site.btaSeptember 9, 1944: Coup d'Etat Ushers in Totalitarian Rule in Bulgaria

On September 9, 1944, conspirators of Zveno Political Circle and former Military League, with active collaboration of War Minister, General Ivan Marinov, staged a coup d'etat in Sofia with the help of army. They handed power over to the Communist-dominated Fatherland Front. These dramatic events took place against the backdrop of the Soviet Army invading Bulgaria during World War II.

The Konstantin Muraviev Cabinet was deposed. Kimon Georgiev's coalition cabinet, composed of Zveno members, Communists, Pladne Agrarians, Social Democrats and independents, was installed.

Bulgaria immediately joined the anti-Axis coalition of the Allies of World War II and took part in World War II. 

The regents – Prof. Bogdan Filov, Prince Cyril of Preslav and Nikola Mihov – were arrested and new regents were appointed. Amid these dramatic changes, King Simeon II left Bulgaria along with his family on September 16, 1946, after a change of government in which Bulgaria was declared a People’s Republic.

The September 9 coup set in place a totalitarian regime that changed the course of this country’s development for decades to come and put it on Soviet influence orbit. Private ownership and free market were done away via nationalization and the adoption of planned economy. Totalitarian rule and planned economy were dismantled in 1989 as part of sweeping changes in the Eastern Bloc that were ushered by the Perestroika political reform movement.