Damyan Velchev or Velcev ( bg, Дамян Велчев) (4 March 1883,

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internatio ...

– 25 January 1954) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n politician and general. From 1925 to 1935 he was the leader of the

Military League The Goudi coup ( el, κίνημα στο Γουδί) was a military coup d'état that took place in Greece on the night of , starting at the barracks in Goudi, a neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Athens. The coup was a pivotal event in mod ...

(1919–1947), an organization of Bulgarian officers which carried the 1923,

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

coup d'etats. In 1930 he became a member of the ''

Zveno Zveno ( bg, Звено, lit=link), ''Politicheski krŭg "Zveno"'', officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization, founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army officers. It was associated ...

'' group. In 1934 he led the pro-''Zveno'' coup, but did not become a minister and stayed in the background. After King

Boris III Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until h ...

's counter-coup of 1935 Velchev fled abroad, but later slipped back into the country wanting to make another coup d'etat and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1936, but Boris spared his life. In 1943 he joined the Fatherland Front, an anti-

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

resistance movement. In 1944 the Fatherland Front seized power and Velchev became Minister of Defence with the rank of colonel general. He resigned in 1946 because of communist purges within the army. Later he became ambassador to Switzerland as an act by the communists to keep him away from Bulgarian matters, but in 1947 he resigned and asked for political asylum. He remained in Switzerland until his death in France in 1954.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velchev, Damyan 1883 births 1954 deaths People from Gabrovo Bulgarian politicians Bulgarian generals Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Order of Bravery Eastern Orthodox Christians from Bulgaria Ambassadors of Bulgaria to Switzerland Bulgarian expatriates in Switzerland