Mikhailov, Khristo

Born Apr. 18, 1893, in Vidin; died Feb. 8, 1944, in Sofia. A leader of the Bulgarian labor movement. Member of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) from 1918. The son of a teacher; lawyer by education.

A leader of the September antifascist uprising of 1923, Mikhailov engaged in clandestine party work during 1924–25 and spent the years from 1925 to 1937 in prison. He became a member of the Central Committee of the BCP in 1937 and was a secretary of the Central Committee during 1938–39. In 1941, Mikhailov headed the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the BCP, and from 1943 he was chief of staff of the Insurgent Army of National Liberation. He was seized by the police and killed. Mikhailov was posthumously promoted to colonel general, and the city of Mikhailovgrad is named after him.