site.btaDecember 11, 1947: Second Georgi Dimitrov Government Is Formed

Seventy-seven years ago today, the second government of Georgi Dimitrov was formed in Bulgaria. He first took the helm of the government right after the September 8, 1946 referendum which toppled the monarchy and made Bulgaria a parliamentary republic. He was thus the first leader of communist Bulgaria (until 1949).

Dimitrov (born June 18, 1882, died July 2, 1949) also served as leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 to 1949, and was the General Secretary of the Communist International.

He was elected to Parliament as a socialist during the First World War and campaigned against Bulgaria's involvement in the conflict, which led to his brief imprisonment for sedition. In 1919, he helped found the Bulgarian Communist Party. Two years later, he moved to the Soviet Union and was elected to the executive committee of Profintern. In 1923, Dimitrov led a failed communist uprising against the government of Aleksandar Tsankov and was subsequently forced into exile. He lived in the Soviet Union until 1929, at which time he relocated to Germany. He rose to international prominence when he was tried in 1933 for a Reichstag arson. He refused counsel and mounted an eloquent defence against his Nazi accusers, in particular Hermann Göring, ultimately winning acquittal. After the trial he relocated to Moscow and was elected head of Comintern. He returned to Bulgaria after 22 years in exile in 1946. Dimitrov died on July 2, 1949 in a sanatorium near Moscow.