Stefan Popstefanov was a high-ranking police officer in Bulgarian-occupied Skopje. In March 1943 he learned that all Jews in the city were to be arrested and deported. He warned his Jewish friends Moni and Rachel Kario and advised them to go into hiding. While the Karios hid in the vineyards around the city, Stefan Popstefanov attempted to arrange their escape to Albania. Popstefanov’s adjutant Ognjan was prepared to help them.
When the escape failed, the Popstefanovs took the family into their home. They later found them a hiding place with the Serchadjievs. Shortly after, Ognjan took Moni and Rachel Kario and their two children out of the city in secret and accompanied them to the Albanian border. The Popstefanovs followed them in a police car so that they reached the border in safety. They walked the last stretch of the journey. Popstefanov gave them a map with all Bulgarian and German guard posts marked on it. The Jewish family arrived safely in Albania.
After the end of the war, the new communist leadership put Stefan Popstefanov on trial because he had been an officer during the war. He was executed shortly later.