September 9, 1944

On September 5, 1944 Stalin declared war to Bulgaria on the ground of Bulgarian government concealing German troops. In fact the German army had left Bulgaria as early as in August 1944, when the cabinet of Ivan Bagryanov declared neutrality and ordered disarmament of all the German military units, which refused to leave the country. Ivan Bagryanov was the one to abrogate the whole anti-Semitic legislation. On September 2 the opposition leader Konstantin Muraviev took power, declared war to Germany and started a parley with the USA and Great Britain. Stalin’s declaration of war was followed by the invasion of the Soviet army in Bulgarian territory, which started on August 8, 1944. On September 9, 1944 Kimon Georgiev formed a pro-soviet government of the Otechestven Front (the Fatherland Front).