Language:
English
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish Studies at the Central European University
Angaben zur Quelle:
2 [1999-2001] (2002) 137-151
Keywords:
Peshev, Dimitar
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
While the ruling political class of Bulgaria acquiesced in the Nazi project to eliminate the Jews from society, there was one man, the deputy chairman of the Parliament Dimitar Peshev, who rebelled against it and made the ruling class feel ashamed for its complicity in the genocide. Contends that, far from being deeply antisemitic, the Bulgarian political class was indifferent to the Jewish issue and, in determining the politics in this field, was guided by two contradictory impulses: to please the Germans in order to achieve specific political goals, and to avoid arousing the population against these policies. Discusses the evolution of Peshev's views regarding the Jews. A nationalist and a supporter of the alliance with Germany, Peshev, after contacts with Jewish friends, became aware that silence and inaction regarding the impending deportation of Bulgarian Jews would stain his own honor and the honor of the Bulgarian nation. He managed to convince parliamentarians of this and, acting together, they thwarted the deportations. In postwar communist Bulgaria, Peshev's name and deeds were rendered to oblivion; he became a victim of political repression.
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