Todor Zhivkov
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| Todor Zhivkov Toдор Живков | |
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| First secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party
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| In office March 4, 1954 – November 10, 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Vulko Chervenkov |
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| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
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| In office 7 July, 1971 – 17 November, 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Petar Mladenov |
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| Born | September 7, 1911 Pravets, Bulgaria |
| Died | August 5, 1998 Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Political party | Communist Party of Bulgaria |
| Spouse | Mara Maleeva |
Todor Hristov Zhivkov (Bulgarian: Toдор Xpиcтoв Живков; pronounced /ˈtɔdɔr ˈxristɔf ˈʒifkɔf/; September 7, 1911–August 5, 1998) was the Communist leader of Bulgaria from March 4, 1954 until November 10, 1989.
[edit] Biography
Zhivkov was born in the small village of Pravets, Bulgaria, as the son of poor peasants. As a youth, he moved to Sofia seeking employment. Zhivkov became a Marxist and in 1932 joined the Komsomol, the youth wing of the illegal Bulgarian Communist Party.
During World War II, Zhivkov participated in the resistance movement against Nazi Germany. After the war, Zhivkov was backed by the Soviet Union as commander of the People's Militia. As militia leader, he had thousands arrested as political prisoners.
In 1951, he became a full member of the Politburo, and, in 1954, was made first secretary of the Central Committee. Zhivkov was also head of state (Chairman of the State Council) of Bulgaria from July 7, 1971 to November 17, 1989. Despite a coup attempt by dissident military officers and Party members in 1965, he remained the longest serving leader of any Soviet bloc nations.
Under Zhivkov's rule, all voices of dissent in Bulgaria were harshly suppressed, with thousands being locked up in prisons across the country. With aid from the Soviet Union, Zhivkov enforced collectivized farming and attemped to modernize industry.
A protégé of Nikita Khrushchev's, and a close friend of Leonid Brezhnev, Zhivkov was known for his subservience and allegiance to the Soviet Union. He also sent Bulgarian forces to participate in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The dissident Georgi Markov, who was assassinated in London with a Bulgarian umbrella in 1978, said: "[Zhivkov] served the Soviet Union more ardently than the Soviet leaders themselves did.
Zhivkov (also known in Bulgaria as "Tato") tried to promote his children, daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova and son Vladimir Zhivkov, up the Communist Party hierarchy. Lyudmila made it to Politburo member and Minister of Culture. She introduced strange ideas related to Far Eastern philosophy, which were not welcomed by the Old Guard. Some sources maintain her early death in 1980 was due to Soviet meddling. Her husband, Ivan Slavkov, was made a boss of the state-controlled Bulgarian Television, and later President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee. Although Zhivkov was never a despot in the Stalinist mold, by 1981, when he turned 70, his regime was growing increasingly corrupt, autocratic and erratic. Near the end of his reign, he made several limited attempts to modernise Bulgaria, such as introducing scaled down versions of Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika, while keeping the country under his control. However, these attempts failed to prevent the collapse of the communism and his own ouster. An ill-advised campaign to Bulgarise the names of the ethnic Turks in the country (which led to their mass exodus from Bulgaria to Turkey in 1985) contributed to his downfall.
At the end of 1989, Zhivkov was ousted from the presidency and expelled from the Bulgarian Communist Party. The Communist Party subsequently gave up its monopoly on power in February 1990, and in June 1990, the first free elections in Bulgaria since 1931 were held.
Zhivkov was arrested in January 1990. Two years later, he was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to seven years in prison. However, due to his frail health, he was allowed to serve his term under house arrest. He was eventually acquitted by the Bulgarian Supreme Court in 1996.
Todor Zhivkov died of pneumonia in 1998. He was refused a state funeral.
| Preceded by: --- | Chairman of the State Council 7 July, 1971 - 17 November, 1989 | Succeeded by: Petar Mladenov |
| Preceded by: Anton Yugov | Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1962-1971 | Succeeded by: Stanko Todorov |
de:Todor Schiwkow et:Todor Živkov es:Todor Zhivkov fr:Todor Jivkov it:Todor Zhivkov nl:Todor Zjivkov ja:トドール・ジヴコフ pl:Todor Żiwkow pt:Todor Zhivkov ru:Живков, Тодор sk:Todor Živkov fi:Todor Živkov sv:Todor Zjivkov
