Zhivkov, Todor Khristov

Born Sept. 7, 1911, in the village of Pravets, in Sofia District. A figure in the Bulgarian and international workers’ movement. Statesman and political figure of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria (1961), Hero of Bulgaria (1971). The son of a poor peasant.

Zhivkov worked as a printer in the Sofia state typography office from 1929 to 1939. He joined the Bulgarian Communist Youth Union in 1928 and the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1932. He was elected secretary of the committee of the second city district of Sofia and to the Sofia district committee of the party in 1934, at the same time actively participating in the trade union movement. He was secretary of the luchbunar district committee in Sofia from 1941 to 1943, and he became a member of the Sofia district committee of the party in 1942. Zhivkov was one of the organizers and leaders of the struggle of the Bulgarian people against the German occupiers and their monarcho-fascist accomplices in Bulgaria.

As the plenipotentiary of the party, Zhivkov organized a partisan movement in Botevgrad County (okoliia) in 1943–44 and was deputy commander of the First (Sofia) Military Operations Zone from July to September 1944. During the mass popular armed uprising on Sept. 9, 1944, Zhivkov directed the national liberation units concentrated in Sofia, which took part in the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship and the establishment of popular power in Bulgaria. After the victory of the uprising, Zhivkov worked in responsible posts in the party and state apparatus. He was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1945 and in 1948 was elected a member of the Central Committee and of the Orgburo of the Central Committee of the party. In 1948–49 he was first secretary of the Sofia municipal committee of the party, chairman of the municipal committee of the Fatherland Front, and chairman of the Sofia municipal people’s soviet. He was elected secretary of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the party in 1950. He was elected to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the party in 1951. In March 1954 he became first secretary of the Central Committee of the party, and from 1962 to 1971 he was simultaneously chairman of the Council of Ministers. He was elected chairman of the State Council of Bulgaria in July 1971. He has been a deputy of the National Assembly since 1945 and a member of the National Council of the Fatherland Front. He has been awarded three Orders of Georgii Dimitrov, the Order of Lenin (1971), and other orders.