Vladimir Tomov Poptomov (
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
: Владимир Томов Поптомов; February 8, 1890, – May 1, 1952) was a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, prominent member of the
Bulgarian Communist Party and statesman of the
People's Republic of Bulgaria
The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...
.
Biography
Vladimir Poptomov was born as Vladimir Popiliev in February 1890 in the city of
Belitsa
Belitsa[Town of Belitsa, Municipality Belitsa ...](_blank)
, which at that time belonged to the Ottoman Empire. In 1911 he graduated from the pedagogical school in the city of
Serres, after which he worked as a teacher in
Bansko. Vladimir's father, Toma Popiliev, was a Bulgarian exarchate priest who for 15 years headed the Bulgarian church and school community and was one of the leaders of the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
in Belitsa, killed by the Ottoman authorities. In 1912 he joined the
Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party
The Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party ( bg, Българска работническа социалдемократическа партия, translit=Bŭlgarska rabotnicheska sotsialdemokraticheska partiya; BRSDP) was a Bulgarian leftis ...
. In 1914 he graduated from the School of Reserve Officers in Sofia and during the First World War he served as a junior lieutenant in the Bulgarian Army.
After the war he entered the
Sofia University in 1919 and graduated in 1922.
Poptomov took part in the leadership of the BKP in Petrich and Gorna Jumae, in 1920 he was elected a deputy. During the
September Uprising of 1923, he led the actions of the insurgents in Razlog and, after the suppression of the uprising, emigrated to Yugoslavia; in 1924 he was sentenced to death in absentia. In 1925, Poptomov became one of the founders of the International Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and became its political secretary, and until 1933 was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Macedonian Cause” published on its behalf.
In 1934, Vladimir Poptomov went to Moscow, where he joined the All-Union Communist Party and worked in the Communist International. In 1936, a Bulgarian court sentenced in absentia to twelve years and six months in the process of IMRO.
After the coup on September 9, 1944, Poptomov returned to Bulgaria and became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the BCP. From 1945 to 1949 he was editor-in-chief of the ''
Rabotnichesko Delo'' newspaper, the official organ of the BCP. He became professor and the Sofia University in 1948. In 1948-1949 he worked as chief secretary at the National Council of the
Fatherland Front. From August 1949 to May 1950, Poptomov served Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and from January 1950 until his death in 1952 he was Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
[''Ташев, Ташо.'' Министрите на България 1879—1999. — София: АИ «Проф. Марин Дринов» / Изд. МО, 1999.]
Vladimir Poptomov died on May 1, 1952, in Sofia after suffering from a long illness.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poptomov, Vladimir
1890 births
1952 deaths
Bulgarian communists
Bulgarian political people
Bulgarian Comintern people
Bulgarian Communist Party politicians
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (United) members
Bulgarian revolutionaries
Deputy prime ministers of Bulgaria
Foreign ministers of Bulgaria
Members of the Macedonian Scientific Institute
Sofia University alumni
Academic staff of Sofia University
Bulgarian military personnel of World War I
Bulgarian diplomats
Bulgarian emigrants to Yugoslavia
Bulgarian expatriates in the Soviet Union
People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union
People from Blagoevgrad Province