A street intersection in the District of Columbia was renamed in honor of a Bulgarian lawmaker credited with helping save the country's Jewish population during the Holocaust.
The intersection is located outside the Bulgarian embassy in the city's Dupont Circle neighborhood. It was renamed the Dimitar Peshev Plaza at a Tuesday afternoon ceremony.
Peshev publicly protested the planned deportation of Bulgarian Jews to Nazi concentration camps. The deportations were ultimately suspended, and Bulgaria's Jews were sent to labor camps but not turned over to the Nazis.
The issue caused conflict last spring when the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum expressed concern that proponents of the honor were not adequately reflecting Bulgaria's complicated history during the Holocaust.
The D.C. Council subsequently approved the honor.
