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Todor Hristov Zhivkov was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as the de facto leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1956 until 1989 as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. He was the longest-serving leader in the Eastern Bloc, the longest-serving leader within the Warsaw Pact and the longest-serving non-royal ruler in Bulgarian histo…
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politics · Leader of Bulgaria from 1956 to 1989 · politician · statesperson · resistance fighter · also Todor Zhivkov, Todor Hristov Zhivkov, Zhivkov
Born 7 September 1911 · Died 5 August 1998 · Q28517
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The history textbooks of five major academic publishers in Bulgaria had described Zhivkov as a 'moderate ruler, whose policies were aimed at improving the welfare of the ordinary people' – drawing condemnation from a fac
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Comparing him to a star and Bulgarian national hero Hristo Botev
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By the local mayor, who had promised its sculpting as part of his electoral program
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In which it condemned the revival process, dubbing it "a form of ethnic cleansing carried out by a totalitarian regime
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The celebrations have been incongruously accompanied by the flag of Europe
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While portraits, posters and calendars bearing his image are still commonly found in the country, with several mayors and other officials being reported as placing them up or handing them out regularly
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Novinite: Todor Zhivkov Impressed Greeks with His Knowledge about the Macedonian Problem
The communist-period monument of Zhivkov was re-erected in his hometown of Pravets in the presence of the leaders of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, alongside Zhivkov's 1990–1998 bodyguard, Boyko Borisov, future Bulgarian
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Died 1998-08-05.
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Took more issue with some of his former party members, than the ruling right-wing UDF party at the time
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His sentence in Trial 4 went into effect, but was substituted by house arrest due to his ill health
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It was 14 per 1,000, the lowest rate in Eastern Europe
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Dollars) to members of the security forces and indictment 5 accused him of involvement in labour camps
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Earned Gold Olympic Order (1987).
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Awarded Order of Georgi Dimitrov (1986).
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The two countries signed a declaration of good-neighbourliness, friendship, and cooperation that was based on mutual enmity toward Turkey and toward Yugoslav demands for recognition of Macedonian minorities in Bulgaria a
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“Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945”
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Bulgaria and reportedly pressured Zhivkov to make the country more competitive economically
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The 9,000 Bulgarian advisers stationed in Libya for military and non-military aid put that country in first place among Bulgaria's Third World clients
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Zhivkov harshly criticised all of Bulgarian industry and agriculture in a major speech, but the reforms generated by his speech did nothing to improve the situation
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The country launched its Pravets personal computer (a near-"Apple II clone") for business and domestic use
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Bulgaria's first Apple clone personal computer was named the Pravets
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Awarded Order of Georgi Dimitrov (1981).
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Awarded Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1981).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1981).
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Exacerbated the problem and kept relations cool through the early 1980s
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Relations with the West had already been chilled by the Afghanistan issue, but her brief administration of Bulgaria's official cultural life was a successful phase of her father's appeal to Bulgarian national tradition t
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A national program introduced computers to most of the ESPUs
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As the latest economic reform program, seemingly improved the supply of consumer goods and generally upgraded the economy
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Zhivkov had improved his domestic position by appointing his daughter, Lyudmila Zhivkova, as chair of the commission on science, culture, and art
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Zhivkov introduced a sweeping educational reform, claiming that Marxist teachings on educating youth were still not being applied completely
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Awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (1977).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1977).
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Zhivkov was also awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union
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Won Dimitrov Prize medal (1976).
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Alongside a fear of the militarist, anti-communist regime brought to power in Turkey by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, caused both Zhivkov and the establishment to fear a similar scenario repeating in Bulgaria
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Awarded Order of Georgi Dimitrov (1971).
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Awarded Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1971).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1971).
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Career landmark: Chairman (President) of Bulgaria (1971–1989).
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“In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”
Leading to a two year long and ultimately futile fight with the disease
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Appealed loudly to the people to remember "our motherland Bulgaria"
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Career landmark: Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1966–1971).
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His daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova's death in 1981, Brezhnev's death in 1982, and Mikhail Gorbachev's post-1985 reforms
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State subsidies still accounted for 63% of enterprise investment funds; however, while 30% came from retained enterprise earnings and only 7% from bank credits
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And 1973, the Zhivkov regime made requests – it is unclear how far these were in earnest – that Bulgaria be incorporated into the USSR, both times because the Bulgarian government, having engaged in bitter polemics with
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Following the decision of Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow to recognise the autonomy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian leaders openly declared that there was no "historic Macedonian nation"
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The Fourth Five-Year Plan began an era of economic reform that brought a series of new approaches to the old goal of intensive growth
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Career landmark: Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1962–1966).
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Awarded Hero of Socialist Labour of Bulgaria (1961).
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Awarded Order of Georgi Dimitrov (1961).
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The Communist Party borrowed from the Chinese Great Leap Forward to symbolise a sudden burst of economic activity to be injected into the Third Five-Year Plan (1958–1962), whose original scope was quite conservative
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Had shifted 678,000 peasants, about 20 percent of the active labour force, into industrial jobs
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Collective farm workers benefited from the first agricultural pension and welfare system in Eastern Europe
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And 1968, however, Soviet actions altered Bulgaria's position
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And the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968
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(General Secretary from April 1981), served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1971 and from 1971 onwards as Chairman of the State Council, concurrently with his post as First Secretary
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Zhivkov took his place, but Chervenkov retained most of his powers as prime minister
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Zhivkov became a candidate member of the BCP Politburo, then led by Valko Chervenkov, leading to a full membership in 1951
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Career landmark: Mayor of Sofia Capital Municipality (1949–1949).
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Roughly 80 percent of the population depended on agriculture for their livelihood; by 1988, however, fewer than one in five workers remained in the agricultural sector, with the rest concentrated in industry and services
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Was involved in organising the Chavdar Partisan Brigade in and around his place of birth, becoming deputy commander of the Sofia operations area in the summer of 1944
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The mortality rate for children under one year had been 138
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Joined the BWP proper, later serving as secretary of its Second Borough Committee and as a member of its Sofia County Committee
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Joined the Bulgarian Communist Youth Union (BCYU), an organisation closely linked with the Bulgarian Workers Party (BWP) – later the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP)
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Born 1911-09-07.
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