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Alexander Bozhkov
Deputy Prime Minister
at the solemn
celebration of Dimitar Peshev
Sofia,
November 6th 1998
[Mr. Bozhkov read out a greeting address from Ivan Kostov, the Prime
Minister of Bulgaria]
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'Your Excellencies,
distinguished ladies and gentlemen Members of Parliament, dear guests of
the Bulgarian Parliament!
I am truly sorry that I am unable to attend in person the solemn session
at the National Assembly dedicated to the contribution of Dimitar Peshev
and the deputies to the Twenty-fifth National Assembly to the rescue of
Bulgaria's Jews. It is with great delight that I favour this idea to have
the Bulgarian Parliament become the forum for the appropriate commemoration
of this Bulgarian parliamentarian, outstanding democrat and humanist, whose
life was a message reaching far beyond the boundaries of this country.
The rescue of Bulgaria's Jews during World War II is a fact indicating
categorically that Bulgaria is a country which provided convincing evidence
of the respect of human rights and freedoms, a country that gave a categorical
and yet unique example of how the joint efforts of the Bulgarian nation
and its state institutions, whose representative Dimitar Peshev was, enabled
the physical rescue of a loyal minority and at the same time constituted
a moral investment in the future of the Bulgarian nation and statehood.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Bulgaria's semblance before the world,
its pass to the twenty-first century, ought to be exactly this ethnic and
religious tolerance, because since its very inception the Bulgarian nation
has been the favourable result of a healthy amalgam of various faiths and
traditions.
Personalities such as the Vice President of the National Assembly, the
Honourable Dimitar Peshev, do corroborate the fact that a representative
of a democratic institution could, on the strength of his conscience and
probity, as well as with his fellow deputies' support, to overturn the
baneful lot determined for the Jews in those times of hardships inflicted
upon them, and to grant his country the opportunities to take pride in
such fact.
Bulgaria is fortunate indeed to be recognised by the rest of the world
precisely through personalities such as Dimitar Peshev, one of the most
righteous men of the twentieth century. And the credit for this goes also
to the author of the book 'The Man Who Stopped Hitler', Mr. Gabriele
Nissim. It is my conviction that there is something particularly symbolic
in the fact that the memory of an outstanding Bulgarian democrat, that
had been under ban for an undeservedly long period of time, is being now
revived exactly at this solemn meeting in the plenary hall of Bulgaria's
parliament.
Ivan Kostov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria'
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Other speeches at the celebration:
• Yordan Sokolov (introduction)
• Ivan Kurtev
• Ivan Kurtev (reading letters from Colombo
and Yasharov)
• Gabriele Nissim
• Yossif Kioso
• Dario Rivolta
• Nando Dalla Chiesa
• Pierluigi Petrini
• Dan Tikhon
• Yordan Sokolov (conclusion)
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