St Nedelya Church assault
Encyclopedia
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
(BCP) blew up the roof of the St Nedelya Church
in the capital Sofia
. This occurred during the funeral service of General Konstantin Georgiev, who had been killed in a previous Communist assault on 14 April. 150 people, mainly from the country's political and military elite, were killed in the attack and around 500 were injured.
in 1923 and the prohibition of the BCP by the Supreme Court of Appeal
on 2 April 1924, the Communist Party found itself in a difficult situation. The government arrested many activists and the organization's very existence was under threat. A Special Punitive Group was established as part of the Central Committee of the BCP, including Yako Dorosiev, Captain Ivan Minkov and Valko Chervenkov
. The Military Organization (MO) of the BCP, led by Major Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov, set up small isolated groups ("шесторки", "shestorki") that carried out individual attacks. This, however, did not prevent the police from discovering and destroying the illegal structures of the BCP with relative ease.
Later, in December 1924, the organization recruited Petar Zadgorski, a sexton at the St Nedelya Church. Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov and Dimitar Zlatarev
, head of the MO armaments section, suggested that Police Director Vladimir Nachev be assassinated and a large-scale assault be carried out during his funeral service. In this way they hoped to eliminate a large number of key figures in the police hierarchy and thus lessen the pressure that the authorities exerted on the BCP. The idea was welcomed by Stanke Dimitrov
, Secretary of the Central Committee, who discussed it with Georgi Dimitrov
and Vasil Kolarov
, General Secretary of the Comintern
, in early 1925. Nevertheless, they did not approve the proposal, as they thought such an action should first be preceded by preparations for a large-scale uprising that would follow the attack.
Meanwhile, the government continued to increase its pressure on the BCP. Following the killing of Valcho Ivanov, an influential functionary, on 11 February 1925, an amendment to the Law for the Protection of the State that increased the power of the authorities was introduced on 10 March. Yako Dorosiev, head of the MO, was then assassinated on 26 March. These events threatened the physical survival of the BCP leaders and additionally irritated the MO management. They announced they were ready to put their plan into practice despite the Comintern's disapproval. It has been theorized that the assailants acted with the support of Soviet
services, but there is no documentary evidence for this idea. However, it is known that they were in direct contact with Soviet services, owing to which they were able to ignore Vasil Kolarov's instructions from Moscow
.
carried in a total of 25 kg of explosives to the attic of St Nedelya Church over the course of a couple of weeks. The explosives were mounted in a package above one of the columns of the main dome, situated by the south entrance to the building. The plan was to detonate them by a 15 m-long cord that would allow the assailants a chance to escape.
Due to the strengthened guard of Vladimir Nachev's funeral service, the MO chose another victim whose funeral would be used as bait for the assault. At 8 pm on 14 April General Konstantin Georgiev, a deputy of the ruling Democratic Accord, was assassinated by Atanas Todovichin
in front of a Sofia church while heading there for the evening service with his granddaughter.
The funeral service of General Georgiev was set for 16 April, Holy Thursday. In order to increase the toll, the organizers sent forged invitations on behalf of the Association of Reserve Officers. At 7 am on the 16th, Zadgorski led Nikola Petrov
to the roof, where Petrov would detonate the bomb on Zadgorski's signal. The funeral procession entered the church at 3 pm that afternoon. The service was conducted by Bishop Stefan, future Bulgarian Exarch. The coffin was initially placed right next to the column that was to be blown up, but then moved forward due to the large number of people that came to attend the ceremony.
In accordance with the MO group's plan, when the people had gathered and the service began, Zadgorski gave Nikola Petrov a sign to detonate, after which the two left the building at around 3:20. The explosion demolished the main dome of the church, burying many people inside. The blast indoors caused further damage.
pass in Stara Planina.
Among the victims were General Kalin Naydenov, Minister of War during World War I
; Stefan Nerezov
, commander of the Bulgarian Army at Dojran
; General Ivan Popov, General Grigor Kyurkchiev; the then-Mayor of Sofia Paskal Paskalev, the country governor Nedelchev, the chief of police Kisov, three deputies, as well as 25 women and children.
was declared. The attack caused a wave of violent repressions organized by the Military Union with the government's tacit approval. During the following two weeks, approximately 450 people were killed without being sentenced, including figures like poet Geo Milev
and journalist Yosif Herbst. (A mass grave of those killed in 1925 was discovered in the 1950s during the construction of a dam, and the corpse of Geo Milev
was identified by his glass eye - he had lost an eye in World War I.) Many other communists were heavily judged for taking part in the organization.
The MO leaders Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov were among those assassinated. A few of the organizers of the attack, such as Dimitar Zlatarev, Petar Abadzhiev and Nikola Petrov, managed to escape to the Soviet Union through Yugoslavia
. Abandoned by his party, Petar Zadgorski surrendered to the police and made a confession.
The assault trial was up before a military court in Sofia between 1 and 11 May 1925. Petar Zadgorski, Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Koev, who unsuccessfully attempted to hide Ivan Minkov, and Marko Fridman, an MO section leader, were all sentenced to death
. Stanke Dimitrov, Petar Abadzhiev, Dimitar Grancharov, Nikolay Petrini and Hristo Kosovski received capital punishment by default, with the last three of those having already been killed in the previous weeks.
Marko Fridman, the highest-ranked individual of those accused, confessed that the organization was financed and supplied with weaponry from the Soviet Union, but pinned the ultimate responsibility for the attack on Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov, who, according to Fridman, acted without the BCP management's agreement.
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...
. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of 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...
(BCP) blew up the roof of the St Nedelya Church
St Nedelya Church
Holy Sunday Church is an Eastern Orthodox church in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, a cathedral of the Sofia bishopric of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Sveta Nedelya is a medieval church that has suffered destruction through the ages and has been reconstructed many times.-History:The history of the...
in the capital 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...
. This occurred during the funeral service of General Konstantin Georgiev, who had been killed in a previous Communist assault on 14 April. 150 people, mainly from the country's political and military elite, were killed in the attack and around 500 were injured.
Preparation
After the failure of the September UprisingSeptember Uprising
The September Uprising was an armed insurgency staged in September 1923 by the Bulgarian Communist Party under Comintern pressure, as an attempt to overthrow the Democratic Accord government of Bulgaria that had come to power with the coup d'état of June 9. Besides its communist base, the...
in 1923 and the prohibition of the BCP by the Supreme Court of Appeal
Supreme Court of Appeal
Supreme Court of Appeal may refer to:*The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa.*The Newfoundland Supreme Court of Appeal.*The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.It may also refer to other Courts of Appeal....
on 2 April 1924, the Communist Party found itself in a difficult situation. The government arrested many activists and the organization's very existence was under threat. A Special Punitive Group was established as part of the Central Committee of the BCP, including Yako Dorosiev, Captain Ivan Minkov and Valko Chervenkov
Vulko Chervenkov
-Biography:Chervenkov was born in Zlatitsa, Bulgaria. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1919 and participated in communist youth group activities and newspaper editing. He took part in the failed 1923 September Uprising and was sentenced to death, but was allowed to emigrate to the...
. The Military Organization (MO) of the BCP, led by Major Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov, set up small isolated groups ("шесторки", "shestorki") that carried out individual attacks. This, however, did not prevent the police from discovering and destroying the illegal structures of the BCP with relative ease.
Later, in December 1924, the organization recruited Petar Zadgorski, a sexton at the St Nedelya Church. Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov and Dimitar Zlatarev
Dimitar Zlatarev
Dimitar Vasiliev Zlatarev was a Bulgarian terrorist. He joined the Bulgarian Communist Party at 1919, rising to become a high-ranking member of its armaments section...
, head of the MO armaments section, suggested that Police Director Vladimir Nachev be assassinated and a large-scale assault be carried out during his funeral service. In this way they hoped to eliminate a large number of key figures in the police hierarchy and thus lessen the pressure that the authorities exerted on the BCP. The idea was welcomed by Stanke Dimitrov
Stanke Dimitrov
Stefan Dimitrov Todorov , better known as Stanke Dimitrov or under the pseudonym Marek , was a high-ranking Bulgarian Communist Party activist and anti-fascist. He was one of the supporters of a plan that later went on to become the St Nedelya Church assault....
, Secretary of the Central Committee, who discussed it with Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...
and Vasil Kolarov
Vasil Kolarov
Vasil Petrov Kolarov was a Bulgarian communist political leader and leading functionary in the Communist International.-Early years:Kolarov was born in Shumen, Bulgaria on 16 July 1877, the son of a shoemaker...
, General Secretary of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, in early 1925. Nevertheless, they did not approve the proposal, as they thought such an action should first be preceded by preparations for a large-scale uprising that would follow the attack.
Meanwhile, the government continued to increase its pressure on the BCP. Following the killing of Valcho Ivanov, an influential functionary, on 11 February 1925, an amendment to the Law for the Protection of the State that increased the power of the authorities was introduced on 10 March. Yako Dorosiev, head of the MO, was then assassinated on 26 March. These events threatened the physical survival of the BCP leaders and additionally irritated the MO management. They announced they were ready to put their plan into practice despite the Comintern's disapproval. It has been theorized that the assailants acted with the support of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
services, but there is no documentary evidence for this idea. However, it is known that they were in direct contact with Soviet services, owing to which they were able to ignore Vasil Kolarov's instructions from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Execution
The MO management assigned one of its groups to the task, led by Petar Abadzhiev, who himself recruited the sexton, Petar Zadgorski. With his help, Abadzhiev and Asen PavlovAsen Pavlov
Asen Pavlov was a Bulgarian terrorist who was a principle player in the St Nedelya Church assault. He helped the project's leader, Petar Abadzhiev, to set the explosives used in the church.-References:...
carried in a total of 25 kg of explosives to the attic of St Nedelya Church over the course of a couple of weeks. The explosives were mounted in a package above one of the columns of the main dome, situated by the south entrance to the building. The plan was to detonate them by a 15 m-long cord that would allow the assailants a chance to escape.
Due to the strengthened guard of Vladimir Nachev's funeral service, the MO chose another victim whose funeral would be used as bait for the assault. At 8 pm on 14 April General Konstantin Georgiev, a deputy of the ruling Democratic Accord, was assassinated by Atanas Todovichin
Atanas Todovichin
Atanas Todovichin was a Bulgarian terrorist who was a principle player in the St Nedelya Church assault. He personally assassinated the general whose funeral was used as bait to draw intended targets to the church....
in front of a Sofia church while heading there for the evening service with his granddaughter.
The funeral service of General Georgiev was set for 16 April, Holy Thursday. In order to increase the toll, the organizers sent forged invitations on behalf of the Association of Reserve Officers. At 7 am on the 16th, Zadgorski led Nikola Petrov
Nikola Petrov
Nikola Petrov was a Bulgarian terrorist. He was a member of the BCP. He was one of the main players in the St Nedelya Church assault. He was the one who lit the cord in order to detonate the bomb planted earlier in the church....
to the roof, where Petrov would detonate the bomb on Zadgorski's signal. The funeral procession entered the church at 3 pm that afternoon. The service was conducted by Bishop Stefan, future Bulgarian Exarch. The coffin was initially placed right next to the column that was to be blown up, but then moved forward due to the large number of people that came to attend the ceremony.
Casualties
150 people died during the assault and another 500 were injured. By chance, all government members survived. The monarch, Tsar Boris III, was not in the church, as he was attending the funerals of those killed in the attempt on his own life in the ArabakonakArabakonak
Arabakonak or Botevgrad Pass is a mountain pass through the Balkan Mountains connecting Sofia with Botevgrad and Northern Bulgaria. It has been the site of several important events of the history of Bulgaria....
pass in Stara Planina.
Among the victims were General Kalin Naydenov, Minister of War during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
; Stefan Nerezov
Stefan Nerezov
Stefan Mikhailov Nerezov was a Bulgarian General and Chief of the Bulgarian Army Staff.-Biography:Stefan Nerezov was born in Sevlievo, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire...
, commander of the Bulgarian Army at Dojran
Dojran
Dojran was a city located on the western shore of Dojran Lake in the south-eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Today, it is collective name for two villages that exist on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran and Star Dojran, which contains both old ruins and recent construction,...
; General Ivan Popov, General Grigor Kyurkchiev; the then-Mayor of Sofia Paskal Paskalev, the country governor Nedelchev, the chief of police Kisov, three deputies, as well as 25 women and children.
Direct consequences
The evening after the assault, martial lawMartial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
was declared. The attack caused a wave of violent repressions organized by the Military Union with the government's tacit approval. During the following two weeks, approximately 450 people were killed without being sentenced, including figures like poet Geo Milev
Geo Milev
Geo Milev , born Georgi Milev Kasabov , was a Bulgarian poet.-Life:Geo Milev studied in Sofia and later in Leipzig where he was introduced to German Expressionism. His university thesis was on Richard Dehmel. Beginning in 1916 he fought in the World War I, where he was severely injured...
and journalist Yosif Herbst. (A mass grave of those killed in 1925 was discovered in the 1950s during the construction of a dam, and the corpse of Geo Milev
Geo Milev
Geo Milev , born Georgi Milev Kasabov , was a Bulgarian poet.-Life:Geo Milev studied in Sofia and later in Leipzig where he was introduced to German Expressionism. His university thesis was on Richard Dehmel. Beginning in 1916 he fought in the World War I, where he was severely injured...
was identified by his glass eye - he had lost an eye in World War I.) Many other communists were heavily judged for taking part in the organization.
The MO leaders Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov were among those assassinated. A few of the organizers of the attack, such as Dimitar Zlatarev, Petar Abadzhiev and Nikola Petrov, managed to escape to the Soviet Union through Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. Abandoned by his party, Petar Zadgorski surrendered to the police and made a confession.
The assault trial was up before a military court in Sofia between 1 and 11 May 1925. Petar Zadgorski, Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Koev, who unsuccessfully attempted to hide Ivan Minkov, and Marko Fridman, an MO section leader, were all 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:...
. Stanke Dimitrov, Petar Abadzhiev, Dimitar Grancharov, Nikolay Petrini and Hristo Kosovski received capital punishment by default, with the last three of those having already been killed in the previous weeks.
Marko Fridman, the highest-ranked individual of those accused, confessed that the organization was financed and supplied with weaponry from the Soviet Union, but pinned the ultimate responsibility for the attack on Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov, who, according to Fridman, acted without the BCP management's agreement.