DOCUMENTS

FREDERICK B. CHARY, translator and editor (Gary, Ind., U.S.A.)

The Diary of Bogdan Filov

Bogdan Dimitrov Filov (1883-1945) was prime minister of Bulgaria from 1940 to 1943 and a member of the regency couiicil from September, 1943 to September 9, 1944. One of the most important political leaders of the Kingdom of Bulgaria during the critical years of World War II, he wrote a diary of day-to-day events of that time which has great value for the historian. In it are revealed both the stresses of Balkan politics and the views of Axis leaders and their allies on the war. Before entering upon his political career, Filov was an art historian and an archaeologist. He was at one time a rector of Sofia University and president of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His scholarly works were so numerous and impressive that even today they form a major contribution to the study of Bulgarian antiquities and medieval art. Filov first entered the Bulgarian government in November, 1938, as minister of education. Although he was a Germanophile (he had attended German universities and belonged to several German scholarly societies), his minor post and academic background kept him from the center of political controversy in 1939. At that time a power struggle between Georgi K'oseivanov, the prime minister, and Ivan Bagrianov, the minister of agriculture in the 1938-1939 cabinet, occupied Bulgarian politics. King Boris III had hand-picked K'oseivanov for the premiership in 1935, after the struggles following the Military League's coup d'etat of the previous year had brought the state under the domination of the throne. Until he left the cabinet in 1940, K'oseivanov headed eight consecutive governments. Ivan Bagrianov, a lawyer and army officer, like K'oseivanov was close to court circles. He also held a degree from Germany in scientific agriculture and aspired to a position of leadership in the conservative wing of the peasant movement. In 1938 when the Bulgarian subranie (national assembly) reconvened for the first time since the coup d'état, Bagrianov won election as the representative from a northern district. Although pledged to support the government, he led a group of dissidents from the majority and opposition against K'oseivanov over a budgetary matter. The cabinet fell and on the king's insistence K'oseivanov reconstructed a government with some national representatives, including Bagrianov as minister of agriculture. Bagrianov's ambition, however, was not so simply realized, and he hoped to replace K'oseivanov as prime minister. Throughout 1939 pressures on the kingdom pushed the government systematically towards Germany. At the outbreak of World War II K'oseivanov declared the country officially neutral, an honest, if unrealizable, hope. Despite the more pronounced pro-Axis atmosphere in Bulgaria, forces favoring both sides in the war had influence with the government. The premier himself was more inclined to be pro-Western. In October, 1939, the internal conflict within the government reached a breaking point and K'oseivanov resigned. The king asked him to remain in charge of an interim 47

government until other arrangements could be made. The members of this cabinet were the following:

Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs ... Georgi K'oseivanov (continuing) . Internal Affairs ...... Ned'o Nedev (continuing) Finances ...... Dobri Bozhilov (continuing) Education ...... Bogdan Filov (continuing) Railroads ...... Petur Gabrovski (new) ' Justice ...... Vasili Mitakov (new) War ...... Teodosi Daskalov (continuing) Trade ...... Slavcho Zagorov (new) Agriculture ...... Ivan Bagrianov (continuing) Public Works ...... Dimitur Vasilev (new)

Although his post was hardly major, the new minister of railroads proved the most significant change in the cabinet. Petur Gabrovski, a Sofia lawyer, had been a founder of the pro-Nazi anti-Semitic organization Ratnitsi (Defenders). Now his entry into the government opened a doorway through which Bulgarian fascists could follow. It was also an indication of an increased Bulgarian orientation toward the Axis camp. In February, 1940, Filov replaced K'oseivanov as prime minister with the following changes in the cabinet:

Prime Minister and Education ...... Bogdan Filov Foreign Affairs ...... Ivan Popov Internal Affairs ...... Petur Gabrovski ' . Railroads ...... Ivan Gorianov

Filov's appointment was a genuine surprise. Political speculators did not think he would remain long and continued to look for Bagrianov to replace him. Nevertheless with Filov as premier and Gabrovski now holding the important portfolio of internal affairs, Bulgaria appeared more pro-German than ever. Only Popov, former minister to Belgrade and a friend of K'oseivanov, gave western hues to the new government's complexion. At tiic Sarrm time iiiac Filov began his government, a new national assembly (the twenty-fifth) convened in the capital. About one hundred and twenty of its one hundred and sixty members were pledged to the government, and on many issues King Boris and Filov could rely on even greater support. This was a more solid majority than the government had in the previous assembly, and the body was virtually a rubber stamp for Filov's bills. Nevertheless, the sübranie was a forum where opposition to uhe government's policies could be heard, and throughout the war some members courageously expressed their distaste of the German-Bulgarian alliance. The German victories of 1940 made Boris and Filov's commitment to the Axis irrevocable. In his schemes to win diplomatic domination over the Balkans by peaceful means, Hitler arranged for the return of Southern Dobrudja from Romania to Bulgaria, putting the king and government in his debt. The Germans persuaded the Bulgarians to lessen western influence in their country by limiting cultural exchanges with France and Great Britain, disbanding the country's masonic lodges, increasing German and Italian influence, etc. Then in the fall of 1940 the war reached the Balkans. In preparation for his planned attack on the Soviet Union Hitler ordered forces into Romania. Although Bulgaria was not yet involved, German advisors went into the kingdom to help plan defensive