A street in Washington to be named after Dimitar Peshev

The law for the naming a junction by the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington after Dimitar Peshev entered into force after 30 days silent procedure of the American Congress, City Council of Columbia District, told Radio FOCUS.The ceremony for mounting the Dimitar Peshev Plaza sign on the junction of 22nd St and R St will take place on November 12, Bulgarian diplomatic mission to Washington announced.
The initiator of the idea is an American citizen with European origin Neal Glick. His idea was initially voted on June 18, and finally accepted unanimously by the City Council of District Columbia. On July 31 the mayor of the federal capital Vincent Grey signed „Dimitar Peshev Plaza Act".
Dimitar Peshev (1894 - 1973) 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 played key role in preventing the deportation of Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews.
Peshev managed to gather the signatures of one-third of the ruling majority in the parliament in an appeal against Bulgarian Jews deportation and handing them to the Nazi Germans' 'labour' camps, and put under question Bogdan Filov's cabinet. As a result, Peshev was censured and dismissed from his position of Assembly Vice-chairman on March 24, 1943.
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 had to be organized under the leadership of Theodor Dannecke.
But Bulgarian society have already been aware of and opposed the deal, lead by brave leaders like Dimitar Peshev, Sofia's archbishop Stefan, Plovdiv's archbishop Kliment, and even by some members of the royal family.
Peshev's brave and humane acts went unrecognized for years after the war as he lived an empty, destitute and isolated life. In January 1973, Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum, awarded him the title of "Righteous Among the Nations," for his role in saving Bulgaria's Jews at considerable risk to himself. He is one of eighteen Bulgarians so officially honored. He died that same year and has only been since recognized by Bulgaria as having performed a great service to humanity during the war years.
When asked about his rationale for preventing the Jewish deportation, Peshev once stated: "My human conscience and my understanding of the fateful consequences both for the people involved and the policy of our country now and in the future did not allow me to remain idle. And I decided to do all in my power to prevent what was being planned from happening; I knew that this action was going to shame Bulgaria in the eyes of the world and brand her with a stain she didn't deserve."

Source: http://bg-daily-news.eu