Dimitrov
He refuted the Nazis in open court at the Reichstag fire trial and later became Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Life
Printer
Dimitrov started out as a printer and joined the labor movement early on, later becoming a leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party; after the failed uprising of 1923 he went into exile.
Leipzig trial
In 1933 the Nazi government in Berlin falsely accused him of masterminding the Reichstag fire. At the trial in Leipzig he conducted his own defense and refuted Goring in open court, and was finally acquitted, winning international fame. He then served in Moscow as General Secretary of the Comintern, promoting the formation of an anti-fascist Popular Front.
Comintern
In 1946 he returned home to become Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and he died in the Soviet Union in 1949.
Legacy
Dimitrov's performance at the Leipzig trial made him a symbol of anti-fascism; his time in power was also marked by the repression of the political opposition.
Did you know? His embalmed body was once displayed in a mausoleum in Sofia; it was removed and cremated in 1990, and the mausoleum was demolished in 1999.
Key dates
- 1923Exiled after the failed uprising
- 1933Leipzig trial
- 1935Became General Secretary of the Comintern
- 1946Became Prime Minister of Bulgaria
- 1949Died