Peshev’s letter and the deportations

In March 1941 Bulgaria joined the Axis, an alliance with Nazi Germany. The Nazis were followers of Hitler, Germany’s dictator. Authorities persecuted people they classified as Jews because of their ancestry.

In Bulgaria the Law for the Defense of the Nation restricted Jewish people’s rights. Authorities excluded them from public service and limited their access to many professions. This persecution began before plans for their forced removal.

Bulgaria administered occupied parts of Greece and Yugoslavia: lands seized during the war. Bulgarian rules excluded local Jews from acquiring Bulgarian citizenship. Citizenship means legal membership of a state.

On 22 February 1943 Bulgarian official Aleksandar Belev and German representative Theodor Dannecker agreed to deport 20,000 Jews. This meant forcibly removing people. The plan also threatened Jews within the kingdom’s old borders. These enclosed its territory before the occupations.

In Kyustendil Jewish residents learned about planned roundups and sought help. Four representatives travelled to Sofia. They approached Dimitar Peshev, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. He helped lead Parliament’s meetings.

Peshev had supported the anti-Jewish law. In March 1943 he opposed deportation. On 9 March he pressed Interior Minister Petar Gabrovski to stop the roundups. After the meetings the minister agreed to suspend them. The people threatened gained time. But not every plan was finally cancelled.

Jewish representatives also sought support from church leaders. Sofia Metropolitan Stefan appealed to Tsar Boris III. A metropolitan leads Orthodox churches in a region. Stefan offered to have churches and monasteries shelter the persecuted.

In Plovdiv Metropolitan Kiril sent a telegram to the king and approached local police. A telegram was a short message transmitted quickly over a distance. When the Plovdiv deportation order was cancelled, Kiril told those detained in the school.

Around 48,000 Jews within the old borders were not sent to Nazi camps. But persecution continued. Authorities expelled Jews from Sofia to the provinces. Men were subjected to forced labour.

Bulgarian authorities deported over 11,000 Jews from occupied lands. Virtually all were murdered by the Nazis in Treblinka. This was a killing centre in occupied Poland. People were taken there to be murdered.

Today’s monument remembers those killed. We remember them alongside the survivors.