born June 18, 1882, Kovachevtsi, Bulg.
died July 2, 1949, near Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Bulgarian communist leader.
He helped found the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1919. After leading a communist uprising in 1923 that provoked fierce government reprisals, he was forced to live abroad and became head of the central European section of the Comintern in Berlin (1929–33). He won worldwide fame for his defense against Nazi accusations in the Reichstag fire trial of 1933. He headed the Comintern in Moscow (1935–43), then returned to Bulgaria, where he served as prime minister (1945–49). He effected the communist consolidation of power that formed the Bulgarian People's Republic in 1946.