80 years since the communist coup in Bulgaria

Radio Bulgaria in English

Monday 9 September 2024 06:50

Monday, 9 September 2024, 06:50

80 years since the communist coup in Bulgaria

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It is 80 years, on 9 September, since the communist coup d'état which put an end to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

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On 9 September, 1944, as World War II was still raging, officers who had passed over to the so-called Fatherland Front seized the Ministry of War, the Central Post Office, the Central Railway Station and other key sites in Sofia. The cabinet ministers from the government of Konstantin Muraviev were arrested and Kimon Georgiev, who took the helm of the new government, declared, over the radio, the new government of the national committee of the Fatherland Front. Bulgaria, which had been an ally of Nazi Germany, had by that time severed relations with the Third Reich. Nevertheless, on the night of 9 September, 1944, the government was overthrown, and Bulgaria was occupied by the Soviet Union’s red army. Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence, and a wave of brutal violence and repressions ensued, with the so-called People’s Court later sentencing thousands to death, thus effectively beheading the country’s political, state, military and intellectual elite.

This publication was created by: БНР екип