Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

80 years since the communist coup in Bulgaria

Photo: historymuseum.org

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

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.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Gale-force winds inflict damage in Vratsa and the environs

Winds of up to 120 kms. per hour inflicted damage in Vratsa, the biggest town in Bulgaria’s Northwest. Dozens of reports have come in of fallen trees and branches onto vehicles and roads, damaged equipment and torn overhead cables. There were..

published on 11/21/24 8:43 AM

Temperatures will drop, snowfall expected in high places

A cold front will pass through the country overnight and tomorrow from the northwest . Rain will fall in many places in the western regions and the Danube Plain, and will quickly turn to snow in the high fields of western Bulgaria and the Balkan Range...

published on 11/20/24 7:35 PM

56% of Bulgarians want the parliament to elect a cabinet, even at the cost of compromises

56% of Bulgarians prefer the new 51st National Assembly to form a government, even if this is at the cost of compromises, indicate data of a national representative survey conducted by the polling agency "Gallup International" for the "Referendum"..

published on 11/20/24 6:00 PM