DEATH ANNOUNCED OF THE BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27296, 24 January 1950, Page 5

DEATH ANNOUNCED OF THE BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER

NZPA—Copyright Rec. 11.10 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 23. The Associated Press and British United Press correspondents in Sofia say that the Bulgarian Premier. Mr Vassil Kolarov, has died following a long illness. Mr Kolarov succeeded the late Mr Georgi Dimitrov as the Premier of Bulgaria in July, 1949. A life-long revolutionist, Mr Kolarov was one of the founders of the Bulgarian Communist Party and its representative at many international conferences. He became secretary-general of the Communist International in 1922, and was a leader in the Bulgarian people's uprising in September, 1923. After its failure he went into exile in Russia where he worked with the Comintern. Returning to Bulgaria in 1945, he became a member of the National Committee of the Fatherland Front, and was successively chosen Provisional President of the Bulgarian Republic (1946), vice-president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1947) before his selection as Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. The son of a shoemaker, he was born in Shumen, Bulgaria, on July 16, 1877. Educated to become a teacher, the young man began to participate in the Bulgarian Revolutionary Movement during the 1890’s when he took an active role in the Teachers’ Movement from 1895 to 1897. During his student years he maintained constant contact with Russian Marxist exiles. When Premier Georgi Dimitrov became ill in April, 1949, Mr Kolarov took over his duties as Acting Premier. At about the same time, Triacho Rostov, the Communist Vice-Premier, was ousted from his position for “ antiSoviet Titoism.’’ Kostov was later tried and executed. Mr Dimitrov died on July 2, 1949, and on July 20 Mr Kolarov was named Prime Minister of Bulgaria.