Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

By 1941 Bulgaria was already strongly allied with Germany. Cultural ties had existed since before World War I, Bulgaria's economy was entwined with Germany's, and Tsar Boris's tight management of political representation and control over elections ensured that the National Assembly was dominated by ministers who shared his own pro-German sentiments. In 1939 the previous prime minister had declared Bulgaria Germany's “natural ally” since they had both been victims of injustice after the war. Cultural exchanges had been established between the two countries and Nazi-like celebrations were conducted in Bulgaria. In deference to Hitler, laws imposing restrictions on Jews had been under consideration in Bulgaria since July 1940, and in January 1941 the Law on the Protection of the Nation subjected Bulgarian Jews to many of the disabilities they suffered in Germany. Bulgaria formally joined the Axis powers in March 1941, intending to limit its military involvement to the Balkans and reclaim the territories it had lost in World War I: neither would be the case.The Agrarians staged the first serious resistance to Bulgarian support for the Germans in late 1940. Dr. G. M. Dimitrov, a radical Agrarian member of parliament in the early 1930s, planned a coup with the support of British intelligence. In February 1941, however, the police neutralized the conspirators and tried 35 people. Dimitrov ... log in or subscribe to read full text