G. M. Dimitrov
Encyclopedia
Georgi Mihov Dimitrov known as Gemeto (Гемето, "The G. M.") to distinguish him from Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov
, was a Bulgaria
n politician, a leading figure of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union
in the 1930s and 1940s and an opponent of Nazism
and communism
alike.
G. M. Dimitrov was born in the Eastern Thracian village of Eni Chiflik by the Sea of Marmara
(then part of the Ottoman
vilayet of Edirne, today Yeniçiftlik in Tekirdağ Province
, Turkey
) on 15 April 1903 to a Bulgarian
family. His family, along with practically all Bulgarians of Eastern Thrace, was forced to move to Bulgaria in 1913 after the Balkan Wars
, and settled in the village of Doyrentsi in Lovech Province
.
In 1922, he became a member of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU), a proletarian party devoted to representing the causes of the Bulgarian peasantry. In 1923, he organized a peasant revolt in the Lovech
region to counter the coup d'état of 1923
. He was imprisoned and may have been sentenced to death
had it not been for his young age. After the St Nedelya Church assault
in 1925, he was arrested again along with other opposition figures.
He graduated in medicine
from the University of Zagreb
in 1929 and quickly engaged in politics upon settling in Sofia
, the capital of Bulgaria. He was part of the Board of Managers of BANU "Aleksandar Stamboliyski
" in 1932–1933 and the Standing Committee of the united BANU ("Aleksandar Stamboliyski" and "Vrabcha 1"). In the wake of the coup d'état of 1934
he was in opposition to the monarchist
regime and semi-legally headed BANU "Aleksandar Stamboliyski".
In 1941, G. M. Dimitrov organized a large-scale campaign against Bulgaria's imminent alignment with the Axis Powers
of World War II
. As his campaign failed, he was forced to go underground and promptly leave the country. Between 1941 and 1944 G. M. Dimitrov headed the pro-United Kingdom
union of Bulgarian émigré
s Bulgarian National Committee, headquartered in Cairo
, and the illegal pro-Allies
radio station
Free and Independent Bulgaria. After the coup d'état of 1944
, G. M. Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria and became the leader of BANU. Due to his anti-Fatherland Front
activities he was deprived of his leadership and expelled from the party. Thanks to the intervention of the United States
ambassador, Dimitrov was saved from death: his fellow Nikola Petkov
was executed by the Bulgarian Communist Party
after a mock trial
in 1947.
In May 1945, G. M. Dimitrov left the country; two years later, he founded the Agrarian Committee or Green Front, an anti-communist union of Eastern Europe
an émigrés in the West. He also headed the Bulgarian National Committee, a strictly Bulgarian organization with similar goals. In 1951, he assisted the foundation of the first Bulgarian NATO company
, the Bulgarian Volunteer Company 4093, that consisted of 200 émigrés.
Dimitrov died in Washington, D.C.
on 21 November 1972. His daughter Anastasia Dimitrova-Moser
(b. 1937) is also a BANU politician. He also had a son called Aleksandar.
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...
, was a Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n politician, a leading figure of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union also tiranslated to English as Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union is a political party devoted to representing the causes of the Bulgarian peasantry. It was most powerful between 1900 and 1923. In practice, it was an agrarian movement...
in the 1930s and 1940s and an opponent of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
alike.
G. M. Dimitrov was born in the Eastern Thracian village of Eni Chiflik by the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
(then part of the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
vilayet of Edirne, today Yeniçiftlik in Tekirdağ Province
Tekirdag Province
The Tekirdağ Province is in Trakya , the northwestern part of Turkey. The capital city is Tekirdağ. It is famous for its meatball called "Tekirdağ köfte" and the Turkish alcoholic drink called Tekirdağ rakısı.-Districts:...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
) on 15 April 1903 to a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
family. His family, along with practically all Bulgarians of Eastern Thrace, was forced to move to Bulgaria in 1913 after the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
, and settled in the village of Doyrentsi in Lovech Province
Lovech Province
Lovech Province is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area is 151,153.-Municipalities:...
.
In 1922, he became a member of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU), a proletarian party devoted to representing the causes of the Bulgarian peasantry. In 1923, he organized a peasant revolt in the Lovech
Lovech
Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria with a population of 36,296 as of February 2011. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The town is located about 150 km northeast from the capital city of Sofia...
region to counter the coup d'état of 1923
Bulgarian coup d'état of 1923
The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1923, also known as the 9 June coup d'état , was a coup d'état in Bulgaria implemented by armed forces under General Ivan Valkov's Military Union on the eve of 9 June 1923...
. He was imprisoned and may have been sentenced to death
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
had it not been for his young age. After the St Nedelya Church assault
St Nedelya Church assault
The St Nedelya Church assault was an attack upon St. Nedelya Church in Bulgaria. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of the Bulgarian Communist Party blew up the roof of the St Nedelya Church in the capital Sofia. This occurred during the funeral service of General Konstantin...
in 1925, he was arrested again along with other opposition figures.
He graduated in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
from the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
in 1929 and quickly engaged in politics upon settling in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, the capital of Bulgaria. He was part of the Board of Managers of BANU "Aleksandar Stamboliyski
Aleksandar Stamboliyski
Aleksandar Stamboliyski was the prime minister of Bulgaria from 1919 until 1923. Stamboliyski was a member of the Agrarian Union, an agrarian peasant movement which was not allied to the monarchy, and edited their newspaper...
" in 1932–1933 and the Standing Committee of the united BANU ("Aleksandar Stamboliyski" and "Vrabcha 1"). In the wake of the coup d'état of 1934
Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934
The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, also known as the 19 May coup d'état , was a coup d'état in the Kingdom of Bulgaria carried out by the Zveno military organization and the Military Union with the aid of the Bulgarian Army...
he was in opposition to the monarchist
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
regime and semi-legally headed BANU "Aleksandar Stamboliyski".
In 1941, G. M. Dimitrov organized a large-scale campaign against Bulgaria's imminent alignment with the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. As his campaign failed, he was forced to go underground and promptly leave the country. Between 1941 and 1944 G. M. Dimitrov headed the pro-United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
union of Bulgarian émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s Bulgarian National Committee, headquartered in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, and the illegal pro-Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
Free and Independent Bulgaria. After the coup d'état of 1944
Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944
The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944, also known as the 9 September coup d'état and called in pre-1989 Bulgaria the National Uprising of 9 September or the Socialist Revolution of 9 September was a change in the Kingdom of Bulgaria's administration and government carried out on the eve of 9 September...
, G. M. Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria and became the leader of BANU. Due to his anti-Fatherland Front
Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)
The Fatherland Front was originally a Bulgarian political resistance movement during World War II. The Zveno movement, the communist Bulgarian Workers Party, a wing of the Agrarian Union and the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party, were all part of the FF...
activities he was deprived of his leadership and expelled from the party. Thanks to the intervention of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ambassador, Dimitrov was saved from death: his fellow Nikola Petkov
Nikola Petkov
Nikola Dimitrov Petkov was a Bulgarian politician, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union . He entered politics in the early 1930s. Like many other peasant party leaders in Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria in 1945-1947, Petkov was tried and executed soon after postwar Soviet...
was executed by the Bulgarian Communist Party
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
after a mock trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
in 1947.
In May 1945, G. M. Dimitrov left the country; two years later, he founded the Agrarian Committee or Green Front, an anti-communist union of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an émigrés in the West. He also headed the Bulgarian National Committee, a strictly Bulgarian organization with similar goals. In 1951, he assisted the foundation of the first Bulgarian NATO company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
, the Bulgarian Volunteer Company 4093, that consisted of 200 émigrés.
Dimitrov died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on 21 November 1972. His daughter Anastasia Dimitrova-Moser
Anastasia Dimitrova-Moser
Anastasia Georgieva Dimitrova-Moser is a Bulgarian politician of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union.Dimitrova was born on 30 June 1937 in Sofia as the daughter of agrarian politician G. M. Dimitrov...
(b. 1937) is also a BANU politician. He also had a son called Aleksandar.