshev was not opposed either to the Law on Protection of the Nation nor to the joining of the Nazi Axis. Later, however, Hitler wanted Bulgarian Jews to be sent to concentration camps, and Bulgarian military divisions – to the battlefield as cannon fodder. But Bulgaria would give neither the one nor the other. In the dramatic story of the rescue of 50,000 Jews a key role was played by Dimitar Peshev, then deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

On March 9, 1943 a delegation from his hometown of Kyustendil came to him. It consisted of MP Peter Mikhalev, trader Asen Suichmezov, history teacher Vladimir Kurtev and lawyer Ivan Momchilov. They reported to Peshev that a secret deportation of local Jews was under preparation. Peshev reacted immediately. Prime Minister Filov, however, refused to accept him and the delegation from Kyustendil for a meeting. But after talks with Interior Minister Gabrovski, the preparation for the deportation was stopped. Meanwhile, protests started in Parliament. Dimitar Peshev and 42 other lawmakers sent a letter to Bogdan Filov on March 17 demanding to completely stop the deportation. The Prime Minister retaliated and managed to achieve the overthrow of Peshev from his post. But the fire of the protest had already lit up and echoed. The fight to save the Jews was joined by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, intellectuals, and representatives of the opposition. Further attempts to "solve the Jewish question" were also doomed to failure.

Dimitar Peshev risked a lot. His enemies openly threatened him that if Germany recovered from the defeat at Stalingrad, he would be handed over to the Gestapo. But, ironically, the hardest blows came from another direction. In September 1944, the power was taken by a pro-Soviet government of the Fatherland Front. Charges were brought against everyone under whose reign Bulgaria was in alliance with the Nazis. In 1945, the convictions issued by the so-called People's Court led to the execution of leading politicians, many of them former MPs. Peshev avoided a death sentence by shooting - the court recalled that in the mid-30s, he had saved from a death penalty conspirator Damian Velchev, defense minister in the new government. Dimitar Peshev was jailed, released one year later, probably at the insistence of the Bulgarian Jews. Until his death in 1973 he lived in obscurity.

After the democratic changes in Bulgaria of 1989, Dimitar Peshev’s merits were publicly recognized and became known worldwide. He was compared with the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved Hungarian Jews and the German businessman Oskar Schindler, immortalized in the Spielberg’s epic drama “Schindler's List”. Dimitar Peshev was named an honorary citizen of Israel and a tree was planted in his memory in the Forest of the Saints in Jerusalem. A bust of Dimitar Peshev was placed in the building of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The International Foundation "Raoul Wallenberg" created a medal with his face. In his home town of Kyustendil a house-museum with his name opened doors. He was posthumously awarded with Bulgaria's highest distinction – the Stara Planina order.

Today, 40 years after the death of this remarkable Bulgaria, it is worth remembering the lines from his memories associated with the dramatic days of March 1943: "And for myself I decided to do everything in my power to prevent what was intended and that will embarrass Bulgaria before the face of the entire world and will be turn into infamous stain on its reputation that this country does not deserve”, Dimitar Peshev wrote.

English version: Rossitsa Petcova