Kyustendil

Dimitar Peshev was born in Kyustendil in 1894 and was instrumental for the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews from deportation in 1943. Under Communism his achievement was largely forgotten and he died, in poverty, in 1973. 

In 1997, eight years after the collapse of the Communist regime, he was posthumously awarded Bulgaria's highest order, Stara Planina.

The name of Dimitar Peshev, until the 1990s unknown to most Bulgarians, has been turned into a major Bulgarian historical export, mainly owing to the book by an Italian, Gabriele Nissim, entitled The Man Who Stopped Hitler. An effigy of Peshev can be found at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has minted a medal with his portrait. He is, of course, listed in the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem. Memories of Peshev and his actions to save the Bulgarian Jews have transcended the geographic boundaries of Europe: there is the Peshev Square in Jaffa, Israel; the Peshev Plaza in Washington DC, and the Peshev Ridge, named after the Kyustendil citizen, is in the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. 

The Jews of Kyustendil built their first synagogue in 1863 on what is now Lyuben Karavelov Street, would soon be joined by a Jewish school, as well as a cultural house including a library. It was used by two Jewish choirs, a theatre company, a sports team and a women's organisation. 

After most of the local community emigrated to Israel, in the late 1940s-early 1950s, both the synagogue and the schools were nationalised, with a couple of school rooms being left to the now minuscule Jewish community, mainly for cultural activities. In the 1950s most Jewish artefacts, including objects used in the synagogue, were donated to the Central Synagogue in Sofia. Some of them are now in the Jewish Museum. 

A mural depicting "labour and artistic freedom" in Communist Bulgaria, at the former Jewish school in Kyustendil

Initially, Kyustendil's synagogue was turned into a picture gallery showing artwork mainly by Vladimir "Master" Dimitrov (1882-1960), a native of Kyustendil and one of Bulgaria's top artists. When the city council erected a new, modern art gallery, the former synagogue fell into disrepair. At the beginning of the 1990s it was returned to the Jewish community but the damage done to it through the years of neglect had taken its toll. Besides, there were so few Jews left in Kyustendil that repairing it and turning it into a synagogue again was out of the question. The building was demolished and the plot was used for a small commercial centre now known as the Jewish Market. 

It is run by the community and there are a number of plaques to remind visitors what ground they are walking on. There is also a copy of a plaque commemorating the local Jews who died in the 1912-1918 wars. 

What makes Kyustendil interesting historically is that the house of Dimitar Peshev, the deputy speaker of parliament who was instrumental in the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War, was rebuilt in the 2000s and turned into a museum. It has a small collection of memorabilia associated with Peshev. 

The name of Dimitar Peshev, until the 1990s unknown to most Bulgarians, has been turned into a major Bulgarian historical export, mainly owing to the book by an Italian, Gabriele Nissim, entitled The Man Who Stopped Hitler. An effigy of Peshev can be found at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has minted a medal with his portrait. He is, of course, listed in the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem. Memories of Peshev and his actions to save the Bulgarian Jews have transcended the geographic boundaries of Europe: there is the Peshev Square in Jaffa, Israel; the Peshev Plaza in Washington DC, and the Peshev Ridge, named after the Kyustendil citizen, is in the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. 

The Jewish plot in Kyustendil's cemetery has been repeatedly vandalised. The police have not identified any culprits.