Dimitrov, Georgi

Dimitrov, Georgi (1882–1949) leader of anti-Nazi resistance in Bulgaria A Bulgarian communist leader, Dimitrov, based in Moscow, directed anti-Nazi resistance in Bulgariaduring World War II. He was born in Kovachevtsi, Bulgaria, and worked as a printer. Active in the trade union movement, Dimitrov became a prominent socialist and led the Bulgarian parliament's socialist opposition to financing World War I. In 1919, Dimitrov was instrumental in the creation of the Bulgarian Communist Party. He traveled to the Soviet Union, where he was elected to the executive committee of the Comintern (Communist International) in 1921, then returned to Bulgaria in 1923 to lead a communist uprising. When the uprising was suppressed, Dimitrov fled to Berlin in 1929 and became head of the central European Comintern. Dimitrov came to international prominence after the burning of the Reichstag on February 27, 1933. He and other prominent communists were accused of arson. Acting as his own counsel at his trial, Dimitrov defended himself so brilliantly that he was acquitted. He left Berlin and moved to Moscow, where he was named secretary general of the Comintern's executive committee, serving from 1935 to 1943. In this role, he nurtured the development of various national popular front movements against the Nazis, suspending this activity only when Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler concluded the German-Soviet Non- Aggression Pact. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, however, Dimitrov resumed his work. Beginning in 1944, Dimitrov began directing from Moscow Bulgaria's organized resistance to the nation's puppet government. He returned to Bulgaria immediately after the war and was appointed prime minister of the communist Fatherland Front government. The following year, he masterminded the formation of the Bulgarian People's Republic.