This life-sized bust is set on a stone column about 4 feet high. It depicts Peshev as a middle-aged man with a Hitler-type mustache. He wears a bowtie and a jacket. The column is engraved with Peshev's name in Bulgarian and his life dates "1894-1973".
No information about the artist or date could be found.
Wikipedia (
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"Dimitar Peshev ...(25 June 1894 - 20 February 1973[1]) was the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Bulgaria and Minister of Justice (1935-1936), before World War II. He rebelled against the pro-Nazi cabinet and prevented the deportation of Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews and was bestowed the title of "Righteous Among the Nations".
Context of Bulgaria during World War II
Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria joined in an alliance with Adolf Hitler in 1940 agreeing to follow his anti-Semitic course. In January, 1941, the parliament (National Assembly) of Bulgaria put into effect the "Law for protection of the nation", which was modeled upon the Nuremberg Laws. Dimitar Peshev as a vice president of the Sobranie 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 ????? ?? ?????? ?? ???????). In fact in 1940 he voted for the law to protect the nation.These laws depicted the Jews as the country's most vile enemies and defined as a Jew 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 Orthodox Church, writers, artists, lawyers and other members of the intelligentsia opposed the law.
The Bulgarian government signed an agreement declaring that, on March 10, 1943, all of Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews would be deported from the Kyustendil railway station and sent to death camps in German-occupied Poland. This deportation was organized under the leadership of Theodor Dannecker, an SS officer very close to Eichmann. Jews in the Bulgarian territories of Thrace and Macedonia would also be rounded up and deported.
Personal background
Born in 1894 in Kyustendil to an affluent family, Dimitar Peshev had studied languages in Saloniki and law in Sofia. He fought in World War I on the southern front and, a year after the war, completed his law studies and became a judge. He was known in Parliament 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 and the Constitution. He was strongly disliked by Prime Minister Bogdan Filov.
Role in preventing the Jewish deportation
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 March 8, 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 called several high government officials who confirmed the rumor. By the morning of March 9, Peshev had made up his mind to halt the deportations.
Peshev tried several times to see Bogdan Filov but the prime minister refused. Next, he and his close friend and colleague, Petar Mihalev, went to see Interior Minister Petur Gabrovski 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 March 9, the order had been cancelled. not in citation given] However, the order did not reach all the Bulgarian cities on time and, on the morning of March 10, Bulgarian police began to round up Jews in Thrace and Macedonia.[citation needed] 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. Another group of about 1,200 Thrace Jews was moved to Salonika and then sent to Auschwitz. 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.[4] Peshev wrote a letter to Filov on March 19 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 March 24."