Todor Zhivkov

Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998), Bulgarian Communist leader, born in Pravets. Trained as a printer, he joined the Young Communist League in 1928 and the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1932. Zhivkov fought in the Resistance against the Nazis during World War II and was afterward elected to the National Assembly. A loyal Stalinist, he became a full member of the party's Central Committee in 1948, a member of its Politburo in 1951, and its first secretary in 1954. In 1962 Zhivkov assumed the prime minister's office, and by 1971 he was the titular head of state, thus holding the highest positions in both the state and the party. He was reelected party chief in 1981 and again in 1986.

Zhivkov was ousted in a coup in November 1989 and expelled from the party a month later. Convicted in September 1992 of corruption in office, he drew a seven-year prison sentence. In poor health, Zhivkov was allowed to serve his term under house arrest. In February 1996 the Bulgarian Supreme Court overturned Zhivkov’s conviction and in 1998 he was reinstated into the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the successor to the Communist Party. Zhivkov, who suffered from diabetes and other ailments, died in August 1998.