Zhivkov Todor: biography, family

Zhivkov Todor Khristov was a Bulgarian politician and a long-time leader (between 1954 and 1989) of the Bulgarian Communist Party. For 35 years of party leadership, he held central leadership positions in the country: the prime minister (1962-1971) and the chairman of the State Council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1971-1989), i.e. De facto and de jure was the head of state.

Origins, education and adolescence

Where was Todor Zhivkov born? His biography began on September 7, 1911, in the village of Pravets, near Sofia, in a peasant family. In 1928, he joined the Bulgarian Communist Youth League, closely associated with the Bulgarian Workers' Party (BRP). This legal political organization was created after the ban in 1924 by the Bulgarian Communist Party, which organized in September 1923 an armed uprising in order to seize power in the country.

Todor Zhivkov graduated from the incomplete secondary school in Pravez in 1929 and further studied in the 6th (today the 10th) class of the secondary school in Botevgrad. Then he settled in Sofia, where he graduated from high school, and then got a job as a font-maker in the Moscow State Printing Office.

The beginning of political activity

In 1932, Zhivkov Todor became a member of the BRP. Soon he becomes a member of the Sofia party committee and secretary of the second Bureau of the committee. His underground name was Yanko. Although BRP was banned along with all other political parties after the May 19, 1934 uprising, but the National Assembly continued to exist, and Zhivkov participated in his work in the pre-war period, while also being the secretary of the district BRP committee in Sofia. From July 1938 to November 1942 he was hiding in a number of Bulgarian villages (Deskot, Lesichevo, Govedartsy) together with his wife Mara Maleeva, who worked as a district doctor in them.

Transition to armed struggle against power

During World War II, the ruling circles of Bulgaria headed by Tsar Boris acted as allies of fascist Germany, provided the country's territory for the deployment of its troops. The Bulgarian units invaded Yugoslavia and Greece, the war between Britain and the US was declared, but Bulgaria managed not to enter the war with the USSR.

The Bulgarian Communists began to create their own partisan armed forces with the outbreak of World War II. From June 1943, Zhivkov Todor, by decision of the Sofia district committee, the BRP was appointed a member of the staff of the First Sofia Rebel Operational Zone. This was the territorial-organizational structure of the so-called. The People's Liberation Army, established in March 1943. Two guerrilla brigades, ten detachments and combat groups operated in the zone. Zhivkov was the plenipotentiary representative of the headquarters of the zone in the partisan detachment "Chavdar", later regrouped in the same guerrilla brigade under the command of Dobri Djurov, operating in the vicinity of Sofia. In the post-war period, many of Zhivkov's comrades in the Chavdar brigade took prominent positions in Bulgarian state structures.

The seizure of power by the Communists

By early September 1944, German troops continued to be in Bulgaria as its allies, although the government demanded their withdrawal. Taking advantage of this circumstance, the Soviet government declared war on September 5, 1944. On September 8, 1944, the Soviet units of the Third Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Tolbukhin and the Black Sea Fleet occupied cities on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, whose troops did not resist. The next day (Sept. 9), the Communists raised the uprising in Sofia and overthrew the Muraviev government, which the day before the declaration of war by the USSR decided to declare war on Germany, but did not manage to do so because of the delays of the leaders of the military department connected with the Communists. If the political intrigue of the Cabinet of Muraviev succeeded, the USSR would have had to enter troops formally into the territory of the enemy of Germany, which would have provoked opposition from its Western allies.

As a result of the September events of 1944, the power of the Communist Party was established in Bulgaria for half a century, and Georgy Dimitrov, the head of the country, ten years earlier, became famous for his courageous behavior at the famous Leipzig process. At the final stage of the war, the Bulgarian units took part in it on the side of the USSR and took part in battles on the territory of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria.

The rise of the party career after September 9, 1944

From September to November 1944, Zhivkov Todor was the political head of the staff of the People's Militia and became the third secretary of the Sofia city committee of the BRP. February 27, 1945 he became a candidate for membership in the Central Committee of the party. Since January 1948 he was the First Secretary of the Sofia City Party Committee of the BRP, and also the chairman of the City Committee of the Fatherland Front, which, in addition to the Communists, included some other Bulgarian parties. At the Fifth Congress of the BRP, held on December 27, 1948, elected to the Central Committee of the party, which regained the name of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). Zhivkov Todor was constantly re-elected to the governing body of the OPF, until December 8, 1989, when he was expelled from him definitively.

The way to the tops of party power

In October 1949, Zhivkov headed the organizational and instructional department of the Central Committee of the BKP, in January 1950 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the party, and in November was elected a candidate for membership of its Politburo. From July 1951 to November 1989, Zhivkov - a member of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee. He headed the secretariat of the Party Central Committee since 1953.

However, he received real power in the party after the April Plenum of the Central Committee that he initiated (April 2-6, 1956), which marks the beginning of the debunking of the personality cult by Valko Chervenkov, the closest associate of Georgi Dimitrov, who died in 1949. Cervenkov in the years 1950-1956. Was chairman of the government of Bulgaria, and in 1950-1954 - secretary general of the Central Committee of the BCP. During his reign, he demonstrated unquestioning loyalty to Stalin, even to the imitation of his style of behavior and appearance.

After Stalin's death, power in the party from Chervenkov began to gradually move to Zhivkov. First, the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee was liquidated, and after the Sixth Party Congress (March 4, 1954) Zhivkov was elected to the newly created post of First Secretary of the BKP Central Committee (held until April 4, 1981).

The combination of party and state posts

From 1946 to the 1990s. Zhivkov was elected a deputy of the National Assembly (parliament). On November 19, 1962, he replaced Anton Yugov as prime minister. He held this post until July 9, 1971, when he was succeeded by Stanko Todorov.

Since 1971, Zhivkov became chairman of the newly created State Council of the Republic of Bulgaria (actually the head of state). He held this post until November 17, 1989.

How Bulgaria almost became the 16th Republic of the USSR

December 4, 1963 Todor Zhivkov, as First Secretary of the BCP Central Committee and Prime Minister, personally presented at the plenum of the Central Committee the proposal of Bulgaria's appeal to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the issue of further rapprochement and the future merger of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the USSR, which will make it the 16th republic of the Soviet Thus threatening the country's independence. The Plenum of the Central Committee evaluated the proposal as "a remarkable manifestation of patriotism and internationalism", which will raise "fraternal friendship and all-round cooperation between our country and the Soviet Union to a qualitatively new level." The proposal "to create economic, political and ideological conditions for the full unification of our two sister countries "Was unanimously approved at the plenary meeting and signed personally by Todor Zhivkov, but was rejected by the USSR.

Participation in the suppression of the Prague Spring

The decision on Bulgaria's participation in military intervention after the Prague Spring was adopted by the Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of Todor Zhivkov. A top-secret Decree of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria No. 39 of 20 November 1968 was issued, motivating the decision in the form of "providing military assistance to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak people." The military operation involved the 12th and 22nd Infantry Regiments of 2,164 people and a tank battalion with 26 T-34s.

Suspension from power

In 1989, in a number of socialist countries, communists lost power due to revolutions and coups initiated by the general weakening of the positions of the USSR and the cessation of economic support on its part. Bulgaria also did not escape the common fate. On November 9, at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the BKP, Zhivkov Todor resigned as party leader, the next day the plenum of the Central Committee was held, which approved his resignation and recommended to the People's Assembly to relieve him of his duties as Chairman of the State Council. On November 17, Zhivkov lost this post. In January 1990, he was arrested, he was charged with abuse of power. In connection with the fact that the power in Bulgaria in the 90 years of 20 art. Remained behind the former Communist Party, renamed the Socialist Party, that is, it remained in the hands of Zhivkov's younger colleagues, his fate was not as brutal as that of the leader of the Romanian communists Ceausescu. Until 1996, Zhivkov was under house arrest, the cases against him were investigated languidly, and the popularity of the former leader against the backdrop of the deteriorating economic situation in the country was growing. But it was not to be fully justified. In August 1998, a little before his 87th birthday, he died of pneumonia.

Todor Zhivkov: family

The politician was married (since July 1938) to Mare Maleeva-Zhivkova, who died in 1971 from cancer. They had a daughter and a son. The daughter of Todor Zhivkova Lyudmila (see photo below), a well-known Bulgarian art critic, for six years headed the Bulgarian government committee on art and culture. She died in 1981 from a stroke.

The son of the politician Vladimir is still alive, his son in honor of the famous grandfather was named Zhivkov Todor. The granddaughter of the politician Eugene (daughter of Lyudmila Zhivkova) is a Bulgarian politician and designer, nine times (from 2001 to 2009) was elected to the National Assembly.