On April 16, 1925, the bloodiest act of terrorism in our history was committed. A bomb explodes in the “Holy Sunday“ in Sofia. More than 150 people were killed, more than 500 were injured, later more people died of their wounds and the number of victims exceeded 200.
Among those killed were 13 generals - more than in all the wars that Bulgaria had fought before, 13 colonels, 6 lieutenant colonels, many other officers, the capital's mayor Pascal Pascalev, prominent public figures and many ordinary citizens, including women and children. The immediate perpetrators of the attack are Petar Abadjiev (technician) and Petar Zadgorski (clergyman), and the organizers – Kosta Yankov, Ivan Minkov, Marko Friedman, Dimitar Gruncharov, Nikola Petrini. Zadgorski, Fridman and Georgi Koev were convicted and publicly hanged on May 27, 1925. Kosta Yankov and Ivan Minkov committed suicide. A few found refuge in the Soviet Union, including the main organizer Petar Abadjiev.
The powerful explosion destroys a large part of the roof and part of the southern temple wall of the cathedral “St. Sunday“. The temple was rebuilt according to the project of the architects Ivan Vasiliev and Dimitar Tsolov. It was officially consecrated on April 7, 1933. Today, the death of the hundreds of innocent victims is remembered only by a memorial plaque placed on the wall of the church.
The assassination was the climax of the civil war in Bulgaria that began in 1923. It began with the populist rule of Alexander Stamboliyski, led to a coup, followed by an attempted agrarian uprising and ended with an attempted communist riot in 1923.
After the attack on “Holy Sunday” the authorities began a large-scale terror against the left. On May 15, 1925, the poet Geo Milev was called for a police report and disappeared without a trace.