Dobri Bozhilov Khadzhiyanakev () (June 13, 1884 – February 1, 1945) was Prime Minister of Bulgaria during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

Born in Kotel,

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 ...

, Bozhilov attended the Higher Commercial School in Svishtov before starting work as a bookkeeper at the

Bulgarian National Bank The Bulgarian National Bank ( bg, Българска народна банка, Bohlgarska narodna banka, ), or BNB, is the central bank of the Republic of Bulgaria. Headquartered in Sofia, the bank was established in 1879. It is the 13th oldest ...

for the Kyustendil Banking Agency in 1902. Bozhilov worked for the Bulgarian National Bank for a total of 36 years and served at various times as its governor (1922-1923, 1923-1924, 1931-1932, 1934-1935, 1935-1938, 1944). In November 1938, Bozhilov became

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in the government of Prime Minister

Georgi Kyoseivanov Georgi Ivanov Kyoseivanov ( bg, Георги Иванов Кьосеиванов) (19 January 1884, Peshtera – 27 July 1960) was a Bulgarian politician who was Prime Minister from 1935 until 1940. Kyoseivanov came to power on 23 November 1935 a ...

, a position which Bozhilov kept when Bogdan Filov became

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in 1940. In 1943, after Tsar

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 ...

died, Filov became one of Bulgaria’s three regents. Filov, a fervent ally of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the most powerful of the regents, used his power to appoint Bozhilov (another pro-German) prime minister. As prime minister, Bozhilov worked closely with the Germans, virtually becoming their puppet as

raged. Essentially the only major issue on which he clashed with the Nazis was their demand for Bulgaria’s government to deport the country’s Jews to extermination camps, which Bozhilov refused to do.For more information see F. B. Chary, The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution In June 1944, at which time the Axis war effort was rapidly deteriorating, Bozhilov resigned as prime minister and returned to the Bulgarian National Bank, once again becoming its governor. In September 1944, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

declared war on Bulgaria and invaded it, giving Communist partisans the opportunity to overthrow Prime Minister

Konstantin Muraviev Konstantin Vladov Muraviev ( bg, Константин Владов Муравиев) (5 March 1893, Pazardzhik – 31 January 1965) was a leading member of the Agrarian People's Union who briefly served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria near the ...

and replace him with

Kimon Georgiev Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov ( bg, Кимон Георгиев Стоянов; August 11, 1882 – September 28, 1969) was a Bulgarian general who was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1934 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1946. Life an ...

. Bozhilov was subsequently arrested and tried by a People’s Court instituted by the Fatherland Front government. He was found guilty of war crimes and a variety of misdeeds he had committed while finance minister, sentenced to death, and executed in February 1945. The verdict was revoked in 1996 by Supreme Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bozhilov, Dobri 1884 births 1945 deaths People from Kotel, Bulgaria Prime Ministers of Bulgaria Finance ministers of Bulgaria Governors of the Bulgarian National Bank World War II political leaders Heads of government who were later imprisoned Executed prime ministers Executed Bulgarian people People executed by the People's Republic of Bulgaria Regents of Bulgaria People executed by Bulgaria by firing squad People's Court (Bulgaria)