Dr. Georgi M. Dimitrov, who has been under house arrest for a month, escapes and hides in the residence of the American political representative Maynard Barnes. On May 25, he was expelled from the Bulgarian Agricultural Workers' Union. This was announced in the newspaper "Zemedelsko zname" on June 9.
This caused panic among the communists, led by Traycho Kostov, who attempted to abduct him by force, but faced with the threat of an armed clash, they withdrew and the house was blocked by Soviet military units.
His former secretary Mara Racheva, who had helped him escape, was arrested and died a few days later after severe torture.
The incident caused a three-month diplomatic crisis, during which negotiations were held between the Bulgarian government and the American mission in Sofia, as well as the American embassy in Moscow and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
After the United States managed to obtain some concessions for the activities of its missions in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary during the Potsdam Conference, the Soviet Union agreed to G. M. Dimitrov to be released on condition that he leave the country before the upcoming elections. Together with his wife and accompanied by Burns, he left Sofia by military plane on September 5, 1945.
In the summer of 1946, the authorities held a show trial against 18 prominent figures of the Bulgarian Workers' Union, including G. M. Dimitrov, Tsenko Barev and Vakril Yanev, who were abroad, and the organizational secretary of the Agricultural Youth Union Evtim Arsov.
They were accused of various actions, including organizing terrorist groups, and Dimitrov was defined as a “presumptuous adventurer“, who worked against the interests of the people and opposed Soviet influence in the country. On July 12, he received a life sentence, and 11 others - various terms of imprisonment.
Georgi M. Dimitrov is a political activist. He was born on April 15, 1903 in the village of Eni Chiflik, Edirne region (in Turkey). He has been a member of the Bulgarian National Union of Workers' Unions since 1922. He graduated from medicine in Zagreb in 1929 and after his return he devoted himself to active political activity.
In 1932 he was included in the Management Board of the Bulgarian National Union of Workers' Unions "Al. Stamboliyski", and then in the Permanent Presence of the Bulgarian National Union of Workers' Unions "United" ("Al. Stamboliyski" and "Vrabcha 1").
After the coup d'état of May 19, 1934, he was in opposition to the monarchical regime in the country. He headed the semi-legal right-wing group in the Bulgarian National Union of Workers' Unions "Al. Stamboliyski". In January 1941 organized an impressive action against the planned accession of Bulgaria to the Tripartite Pact.
On February 22, 1941, a police group broke into the apartment of the Dimitrov family at 65 Gladstone Street to arrest the political oppositionist Dr. G. M. Dimitrov. He managed to escape and went underground. The police arrested his wife Maria, who spent a year in prison as an investigator. The reason for the police action was a letter to Boris III requesting an audience, in which the anti-Hitler opposition stated its resolute position against any involvement of Bulgaria in the military conflict and insisted on maintaining neutrality. The decision to do so was made at the end of 1940.
On February 21, 1941, former Prime Minister Nikola Mushanov handed the letter to the Tsar's parliamentary secretary Petar Kostov in parliament. In response, the opposition was not allowed an audience. Instead, the Tsar issued an arrest warrant for the Doctor as the initiator of the action. Meanwhile, the Tripartite Pact was signed in Vienna on March 1, 1941, by Prime Minister Bogdan Filov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Popov.
As a sign of protest against Hitler's invasion, Dr. G. M. Dimitrov wrote and signed in his capacity as General Secretary of the Bulgarian National Socialist Union “Al. Stamboliyski“ the political document “Manifesto to the Bulgarian People“. His goal was to call on the people to resist the foreign occupier. After its publication and illegal distribution by political associates in the country in March and April 1941, the police immediately began arresting young farmers.
The investigation grew into the largest case against Dr. G. M. Dimitrov as a “secret” conspiracy against the state together with thirty-five other people who will be brought to trial. In fact, the Doctor wrote the manifesto already in exile in Belgrade, and should have been arrested on charges of an attempted coup d'état organized by the British services as part of the plan to deter the German invasion of the Balkans.
From 1941 to 1944 he was the head of the pro-British émigré Bulgarian National Committee with headquarters in Cairo and of the illegal radio transmitter "Free and Independent Bulgaria".
On September 23, 1944, Dr. G. M. Dimitrov returned from exile to Bulgaria by train from Istanbul.
Because of his activities directed against the Fatherland Front government, in 1945 he was removed from the leadership of the union, and soon after he was expelled from its ranks. In May of the same year he left the country.
Two years later, together with other emigrants from other countries of Eastern Europe, he created the so-called "Agricultural Committee" ("Green Front") with the task of fighting against the communist regimes in their countries.
At the same time, he headed the Bulgarian National Committee, composed only of Bulgarian emigrants, which pursued the same goals. He died on October 28, 1972 in Washington.