Dimitar Peshev is not a very well known name in Bulgaria today, although among historically-minded Bulgarians, it may ring a bell; a bell that tolls that with a tone of honour.
Peshev truly belongs in the ranks of the country’s heroes, as a man whose work deserves acknowledgement as “demonstrating courage in the face of the enemy”.
The year was 1943 and Bulgaria was in strategic alliance with Hitler’s Germany. Dimitar Peshev was a deputy speaker of the Bulgarian National Assembly.
Although he held democratic beliefs, Peshev initially supported the authoritarian government that ruled Bulgaria during World War 2, as well as the alliance with Hitler. At the time he did not seem to have grasped the real goals of the Nazi government, instead apparently believing that the alliance would bring prosperity to Bulgaria and its people.
Like many Bulgarian politicians of the time, Peshev gradually had become convinced, or perhaps that should be deluded, that an authoritarian regime without political parties could solve the problem of corruption and decay in politics. He was well aware of the pitfalls caused by the political turbulence in Bulgaria in the first three decades of the century.
Peshev became a supporter of the alliance with Nazi Germany, not so much because he was a believer in Hitler but rather on the basis of the belief that with Germany’s help, Bulgaria would recover territories lost as a result of the final outcome of the Balkan wars in 1912-13.
This was why he had few or no qualms when the Germans asked Bulgaria to approve racist laws against the Jews in the country. It appears that he truly believed that the restrictive measures were no more than temporary, to fall away in the fullness of time.
He did not foresee the real outcome, that the Nazis would soon have demanded that all the Jews were handed over to them. When the laws were put to Parliament, Peshev chaired the sitting. He did not utter a word against the laws, even though his closest childhood friends were Jewish.
In spite of this omission at the time of the debate, it was his subsequent actions that brought him the name of “the man who saved the Bulgarian Jews”.
On March 7, an old friend disturbed Peshev’s calm evening at home. The old friend, from Peshev’s schooldays in the city of Kyustendil, was in despair. He was a Jew and told Peshev that the Bulgarian Government had reached an agreement with the Germans, and the secret deportation of the Jewish minority was set for the following day. The trains were ready in the stations. The following night the Jews were to be arrested and taken to Poland. (The then unknown destination was Auschwitz death camp).
Everything had been arranged in secret, in order not to rouse the population. Peshev had indeed heard strange rumours, but, just like many others, paid no heed to them. The plea from his friend stirred his conscience, and stirred Peshev to action. He acted instinctively: at first he only thought about saving his Kyustendil friends. He was not aware that he was actually about to save a whole community.
He rushed into Parliament, gathered a few other MPs, and burst into the office of Petar Gabrovski, Minister of the Interior. After a dramatic argument, Peshev persuaded him to withdraw the order for the deportation of the Jews.
Peshev then personally called all the regional governors offices to make sure that the counterorder was actually obeyed.
However Peshev had only managed to delay, but not stop, the deportation of the Jews. To achieve this, Peshev decided to take serious action in Parliament. Not only the lives of a few friends were in danger, but also the rescue of 50 000 Bulgarian Jews depended on his next move.
There was no time to be lost: he wrote a strongly-worded letter of protest and collected the signatures of about 40 MPs to plead with the Government and King Boris III not to “commit such a dreadful crime, that would disgrace Bulgaria for ever”.
This rebellious act carried a heavy cost: Peshev lost his seat in Parliament and lived in constant danger of being handed over to the Germans, should they have won the war.
However Peshev achieved his goal. Boris III stood up against the deportation, as the whole country, with strong support from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, rose up in favour of the Jews.
Boris III died suddenly in August 1943 and opposition leaders started to search ways to withdraw Bulgaria from World War 2. Peshev returned to democratic values and fought for a political change in the country and for the re-alignment of Bulgaria with the Western world. He however made a “great error”. In Parliament, he publicly condemned the behaviour of the partisans, who were handing the country over to the Russians. This cost him dearly when the Soviet Red Army occupied Bulgaria.
Peshev was brought to trial on dual charges of being an anti-Semite and anti-Soviet. The prosecution went so far as to suggest that Peshev had saved the Jews in exchange for money. This allegation was rejected by his Jewish friends, who came from Kyustendil to give evidence in his defence.
Peshev avoided what would have been a certain death sentence only because in 1936 as Minister of Justice, he had saved Damian Velchev from a death sentence. After the arrival of the Red Army in Bulgaria, Velchev became Minister of War and one of the leaders of the communist party. Because of this, Peshev was sentenced to “only” 15 years of imprisonment, and was released after one year.
After the war Peshev lived in obscurity. In 1949, many Jews left Bulgaria en masse for Israel. During the 19060s, once emigration difficulties had been overcome, they started to try and assist the man who had played such a role in saving them: Peshev regularly received both money and letters to thank him for his deeds.
Peshev refused several invitations to move to Israel because he wanted first to be rehabilitated in Bulgaria. Unfortunately he did not live long enough to satisfy this desire, and died in 1973. Real recognition came after the fall of communism in 1989 when he was acknowledged in Bulgaria as the man who saved the Bulgarian Jews.
March 10 is the day on which Bulgaria commemorates the Holocaust and the saving of the Jews in Bulgaria.
